story by Ryan Saylor
rsaylor@thecitywire.com
A long empty downtown Fort Smith building could be coming back to life if a planned sale of the property by the Central Business Improvement District to a local developer goes through as planned.
The 1,725 square foot property, located at 701 Rogers Avenue, is under contract to be sold to Core Real Estate of Springdale for a price of $95,475. The Core Brewing Company is well known in Northwest Arkansas.
Fort Smith Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman, who serves as a liaison between the city and the CBID, said the buyer has not filled the city or the CBID in on what exactly its plans for the property are.
"We don't know what their intentions are, but we do know they want to create it as a place for a pub in order to market their products. He's mentioned a pub or tasting room, that sort of thing," Dingman said.
The memo was drawn up Nov. 11, with a due diligence period of 30 days being in place before the closing date, which Dingman said was not known to the city.
Rodney Ghan, a CBID member and owner of R.H. Ghan & Cooper Commercial Properties, is the listing agent for the property.
The property in question, Dingman said, has long been a part of the CBID's small collection of properties in downtown which were intended to provide rental income to fund operations.
"When the CBID was originally formed, their first project and purpose was to build the state office building across from city hall," he said. "As part of that, they had to acquire some property and this building was part of that. That's how they came to own it and have it for a long time.
"They weren't actually trying to sell it," Dingman added. "It had been vacant for a long time, but they did some roof work and HVAC and couldn't lease it out. I'm not sure how much they tried, but they didn't have any success."
He said when Jesse Core reached out to Ghan about the property, the company quickly changed the conversation from leasing to owning.
With the company possibly looking to open a pub on Rogers Avenue, it would represent one of the first commercial projects along the downtown strip of Rogers Avenue that is not tied to a hotel development. For that reason, Dingman said it could be a game changer for the neighborhood and possibly drive others to invest just a block over from Garrison Avenue, which has seen significant investments of late with Bricktown Brewery recently investing more than $500,000 in renovations to the former Varsity restaurant and bar.
"I like the idea of Rogers starting to develop a bit," Dingman said. "It's got some proximity to hotels and a lot of traffic, presumably. They walk by this building on the way to Garrison and back."
The location does not come with its own dedicated parking, though it is located along the same block as the city-owned parking garage on Rogers.
As for renovations of the property, since the property still lies within the CBID, he said some guidelines would need to be followed just as properties along Garrison must follow strict guidelines.
"The design guidelines are essentially the Garrison Avenue District Design Guidelines. Now, this building is not on Garrison, but it is in the CBID," he said. "I don't have any idea what their property dress is going to look like, but we will work with them as much as we can or are able to (in the renovation process)."
The CBID's most recent financial statements as of Nov. 2 show a balance of $86,836 in its savings account, with an additional $23,890 in checking, making its cash on hand $110,726.
Revenues for the CBID include $5,410 in monthly rent payments from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith for use of the former Second Street Live location, now known as the Blue Lion.