JOHNSON -- Miles James hopes the increasing commercial development activity helps him sell a historic piece of Johnson real estate.
The Northwest Arkansas chef listed the 4.7 acres, the 48-room Inn at the Mill and its 200-seat restaurant, James at the Mill, last summer for nearly $7 million. The listing expired without a buyer, but James said he plans on re-listing it. The mill is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mill history
• The Johnson Mill was registered as a tax-paying business in 1835.
• The mill and the Johnson House across from the inn and not part of the hotel property, were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Johnson House is owned by Mountainback LLC and is available for nightly and weekly rental.
• The mill was partially burned by retreating Confederate soldiers after the battle of Pea Ridge in 1862 and was rebuilt in 1867.
• Jim Lambeth became the mill’s third owner when he bought it in 1990. He moved his architecture business to the property and opened the Inn at the Mill in 1992.
• Chef Miles James, Lambeth’s son-in-law, got involved in the project in 1994 when James at the Mill opened.
Source: Staff report
"It's one of those things with a large development coming next to us, we thought there might be some interest in our property," he said. "We would sell the property for the right price, and what I had it listed for is the right price."
James is referring to Johnson Square, a 60-acre planned urban development near the intersection of Johnson Mill Boulevard and Main Drive. Mayor Chris Keeney said the mixed-use project will include multi- and single-family homes, retail and commercial developments.
Johnson Square is a project of commercial real estate firm Colliers International. The property is owned by Johnson Land Holdings. Representatives from Colliers declined to comment on the project.
"Mixed-use is attractive because it can be a catalyst for other developments," said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Development at the University of Arkansas.
Commercial development was limited for years in Johnson because the city has limited Interstate 49 frontage, but Deck said improvements completed a couple of years ago to Johnson Mill Boulevard and Don Tyson Parkway just to the north in Springdale helped.
"It's all about access," she said.
A strip center opened across from the Inn at the Mill. A request for a liquor store is set to go before the Planning Commission on April 7 on property close by owned by the James A. Phillips Revocable Trust. A medical clinic is under construction at the intersection of Johnson Mill Boulevard and Main Street.
"Definitely the road has helped," Keeney said. "It is a modern piece of infrastructure that allowed people to access parts of the city they could not reach before."
Selling the Inn at the Mill isn't a pressing matter for James and his wife, Courtney. He said he would like to concentrate on other projects such as consulting and opening other eateries.
Siloam Springs' 28 Springs is one example of his consulting work. He helped Shelley and Todd Simmons start the restaurant in 2012, helping them take the project from idea to concept, James said.
He opened a wood-fired pizzeria with co-owner Tyler Austin last spring. MJ Pizzeria opened next to Macadoodle's liquor store off Elm Springs Road in Springdale, and they hope to open another soon in Rogers.
James said he's open to many possibilities for the inn such as leasing the restaurant back or keeping the entire property and doing something new with it.
"It's a unique property, and selling it is not something we take lightly," he said.
The property has been in the family since 1990 when his father-in-law, Jim Lambeth, purchased it.
Barbara Taylor, M&A adviser and co-owner of Allan Taylor & Company, is helping James sell the property. Allan Taylor & Company is a boutique mergers and acquisitions firm in Bentonville.
She said creating a market for a property as unique as the inn is a fairly involved process requiring a nationwide approach.
"While we'd love to see a local buyer step forward and acquire the inn, the most serious interest has come from boutique hotel investment groups located in Texas, Florida and the Northeast," she wrote in an email. "Ten years ago Northwest Arkansas was considered a hidden gem; now it pops up on a lot of radar screens."
NW News on 03/31/2016