Mixed-use development advances

ROGERS — A proposed development near the Pinnacle Hills Promenade would add townhouses, apartments, office and retail space and several amenities to the growing area.

Alex Blass, a representative for Prestige Worldwide Development, said he wants the Pinnacle Village development to be a true mixed-use development where people can live, work and play. The project’s 27 acres is east of Pinnacle Hills Parkway and south of Pauline Whitaker Parkway, directly south of the Walmart Neighborhood Market.

Site plans show space for food trucks, a clubhouse, tennis and basketball courts, a pool and a dog park. There is also space for a hotel and two parking garages.

Blass said the goal is for Pinnacle Village to be a walkable community with a focus on entertainment.

“By entertainment, I don’t mean Dickson Street,” he said, adding there will be restaurants and public park space.

The proposed project is less than a mile south of the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion. The venue recently announced it will expand and be able to seat 11,000 people in time for its 2020 summer concert series.

No specific businesses have been singled out for the area, but developers are looking at local and national retailers, Blass said.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday approved Prestige’s rezoning request to change the 27 acres from agricultural to uptown commercial mixed-use and uptown neighborhood transition unit zoning districts. The vote was 7-1 with commissioner Tony Noblin opposed and commissioner Dennis Ferguson absent.

The project must go to City Council for final approval. If the council approves the rezoning, Blass estimates site work will start next summer, and construction will begin in late 2019 or early 2020.

Also Tuesday, the commission unanimously approved a request by Bryan Properties to rezone 7.91 acres between West Cedar Brooke Lane and South Promenade Boulevard from a combination of agricultural and highway commercial

zoning districts to residential multifamily zoning, allowing 21 units per acre.

The approval came after several residents spoke against the rezoning. About a dozen people raised their hands during the meeting to show they were opposed to the development.

The project was approved on the condition the developer make some changes to the plan, including building a 6-foot-tall masonry wall on part of the property and planting trees to help provide barriers between the apartment complex and nearby residents.

One resident, Laura Coello,

showed the commission photos of views from her house and a drawing of what those views will be if the apartment complex is built there.

“This is what it’s going to look like from my house. This is what I’m going to look at — these apartment buildings. They’re huge. The apartment buildings down the street from us are two-story. These are proposed to be three-story,” she said.

Coello added that residents will see headlights because the parking lot faces their houses.

Other residents said they were concerned about increased traffic and noise.