Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has announced plans for the construction of the Whole Health Institute, a non-profit created to make a transformative approach to health and wellbeing available to everyone. -Crystal Bridges

• The building will be located on museum grounds and is expected to include space for community programs as well as offices for both the Institute and Art Bridges.
• Marlon Blackwell Architects will break ground in spring 2021 and complete the project in 2023.
• More information on the Whole Health Institute HERE.

Winrock International has announced the creation of a new fund dedicated to deploying early-stage capital to Arkansas startup companies. The Validation Fund, which went live Dec. 10, seeks to catalyze this crucial category of validation-stage funding. -Arkansas Money & Politics

• Rodney Ferguson, president and CEO of Winrock International, says the goal of the Validation Fund is to drive economic growth across the state of Arkansas.

• The Walton Family Foundation contributed an initial $1.1 million, which will fund awards of $50,000 to $150,000 in eight to 10 validation-stage companies in Northwest Arkansas over the next two years. -Arkansas Money & Politics

• More information on the Validation Fund can be found HERE.

Recent acquisitions in Bentonville and Craighead County prove that investors remain persistent in NWA's real estate market.

• An eight-building office park in Bentonville was purchased by a local LLC for $11 million. Rogers businessmen Patrick Byrd and Alex Baumeister bought the property known as Bentonville Commerce at 1700-1716 Commerce Drive that was previously owned by Bentonville Commerce LLC, a company owned by FBE Limited LLC of New York. -Talk Business & Politics
• In Craighead County, Nomads Pit Stop Inc. made the largest commercial transfer from Oct. 15 - Nov. 15, acquiring a convenience store on Commerce Dr. for $2.225 million. McGil Holdings closely followed, purchasing a Dairy Queen for $975,000. -Talk Business & Politics

Mercy Northwest and Washington Regional are gearing up for the arrival and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.

• Mercy Rogers is set to receive 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which will be given to those in COVID units and the ER, then administered to hospital staff starting Dec. 15 or 16. -Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

• Starting Saturday, Washington Regional will close the south portion of employee parking lot V to prepare for vaccine distribution. -KNWA/Fox 24

The city of Rogers is in the early stages of transitioning from a small NWA town to a big city, after growing by about 22% from 2010 to 2019, with its estimated population increasing from 56,109 to 68,669, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. -Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette

• City director of community development, Dean McCurdy, says the city's goal is to attract and retain talented people to allow the city to continue to thrive and grow with a diversified economy, while allowing Rogers to maintain its character within the region.

• The city's art and culture coordinator, Anna Watson, has been examining cultural case studies and collecting data from major hubs such as Austin, Texas, and Washington, DC.

• Budget funds will allow $80,000 to be allocated towards the city to enter a consulting relationship with to Creative Arkansas Community Hub and Exchange, or CACHE.

• CACHE is focusing on two cities at a time through its cultural planning efforts. "We fully anticipate after Rogers, we'll really focus on Fayetteville," she said. "After Fayetteville, we'll see," says CACHE program director, Kelsey Howard.

• Read the full article HERE.