Steakhouse scouted west LR
Ruth’s Chris interest shown years ago; downtown new goal
The corporate office of Ruth’s Chris Steak House has its sights set on a downtown Little Rock location, but a franchisee for the popular eatery combed the broader city area for a landing spot five to 10 years ago, a local developer said Thursday.
“We didn’t do the deal, but we showed them spots on and off for years,” said Lou Schickel, developer and owner of Pleasant Ridge Town Center. He said the franchisee was Barry Pelts, the owner of the Ruth’s Chris restaurant in Rogers. Schickel tried to sell Pelts on Pleasant Ridge in the 11000 block of Cantrell Road.
“They liked our location, but they really liked the [ Interstate] 430/ 630 area better because it had the hotels, and they like to be near hotels,” the developer said.
Pelts and two other businessmen made between 1020 visits to the area, Schickel added.
Ruth’s Chris’ commercial real estate broker, Todd Rice of Colliers International, met with the city’s Advertising and Promotion Commission this week to express interest in building a restaurant on a red- brick plaza on Markham Street between the Doubletree Hotel and the Old Statehouse Museum.
The area is known as the B. Finley Vinson Plaza, named for a former Advertising and Promotion Commission chairman.
Although bare, the cityowned plaza is not as readily available as one might think, Little Rock City Attorney
Tom Carpenter said Thursday.
“It’s not a matter of saying, ‘ Oh, OK,’” Carpenter said.
Officials learned years ago that the property, located over a city- owned parking garage, may not be stable enough to support other structures. The matter came to light during a 1994 renovation of the Doubletree, when an overhang and a circle drive were built in front of the hotel, Carpenter said.
“There was a very major question about whether that was going to cause the thing to drop and crush cars,” Carpenter said.
Structural re- enforcement was required before the overhang and drive could be built, said Gretchen Hall, president and chief executive officer of the Little Rock Visitors and Convention Bureau, which manages the garage. The deck has about 550 spaces, 200 of which are leased to the hotel for parking. Other area businesses lease spaces, and the rest are available to the public.
Members of the Advertising and Promotion Commission expressed other concerns this week, such as whether there is enough parking to support the Ruth’s Chris, whether a restaurant is the
best use for the public property and whether the property should be offered for sale to other private developers.
The restaurant, as proposed downtown, would be built by Bank of England executive Brad Canada, managing member of a limited liability corporation that built a multilevel tower of condominiums over ground- level offices on
land directly behind the plaza.
A bill of assurance between Canada’s corporation, Arkansas Riverview Development LLC, and the city prohibits development on the plaza except “enhancements” to the plaza through 2026, Hall said.
Parties would have to agree to amend the bill before any development could occur, Carpenter said.