How One Couple Is Making Homeownership Attainable in Arkansas
The Hideaway features tall, narrow houses that allow for more units without sacrificing livability. (Source: Crye-Leike Real Estate Services.)
In the heart of downtown Springdale, Arkansas, a new pocket neighborhood is redefining urban living. Spearheaded by local developers Zach and Sarah Brothers, The Hideaway demonstrates how small-scale projects can breathe life into downtown and make homeownership more attainable for the next generation.
“THE HIDEAWAY offers the opportunity to OWN your home and invest yourself in a location where owning a new home is rare,” their website states. The couple spent years considering how best to contribute to Springdale’s revitalization. To have a thriving downtown, people needed to live there — but with limited land, the conventional suburban model wasn’t an option. It would produce too few homes, and they’d be prohibitively expensive. So, the Brothers turned to infill development.
The challenge wasn’t just adding housing but also ensuring it fit seamlessly into Springdale’s character. "It was really important that we fit in with the neighborhood," Sarah told the local news. "We did not want this to be something that looked like it was brand new and made the neighbors uncomfortable. ... We did a lot of walking, driving around, looking at the colors of the homes that are around here, the styles of the homes that are around here, and ... even the color palette that we chose, trying to make it something that would blend in and look like it could have been here for quite some time, instead of something that's brand new."
The solution? Cottage courts — homes clustered around shared green spaces, where front porches foster neighborly connections while maintaining privacy.
Beyond aesthetics, The Hideaway reflects a broader need for diverse housing options. The Brothers were inspired to start this project when their own children entered the housing market and struggled to find options. “We have a 28- and a 25-year-old who were getting into the market at the time that the costs were going up and up and up,” Sarah said. “And we saw them and their friends not be able to find a property that they could purchase in an area that they wanted to be in — they wanted to be close to things, close to where they could walk or ride their bikes to restaurants and get coffee and events and stuff like that.”
Seeing the gap between demand and supply, they designed homes that balance private and shared spaces, with smaller footprints that keep costs lower. Taller, more closely spaced homes allow for more units without sacrificing livability. Infill development also makes efficient use of existing infrastructure, avoiding the high costs of extending roads and utilities. “That was our first motivation was to try to provide a product that they would be interested in … or their friends, or anybody else, a single person or a couple or whatever,” Sarah added.
This pocket neighborhood exists not only because of the Brothers’ creativity but also because Northwest Arkansas has been updating its zoning codes to allow for more flexibility in housing types. Across the country, outdated land-use regulations — such as minimum parking requirements, excessive setback rules and strict lot size mandates — remain some of the biggest barriers to increasing housing supply and affordability. Fortunately, these policies can be adjusted at the local level.
"The Housing-Ready City" toolkit outlines several key reforms that cities can adopt to support projects like The Hideaway. Reducing or eliminating minimum parking requirements allows developers to use land more efficiently and prioritize housing over car storage. Relaxing setback and lot size mandates enables more homes to be built on smaller parcels, making infill development financially viable. Legalizing small-scale multifamily housing — like duplexes, triplexes and in-law suites — further diversifies housing options, creating opportunities for a broader range of residents. By making these incremental changes, cities can encourage development that is both responsive to what today’s residents want and what tomorrow’s residents will need.
Asia (pronounced “ah-sha”) Mieleszko serves as a Staff Writer for Strong Towns. A dilettante urbanist since adolescence, she's excited to convert a lifetime of ad-hoc volunteerism into a career. Her unconventional background includes directing a Ukrainian folk choir, pioneering synaesthetic performances, photographing festivals, designing websites, teaching, and ghostwriting. She can be found wherever Wi-Fi is reliable, typically along Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.