ROGERS, Ark. — The Rogers City Council voted Tuesday night to sell a piece of land to the Northwest Arkansas Council subgroup "Groundwork" to build the first 3D-printed homes in the state.
The city voted to sell the land on South 1st St. for $50,000 on Jan. 23. These homes will be sold to buyers whose annual income does not exceed 80% of the area median income. Right now, the group plans for four to five duplexes on the site that are two stories.
"One of our goals is for this housing to provide some level of affordability with some proximity to one of our downtown's. So, in theory, someone could potentially live there, work at a coffee shop, or work at one of the restaurants in Downtown Rogers and have a short walk or a short bike ride or short commute to and from work," Duke McLarty, Executive Director for Groundwork, said.
McLarty said things like plumbing and electrical will be installed in these houses in a traditional manner, but the walls will be made out of concrete.
"Where the 3D printing part comes in is essentially the outside walls. A robot will show up on site, it has an arm, and concrete comes out of this arm in a way that almost looks like soft serve ice cream. It's layered on top of each other to build those walls," McLarty said.
One of the organization's goals for this development is to show that housing can be affordably produced using these technologies and be a blueprint for similar projects in the area.
"Studies have shown that they're 30% more energy efficient. It's very resilient to extreme weather. It doesn't rot. There's no risk of termites there's no risk of water damage," McLarty said. "This is really going to be an educational journey that the City of Rogers is proving to be a great partner on. We're going to bring building officials and fire officials from not just Arkansas, but throughout the heartland, to come here, see this and experience it at different stages."
The first-of-its-kind project has officials for the city excited and hopeful, as they see the need.
"We've put a lot of work into making Rogers as developer friendly as we can be for affordable housing projects. And we're talking about workforce housing projects that so many of our citizens need," John McCurdy, Director of Community Development for the City of Rogers, said.
"The more that we can have people who live close to where they work, and where they spend their money, the fewer people on the streets, and I mean, it's just it's a win-win for everybody," McCurdy said.
McLarty said they're hoping to break ground on the development by late spring or early summer and hopefully have residents move in by the end of the year.
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