Neighborhood Markets Spring Up In Bentonville, Centerton

— Warmer weather has allowed construction crews to continue work on two Walmart Neighborhood Markets.

The concrete walls for one market are being constructed at a site north of Arkansas 102 where it intersects with Greenhouse Road in Centerton.

AT A GLANCE

There are 346 Walmart Neighborhood Markets across the United States, 14 of which are in Arkansas.

Source: Walmart

Construction for the 41,839-square-foot market is expected to be finished by the end of May. It's slated to open the third week of June, said Bill Edwards, Centerton mayor.

"It's another convenience for our citizens," he said. "We have Harps. This will give people another option."

It will be Walmart's first operation in Centerton.

Edwards said he hopes the store will draw customers from west Bentonville as well as Centerton.

The three-way intersection will become a four-way intersection with the development. A fourth light will be added on the intersection's south side, Edwards said.

A fueling station will be built on the lot west of the market. The station will be in the Bentonville city limits. The large-scale development plan is expected to go before planning commissioners April 1.

Centerton will not get city sales tax from fuel sales because the station will be in Bentonville, but it will get county sales tax, Edwards said.

This isn't the first time Bentonville has split projects with another city. Key Point Church is being constructed on the city line adjacent to Rogers. A portion of its parking lot will be in Rogers, said Beau Thompson, city planner.

Another Neighborhood Market will anchor the northwest corner of the downtown Bentonville square where the old Midtown Shopping Center was.

That market will be slightly smaller -- 31,555 square feet -- than the Centerton store, according to the Planning Commission staff report. The large-scale development was approved in December 2012.

The Neighborhood Market would be one of three buildings in the development. It will be north of two, three-story buildings that will face Second Street, according to the site plan.

Those buildings each will have 20,000 square feet of office space between the second and third floors. There will be 5,500 square feet of retail space on the first floor of the west building and 8,000 square feet in the east building.

A three-story parking garage will be constructed west of the Neighborhood Market and will provide 253 downtown parking spaces, according to the planning commission staff report. Street parking also will be installed along Northwest Second and North Main streets.

Previous NWA Media articles report the market is expected to open in early 2015.

Walton 5 and 10 Cent Stores owns the property the development will be built on, and Walton Enterprises maintains it.

Doug Bryant with Walton Enterprises did not return a phone call seeking comment before press time.

Bentonville has other Neighborhood Markets at 3510 S.E. 14th St. and 906 S.W. Regional Airport Blvd.

NW News on 03/18/2014

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