Arkansas’ first ‘agrihood’ taking shape in Bentonville

by Jim Brown | Feb 13, 2019 | Feel Good, News

Arkansas’ first ‘agrihood’ talking shape in Bentonville originally appeared on talkbusiness.net

A niche movement in commercial real estate development will soon make its debut in Arkansas.

Springfield, Mo.-development and property management company Green Circle Projects is nearing completion of an agricultural neighborhood in Bentonville known as an “agrihood.”

In the simplest explanation, an agrihood is a residential community with an urban farm as part of the property. The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a Washington, D.C.-based thought leader on housing and land use, says the idea of focusing on food within real estate projects can “translate into enhancements to health, environmental sustainability and the bottom line.”

The community-building concept dates back several decades, but agrihoods still represent only a small percentage of the overall housing market. In fact, the agrihood in Bentonville, called Red Barn, is thought to be the first of its kind in the state.

“I am not aware of any other agrihoods in Arkansas,” said Ed McMahon, a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. “Several other developers have expressed interest in the concept, but this is the first one that is coming out of the ground [in Arkansas].”

The residential component of Red Barn — so named for a distinctive red barn situated on the southeast corner of the property — is being built along Northwest A Street, north of Lincoln Junior High School.  The 15.5-acre project is on 55 acres that once belonged to the late John Shores, a prominent civic leader and former business owner in Bentonville who died in September 2015. He was 75.

Shores and his wife, Mary Kay, owned and operated Bentonville Furniture Inc. in downtown Bentonville for 40 years. The store closed in May 2000 when Shores retired.

A limited liability company controlled by Bentonville-based Walton Enterprises — the business that manages the family’s considerable fortune — bought the land in July 2016 for $3.17 million.

Matt O’Reilly, a driven entrepreneur and descendant of the family that founded publicly-held auto parts retailer O’Reilly Auto Parts, is the developer behind Green Circle Projects. He is also the founder of TrailSpring, a nonprofit focused on multiuse trail design and construction, and for 13 years he operated a specialty outdoor store in Springfield called Dynamic Earth. He sold the business in September 2014 to Austin, Texas-based Backwoods.

“I have been coming to northern Arkansas to climb and hit the Buffalo [River] for years,” O’Reilly said of his connection to the region. Green Circle Projects now has an office at 326 S.W. A St. in Bentonville. “As the trails started to emerge, we were coming to [Bentonville] more and more. With the unique work that we do, I have always focused on areas we know. Coming here enough over the years, I became confident and familiar enough with the area to want to do some work here.”

O’Reilly, 38, echoed the ULI’s list of benefits by integrating food production with the urban environment.

He also hopes agrihoods like Red Barn can fill one of the biggest gaps of the local food economy — training the next generation of farmers.

“People want to do this, but they don’t necessarily want to wear overalls and live out in the country,” he said. “They want access to amenities, and it’s possible to do both. Our thesis is that we can provide urban farm infrastructure as sort of a symbiotic amenity with real estate development. And that provides salary-based farming jobs that are the gateway jobs to the next generation of farmers.

“It’s an opportunity for people to learn on a farm and practice [farming] and eventually, hopefully, open their own farm.”

FARM TEAM
Even as Red Barn is a farming incubator of sorts, it will be professionally managed by a group of horticulturalists and agriculture experts…..

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