Central Arkansas CRE Investors Are Choosing Fixer-Uppers Over Turnkey Properties

Written by:

Alejandra Rodriguez

Date:

22 Jul 2026

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Commercial real estate investors typically pay a premium for stabilized properties: fully renovated, fully leased, and requiring no immediate capital expenditure. In central Arkansas, that logic has flipped. Properties that need work are moving faster than those that don’t, according to Bryce Richardson, president of commercial sales at Brick Real Estate in Faulkner County, Arkansas, a dynamic that says something specific about where investor appetite sits in mid-2026.

Richardson describes a consistent pattern: buyers are gravitating toward deals with what he calls “meat on the bone,” while turnkey assets sit longer on the market.

“If it’s a trophy asset that’s stabilized, I’m actually seeing more concessions on those assets than I am on value add,” Richardson says. The reasoning is straightforward. An investor buying a property listed at $1 million that needs $100,000 in work but will be worth $1.2 million post-renovation has a clear path to equity creation. A seller asking $1.2 million for the same property post-renovation is finding fewer takers: those assets, Richardson says, require price reductions or concessions that value-add deals do not.

Arkansas Cap Rates

Arkansas remains a secondary market by national standards, but its vacancy rates tell a different story than its reputation might suggest. According to Richardson, office and retail vacancy in the state runs between 3 and 6 percent across most asset classes. Office vacancy statewide sits around 12 percent, tight compared to what primary markets are experiencing.

The cap rate spread is where investor interest sharpens. Richardson estimates that a deal trading at a 5 cap in Nashville could trade at a 6 to 7 cap in Arkansas. He recently closed a 64-unit apartment complex in Conway at $4.8 million – $75,000 per door – at a 7.5 cap rate, with a value-add path to approximately $6 million within three to five years at a 30-40% expense load.

“The investors that hear about the returns that we are having here compared to national markets, most people start trying to put their money in the deals here,” he says.

The Missing Middle

One of the most active segments Richardson tracks is what the industry calls the missing middle, the $1 million to $3 million asset range, typically 8 to 20 unit apartment complexes. These properties serve a specific buyer: the small investor who owns five to ten single-family homes and wants to scale through a 1031 exchange into a larger asset.

The supply constraint is real. Richardson describes this asset class as “one of the most scarce in just about every market,” and says his listings in this range generate immediate traction. Of the 8 duplexes he has listed in the past 6 to 12 months, none have gone to an owner-occupant. All have sold to investors looking to transition out of single-family holdings.

On the policy side, Richardson notes that Arkansas recently passed a state law allowing accessory dwelling units, a move he connects to policymakers working to address the missing middle housing gap. He points to an organization called Groundwork that helped push the legislation forward. The new law allows more housing on smaller parcels, creating development opportunity in the segment where supply is thinnest.

Three Submarkets

Central Arkansas is not one market. Richardson identifies three distinct areas with diverging trajectories. Conway, one of the state’s fastest-growing cities, is seeing retail lease rates push from what used to be $20 to $30 per foot toward $40 per foot in key corridors. Downtown Conway and an area called Lewis Crossing are driving that compression.

North Little Rock’s Argenta district is in a heavy development phase, with mixed-use projects and a conference center under construction. And downtown Little Rock recently received a $30 million investment from Jeff Bezos for an outdoor recreational park near the Clinton Library – announced just days before this interview – which Richardson expects to push retail rates higher along the River Market corridor.

For investors, Richardson frames the choice by matching strategy to location: Argenta’s development phase means higher acquisition costs suited to buyers seeking stabilized assets in a growth market, while other submarkets offer more value-add opportunity at lower entry points. “Once I have a clear understanding of what investors are looking for, I can best guide them”.

Economic Development

Richardson points to state-level economic development decisions as a driver of commercial activity. Five data centers are coming into Little Rock, Conway recently landed one, and West Memphis and Texarkana have each attracted their own. Google is among the companies that have announced plans.

Beyond data centers, Richardson says the state is opening funding – grants and workforce training programs – that connect political and business interests. One data center coming into Little Rock specifically offered funding to train electricians, plumbers, and HVAC professionals. “There’s a lot of economic development partnerships going on from political and businesses that are going to positively impact the workforce, that will positively impact the commercial real estate sector,” he says.

What Comes Next

Richardson sees small multifamily development as the sector most likely to accelerate, driven by the new ADU legislation and continued demand from investors scaling up. The constraint, in his view, is financing. “If we can figure out the finance piece as interest rates increase, I think we’ll see a lot more development in specific cities that will increase the missing middle,” he says, adding that such development would positively impact both housing supply and residential values alongside investor demand.

He also has a 150-unit multifamily portfolio across three smaller Arkansas markets preparing to hit the market, a listing that, given the current appetite for value-add deals in the missing middle range, will test whether the demand he describes extends beyond central Arkansas’s core submarkets.

About the Expert: Bryce Richardson is president of commercial sales at Brick Real Estate, serving Faulkner County and central Arkansas across multifamily, office, and retail assets. He has completed 37 transactions in the past six months spanning leases, sales, and active listings.

This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.