This image released by Specialized Real Estate Group shows the construction site where a boutique hotel is being built atop Markham Hill in Fayetteville. (Specialized Real Estate Group)We now know the name and a few more details about a planned development atop Markham Hill in Fayetteville.
Officials with developers Specialized Real Estate on Monday said the new project will be called Stonebreaker, and will include a 78-room hotel, a restaurant, a members’ club, and an events venue on the hilltop property just west of the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.
Designed by FÖDA, Stonebreaker is part a plan first announced in 2018 that also includes a land conservation deal and a new neighborhood.
At the time, Specialized officials said the development was a 10- to 20-year project that would be announced and built in phases.
One of the first moves announced was a letter of intent Specialized said it had inked with the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust to pursue a conservation easement of more than 50 acres on the property.
A separate binding agreement with the city promised to permanently conserve the property, which includes forest land on the west side of the mountain that’s adjacent to a 62-acre hillside parcel the city acquired from the university specifically for preservation.
The property for years included a boutique hotel called Pratt Place Inn, which featured a cottage and a barn used as space for weddings and other special events. Specialized in 2016 purchased the property for $3.1 million.
The area served as agricultural land in the late 19th century and as the Pratt family home. The Pratts bought the land in 1900 and lived there with their four boys and two girls. The Walton Arts Center’s Joy Pratt Markham Gallery is named after their eldest daughter, who studied at the Chicago Art Institute and then returned to Fayetteville to establish a coeducational summer camp on the hilltop with her husband, Hogan Markham.
“Over the last century, Markham Hill has been home to weddings in the barn, grazing Highland cattle, and summer camps,” said Jeremy Hudson, CEO of Specialized Real Estate Group. “Stonebreaker is a tribute to the character of this hill — simple, authentic, welcoming.”
This conservation map shows Specialized’s Markham Hill property outlined in blue, and the neighboring city-owned land in red. Interstate 49 is shown in dark brown on the left side of the image. Darkest green shades the highest priority areas for conservation. The dashed blue and white lines show the Specialized property that will be permanently preserved.
Courtesy Specialized Real Estate Group
The new hotel and restaurant will be operated by Hay Creek Hotels, a firm with offices in New York City, Las Vegas, and Denver.
It’s the second hotel Specialized is developing in Fayetteville. The company in February broke ground on a 7-story Moxy Hotel at South Yard on the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and South School Avenue.
Hudson said the Stonebreaker restaurant and event space are set to open in August, with the new hotel opening its doors sometime in December.
