Institutional partnership boosts village project
Developer Robert Chapman has found a formula for succeeding with a new urban development in this severe real estate downturn: team up with a growing institution that can nearly guarantee a strong market.
The Village at Hendrix, an extension of the small city of Conway, Arkansas, is being built in partnership with Hendrix College. The project a fulfills a 1994 plan for the college by Duany Plater-Zyberk that calls for a mixed-use village adjacent to campus — located across US Route 65, a four-lane highway.
Two roundabouts are being built to tame traffic on the road, the first roundabouts on a US highway in Arkansas, says Chapman. Two buildings, each with ground-floor retail and three stories of apartments, are nearing completion in the village center.
All 63 apartments, with a total of 130 bedrooms,. are pre-leased to students, Chapman says, and are expected to open in August. Sixty-five percent of the retail space is leased or close to being leased, he adds. The anchor tenant is Panera Bread, a national restaurant/bakery/café chain. The college bookstore, run by Barnes & Noble, is relocating to the village center in a 5,000-square-foot space, and a wood-fired pizza shop is close to signing, he says.
Meanwhile, four houses — three single-family detached and one live-work unit — are under construction. The current home prices range from $209,000 for a townhouse to $387,000 for a live-work unit with elevator. “We’re taking advantage of great construction pricing,” says Chapman, whose firm is Traditional Neighborhood Development Partners, based in Durham, North Carolina. Cost savings of 10 to 20 percent are common now compared to two or three years ago, he explains.
The first of five phases of the 120-acre development includes 54 detached houses and 60 townhouses. A 100,000-square-foot wellness and athletics center has already been built.
