1101-33 S 9th StUnder construction

A seven-story, 157-unit apartment building is under construction at 1101-33 South 9th Street in Bella Vista, running the full block between Kimball and Ellsworth. The project, cleared to build in late 2020, includes ground-floor commercial space—use still to be determined—and structured parking above a Type IA podium with wood-frame construction on the residential floors. At more than 32,000 square feet, the assemblage represents one of the larger development parcels to turn over in this stretch of South 9th in recent years, acquired by ECU Stewart LLC in 2018.

The CMX-3 zoning allows the project to move forward by right, though the sheer unit count dwarfs most of what's landed nearby. The immediate area has seen modest multifamily additions—10 units at 1116 South 12th, 13 at 769-75 South 10th, another 10 at 713-15 South Mildred—but nothing approaching triple digits. That puts this development in a different weight class, closer in ambition to what's rolled out along Washington Avenue's eastern corridor than the typical two- and three-story conversions that have defined Bella Vista's recent infill.

The scale suggests ECU Stewart is betting on sustained demand for rental inventory in a neighborhood that has mostly absorbed homeownership product and smaller adaptive-reuse plays. With only 33 units delivered or in the pipeline within a half-mile, the building will reset the baseline for multifamily density along lower 9th Street. It also raises questions about adjacent parcels—particularly the scattered commercial and light-industrial footprints still sitting on CMX-3 land—that could pencil under similar math if land assembly proves workable.