The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority’s board of directors approved nearly $3 million in real estate sales at its regular meeting Thursday, Aug. 18, including the sale of a parking lot, 28 acres for single-family homes and 61 acres for a land of 840,000 square feet. warehouse/distribution center.
Council approved the sale of 60.89 acres on Mahogany Avenue and Fort Chaffee Boulevard at Chaffee Crossing to VanTrust Real Estate (VTRE Development) for $40,000 per acre or approximately $2.4 million. The proposed project would be an 840,000 square foot distribution warehouse for one or more end users, said Daniel Mann, FCRA’s executive director and CEO.
“VanTrust offers its clients and financial partners a full range of real estate services, including acquisition, development, asset management, design and construction supervision and consultation,” the company said on its website.
Council also approved the change of land use designation of the property from commercial/office to mixed use industrial/office.
Mann said VTRE did not provide the FCRA with any type of final capital investment in the property or any number of jobs the project would create for the area.
“We will receive that as part of the ongoing incentive discussions and negotiations,” Mann said.
He said VTRE hopes to close on the property during their due diligence period. They have up to 90 days from contract execution to do their due diligence, he said.
“They hope to start construction later this year,” Mann said.
Messages left with VTRE representatives were not returned Thursday.
The board also approved the sale of a parking lot on Ward Avenue and Fort Chaffee Boulevard to Quentin Willard with QB Ventures for $60,000 for parking. In June, the council also accepted an offer to sell this parking lot at Ward Avenue and Fort Chaffee Boulevard Loyd Sumpter with Rival Commercial RE. In July, Mann said Sumpter had rescinded that offer.
At the time, Sumpter told the board that following the June meeting, he met with Willard, owner of Fort Smith Brewing Co., who expressed interest in purchasing the lot. Willard had expressed concern about the sale of the parking lot at the June meeting. There had also been a post on the Fort Smith Brewing Co. Facebook page that its customers had been using the parking lot for more than five years.
The stipulations on the sale of the parking lot to Willard provided that it be brought into compliance with Fort Smith city code and remain a public parking lot.
The FCRA board also approved the sale of approximately 28 acres on A Street in Barling at Chaffee Crossing to ERC Create for $15,000 per acre, or approximately $420,000. The property will be intended for a single-family residential development.