Latest / The B Team Podcast / Best of B Team: Bike Culture Economics: Why Out-of-Staters are Buying Bentonville

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Best of B Team: Bike Culture Economics: Why Out-of-Staters are Buying Bentonville · The B Team Podcast

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the B Team Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Josh Stafford, with my co-host, Matt Mars, and our permanent guest, Rob Nelson.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're here every week to talk to you about all things Betonville, bourbon, and business.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: The B Team Podcast.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Be here.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Give me your background, and you've been here for a long time, and then you were at Walmart, and then you got morphed into the real estate business.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've been here a long time.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: I moved here in uh in 1992 uh to work for Walmart.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: I got actually hired as an engineer.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: My background's in engineering.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: And uh my personality wasn't really as an engineer, it was a little more in sales.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so I saw these guys across the table doing real estate deals.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, man, that's that's where I want to be, you know.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I moved over to real estate pretty quickly.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you were in real estate at Walmart?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: I was.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: And in the early 90s, when it was just amazing, store popping up everywhere.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think when I was there seven years, we went from maybe 50 billion in sales to like 150 billion in sales.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: That was really the growth spurt.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: We were doing 300, 350 projects a year.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was crazy it was historic.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: So that's like a new store opening a day.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: It was crazy.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then the big big square footage, these were super centers and whatnot.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, you know, long story short, I thought I'd be here for a few years, maybe get some stock options and move back to a city somewhere.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And 33 years later, you know, here I am.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: But it's been a fantastic ride, you know, and married Kim, met her at Walmart.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: And uh shout out to Kim.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: Raised our Kim.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: The secret of my success.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: We all feel the same way about our lives.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can you guys give a little background on the project, the process, like where it started, how you guys started to source, what the thinking was, and then how you kind of got to the to the end road with them?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, and and by the way, is that amazing when you drive through it?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's so it's the it's stuff that you never even I got.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I re I realized that it was number one, that big of a property.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, that there was gonna be the the way that it's all thought out, and it's just yeah, it's so neat.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, like driving down 8th Street now.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we think we got a pretty good pulse on what's going on around here.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's like Walmart's assembly, 350 acres.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: What when?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: So um it's significant on so many levels, but I tell people you've got to drive through it.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: And they they created a new city in Northwestern.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's just it's just amazing.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: But uh so yeah, I think the genesis of this was uh once I left Walmart long enough and Kim had left Walmart long enough, I could become their broker to a degree.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: We don't do everything for them.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: We we get our uh share, which is great, very fortunate to do that.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so they approached us probably three to four years ago and said, We've got this this plan and we've got these parking decks, and we're going to activate these parking decks, which is a really cool concept.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not just a big you know wall, it's liner shops, right?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so so then, yeah, a lot of discussion, long process to sort of curate what that means.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously primarily it's for the associates, but it also needs to survive, you know, evenings, weekends, and and we think we've created a mix that that will do that and create kind of a shopping district there.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, you're in Bentonville.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: You're in Bentonville, so so yeah, it was uh it was a fascinating, unique, you know, kind of opportunity.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: We sought out a lot of uh uh advice uh through Collier's network, uh brokers who do this kind of work, you know.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: This is new, this is and it's really not been done many places.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg on that.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's you know the Walmart thing is is obviously great and it solidifies that the home office will be here forever.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: The medical is net additive.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean that is yeah, that's a creative.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's going to be amazing.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the best numbers that we have are that specialty doctors add 20 jobs each from a nurse down to the guy, you know, in Casey's.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: And think about that, you know.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's really I sat if you're making an investment decision.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's sort of the icing on the cake.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're not even talking about like the outdoor recreation stuff.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: I sat I sat through the governor's conference the other day.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was fortunate enough to get invited, and the opening panel was some guy who's he he he has a uh uh an outdoor biking uh magazine.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: He was the panelist host, and Sanders' husband and Tom Walton were on the panel.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they were talking about all, I mean, you know what's going on in Bella Vista right now, what they're doing.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is there it used to be a one-trick pony with Walmart and then like JB Hunt and Tyson, and now there are so many different tentacles moving out there.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I to your point, I think it's just a tip of the iceberg.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: This place is blowing up.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think so.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: And when we when we do our market presentations, you know, being an old guy, I mean I do some biking, not a lot, not not heavy hills, you know, not the not the blacks.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: E-bike like being processed.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: E-bike on the greens, maybe a little blues here and there.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: More of a stationary bike down, but we sort of usually append it at the end, like, oh yeah, and we've got 500 miles of a single bike, you know, track, whatever, and then more coming.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's a primary feature.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, they they built a bike culture here, you know.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: They say, all right, if we're, you know, Austin has tech, that's where we're headed, Nashville has music, we have the mountain bike culture, you know.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's it's a it's a primary thing.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: I always we used to I used to ride bikes a lot.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've probably set down now.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what I would always do is because I would be out of breath and I'd get to the top of the hill and I'd stand there for a while.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I'd talk to everyone.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'd be like, hey, you know, where are you from?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: And it was rare that anyone was from Mittonville that was riding bikes.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: And in the hot summer, when we thought it was too hot, we get people from Texas and Louisiana that come here.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And in the winter, when we think it's too cold, Minnesota.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so many of those people buy houses here, yeah, just to have a house to come ride bikes.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's just like they've fed, there's so many things that are feeding into northwest Arkansas now that it's I love to see it.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, yeah, it's it is so it's a relatively new phenomenon that you meet people because you know I was here when you know it was like we all we always laugh like it's band camp.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: We made all these friends, a lot of moving pinnacle, a lot of moving Shadow Valley.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: Two years and they're gone, you know.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Lucky man, we'll we'll keep in touch, you know.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and now people are moving in and like, well, why are you here?
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I lived in Denver and I could live anywhere I wanted, and so I just chose here.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: And like, really, you picked this off the map.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love the culture, I love the bikes and all that kind of stuff.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's that's something right.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things they said in this governor's conference, uh, Governor Sanders' husband said something to the, and I'll mess it up.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's the number one inbound per capita state right now in the country.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Part of it is uh the climate, part of it is the biking.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a lot of reasons.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: We have a 12-month season for biking.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean, we're not even getting into fish.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: We have world-class trout fishing, right?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's two hours from here.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like we uh we have so much stuff that has a 12-month season.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: We don't, we're not like out west where you can you don't want to go in the middle of the winter.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so much within a day's drive or half a day's drive, you know.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: Let's like everybody talks about Dallas and God bless Texas and all that.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: But you drive three hours outside of Dallas, and where are you?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you drive three hours outside of here, you can be at Buffalo River.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you get so available to you, you know.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's I I feel that every time I I go down and I see caller uh open space for colliers and Mary Claire and you, and like you guys have done such a good job of building your brand here where people want to work with you.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a hard job for you because it's not like you're negotiating stuff back and forth with people all the time and you're sometimes in the middle, but you guys have done such a good job with your brand that you know, you're well known and people want to work with you guys.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what's the secret for that?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: I hope so.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it it took a long time, you know, kind of to get there and to get the right mix of people.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: And we've got a fantastic team right now.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, what we're trying to do right now is what most collier's offices do, and you're trying to attack it at scale.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: But being the biggest doesn't do you any good, right?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's just we're we're in sales, you know, it's about the people, it's about the customer, about the relationship.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really assuming everybody has a baseline level of knowledge and ability, it's about the relationships.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's all about that, right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: So so yeah, I mean, there's several ways to do our business.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: You can do it transactional and try to make as much as you can on each deal, or you can say, You're a client of mine, if I can help you at any moment and any time, you let me know.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: And at some point along the line, yeah, there may be a closing, there may be a lease fee transaction, you know.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: But but that's important because to you, sure, I can make an extra five or ten or twenty grand on this thing in a transaction and be an asshole and kind of work through it and never work with that person again.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, or I could do what's right for all three parties, yourself in the middle, right, right, the buyer and the seller, and realize you're building relationships.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then someone in this small town goes, Hey, did you work with Steve Lane team?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: You should work with Steve Lane team, and all of a sudden, right, you got 25 new relationships because of how well you guys handle yourself in that existing, and you guys have done a great job with that.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: That means a lot.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't cut corners, you keep your integrity high.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh, you know, sometimes you you kind of laugh because you know how that guy made this money or whatever, you know, but we don't do that.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know.