A new development vision with a Western flair has recast a would-be Little Rock subdivision into a $40 million townhome project.
In recognition of a market shift in millennial housing patterns, Village at the Gateway is courting tenants instead of homebuyers.
“It was kind of like remodeling a house except we are remodeling a subdivision,” said Russ Huckaby, CEO of Big Rock Development LLC.
Huckaby and his business partner, Bob Francis, are overseeing construction of a 145-duplex neighborhood geared toward renters wanting to live on the edge of home ownership.
The townhomes feature a tricked-out amenity package that appeals to a growing market of younger and older residents who aren’t interested in ownership but crave the niceties of an attached garage and more space between neighbors.
“We believe this is the way it’s going between millennials and the baby boomers,” said Francis, CFO of Big Rock.
The early reception to the one-bedroom model townhome at 12506 Vimy Ridge Road has surpassed even their optimistic expectations. Big Rock recorded 42 preleases in the first 35 days of showing the property that began in early January.
“We’re over 50 now,” Huckaby said. “We don’t even have asphalt down at this point.”
The project represents a turnaround in the making for the property as well as Huckaby’s development career.
Ten years ago, the 37-acre Village at the Gateway site was going to be part of The Ridge Estates. But plans for the 204-lot, single-family subdivision fell apart in the face of financial miscalculation.
Unforeseen costs associated with utilities and infrastructure requirements by the city of Little Rock were blamed for the budgeting shortfall.
The timing of that realization heading into the 2008 financial meltdown was made all the more dramatic for the movers behind The Ridge Estates, John S. Williams and Nick McDaniel.
After clearing the site and wading into the early utility and infrastructure work in 2007, the project came to a halt followed by defaults on a loan and special improvement bonds that triggered dual foreclosures in 2009.
The project’s failure contributed to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Williams in July 2009 and the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of McDaniel in March 2012.
First Community Bank of Batesville, trustee of the ill-fated $1 million bond issue, was left as the caretaker of the property after recovering it in 2010.
“They didn’t have enough funds to complete it, and with the downturn in economy, they walked away from the project,” said Dale Cole, CEO of the bank.
Huckaby endured his own Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2010 after he hit the financial wall with his residential and commercial projects in Pulaski and Saline counties.
“It was nobody’s fault, but at the end of the day, it’s mine,” Huckaby said. “It’s been a humbling experience.”
He worked with his lenders during the bankruptcy and gained a reputation for helping fix things that led to work helping banks with problem properties.
The problem property on Vimy Ridge Road caught the eye of Francis, whose finance background has focused primarily on real estate during the past 30 years. The Little Rock businessman also is known for his restaurant-entertainment dabblings during the 1970s and 1980s that included Cash McCool’s Saloon & Game Parlor, a forerunner of today’s Dave & Buster’s.
Francis teamed up with Huckaby to figure out a development plan to make the numbers work for the 59.6-acre tract once envisioned for The Ridge Estates.
“I’d always thought about doing duplexes, but I could never pull it together,” Huckaby said. “It all came together with the right timing.”
“We spent two years looking at this,” Francis said.
Until late last year, the partially improved property less than a mile from Interstate 30 sat dormant as potential developers looked but passed on restarting the project or bringing a new concept to the table.
More units on less land with an eye toward selling off the balance of the property for
commercial development is the plan Big Rock has in motion.
“What Bob and Russ recognized was density,” Cole said. “Density makes it economically feasible — and the lifestyle of a high-end apartment complex with the privacy of a home, no one living above you or below you.
“They have a unique idea that is really going to be successful. It doesn’t look like a typical duplex. It looks more like a single-family home.”
Huckaby calls the look Colorado Craftsman, an updated take on retro residential with blue spruce plantings for the landscape. The design is the product of working with the Dallas staff of Stantec Inc., the global design and consulting firm based in Edmonton, Canada.
“We probably went through 100 revisions,” Huckaby said.
The “Gateway” name is a nod to the nearby Gateway Town Center, and the Western vibe of the townhomes is inspired by the retail project’s Bass Pro Shop.
The one-, two- and three-bedroom townhomes will be decked out with the amenities of the latest upscale apartments supported by a clubhouse and dog park.
“Will it compare with other projects in the market, or how much better will it be?” Huckaby said. “It’s the test of tests.”
“Based on demand, we’ll have it all built out this year,” Francis said.
The entryway utility-roadwork along Vimy Ridge Road is winding down, and the construction of townhomes is about to begin.
“We will start building Tuesday,” Huckaby said.