FAYETTEVILLE — An abandoned factory in southeast Fayetteville that, at one point, was to be the home of the Fayetteville Police Department could end up as a gasoline station.
Fast Facts
Property
The City Council bought the 11.2-acre Tyson Mexican Original property for $1.1 million in November 2004. Part of the land was used to realign Huntsville Road and to build a new fire station.
Kum & Go convenience stores has offered to buy 1.9 acres of the property for $900,000. The company would pay up to $100,000 to demolish the former tortilla and corn chip factory and split the cost of any street improvements with the city.
Source: City Of Fayetteville
City Attorney Kit Williams has been negotiating the sale of the city-owned former Tyson Mexican Original plant at Huntsville and Happy Hollow roads to Kum & Go convenience stores, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
Williams and Mayor Lioneld Jordan said the company’s $900,000 offer to buy about one-fifth of the 10-acre property gives the city an opportunity to recoup some of what the city paid for it.
Jordan said the building has become an eyesore at a key intersection in town.
“If we didn’t do anything but tear the building down, that would be an improvement,” Jordan said.
According to terms of a Dec. 14 offer from Kum & Go, the company would split the cost of any street improvements with the city and would pay up to $100,000 to demolish the building. Williams estimated it would cost at least $475,000 to raze the dilapidated structure.
He said having Kum & Go develop 1.9 acres along Huntsville Road would increase the value of a second lot the city owns along Happy Hollow Road. Williams said the city could use a third lot on the south end of the property for office space. He suggested a new police station or Parks and Recreation building.
“I think that when we sell the second lot, we’ll make back more than every penny we spent on (the Tyson property),” Williams said.
Former Mayor Dan Coody negotiated the purchase of the property for $1.1 million in 2004.
Ideas for the shuttered Tyson plant have included a joint command center for the Police and Fire departments and a community arts center. Various nonprofit groups have used the building for storage space, and the building served as headquarters for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in 2005.
Coody has said the city saved on the cost of acquiring property for Huntsville Road realignment and a new fire station.
Former Ward 2 Alderman Kyle Cook, the only City Council member to vote against the purchase in 2004, said Tuesday he’d be glad to see the city sell the property. Cook had criticized the purchase, warning against unforeseen costs and saying the city didn’t have a long-term plan for the building.
At one point the city was spending about $4,500 monthly on utilities at the building, according to previous NWA Media reports. Paul Becker, finance director, said Tuesday all utilities were shut off several years ago.
As part of Kum & Go's proposed contract, city officials must guarantee there are no underground storage tanks of hazardous materials, such as asbestos or radon gas, on the premises. The contract asks the city to restrict other gasoline stations, convenience stores, tobacco shops or liquor stores within one mile.
Kum & Go has become an ever-increasing presence in Northwest Arkansas. According to the company’s website, 14 Kum & Go stores are in Washington and Benton counties. That figure does not include a gas station being built on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, just west of Hill Avenue. A project manager for the company did not return a phone message left Tuesday afternoon.
Williams said the City Council will likely consider selling the property at its Jan. 17 meeting.