LR_Nomad

Some insight into the airport I came across today. http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2017/jan/18/yearly-airport-growth-put-at-1-4-201701/?news

That would be disappointing. I am crossing my fingers for something new to the market but I never hold my breath. I keep hoping for a Trader Joe's but I know that's a pipe dream.

I agree, I think our skyline has aged okay, I think we have gotten so used to seeing new buildings being all glass (see Stephens) and it does look nice and modern. I wholly agree with the Memphis skyline, every time I drive through there I can't help but think how old and ugly (I think) the skyline is. My wife is from Tennessee so I get to see it quite often.

Has anyone been through LIT recently? Just curious how the concourse/gate renovations are coming along, I know they started back in October.

Would be nice to see a new office tower downtown, however unlikely that may be. I could see Simmons waiting to build when they finally move all their operations from Pine Bluff to LR.

Right behind the walgreens up on the little hill. I haven't driven up there to see how big the lot actually is but that's where it's going.

I have been told the Dairy Queen is still a go and will be open by April.

Thanks for the link, some interesting data there, will be nice to break the 750k barrier in the next couple years. Looks like NWA continues to be one of the fastest projected growing metros in the nation.

They closed and remodeled it several months ago and it's now just a Taco Bell.

Agreed, I don't see any chance an In N Out comes to Central Arkansas, especially before the metro even has a Whataburger.

Nice to see some of the projects were completed and to see additional ones underway; are the K Lofts/Main St held up due to all the shenanigans that have been going on? Doesn't seem that it would be due to lack of demand with all the other projects being developed. I am still disappointed the Aloft never got off the ground, would have been a nice addition to the downtown area.

There was supposed to be a Movie Tavern going in behind the mall, construction was scheduled to start in 2016 but that is looking unlikely. I searched as best I could and found nothing other than the original announcements back in January. I looked on their website through press releases but it mostly seems to be when locations were opening/renovated. I don't know if anyone else has heard anything recently.

As far as I know those plans have been tabled for a long time and I don't see it happening when you factor all the airline mergers and reduction in available passenger seating industry wide, as well as the year over year passenger activity decreases at LIT. Airlines are also moving away from small and medium sized airports and pushing everyone through their major HUBs more and more. Reading through the LIT financial statements doesn't leave one feeling overly optimistic about new routes especially international. Now having said that, you never know, if the demand is there then it could happen, the LIT board and management is always pursuing new routes they just have to prove the demand out of LIT is there.

Nice to see a climb in passenger activity even if it's barely 1% up YTD just to stem the year after year decrease; seems that would put them on pace to beat 2015 activity which was down 4% from 2014.

Hm, didn't realize the current concourse was updated in 2005, I guess it feels older, at least to me, not sure what it is that gives me that feeling. Either way I'm glad they are updating the gate areas to include charging ports and additional seating; removing those giant posts will also help make it feel more open.

There was an article in Arkansas Business today about the concourse renovations which appear to have started this week. All I can say is it's about time, the concourse has long been outdated. http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/113616/clinton-national-airport-announces-206m-concourse-renovation?page=1

One can dream can't he?

That Shell definitely needed some upgrades; I was sitting here staring at the work site out my office window trying to figure out what they were gonna do. I guess a nicer gas station is better than a parking lot?

Thanks for the update, I'll have to check out the article! My parents are flying to Europe next week, through Atlanta, and as I was helping them pick their seats I noticed their aircraft to ATL is shown as a 737 so it's nice to have that upgrade.

Has anyone heard anything on the previously planned terminal renovation for the airport? I know the originally planned expansion is on hold due to declining passengers but as recently as 6 months ago there was a planned $20 million renovation to the concourse and gate areas. I flew through the airport back in May and don't recall seeing the sign up near the security line showing the plans anymore. I was just looking at the passenger statistics and noticed, through May, that passenger count was up 3.2% this year so it got me wondering. While that isn't strong growth it is better than the decline seen that last several years.

There will be storefronts along the street unless plans have changed in the last several months.

My wife and I noticed this coming back from travel the week after Christmas, we frequently went visited this Wendy's due to the close proximity to our house. I am sad to see it go although as Architect said, it absolutely needed a face lift. I do wonder if the slim chickens opening up affected it as well, I only went to Wendy's for their spicy chicken sandwich and after Slim's opened we definitely decreased the amount of visits to Wendy's, I just wasn't a fan of their burgers. I hope something else takes it's place soon. A taco/burrito place would be nice

Does anyone know if they are ever going to turn on all the lights at the interchange?? Seems like it has been "officially" open for months. I drive through it fairly regularly and it's so poorly lit right now.

Hopefully it is something exciting and to a new destination! On another note I flew out of LIT this past weekend and tried out the new parking deck system, it was pretty neat and seemed to work really well. It was nice being able to see which aisle's had open spaces and which spaces were open before driving down. I liked it and hope it continues to work well.

We went to the free practice run at 1230 on Saturday and really enjoyed everything we tried. I was impressed with the food and the overall setup, plus really big portions! We will be going back soon!