The first buildings are forecast to make the scene this year at two mixed-use commercial developments in west Little Rock along the Interstate 430 corridor: the Village at Brodie Creek and The Middle.
Construction workers are prepping a nearly 14-acre Village at Brodie Creek site to pour footings for the Topgolf venue.
Completion of the multilevel golf driving-entertainment venue is expected before year’s end with a grand opening during the fourth quarter or first quarter of 2024.
Colby Little Rock LLC, an affiliate of Colby Capital in Leawood, Kansas, recently acquired the land and will lease the property to an affiliate of Topgolf Entertainment Group of Dallas, Topgolf USA LR LLC.
That real estate deed hasn’t hit the public record yet, so the value of the transaction is shrouded for now.
More Village at Brodie Creek deals are taking shape, including an indoor sports training facility. But nondisclosure agreements are keeping details under wraps.
“We’re excited about some new announcements that we should be able to disclose in the next few months, but unfortunately we can’t announce them yet,” said Lee Strother, principal and vice president of brokerage at Colliers International Arkansas.
Additional information on one prospective deal has surfaced regarding an upscale apartment complex on land now under contract.
“We are in the process of evaluating a multifamily site next door to Topgolf,” said Sam Alley, a Village at Brodie Creek investor. “My family is looking at doing a development, about 15 acres.”
About $2.8 million worth of site preparation work for the Village at Brodie Creek was completed more than nine months ago, and heavy construction equipment continues roving the 60-acre site north of Col. Glenn Road between Bowman Road and Interstate 430.
The overall site work is backed with a $5.9 million construction loan from Relyance Bank of White Hall.
“We will be substantially complete on our infrastructure by Oct. 1 of this year,” Strother said.
The city of Little Rock is subsidizing the project with $900,000 earmarked for road construction to extend Col. Glenn Plaza Drive through the Village at Brodie Creek to Bowman Road and build Topgolf Way.
Funded through the city’s 3/8-cent capital improvement sales tax, the city made the $900,000 contribution to help defray the cost of expensive grading work to make the site buildable and help lure Topgolf to Little Rock.
The Middle
About 6 miles north of the Village at Brodie Creek, another local investment group is making progress on The Middle.
“We hope to have all the infrastructure completed by summer and start going vertical in the fall,” said Bradford Gaines, director of new developments at Colliers International Arkansas. “We’re working to establish a design standard for the project from landscaping to buildings. We want everything to work together and have a theme.”
The group envisions the 11-acre site at the southeast corner of Rodney Parham and Cantrell roads as the future home of a boutique hotel, restaurants and offices.
“The activity level has been outstanding,” said Bill Pendergist, vice president of brokerage at Colliers International Arkansas. “We haven’t had to do a lot of outreach. There has been a lot of word-of-mouth buzz.”
Maintaining green space along the property’s natural drainage and adding bike paths and sidewalks for improved connectivity are important pieces of the puzzle.
“We’re going to try and be slow and deliberate to have a cool project to deliver to the market,” said Kevin Huchingson, CEO of Colliers International Arkansas.
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