A new 618-unit apartment complex is moving forward on the south side of the city with partial occupancy expected to begin in 2025. 

The Bentonville Planning Commission paved the way forward for J Street of Bentonville after unanimously approving its application last week. The complex will include 26 three-story structures on a 20-acre property at 3110 SE J St. 

The apartments will feature one- and two-bedroom options, along with a pool, clubhouse and fitness room, according to Hugh Jarratt, real estate development council with Lindsey Management Co. The Fayetteville-based company will manage the development once it’s built.

The apartment complex will have direct access to Phillips Park and will be about 2 miles south of the new Walmart Home Office.

“We’re very close to the high school, we’re very close to the new home office, we’re close to Walton (Street) and everything it has to offer,” Jarratt said. “You don’t have to go anywhere — you can stay in Bentonville at this location.”

Jarratt said they expect to have one or two buildings ready for occupancy in six to nine months while they continue construction on the rest. Pre-leasing will start a couple of months in advance once the timeline for opening is firm.

The Planning Commission approved the application with conditions and two waivers from the city’s zoning code. 

The waivers requested 879 parking stalls instead of the required 932, with 124 of those being proposed as compact parking spaces. In its report, city planning staff supported the parking waiver request given the “extensive parking management experience the applicant has in managing apartments.”

“We have about 44,000 units total under management,” Jarratt said. “In that, we know what our parking ratio needs to be so that we have plenty of parking for our people, but not so much that it looks like it’s just a sea of concrete.”

The condition requires the developer to coordinate with the parks department on a pedestrian and bicycle connection into Phillips Park, and that the development maintains a driveway it plans to build within a city-owned right-of-way, rather than the city maintaining it as a public road.