Arkansas Democrat Gazette
AUG 6, 2015 © ARKANSAS ONLINE Story by Chris Bahn
Commercial real estate brokerage and development company Haag Brown has helped Jonesboro add about 2,500 restaurant seats over the last four years.
It's a pace of growth that the northeast Arkansas town of 71,000-plus will have difficulty maintaining. Josh Brown, who founded Haag Brown with Greg Haag in 2010, readily acknowledges this.
A handful of retail and restaurant projects are in the pipeline, but Brown will tell you there are only so many of those additional developments the market can handle at this time. Haag Brown estimates they've helped generate about 75 percent of Jonesboro's new developments in the last five years.
So the company is turning its efforts elsewhere, including a "lifestyle" office park built on about 30 undeveloped acres in the middle of town.
A private, 3-acre lake -- with dock -- is being built on the land right now and plans call for a running/biking trail at what is being called "The Reserve at Hill Park." Haag Brown will relocate its corporate headquarters there and Eden Medical Spa has committed to locating its massage and wellness operation.
Ideally eight to 10 businesses will locate here and the firm is actively recruiting what Brown describes as a "major" law firm, "major" insurance company and some type of medical-related business.
About 10 acres will be used for offices. Brown has plans to donate the remaining 20 or so acres to a conservancy of some sort to ensure the land stays beautiful and undeveloped.
On the back side of the development are offices for investment firm Stephens Inc., accountants Jones & Co. and Ritter Communications. A restaurant development is a possibility and Brown said while those companies aren't building inside the gates of The Reserve at Hill Park they'll have access to the trails and lake as well.
Brown said the inspiration came from developments he and Haag saw on a two-week trip to Bozeman, Mont., and, in part, Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas. While scouting potential locations for a national chain, Brown came across office park developments that were more than just a multistory building sitting on an acre surrounded by parking lots and a few trees.
It also came to Brown's attention that decision-makers were forgoing golf for other outdoor activities. So the trail systems in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas also served as inspiration. "There is no safe place to live that type of lifestyle in Jonesboro," Brown explained. This development is just one of the handful of ways Northwest Arkansas has served as inspiration for the company.
Last year in this space we discussed a combination orthodontist/Starbucks project being developed by Haag Brown on Wedington Drive in Fayetteville. The firm's hope at the time was to use that work as a springboard to additional opportunities in Northwest Arkansas.
A handful of smaller projects have followed, but Haag Brown now has its sights set on full-time work in Northwest Arkansas. Brown said the company is currently deciding between offices in either Rogers or Fayetteville and Haag Brown will have a major presence in Northwest Arkansas within the next month.
FFO Home (formerly Furniture Factory Outlet) is moving its corporate headquarters to Fort Smith and working to rebrand locations it has in the market. Site development and brokerage is being handled by Haag Brown.
Arkansas Dentistry and Braces is using the firm for its Northwest Arkansas expansion.
"In Northwest Arkansas, if you do a great job for somebody in, let's say, Rogers, then you get Fayetteville, Bentonville, Fort Smith, Siloam Springs and possibly Springfield, Mo., and Tulsa," Brown said. "You have 10 times the opportunity within a two-hour drive."
There are also retail and restaurant projects in central Arkansas as well, but the most promise seems to exist in Northwest Arkansas. All that expansion leads us back to the Reserve at Hill Park.
What Brown sees as the ideal place for dealmakers in Jonesboro to unwind is already serving that purpose for him.
The lake is still being built and the trails aren't in yet, but already Brown is making time to visit and clear his head.
"This is probably more exciting than the other 25 projects we're doing everywhere else," Brown said. "I get to get on my four-wheeler and watch them make a lake. That's part of my work day. And I'm getting to talk to friends that open companies in the city and sell them on the vision of becoming part of it. That is a lot of fun."
If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (479) 365-297
cbahn@nwaonline.com
SundayMonday Business on 09/06/2015