Architect

Whether or not it locates in Cabot, I don't agree with your sentiment here...LR officials are pushing pretty hard behind the scenes from what I've been told. Why would they not?

I was also told very recently that they're still trying to negotiate the originally envisioned site in the River Market. Let's hope it lands somewhere downtown...a suburban campus would be such a huge, missed opportunity.

This. You beat me to it. There are no close, other metros near NWA to qualify for a CSA. Fort Smith is too large and too far away to be considered. The Little Rock CSA includes Searcy and Pine Bluff (but not Hot Springs).

The U.S. Census Bureau released county and MSA population estimates for 2023: Central Arkansas (LR-NLR-Conway MSA) 2020 - 748,038 2022 - 764,045 (up 2.14%) - net gain of over 16,000 NWA 2020 - 546,725 2023 - 576,967 (up 7.98%) - net gain of over 43,000 It will be interesting to see Metroplan's estimates through 2023, which tend to be higher (and more accurate) that US Census Bureau. I believe they release their estimates later in the year.

Good news. "Fairfield Inn" doesn't give me warm and fuzzies, but it's certainly better than a boarded up building as it sits now.

No, it's not empty. I know the upper floors are condos. I believe the hotel is planned on the lower 4-5 floors, though I'm not sure what currently occupies that space.

Good point about Boyle being a catalyst for moving forward.

EXCELLENT news!!! I was fearful since it had been so long since its announcement, that it wasn't going to happen. This is going to make for a fantastic hotel! More great news for Main Street.

Absolutely, that's doable from an architectural standpoint. But options like that are driven by market demand and developer goals.

I provided this comment in the initial DTLRMP survey...and I fully acknowledge that this project is funded by the city of Little Rock...but what a travesty that this isn't a combined LR-NLR downtown master plan! What a lost opportunity for collaborative planning, development, way finding graphics, etc....

Sounds like a nice hotel flag, but pretty disappointing it's not going to land at the ±14 floors originally planned. NLR really needs one or two 10+ story buildings to create a bit of mass and height.

I hope that's true! It's pretty ironic really that the least heralded (and shortest) high-rise downtown is the building with the most lighting - color changing LED on the 21-story Union Plaza building.

I noticed that last weekend. It is color changing. However, I REALLY WISH the new owners would go back and restore the original strips that used to alight every window around the building. It could be done even more efficiently with LED and of course now could be programmed to create images (like the traditional Christmas Tree) rather than physically wrapping fluorescent tubes with colored shrouds. p.s. A little birdie told me that there is a new lighting scheme planned to adorn the top of the Simmons Bank Tower.

Yes, such a strange development. How could both parties get that far in planning for it to fall apart?! One interview I read said that Lyon still hoped to work it out (that Heifer is still their preferred site), but that they are committed to East Village and are looking at other properties in that area. Who knows, maybe they'll work it out.

Yeah, not super excited about this...

That is pretty confounding, given the city's effort to put walkable areas on a "road diet" like what was recently announced for Markham/Kavanaugh at Stifft Station.

About 6-7 years ago, the prior (current?) owner had developed a full set of construction documents for the entire renovation of Donaghey. I've seen them...pretty impressive. At the last minute, they bailed. I have no idea why not. Beautiful building and potential.

Agreed...I wasn't advocating for a hotel as much as I was lamenting it was office space, which is already oversaturated AND won't add any life after hours to Main Street. If it were apartments, it would have accomplished that goal, perhaps better than a hotel.

Yeah, it had to do with some (short sighted) agreement that the hotel would NOT proceed until if/when the whole rest of the block was developed. Seemed like a strange requirement, and when the developer either couldn't or didn't proceed with renovating the south half of the block, the hotel didn't proceed. Really unfortunate...I would almost have preferred that site be a hip hotel as to another office property that is competing with already strained office towers downtown.

That's a really cool "folded" canopy.

Holy cow...I'm just glad someone finally commented in the NWA forum!

I expect that the upcoming downtown master plan will call out the city for this shortsighted methodology. Here's hoping that the city will then comply with its own master plan guidelines. That block is planned for an 8-level parking deck I believe.

I cannot believe how the city has completely abdicated their own Urban Use (UU) zoning requirements for Broadway. I mean, I get it farther south towards Broadway to an extent, but that Tropical Smoothie is just an absolute travesty. It looks like an outparcel in Maumelle. Entirely inappropriate, to ruin the long-term urban fabric of the center of the city in exchange for a few near-term tax revenue dollars. Ridiculous.

I totally agree with all of that...the Bank OZK location was a complete missed opportunity to contribute something meaningful to downtown rather than just another suburban office building in an area that did NOT need it, and of course Boyle and Donaghey are cued up to be something special when the right developer comes along. Those are really the only two major properties left of scale for redevelopment (and both will REALLY help Main Street when they happen). The TOTAL head scratcher was the state deciding to take the Alltel building "off line" for future economic development pursuits when the Raytheon deal fell through after the merger with United Technologies. So not only does the state now NOT have a huge building that could have been a lure, but they drained downtown of valuable lease space. Lose-lose situation...typical for this state. Ugh.

Two out-of-sync venues catering to a non-existent college demographic with sub-par service close, and all of a sudden we have an existential crisis about the River Market. Maybe that's a bit harsh, but I do agree that the RM has to mature over time and find its footing given the change in the market over the past 25+ years. When it opened, it didn't have SOMA, or Main, or Argenta or East Village as competition! Moses Tucker has already leased the Library space for what I believe they stated was an exciting new concept. We'll see.