Harold Korell, CEO and chairman of the board at the Houston-based Southwestern Energy said in a press release that the building will serve as a location for those involved with day-to-day operations with the Fayetteville Shale. Korell also said in the statement that the building will house between 200 and 250 people, but could eventually support up to 450 people.

The building will be located on 11.5 acres at the Village at Hendrix, a 100-acre residential and retail development adjacent to Hendrix College at 1600 Washington Ave. Further information from Southwestern Energy about the upcoming construction was unavailable by deadline.

The Fayetteville Shale is a gas reservoir on the Arkansas side of the Arkoma Basin. The shale ranges in thickness from 50 to 550 feet and ranges in depth from 1,500 to 6,500 feet. According to Southwestern Energy's web site, the company has approximately 860,000 net acres in the Fayetteville Shale play area. As of late September, Southwestern drilled and completed a total of 722 wells in the Fayetteville Shale play.

Village at Hendrix was designed by "new urbanism" architects Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., which is headquartered in Miami, FL. The plan calls for the project to be built in phases by Traditional Neighborhood Development Partners LLC of Durham, NC. The pedestrian-friendly site plan calls for retail establishments, office buildings, restaurants and civic buildings, as well as single-family and multifamily residences.