Pleasant Street District marked as ‘endangered’
The Pleasant Street Historic District has been included on Preserve Arkansas’ 2017 list of “Arkansas’s Most Endangered Places.”
The “Endangered Eight” includes neglected or forgotten cemeteries throughout Arkansas, two ice houses, two rural churches, neighborhood schools slated for closure, and one other historically African-American neighborhood.
Properties are nominated by individuals, communities, and organizations interested in preserving these places for future Arkansans, according to a press packet provided on Preserve Arkansas’ website.
Criteria for inclusion in the list include a property’s listing or eligibility for the Arkansas or National Register of Historic Places; the degree of a property’s local, state, or national significance; and the imminence and degree of the threat to the property.
Preserve Arkansas’ description of the Pleasant Street District states, in part, that it is the largest African-American historic district in the state, known for its association with John Lee Webb and landmark buildings including Visitor’s Chapel AME Church and the Woodmen of the Union Building.
Preserve Arkansas also said it “suffers because of its prime location adjacent to the Hot Springs Convention Center and within walking distance of the Central Avenue Historic District. In this situation, vacant and/or deteriorating historic buildings are in danger of becoming parking lots.”
“With this listing, Preserve Arkan-
sas hopes to raise awareness of the Pleasant Street Historic District’s significance and provide advocacy and education to help property owners and other stakeholders better understand and preserve this vital element of the city’s history.”
The latter wording drew a strong retort Friday from Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison, who is the property agent for the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission, which manages the convention center and several properties in the area, including Baxter Plaza.
While Arrison agrees with the nonprofit’s mission, he said Preserve Arkansas’ description of the area was “misinformed.”
“In this instance, I wish they had talked to somebody before they added this neighborhood to the list,” he said.
Arrison said the description was an inaccurate depiction of the neighborhood’s relationship with both the city of Hot Springs and the ad commission, citing the more than $600,000 that the city has spent in the district and the more than $700,000 that the ad commission has spent in the neighborhood.
“That’s over a million dollars into that neighborhood,” Arrison said. “I don’t know if you could look at a lot of neighborhoods around the state of Arkansas that have had that much investment from a city.”
Arrison strongly disagreed that the district’s historic buildings are “in danger of becoming parking lots.” He specifically cited Baxter Plaza as an example of the ad commission avoiding such a move.
“That could have been a parking lot all the way through,” Arrison said.
“We haven’t done anything but try to help the neighborhood, and I think the neighborhood’s trying to help itself,” he said.
“We purchased buildings over there that were damaged by storms that had to come down, that have been damaged by fire and had to come down,” he said.
The nonprofit’s designation of the district comes in the wake of the city of Hot Springs requiring the ad commission to make repairs to a structure at 126 Pleasant St.
The ad commission initially planned to tear down the structure, but it was blocked by the Hot Springs Historic District Commission.
While he was displeased with Preserve Arkansas’ depiction of the neighborhood, Arrison said that the nonprofit’s designation could potentially help the conversation surrounding the neighborhood’s historical status.
“Maybe Preserve Arkansas did us a favor by bringing attention to it so we can talk about this,” Arrison said.
Arrison said he believes that all the entities involved in the Pleasant Street area have the goal of saving the district.
“If that helps it get funding — federal funding, state funding — shoot, you know, I’ll be the first one to thank them for putting us on the list later,” Arrison said.