Fayetteville Whataburger Plans Progress

Possible Whole Foods Market, Marinoni Development Move Forward

— Construction could begin on the state's second Whataburger restaurant in the next couple of months.

The San Antonio-based fast-food chain, not to be confused with Feltner's Whatta-Burger in Russellville, has been a dietary staple in Texas for decades. Whataburger's only other Arkansas location is in Texarkana.

At A Glance

Whataburger

Whataburger is a privately-held fast-food chain founded by Harmon Dobson in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950. The company is known for its hamburgers and french fries and often its A-frame building design. There are more than 700 Whataburger locations in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Source: Whataburger.com

A Fayetteville store is planned at 1956 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., east of Town & Country Liquor, where an E-Z Mart convenience store used to be located. According to plans reviewed Wednesday by city planners and engineers, the 1.3-acre development will also replace a Shelter Insurance office at 1920 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

King Boulevard already features a McDonald's, Hardee's, Braum's, Burger King, Wendy's, Sonic Drive-In and a number of other fast-food restaurants.

A Whataburger spokeswoman wasn't able to say Wednesday how the company will differentiate itself from the other chains.

Instead, she emailed a statement by James Turcotte, senior vice president for Whataburger Real Estate.

"Whataburger is excited about the opportunity and potential of bringing a new restaurant to this community," Turcotte said.

The development is on track for Planning Commission review May 12.

Two other projects -- a possible College Avenue Whole Foods Market and a cottage-style student housing complex on land owned by Fayetteville's Marinoni family -- also moved on to the next step in the review process Wednesday.

A Whole Foods spokeswoman earlier this month said the Austin, Texas-based supermarket chain doesn't have immediate plans for a Fayetteville location despite preliminary drawings that clearly depict a shopping center anchored by a 35,500-square-foot Whole Foods Market. The project is planned at 3535 N. College Ave., north of Lewis Ford and south of the Wayne Young Law Firm, where a number of different car dealerships have operated during the past decade.

The Marinoni land, southeast of Wedington Drive and Interstate 540, has been mostly undeveloped pasture for decades.

A company called Capstone Collegiate Communities submitted zoning and development plans to the city earlier this month for a 150-unit, 702-bedroom complex on about one-quarter of the roughly 112-acre Marinoni property.

Planners and engineers discussed a number of different aspects of the development Wednesday, including tree mitigation, water line extension, stormwater retention and fire suppression. The most concerning part of the project, for many neighbors, is sure to be possible street connections to the east.

Andrew Garner, city planning director, recommended connecting to Sang Avenue via Lonnie Avenue to the northeast and/or Lincolnwood Drive, south of Temple Shalom.

Initial plans from Capstone showed a single access point onto Wedington, where a new traffic signal could be built at the Lonnie Avenue/Porter Road intersection.

City Plan 2030, approved by Fayetteville aldermen in July 2011, prioritizes an interconnected system of city streets.

"Generally, more streets per square mile result in a more open network, and drivers can avoid the degree of peak hour congestion that occurs when a limited number of large streets become congested," the plan states. "Two two-lane roads are better than one four-lane road. Traffic can be easily dispersed within a road network, rather than all motorists having to depend on one major thoroughfare."

NW News on 04/17/2014

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