City awaits clearance on Majestic
It took three months to raze the Majestic Hotel’s “red brick” building, Lanai Tower and Lanai Suites, but obtaining the environmental clearance that will inform how the property is developed has been a slower process.
The city’s demolition contractor turned the site over to it in mid-November. Since then, the city has been waiting for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to conclude the phase two comprehensive site assessment. Assistant City Manager/ City Clerk Lance Spicer said last week he expects to hear from ADEQ soon.
ADEQ contractor FTN Associates concluded its field work last month. Samples collected from eight subsurface and groundwater borings have been
submitted to the secondary contractor, Center for Toxicology & Environmental Health LLC, Spicer said.
The latter is preparing a human health risk assessment based on what it finds in the samples. The assessment will determine the necessary measures for obtaining an environmental clearance for the property.
“In the grand scheme of things in a phase two, they’re in the last part of it,” Spicer said. “Things are moving along, and we expect to have a report from ADEQ relatively soon. Whenever you deal with environmental issues, the regulators are very careful and methodical as they move through the closeout process.”
Phase two is an analysis of the recognized environmental conditions identified during the initial site assessment in April 2014. Most of its findings related to the concrete fuel bunker on the north end of the “yellow brick” building parcel. Spicer said correspondence the previous owner provided the city indicated steps had been taken more than a decade ago to mitigate it.
“We expect phase two to tell us the fuel bunker could have some possible small-scale leaking that will require us to remove the bunker and excavate a little of the area around it,” Spicer said, explaining that the bunker was used to hold heating oil for the “yellow brick” building that was demolished after a February 2014 fire.
“The levels of contamination, I wouldn’t be shocked if they’re very low. It’s a small bunker that was remediated in the mid-2000s.”
The city’s enrollment of the property in ADEQ’s brownfield assistance program in 2014 made ADEQ responsible for the cost and administration of the site assessment.
“Instead of having to contract with FTN on our own, ADEQ is contracting with FTN on our behalf,” Spicer said. “It’s a big help. It’s a relatively expensive process to go through on your own, but with the state and federal assistance it really does help out.”
The city budgeted $50,000 this year toward the redevelopment of the property. Part of that money will pay for the city’s participation in Kansas State University’s Targeted Assistance to Brownfields program, which helps communities find new purposes for properties where previous developments were located.
Public input received during open meetings facilitated by the TAB program will be distilled into visual form by the University of Arkansas’ Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. Its students will create architectural renderings that make prospective plans more tangible.
“We’re in hurry up and wait mode, but once we get the phase two report and know what direction we can take, we’ll be well positioned to move those meetings along relatively quickly,” Spicer said.
The land value of the four parcels that constitute the 5-acre Majestic property has increased by more than 50 percent since the city acquired it in 2015, according to updated values posted after the conclusion of this year’s countywide reappraisal. The land is appraised at
$1,337,650, according to Garland County’s contract appraisal service, up from
$884,350.
The city purchased the property from Park Residences Development for
$672,782 and spent $1.3 million demolishing and removing four structures from it.