Palace owners downtown planning a second restaurant plus entertainment for the property

[This article has an update from Jan 20, 2020 – See new photos and plans from the Palace renovation www.mysaline.com/palace-gallery-jan-2020]

A downtown Benton developer has been working for about six months on a commercial project to include a new location of a known restaurant downstairs, Baja Grill, as well as some upstairs living space to be used as B&Bs… and now they are announcing yet another restaurant – and with some very special entertainment.

Shawn Hipskind has lived in Arkansas since the early 2000s and his wife Denise followed him here. They both previously lived in Michigan, but as someone in construction, Shawn was drawn to the economy in Arkansas. Their move to downtown Benton had its roots in a big residential project Shawn had taken on – rebuilding an entire block of homes. After a few months of driving back and forth, the family made the decision to make their own home on that block as well.

“We were looking for a real downtown community where we could walk and eat and sleep and play all in the same little area,” stated Denise. “Now that we moved here and there weren’t enough choices for those kinds of things, we decided we’re going to make it happen.”

Things were coming together for the perfect storm in 2017 to make exponential growth with new restaurants and shops in the downtown Benton area. Meanwhile, the City of Benton had a piece of downtown property they didn’t need, and weren’t sure how to divest themselves of it.

The Palace. It’s had many uses at 224 W. South Street since opening 100 years ago, including movies, live shows, a teen hang out, and the library. It was vacant for 16 years – until the Hipskinds made an offer to take it off the City’s hands. He is a developer and she is a real estate broker, so they are no stranger to property deals.

If you have watched the Hipskinds’ social media, you might know they have been planning to incorporate axe throwing. That will be a part of an upscale restaurant called Valhalla, with quick service lunch and dinner and a full bar. They’ll serve pizza, salad, sandwiches and some unique appetizers. They have already hired a general manager who helped plan the menu. They’ll be open through the week and weekends but haven’t picked their exact hours yet. They also plan to have brunch on the weekends.

Valhalla will be accessed through a side door and it will be in the rear of the building. It will have an indoor section, as well as downstairs and upstairs patios, to be shared between the restaurants. Baja Grill will be in the front of the building downstairs but will share a hallway with Valhalla. The current goal is to open Baja by the end of the year and open Valhalla shortly afterward.