Conway Approves 200-Unit Mixed-Use Project Near Hendrix College
Conway's planning commission approved a 200-unit mixed-use residential and retail development on Harkrider Street near Hendrix College, a project that would be the largest new housing addition to the college-town corridor in over a decade.
The Harkrider Station project — approved 6-1 by the Conway Planning Commission at its April meeting — calls for 200 apartment units across two five-story buildings, with approximately 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 350-space structured parking deck shared between residents and the public. The site is a 3.4-acre former commercial strip at the corner of Harkrider and Prince streets, roughly four blocks from the Hendrix College main entrance.
Unit Mix and Pricing
The project's 200 units break down as 60 studios, 90 one-bedrooms, and 50 two-bedrooms. The developer, Nashville-based Ironwood Partners, has committed to holding 15 percent of units at 80 percent AMI for 15 years as a condition of the tax increment financing agreement. Market-rate rents are projected at $1,150 to $1,600 per month depending on unit size — which would make them competitive with Conway's existing newer stock.
What This Means for Conway Growth
Conway has added population steadily over the past decade, driven partly by UCA and Hendrix enrollment, partly by families priced out of Little Rock's closer-in neighborhoods, and partly by the Route 65 commercial corridor drawing employers north from the metro. The housing stock has lagged — most of the city's rental inventory is older single-family rentals or small apartment complexes built before 2010. Harkrider Station is the first project to add significant density near either campus.
What This Means
Conway is the fastest-growing city in the metro by percentage, but its housing supply has not kept pace. A walkable mixed-use project near Hendrix adds exactly the kind of urban-format density that college-town corridors need to retain young residents after graduation — and to attract the coffee shops, bookstores, and small restaurants that make a neighborhood a destination.
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