New library seen as a key piece of downtown area’s revitalization
After cleaning the floor near the checkout desk at the newly opened, 33,000-square-foot Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System main branch, Anthony Foots started on the glass doors that separate it from a rear entryway.
The afternoon sunlight floods into the glass-and-wood room. Foots said he looks forward to coming to work each day.
“It’s a very unique building, probably the top one in Pine Bluff,” Foots said last Friday.
Sheri Storie’s office is located directly across the street from the new library, with its mostly glass facade.
Storie, the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission director, watched the entire construction. The finished project was more than she expected.
“It’s amazing. It’s beautiful,” Storie said about the library that she says is on par with or a cut above any in Central Arkansas.
Ricky Williams, the library system’s assistant director, is delighted with the new space at 600 Main St.
Visitor Daniel Long, who was sitting in a bright meeting room, described the building as “lovely,” and really appreciated the architectural use of lines and angles inside and out.
It also changes the look and feel of Main Street, Long observed.
Across the street is the new plaza, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Business Support Incubator and Office Complex is hatching new ideas. Next door are the almost completely renovated ArtSpace on Main and the ART Works, both belonging to the Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC).
ASC is catty-cornered to the new library.
Rachel Miller, ASC executive director, sees the new building as a real plus for downtown.
“The new library makes a positive impact on the architectural and cultural landscape of downtown,” she said.
“Its innovative design and accessible layout will influence future development and, hopefully, attract new visitors while continuing to
serve existing patrons,” Miller said.
The covid-19 pandemic kept the new library closed for months after construction was completed. Even before its November opening, Barbara “Bobbie” Morgan, the library system’s director, said she recognized the visual and inspirational effect the library was having on Main Street.
About two years ago, much of the street was closed because of two collapsed buildings, and parts of a building in the 600 block, collapsed not once but twice.
There were large piles of bricks littering Main Street and causing the street to be closed off or drivers to detour.
Now, in addition to the brick cleanup and new or renovated buildings, there’s the new plaza complete with umbrellaed tables and, for now, a festive Christmas tree in its center.
The city is repaving a few blocks of Main Street, and workers recently hung holiday decorations. There are streetlights, and the sidewalks are wider, more inviting and feel safer, Storie said.
Ryan L. Watley, Go Forward Pine Bluff chief executive officer, said, “The future is bright in Pine Bluff,” especially in the budding “arts district.”
“It’s much more than a library. It’s a downtown game-changer. It’s remarkable in terms of progress. Not long ago, we were dealing with crumbling buildings on Main Street,” Watley said.
Phase one of the Main Street remake, from Barraque Street to Fourth Avenue, is nearly complete, and phase two, from Fourth to Eighth avenues, has yet to begin. But it’s enough of a change that it makes Go Forward’s mission of enticing new businesses to the downtown area much easier, Watley said.
“It’s an attractive area to investors who might want to move to downtown Pine Bluff,” he said.
Storie hopes the transformation doesn’t stop at the Sixth Avenue block, but rather she envisions a “cultural corridor” that could incorporate the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Historical Museum, which is within walking distance from the library, ASC and possibly other destinations in the future.
Heritage programs and others of interest could be designed to attract tourists and others to the city, Storie said.