Project is one-man LR show
Builder envisions a ‘town square’
In a year, the Pettaway neighborhood in Little Rock will be home to a yoga studio, a barbershop, a microbrewery and even a financial-technology startup.
At least that’s builder Michael Orndorff ’s plan. He began turning dirt last week on the first phase of the Pettaway Square microbusiness development, a $2 million project featuring six structures set around a “town square” in the 400 block of East 21st Street, between Rock and Commerce streets.
The first phase will be a mix of eight apartments and 13 commercial spaces, seven of which are storefronts and four are offices.
Orndorff obtained six permits for the six buildings that total more $1,859,000 in construction value. He obtained the land of less than a half acre that was an empty lot for about $140,000.
It wasn’t so long ago that such a development couldn’t have gotten off the ground in the neighborhood, which suffered through a period of gang
activity, marked by shootings and other crime.
That history, and the fact that lenders were unfamiliar with the neighborhood, was an impediment to the capital needed for more ambitious projects like Pettaway Square. Orndorff and others have been building new homes in the area in recent years, and that continues to this day.
The established neighborhood originally was known as East Broadway. The active Pettaway Neighborhood Association defines its boundaries as east of Main Street, west of Interstate 30, north of Roosevelt Road and south of Interstate 630.
It took its present name in 1994 from its most prominent resident, the Rev. Caleb Darnell “C.D.” Pettaway. He was pastor of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church during the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School, according to Philip Purifoy, writing in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Pettaway served as president of the National Baptist Convention of America from 1957 to 1967. Pettaway and his family made their home at 519 E. 21st. St., which still stands in the block east of Orndorff’s development.
The city’s created Pettaway Park on 21st and 22nd streets between Commerce and Bragg streets from land acquired from Pettaway’s estate.
That colorful history won’t finance a loan. Orndorff cashed in his IRA, sold his rental properties, cashed in on his home equity and borrowed from his family emergency fund but still had to turn to the banks for financing.
“We had two banks turn us down and a third reduce an equity line they were going to offer because they didn’t believe in this project,” Orndorff said.
Enter Ashton Adcock, chairman and chief executive officer of Merchants and Farmers Bank of Dumas.
“He deserves a ton of credit,” Orndorff said.
Adcock knew Orndorff as a customer and once lived in downtown Little Rock and knew the area. He said that on a recent drive in the neighborhood, he came away impressed with the homebuilding projects Orndorff had done on his own as well as the other signs of progress and stability.
“I’ve been impressed with all they’re doing around Main Street on the south side of [Interstate] 630,” Adock said. “And when Mike showed me his investment in the area in new homes and his ideas and plans, we got excited about it.”
The project also fits the bank’s objectives, he said.
“We are a very small community bank and so community revitalization is something we hold dear,” he said. “Mike and I share a passion and it just happens to be in that district that we’re going to join together to make something happen.”
That struggle to see the project through helps explain Orndorff ’s vision for Pettaway Square as a place people can afford to start their own businesses.
The storefronts will be 550 square feet of space instead of the 1,600 square feet typically available starting out in most commercial spaces.
“We’re tapping into entrepreneurship at the most basic level,” Orndorff said. “It’s similar to the tech park but with storefront legitimacy.
“Maybe you’re a massage therapist or a dog groomer or you do taxes or its a political campaign. This gives you more individual access to passers-by that are just at the farmers market. Or you’re a starving artist who can’t afford a 2,000-squarefoot space but I want to get myself out there where people can see it.”
Orndorff said he had hoped to have the project completed within six months, but thinks it will take a year because of supply-chain issues in the building industry.
Frederick Gentry, president of the neighborhood association, expressed optimism that Pettaway Square will prove beneficial to the surrounding community.
“It’s a mixed-use development that overall the neighborhood is supportive because it’ll hopefully create some economic activity in the neighborhood and, of course, more living space as well and it has green space points to it,” he said. “I think it will be a great addition and really help continue to economic growth and redevelopment in the area.”