Golf venue to build in Rogers near Walmart AMP

Courtesy Photo/Rogers Planning Department Site plans show the highlighted area in this satellite photo where Topgolf plans to build a Rogers location adjacent to the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion off Interstate 49.
Courtesy Photo/Rogers Planning Department Site plans show the highlighted area in this satellite photo where Topgolf plans to build a Rogers location adjacent to the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion off Interstate 49.

UPDATE 9:30 A.M.

Morgan Schaaf, Topgolf communications director, said they plan to break ground next spring with a 2020 opening.

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ROGERS -- Changes are coming around the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion.

Topgolf recently filed site plans with the city showing the venue being built in a grassy spot often used for parking at the concert venue.

Jennifer Wilson, public relations director for the Walton Arts Center, said the center has been working with Hunt Ventures but isn't ready announce what is changing at the amphitheater. Plans will be announced Nov. 2, she said.

The Walton Arts Center owns the Walmart AMP. Hunt Ventures is a real estate development firm that owns much of the land in the Pinnacle area of Rogers between exits 81 and 82 of Interstate 49.

Topgolf, a Texas-based entertainment company, announced in May it had plans to build its first Arkansas location in Rogers. Site plans for the Crafton Tull project show a two-story building with 370 parking spaces west of the building. The renderings also show space for a small public park.

The Topgolf site was one of three rezonings around the Walmart AMP the City Council approved Tuesday.

Topgolf will take up 10.87 acres of the nearly 17 acres north of Pauline Whitaker Parkway and west of I-49 rezoned from highway commercial to uptown entertainment per the request of Crafton Tull and Hunt Ventures.

The company previously said the project would create 300 full and part-time jobs at the Rogers location and estimated the venue would host about 250,000 guests annually. It planned to lease the land from Hunt Ventures.

The venue is to be golf-centered with food, beverages and music. Topgolf also features a driving range for point-scoring golf games using microchipped balls.

A representative from Topgolf didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The council also agreed to rezone 10.96 acres north of J.B. Hunt Drive and west of I-49 from highway commercial and condominium use to uptown entertainment. The proposal is to shift the use of the land from overflow parking to entertainment, according to the rezoning request.

Uptown entertainment zoning is "to focus on the goal to establish regional arts and entertainment uses within the Regional Center and along Interstate 49," according to city documents. The intent of the zoning is to mix entertainment, residential and retail in walkable and flexible formats.

Hunt Tower at 5100 W. J.B. Hunt Drive was rezoned from from highway commercial to uptown core mixed use. Crafton Tull was the applicant on both of the rezonings.

The uptown core mixed use zoning allows high-intensity, high-density, urban mixed-use, according to city documents.

Tom Allen, executive vice president of Sage Partners, didn't return two messages left at his office in the past week seeking comment on the rezoning. Sage Partners manages the day-to-day leasing and property management of Hunt Ventures' developed properties.

NW News on 10/25/2018

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