Developer acquires land for HS apartment complex
A North Little Rock developer said he plans to build luxury apartments on the tract he recently acquired between Higdon Ferry and Twin Points roads.
Keith Richardson said he intends to dedicate 35 of the roughly 100 acres he bought from Bank OZK to a Class A multifamily apartment complex in the vein of upmarket units his company built and manages in the Little Rock metropolitan area, including The Pointe North Hills, Bowman Pointe and The Pointe Brodie Creek.
Richardson Properties LLC also built and manages The Pointe Hot Springs on Lake Hamilton Drive.
“It will be resort-style and high on amenities,” he said. “There will be 15,000 to 20,000 square feet of amenities: golf simulators, virtual workout rooms, a pool and a spa.”
A deed recorded earlier this month showed the company paid Bank OZK $2 million for the land bound by Twin Points to the north and to the south by Higdon Ferry, fronting property the company also recently acquired. According to property records, ownership devolved to the bank in 2016 after developer Robert Malt defaulted on a $2 million revolving line of credit secured by the property, one of numerous Malt-owned properties that backed millions of dollars in nonperforming loans.
Simmons Bank completed foreclosure proceedings the following year on Maltowned properties in the nearby Forest Lakes Garden Homes neighborhood after it was awarded a more than $1.8 million judgment for loans Malt had defaulted on.
Richardson said he plans to begin seeking approvals from the Hot Springs Planning Commission early next year. The north end of the property is zoned medium/high
density residential, which permits multifamily dwellings. The regional commercial/open zone to the south allows multifamily dwellings on a conditional basis.
“We’ll go through the planning process the first quarter of the year and see how it all fits,” he said. “We plan to build a city street through there, so we want to make sure the city is on board with what we’re doing.”
Richardson said rent prices have not been determined.
“It’s still early,” he said. “We have to know all of the costs and what the market will bear. I own (The Pointe Hot Springs). It was 10 or 12 years ago when I built those, so I’m really familiar with the market.”
Richardson’s company sold River Pointe Apartments in North Little Rock to a Connecticut private equity investment company earlier this year for $40 million, according to Pulaski County property records.