Hot Springs: Great place to live and visit
Hot Springs and Garland County have a multitude of diverse amenities that satisfy the needs of locals and attract visitors and new residents, according to the president and CEO of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re located in the middle of the state, close to interstate highways, three lakes, a dozen golf courses, historical buildings, a national park, thoroughbred horse racing, great restaurants, and I could go on and on,” said Jim Fram.
“There are a lot of quality issues that make Hot Springs a great place to visit, or a great place to live,” he said.
Other amenities include good public and private schools, numerous higher education or vocational training opportunities, a low cost of living and tax rates, and plenty of job opportunities.
“In our service and tourism industries is a very broad cross- section of jobs — from the part- time, low end to full- time, high end, to ownership of small or medium size businesses. One of our other sectors is health care and with two major medical centers here, and dozens of independent clinics, there are all kinds of opportunities for employment in those sectors,” Fram said.
Fram said Hot Springs’ history
more or less began in the health care industry with the medicinal properties of the hot mineral waters and bath houses and has expanded from there.
“Then, if you circle north of here, there is something that feeds our service and health care industries, and that is Hot Springs Village and the number of retired people that live there — and retirement is a different word than it used to be,” he said.
Fram said people are now living longer and retiring at a younger age, “so when you talk about the retired population, you’re talking about a whole different demographic than you would have been 15 or 20 years ago. And they bring dollars into the economy, also.”
As for the economy of Hot Springs, Fram summed it up in one word — stable.
“When you consider the fact that we just pulled out of probably the worst recession since the ( Great) Depression of the 1930s, having a stable economy is very, very good because not many areas have that.
“But, we managed to kind of keep the line level and remain steady as an economy as we went through that. Like the rest of the country, we’re slowly emerging from that recession, and our economy is slowly picking up. I think in the long run that is probably the most reliable or most firm way to build an economy — slow and steady and on a solid foundation,” he said.
Fram said the area has also seen real estate sales increase 10 percent to 12 percent in 2013, and the available inventory is good.
“I moved here last year and inventory was not a problem. Whether people want a small house in the country, or a big house on the lake, or anywhere in between, there is a pretty good inventory of those properties here. We have a nice selection of single- family and multi- family rental units across that whole spectrum, also,” he said.
Lacy Garner, Image manager for the chamber, said she likes the direction in which Hot Springs is moving and the chamber is working hard to attract young professionals to the area.
In addition, she said Hot Springs has an abundance of retail shopping.
“I moved here two years ago and haven’t had an issue with that,” she said.
“Our retail selection here is really equal to that of a city of about 100,000 population. If you look at statistics, Garland County is the only Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state that is all contained in one county. I think that speaks to the density of our population,” Fram said.
Even though the city limits contains between 35,000 and 37,000 in population, Fram said he believes that retail developers come in and look at Hot Springs as though it is a city of 100,000, “because that’s really what the buying power is and what we look like.”
“If you go across the country, you won’t find a city of 35,000 that has a Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, a Sam’s Club, two Wal- Mart Superstores and all those amenities you usually see in a much bigger community,” he said.
Garner said the city also “has tons of small businesses that provide a more personal touch and unique items.”
And, residents, visitors, or potential new residents won’t have any difficulty finding a house of worship to meet their needs.
“There are synagogues, Protestant churches, Catholic churches and everything in between. It’s all here,” Fram said.