Vision needed

To save LR’s downtown, redefine it

We recently held a meeting of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership with the theme of Redefining Downtown. It was the first annual meeting since 2019, and it felt good to be back together in a group, in a convention center, eating a lunch with chicken, giving a presentation, and listening to each other.

In the aftermath of slides and videos, remarks and ideas from a neighboring city, the thought becomes real. How do we redefine our downtown? In the years I have spent learning about our downtown and other downtowns, a very clear theme has developed. We need visionaries and leaders, and we need them to have resources.

We, as a community, are excited about the coming completion of the Arkansas Museum of

Fine Arts, a $140 million-plus renovation and re-imagination of the

Little Rock institution. Redefined, if you will. Regardless of how you feel about the 30 Crossing project, it is underway. It, too, will change how we live in and traverse through our urban core.

When I travel to other cities that have seen a significant transformation, other downtown leaders always want to tell their story. The story is so formulaic it becomes repetitively simple in a way. Their downtowns had become so desolate that an anecdote is shared to drive the point home. Kansas City’s downtown was used in a post-apocalyptic themed U2 music video. Downtown Memphis was described as a “war zone” by NBA Coach Phil Jackson.

The next part of the story is the same as well. A civic-minded individual or group has the desire to shift the status quo and the resources to create that change: A champion willing to invest in an area. The investors face challenges and obstacles, yet find a way to persevere. Motivated by tangible results and visible impact, they do it again. Others take notice and join in, and a ripple effect makes its way through the area. It all started when the first person took the chance and made it work. They redefined it.

Downtown Little Rock has seen substantial redefinition in my lifetime. However, we are not finished and must not rest.

City Hall and the business community coalesced in the 1970s in the creation of an improvement district for the betterment of downtown. They implemented concepts that were being used in downtowns across the country in efforts to combat suburban flight. Those concepts saw failure, but as we are seeing today, trends change and, in the era of Amazon Prime, the retail mall is no longer the powerhouse it was.

The 1990s saw City Hall and the business community come together in the creation of the River Market Hall, creating an entertainment district for residents, tourists, and convention-goers. Older buildings were renovated and reconfigured. The Central Arkansas Library System here played a key role in re-imagining what could be, and then they did it. Together, they redefined it.

The early 2000s brought new towers with condos for those who wanted to live in a walkable city. Renovation and rehabilitation occurred, renters and owners alike populated downtown—not only near the River Market, but around MacArthur Park and along Main Street as well. City Hall led the charge to rework Main Street, getting grants from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Department of Natural Resources.

Recent years have seen a trend away from these joint efforts downtown. Multiple banks have elected to build and move to areas on the outskirts of our city instead of the area traditionally associated with a city’s financial center, downtown. The state of Arkansas consolidated state agencies and moved employees from downtown to areas not walkable or urban, decreasing available customers for lunchtime restaurants. Then of course the pandemic led to people working from home, exacerbating these issues, and changing how office spaces are utilized.

Now, we do have some bright spots. The success of the Little Rock Technology Park and its expansion plans for 2023, the plethora of restaurants in the 300 block of Main Street, and the significant investment of Simmons Bank in downtown quickly come to mind.

The investments sown in East Village are reaping their rewards, with new construction popping up in a neighborhood that hasn’t seen it in decades. And SoMa and Pettaway are full of a blur of activity, with new businesses popping up, homes being restored and a one-of-a-kind business district coming out of the ground as we speak.

But we cannot rest, cannot stop, and have to keep going. There is still plenty of opportunity to do more.

How will the next redefinition of downtown begin? Based on the success other downtowns have seen, three areas need to be addressed: 1. The carrot. The incentives available to attract developers to Arkansas in general and Little Rock specifically need to be reworked and improved. We pale in comparison to our surrounding states. 2. The stick. The city needs additional teeth in ordinances to compel property owners to activate or sell their vacant property, including surface parking lots. 3. Clean, green, and safe. A fully staffed program of ambassadors in the downtown areas to help keep the area safe, clean, and colorful will go a long way the feel of our downtown.

And one more. We need a new generation of champions.