For those that are watching the progress, there are signs of activity with the former Little Rock Sears property at South University and Interstate 630. What is now being referred to as The District at Midtown has filed a rezoning application with the City of Little Rock. You might wonder, how is it being rezoned? Will it be used as a warehouse? No. Maybe a high-rise office building? No. The property that has been used for 50 years as retail and office must be rezoned to be used as retail, office and hotel because of the Midtown Design Overlay District. This overlay district requires that ANY redevelopment must be rezoned as a Planned Developme
nt. The application has been filed with the Planning and Development Department at the City of Little Rock. It will be in front of the Planning Commission this month.
In news possibly related to The District at Midtown, word is that a group of former Little Rock Diagnostic Clinic doctors are roaming the streets hunting for a medical office building. Additionally, Arkansas Business reported that Dr. Baltz, formerly of CARTI, has taken offices in Doctors Building which is adjacent to The District at Midtown.
On the subject of things happening around the area, TSM Properties paid $625,000 for the property located at 5611 Kavanaugh in Little Rock. The land is basically a typical city lot of approximately 7,000 square feet and the building is carried at 2,786 square feet by the Pulaski County Assessor. We’ll call that $225 per square foot on the building. The land has two or three times the value of the building itself, though. In the time-flies department it seems like that property sold not very long ago. Actually, it last traded almost eight years ago. The price then was $420,000. A couple of EZ Marts in Pulaski County sold last month. One is located at 11724 Rainwood in Little Rock. Another is located at 1321 Main Street in Little Rock. These convenience stores sold for $1,277,000 each. A T-Mobile store at 1807 T.P. White Drive in Jacksonville sold last month for $1,475,000.
As dollar stores like Dollar General, Family Dollar and so forth continue to expand there seems to be a steady inventory of those, and other things, for sale as single-tenant-net-lease investments. There are Walgreens for sale, three in Little Rock alone: 8815 Stagecoach Road for $6,634,600, a 5.20 percent cap rate; 5917 Baseline Road for $4,850,000, a 7.75 percent cap rate; and 5525 West 12th Street for $4,850,000, a 7.75 percent cap rate. Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers at 610 South Bowman in Little Rock, in the Walmart parking lot, is listed for sale at $2,574,000, a 5.75 percent cap rate. The Freddy’s at 20380 I-30 in Benton is listed for sale at $1,354,546, a 5.50 percent cap rate. If the North Little Rock Freddy’s is being offered, I didn’t see it. IHOP at 306 West Commerce Street in Conway is listed for sale at $2,810,000. Also available, unpriced, is the Regal Cinema located at the intersection of Interstate 430 and Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock.
What else is for sale in Central Arkansas, though? One thing I found is a “One-of-a-kind building in Downtown Conway that has been torn down and completely rebuilt to house the immaculate new restaurant, John Daly’s Steakhouse.” It is listed for sale at an asking price of $3,500,000. For those with a heartier appetite, the ~270,000 square foot Conway Towne Center is available for an asking price of $13,550,000. (Regular readers know that there is a bump in price for properties using a superfluous “e”.) Along I-440 on the east side there are three multi-million-dollar industrial buildings for sale. The trio includes a ~25,000 square foot building at 10600 Maybelline Drive for $4,500,000, a ~57,000 square foot building at 801 Fiber Optics Drive for $3,500,000 and an ~87,000 square foot building at 6700 Sloane Drive for $3,690,000. In the market for an office building? The Riverdale area of Little Rock has a couple listed for sale. A ~25,000 square foot office building at 10 Turtle Creek Lane is offered for $3,800,000 and a ~30,000 square foot building at 2300 Cottondale Lane has an asking price of $2,950,000. Maybe you are looking for something a little further west. A ~20,000 square foot building at 21 Corporate Hill Dr. in Little Rock is listed for $3,945,000. Saline County buyers might have a look at the IHOP at 306 West Commerce in Bryant. Asking price on it is $2,810,000. Another option might be a retail building at 1621 Military Road in Benton that is being offered for $2,884,925.
And in the not-quite-gossip department, I understand that the former Dixie Café at 1215 Rebsamen Park Road is under contract to Centennial Bank. This location would be a relocation of the branch office currently located at 2610 Cantrell Road.
The Q2 CCIM/LRRA meeting in March was well attended. The Midtown Little Rock area was featured. Upcoming programs planned include presentations featuring West Little Rock, Argenta, East Village and others. If you have program ideas you can email me. If you are not getting emails announcing these lunches, you can email me and I’ll pass that along to get you added to the list. The next lunch is scheduled for July 19.
I keep hearing people talk about having questions and/or concerns regarding the new tax laws and how they affect commercial real estate. I do too. If you know of a good lecture or workshop coming up, let me know. I’d like to see if I can attend, and I’m likely to plug it here. Another popular topic is in regard to whether there is another economic slowdown on the horizon. At the Q1 CRE lunch, the economists noted that the current economic expansion is one of the longest in history and that it would have to end sooner or later. They also said that they didn’t see any indications that the expansion would end this year. What say you? Do you see growth? Do you see things flat? Do you see things slowing? If you see things slowing, are you scared yet? Share with the class if you want. I’ll aggregate any responses and share the general observations with the class.
Tips and suggestions, well most of them anyway, are appreciated. Hope you found something interesting in the column this month. Check back again next month for the things that didn’t get included here this time and that pop up between now and then