Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
14-year road ends at marina
Developer calls project a way to reacquaint LR with river
If John Burkhalter had been told 14 years ago what he would go through before he could turn dirt on the first phase of what will be a $60 million marina development on the Little Rock bank of the Arkansas River, he said his response would have been, “No, thanks.”
“It has been a long journey,” Burkhalter said.
But boaters on the river will be able to find safe harbor on their own journeys at the Rock City Yacht Club as soon as this summer, thanks, Burkhalter said, to a “finish what you start” ethos that his parents, Frank and Loyce Ann Burkhalter, instilled in him as a boy.
“I am tired of talking about it,” he said. “I am ready to finish it.”
The first phase of what Burkhalter said will be a “state of the art” marina includes 154 of the eventual 258 boat slips, a public-access boat ramp and park, fueling station, restrooms and a dock store.
Construction is expected to begin this summer on 176 luxury apartments along with additional slips and a restaurant.
The project is the latest development near downtown in a largely industrial area east of Interstate 30. Long anchored by the Clinton Presidential Center, previous projects in the area include the global headquarters for Heifer International and, most recently the mixed-use East Village development.
Burkhalter calls it a landmark public-private partnership that will allow the state’s capital city to reconnect to its roots as a river port and provide better access to the river for residents who now often visit the state’s lakes for their boating activities.
“We have lost sight of what this river means to us,” he said.
He first saw the property in 2004 when he reluctantly accepted an invitation from a friend who owned the land, the late Greg Gladden of Cabot, to give it a look. He described gingerly walking out into the cane growing on the property and seeing then what his friend saw in it: perhaps the only spot in the city where a marina could be built.
“Wow,” was Burkhalter’s reaction.
Gladden tried without success for a couple of years to develop the property but then sold it to Burkhalter in 2006. It has been a long 12 years in which Burkhalter said he has invested millions of dollars into the project.
Few projects come without some “hair” on them, a reference to difficulties land can present to a developer, be it challenges from regulators, Mother Nature or the ownership.
“This had hair all over it,” Burkhalter said.
Burkhalter, 61, an engineer, had turned to real estate development after he sold his technology business in 1998. His portfolio includes four luxury apartment complexes under the Fountaine Bleau brand with a fourth soon to be announced.
It took six years to obtain the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit required by the federal Clean Water Act, an effort that included enlisting the aid of Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and former U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and a trip to Washington, D.C.
“It’s difficult to get permits,” Burkhalter said. “I’m not saying it’s because the answer with the government is ‘no.’ They have to totally understand the process and you have to be pushing from every angle.
“Not only did my paperwork have to be perfect and
See MARINA, Page 6G