Future bright for Angelo’s Grove

Future bright for Angelo’s Grove

Development seeing progress after early stalls

news@theeveningtimes.com

In sports and politics it’s called “the Big Mo,” where a team is on a winning streak and has momentum carrying it towards a big finish.

With the recent announcements of two new hotels — one of which is a Marriott brand — that will add over 200 new rooms, the developers of Angelo’s Grove believe the development has “the Big Mo” on its side now.

The Fairfield Inn & Suites project will be the only hotel of its type in the area, the next closest one being in North Little Rock.

“The Marriott brand is significant,” said developer Kenny Farrell. “It is more than significant. It is a game changer.”

Farrell said it is hard to get a big entity like Marriott to look at a small market like Marion, but the company was attracted to their vision of Angelo’s Grove with its town square and walkable amenities to shops and living space.

“Those things helped us win what I call the beauty pageant when Marriott chose us as the location,” Farrell said. “The model has always been a new urbanist town center in the core of the development and as you radiate out there is the next donut, which is a hybrid of walking and vehicle traffic on the outside perimeter that fronts I-55 and Hwy. 64.”

Farrell and business partner Dick Leike always had faith in Angelo’s Grove, but like all seasoned real estate developers, they have seen their share of ups and downs and boom and bust cycles.

Marion wasn’t originally a market they were considering developing.

They were looking for projects in small, vibrant communities that were located either in the county seat, had a college, or were near a major intersection or were the regional trade center.

But in 2003 when a business associate told them about 160 acres of land in Marion owned by the Sartini family, the property looked like it fit their model.

The first phase of Angelo’s Grove attracted a Wendy’s, followed by Colton’s, Zaxby’s, Captain D’s — even a Starbuck’s.

A strip center also attracted a number of tenants. And at one time Farrell had a letter of intent from Chili’s, a casual dining restaurant chain, and home improvement giant Lowe’s showed an interest, going so far as to send out a drilling rig on the property.

And then the economy tanked in 2008 and sunk into a prolonged recession, essentially knocking the wind out of the sails at development’s like Angelo’s Grove as major retailers and dining chains put expansion plans on hold.

In 2011, Farrell was approached by the city about building a convention center and movie theater, but a deal to finance the project using public and private funding fell through.

The convention center, movie theater,ßnt still remains a top priority, and Farrell believes they are getting closer to that reality every day.

Having three hotels in a compact area definitely helps support their design model and should start the phone ringing.

The Fairfield Inn & Suites project is the second investment by hotel owner Yogesh Shah, who previously invested $7 million to build a Hampton Inn at Angelo’s Grove, which has been a huge success.

The other hotel project, a Best Western Plus, is also a prototype design and will be new to the area.

Marion Economic Development Director Mike Demster said having Hilton, Best Western, and now Marriott build properties in Marion, definitely

enhances their ability to sell the city to other potential suitors.

“I’m very optimistic and excited about it,” Demster said. “I’ve had so many commercial real estate types say that sometimes all you need is a spark for things to begin to really catch on. I think we are seeing that. When you can show them that those types of corporations have invested money in your community, it gives you so much more credibility.”

Demster said the frustrating part of economic development is the waiting.

A lot of corporations work at different paces or have different expectations or specifications when selecting new locations to build.

“We have reached out to stores and hundreds of retailers and casual dining establishments and they all have their own timetables and procedures,” Demster said. “Some will say ‘well, we’re going to open up 20 units across the country.’ You can’t dictate or predict that pace. Sometimes we may be the first call. Sometimes we may be the last call. Some like to come in quietly and look over the market. It all depends. But whenever you can show that kind of investment like a Marriott, it definitely helps. It’s no guarantee.

And it never seems to move as fast as you want it to.

But it certainly enhances our ability to help Marion grow and attract new business.”

Farrell said while landing a Marriott is a huge deal for the development, hotels in and of themselves aren’t necessarily enough “critical mass” to ensure big box retailers or chain restaurants will want to build in Angelo’s Grove.

However, it says a lot about the market and location to have a company like Marriott to get others at least interested.

“We still have to be the catalyst,” Farrell said. “But having three hotels — and they’re not just three hotels. You have a Hilton brand, a Marriott brand, and a Best Western brand. That, combined with the other virtues of the development, are definitely a selling point to other national chains and brands that might not otherwise consider Marion.”

By Mark Randall