New Lowell Kum & Go Opening In November; Other Building Projects Include Medical Clinic

Convenience Store, Clinic Among Lowell Building Projects

A new convenience store and medical clinic will open in Lowell in the next five months.

Kris Sullivan, city planning director, said those are just two of the construction projects popping up across the city.

At A Glance

Lowell Building

Lowell issued 14 commercial building permits valued at $1.32 million through July.

Below are annual commercial building permits issued by Lowell between 2009 and 2013.

• 2009: 14 permits valued at $910,523

• 2010: 31 permits valued at $4.14 million

• 2011: 21 permits valued at $1.59 million

• 2012: 30 permits valued at $10.03 million

• 2013: 30 permits valued at $9.26 million

Source: Lowell Building Services

"It will be very positive," she said.

Kum & Go is building a convenience store and fuel station on the northwest corner of the Monroe Avenue and Bloomington Street, across the street from its current location. Workers have torn down the Shiloh General Store and Happy Bays Car Wash on the property to make room for the store.

The West Des Moines, Iowa-based company plans to open in November, said Traci Rodemeyer, Kum & Go's marketing and communications manager.

The 5,000-square-foot store will be nearly twice the size of the existing location to the south and will sell fresh food including made-to-order pizzas and deli sandwiches, she said.

Kum & Go has 17 stores across Northwest Arkansas.

Further west on Monroe Avenue, near the Interstate 49 interchange, are two building projects by John Stuckey, owner of property development firm Gottlieb Corp. in Fayetteville.

Stuckey owns The Vineyards along Dixieland Street, south of Monroe Avenue.

One new building nearing completion west of McDonald's is leased to Blue Cross Blue Shield. The company will use the building for offices and a new clinic, according to Mel Blackwood, regional executive of Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Blackwood said Blue Cross is negotiating with Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville to run the clinic.

"When we have all details worked to make sure the clinic will meet the needs of our members, we will provide more details," he wrote in an email. "Our target date is to open the clinic in January 2015."

A second building in The Vineyards is in the early construction stages directly south of McDonald's. Stuckey said Kumon Math and Reading Center of Lowell will move into the new space. The center is in another building owned by Stuckey across the street at 117 S. Dixieland St. Suite A.

"Kumon needed to expand, " Stuckey said.

Evolve Paleo Chef, a Kansas City, Kan.-based firm, will move into Kumon's current location, he said. The company sells prepared foods based on a Paleo diet composed of meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and berries with no sugar, dairy or gluten.

"We are now built-out on that corner," Stuckey said. "Things are picking up."

The Northwest Arkansas Board of Realtors is considering building a new office and meeting space on Goad Springs Street, the first road turning south on Monroe Avenue west of I-49.

Ron Stinchcomb, chairman of the Realtors' board Facilities Committee, said they purchased four acres at 403 N. Goad Springs Road. Plans include 3,500 square feet of office and more than 8,000 square feet of meeting space. He said the proposal will go before the board's more than 1,800 members for approval next month but said he anticipates getting the OK to move ahead.

He said it is an aggressive timeline, but hopes the building is complete by December.

The new location comes after the area's three boards of Realtors consolidated. Lowell was selected for the new office because of its central location, he said.

"It seems like we've grown to the point where we identify ourselves as being from Northwest Arkansas and not just one town," he said. "We want to serve our membership under those terms."

A company identified as Rogers Warehouse Development is building a 21,300-square-foot warehouse with a small office area on the northeast corner of Lincoln Street and Commercial Avenue. The building sits on 2.05 acres.

Bill McClard, managing partner of the development group, said the project should be done in the next 60 days and he is talking to several possible tenants.

"We have five other warehouse buildings in Lowell, and they are 100 percent full," he said. "We are hoping to get a lease signed pretty quickly on the new building."

NW News on 08/14/2014

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