FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A new housing destination was proposed in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Vice President of Development for Next Chapter Neighborhoods, Andrew Malzer from Evans, Georgia, presented a proposal for his company at the Sept. 16 meeting of the Fayetteville City Council. The proposal outlined a 276-rental home community on the west side of Fayetteville. Malzer is a developer behind the project, planning a rental community that is unique and different from other rental homes, he said. The development would require a rezoning of a 49-acre property next to Underwood Park. This development will be between Salem and Deane Solomon roads.
This current project involves single-story cottages with three bedrooms and two-story cottages with four bedrooms. The neighborhood includes 642 bedrooms with around 885 parking spaces for cars in the neighborhood. Each house includes private driveways, exterior maintenance provided by management and new appliances.
“A great neighborhood for great neighbors,” Malzer said, adding that it offered “the comfort of owning a home with the convenience of renting.”
Underwood Park, containing 58 acres, was transformed from the former city of Razorback Golf Course back in 2017. Malzer’s plan is to build next to this park for more amenities for the neighborhood he is incorporating next to it. Malzer and his team plan to put in a pickleball court, a new playground, walking paths, and small pavilions for neighbors and nearby residents. This will bring in families from all over, providing a new environment for Northwest Arkansas, Malzer said.
Konrad Siemek, a resident of Fayetteville, said that “There’s a lot of opportunity to do something a lot different adjacent to this park.”
The Next Chapter Neighborhood would not be designated as an affordable housing project, so the home are instead designed to offer more middle-class market rental options. These types of houses are attractive to citizens over the age of 55. A neighbor to Underwood Park, Jim Erwin, said at the meeting that he disagreed with the price range of this development.
“$600 a person is pretty high for anybody that is 55 and over, or on a fixed income or anything like that,” Erwin said.
The property includes amenities and dedicated management for each house to ease the stress of finding outside sources for certain housing tasks. The rental home occupants are provided with one property owner. With this, there are amenities included on property services such as AC, refrigeration, plumbing and electrical support. Neighbors have also stated they hoped dental and medical practices and office spaces would be included in any nearby development, but the rental community would not include these types of businesses.
This development project is in response to Northwest Arkansas’ rapid growth. Next Chapter Neighborhoods’ tag line is “Creating great neighborhoods for great neighbors,” Malzer said. “Northwest Arkansas is growing fast,” Malzer said.
Malzer will be back with a revised proposal that he will present to the City Council on Oct. 7 and the city council may approve the new development at that meeting.