hartford

I was at Williams Sonoma tonight and asked the lady that worked there if they had heard anything about the possible restaurant coming next to Relax the Back. She said they heard it will be a mexican restaurant but have not heard any other details. She said Strode is very tight lipped and is very hard to get in touch with. On another note, Bombay looked almost completely empty. Just a few items in the center of the store. Sign said it will be closing in four days. Hopefully something good will replace it...

I would hardly call HomeGoods, Kirklands, or Pier 1 upscale. To me there there is not much in Memphis that LR does not have now, especially with the recent additions of Apple, J Crew, Pottery Barn, and Williams Sonoma. I would rather keep the tax dollars in state, and the better our local stores perform, the better chance other retailers will want to locate here.

Any word on what is going on next to the Kroger on Chenal? They have been clearing the land for a while now. It is a large chunk of land, and it is close in proximity to the Promenade and next to a very busy Kroger. Also, do you think they will ever build something on the out parcels on the Kroger property? It would be nice it they developed that whole area, especially with more restaurants.

I totally agree about PHP. There is no "wow" factor with it. It is absurd to think that it would attract people from LR, Tulsa, or KC to come there to shop because there is nothing there that those cities don't already have. It might attract people from small towns in MO or OK that have nothing but a WalMart, but there is no way that someone from any city would drive there just to shop. Some people in NWA have a very inflated view of PHP. It is nice, but lets be realistic...

Midtowne as it is gave us the best bang for the buck in terms of the limited amount of space to work with and what stores it actually brought into the market. Just about every store in that center was new to the market. I am very confindent in the future of Park Avenue given Strode's first piece of work here in LR. If he can match the success of Midtowne with a larger piece of property we will be in for a very nice shopping/mixed use center.

any word on the restaurant that is supposed to be coming next to Relax the Back??? Any word on what will replace Bombay??? The Container Store will open March 8, I believe.

Personally, I think having a Coach store is more of a status thing for the city. It is not a store that someone would shop at often. I would prefer something like Restoration Hardware or restaurants like Cheesecake Factory because they are something I would shop/eat more frequently. On another note comparing LR to NWA higher end stores, I was at Woof Woof (dog boutique at Pleasant Rigde, WLR) over the weekend and I asked them how the store in LR compares to the one in Rogers. The lady at the store said there is no comparison, that the LR store does much much better than the one in Rogers. She said they call each other at the end of the day to compare sales and the LR store blows the Rogers store away everyday. I would think this would be the case for most high end stores that are in both markets.

I totally agree with the locations for each being wrong. The SC location is much bigger which would have allowed more stores and more variety, such as maybe a Whole Foods, Restoration Hardware, Macy's, and multiple restaurants. The visibility and traffic count is much better at the SC location which would have led to better success for those stores. However, I do think the Promenade will succeed because it will have some stores that will be unique to the market and there are enough people in WLR to support those stores. Many cites the size of LR have multiple locations of the types of stores that will be locating at the Promenade.

Really glad to hear J Crew is confirmed. I know they have been looking into the market for some time. It has been one of the major stores that this market has lacked, and it looks like it will finally locate here.

These stores are OK, but I am hoping for tenants that will be new to the market. Any new news on possible tenants? On a side note, I was watching tv tonight and saw a commercial for a soccer tournament at Burns Park that was sponsered by Dick's Sporting Goods. I know they have been linked to the Promenade and I thought it was interesting that they were sponsering a local event without even having a store in the area. Maybe that means they are definately coming to the Promenade.

I went to the Clary Development website to see if there were any updates to the site plan. Although I could not make out all of the stores, the ones I could read were not very impressive. The only restaurants I could read were Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesday, Zaxby's, Fu Weng, and Panda Express. THis is a far cry from what we originally heard was coming to this shopping center. The only retail stores I could make out were WalMart, JCPEnny's, Babies R Us, Dunlaps, Haverty's, and Rack Room Shoes. Very disappointing in my opinion. There is not one place listed that would make me want to go to Shackleford Crossing. Hopefully a few late additions will make it, but if not it is going to be a wasted opportunity for a great location.

More good news on jobs coming to Little Rock....KATV's website is reporting that AT&T is locating a call center that will employ 175 people at the AT&T Arkansas headquarters downtown. The story mentioned that LR beat out several other bigger cities in landing these jobs.

the steel framework has started to go up at the Promenade site. Hopefully it won't be long before we start hearing about some confirmed tenants. Has anybody heard any new info on possibilities?

I don't understand it either. XNA has less than half the passengers as LIT. NWA does have a lot of business travelers, but LR is still the economic capial of the state plus it has more than twice the population for leisure travel potential.

I understand what you are saying about the first part of Maumelle Blvd being NLR, but to me when I get off 430 and get on Maumelle Blvd it is Maumelle. I agree Maumell proper is nicer, but it is a shame that NLR and Maumelle could not have worked together to make that whole area blend together better.

I am glad to hear that Strode is being selective with tenants. Midtowne needs another restaurant. It will help with increasing traffic for the other stores in the center. I hope he brings something that will be new to the market. Pei Wei is great, and I hope they put one out in WLR, maybe at the Promenade...

Maumelle is ok, but the main problem I have with it is that as you drive to the residential portion of the town you have to pass through the industrial area. All those metal buildings cheapen the feel. They should have made those type of businesses locate off the main frontage area of Maumelle Blvd. It would have given the whole community a more upscale feel. Everything just seems hodgepodge with no sense of planning. Also, traffic is really bad because there is really only one way in and one way out. I agree it was poorly planned. There are some nice houses in Maumelle but I think they should enforce more building restrictions on the quality of commercial development.

the plumbing permit for Copelands has been listed.

the plumbing permit for the Dickinson Theater (IMAX) has been listed. hopefully work will begin soon...

Arkansas Business is reporting that Dick's Sporting Goods is looking at the Promenade for a location. It also mentioned that they were looking at LR for a location for Golf Galaxy (which is owned by Dick's). Both stores would be their first in Arkansas.

From an article on Fox 16's website regarding confirmed tenants: Wal Mart, JC Penny, Babies R Us, AT&T, Alltel, Rack Room Shoes, Cracker Barrel, Copelands, Fu Weng, Panda Express, Haverty's Furniture. Unconfirmed but mentioned: Kirklands, UTLA Cosmetics. I find it interesting that Haverty's was mentioned as confirmed. I wonder what will happen with their prime location on Shacleford across from PF Changs? Overall I am not that impressed with the tenants listed so far. I am hoping that some stores that will be new to the market will surface. Copeland's is the only thing listed that I will see myself visiting.

Not sure where to put this, but today's ADG had an article on per capita income and growth: Little Rock: $34,485 / 5.2% growth NW ARK : $28,822 / 3.0% growth Ft Smith : $27,729 / 5.0% growth Hot Springs: $28,816 Jonesboro: $26,370 Pine Bluff: $24,695 National average for growth: 5.3% Glad to see LR leading the way in growth!

As I drove by the promenade site I noticed one of the signs for the construction company, VCC. I went to their website, vccusa.com, and looked at some of their past projects. Wow! This company does some nice work! If the promenade looks anything like some of their past projects we look to be in really good shape. I just wish there was more room to work with. Go check out their web site to check out what we may have to look forward to.

I was searching on Monster.com on the restaurant page to see if any new stores caught my eye and I noticed that Carrabba's Italian Grill, Logan's Roadhouse, and Copeland's were advertising openings in LR. The Copeland's page specifically mentioned their new restaurant at Shackleford Crossing. It looks like at least these three can be confirmed since they are advertising for employment.

The Container Store was posted on the plumbing permits page today. I am assuming work will begin soon on that project.