[Memphis Business Journal : June 3, 2024] –
Trumann is a sleepy city of about 7,400 — just off I-555 in Northeast Arkansas.
It’s about 15 minutes from Jonesboro and 45 minutes from Memphis. Many people in the city are employed by Roach Manufacturing Corp., a company that makes conveyor belts and is based in Trumann.
Steel Creek is a mixed-use campus announced in February of last year. The development’s plan would see Roach Manufacturing expand its local operations and have single and multifamily housing, retail, and more.
A company bets on its home base
Roach Manufacturing is partnering with Haag Brown Development, part of Jonesboro-based Haag Brown Commercial, to develop the site.
The 100-acre development is anchored by warehouse and distribution facilities for Roach, the latter of which is expected to deliver later this summer. Plans are in place for the development to host Class A office and retail space, restaurant outparcels, themed single-family housing, amenity-rich multifamily housing, and a potential event venue. A hotel is being recruited for a lot adjacent to I-555.
The project has been able to weather high interest rates and construction costs due to Roach Manufacturing’s commitment to the development, according to Josh Brown, principal at Haag Brown.
The development style also resembles one becoming increasingly common across the country in 2024: an innovation district, placing retail and housing with plenty of amenities next to job anchors.
“[Roach] needs to have employees living and working there to grow the company,” Brown said. “It’s an investment into their workforce, more so than a traditional real estate developer coming out, buying land, [building] it, and making a profit.”
Walkability and reconnecting towns is no easy task
One goal of the development is to make Trumann more pedestrian-friendly as a whole.
Brown said that the hope is that the development can allow for residents to be able to live in a walkable neighborhood. Bike and walking trails will feature throughout the development, giving residents the ability to walk to get groceries, go to school, and explore Trumann.
It hasn’t been easy. Trumann has had to spend millions getting its water infrastructure in place. As West Tennessee towns and cities consider how to grow, Haag Brown’s industrial lead Jeff Armstrong said that those places need to be ready for the long haul.
“These communities that are really eager to do a development like this, even though they’re willing and ready, there are hurdles to overcome that maybe they’re not aware of,” Armstrong said. “Some of it is the infrastructure support to carry a project like this that is probably more than what they’re currently capable of. There are hidden costs in that and time it takes to plan it correctly. This type of development is more than [Trumann has] ever done, because they’re usually used to just doing one [smaller] project at a time.”
To improve infrastructure, Trumann received a $2 million federal grant and has allocated $500,000 for a new water treatment facility and groundwater storage tank.
Still, the Steel Creek project stands to change Trumann massively. Part of the plan is to build out miles of trails, turning Trumann from the type of city where people zip around on golf carts to fully walkable.
Walkable Steel Creek development could fuel growth
James Sowell worked for over 45 years in manufacturing. These days, he works part-time as executive director of the Trumann Area Chamber of Commerce.
It used to be a pretty sleepy job, providing complementary groundbreaking ceremonies and ribbon cuttings for new businesses and developments in the area. Not anymore.
“It’s a good time to be in the part-time economic development business,” he joked. “I’m a retired manufacturing engineer, so some of these larger projects, I understand what they need to get started.”
Sowell said that Trumann is staring down a lot more tax money and growth than it used to ever dream of because of the number of developments popping up in the area. Workers with high wages from U.S. Steel’s Big River Steel facility in Osceola have settled down in the Trumann area, and the expansion of Roach allows for more people to stay.
About 160 residential units are planned or under construction outside of Steel Creek. New businesses, from startup small businesses to new chain restaurants, are filling out the area.
Sowell said that his chamber didn’t do anything in particular to catalyze Trumann’s expansion. He credits the growth on three things: a state-of-the-art school less than five years old, low housing costs, and growth in Northeast Arkansas and Memphis.
“We benefit from Big River Steel and those projects up in Mississippi County,” he said. “We have developers that are [building] rental units for [their] employees. [And] I know we have people living here who work in Marion, West Memphis, and Memphis.”
