Haag Brown Commercial said Tuesday that U.S. Pizza Co. of Arkansas will open a new restaurant this summer in the Highlands Shopping Center at the intersection of Highland Drive and Red Wolf Boulevard in Jonesboro.

The restaurant will occupy a 6,000-SF space that faces Highland Drive and was the long-time home of Fuji’s Japanese Steakhouse, which is moving into the space behind U.S. Pizza.

The firm said the center had undergone renovations over the past several months.

“The Red Wolf/Highland intersection is ground zero for retail commerce in the Jonesboro trade area,” Haag Brown Commercial Principal Joshua Brown said in a news release. “The other three corners are fully developed, so we are expecting The Highlands to be a logical landing spot for new restaurants entering the market.”

Zac Qualls, also with the firm, manages the 7-acre property for G&P Development LLC and has overseen its redevelopment.

Brown told Arkansas Business that G&P acquired the center for $5.5 million in 2015, bought a lot directly across from Chili’s for $1.25 million in the fall of 2016, and purchased a contiguous building to tear down for $400,000 in the spring of 2016.

He also estimated that $10 million will have been invested in the center when it’s completed. The project involved updating the parking lot, landscaping, exterior and interior, and tearing down two old buildings blocking visibility.

Brown told Arkansas Business the exterior improvements to the center cost more than $1.7 million, and the landlord participation in finishing 60,000 SF should be in the $1.8 million range.

Qualls told Arkansas Business that the center is around 60 percent occupied because prior leases have not been renewed.

“We are opening up areas of the center in order to land higher quality tenants,” he said.

Construction on U.S. Pizza will begin as soon as Fuji’s relocates. According to its website, U.S. Pizza has 14 locations throughout the state.

by Arkansas Business Staff  on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017 9:40 am

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