Project Statement

South Yard, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is an extensive adaptive reuse and new construction project that transformed the former Farmers Cooperative into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood. The design draws heavily on the existing site's gritty, layered and light industrial character and pragmatic functionality rooted in the context of south Fayetteville.

The project was executed in three distinct phases: new construction of South Yard Lofts, the South Yard Commercial rehabilitation of existing light industrial spaces, and the addition of the Moxy Fayetteville hotel.

The adaptive reuse of five original industrial structures provided a new home for retail, office, and dining, while also creating the central lobby and amenity hub for the Moxy hotel. To address a significant void in the local hospitality sector, the new seven-story Moxy tower added 131 rooms, serving as a vibrant anchor for the southern portion of the site. Furthermore, the multifamily component introduced 128 apartments, markedly increasing the area's density and introducing a permanent residential population to energize this vital neighborhood junction in south Fayetteville.

South Yard represents a thoughtful synthesis of historical layers, human-centric design, and authentic materiality, reimagining a former industrial site as a vital cultural node for south Fayetteville. By exposing and honoring existing board-formed concrete and block, alongside a few preserved "ruins" of the previous grain tower, the architecture establishes a profound connection to the site's past. Modern elements like metal paneling and masonry integrate with these original textures to reflect the area's agrarian roots, while the addition of cypress rainscreens, balconies, and screen walls introduces a tactile warmth that grounds the industrial aesthetic at a human scale.

A defining feature of the development is the hotel's concrete block elevator and stair tower; its meticulously composed punched windows serve as a deliberate architectural homage to the ten-story grain tower that stood as an unassuming community beacon until 2010. Now rising seven stories, the hotel emerges as a contemporary landmark, harmonizing with lower-story walk-up apartments and repurposed commercial structures. These diverse components are unified along the historic railway spur that anchored the site throughout the 20th century, effectively stitching together the old and the new.