Despite having selected two finalists to build an on-campus hotel at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the committee evaluating the groups has no deadline to make a recommendation to Chancellor David Gearhart.
“We’re not trying to be open by a certain date or anything like that,” said David Davies, assistant vice provost for finance and administration of student affairs.
The committee also might decide “that this isn’t the right time” to move forward with the project, Davies said.
“We just want to figure out what’s right for the university, and there’s no competing use for the particular piece of property that we have,” Davies said. “It’s notlike, OK, if we don’t do this, it needs to be a classroom building.”
In soliciting proposals for the project, the university noted that a study commissioned by UA recommended a 125- to 150-bed hotel with conference space and food service. The hotel would be located near buildings that are part of the Sam M. Walton College of Business.
The university received three “serious” proposals, Davies said, and named two finalists in June: University Hospitality Group, which lists among its leaders Gerald Alley, president of Arlington, Texas-based developer Con-Real, who has Arkansas and UA ties, and SC Retail/FLIK/Acquest, a collaborative effort that at one time involved Northwest Arkansas-based businessmanDewitt Smith.
However, Smith said he is no longer involved with the proposal. Smith and another Northwest Arkansas businessman, Tom Gordon, one of the founders of Slim Chickens restaurant chain, were listed as principals with SC Retail. Attempts to reach Gordon were unsuccessful Friday. Acquest Realty Advisors Inc. is based in Michigan.
FLIK International is a wholly owned operating company of Compass Group, an organization that also includes Chartwells, a provider of dining services for UA. FLIK President Scott Davis said he wasn’t aware of any Arkansas business people joining the development proposal.
The proposal submitted by Alley’s group also mentions FLIK as possibly involved with hotel operations. Among those partnering with Alley is Sam Alley and VCC LLC/Bedrock Commercial, which recently acquired and renovated the Chancellor Hotel in Fayetteville. There is no family relation between Gerald Alley and Sam Alley. Both are UA alumni.
Each group gave a presentation in February. Davies said the committee had follow-up questions for the groups.
Once a recommendation is made to Gearhart and his executive committee, a decision to accept a proposal would require approval from the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees, Davies said.
The project, which also includes a conference center, will likely cost about $35 million, he said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/29/2014