Downtown Bentonville
The Bentonville Planning Commission on Tuesday approved construction of a mixed-use retail building and what will be the city’s only movie theater.
Construction on the two buildings and their parking lots is set to begin in June. Both are set to open in spring 2017 on the 300 block of Southwest A Street, south of the city’s square.
The projects are being funding by the Walton family-backed Northwest Arkansas Downtown Revitalization Fund.
DuOpt Bentonville LLC of Austin, Texas, has leased the building for the one-story, 15,761-SF movie theater. The theater will have two large screens, four small screens, a full bar and a kitchen.
The three-story, 16,230 SF retail building will have shops on the first floor and offices on the others.
“Downtown Bentonville is exploding with new growth, and these two projects will be excellent additions to serve both businesses and visitors to the area,” said Brenda Anderson with the Revitalization Fund in a news release.
The group plans to release more details about both projects once construction begins, according to spokeswoman Kila Owens.
Plans for the theater come ahead of second annual Bentonville Film Festival, scheduled for May 3-8. The event, backed by actress Geena Davis, debuted last year and was attended by about 35,000 people over five days.
Trevor Drinkwater, the festival’s co-founder, said, “We are thrilled to see the continued development of Bentonville and look forward to collaborating with the new theater for years to come.”
The event was hailed a success and attracted attention from the New York Times, which noted that organizers used a variety of venues — churches, meeting rooms, the downtown square — to screen films because the city doesn’t have a movie theater.
Earlier this month, another Walton-backed group began work on an event space, Record, near the city square. The project is set to open this fall with two events already scheduled: the Made by Few Conference Oct. 26-29 and festivities associated with the 2016 International Biking Association World Summit Nov. 10-12.
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