The 1907 to bring Northwest Arkansas eateries, apartments under one roof

The old Dollar Saver building is shown Thursday in Rogers.
The old Dollar Saver building is shown Thursday in Rogers.

A downtown development is breathing life into a building more than 100 years old and bringing several Northwest Arkansas eateries under one roof this summer.

The $3.2 million project has transformed the Dollar Saver into The 1907, and will be a "shot in the arm" for downtown Rogers, Mayor Greg Hines wrote in an email.

"It's a textbook example for the type of mixed-use development needed for long term success," Hines wrote. "I believe this will take our revitalization to the next level."

The 30,000-square-foot building is designed in an open marketplace style. Eleven apartments will be upstairs.

Morgan Hooker of High Street Development had the idea of reviving The Dollar Saver at 101 E. Walnut St. and approached John and Andrea Allen of Onyx coffee about their interest in the project.

Allen says expansion was only a thought in the back of his mind. But when the opportunity presented itself to work alongside other Northwest Arkansas business owners, now friends, the Allens didn't think twice about relocating their entire production facility to the new downtown location.

Onyx's operation will dominate the building with its roastery, training lab, consulting lab and storage. High Street Development and Onyx co-own the building.

The 1907 will house restaurants and bakeries that Onyx has partnered with or is working with now. Doughp!, a new bakery, will be operated by two Fayetteville pastry chefs who have been providing Onyx with all its baked goods. Loblolly Creamery will open a Northwest Arkansas shop and continue to supply ice cream for Onyx. The Foreman Bar will be run by Onyx's former menu developer. The owners of Strongboat Provisions and the Heirloom restaurant are close friends with Allen and moved into the space when he passed on word of the project.

"We started looking at what we could put in there," Hooker said. "We always want to have the best of the breed in every category."

The outside of the building has gone untouched to preserve the limestone headers and pressed red brick AO Clark, original designer and builder, incorporated into many of the structures he built through downtown Rogers, according to the Rogers Historical Museum.

Melissa Turpin, co-owner of Honeycomb Kitchen Shop at 213 W. Walnut St., said she is excited The 1907 is opening down the street.

"That building coming back to life is going to add that much more to downtown Rogers," she said. "We have a good foundation already. This is going to boost the economy that much more."

NW News on 02/15/2018

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