Portions of this article may
include opinions of its author.
The Cottages at Meadow’s Edge
Michael
Grobmyer, of OneHealth Real Estate in Little Rock, spoke to a crowded
city hall courtroom Monday evening, February 13, about a proposed
residential development along Highway 111. The nearly 60-acre site is
across from the entrance to Meadow’s Edge in South Alexander.
The
purpose of the special meeting, called by the Alexander Planning
Commission, was to hear details about the proposed subdivision and to
have some questions answered. Based on speculation about the project
some 20 or more residents attended the meeting, which under normal
circumstances would have been empty.
Concept
Unlike
St. Joseph’s Glen and Meadow’s Edge,
The Cottages at Meadow’s Edge (the current working title) will
consist of townhouses, or cottages as Grobmyer prefers to call them.
The plan is for 150 one and two bedroom rental units; grouped into
buildings consisting of two to five attached units. The cottages will
be two-stories with nine-foot ceilings and a variety of floor plans.
Grobmyer said the estimated overall height of each building will
be
32-feet. The city’s maximum height for buildings and structures is
35-feet.
According
to Grobmyer most of the construction will occupy the flattest 20 of
the 60-acres. First to be built will be a clubhouse/rental office
along with some of the cottages. Amenities will include a pool,
pickleball courts, workout facility, dog park, walking trails and
general green space.
Due
to its hilly topography the remaining 40-acres will mostly provide
additional green space and possibly more walking trails. There is
also a pond on the northeast corner that Grobmyer would like to
develop into a fishing pond for children.
“I know some people think, okay, well, the rental you're going to
have, you know, you're not going to keep it up, you're not going to
take care of, it's going to have maintenance issues and all that kind
of thing,” Grobmyer said. “And I understand those are valid
questions.”
“The way that we approach a product is we don't build it to sell,”
he continued. “It's a long term investment. And, it's a long term
cash flow, cash flow opportunity for us.”
“We will have our own management firm that will manage it
ourselves, so it will not be a third party manager,” Grobmyer
explained. “The reason that's important is because the gentleman
(who) is going to operate the management company is related to the
owner of the property and is going to be vested in the property as
well. So we're all going to have our own skin in the game, which I
think should give some sense of easing concerns because, again, it is
a long term vested play for us.”
“It's not just, hey, we're going to build it, and it's going to sit
out there in Alexander, we're not ever going to go see it, we're not
ever going to touch it,” he concluded.
Renters and Management
After Grobmyer attempted to anticipate and answer questions most
residents would have about the project, Planning Commission Member
Tonya Prowse expressed concern over how some people treat property
they rent as oppose to property they own.
“So I'm going to be speaking probably for a lot of people here,
because I have talked to people and homeowners,” Prowse said. “I
think one of the biggest concerns that a lot of Alexandrians have is
that when you rent, you have people that just don't have that ‘take
care as if they own it and they're having to pay for that' and
they're concerned about that.”
“So what kind of price range are you talking about when you're
talking about your audience that you want to get in there?” she
concluded.
“So we base most of our determination (of rent) on per square foot
rent,” Grobmyer said. “Just so you know, and just to do some
quick math, our average unit is going to be around, we'll just say
1,000 square feet.”
Grobmyer says the goal is to attract a variety of different types of
people in various stages of life.
“The product that we are wanting to develop and bring is going to
attract young families,” Grobmyer said. “It's going to attract
young professionals, it's going to attract elderly people that are
wanting to downsize and not want the maintenance.”
“Because if we do that properly then we'll achieve our concept of
community because we want all ages [sic] groups living together,”
he continued. ... “We think that's what this country (is) missing a
lot of.”
“Right. I just don't want the riff-raff that's in most apartments,”
Planning Commission Member Stephanie Beck said. “My land is like
right up against it (the property).”
“Sure. Listen, I understand,” Grobmyer responded. “I mean
everybody assumes or throws ‘apartments’ in a negative
connotation and I think what people sometimes forget is that there's
a lot of people in this country that, even if it's a government
subsidized housing, that's their only option.”
“Okay? That's not what we develop,” he continued. “There's a
lot of people out there that are really good at doing it. That's just
not what we do. But, I think there's got to be a balance of
everything. And, I know what we do really well and we stay in our
lane and that is we develop what I would consider; we grade them A,
B, C, D properties.”
“We do only ‘A’ and I would consider this property an A-minus,”
Grobmyer said. “Meaning it's not our Rolls Royce product that we
build in downtown Bentonville (Arkansas).”
“Maybe this is a stepping stone for them to come in, be in our
development, and then they want to move on to ownership and they go
across the street into Meadow’s (Edge) or into St. Joseph’s
Glen,” he added.
Currently, the only “apartments” in Alexander are located in
North Alexander in two locations. One set are in three buildings
surrounded by E. 1st Street, E. 2nd Street and
A. C. Wallace Avenue. The second set of apartments are in two
buildings at the corner of E. 2nd Street and Main Street.
All the buildings are single story.
Traffic
Because Alexander is nearly completely surrounded by Little Rock,
Shannon Hills and Bryant the opportunities for residential
development, outside the current city limits, are essentially zero.
Therefore, the only way to increase the population is by putting more
people onto fewer acres.
“I know in order for us to grow, we do need more dense housing,”
Prowse said. “I know one of the other concerns is the traffic
through there. Have you all thought about that?”
Grobmyer said he’s been in discussions with the Arkansas Department
of Transportation (ArDOT) concerning Highway 111. If allowed to
build, the development’s entrance will join Highway 111 directly
across from the entrance to Meadow’s Edge; forming a four-way
intersection.
Even though a traffic light is considered the solution to all traffic
woes, that probably won’t happen here. Grobmyer said ArDOT will be
conducting a traffic study. But, based on conversations he’s had
with ArDOT officials the final solution may be adding a third lane in
order to create a center left turn lane.
“They (ArDOT) feel that there's not enough of a linear stretch to
warrant a light at this time,” Grobmyer said. “What they would
probably require us to do is to pay for the widening of that section
right there for a turn lane where you have a turn lane for both ways
coming in and out of Meadow’s Edge and our development.”
What Grobmyer described will consist of ArDOT building a new
northbound lane, on property owned by the developers, next to the
current northbound lane. The current northbound lane will then become
a center left-turn lane. The widening project will be funded by the
developers.
Grobmyer opined that another single-family development built across
from Meadow’s Edge would probably result in the same traffic
problems.
“I'm pretty sure ... if you did it with a residential home builder,
detached homes, I think they're going to have the same issue whether
it's us or not,” Grobmyer said. “There's got to be some
improvement.”
The
chicken or the egg
Also,
there was a discussion about what attracts people to move into a
community. One of those items is a grocery store.
Ever
since Alexander accepted ownership of the former Alexander Human
Development Center from the state, developing it into a retail center
has always been the goal. Now that the Pathfinders’ lease has
expired, the last remnants of state ownership, the final impediment
keeping the city from looking for a developer is gone.
Unfortunately,
retail developers like lots of roof tops to provide a local customer
base. And, people like to live near at least one source of groceries.
The eternal problem of the chicken and the egg.
As Grobmyer prepared to leave he said, “Thank you. I appreciate you
all coming out tonight. I appreciate everybody's input. Thank you
all. We've got some work that we need to determine and how we want to
move forward.”
Next
steps
Before
Gobmyer begins to put to paper the design of the proposed
development, some questions still need to be answered. Besides having
discussions with ArDOT he has also been talking to the Little Rock
Water Reclamation Authority concerning a sewer connection. That’s
another issue that needs to be settled.
However,
the entity he is most interested hearing from now is the Alexander
City Council. If the council is going to object to this type of
development there’s no need to continue with the project.
