Berryville cuts ribbon on $3 million business park

The City of Berryville officially cut the ribbon to open its new $3 million business park on Thursday, May 4, with U.S. Rep. Steve Womack and other officials on hand for the occasion.

The business park, located along U.S. Highway 62 east of downtown Berryville, encompasses approximately 280 acres.

Mayor Tim McKinney said the business park gives the city a leg up when companies are looking at potential locations. With the infrastructure in place, McKinney said city officials can show companies a site that’s ready now, rather than pointing to potential.

“We’re ready for anybody that wants to come to town,” McKinney said. “We don’t have to say what we will do. With the size of this park, it should accommodate the city for many years. The important part is having it available. If somebody comes to look at your town, they can’t wait a year, or two or three years. You’ve got to have the property ready.”

The city received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration that helped fund street and drainage work and wastewater extensions to the business park.

“The initial cost of putting in the road to get it started and the sewer lift station and all that was the big cost,” McKinney said. “Water and sewer, all we’ll have to do is extend the existing lines. We’ll be able to do most of that ourselves, so our big expense in the future will be extending that road.”

McKinney said the city is actively recruiting new industry to the business park.

“We’ve signed an offer to sell five and the same company got an option on another 10 acres to expand on later,” he said. “And then we’ve got another company that we’re dealing with that we can’t really talk about. That’s going to be a really big deal. Hopefully that’ll work out. They’re definitely interested.”