Arlington Hotel restoration seen as starting soon

Materials for exterior work ordered, arriving, exec says

HOT SPRINGS — The start of the long-awaited restoration of the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa is imminent, according to the president of operations for the hotel’s parent company.

Sky Capital’s Scott Larsen last week recapped for the Downtown Association of Hot Springs the presentation of the hotel’s restoration team made at the Hot Springs Historic District Commission’s October meeting. Certificates of appropriateness that the commission issued allow hotel officials to apply for building permits related to exterior repairs planned for the downtown landmark.

Larsen said exterior work will take 18-24 months once it begins. He said the hotel accepted delivery of 3,000 bricks Tuesday. Workers will replace damaged brick on the stately building that’s commanded upper Central Avenue since 1925.

“Scaffolding has been ordered,” he told the Downtown Association. “Bricks are being delivered. Stucco materials have been ordered. I anticipate scaffolding in 30 days, maybe even less. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we’ll at least have it on property so we can start installation.

“Just like everybody else, we’re going to be hampered by supply chains. But what we can get, we’re already placing orders. Tile is being made. Rock is being cut as we speak.”

Sky Capital CEO Al Rajabi announced a $30 million renovation soon after the company acquired the property and several out parcels in July 2017 from the Arlington Hotel Co. Inc. for $7 million, according to the settlement statement the hotel’s tax representative presented to the Garland County Board of Equalization in 2017. An itemized repair list presented at the tax hearing estimated a $28.4 million cost to refurbish the hotel.

In January 2020, Sky Capital paid off the $5.6 million promissory note it granted for the owner-financed sale, according to property records. Two months earlier, the company granted U.S. Bank a $5.6 million mortgage for the purpose of refinancing the hotel’s existing debt. Interest and principal on the note are due next November.

Larsen said the shoring up of the hotel’s signature cupolas has been completed.

“I may be off, but it was close to 17 tons of steel that went inside the building up to the towers,” he said. “The notion the towers aren’t safe is truly not true. They’re completely solid and structurally reinforced, and signed and stamped by the state of Arkansas.”

He said a waterproof membrane will be installed underneath the copper tops of the towers.

“Every square inch of the building will get touched,” he said. “It will get pressure washed. The stucco will be sounded. If there’s any portion of that stucco that needs to be restored, it will be cut out.”

Larsen said lime for replacement stucco will be sourced from France.

“It’s some of the best in the world with regards to exterior restoration purposes,” he said.

Structural engineer Bryan Wood, who’s consulting the hotel on the renovation, told the Historic District Commission the lime-based, self-healing stucco resists cracking. Calcium hydroxide in the stucco’s mix changes to carbonate salt when exposed to carbon dioxide, healing any cracking that might occur.

The eggshell-colored stucco will return the building to its original color. Ellis Mumford-Russell, a partner at Post Oak Preservation Solutions, the Austin, Texas, historic preservation consulting firm the hotel contracted, told the Historic District Commission that the building originally had an ivory shade.

“That’s exactly what we’re going back to,” Larsen said. “No more of the yesterday’s mustard or yellow. It’s going back to the brick being a light beige, and the stucco is going to what’s called eggshell, which is going to be incredible. I think it will give it a much better feel.”

He said Andersen Commercial aluminum wood-clad windows will replace the hotel’s more than 600 woodframed windows.

“It’s a duplicate of what that looks like,” he said. “You can’t tell the difference. It’s pretty incredible. They’re gorgeous.”

He said work on the building’s 20 flat roof areas will begin after the new windows are installed. All the roof areas will be sealed with a Versico TPO membrane, he said.

Damaged tiles on the terra-cotta roof between the cupolas will be replaced, Larsen said, explaining that an Ohio company has been contracted to replicate the original 1924 tiles.