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New Kum & Go Stopped for Now in FayettevilleLock Icon

2 min read

The expected sale and proposed construction of a Kum & Go convenience store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Fayetteville may have hit a snag over, among other things, four handicapped parking spaces.

The 1-acre-plus property is currently the home to a moving company but is perhaps best known as a Blockbuster (remember those?) video rental location. It is owned by William Rodney Coats and Brian Smith of SmitCo Eateries of Springdale, a restaurant franchisee, through their SCE Properties LLC.

The property, at 2222 W. MLK Jr. Blvd., is under contract after being listed for sale at $1.65 million. SmitCo paid $1.45 million for the property in 2017.

The owner of the neighboring Candlewood Suites, a 78-room hotel at 2270 W. MLK Jr. Blvd., filed suit in Washington County Circuit Court to halt the planned Kum & Go development at the site.

Janak Patel of Bentonville, through his Golden Hospitality LLC, bought the hotel for $4 million in 2011, and it turns out that the hotel’s four handicapped parking spots, along with its dumpster, signage and electrical transformer, are all on the SmitCo property.

The development plans Kum & Go has submitted to the city of Fayetteville would “consume” the handicapped spots, transformer and dumpster, the suit alleged.

Patel is asking for a temporary and permanent injunction to halt the sale and any construction, arguing that the hotel deserves an easement by prescription since it has used the handicapped spots and other areas since its construction in 2008. Officials with SmitCo couldn’t be reached for comment.

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