LRguy21

It seems delta has upgraded some of its ATL flights. Starting in April/May, there will be 2 MD-80 flights and 1 A-319 flight. That's pretty nice. I think there are still another 3-4 regional flights. Still a far cry from the delta of yesteryear.

I wounder if southwest will move some of Airtrans 717's into Little Rock. This would be the perfect aircraft for an Orlando flight. But honestly, If Jackson Miss can support an Orlando flight, so can LIT. I would also think that they will add Atlanta. It will be interesting to see what happens. I still want my LAX flight. UA/CO please? Im kind of amazed at how small Delta has gotten. At one point they had(including Norhtwest), Atlanta, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Orlando, Memphis, Detroit & Minneapolis. Now its just I Atlanta(1 mainline flight), Detroit(1 express flight) and Memphis(Down from 3 mainline to 3 express). Before Katrina, there was talk of a New Orleans flight. Delta use to be king, but now has lost its crown to Southwest. Im also still surprised that US air hasn't added a flight to Phoenix. The whole reason they merged, beside to stay alive, was to offer a west coast hub. But Memphis just lost their flight so who knows. By the end of this year, we will be down to 5 airlines. Delta United American US Southwest Vision will be #6, that is if they make it.

Who owns the center at this point? It would be interesting to hear some more about it! Now that walmart is open, I think interest will grow. However, im still amazed that Copeland's is still here. This has got to be their jewel. Copeland's and walmart don't mix much.

I still think its when, not if, Apple opens the Promenade store. Honestly, I know the econmomy tanked on a national scale in 08/09, but Little Rock has been effected by it on a very small scale. Yes, we are not seeing the McMansions that were poping up all over WLR in what seemed like overnight, which I think is a good thing IMO. But our economy is strong. Dillard's seems to be doing great, along with Axiom, Windstreem and the other various companies we have. Little Rock was never really overbuilt like other communities around the state and country. Yes we have a surplus of retail, but each seems to be holding its own ground. Park Plaza/Midtown seem to be doing good, Park Ave is coming online (slowly), Shackleford Crossing seems to be picking up steam, and Pleasant Ridge is almost at capacity. If Macy's were to announce that they were going in at the Promenade, I would bet that almost overnight the center would be full of buzz and interest. I think the same can be said of Apple. There is a lot of disposable income in Chenal Valley. Who wouldn't want to be at the center of that? Anthropologie doesnt just put stores in dead centers. Anthropologie, Apple and JCrew are all huge names in retail. Its all about the timing. When Apple is ready, they will move in! Hopefully in the near future, we will hear some sort of announcement.

I could have sworn that they had announced an LR store in like 07 or am i just dreaming? I knew they signed a lease for the Promenade, but pulled or just stopped construction. I mean, look at the space where they were suppose to build the store. Had they not signed a lease or anything, im pretty sure that wall wouldn't be there right now.

I dont think that its so much of a penalized mood apple has toward Arkansas, but more of finding the right development to put their store in. In Mississippi, The only large shopping development of any status is the Renn Center in a suburb of Jackson. Arkansas has many more large scale shopping centers than MS. You have Pinnacle Hills Promenade, NWA mall, Promenade at Chenal, Midtown Little Rock(including all 3 developments) and to a lessor extent McCain mall. I would imagine that Apple will put a store in LR before NWA just because it seems the LR economy is doing better right now, but Apple would be foolish to ignore NWA. I still strongly believe that had the economy not fallen off a cliff, there would be a store at both Pinnacle Hills and Chenal Promenade. I still think there will be a store in the next 5 years in both metros. But when it comes to the promenade, I still think that we will one day see Apple in this development. My inside source still says that they are going into the promenade, along with J Crew (See past posts).

I have read many things online that say that Vision will announce LIT along with a bunch of other southern cities tomorrow. It looks like it will be non-stop service to Destin/Fort Walton 3x a week. 737 service. It will be very similar to Allegiant Airlines. While IMO its not the best because who knows if this route will be around in 3 months or so. Im hoping it sticks around. Still really excited though about AA mainline.

Any news on the walmart supercenter? I would imagine that as soon as they open the center will start coming to life. I was looking at the cite plan online and it still calls for more restaurants. DFFCFA07-8F21-4CA7-AEB9-E37FDE556521.pdf

Great news about AA! Great news for Little Rock also. Heavy metal is so much better than the barbie jets we get! I think 3 mainline, 3 eagle is perfect. Would love to see them throw a mainline on the Chicago route also, but that maybe asking for too much. It seems that Delta has taken some of their mainline away though, I'm pretty sure that Memphis is now all regional jets. Such a big downgrade from the A-319/320's we use to get from Northwest. ATL could use some more heavy metal as well. Should be interesting to watch the whole Southwest & Airtran merger. I bet we see some B717's on the Dallas route. I would love to see them open up more markets from Little Rock: maybe Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, Denver, etc. Same goes for the United and Continental merger. They now serve Denver, Houston, Chicago & NYC(Newark). Wow, in a little over 2 years, we have gone from American eagle , United express, Delta, Southwest, Frontier, Northwest, USA Airways & Continental to just American/American Eagle, United Express, Delta/Delta Express, Southwest & US Airways Express. We only lost Frontier. As for Destinations: we lost Orlando, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, D.C. and Minneapolis. My Hope: American: Miami on eagle United: Maybe LAX, Bring Back D.C. US Airways: Philly(Northeast hub) or Phoenix(Their west hub) Delta: Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and NYC Southwest: New Markets Maybe bring in Republic Airways(Frontier & Midwest Air ) to Kansas City.

Any news on the Aloft? i still think it would be such a cool idea to have this type of hotel downtown! very new and urban, much unlike anything we currently have.

Because no one is willing to cross the evil empire. Why don't you think the U of A is up in arms about the move. Many of the student i've talked to about it are mad and as a student that gets season tickets every year, im mad too. They, as i also, arn't going to drive 30 mins to see a play. Whats even more scary is how "they" hold the entire future of NWA in the palm of their hand and at any minute, they could pull the plug. Im sorry to say this, but karma is a b!tch. I know fayetteville has had it good for a long time and its good to share the wealth with the rest of the metro, but greed is a sin and therefor, what comes around, goes around. There is a reason that NWA is in such a housing mess. IMO, The move will hurt them. They already have a strong following here, why not just build upon it. Fayetteville in my mind, is no metro, but at least its not one suburb after another. Dickson st. is a one of a kind in Arkansas and no matter how much every other city wants one, it isn't going to happen. I'm from little rock and let me tell you how hard the river market is trying to push themselves to be a Dickson of central arkansas. you cant do it without the young college clientele, the young professionals and the living environment. Fayetteville in my mind, is way more progressive than Bentonville/rogers. What i'm interested to see is when the new one opens, is there going to be a change in program. Is there still going to be some of the more provocative plays like spring awakening in a county that is still a dry county. Do they think we live under a rock like some of the city politicians do?? There is no way that we will get the same programs that we have had in the past. The new one will be getting Mama Mia, color purple and will will be getting some crappy, under funded play. Im not trying to bash Benton county, but your getting the art museum, leave the performing arts for the south end of the metro.

I have a friend that is family with the VCC CEO, the construction company involved in the promenade. Apparently, they have been told that several chain restaurants are interested in out parcels at the promenade and that apple and j crew have been in full talk with the promenade about signing a lease. Also, she said that some of the other stores that were on the original roster are looking to come back online in the near future. She has even said that in the master plan, there is a large department store in the works as well as future retail space. But then said that this will only come about if the center is to reach its goal of 100% occupancy. She is the one that told me about about anthroplogie will be coming back in march or April. I wounder if the movie theater will ever expand? 9 theaters seems pretty small. I bet they make a ton of money on the IMAX deal. I do hope Apple and J crew come back. I bet we are going to see alot of second market restaurants and stores come into the center. I think with Park Ave being a bust, Midtowne too small and Park Plaza full, there is no room to expand except at the promenade. None of these stores will be seen at anything else other than Park Plaza or the promenade. Nothing in this town is more upscale than those too places.

there seems to be work going on in the space next to The Container Store. Does anyone know what it is? Also rumors Ive heard include a whole foods/fresh market style of market going into the old Lewis & Clark. They took down the rock wall and there wasn't a for lease sign on the space last week when i was there. I really hope they find somebody for that space. Its rather large, but its in a prime location.

Anthroplogie seems to be doing very well. Its always packed and there is always a line to check out! White house/Black Market has filled a plumbing permit for the Promenade, so i would expect construction to start soon! Does anyone know what happened to Black Bottles and Burgers? Construction has stalled and its been in the same shape for a month or so. White Loft seems to be moving along, and the Tavern seems to be getting off the ground. Any more news on Apple? Any other stores? a couple of new smaller stores have opened up shop lately. I hope 2011 turns out to be a good year for the promenade. I figured that Anthropolgie would give the Promenade the umph it needed to get the big stores in.

I knew this was bound to happen! Once one nice upscale store opened, others would follow back. Somebody just had to be brave enough to step in and open shop. I Just hope this is true. Give the promenade a handful of stores that have a high draw factor and you will have one nice center.

With Anthropologie opening up on Friday, this will be the biggest news in retail in Arkansas in a long time! it will also give the center the much needed momentum for the future. I think that we might see some more stores pop up in the near future.

With Southwest & Airtran looking to hook up, i bet we will see a couple new cities pop up from LIT! The big news in relation to LIT is that southwest will now have a smaller plane to fly in and out of "smaller" airports like Little Rock. The 717 seats about 115 vs a 737 which seats about 150 or so. I think that this means that places like Orlando, Atlanta, Kansas city, etc are all possible from LIT because of the new aircraft! But on the other hand, you might see a downgrade in shorter routes like St. Louis and Dallas. There other thing to worry about is now that southwest has a station in Memphis, what does this mean for Little Rock?

Any news on Blanc and Wine loft? seems like Wine Loft still hasn't started construction. What about the opening of anthropologie?

Its a nation wide chain and is actually a really cool store for tea lovers, myself included. Visited it today and there was a nice size crowd in there. Awesome tasting stuff!!!

Not overly exciting, but still a store no less. Wish we had an insider on the retail scene in little rock.

Totally agree! I dont see this ending well. It is going to piss off a lot of people in Fayetteville/Washington county, but what do you do when your biggest donor is Walton foundation. Not that Benton County doesn't deserve a world class performing arts center, They are just already getting the fine arts center. So why not leave Fine arts in Benton County and performing arts in Washington. I wounder who is going to take over the old one? Im sure it could still be used for a lot of good.

Hopefully a local developer will pick it up and know how to make it work. Maybe apartment homes? Also, I think that there needs to be some focus on the Main Street area, but I think it willl take somebody like Stephens or somebody like that. What about the extension of the trolley down main st?

There seems to be some work going on in the empty store across from Coldwarter Creek. Any ideas? Hopefully we will see more work to follow. Soon to be open: Wine Loft Blanc Bottles & Burgers Anthropologie White Hose/Black Market

Oh, my bad! Thats to sad, but I guess its a good thing, like NWA needs anymore mixed use developments. But it did look good. Speaking of Pinnacle Hills area, has there been any news. Seems like the "Billion Dollar Mile" is kind of dead right now.

Talk around LIT is that AA will add back Mainline sometime this fall or next spring. Also heard someone say that DL will upgrade a DTW flight if it all goes according to their plan. Would still like to see a LAX and Florida link sometime in the near future.