Hillcrest_LR

Austin has an IKEA but I guess Austin is amost 3x Little Rock metro population

I believe the misconceptions may be related to crime statistics which, according to one national survey, have LR listed as one of the 10 most dangerous places to live . I believe LR was ranked 5th or 6th.

I seem to remember that in the original design, retail or restaurant space was provided along President Clinton Blvd. Is the ASI filling the entire complex now? If so, I do hope the library doesn't get that corner parking lot because this was not the original intent of that portion of the River Market. And I am a big library supporter. Oops,Just read the article in today's High Profile Section which mentions an ice cream shop and other retail. Never mind...

Maggiano's will not be in Little Rock anytime soon. I think Memphis is online for one in 2009 or 2010. A friend of mine is the manager of a restaurant in the Brinker Corp.

According to the Arkansas Times, a European-style cafe by the owner of Boulevard Bread Company in the Heights will be going into that unique building that once housed the wallpaper company at Markham and Kavanaugh. It will be a bohemain-type cafe and wine bar at night.

I don't know about Razorback Laundry. I didn't go down Markham but the Wallpaper store and the the hospice resale shop facing Kavanaugh are now empty storefronts.

I noticed on my trip back to Little Rock,having moved to Dallas in December, that the triangular shaped building at Markham and Kavanaugh is now completely vacant. Any news?

The Bombay Company space is open and could be where this Forever21 is going.

An entry on the Arkansas Times blog reports a major development announcement on Friday: "The place: Third and Rock (currently a parking lot). The announcers: Moses Tucker Real Estate, joined by the mayor and reps of East-Harding Construction and AMR Architects." This is the high-rise everyone has been talking about the last few weeks. I wonder how many stories this building will be.

In today's Style section of the AR Dem-zette about renovating buildings for the arts, was a mention that the old Rye Furniture building was to be torn down next year for a 'planned high-rise development'. That property is bordered on the south by the Wyndham Hotel and on the west by the new baseball park.Is this on anybody's radar?

The tugboat, Hoga, is now docked in San Francisco. A quote of $395,000 was presented to deliver it to NLR.

Where is Gramercy Square going to be located? My guess is the large space at the SW corner of the building where Bombay is located. There is a great space there for outdoor dining.

The article states they will be 2 stories, built in 3 stages of 10 with a total of 30. These sound like upscale townhouses.

Originally, the center was to be built on the NLR side of the river directly across from the presidential library.

That sounds like the area that was devastated by the tornado that hit downtown in 1999. Many historic buildings were damaged or destroyed. It is now mostly vacant lots with a smattering of houses left. That neighborhood lost its character on that night. That rendering shows a house that is in scale for that area. It would be great if that area was redeveloped with a funky mix of architecture. It would be great infill because it is on the edge of the Quapaw Quarter and would not hurt the integrity of the overall district and could be a boon to those empty blocks south of I-630.

During the process for choosing the site of the Clinton Library in the late 90's, the owner of the Wyndham which I believe was still a Hilton, said he would add a tower if the President chose the NLR site. He didn't and the plans fell through.

I remember when they announced the Otter Creek Mall. It was to be over 1.1 million square feet. They even cleared the entire site TWICE during the '80's. It was only a matter of time before something was developed there. It is a prime visible location.

They have finally begun pouring the floor for the US Pizza in the former Masonic Lodge on Kavanaugh. Still no work on the Metropolitan branch at the corner of Beechwood and Kavanaugh.

The Bank of America branch on University next to the former Bennigans is closed. That whole area is ripe for redevelopment.

According to the Arkansas Times, the new Starbucks has its grand opening today (Sept. 1). I'm surprised they would open anything in the center with so much work left to do on the other stores. I agree about Borders being a perfect fit for Midtowne but there isn't enough room left and I don't think Park Plaza would add it as there is already a Brentano's bookstore in that mall.

Funny, I ate at Canon Grill Friday at around 7 myself. I agree they need to just tear it down. A parking lot would be better in the short term than what is there now.

The renovations to the former Masonic Lodge are taking much longer than I expected. Maybe they are renovating the office space upstairs more quickly but we are unable to see that. The interior of the first floor seems not to have changed in weeks. I guess upgrading of electrical and plumbing and probably the new floor slab is taking longer than expected. Maybe they ran into unforseen foundation problems as well.

I've been lurking a few weeks just to get a feel for this forum. I am very excited about the prospects for Midtown Little Rock as you can tell by my screen name I am a resident of Midtown. The possibilties for a wonderful urban park in War Memorial and the prospects for redevelopment of the University Mall site are endless. I, too, would like for complete demolition of University and probably several of its outparcels such as the existing Bank of America and now-closed Bennigans. Streets could be reintroduced and create a genuine mixed-use urban development of retail, office and residential. I don't think Simon properties is the right developer for this combination of uses, however.