Deal reached for city to buy, fix up convention center hotel

PINE BLUFF — The Pine Bluff Civic Auditorium Commission has struck an agreement with the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency to acquire and renovate the Plaza Hotel, putting the city in the hotel business and giving the convention center a hotel anchor again.

The hotel was built in 1980 and has fallen into disrepair in recent years. Commissioners have said the hotel cannot be used by the convention center in its present state.

Maurice Taggart, director of the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, said Tuesday the agency is poised to purchase the property from its owner, Mike Patel, for $1.2 million. Taggart said finalizing the sale will take three to four months, and renovations are expected to take an additional 12-14 months and cost $8 million to $10 million.

“We haven’t done a specific analysis from beginning to end, but that’s the general consensus of what it’s going to be,” Taggart said.

Taggart said the price will be borne by the Urban Renewal Agency, which is funded through Go Forward Pine Bluff, a public/private partnership funded through a five-eights percent sales tax passed by city voters in 2017.

According to a resolution approved Tuesday by the auditorium commission, once the purchase is finalized, the hotel will be transferred to the commission. The commission will be tasked with issuing a request for qualification to attract a hotel franchise to engage in a public/private partnership to design, renovate and operate the hotel.

To help finance the renovation, the commission will consult with the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission on a bond issue, according to a key provision of the resolution.