August 6, 2025 • 54 mins
What does the future hold for one of America's fastest-growing cities? Tyler Overstreet, Bentonville's planning director, pulls back the curtain on the intentional design shaping this dynamic Northwest Arkansas hub.
After eight years guiding Bentonville's development, Overstreet offers a rare glimpse into how city planners are balancing explosive growth with thoughtful community building. The recently completed Future Land Use Plan, created through unprecedented public engagement, reveals a vision where walkability, housing diversity, and neighborhood-scale amenities take center stage.
Forget the traditional suburban sprawl model. Bentonville is pioneering a different approach with "neighborhood centers" strategically placed throughout the city. These mini-downtowns will allow residents to access goods, services, and community spaces within a five-minute drive or ten-minute walk from home. For investors and longtime residents alike, this creates entirely new opportunity zones beyond the beloved downtown square.
Transportation emerges as another cornerstone of Bentonville's vision. The transformation of Eighth Street into a key corridor connecting Gateway Park, the new STEM university, Walmart's headquarters, and the emerging medical district demonstrates how intentionally the city is linking its major anchors. Meanwhile, partnerships with regional transit authorities are laying the groundwork for multi-modal options beyond the car.
What truly sets Bentonville apart is its commitment to accessibility and transparency in the development process. Overstreet describes a planning department where developers can book appointments online, access clear guidelines, and navigate consistent processes, creating the predictability that both small-scale and major developers need to thrive.
Whether you're considering investing in Bentonville real estate, developing property, or simply curious about how this remarkable city is evolving, this conversation offers invaluable insight into the forces shaping Northwest Arkansas's most dynamic community. The balance of world-class amenities, outdoor recreation, and thoughtful planning creates a place that continues to draw visitors and residents who never planned to stay.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Northwest Arkansas Investing Podcast, your
go-to source for real estateinvesting in Northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
With your seasoned investor just starting out.
We bring you expert insights,market trends and practical
strategies to help you buildwealth through real estate.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
From buying and selling to property management
and long-term investmentplanning.
We cover it all so you can makesmart, informed decision in
this fast-growing market.
Let's dive in.
All right, welcome back toNorthwest Arkansas Investing
Podcast.
I've got Mr Tyler Overstreethere with us and co-host Brian
Wagers.
And man, we're excited to haveTyler on.
(00:40):
He's really kind ofspearheading a lot of growth and
helping shaping Bittenville andkind of what it is and what it
will be.
And, man, we're just pumped tohave you and thankful for your
time.
Yeah, excited to be here.
Thanks for inviting me.
Absolutely Thanks, tyler.
Yeah, no, we're good, we'resuper stoked to have you and I
think a lot of people areexcited to hear just about what
(01:02):
is going on in Bittenville andwhere it's headed.
And kind of people are excitedto hear just about you know what
, what uh is going on inBiddenville and you know where
it's headed and, um, kind ofwhat are going to be those key
pillars and and uh, is it aplace that people should be
investing in and uh be, you know, looking into the future?
And so before that, I'd love to, I'd love the audience to kind
of know a little bit more aboutyou and where you came from you
(01:24):
know where you've gone and kindof how you ended up where you
are.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Yeah, I've been now with Cityof Bentonville for going on, I
think, eight years in OctoberBefore that.
I'm originally from Joplin,Missouri, about an hour to the
north of here I went toundergrad, well, graduated from
high school in Joplin HighSchool.
In 2011, day of the Joplintornado Boy tough Went to
(01:52):
Missouri, southern, there intown, as a poli-sci grad and
then from there rolled directlyinto doing city planning work
for city of Joplin, my hometown.
Worked there for about threeyears, saw an opportunity work
open up here in Bentonville andI've been doing it ever since.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That's awesome.
So, and speaking of that, wejust watched the Joplin Netflix
documentary.
Insane If you haven't watchedit, you can watch it.
I was about to ask that.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
So, you were a part of that.
Yeah, okay so funny story, mybrother, I haven't watched it
yet I.
Okay so funny story, my brother, I haven't watched it yet I got
to get in the right headspacebefore I do that.
I don't know if I was, like it's, in the background of one of
those cliffs, I am.
So that was actually my brother.
He sent me a picture.
It was the picture of they hada picture on the screen of Will
(02:38):
Norton from graduation.
He's like hey, tyler, you'reNetflix famous.
It was the back of my head.
That's crazy, yeah.
And then actually I did aninterview not too long ago with
DBI as well, where they kind oftalked to me about that
experience of going through thetornado and ultimately making my
way here to Bentonville Holycow.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
That's crazy.
There's some adversity there.
I like Joplin we're not goingto talk too much about Joplin
but I like Joplin too, like asan investment, as an investor, I
think.
You know going North out ofBentonville past Bella Vista,
you know that I think theopportunity will continue to
grow that way for yourself.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, and you know I I kind of saw that well even
when I was working there inJoplin like the city has really
really good bones in the waythat the street grid network is
laid out, the sort of mix ofhousing and industry and
commercial areas, Like it's gota lot of potential from on a lot
of different standpoints.
Yeah, and my parents still livethere, so I go back, you know,
(03:42):
once or twice a month.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, I love it and yeah, just being so close to
it's obviously an easy triparound.
But yeah, I think, just as asNorthwest Arkansas especially
continues to thrive and do whatit's doing, I think other you
know cities around will continueto benefit.
Tulsa obviously is a great cityas well and is continuing to
(04:04):
thrive, and so, yeah, I thinkJoplin is also in kind of that
category as well, so did you seeBentonville like growing up in
Joplin.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Was Bentonville on your target then to try to come
and work for Bentonville, or didthat?
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know I think that kind of evolved once I got into
the planning space itselfNorthwest Arkansas.
You know we would come down andvisit Northwest Arkansas,
pinnacle and ultimately you knowmuch later Crystal Bridges and
everything.
But I think the thing withBentonville that stood out to me
was, having started in Joplin,I really, in that role, much
(04:44):
smaller planning staff, got todo a little bit of everything,
everything from grant managementto land use planning to
economic development work, and Ireally fell in love with the
land use and site planning sideof planning, like current
development development review.
So when I saw an opportunityopen up in Bentonville to really
specialize in that, seeing thepace of growth, the amount of
(05:06):
cool stuff going on, it seemedlike a natural fit to come down
here and be a part of it.
And that's something I eventell my new team members today
is and that was what eight yearsago now.
But even today, in my mindthere's not a better place to be
working in the planning fieldthan Northwest Arkansas, right
here right now, and morespecifically Bentonville.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
That timeline is great.
I came to NWA about 10 yearsago and then started investing
in real estate eight years agoand people always told me like
man, you should have seen thelast 10 years coming here.
Like how much growth have weseen in this past eight years?
But people then were saying youshould have seen.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, was there ever a thought of going anywhere else
to kind of to do something likethat?
Or was Northwest Arkansas kindof on your radar?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, you know, I think, northwest Arkansas,
what's great about it or what Ipersonally love about it?
It's close enough that you knowto back home.
I can visit my family my moreextended family is in the
Springfield area but it canreally serve as a great sort of
central hub between XNA, thehighway network.
You can get just about anywherein the country and it's a great
(06:18):
place to call home.
Yeah, and you know the kind ofboth you know.
And you know the kind of bothyou know, both from a living,
working and also from anamenities standpoint.
There's not a whole lot ofplaces like Northwest Arkansas.
Yeah, at the size and scale weare, like how many metros of
(06:38):
what 500,000 people can say okay, well, we have a world-class
university, we have the world'slargest company, we've got a
soccer team coming to town, anamphitheater, and the list goes
on and on and on of the type ofstuff that you can do right here
in our own backyard.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I love that.
I think about that all the timewhen I even just go to the lake
getting to drive 30 minutes togo enjoy the lake and then
getting to go back home thatnight.
Not many people get that kindof opportunity just to let's go
spend an evening at the lake orsomething like that.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
That's such a good point, Like even you know, I'm
getting ready after work todayto go mountain biking.
Yeah, and that's what I likeyou know, stereotypical.
You know, working forBentonville but like, the great
thing about that is when peoplevisit.
I talk to them about you know,just the sheer accessibility of
those amenities is like, yeah,there may be better mountain
(07:31):
biking facilities and you knowthe Pacific Northwest or
Colorado or California, takeyour pick but there's not a
whole lot of spots.
I can hop on a bike in themiddle of downtown Bentonville
and be on trails within lessthan five minutes.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think those things will
continue to evolve.
Obviously, we've seen what theWaltons kind of want to continue
to do and make Bella Vistaspecifically, so I think that's
super fun.
I like what you said about whatyou've been saying to your team
and that there's not a betterplace to be doing what you're
doing, because I don't thinkthere really is.
I mean, there are other peoplewould have arguments out there,
(08:09):
but I think especially thesenext 10 years, 20 years, uh, in
Biddenville and you know, reallyin in Northwest Arkansas, are
going to be really special anduh and uh, you know, I think I
think it'd be fun to see.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So yeah, I agree with that.
I think the amenities.
But we're always on the betlike Northwest Arkansas is
always on the best place to live, you know, always at the top of
growth of you know best milkinginstitutes.
It's on that high incomeearning but you also have it's
still relatively affordablecompared to the rest of the
(08:43):
country.
Like peopleation is killing it.
I saw an article this morninglike ice cream is up 33% and I
really felt that one.
I think everybody feelsinflation and I think Northwest
Arkansas still remainsaffordable and I think that's a
tip of the cat to you guys inthe planning department as to
(09:03):
how accessible you are.
And I think what other kind ofcities in Northwest Arkansas are
talking about right now.
They want to be accessible.
Obviously, rogers is trying tofigure that out right now with
roundabouts and some bike lanesand everything like that.
But I think it is really coolto be so close and you can just
walk and get on a bike and be ata world-class museum.
(09:25):
You can, you can be at, youknow, a cool, uh downtown area.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So yeah, absolutely so.
Uh, tyler, I'm curious too, aswe, as we kind of get more into
you know what's going on in inbidenville specifically and what
you're doing.
Uh, tell me about kind of whatyour planning philosophy looks
like, what the city ofBiddenville's priorities are, as
we get into it, I think a lotof what we've heard, like even
(09:53):
the Skyline report that I wentto last, I think Mayor Orman was
there and she was talking aboutjust kind of the connectivity
and the livability and you knowhow we don't necessarily want to
be sprawled out and we want tokind of continue to promote
density in kind of the mainareas.
So I know that's a very broadquestion, but give us a little
(10:16):
bit of insight there if youdon't mind.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah so we actually just wrapped up with a huge
planning project in terms of ourfuture land use map here within
what February.
So it was a year-long planningproject and from the beginning
of that our whole goal waspromoting the type of
development we want to see whilepreserving what we love about
Bentonville, and what I mean bythat is.
(10:40):
You know, really the wholepurpose of land use and
strategic planning and strategicgrowth is we know growth is
inevitable, but making sure thatit happens in a fair and
responsible way so that as wegrow, as you know, as new
development comes to town, we'restill preserving the reason why
people chose to come to thecommunity in the first place to
(11:07):
come to the community in thefirst place.
And that whole effort, I think,is emblematic of really our
city's approach to planning, inthat we made it very clear it's
not the planning department'splan, heck, it's not even, like
the city, the organization'splan.
It was meant to be a communityvision.
So we went all in withengagement over the course of
the year, everything from pop-upevents, meeting people where
(11:28):
they are going, to our variousparks, facilities, going to
events, making sure we got asmuch input as possible on what
they wanted the future of theircity to look like, and that
ultimately culminated in what'scalled a future land use map,
which, the long and short of it,it just says how and where we
(11:48):
want to grow, be it in variousmixed use centers or hubs at
varying scales at the regional,the city or the local scale, the
types of neighborhoods thatpeople want to see, see
everything from the urban to thewalkable to the suburban and
then ultimately the corridorsthat connect those.
(12:09):
So you know that was that's sortof our, I would say, vision and
marching orders here in thenext 20 to 25 years is working
through and really trying toimplement that plan.
Um, and, like I said, likeengagement, communication with
the public, that's the mostimportant thing throughout this
(12:30):
process.
If you're not able to get thatbuy-in from the general public,
your development community, yourkey stakeholders, plan's only
as good as the people who areinvolved with it and you'll lose
momentum if people aren't onboard with it.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, absolutely, that's a great point.
Do you see?
I mean to me that sounds prettyunique.
To others it may not be, but doyou see other cities doing
those kind of things with theircitizens and stuff like that?
Not to talk anything bad aboutother cities, of course but just
curious, like that seems veryunique to me that y'all would be
(13:05):
really pursuing the opinions ofthe citizens?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Yeah, I think so.
Our last, our 2018 communityplan that was one of the big, I
would say, critiques of thateffort was we didn't do enough
engagement.
That was brought up during theadoption process, and so we said
, with this next plan, okay,well, let's go all out with
community engagement.
(13:28):
And so we did and I won't namenames.
But, yeah, I've had otherplanning directors or others in
the region tell me well, dang it, tyler, you went so all out.
Now it makes the rest of uslook bad when we don't do
everything that you guys did.
So it's, you know, I take thatas a compliment and and even
(13:48):
internally, we're like, oh man,now, now we've set a really high
bar for ourselves movingforward.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But yeah, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
That's so unique.
Exactly that's so unique aboutnorthwest arkansas is you, you
can have these sub marketswithin the msa of nwa.
Like keeps heading the bar highand I think there's some good
communication.
Maybe everything can beimproved.
Like City of Bentonville okay2018, we hear you, we'll improve
(14:13):
.
How do you think thecommunication is between the
municipalities?
Do you think that it soundslike it's pretty good?
You can talk to each other?
Is there room for improvement?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
there.
Yeah, I mean there's plenty ofavenues through which we've been
able to communicate over theyears, even since I've been here
, be it Regional PlanningCommission, which is the sort of
the regional metropolitanplanning organization that deals
with federal transportationfunding for the region, where
we're all members of thatorganization, be it things like
(14:52):
ULI Northwest Arkansas, whichmany of us engage with and
actually had the opportunity tokind of be a part of a learning
cohort a few years ago nowthrough a community of practice.
But, yeah, in general I wouldsay the sort of vibe and
environment between the variouscities and departments within
them is one of I call itcoopetition, Like we're all
cooperating with each other butwe're ultimately kind of
(15:14):
competing and one-upping eachother, which I think is a really
healthy environment for us tolive in.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I haven't heard that that's a good one, coopetition,
I love that Mark that down tolive in.
I haven't heard that that's agood one, coopetition, I love
that Mark that down.
Man, I think, just lookingthrough kind of what we had done
, you've obviously been involvedin some really cool projects.
Crystal Flats Tell me if I'mwrong on some of these, but
Crystal Flats, downtownBiddeville, redevelopment and
(15:41):
kind of what's been happeningthere the Walmart headquarters,
coordination and growth andeverything that's happened and
will continue to happen there.
The town branch revitalizationplan.
Yeah, the ledger what do youthink is some of your most proud
work and how that's kind ofcontinuing to, you know, even
flourish further than you wouldhave thought.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
You know, hard to pick between any of those.
For sure I have been involvedwith all of them, yep.
But you know, what I take themost pride in is like being able
to see a project from like allthe way, when it's for lack of a
better word putting a site planon a napkin or it's an idea in
(16:22):
someone's head, seeing itprogress through conceptual
meetings, pre-applicationmeetings, formal application,
you know, approval of the planset and then ultimately seeing
that project be built and seeingpeople being able to experience
it.
So, actually the first.
This is my first week on thejob.
(16:43):
I day one um, I'd done, youknow, some site planning during
my previous work in joplin.
But, all right, the my seniorplanner at the time.
He's like well, let's get youstarted.
You know, you can startreviewing some large scale, so
some development plans.
I'm like, okay, cool.
And he hands me one and heplops it down.
We're all digital now, but backthen it was a paper plan set.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Who about?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
that Thick and I'm flipping through it and I'm like
, what in the world am I lookingat?
Because, joplin, I'd seen yourtypical subdivision drive-thru
restaurant, that type ofdevelopment.
I'm sitting here staring at theplan set for the momentary.
That's like the first, my firstday on the job.
(17:28):
I'm reviewing an extension or adowntown location for a
world-class museum in CrystalBridges and like now to be able
to review that, theredevelopment plan of that
facility, and now see concertshappening, events and seeing
people interacting, enjoy thatspace.
(17:49):
Like to me that that's whatit's all about is being able to
see something from its earlieststages and ultimately see it,
you know, uh, brought to life inthe community and people being
able to to experience the typeof development we get to see.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
That's awesome.
Yeah, I think that's obviouslyis.
I mean, just based on youtalking about.
It seems like some reallyrewarding work and things that
you obviously get to enjoy inthe community as well yeah and
get to live out, and that'll besomething that you'll continue
to get to do along your careerand lifetime here in Bentonville
.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
I think that's awesome so, yeah, trying to, you
know, trying to start on my mykids early, like hey, there's a
new medical school here in town,you guys should exactly check
that out.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That's right.
That's one not only at alicewhelan school school of medicine
, I think that is uh, obviouslyyou're involved in that and
that's huge.
I think something we talkedabout on one of the past
episodes is how the medical.
You know there's obviouslywalmart and jb hunt and the
university, but you know there'sthis other industry, this
(18:55):
medical industry that iscontinuing to be.
You know, you have Little Rockthat you know was historically
like has a lot of medicalindustry, but I think that is
something that is kind of almostnot slept on for people here.
But you know, I think that'sgoing to be such a huge impact
too.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, when I think about, you know, the, from a
economic development standpoint,like the, the sectors and the
industries that are really goingto drive this sort of next
phase of Bentonville.
It's outdoor recreation, it'shealthcare innovation, it's
aviation, with everything thathappens with the up summit on an
annual basis, and then, ofcourse, everything in between
(19:34):
with with walmart and arts andculture and and everything that
that that brings so a lot to beexcited about.
A lot, a lot of cool stuffhappening now and a lot of stuff
coming in in the very nearfuture yeah, I wish we had a
better idea of there's probablya lot of stuff you can't share.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Uh, yep, which is uh, which is fun so is it is a the
map that you guys put together.
Is that out?
Do you guys like the 2018 plan?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
yeah, so, and and the next phase of that, too, is we.
We just launched what.
What is today, uh, last week?
So, uh, phase one was the landuse map, and you can find all
the information about theproject on planbentonvillecom is
our website.
Phase two, though, is us reallysort of cities often.
(20:21):
You know that every city hasplans in some form or fashion.
What they don't often do enoughis go back and say, ok, we
adopted this plan.
And say, okay, we adopted thisplan.
Do the codes, the regulations,essentially the rule book we
operate off of, actually allowthis plan to be implemented on a
daily basis?
(20:41):
That's what we're doing now isrevisiting and overhauling our
zoning and development codes tobe a new unified development
code, or what we're calling theBentonville Community Code,
which would be basically the, orwhat we're calling the
Bentonville Community Code,which would be basically the
(21:02):
rulebook we're using when we'reevaluating everything from a
building permit all the way tolarge-scale development plans
like the ones we just talkedabout.
Making sure that the vision wesaid we were all about in phase
one is actually actionable whenwe're reviewing development
plans moving forward.
We just launched that processlast week through a public open
house had about 60 people theregive or take the draft.
(21:26):
Our sort of first draft of thecode is currently out for review
on planbettenvillecom 'retaking input on it, but over the
course of of this uh, summerand fall we're going to be
taking input, drafting andpublishing taking input,
drafting and publishing andtrying to get as much engagement
as possible on that effort aswell.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
that's awesome yeah, it's interesting that it's.
It is a.
It is a workable draft, andSpringdale recently put out
their future land use map too.
I don't know if there weremultiple drafts, but that's
pretty cool that you guys aredoing that and tweaking it.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, it actually so.
During the land use planportion, we went through a
week-long process called DesignWeek, which it's kind of a whole
the design philosophy.
Well, it get a bunch offeedback, change and reflect
that feedback.
(22:36):
Get a whole bunch more feedback, change and reflect and
ultimately you can do that in avery condensed time window and
get a much better result at theend of the day.
And I think that's a philosophywe've carried through of trying
to get as much engagement aspossible because, to what I was
talking about earlier, the moreengagement you get, the better
(22:56):
the final outcome is do you seelike from developers on getting
things reason like, how does arezone process work for someone?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
so for some of our listeners, and how open is the
city, open to something gettingrezone?
Obviously it's case by case.
You know very, location bylocation.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, that's the big piece of that future land use
map is.
Each of those what we call placetypes or land use categories
have two or three zoningdistricts that align with that
broader place type.
So you know, if I'm looking at apiece of property, the first
place I need to look is at thefuture land use map and get an
idea of what zoning districtsmight be compatible with the
(23:40):
broader place type and land usecategory.
Because the first filter we asstaff use and planning
commission uses is does thisrequest align with the city's
adopted future land use map,with the city's adopted feature
lane use map?
And, of course, our team bothmyself and then the rest of our
development services team arealways open to meet, chat with
people.
If you have something you'rethinking about, if you're not
(24:02):
sure, our doors are always open.
We actually just not too longago, some of my staff created a
booking page where you'll see itin their email signature or on
our website where you can goonline, click, book a meeting
with a planner and it's pluggedinto our calendars with our
availability and you canschedule a 30 minute slot and
(24:25):
which is something that not alot of cities have that level of
accessibility to developers,the general public, but it's
something that's reallyimportant to us to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I think it's super important getting the city's
feedback, getting an engineerfeedback, getting you know
involved, before you spend toomuch money and too much time
going down the path.
I think, like you mentioned,the zoning is the first place to
start figuring out.
You know, and sometimes youhave to figure out that zoning,
what that exactly means and ifit can be, if it's mod like able
(24:59):
to be modified.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
So I think that's huge just looking over, like
some of the blueprint for thefuture, that that you guys talk
about some of the goals that Ihave written down, uh, that that
you all are kind of at theforefront of encourage
mixedourage, mixed use andwalkability, improve housing
diversity and affordability,guide infill development to
(25:20):
reduce sprawl and update zoningcodes to reflect current needs.
I think a lot of the challengesthat we see in other cities in
northwest Arkansas is just notreally being proactive to the
needs of you know the city andtherefore you know discouraging
being kind of dense in areasthat we want to be dense and
(25:42):
discouraging affordability,because it's hard to you know,
if we can't build, it's hard tostay affordable in a place that
has so many people moving perday.
So what, how do you feel like?
I know?
I mean there's one thing thatyou mentioned with just the
accessibility for people to beable to get access to you guys
and your services.
But how else do you think, orhave you seen you all in you
(26:07):
know, partnering with developersand things like that that you
do, that you guys do really wellcompared to maybe others?
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, you know one, having that level of
accessibility to be able toanswer questions.
But also one thing that, bothtoday and in the future, we
really want to pride ourselveson is having clear and
consistent standards and clearand consistent processes.
So making sure that, regardlessof the scale of project,
(26:37):
regardless of what it is like,it's very clear and
understandable what the cityneeds, what the approval process
looks like.
And you know how do I get fromto harken back to what I was
talking about earlier how do Iget from that idea or that
concept to a finished product.
And that's something that is, Ithink, very you know, I've
(26:58):
heard, you know development isultimately going to do what's
marketable, what's predictableand what's profitable.
We can really impact one ofthose and that's that level of
predictability that serves abenefit both for the development
community but also for thegeneral public as well.
(27:18):
If the zoning code iscomprehensible to the average
person, if the land use plan isvery clear about what the future
vision for certain areas of thecity are, then ultimately that
means predictable outcomes fordevelopers, for the city and for
the general public.
And that's something that Ithink as we think about what
(27:41):
that sort of next 20 to 25 yearsof Bentonville looks like we
really want it to be.
You know, obviously nobody hasa crystal ball, there's no
telling what's going to beannounced tomorrow, but wanting
to have some level ofpredictability and wanting to
guide growth in a thoughtful way, I think are two huge things
(28:02):
for our team.
You mentioned, you know,walkability and mixed use.
I think that's something youknow.
Thinking about how we canencourage a variety of
transportation options, maketransportation convenient, no
matter your method of travel, beit walking, biking, driving or
even, you know, long-termtransit.
Thinking about how we canencourage a variety of housing
(28:26):
types at a variety of pricepoints, I think is huge too.
And ultimately like how do wemake sure that the type of
development we want to see isultimately convenient and
actionable?
And that's where our rules andregulations come into play.
Making sure we said we wantedthis through our land use
(28:49):
planning process.
Well, how do we actually makeit happen on a daily?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
basis.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
I think they're all huge pieces of what our team
deals with on a daily basis,absolutely.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, I think.
I mean I think being.
It seems like you know, thesentiment is that Bentonville
continues to be very businessfriendly and I think that's a
great thing, which is awesome.
So random question I thinkMayor Orman mentioned this at
the Skyline report Bentonvillehas a bus system right, or did
(29:21):
y'all test the bus system?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
for a moment.
We do so you know, we and mostall of the cities in northwest
Arkansas, partner with OzarkRegional Transit as our regional
transit authority, ozarkRegional Transit as our regional
transit authority.
So we have available on-demandtransit where if someone there's
an through the ORT app, you canorder a ride from your phone
(29:42):
and there's a small fare to it.
It's like Uber, but transitversion of it.
And then the other bigger thingis we actually have a line.
It's brx, it runs, it's thefirst uh inner city route within
the region.
It runs from bentonville torogers and back runs on, I think
, about a 30 minute cycle time.
(30:04):
That's something we wereoperating this year and um hope
to continue to see those typesof efforts grow in the future.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
That's awesome.
A lot of people don't knowabout that though.
Yeah, I didn't know about thateither.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I mean, I think it can be a challenge, just the way
our roads are to have masspublic transit, and I think
that's probably why you are soconscious about walkability,
because of those challenges.
But yeah, I did not know aboutthat.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah, and actually, uh, regional planning commission
is currently in the middle ofit's called a transit
alternative study, of seeing forvarious, uh, what we would call
high capacity transit options,like light rail, bus, rapid
transit and others.
Well, what ultimately is goingto make the most sense by the
(30:52):
2050 time year mark?
Because to me, I think I couldtalk about transit for a long
time.
But, mass transit, of like atrue regional transit route.
That seems to be the missingingredient for our region right
now of thinking about how do youconnect Bella Vista,
(31:13):
bentonville, rogers, springdale,fayetteville, lowell, like the
whole corridor, and regionaltransit's the way to do it.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah, absolutely no.
I think that's really at theforefront.
I mean, tell me how much that'sa conversation for you all,
because obviously that's theconversation with most residents
of Northwest Arkansas.
Arkansas is like, and how arewe going to face we need to
widen our roads, or we need toexpand our roads, or we need to
(31:40):
connect more roads so there'sless congestion, and stuff like
that.
I I assume that's at theforefront.
Obviously, expanding andconnecting, like one that comes
to mind, is like h street now,that now that it goes, spits out
, uh, on, I think, big Tree orDrive or whatever, almost to
Centerton, west Bentonville, andit goes all the way now through
(32:00):
where the Gateway Park will beand all the way out to the
highway which I think,personally, is huge.
I'm not sure how it's affectedtraffic one way or another quite
yet or not, but it's bikeableand it runs all the way through
downtown, through Walmart campus, which is awesome, but it's
also, you know, drivable andconnects you off of the main
(32:22):
14th Street that gets backed upand others.
So is that, I'm sure, witheverything going on, that's set
the forefront of conversation.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Yeah, I think that intersection between land use
and transportation is key of youknow, ultimately and that's
that earlier talking point, orwhat we were talking about a
minute ago of that housing,recreation, employment, all
being within, you know,relatively close proximity of
(32:53):
each other, is how you start toreduce some of those trips and
traffic on the roadways, on theone hand, but, on the other, it
that's where transportationoptions of making sure that our,
that our cities are walkable,that they're bikeable, that
there's some level oftransportation options, be it
(33:14):
transit and, ultimately,drivable as well.
That's how you create a systemwhereby people can, regardless
of their transportation choice,they can get where they need to
go in a convenient manner.
So that's something that Ithink is front of mind as we're
thinking about our land use planand as we're thinking about
what that next phase is, be itzoning and development codes, be
(33:38):
it future master street plansand transportation plans.
One thing, one way to affectthat through the land use plan,
is through this idea of what wecall neighborhood centers.
So, if you think aboutBentonville today, idea of what
we call neighborhood centers, soif you think about Bentonville
today, there's really one spotin town that's cool that people
(34:04):
go to grab a bite to eat, tohang out or whatever it might be
.
And that's really downtownBentonville the city square and
the outlying areas.
So what neighborhood centers are?
It's more of a neighborhoodscale.
It's like a miniature versionof a downtown where it has basic
goods and services and, withthe land use plan, what you'll
see is there's neighborhoodcenters kind of interspersed
throughout the city at placeswhere it makes sense, and so
(34:27):
what that does is, all of asudden, if I live in far
southwest Bentonville and I wantto grab a bite to eat or I need
to grab some groceries,whatever it might be well, I
don't have to drive all the wayacross town to get in downtown
Bentonville.
All of a sudden, there's a spotconveniently located within a
five-minute drive or a 10-minutewalk from my house, and I think
(34:49):
that's something.
That's a small thing but itcould have big impacts in the
future of trying to have itwhere not everybody's trying to
get to the same two or threespots in town.
Maybe there's a dozen withinproximity.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Do you take ideas from other, like because that is
so important with growth, tohave that?
And that also speaks to howmuch bentonville is growing.
That you know we talk about.
You know other cities maybetrying to have their own square,
like a sinterton or a johnson,or you know these others, but
bentonville wants to have more.
You know more squares and thenit's yeah, do you do you take
(35:26):
other, like other big cities?
And okay, this city hasdifferent districts that you
know, like a dallas or uh or aDenver, or is there any certain?
Are you looking all over the U?
S or any cities that you guys?
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Yeah, I think it's.
It's a little bit of everythingof, I think.
So you know, we have looked atjust as some examples, like you
know, um, austin Texas has theiractive transportation
department who does some awesomework.
You've got, um, you know, I wasjust in Providence, rhode
Island, and they do some.
Really they've done someawesome stuff with some of their
(36:00):
downtown redevelopment areas.
We've had team members go toRaleigh Durham for for
conferences, like I think that'ssomething that we're always and
it comes up often of like who'sour benchmark?
Who are we looking at it?
And the thing is, I think inBentonville and in Northwest
Arkansas generally, there'sreally not a region or a city
(36:23):
quite like the environment wehave.
So what we do is we look at inmultiple cities, we take what we
like, what their sort of bestpractices are and the lessons to
be learned, and we try toreplicate them or do our own
version of it here, because it'shard to pick one test market
when you know there may bethings that cities do that are
(36:44):
very good, very bad, and I thinkyou can learn and take lessons
from all of them.
Yeah, I think that's somethingthat we're always, I think,
trying to learn and evolve andkind of learn not just from what
other cities nationally aredoing, other cities in the
region, and maybe even learnsome from things we've done in
(37:05):
the past as well.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, I think it shows.
I think it shows for sure thatthat approach, I think it's what
creates.
It shows for sure that thatapproach, um, I think it's what
creates us, it's what makesnorthwest arkansas so unique and
always at a top 100.
But you know, I still thinkpeople are sleeping on us even
though we're at the.
You know, I don't know what itis, 25 or 26, but I think it
could be higher.
Um, in what stats they'relooking at if they've actually
(37:29):
lived here.
But just the people that comehere and not meaning to stay
here that end up staying here.
So many people from you knowsit, you know where I was born
and raised, cincinnati.
You have a ton of procter andgamble folks that went we're
gonna do the one to three yearsto and they end up staying here.
Or you have people coming fromthese other cities and and stay
here.
So I think that's really unique.
Uh, something for ourof-townlisteners is they'll realize
(37:54):
that there's no reallyskyscrapers in Bentonville.
There's no skyscrapers in thecity of Northwest Arkansas, you
know well.
Will Bentonville ever see askyscraper?
Or what is that prevent?
What's that look like for themto know?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
yeah, um, you know that's something.
Height was actually somethingwe talked a lot about through
the land use planning processand I I look at I mentioned it
earlier but like even to someextent, uh, providence, rhode
island and some of your likemajor metro cities, even
cincinnati to some's, you know,I think that sort of even in a
(38:33):
central business district, whenI think about Northwest Arkansas
and what makes it special, likethat sort of three to six story
scale like keeps a level ofwalkability and a level of scale
that it's not out of contextwith what people are used to,
and so like we're not in a lotof ways, with the exception of
(38:54):
like downtown Bentonville orlike Uptown Rogers, we're not
even like past that scale yet.
So I think it's I don't know,that's a good question, I think,
when I think about sort of aheight, even with the new code
our draft we've got out, I thinkthe tallest we've got would be
(39:15):
like 10 stories.
And I think an 8 to 10 storycity, in areas that it makes
sense, is about as tall as youwould probably see Bentonville
go, and there's a variety ofreasons for that.
See Bentonville go, and there'sa variety of reasons for that.
But I think once you getoverpowered with skyscrapers or
whatever it might be, you startto lose some of the character
(39:38):
and the identity of what thecity was meant to be.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
You become a concrete jungle to my friends in Dallas
and I think that's really uniquethere.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Yeah, I mean I think about all the cities in
Northwest Arkansas and it'ssomething I really love about
our region.
Each of us has like our own,like unique identity to what we
do.
You know Fayetteville has theuniversity.
Springdale is very much like amore industrialized workforce
type of community.
Rogers is very well known nowfor what happens in you know,
(40:14):
Pinnacle area and almost beinglike an entertainment district
for the region.
Bentonville is known for thesquare and that sort of like you
know meshing of this small towncharm, while also having the
world's largest company in ourown backyard.
And then you know Bella Vista,with their focus on outdoor
(40:35):
recreation and everything elsein between.
And you know, it's something Ireally appreciate about our
region and something that, as wethink about it, both from a
Bentonville level but also for aregional level, yeah, we know
we're going to grow.
So, for a regional level, yeah,we know we're going to grow,
growth is going to happen, butmaking sure that we keep what
makes our communities unique aswe navigate that process.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Yeah, absolutely, I would agree.
So well put yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
That's why I'll live and invest here until I die.
You know, I think I'm here forthe long term after that.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Agreed and going back to kind of those, uh, those
other downtown options kind of.
I don't know how you guys wouldphrase that necessarily, but I
I feel like that's something.
I went to nashville years agoand I feel like that's the kind
of a feel that I got in.
Nashville is like in in dallas,like you have like the bishop
arts district, all that kind ofstuff, but uh, but like almost
(41:27):
communities that would have, youknow, walkability to some
restaurants and stuff like that.
Um, sounds like that's whatbidenville is doing and and, uh,
I even think about it, for likethe walmart campus and all the
retail that's coming to theirrice barbecue, you know, the
japanese restaurant, the tapasbar, whatever a lot of cool
(41:49):
stuff happening.
We live just south of that thecampus and so that's all going
to be walkable for us.
We're pumped, so, uh, butthat's I feel like that's going
to be a pocket where a lot ofpeople will be able to walk,
bike, you know, connected to thetrails, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think about that uh eighth street.
You know is is really going tobecome the key east west
corridor within withinbentonville itself.
Between you mentioned itearlier uh gateway park, the old
home office campus where it wasrecently announced that a new
stem university is going to begoing in there.
(42:23):
You've got new walmart homeoffice campus, you've got uh nAC
and then, ultimately, themedical district announcement
that was made within proximityof there as well.
Like you, think about what thatcorridor looks like now and
then, or even gosh, what itlooked like five years ago and
(42:46):
what it's going to look like nowand then, five years from now
it's, it's going to be a bigchange.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
So, Tyler, just as we, as wewrap up, we'd love to kind of
talk through some things thatare exciting you the most for
the future.
So obviously there's a lot youcan't share, Uh, but what?
What do you see is?
You know, we've obviously got alot of momentum in the
healthcare space and the thingsthat are happening over there.
(43:13):
We've got a lot of momentumwith H-Tree, which you just
wrapped up on there.
What are some things thatyou're most excited about?
Maybe something you can tellabout too?
Speaker 4 (43:24):
Yeah, I mean, I've talked about it a lot but, like,
the big project, big focus forus these next six months or so
is going to be that new code,because the big piece of that is
, and our big goal is makingsure that it is, that it's
predictable, it's consistent andultimately, when I think about
(43:45):
you know what, that's, what thewhat the future holds like, that
becomes our roadmap and ourblueprint that we're following
on a daily basis is the codes,the rules, the regulations that
when a development comes to us,you know what is.
It's, ultimately, what are therules we're following when we're
evaluating those requests Likethat's.
(44:05):
I know it's very technical, butI mean that's a huge deal of
people knowing when I come tothe city, okay, these are the
rules I got to follow and makingsure that we, the city and the
development is sticking to those.
I'm kind of excited to seewhere the first one of those
starts to develop.
I think that's a it's a coolconcept.
(44:32):
It's not necessarily a newconcept, but it's new to
Bentonville and seeing like,what does that sort of secondary
miniature you know walkablearea look like and you know?
And ultimately, seeing that aswe to hearken back to what we
were talking about earlier.
Seeing that come out of theground, seeing people enjoy that
(44:54):
that type of amenity space, Ithink will be super, super cool
sounds like a street could havelike over towards that area.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I mean, even the home campus is even becoming its own
square, like, yeah, that'sgoing to be a place to be so
yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:10):
I mean uh, yeah, it is, and that's that's the cool
part is seeing these sort of umsecondary and tertiary areas of
the city develop and seeing coolstuff happening and people
enjoying these new spaces.
I mean, gosh, we didn't eventalk about the Greenway, but
when you think about the campus,seeing, like the members of the
(45:32):
general public being able toride right through the middle or
walk right through the middleof the Walmart Home Office
campus on our regional Greenwayfacility is such a huge deal,
such a unique thing to us and aunique thing when you think
about your average corporatecampus of having, you know, that
kind of recreational amenityrunning right through the middle
(45:52):
of it.
I think continued stuff likethat, be it in mountain biking
trail and walkability andbikeability enhancements, are
something you're going to seethroughout the city in the
future.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
I love that.
Tyler, what would you say toobviously our audiences,
investors and people that areinterested in putting money in
real estate or resources intoreal estate and other things in
Northwest Arkansas, specificallyfor Biddenville?
What would you say to somebodythat's maybe on the know might
(46:29):
be looking to jump intoBentonville specifically?
Speaker 4 (46:33):
I would say same thing.
You know, there's not a betterplace than where we are right
now it is, and there's notanother place quite like
Bentonville, arkansas, with thatintersection we have of
recreational amenities, parksand open spaces, major
employment and also sort of thatintentional future we've
(46:57):
charted for ourselves, and Iwould just invite people to be a
part of that.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
I think that's great.
What would you say to adeveloper that is a new
developer?
I think what's also, you know,we didn't get to talk about, but
Bentonville is very open fordevelopment and I had Blue Crane
actually speak at a CCC eventand how they want to spur other.
You know it's not just BlueCrane developing, they want
(47:24):
actually to spur other.
You know developers too,whether that's someone who's
doing their first development, aone and done development, or
someone who wants to develop.
So I think and aside, I thinkthat the city has done well with
that and so has some of theother developers.
But what would you say to a newdeveloper who's trying to take
(47:44):
that piece of paper plan andbuild something in the last 24
months?
Speaker 4 (47:50):
I mean, we're here as a resource.
Our doors are always open,we're happy to kind of help
chart people through that,through that process, and we
have some some success storieswith incremental developers who
have, you know, started at at avery small level, you know,
maybe doing some single familyhomes, some infill, who
ultimately have grown now intodoing major, you know
(48:12):
multifamily projects.
Just in the time that I've beenhere and and that's something
that that's super rewarding too,of like seeing and knowing
someone who might've startedwith doing some what we would
call single family attached ortownhouses or even just some
single family infill to nowthey're doing, you know, one,
(48:33):
two, 300 unit projects.
That's always super cool to seebecause it's, you know, they
grow and they learn through theprocess and we're learning right
alongside them.
It's awesome.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
Well, tyler, I think I mean you obviously have an
awesome position in what'shappening in Bentonville.
Bentonville is one of the mostdynamic cities, I would argue,
in the country.
I think there's a lot of proofto back that definitely in
Arkansas, and I think there's alot of really cool things coming
.
We really appreciate your time.
I know it's not easy to stepaway from work or family or
(49:09):
anything like that, but we'regrateful for your time and
sharing all your knowledge andkind of what's going on in the
city.
So we appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me today.
I really appreciated theconversation and happy to come
back anytime.
Speaker 3 (49:23):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Awesome.
Thanks, Tyler.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Well, thanks for listening to Northwest Arkansas
Investing Podcast with TylerOverstreet and Brian Wagers, and
we'll talk to you next time.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
All right, see you guys.
Speaker 1 (49:33):
Again, thank you guys for tuning in.
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Welcome to Northwest Arkansas Investing Podcast, your
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Speaker 2 (00:13):
With your seasoned investor just starting out.
We bring you expert insights,market trends and practical
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From buying and selling to property management
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We cover it all so you can makesmart, informed decision in
this fast-growing market.
Let's dive in.
All right, welcome back toNorthwest Arkansas Investing
Podcast.
I've got Mr Tyler Overstreethere with us and co-host Brian
Wagers.
And man, we're excited to haveTyler on.
(00:40):
He's really kind ofspearheading a lot of growth and
helping shaping Bittenville andkind of what it is and what it
will be.
And, man, we're just pumped tohave you and thankful for your
time.
Yeah, excited to be here.
Thanks for inviting me.
Absolutely Thanks, tyler.
Yeah, no, we're good, we'resuper stoked to have you and I
think a lot of people areexcited to hear just about what
(01:02):
is going on in Bittenville andwhere it's headed.
And kind of people are excitedto hear just about you know what
, what uh is going on inBiddenville and you know where
it's headed and, um, kind ofwhat are going to be those key
pillars and and uh, is it aplace that people should be
investing in and uh be, you know, looking into the future?
And so before that, I'd love to, I'd love the audience to kind
of know a little bit more aboutyou and where you came from you
(01:24):
know where you've gone and kindof how you ended up where you
are.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Yeah, I've been now with Cityof Bentonville for going on, I
think, eight years in OctoberBefore that.
I'm originally from Joplin,Missouri, about an hour to the
north of here I went toundergrad, well, graduated from
high school in Joplin HighSchool.
In 2011, day of the Joplintornado Boy tough Went to
(01:52):
Missouri, southern, there intown, as a poli-sci grad and
then from there rolled directlyinto doing city planning work
for city of Joplin, my hometown.
Worked there for about threeyears, saw an opportunity work
open up here in Bentonville andI've been doing it ever since.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That's awesome.
So, and speaking of that, wejust watched the Joplin Netflix
documentary.
Insane If you haven't watchedit, you can watch it.
I was about to ask that.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
So, you were a part of that.
Yeah, okay so funny story, mybrother, I haven't watched it
yet I.
Okay so funny story, my brother, I haven't watched it yet I got
to get in the right headspacebefore I do that.
I don't know if I was, like it's, in the background of one of
those cliffs, I am.
So that was actually my brother.
He sent me a picture.
It was the picture of they hada picture on the screen of Will
(02:38):
Norton from graduation.
He's like hey, tyler, you'reNetflix famous.
It was the back of my head.
That's crazy, yeah.
And then actually I did aninterview not too long ago with
DBI as well, where they kind oftalked to me about that
experience of going through thetornado and ultimately making my
way here to Bentonville Holycow.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
That's crazy.
There's some adversity there.
I like Joplin we're not goingto talk too much about Joplin
but I like Joplin too, like asan investment, as an investor, I
think.
You know going North out ofBentonville past Bella Vista,
you know that I think theopportunity will continue to
grow that way for yourself.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Yeah, and you know I I kind of saw that well even
when I was working there inJoplin like the city has really
really good bones in the waythat the street grid network is
laid out, the sort of mix ofhousing and industry and
commercial areas, Like it's gota lot of potential from on a lot
of different standpoints.
Yeah, and my parents still livethere, so I go back, you know,
(03:42):
once or twice a month.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, I love it and yeah, just being so close to
it's obviously an easy triparound.
But yeah, I think, just as asNorthwest Arkansas especially
continues to thrive and do whatit's doing, I think other you
know cities around will continueto benefit.
Tulsa obviously is a great cityas well and is continuing to
(04:04):
thrive, and so, yeah, I thinkJoplin is also in kind of that
category as well, so did you seeBentonville like growing up in
Joplin.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Was Bentonville on your target then to try to come
and work for Bentonville, or didthat?
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know I think that kind of evolved once I got into
the planning space itselfNorthwest Arkansas.
You know we would come down andvisit Northwest Arkansas,
pinnacle and ultimately you knowmuch later Crystal Bridges and
everything.
But I think the thing withBentonville that stood out to me
was, having started in Joplin,I really, in that role, much
(04:44):
smaller planning staff, got todo a little bit of everything,
everything from grant managementto land use planning to
economic development work, and Ireally fell in love with the
land use and site planning sideof planning, like current
development development review.
So when I saw an opportunityopen up in Bentonville to really
specialize in that, seeing thepace of growth, the amount of
(05:06):
cool stuff going on, it seemedlike a natural fit to come down
here and be a part of it.
And that's something I eventell my new team members today
is and that was what eight yearsago now.
But even today, in my mindthere's not a better place to be
working in the planning fieldthan Northwest Arkansas, right
here right now, and morespecifically Bentonville.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
That timeline is great.
I came to NWA about 10 yearsago and then started investing
in real estate eight years agoand people always told me like
man, you should have seen thelast 10 years coming here.
Like how much growth have weseen in this past eight years?
But people then were saying youshould have seen.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, was there ever a thought of going anywhere else
to kind of to do something likethat?
Or was Northwest Arkansas kindof on your radar?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, you know, I think, northwest Arkansas,
what's great about it or what Ipersonally love about it?
It's close enough that you knowto back home.
I can visit my family my moreextended family is in the
Springfield area but it canreally serve as a great sort of
central hub between XNA, thehighway network.
You can get just about anywherein the country and it's a great
(06:18):
place to call home.
Yeah, and you know the kind ofboth you know.
And you know the kind of bothyou know, both from a living,
working and also from anamenities standpoint.
There's not a whole lot ofplaces like Northwest Arkansas.
Yeah, at the size and scale weare, like how many metros of
(06:38):
what 500,000 people can say okay, well, we have a world-class
university, we have the world'slargest company, we've got a
soccer team coming to town, anamphitheater, and the list goes
on and on and on of the type ofstuff that you can do right here
in our own backyard.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I love that.
I think about that all the timewhen I even just go to the lake
getting to drive 30 minutes togo enjoy the lake and then
getting to go back home thatnight.
Not many people get that kindof opportunity just to let's go
spend an evening at the lake orsomething like that.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
That's such a good point, Like even you know, I'm
getting ready after work todayto go mountain biking.
Yeah, and that's what I likeyou know, stereotypical.
You know, working forBentonville but like, the great
thing about that is when peoplevisit.
I talk to them about you know,just the sheer accessibility of
those amenities is like, yeah,there may be better mountain
(07:31):
biking facilities and you knowthe Pacific Northwest or
Colorado or California, takeyour pick but there's not a
whole lot of spots.
I can hop on a bike in themiddle of downtown Bentonville
and be on trails within lessthan five minutes.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think those things will
continue to evolve.
Obviously, we've seen what theWaltons kind of want to continue
to do and make Bella Vistaspecifically, so I think that's
super fun.
I like what you said about whatyou've been saying to your team
and that there's not a betterplace to be doing what you're
doing, because I don't thinkthere really is.
I mean, there are other peoplewould have arguments out there,
(08:09):
but I think especially thesenext 10 years, 20 years, uh, in
Biddenville and you know, reallyin in Northwest Arkansas, are
going to be really special anduh and uh, you know, I think I
think it'd be fun to see.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So yeah, I agree with that.
I think the amenities.
But we're always on the betlike Northwest Arkansas is
always on the best place to live, you know, always at the top of
growth of you know best milkinginstitutes.
It's on that high incomeearning but you also have it's
still relatively affordablecompared to the rest of the
(08:43):
country.
Like peopleation is killing it.
I saw an article this morninglike ice cream is up 33% and I
really felt that one.
I think everybody feelsinflation and I think Northwest
Arkansas still remainsaffordable and I think that's a
tip of the cat to you guys inthe planning department as to
(09:03):
how accessible you are.
And I think what other kind ofcities in Northwest Arkansas are
talking about right now.
They want to be accessible.
Obviously, rogers is trying tofigure that out right now with
roundabouts and some bike lanesand everything like that.
But I think it is really coolto be so close and you can just
walk and get on a bike and be ata world-class museum.
(09:25):
You can, you can be at, youknow, a cool, uh downtown area.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
So yeah, absolutely so.
Uh, tyler, I'm curious too, aswe, as we kind of get more into
you know what's going on in inbidenville specifically and what
you're doing.
Uh, tell me about kind of whatyour planning philosophy looks
like, what the city ofBiddenville's priorities are, as
we get into it, I think a lotof what we've heard, like even
(09:53):
the Skyline report that I wentto last, I think Mayor Orman was
there and she was talking aboutjust kind of the connectivity
and the livability and you knowhow we don't necessarily want to
be sprawled out and we want tokind of continue to promote
density in kind of the mainareas.
So I know that's a very broadquestion, but give us a little
(10:16):
bit of insight there if youdon't mind.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah so we actually just wrapped up with a huge
planning project in terms of ourfuture land use map here within
what February.
So it was a year-long planningproject and from the beginning
of that our whole goal waspromoting the type of
development we want to see whilepreserving what we love about
Bentonville, and what I mean bythat is.
(10:40):
You know, really the wholepurpose of land use and
strategic planning and strategicgrowth is we know growth is
inevitable, but making sure thatit happens in a fair and
responsible way so that as wegrow, as you know, as new
development comes to town, we'restill preserving the reason why
people chose to come to thecommunity in the first place to
(11:07):
come to the community in thefirst place.
And that whole effort, I think,is emblematic of really our
city's approach to planning, inthat we made it very clear it's
not the planning department'splan, heck, it's not even, like
the city, the organization'splan.
It was meant to be a communityvision.
So we went all in withengagement over the course of
the year, everything from pop-upevents, meeting people where
(11:28):
they are going, to our variousparks, facilities, going to
events, making sure we got asmuch input as possible on what
they wanted the future of theircity to look like, and that
ultimately culminated in what'scalled a future land use map,
which, the long and short of it,it just says how and where we
(11:48):
want to grow, be it in variousmixed use centers or hubs at
varying scales at the regional,the city or the local scale, the
types of neighborhoods thatpeople want to see, see
everything from the urban to thewalkable to the suburban and
then ultimately the corridorsthat connect those.
(12:09):
So you know that was that's sortof our, I would say, vision and
marching orders here in thenext 20 to 25 years is working
through and really trying toimplement that plan.
Um, and, like I said, likeengagement, communication with
the public, that's the mostimportant thing throughout this
(12:30):
process.
If you're not able to get thatbuy-in from the general public,
your development community, yourkey stakeholders, plan's only
as good as the people who areinvolved with it and you'll lose
momentum if people aren't onboard with it.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, absolutely, that's a great point.
Do you see?
I mean to me that sounds prettyunique.
To others it may not be, but doyou see other cities doing
those kind of things with theircitizens and stuff like that?
Not to talk anything bad aboutother cities, of course but just
curious, like that seems veryunique to me that y'all would be
(13:05):
really pursuing the opinions ofthe citizens?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Yeah, I think so.
Our last, our 2018 communityplan that was one of the big, I
would say, critiques of thateffort was we didn't do enough
engagement.
That was brought up during theadoption process, and so we said
, with this next plan, okay,well, let's go all out with
community engagement.
(13:28):
And so we did and I won't namenames.
But, yeah, I've had otherplanning directors or others in
the region tell me well, dang it, tyler, you went so all out.
Now it makes the rest of uslook bad when we don't do
everything that you guys did.
So it's, you know, I take thatas a compliment and and even
(13:48):
internally, we're like, oh man,now, now we've set a really high
bar for ourselves movingforward.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But yeah, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
That's so unique.
Exactly that's so unique aboutnorthwest arkansas is you, you
can have these sub marketswithin the msa of nwa.
Like keeps heading the bar highand I think there's some good
communication.
Maybe everything can beimproved.
Like City of Bentonville okay2018, we hear you, we'll improve
(14:13):
.
How do you think thecommunication is between the
municipalities?
Do you think that it soundslike it's pretty good?
You can talk to each other?
Is there room for improvement?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
there.
Yeah, I mean there's plenty ofavenues through which we've been
able to communicate over theyears, even since I've been here
, be it Regional PlanningCommission, which is the sort of
the regional metropolitanplanning organization that deals
with federal transportationfunding for the region, where
we're all members of thatorganization, be it things like
(14:52):
ULI Northwest Arkansas, whichmany of us engage with and
actually had the opportunity tokind of be a part of a learning
cohort a few years ago nowthrough a community of practice.
But, yeah, in general I wouldsay the sort of vibe and
environment between the variouscities and departments within
them is one of I call itcoopetition, Like we're all
cooperating with each other butwe're ultimately kind of
(15:14):
competing and one-upping eachother, which I think is a really
healthy environment for us tolive in.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I haven't heard that that's a good one, coopetition,
I love that Mark that down tolive in.
I haven't heard that that's agood one, coopetition, I love
that Mark that down.
Man, I think, just lookingthrough kind of what we had done
, you've obviously been involvedin some really cool projects.
Crystal Flats Tell me if I'mwrong on some of these, but
Crystal Flats, downtownBiddeville, redevelopment and
(15:41):
kind of what's been happeningthere the Walmart headquarters,
coordination and growth andeverything that's happened and
will continue to happen there.
The town branch revitalizationplan.
Yeah, the ledger what do youthink is some of your most proud
work and how that's kind ofcontinuing to, you know, even
flourish further than you wouldhave thought.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
You know, hard to pick between any of those.
For sure I have been involvedwith all of them, yep.
But you know, what I take themost pride in is like being able
to see a project from like allthe way, when it's for lack of a
better word putting a site planon a napkin or it's an idea in
(16:22):
someone's head, seeing itprogress through conceptual
meetings, pre-applicationmeetings, formal application,
you know, approval of the planset and then ultimately seeing
that project be built and seeingpeople being able to experience
it.
So, actually the first.
This is my first week on thejob.
(16:43):
I day one um, I'd done, youknow, some site planning during
my previous work in joplin.
But, all right, the my seniorplanner at the time.
He's like well, let's get youstarted.
You know, you can startreviewing some large scale, so
some development plans.
I'm like, okay, cool.
And he hands me one and heplops it down.
We're all digital now, but backthen it was a paper plan set.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Who about?
Speaker 4 (17:06):
that Thick and I'm flipping through it and I'm like
, what in the world am I lookingat?
Because, joplin, I'd seen yourtypical subdivision drive-thru
restaurant, that type ofdevelopment.
I'm sitting here staring at theplan set for the momentary.
That's like the first, my firstday on the job.
(17:28):
I'm reviewing an extension or adowntown location for a
world-class museum in CrystalBridges and like now to be able
to review that, theredevelopment plan of that
facility, and now see concertshappening, events and seeing
people interacting, enjoy thatspace.
(17:49):
Like to me that that's whatit's all about is being able to
see something from its earlieststages and ultimately see it,
you know, uh, brought to life inthe community and people being
able to to experience the typeof development we get to see.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
That's awesome.
Yeah, I think that's obviouslyis.
I mean, just based on youtalking about.
It seems like some reallyrewarding work and things that
you obviously get to enjoy inthe community as well yeah and
get to live out, and that'll besomething that you'll continue
to get to do along your careerand lifetime here in Bentonville
.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
I think that's awesome so, yeah, trying to, you
know, trying to start on my mykids early, like hey, there's a
new medical school here in town,you guys should exactly check
that out.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That's right.
That's one not only at alicewhelan school school of medicine
, I think that is uh, obviouslyyou're involved in that and
that's huge.
I think something we talkedabout on one of the past
episodes is how the medical.
You know there's obviouslywalmart and jb hunt and the
university, but you know there'sthis other industry, this
(18:55):
medical industry that iscontinuing to be.
You know, you have Little Rockthat you know was historically
like has a lot of medicalindustry, but I think that is
something that is kind of almostnot slept on for people here.
But you know, I think that'sgoing to be such a huge impact
too.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
Yeah, when I think about, you know, the, from a
economic development standpoint,like the, the sectors and the
industries that are really goingto drive this sort of next
phase of Bentonville.
It's outdoor recreation, it'shealthcare innovation, it's
aviation, with everything thathappens with the up summit on an
annual basis, and then, ofcourse, everything in between
(19:34):
with with walmart and arts andculture and and everything that
that that brings so a lot to beexcited about.
A lot, a lot of cool stuffhappening now and a lot of stuff
coming in in the very nearfuture yeah, I wish we had a
better idea of there's probablya lot of stuff you can't share.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Uh, yep, which is uh, which is fun so is it is a the
map that you guys put together.
Is that out?
Do you guys like the 2018 plan?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
yeah, so, and and the next phase of that, too, is we.
We just launched what.
What is today, uh, last week?
So, uh, phase one was the landuse map, and you can find all
the information about theproject on planbentonvillecom is
our website.
Phase two, though, is us reallysort of cities often.
(20:21):
You know that every city hasplans in some form or fashion.
What they don't often do enoughis go back and say, ok, we
adopted this plan.
And say, okay, we adopted thisplan.
Do the codes, the regulations,essentially the rule book we
operate off of, actually allowthis plan to be implemented on a
daily basis?
(20:41):
That's what we're doing now isrevisiting and overhauling our
zoning and development codes tobe a new unified development
code, or what we're calling theBentonville Community Code,
which would be basically the, orwhat we're calling the
Bentonville Community Code,which would be basically the
(21:02):
rulebook we're using when we'reevaluating everything from a
building permit all the way tolarge-scale development plans
like the ones we just talkedabout.
Making sure that the vision wesaid we were all about in phase
one is actually actionable whenwe're reviewing development
plans moving forward.
We just launched that processlast week through a public open
house had about 60 people theregive or take the draft.
(21:26):
Our sort of first draft of thecode is currently out for review
on planbettenvillecom 'retaking input on it, but over the
course of of this uh, summerand fall we're going to be
taking input, drafting andpublishing taking input,
drafting and publishing andtrying to get as much engagement
as possible on that effort aswell.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
that's awesome yeah, it's interesting that it's.
It is a.
It is a workable draft, andSpringdale recently put out
their future land use map too.
I don't know if there weremultiple drafts, but that's
pretty cool that you guys aredoing that and tweaking it.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Yeah, it actually so.
During the land use planportion, we went through a
week-long process called DesignWeek, which it's kind of a whole
the design philosophy.
Well, it get a bunch offeedback, change and reflect
that feedback.
(22:36):
Get a whole bunch more feedback, change and reflect and
ultimately you can do that in avery condensed time window and
get a much better result at theend of the day.
And I think that's a philosophywe've carried through of trying
to get as much engagement aspossible because, to what I was
talking about earlier, the moreengagement you get, the better
(22:56):
the final outcome is do you seelike from developers on getting
things reason like, how does arezone process work for someone?
Speaker 2 (23:05):
so for some of our listeners, and how open is the
city, open to something gettingrezone?
Obviously it's case by case.
You know very, location bylocation.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
Well, that's the big piece of that future land use
map is.
Each of those what we call placetypes or land use categories
have two or three zoningdistricts that align with that
broader place type.
So you know, if I'm looking at apiece of property, the first
place I need to look is at thefuture land use map and get an
idea of what zoning districtsmight be compatible with the
(23:40):
broader place type and land usecategory.
Because the first filter we asstaff use and planning
commission uses is does thisrequest align with the city's
adopted future land use map,with the city's adopted feature
lane use map?
And, of course, our team bothmyself and then the rest of our
development services team arealways open to meet, chat with
people.
If you have something you'rethinking about, if you're not
(24:02):
sure, our doors are always open.
We actually just not too longago, some of my staff created a
booking page where you'll see itin their email signature or on
our website where you can goonline, click, book a meeting
with a planner and it's pluggedinto our calendars with our
availability and you canschedule a 30 minute slot and
(24:25):
which is something that not alot of cities have that level of
accessibility to developers,the general public, but it's
something that's reallyimportant to us to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
I think it's super important getting the city's
feedback, getting an engineerfeedback, getting you know
involved, before you spend toomuch money and too much time
going down the path.
I think, like you mentioned,the zoning is the first place to
start figuring out.
You know, and sometimes youhave to figure out that zoning,
what that exactly means and ifit can be, if it's mod like able
(24:59):
to be modified.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
So I think that's huge just looking over, like
some of the blueprint for thefuture, that that you guys talk
about some of the goals that Ihave written down, uh, that that
you all are kind of at theforefront of encourage
mixedourage, mixed use andwalkability, improve housing
diversity and affordability,guide infill development to
(25:20):
reduce sprawl and update zoningcodes to reflect current needs.
I think a lot of the challengesthat we see in other cities in
northwest Arkansas is just notreally being proactive to the
needs of you know the city andtherefore you know discouraging
being kind of dense in areasthat we want to be dense and
(25:42):
discouraging affordability,because it's hard to you know,
if we can't build, it's hard tostay affordable in a place that
has so many people moving perday.
So what, how do you feel like?
I know?
I mean there's one thing thatyou mentioned with just the
accessibility for people to beable to get access to you guys
and your services.
But how else do you think, orhave you seen you all in you
(26:07):
know, partnering with developersand things like that that you
do, that you guys do really wellcompared to maybe others?
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, you know one, having that level of
accessibility to be able toanswer questions.
But also one thing that, bothtoday and in the future, we
really want to pride ourselveson is having clear and
consistent standards and clearand consistent processes.
So making sure that, regardlessof the scale of project,
(26:37):
regardless of what it is like,it's very clear and
understandable what the cityneeds, what the approval process
looks like.
And you know how do I get fromto harken back to what I was
talking about earlier how do Iget from that idea or that
concept to a finished product.
And that's something that is, Ithink, very you know, I've
(26:58):
heard, you know development isultimately going to do what's
marketable, what's predictableand what's profitable.
We can really impact one ofthose and that's that level of
predictability that serves abenefit both for the development
community but also for thegeneral public as well.
(27:18):
If the zoning code iscomprehensible to the average
person, if the land use plan isvery clear about what the future
vision for certain areas of thecity are, then ultimately that
means predictable outcomes fordevelopers, for the city and for
the general public.
And that's something that Ithink as we think about what
(27:41):
that sort of next 20 to 25 yearsof Bentonville looks like we
really want it to be.
You know, obviously nobody hasa crystal ball, there's no
telling what's going to beannounced tomorrow, but wanting
to have some level ofpredictability and wanting to
guide growth in a thoughtful way, I think are two huge things
(28:02):
for our team.
You mentioned, you know,walkability and mixed use.
I think that's something youknow.
Thinking about how we canencourage a variety of
transportation options, maketransportation convenient, no
matter your method of travel, beit walking, biking, driving or
even, you know, long-termtransit.
Thinking about how we canencourage a variety of housing
(28:26):
types at a variety of pricepoints, I think is huge too.
And ultimately like how do wemake sure that the type of
development we want to see isultimately convenient and
actionable?
And that's where our rules andregulations come into play.
Making sure we said we wantedthis through our land use
(28:49):
planning process.
Well, how do we actually makeit happen on a daily?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
basis.
Speaker 4 (28:53):
I think they're all huge pieces of what our team
deals with on a daily basis,absolutely.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah, I think.
I mean I think being.
It seems like you know, thesentiment is that Bentonville
continues to be very businessfriendly and I think that's a
great thing, which is awesome.
So random question I thinkMayor Orman mentioned this at
the Skyline report Bentonvillehas a bus system right, or did
(29:21):
y'all test the bus system?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
for a moment.
We do so you know, we and mostall of the cities in northwest
Arkansas, partner with OzarkRegional Transit as our regional
transit authority, ozarkRegional Transit as our regional
transit authority.
So we have available on-demandtransit where if someone there's
an through the ORT app, you canorder a ride from your phone
(29:42):
and there's a small fare to it.
It's like Uber, but transitversion of it.
And then the other bigger thingis we actually have a line.
It's brx, it runs, it's thefirst uh inner city route within
the region.
It runs from bentonville torogers and back runs on, I think
, about a 30 minute cycle time.
(30:04):
That's something we wereoperating this year and um hope
to continue to see those typesof efforts grow in the future.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
That's awesome.
A lot of people don't knowabout that though.
Yeah, I didn't know about thateither.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I mean, I think it can be a challenge, just the way
our roads are to have masspublic transit, and I think
that's probably why you are soconscious about walkability,
because of those challenges.
But yeah, I did not know aboutthat.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Yeah, and actually, uh, regional planning commission
is currently in the middle ofit's called a transit
alternative study, of seeing forvarious, uh, what we would call
high capacity transit options,like light rail, bus, rapid
transit and others.
Well, what ultimately is goingto make the most sense by the
(30:52):
2050 time year mark?
Because to me, I think I couldtalk about transit for a long
time.
But, mass transit, of like atrue regional transit route.
That seems to be the missingingredient for our region right
now of thinking about how do youconnect Bella Vista,
(31:13):
bentonville, rogers, springdale,fayetteville, lowell, like the
whole corridor, and regionaltransit's the way to do it.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah, absolutely no.
I think that's really at theforefront.
I mean, tell me how much that'sa conversation for you all,
because obviously that's theconversation with most residents
of Northwest Arkansas.
Arkansas is like, and how arewe going to face we need to
widen our roads, or we need toexpand our roads, or we need to
(31:40):
connect more roads so there'sless congestion, and stuff like
that.
I I assume that's at theforefront.
Obviously, expanding andconnecting, like one that comes
to mind, is like h street now,that now that it goes, spits out
, uh, on, I think, big Tree orDrive or whatever, almost to
Centerton, west Bentonville, andit goes all the way now through
(32:00):
where the Gateway Park will beand all the way out to the
highway which I think,personally, is huge.
I'm not sure how it's affectedtraffic one way or another quite
yet or not, but it's bikeableand it runs all the way through
downtown, through Walmart campus, which is awesome, but it's
also, you know, drivable andconnects you off of the main
(32:22):
14th Street that gets backed upand others.
So is that, I'm sure, witheverything going on, that's set
the forefront of conversation.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Yeah, I think that intersection between land use
and transportation is key of youknow, ultimately and that's
that earlier talking point, orwhat we were talking about a
minute ago of that housing,recreation, employment, all
being within, you know,relatively close proximity of
(32:53):
each other, is how you start toreduce some of those trips and
traffic on the roadways, on theone hand, but, on the other, it
that's where transportationoptions of making sure that our,
that our cities are walkable,that they're bikeable, that
there's some level oftransportation options, be it
(33:14):
transit and, ultimately,drivable as well.
That's how you create a systemwhereby people can, regardless
of their transportation choice,they can get where they need to
go in a convenient manner.
So that's something that Ithink is front of mind as we're
thinking about our land use planand as we're thinking about
what that next phase is, be itzoning and development codes, be
(33:38):
it future master street plansand transportation plans.
One thing, one way to affectthat through the land use plan,
is through this idea of what wecall neighborhood centers.
So, if you think aboutBentonville today, idea of what
we call neighborhood centers, soif you think about Bentonville
today, there's really one spotin town that's cool that people
(34:04):
go to grab a bite to eat, tohang out or whatever it might be
.
And that's really downtownBentonville the city square and
the outlying areas.
So what neighborhood centers are?
It's more of a neighborhoodscale.
It's like a miniature versionof a downtown where it has basic
goods and services and, withthe land use plan, what you'll
see is there's neighborhoodcenters kind of interspersed
throughout the city at placeswhere it makes sense, and so
(34:27):
what that does is, all of asudden, if I live in far
southwest Bentonville and I wantto grab a bite to eat or I need
to grab some groceries,whatever it might be well, I
don't have to drive all the wayacross town to get in downtown
Bentonville.
All of a sudden, there's a spotconveniently located within a
five-minute drive or a 10-minutewalk from my house, and I think
(34:49):
that's something.
That's a small thing but itcould have big impacts in the
future of trying to have itwhere not everybody's trying to
get to the same two or threespots in town.
Maybe there's a dozen withinproximity.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Do you take ideas from other, like because that is
so important with growth, tohave that?
And that also speaks to howmuch bentonville is growing.
That you know we talk about.
You know other cities maybetrying to have their own square,
like a sinterton or a johnson,or you know these others, but
bentonville wants to have more.
You know more squares and thenit's yeah, do you do you take
(35:26):
other, like other big cities?
And okay, this city hasdifferent districts that you
know, like a dallas or uh or aDenver, or is there any certain?
Are you looking all over the U?
S or any cities that you guys?
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Yeah, I think it's.
It's a little bit of everythingof, I think.
So you know, we have looked atjust as some examples, like you
know, um, austin Texas has theiractive transportation
department who does some awesomework.
You've got, um, you know, I wasjust in Providence, rhode
Island, and they do some.
Really they've done someawesome stuff with some of their
(36:00):
downtown redevelopment areas.
We've had team members go toRaleigh Durham for for
conferences, like I think that'ssomething that we're always and
it comes up often of like who'sour benchmark?
Who are we looking at it?
And the thing is, I think inBentonville and in Northwest
Arkansas generally, there'sreally not a region or a city
(36:23):
quite like the environment wehave.
So what we do is we look at inmultiple cities, we take what we
like, what their sort of bestpractices are and the lessons to
be learned, and we try toreplicate them or do our own
version of it here, because it'shard to pick one test market
when you know there may bethings that cities do that are
(36:44):
very good, very bad, and I thinkyou can learn and take lessons
from all of them.
Yeah, I think that's somethingthat we're always, I think,
trying to learn and evolve andkind of learn not just from what
other cities nationally aredoing, other cities in the
region, and maybe even learnsome from things we've done in
(37:05):
the past as well.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, I think it shows.
I think it shows for sure thatthat approach, I think it's what
creates.
It shows for sure that thatapproach, um, I think it's what
creates us, it's what makesnorthwest arkansas so unique and
always at a top 100.
But you know, I still thinkpeople are sleeping on us even
though we're at the.
You know, I don't know what itis, 25 or 26, but I think it
could be higher.
Um, in what stats they'relooking at if they've actually
(37:29):
lived here.
But just the people that comehere and not meaning to stay
here that end up staying here.
So many people from you knowsit, you know where I was born
and raised, cincinnati.
You have a ton of procter andgamble folks that went we're
gonna do the one to three yearsto and they end up staying here.
Or you have people coming fromthese other cities and and stay
here.
So I think that's really unique.
Uh, something for ourof-townlisteners is they'll realize
(37:54):
that there's no reallyskyscrapers in Bentonville.
There's no skyscrapers in thecity of Northwest Arkansas, you
know well.
Will Bentonville ever see askyscraper?
Or what is that prevent?
What's that look like for themto know?
Speaker 4 (38:08):
yeah, um, you know that's something.
Height was actually somethingwe talked a lot about through
the land use planning processand I I look at I mentioned it
earlier but like even to someextent, uh, providence, rhode
island and some of your likemajor metro cities, even
cincinnati to some's, you know,I think that sort of even in a
(38:33):
central business district, whenI think about Northwest Arkansas
and what makes it special, likethat sort of three to six story
scale like keeps a level ofwalkability and a level of scale
that it's not out of contextwith what people are used to,
and so like we're not in a lotof ways, with the exception of
(38:54):
like downtown Bentonville orlike Uptown Rogers, we're not
even like past that scale yet.
So I think it's I don't know,that's a good question, I think,
when I think about sort of aheight, even with the new code
our draft we've got out, I thinkthe tallest we've got would be
(39:15):
like 10 stories.
And I think an 8 to 10 storycity, in areas that it makes
sense, is about as tall as youwould probably see Bentonville
go, and there's a variety ofreasons for that.
See Bentonville go, and there'sa variety of reasons for that.
But I think once you getoverpowered with skyscrapers or
whatever it might be, you startto lose some of the character
(39:38):
and the identity of what thecity was meant to be.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
You become a concrete jungle to my friends in Dallas
and I think that's really uniquethere.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Yeah, I mean I think about all the cities in
Northwest Arkansas and it'ssomething I really love about
our region.
Each of us has like our own,like unique identity to what we
do.
You know Fayetteville has theuniversity.
Springdale is very much like amore industrialized workforce
type of community.
Rogers is very well known nowfor what happens in you know,
(40:14):
Pinnacle area and almost beinglike an entertainment district
for the region.
Bentonville is known for thesquare and that sort of like you
know meshing of this small towncharm, while also having the
world's largest company in ourown backyard.
And then you know Bella Vista,with their focus on outdoor
(40:35):
recreation and everything elsein between.
And you know, it's something Ireally appreciate about our
region and something that, as wethink about it, both from a
Bentonville level but also for aregional level, yeah, we know
we're going to grow.
So, for a regional level, yeah,we know we're going to grow,
growth is going to happen, butmaking sure that we keep what
makes our communities unique aswe navigate that process.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Yeah, absolutely, I would agree.
So well put yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
That's why I'll live and invest here until I die.
You know, I think I'm here forthe long term after that.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Agreed and going back to kind of those, uh, those
other downtown options kind of.
I don't know how you guys wouldphrase that necessarily, but I
I feel like that's something.
I went to nashville years agoand I feel like that's the kind
of a feel that I got in.
Nashville is like in in dallas,like you have like the bishop
arts district, all that kind ofstuff, but uh, but like almost
(41:27):
communities that would have, youknow, walkability to some
restaurants and stuff like that.
Um, sounds like that's whatbidenville is doing and and, uh,
I even think about it, for likethe walmart campus and all the
retail that's coming to theirrice barbecue, you know, the
japanese restaurant, the tapasbar, whatever a lot of cool
(41:49):
stuff happening.
We live just south of that thecampus and so that's all going
to be walkable for us.
We're pumped, so, uh, butthat's I feel like that's going
to be a pocket where a lot ofpeople will be able to walk,
bike, you know, connected to thetrails, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (42:02):
Yeah, I mean, I think about that uh eighth street.
You know is is really going tobecome the key east west
corridor within withinbentonville itself.
Between you mentioned itearlier uh gateway park, the old
home office campus where it wasrecently announced that a new
stem university is going to begoing in there.
(42:23):
You've got new walmart homeoffice campus, you've got uh nAC
and then, ultimately, themedical district announcement
that was made within proximityof there as well.
Like you, think about what thatcorridor looks like now and
then, or even gosh, what itlooked like five years ago and
(42:46):
what it's going to look like nowand then, five years from now
it's, it's going to be a bigchange.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
I love that.
So, Tyler, just as we, as wewrap up, we'd love to kind of
talk through some things thatare exciting you the most for
the future.
So obviously there's a lot youcan't share, Uh, but what?
What do you see is?
You know, we've obviously got alot of momentum in the
healthcare space and the thingsthat are happening over there.
(43:13):
We've got a lot of momentumwith H-Tree, which you just
wrapped up on there.
What are some things thatyou're most excited about?
Maybe something you can tellabout too?
Speaker 4 (43:24):
Yeah, I mean, I've talked about it a lot but, like,
the big project, big focus forus these next six months or so
is going to be that new code,because the big piece of that is
, and our big goal is makingsure that it is, that it's
predictable, it's consistent andultimately, when I think about
(43:45):
you know what, that's, what thewhat the future holds like, that
becomes our roadmap and ourblueprint that we're following
on a daily basis is the codes,the rules, the regulations that
when a development comes to us,you know what is.
It's, ultimately, what are therules we're following when we're
evaluating those requests Likethat's.
(44:05):
I know it's very technical, butI mean that's a huge deal of
people knowing when I come tothe city, okay, these are the
rules I got to follow and makingsure that we, the city and the
development is sticking to those.
I'm kind of excited to seewhere the first one of those
starts to develop.
I think that's a it's a coolconcept.
(44:32):
It's not necessarily a newconcept, but it's new to
Bentonville and seeing like,what does that sort of secondary
miniature you know walkablearea look like and you know?
And ultimately, seeing that aswe to hearken back to what we
were talking about earlier.
Seeing that come out of theground, seeing people enjoy that
(44:54):
that type of amenity space, Ithink will be super, super cool
sounds like a street could havelike over towards that area.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
I mean, even the home campus is even becoming its own
square, like, yeah, that'sgoing to be a place to be so
yeah, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:10):
I mean uh, yeah, it is, and that's that's the cool
part is seeing these sort of umsecondary and tertiary areas of
the city develop and seeing coolstuff happening and people
enjoying these new spaces.
I mean, gosh, we didn't eventalk about the Greenway, but
when you think about the campus,seeing, like the members of the
(45:32):
general public being able toride right through the middle or
walk right through the middleof the Walmart Home Office
campus on our regional Greenwayfacility is such a huge deal,
such a unique thing to us and aunique thing when you think
about your average corporatecampus of having, you know, that
kind of recreational amenityrunning right through the middle
(45:52):
of it.
I think continued stuff likethat, be it in mountain biking
trail and walkability andbikeability enhancements, are
something you're going to seethroughout the city in the
future.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
I love that.
Tyler, what would you say toobviously our audiences,
investors and people that areinterested in putting money in
real estate or resources intoreal estate and other things in
Northwest Arkansas, specificallyfor Biddenville?
What would you say to somebodythat's maybe on the know might
(46:29):
be looking to jump intoBentonville specifically?
Speaker 4 (46:33):
I would say same thing.
You know, there's not a betterplace than where we are right
now it is, and there's notanother place quite like
Bentonville, arkansas, with thatintersection we have of
recreational amenities, parksand open spaces, major
employment and also sort of thatintentional future we've
(46:57):
charted for ourselves, and Iwould just invite people to be a
part of that.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
I think that's great.
What would you say to adeveloper that is a new
developer?
I think what's also, you know,we didn't get to talk about, but
Bentonville is very open fordevelopment and I had Blue Crane
actually speak at a CCC eventand how they want to spur other.
You know it's not just BlueCrane developing, they want
(47:24):
actually to spur other.
You know developers too,whether that's someone who's
doing their first development, aone and done development, or
someone who wants to develop.
So I think and aside, I thinkthat the city has done well with
that and so has some of theother developers.
But what would you say to a newdeveloper who's trying to take
(47:44):
that piece of paper plan andbuild something in the last 24
months?
Speaker 4 (47:50):
I mean, we're here as a resource.
Our doors are always open,we're happy to kind of help
chart people through that,through that process, and we
have some some success storieswith incremental developers who
have, you know, started at at avery small level, you know,
maybe doing some single familyhomes, some infill, who
ultimately have grown now intodoing major, you know
(48:12):
multifamily projects.
Just in the time that I've beenhere and and that's something
that that's super rewarding too,of like seeing and knowing
someone who might've startedwith doing some what we would
call single family attached ortownhouses or even just some
single family infill to nowthey're doing, you know, one,
(48:33):
two, 300 unit projects.
That's always super cool to seebecause it's, you know, they
grow and they learn through theprocess and we're learning right
alongside them.
It's awesome.
Speaker 3 (48:47):
Well, tyler, I think I mean you obviously have an
awesome position in what'shappening in Bentonville.
Bentonville is one of the mostdynamic cities, I would argue,
in the country.
I think there's a lot of proofto back that definitely in
Arkansas, and I think there's alot of really cool things coming
.
We really appreciate your time.
I know it's not easy to stepaway from work or family or
(49:09):
anything like that, but we'regrateful for your time and
sharing all your knowledge andkind of what's going on in the
city.
So we appreciate you.
Speaker 4 (49:17):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me today.
I really appreciated theconversation and happy to come
back anytime.
Speaker 3 (49:23):
Awesome.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Awesome.
Thanks, Tyler.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Well, thanks for listening to Northwest Arkansas
Investing Podcast with TylerOverstreet and Brian Wagers, and
we'll talk to you next time.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
All right, see you guys.
Speaker 1 (49:33):
Again, thank you guys for tuning in.
I'm going to go ahead and listsome sponsors off here.
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(50:17):
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They're a local company.
They do great work,specifically Kayla Phillips.
I can speak personally on thissponsor because I use kayla for
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Speaker 2 (53:16):
Special thanks to one of our sponsors, who I've
worked with personally onmultifamily commercial loans as
well as business acquisitions.
People's Bank works withentrepreneurs, investors, deal
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Speaker 1 (54:04):
If you enjoyed the show, make sure to give us a
follow on your favorite podcastplatform so you never miss an
update.
Speaker 2 (54:09):
Don't forget to connect with us on Instagram,
facebook and LinkedIn for morereal estate insights and behind
the scenes content.
Speaker 3 (54:15):
Have a question you want us to cover, send it our
way, and if you're interested insponsoring the show, visit
nwainvestingcom to get in touch.
Thanks for listening and we'llsee you next time.
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