Arkansas

Creative Placemaking: A New Approach to Arkansas Real Estate Development

Published

12 months ago

March 3, 2025

Creative Placemaking: A New Approach to Arkansas Real Estate Development

The Momentary and Crystal Bridges art museums are quintessential examples of creative placemaking. The “You Belong Here” exhibit at The Momentary in Bentonville creates a warm connection with guests. (The Momentary)

Creativity and commerciality don’t make for the most obvious bedfellows, but developers across the state are realizing the two concepts can, and should, go hand-in-hand.

Placemaking is an approach to development, design and architecture that seeks to emphasize the natural, historic or potential character of the development’s location.

“The world is full of space, but not all the space is a place. Place has to do with human beings, things that accommodate human beings. Places are spaces that encourage human activity,” said Dayton Castleman, director of creative placemaking at Rogers-based Verdant Studio.

Castleman, since 2022, has led a program called Art in Place, originally a grant-funded Urban Land Institute initiative. Aimed at facilitating creative placemaking within commercial developments, the program is now being continued through ULI’s Northwest Arkansas district council.

“Creative placemaking is where you build placemaking strategies on the backbone of arts and culture, with art and design at the forefront,” he said. “It’s a strategy that places arts and culture at the vanguard of decision-making when it comes to ‘how are we going to get people here.’”

Public art installations, thoughtful design and a community-centered approach to development are the cornerstones of creative placemaking, Castleman said. Crystal Bridges and The Momentary in Bentonville, he said, are some of Arkansas’ most conspicuous examples of developments that put arts at the forefront during the design process.

“With Crystal Bridges, it was a facelift of the entire region that’s extraordinary and highly uncommon, and because of it, I think … developers recognized that this was an effective strategy for absorption, figuring out how to make people actually want to be there,” Castleman said. “It went beyond the practical into something that felt like an opportunity to improve quality of life.”

Through Art in Place, Castleman works with commercial real estate professionals – from developers and architects to brokers and investors – to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of creative placemaking. He is the intermediary between the industry and artists trying to break into the commercial sphere.

“I look at how we can give developers better tools to connect with artists, and for artists, to better understand what the potential outlets are for their creative processes,” he said.

The Art in Place program provides workshops and networking opportunities to artists and real estate developers, providing expert perspectives and connecting these two disparate communities.

“In 2025, we’ll be hosting and producing a series of gatherings that will have content shaped around addressing some of the things we’re discovering about what are sticking points for real estate developers and what are the sticking points for artists, as well as some professional practices specific to real estate artists,” Castleman said.

Castleman said he hopes art in public and commercial space catches on, and that artists can keep up.

“The way an object in the middle of an open space does something to that space – it can turn it into something closer to circulation, create a center; all kinds of things happen when objects are introduced into the space,” Castleman said. “Developers have to stop wondering if it’s going to help and start hoping and swinging the bat, because there’s a reason why we’re having the conversation, and there’s a reason it costs money.”

“For artists, if you can empower the developer – well, you have a very powerful relationship at your disposal.”

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Arkansas

No. 1 Arkansas leads SEC Indoor after first day finals

Published

6 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

No. 1 Arkansas leads SEC Indoor after first day finals

Shawn Price
February 26, 2026

COLLEGE STATION – A victory in the 5,000m by Nick Busienei and third place in the distance medley relay had No. 1 Arkansas leading the team score with 18 points on the first day of the SEC Indoor Championships.

The Razorbacks produced 12 of those points in the 5,000m as Nick Busienei won the race in a meet record of 13;31.86, which ranks him No. 7 on the UA all-time list. Busienei bettered the meet record of 13:37.52 set by Razorback Patrick Kiprop in 2025.

James Sankei added two more points in placing seventh with a time of 13:44.57.

Dating back to 1992 when Arkansas competed in its first SEC Indoor meet, Busienei claimed the 21st title for the program and is the 14th Razorback to win the indoor 5,000m.

Six more points were added in the distance medley relay as Arkansas posted a time of 9:30.84 from the foursome of Owan Logorodi (2:58.46), Zyaire Nuriddin (46.51), Julian Carter (1:49.10), and Brian Masai (3:56.77).

South Carolina won the race in 9:30.08 with Ole Miss runner-up in 9:30.34. Florida originally placed third in 9:30.37 but was disqualified for spiking the baton at the conclusion of the race.

Jelani Watkins led the Razorback crew in the 200m prelims as three Arkansas sprinters advanced to the final. Watkins produced an indoor career best of 20.42 rank second overall to a 20.38 by Florida’s Wayna McCoy. Watkins remains No. 2 on the UA all-time list as he improved his previous time of 20.43.

Dapriest Hogans followed with a 20.63 that equaled his career best and his No. 8 ranking on the UA all-time list. Tevijon Williams clocked 20.65 to reach the final where 20.71 was the cutoff time. Jamarion Stubbs ran 20.87 in his prelim heat.

Cooper Williams completed the first day of the heptathlon in sixth place with 2,862 points. He started with a 7.43 in the 60m (736), then added a 21-9.5 (6.64) long jump (729). In the shot put, a mark of 36-8.25 (11.18) picked up 557 points. Williams wrapped up day one by topping the field in the high jump with a clearance of 6-8.25 for 840 points.

Link Lindsey placed 15 in the long jump with a mark of 23-6.75 (7.18).

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Arkansas

The wall goes back up: Arkansas embraces defiant isolation

Published

18 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

The wall goes back up: Arkansas embraces defiant isolation

“Arkansans have been made better economically, intellectually and socially by letting go of the ‘terrified truculence’ toward outsiders in recent decades. Sadly, as we’ve experienced this sad winter, all signs are that many similar seasons of defiant isolation are in our state’s future,” writes political scholar Jay Barth.

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Arkansas

Man arrested in Arkansas connected to Jan. 2026 fatal hit-and-run in Dallas

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Man arrested in Arkansas connected to Jan. 2026 fatal hit-and-run in Dallas

DALLAS – Authorities in Arkansas have arrested a man accused of being behind the wheel during a January car crash that left one man dead.

Suspect arrested in Arkansas for Dallas hit-and-run

What we know:

U.S. Marshals tracked down 22-year-old Enrique Hernandez in De Queen, a southwest Arkansas town about three hours away from Dallas and an hour north of Texarkana.

Hernandez has been charged with collision involving death, a second-degree felony, in connection with the case. He is currently being held in an Arkansas jail before he is transferred to a jail in Dallas County.

What we don’t know:

Dallas police haven’t said if the suspect has any ties to the victim or the area of Arkansas where he was arrested.

The backstory:

The fatal hit-and-run occurred around 3 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 11 near W. Davis St. and N. Westmoreland Dr. in Dallas.

26-year-old Johnathan Rodriguez was dropped off by friends outside his Dallas neighborhood early Sunday morning after celebrating his birthday.

Surveillance video shows Rodriguez in the media area of the road when a dark-colored SUV hits him and drives away.

Rodriguez was left with severe head trauma, later dying from his injuries.

A bittersweet victory for the family

What they’re saying:

John Rodriguez, the victim’s father, struggled to find the words to describe the news he received.

“It’s not going to bring him back, bring my son back,” Rodriguez told FOX 4’s Peyton Yager. “It hurts every day, every minute. I wake up every morning, and he is not here. We are really going to miss him.”

The Rodriguez family worked with police to help find their son’s killer. They found more surveillance video near the scene of the accident that helped authorities find and arrest Hernandez in Arkansas.

“We are going to fight for justice. Long live Johnny, and we are going to keep on fighting,” Rodriguez said.

The Source: Information in this story came from current and previous FOX 4 reporting.

NewsDallasCrime and Public SafetyArkansas

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