Two major multimillion-dollar commercial real estate endeavors reflect Jonesboro’s regional appeal, steady population growth and resilient and diverse economic base, developers of those projects and a chamber executive say.
One of the projects is the 200-acre mixed-use Greensborough Village development on the northern edge of the Arkansas State University campus.
It is owned by Greensborough Investments LLC and is being developed by Halsey Thrasher Harpole Real Estate Group of Jonesboro.
The other big project is a retail development called The Uptown. On the site of the long-demolished Indian Mall, it includes the former Sears building and has attracted former tenants of the still tornado-ravaged The Mall at Turtle Creek about a mile to the east.
The developer is Haag Brown Commercial Real Estate & Development of Jonesboro.
About $15 million to $20 million of the “hundreds of millions of dollars” expected to be invested in the Greensborough project has been spent so far, according to Gary Harpole, managing partner and development director at Halsey Thrasher Harpole.
The Uptown represents an estimated $20 million to $25 million investment by owners including Haag Brown, Gamble Home Furnishings, Gearhead Outfitters, optometrist Dr. Cade Wilson and Marty Belz of Memphis, said Joshua Brown, principal broker at Haag Brown.
Mark Young attributes that to job growth, Craighead County coming in third in the state in population growth (15.3%) in the 2020 census, and the city’s holistic approach to economic development that has delivered “a diversified economic base.”
The city’s flourishing commercial real estate development “illustrates just a continued positive investment in the community, and we’re excited to continue to see the growth and look forward to a very bright future as well,” Young said.
The Uptown
Brown attributes some of The Uptown’s success to its convenience serving displaced Turtle Creek tenants.
Both he and Young said little progress had been made in repairs to Turtle Creek, which was struck by an EF-5 tornado in March 2020, mere weeks after the state reported its first COVID-19 case. The mall’s website reported last week that 36 of its 44 tenants were still closed. Notable exceptions are the Dillard’s, JCPenney and Target stores there.
In addition, Brown said, The Uptown is at the “top intersection in the market” and was already home to what he called top area businesses: anchor tenant Kroger, Tommy’s Carwash and Texas Roadhouse.
Slide the bar to compare the digital rendering to the real development
New tenants Gamble Home Furnishings, Gearhead Outfitters, Chipotle, a Buckle store and an Elite Eyecare & Optical clinic are slated to open by the end of the year and possibly by the holiday shopping season. Gamble and Gearhead together own the 82,000-SF Sears building they will open in.
“We took our ‘shop local’ people, and we put them in the best national retail spot in the city. So we kind of married up the national retail location with our local businesses,” Brown said. “That’s meaningful for Jonesboro. … It’s just a really cool project. It’s not a normal project. It’s got a lot of landscaping and open air stuff that we don’t have in northeast Arkansas.”
To view the full article :: Arkansas Business: Commercial Projects Flourish in Jonesboro