BIG Projects Starting Bentonville, Arkansas Part 1

Northwest Arkansas in general has one of the highest growing populations in the country, thanks to its many advantages, including affordable housing. Bentonville is one of the rapidly developing cities that are growing every day, so understandably, there is a lot of interest from investors to build new things around here.

Several big projects are coming to Bentonville Arkansas, like the Alice Walton School of Medicine, the Quilt of Parks, and 8th Street park. Additionally, there is the Coler Rise, a project that is already finished, as well as the new Walmart HQ which will be accessible to the public.

If you want to know more, stick around! I will list all the exciting new projects coming to Bentonville and go into detail about each of them. Let’s get started!

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Alice Walton School of Medicine

The first big project that we need to talk about is the Alice Walton School of Medicine. As its name suggests, this school trains future doctors and nurses, like any other school, but with a twist. The Alice Walton School of Medicine is focused on natural healing and holistic health, so it will be training the health professionals of the next generation with a fresh approach.

The people that will be working at the Alice Walton School of Medicine are well-known professionals from Stanford and other important medical schools and organizations. They have been brought in to train and teach young doctors and nurses. It’s so cool to see in real-time how the school is creating the curriculum and the staff.

I believe the first actual enrollment period is going to be Fall of 2025 because the building is being built right now, so it’s reasonable to believe that it will take a couple of years to finish everything. It’s exciting to be on the beginning ground of this brand new school of medicine being built in America.

Fun fact: Alice Walton is the daughter of Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton, whose donation helped start the Walton Art Centre in Fayetteville. You can learn more about the Walton Art Center in my other article, where I also cover its business hours and ticket prices.

Quilt of Parks

The next big project I want to talk about is the Quilt of Parks. This project is a massive park system located right next to the downtown Bentonville area. As I’ve mentioned before, the downtown part of Bentonville is already awesome enough, but they’re planning on elevating this part of the city even more, which is exciting.

The Quilt of Parks will consist of six parks, put together for downtown Bentonville and it’s going to stretch a little further South. The whole downtown area will be remade; the plan is to make a brick-laid promenade walk around Bentonville Square and a park attached to it. You can already see the beginnings of this particular part, which will be called the Dave Peel Park.

Even more, parks will be added to the project, which explains why it’s called the Quilt of Parks. The goal for Bentonville in general and this project in particular is to build a close-knit community. There’s no point in having clusters of people in different parts of the city; the best way to build community is to have a central hub where everyone can come together.

This central hub will be a great place for different businesses, like farmer’s markets, Christmas festivals, and more. If you’re in downtown Bentonville right now and see some construction happening around Bentonville Square, you should know that this is the beginning of the Quilt of Parks, which is going to be the massive center where everyone can gather.

Speaking of farmer’s markets, every first Friday, there’s a farmer’s market in Bentonville, and every first Thursday, there’s one happening in Fayetteville. Both markets usually have a different theme every week, and I enjoy visiting them during springtime because of the nice weather. If you need inspiration, check out my post for a list of things you can do in NWA in spring.

8th Street Park

Another really cool big project coming to Bentonville is yet another massive park! This new project is called 8th Street Park and it is connected to Coler Mountain, closer to the West side of Bentonville. It’s a pretty huge park consisting of 50 to 100 acres (202,343 to 404,686 square meters) of land developed and designed for a park system.

This park will be easily accessible by people living on the West side, but it’s also going to be connected to Coler Mountain, the Applegate Trail System, and eventually reach over to the Razorback Pathway. It’s amazing to see yet another massive park being built in Bentonville.

Of course, this park will include all the Bentonville favorites, like food trucks, artwork, and more. There is going to be a brand new animal shelter inside this park, as well as a coffee shop; both of these buildings were just recently developed as the first phase of this project. It’s super cool to see this park on the West side of Bentonville.

Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:

https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas

Coler Rise

This next development I am going to talk about has been done for a while, but it’s worth mentioning. The Coler Rise is an 11-story walkway from the base of Mount Coler all the way to the top. This is similar to the Santa Monica exercise pathways in California, which is where the studio got the inspiration from.

If you like to exercise, but biking isn’t really your thing, you should check out Coler Rise in Coler Mountain. This mountain is full of massive bike trail systems. You can also find Airship coffee there, which you can only access by biking or hiking to the actual coffee shop itself, which is cool.

If you want an 11-story workout going up and then back down, definitely check out the Coler Rise. People seem to like the place a lot, as they get to exercise and be outdoors. Those who don’t like biking can try this way of working out since bikes aren’t allowed in this part.

The Coler Rise is an example of why NWA attracts outdoor enthusiasts from all over the country since housing developments focus on building communities that enjoy similar activities. To learn more, check out my other post for reasons why residents enjoy living in NWA and how new developments attract more remote workers.

Walmart HQ

Number five on this list is a big one, the Walmart HQ. If you’ve been around Bentonville for more than a minute, you’ve noticed construction happening for the Walmart HQ. It will be a marvel when it’s all said and done. It’ll take about five years for it to finish and it will be in phases. The first phase is actually launching here in the next couple of months or less. This first phase will be the workout facility for the team members of Walmart and their families as well.

One of the coolest things about this particular HQ in Bentonville vs. all the other ones across the world is the fact that it’s going to have public access. This HQ will cut right through the Razorback Pathway, a 40-mile (64-kilometer) pathway that stretches from Fayetteville up to Bella Vista. The public will be able to see all the new businesses and other cool things.

This project is going to be massive; there are around 350 acres (1.42 square kilometers) of development, plus some more to complete the project. If you live around Bentonville, you may have already seen the beginning of construction. It’s so exciting to see what this space is going to be like in only a couple of years.

Final Thoughts

There you go, all these wonderful big projects coming to Bentonville in the next few years! It’s so exciting to see all these different developments that aim to build a close community and offer a variety of activities for Bentonville residents. I’ll include even more projects in the upcoming part.