Investors want to build more commercial businesses in Pea Ridge

PEA RIDGE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — More commercial businesses are being developed in the city of Pea Ridge.

When Tammy Johnson moved to Pea Ridge 37 years ago, there weren’t a lot of businesses in the area.

“There was like a variety store or a Pizza Hut, a gas station, of course, the post office and a few things like that,” Johnson said.

Now, the city is constantly growing.

“We have great dentists and physicians here. We have a brand new urgent care right down the road. And so, I just feel like we are just super blessed,” Johnson said.

According to Data USA, the population of Pea Ridge grew from 5,960 to 6,491 between 2020 and 2021.

Pea Ridge Mayor Nathan See says the city is growing at an average of 7-9% per year.

“We’re going to continue to grow at that rate,” Johnson said.

See says they have a lot of tax base revenue and services looking to invest in Pea Ridge.

They want to build a three-suite strip center and quick-service restaurants along Highway 72.

“That’s where a lot of these investments are happening right now. I say a lot because we haven’t had this much commercial space developed at one time,” See said.

Investors will also develop an optometrist office.

“The one that I go to, you have to go all the way to the other side of Bentonville. And traffic in Bentonville is not super great,” Mandy Sanders said.

Sanders moved from Springdale to Pea Ridge where she co-owns a tanning salon called Toasted.

She has mixed feelings about the growth of the city.

She says it’s nice to have to not go into town if you don’t need to.

When she moved to the area about 3 years ago, she told her fiancé that the city is missing a tanning salon and a car wash.

“Because those are the things that I had to stop and do on my way to or from work,” Sanders said,

Years later, she opened up her tanning salon and now a Splash Car Wash is being built.

“I’m pretty excited about that. Just one more thing to keep you from having to drive 20 or 30 minutes to go take care of,” Sanders said.

While having more residents in the area means more business, she is concerned the small community feel that attracted her to the city will fade away.

“We have two, four-way stop signs. There’s not a stoplight in town. So there’s a part of us that really enjoys that,” Sanders said.

Sanders is also worried about the increase in traffic.

“Depending on which way you go, if they have to start doing construction or road work like that could be a real inconvenience,” Sanders said. “I’m lucky I just live within a couple of miles of where I work, but I know a lot of people that live in town work in Bentonville and Rogers. And so that’s concerning to them.”

See is aware traffic is an issue, not just in Pea Ridge, but across Northwest Arkansas.

He has met with the Arkansas Department of Transportation and the State Highway Commission to talk about improving Highway 72.

“Highway 72 is going to have something done with it sooner than later, and they know that. They see that, but they have to have allocations of funding to do anything. And that would be a very large project to take care of,” See said.

Johnson says even though the city is experiencing a few growing pains, she wouldn’t live anywhere else.

If you would like to know what other projects the city is working on, visit Cityofpearidge.com .

This website shows every commercial and residential development that the planning commission approved.

“National chains have actually reached out and looked at our project tracker to see what’s happening in Pea Ridge. And I feel that that’s an easier way than driving through and taking a tour of the city.” See said.

See says he hopes investors will start the construction process within the next three months.

There are also more projects that the city is doing.

See says they want to create spaces to build community and for future generations to enjoy.

“We have a community center that we want to build on a six-acre piece with a nice park that we got a grant for. We’re looking at other properties around town to create that space. We bought 55 acres out east of town to create open space,” See said.

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