FAYETTEVILLE — Developers of a large property just west of campus want to open the space to the public while maintaining the character neighbors appreciate.
Specialized Real Estate, a property management company in the city, owns nearly 144 acres at Markham Hill, which includes the Pratt Place Inn and Barn. The property stayed in the Pratt family from the early 1900s until Specialized bought it in a bankruptcy sale two years ago.
The acres of woods, springs and rock formations have remained largely unchanged through generations. The University Heights neighborhood lies just northeast, with Razorback Stadium to the east and Interstate 49 on the western border.
The open 12 acres or so at the top of the mountain has served as a wedding and event space since 2005. Pratt Place Inn boasts seven luxury rooms. The barn is home to a group of Haflinger horses who love peppermints. Fayetteville Roots Festival hosted music there last year, and plans to do so again this year. A Tudor-style cottage built in 1929 is on the National Register of Historic Places. The area on top of the hill is on the state register.
Specialized plans to add a restaurant to the inn, build a two- or three-story hotel and cabins to accommodate 80 more guests, convert a cottage into a bar or coffee area, put in commercial space for bodegas or shops and mix in homes throughout the site.
The developers say they want to incorporate the rustic surroundings with low-impact development. Some neighbors worry one of the few vast, natural refuges within the city limits will look drastically different.
DON’T FIGHT THE SITE
The mantra of the development is “Don’t fight the site,” said Lawrence Finn, development manager with Specialized who is leading the project. The idea is to use the site’s natural resources as a draw for visitors and potential homeowners, he said.
“What we use as the fundamental baseline is conservation and preservation, and building in and around that,” Finn said.
Sarah King, marketing and community outreach coordinator, said Markham Hill doesn’t typically come up on people’s radars when it comes to hang-out spots in the city. The group would like to change that, while maintaining the area’s character.
The developers included a bill of assurance with their plan to preserve at least 60 acres. About 44 acres will lie west of the main development, maintaining the view shed from I-49.
“The moment this zoning passes, we will be bound for that area to be in permanent conservation,” King said.
Specialized will have two items before the Planning Commission on Aug. 27 which will rezone the property and change the plan for the development area, called a planned zoning district, where Pratt Place Inn and Barn sits.
Right now, everything but the planned zoning district is zoned for single-family homes, up to four units per acre. The planned zoning district takes up more than 70 acres. Specialized wants to reduce that area to 24 acres. The rest of the 75 acres at the site would be rezoned to a residential district designed to encourage a diversity of housing types, called residential intermediate — urban.
Homes can be single-family, duplexes, triplexes or quadplexes under that zoning. Accessory dwelling units and cluster homes that share a courtyard also are allowed. The zoning is intended to allow more flexibility than the current single-family home zoning.
That flexibility will be needed to contend with the topography of the area, Finn said. The homes that will sit between the Pratt Place Inn and Barn grounds to the east and preserved area to the west will be phased in over 10-15 years, he said.
“Our design to build that out, to be perfectly honest, has not yet been engineered,” Finn said.
The bill of assurance guarantees at least 60 acres will be preserved, but it’ll be more than that, Finn said. Another provision of the bill limits density in the residential area to no more than four units an acre. Without that assurance, density would be unlimited.
A TREASURE
Lisa Orton, a neighbor who lives on Halsell Road, described the land as a treasure. She grew up in the area, riding horses and saying hello to Joy Pratt Markham, one of the land’s proprietors.
“This neighborhood we’re used to — it’s just part of what Fayetteville is known for, Markham Hill,” Orton said. “It’s part of the nature lore of Fayetteville.”
The developers met with University Heights neighbors over the past few months. Orton said the plans appear more intense than what she initially thought, and she worries the area will be ruined.
An informal group of neighbors has been keeping an eye on the project. Orton said she’s been in contact with a number of environmental groups in an effort to keep the area preserved.
She hopes the rezoning does not pass, and if it does, Orton wants to see as little development as possible.
“I just can’t see ruining a historical mountain that is the last place with a large, forested area this side of the highway,” she said.
The property’s previous owners, Julian and Jane Archer, intended for the 70-plus acres of the planned zoning district to feature the inn, the barn, the cottage and nothing more.
Terri Lane, with the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, said the 44 acres set for preservation could either be placed into a preservation easement or donated to the trust. Markham Hill features mature forest that provides habitat to wildlife, which also helps protect water quality, she said.
“There’s value to protecting as much as you can in the middle of an urban environment,” Lane said.
The Land Trust considers Markham Hill a conservation priority in the city.
“It’d be fair to say it’s one of the last large, undeveloped forested tracts,” Lane said.
Specialized would not have bought the land if the group wanted to clear out all the trees and put in a typical suburb or heavy commercial development, said Jeremy Hudson, founding partner and CEO. Neighbor feedback has helped shape the plan, he said.
“We believe that there is a best of both worlds,” Hudson said. “There is a way to preserve this, but yet, still provide for the right type of development and the right type of community space. We want to open it up and share it with Fayetteville.”
THE MEETING
The Planning Commission will take up a rezoning proposal and plan change for Pratt Place Inn and its surrounding land on Markham Hill at its next meeting.
WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Aug. 27 WHERE: Room 219, City Hall, 113 W. Mountain St.
Stacy Ryburn can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @stacyryburn.