Trustees approve UA land purchases

The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville was given approval Friday to purchase about $2.5 million in property for new intramural fields for the campus.

The University of Arkansas board of trustees voted unanimously Friday to purchase two easements and six parcels of land, most located along West Treat Street, South Treat Drive and Razorback Road.

UA-Fayetteville Chancellor G. David Gearhart told the board the intramural fields are often used by students well after midnight.

“This is a major investment for us and very good for our students,” Gearhart said.

The parcels are all connected and are south of the Cato Springs Research Center between Fulbright Expressway, off Exit 60, and Razorback Road.

“That’s a nice piece of property to put together,” trustee Ben Hyneman of Jonesboro said.

The plots will be purchased from five different owners, some of whom agreed to sell their properties to UA at prices well below their appraised value, saving the university about $400,000.

The 10.28-acre parcel located off South Treat Drive and Fulbright Expressway in Fayetteville was appraised at $620,000, but the owner, Martin Treat, agreed to sell the property for $400,000 - a savings of $220,000.

Arvest Bank, the owner of the property located south of West Treat Street and east of Fulbright Expressway, sold12.44 acres to the university for $425,000 - $160,000 less than the appraised value.

Two other parcels were purchased for about $20,000 less than the appraised value.

Gearhart told the board that in total, nearly 66 acres of land will be purchased for an average of $62,000 per acre.

Three of the properties have houses located on them, which Gearhart said will continue to generate rental revenue until they are demolished during the fields’ construction phase. Gearhart did not have a date of when project development will begin.

Funding for the property purchase will come from the University’s Property Purchase Reserves.

Also on Friday, the board gave its approval to grant an easement to Cox Communications for the purpose of furnishing communication services to a new classroom facility at Duncan Avenue and Dickson Street. Another right of way and easement were granted to Southwestern Electric Power Co. to furnish electricity to the facility.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 01/25/2014

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