Main Street’s tipping point
On a recent Sunday afternoon, my son and I viewed the St. Louis Cardinals exhibit at the Clinton Center in downtown Little Rock. We hiked through the Bill Clark Wetlands and then walked across the pedestrian bridge to North Little Rock. Hundreds of people were out walking that day.
A couple of weeks later, I was back downtown for a Saturday morning meeting. Again, the streets were teeming with people. I was reminded of what downtown Little Rock can be. Main Street, however, remains the sore in the middle of downtown, a sad reminder of how much work remains to be done. Main Street might have reached a tipping point. There are several reasons for my optimism:
The March announcement that the Doyle Rogers Co. and Moses Tucker Real Estate will restore a sevenstory building that once was the flagship for Blass Department Stores. Rett Tucker and Jimmy Moses have a track record of making things happen. The developers also will renovate an adjoining three-level annex as part of the $20 million project. The Blass building, constructed in 1906, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The $6.1 million conversion by Stephens Inc. of the former Exchange Bank Building into state offices. About 45,000 square feet of office space will be available in the main building with another 30,000 square feet available in an annex to the north. The Exchange Bank Building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986.
The recently completed $6 million renovation of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, which could serve as a magnet for other creative outlets along Main Street. Bob Hupp, the Rep’s producing artistic director, says the Rep has been “an urban pioneer for the economic development of downtown Little Rock. We would love to have some company.”
The Oxford American’s plan to transform the former Juanita’s restaurant location on south Main Street into a Southern cultural center. The addition of a Southern bistro and a performance space that will host music events and lectures will add momentum to what’s already happening along Main Street south of Interstate 630. “The Oxford American occupies a niche,” says Warwick Sabin, publisher of the noted Southern literary quarterly. “We protect and perpetuate the best of Southern culture.” The complex will complement existing downtown attractions such as the Clinton Center, the Museum of Discovery, Heifer International, the Old State House and the Historic Arkansas Museum.
The mere fact that Moses and Tucker are branching out from the River Market District to Main Street sends a message to other potential developers, the kind of people who can really move projects forward, not the type of dreamers we’ve seen so often in the past who make big promises for downtown Little Rock but have neither the will nor the capital to transform those promises into reality.
Meanwhile, the passage in March of a bond issue for the Central Arkansas Library System keeps things moving in the River Market District. The bond issue will provide $13 million for an auditorium, a parking deck and additional improvements to the already impressive CALS campus. Continued success in the River Market District is necessary for development to spread to Main Street.
The city of Little Rock has received several grants to study what should be done along Main Street. With the passage last year of a 1-cent sales-tax increase, the city has capital to help bring those plans to fruition. Little Rock was among five state capitals selected in 2010 to participate in Green America’s Capitals program. Five cities were added last year. The goal is to help state capitals develop distinctive, environmentally friendly neighborhoods. A three-day workshop was conducted last year to pull together ideas for Main Street. One idea was continuous street design, including stormwater management, crosswalks, trees, lighting and benches. A 43-page plan came out of that workshop.
Last year, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded the city a $150,000 grant for a creative corridor along Main Street. The University of Arkansas Community Design Center partnered with Marlon Blackwell Architects to develop an initiative that calls for the renovation of buildings across the street from the Rep for use by area arts organizations, along with affordable units in which artists can live and work.
During a visit to Little Rock earlier this year, Rocco Landesman, the NEA chairman, noted that communities across the country are “using smart design and leveraging the arts to enhance quality of life and promote their identities.”
Stephen Luoni of the UA Community Design Center said the project has the potential to be a “national model for consolidating cultural arts functions—artist housing, production spaces, galleries and performance spaces—as a catalyst for sustained urban development in downtown.”
Too many past plans for Little Rock have simply gathered dust. The city board should use part of that new sales-tax revenue to complete the infrastructure portions of the Greening America’s Capitals and NEA creative corridor plans. If the city will do its part, I have no doubt additional private investments will follow.