Courtesy Visit Northwest Arkansas
New hotel rooms on the way
Although Fayetteville does not have the largest convention center in the region, it does its fair share of meeting business thanks to the university, local corporations and state associations.
Among its largest meetings is the annual Walmart shareholders meeting, held at Bud Walton Arena, one of the largest basketball arenas in the country.
In the middle of town, Town Center’s business will be boosted by the reopening this fall of a hotel a half block away.
The former 235-room Radisson hotel is becoming the 200-room Chancellor. About $7 million is being spent on improvements.
“They are taking the guest rooms down to the studs,” said Heifner. “They are putting quite a bit of money into it and moving at warp speed.”
Built just over a decade ago, Town Center is small but versatile.
Its main hall of 13,750 square feet can be divided into as many as three spaces, the largest 7,920 square feet.
Groups that book Town Center use their own caterer (the center does have a full kitchen) and can bring in their own alcoholic beverages. There are 220 parking spaces in a parking deck below the center and another 1,000 paring spaces within a two-block area.
Location sells Inn at Carnall
Being able to walk to Dickson Street is a selling point for the Inn at Carnall. “It is a good location because from here they can walk to whatever they need,” Miley said.
A member of Historic Hotels of America and the Preferred Hotel Group, the 49-room inn is a blend of Colonial Revival and Victorian architecture. Originally built as a women’s dormitory in 1906, its location, near Old Main, the administration building, was designed to keep women away from the men’s housing.
After years of use for other administrative purposes and then a few years of abandonment, in 2001 private developers struck a deal with the university and the building became a hotel.
It has its own restaurant — Ella’s — and a lounge. Two meeting rooms, across the hall from each other, make it suited for meetings of 20 to 45.
Evenings can be spent on one of two roomy verandas sipping drinks and watching activity on the Old Main lawn.
Even newer on the meetings scene is the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, which, after years of planning and pushing by local supporters, opened in 2007 along Lake Fayetteville.
Five of its 98 acres have been coaxed into nine theme gardens — herbs, rock and water, Ozark plants, and roses among them — and much more is planned, according to Ron Cox, executive director. “We consider what we have just a taste of the future.”
There’s already plenty to interest meeting planners. Corporations and associations, as well as brides, are drawn to a 3,000-square-foot hall that opens through french doors to a multilevel terrace.
“Next week for two days, we’ve got the Walmart leadership group here all day for a training meeting and a light dinner,” he said in mid-April. “In their case, they are coming to get away from the distractions but it does give you a beautiful background setting and kind of peaceful, relaxing view from the event hall.”
Another upcoming meeting is the board of America in Bloom. “They are touring so they will have a luncheon here and a meeting,” said Cox.
The garden group, like many, has also opted for a garden tour. Gerald Klingaman, a retired professor who was head of the UA’s horticulture program, will lead their tour. Klingamen is the garden’s director of operations and one of several experts on staff.
Garden and town break new ground
Like any garden, the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks is growing. Among its new venues is a covered pavilion that is available for bookings. Major projects for the future include an education building and a lakeside pavilion.
This winter, trees and shrubs were planted on a new section of land, the start of the garden’s arboretum.
Fayetteville and the garden have a lot in common. Both are breaking new ground and enriching their offerings.
“We are working all the time to maintain and improve what we have,” said Cox. “I told someone this morning, ‘You know you could come every week, and it would look different from week to week.’”
