Preserve Arkansas honors 3 projects
Preserve Arkansas will recognize three local recipients of its 2017 Arkansas Preservation Awards at a banquet in Little Rock in January.
The local award recipients are the Thompson Building/The Waters Hotel; the future home to SQZBX at 236 Ouachita Ave.; and the Historic Park Avenue Walking Tour.
Preserve Arkansas recog- nized the rehabilitation of the formerly vacant Thompson building at 340 Central Ave. into The Waters Hotel with the Excellence in Preservation through Rehabilitation award for a commercial structure.
According to a news release from The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, the award recognizes projects that retain significant historic fabric without the attempt to restore the structure to an earlier appearance.
“This project focuses on how new materials and design were integrated with the original historic fabric,” the release said.
The Excellence in Personal Projects award for a commercial structure went to the restoration of a formerly vacant commercial building at 236 Ouachita Ave. Owned by Zac Smith and Cheryl Roorda, the building is the future home to SQZBX Brewery and Pizza.
The award recognizes the achievement of individuals who preserve, rehabilitate, or restore structures for their own use, the release said.
The Historic Park Avenue Walking Tour, organized for the past three years by the Park Avenue Community Association, or PACA, received the Outstanding Service in Neighborhood Preservation award.
The award identifies an activity or project that has made a significant contribution to a historic area in Arkansas, the release said.
“On behalf of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and Metro Partnership, we congratulate these three groups on their significant wins,” Gary Troutman, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Partnership, said in the release.
“Through their respective investment and leadership, downtown Hot Springs is continuing to be a wonderful and ever-evolving staple of our community,” Troutman said.
Little Rock architect Tommy Jameson will be honored as the recipient of the Parker Westbrook Award for Lifetime Achievement during the awards banquet, which will take place on Jan. 19, 2018, at the historic Albert Pike Memorial Temple, 712 Scott St., in Little Rock.
Preserve Arkansas is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to building stronger communities by reconnecting Arkansans to their heritage and empowering people to save and rehabilitate historic places, according to the news release.