Not everyone is a fan of the extraordinary change that's occurred, and the knock-on effects have left some in the community behind. It's urban development on steroids, with one very powerful philanthropic hand guiding the way. But by and large, the outcome is creating a place and a quality of life that many people across the U.S. would envy. And, surprisingly, this one-off unicorn of a small-town makeover may actually offer replicable lessons for communities that don't have the benefit of a neighbor like Walton.
It's about a 2-mile trip from the doors of Crystal Bridges to the fountainhead of the wealth that enabled it: Walmart's headquarters. The brand-new corporate campus was built in 2025, right down the road from the original, where a dozen modern office buildings now sit in a parklike setting amid ground-floor retail and restaurants. A snaking bike path runs right through the middle of it all.
That bike path, a portion of the Razorback Greenway, is directly adjacent to many of the new attractions and amenities that have remade Bentonville, which makes it a perfect route to survey this small town's transformation.
So I rented a bike and went for a ride.
Winding through the...
Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/91550093/alice-walton-crystal-bridges-expansion-bentonville
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