Architect

That's an impressive project and a nice development for downtown/East Village.

skirby - this is going to sound super ridiculous as the site moderator, but I somehow overlooked the "Coffee Shop" page...or at least forget it's here! So...I missed this post. Very cool photo and use of the old tower. Glad I stumbled on this! p.s. In my defense, the way by browser formats the screen sort of hid this threat above a banner, so I hadn't noticed it!

There's no funding or timeline. As I understand it, this was a competition to generate ideas about vision to help inform civic leaders of possible future development of the park. I think there were some nominal financial prizes for the award winners.

Yeah, hmmm....seems like the I-430/I-30 location would be more visible and would play off of all the other destinations there: Outlets of LR/Dave & Busters, Movie Tavern, Bass Pro, etc. Then again, maybe Top Golf is more of a destination where people seek it out and they're less dependent on other venues, plus I guess it's technically closer to more of their target demographic. It's sort of ironic that the NWA location is in a more "urban" area than the Little Rock location.

Yeah, it's super cool but let's just say that it all seems a bit...ambitious. That being said, if you look at their development link and read through their "partners" on each venture, they are some legitimate players. Clearly they've done a lot of planning. We'll see.

Spirit is pretty sparse in this area of the country...and so is Jet Blue, who just bought them. If service is added, it will likely be a while.

Yep. Good points.

Maybe, but honestly, rent is not the largest cost of any tenant...it's compensation and other (food) costs, but I guess it can be a factor.

Agreed...quite strange as I always found it to be pretty busy.

Arkansas Money and Politics (AMP) is reporting that Bank of America is moving its Central Arkansas headquarters out of their downtown high-rise. What a depressing move...this bank's predecessor (Worthen) BUILT this building in the late 1960s/early 1970s. First, it seems like a counter-intuitive move in the 2020s for employee recruitment to locate your offices in a suburban office building, and second, it may be driven somewhat by a lack of confidence in the new building's owner, whose experience is primarily residential development. Still, wow...with all of the other positive news downtown, this is a step backwards. I'm very disappointed with the decision BoA is making with regard to this. https://www.armoneyandpolitics.com/bank-america-move-out-downtown-little-rock/?fbclid=IwAR0KaAyvD4LJXefuahs5q6cw4dvcF7z0bMzvvpb9wm_BM7BmLYnI2nYSMXY&fs=e&s=cl

There's a lot of potential for that space...really interesting opportunity here. That one shot looking west from the top of the River Market parking deck is pretty phenomenal. It should make for a great urban space.

Nice mural!

I wish the new owner all success, but candidly, $2.0M in improvements would have to be spread pretty thin on a property that large. Hopefully it doesn't need a lot of work.

I cannot FATHOM, with the significant passenger load that Delta serves in Little Rock, that they don't diversify their destinations, especially Salt Lake City for connections west. American is decimating them in this regard.

Agreed...the market can't support two of these. Here's hoping Top Golf gets to market first (which I suspect they'll do). In some ways, the I-40/I-430 site is a great option, but I suspect politically, with the active input from the Little Rock mayor with Top Gold, they won't go to a site in NLR. I would vote I-430/I-30 at Outlets of Little Rock. There is a lot of critical mass of activity there that would benefit Top Golf.

They also released MSA (metro) population estimates for 2021, and the Little Rock MSA increased 0.39% to 750,936.

I suspect that this is just code for "we're closed for good"...

I had been meaning to do that math! Thanks!

I swear, that McDonald's is derelict...it looks 20 years old inside and out. I cannot fathom why corporate hasn't forced this franchise owner to remodel.

I've never been in it, but I've read about it and have driven by it. Apparently it was built early in the 20th century as a huge Sears store or distribution center. The building is absolutely MASSIVE and there's really not anything comparable to it in Little Rock. It's a beautifully well-done adaptive reuse. p.s. Now that I think about it, the old VA hospital is comparable in age and scale, and it is slated for a complete retrofit for multi-family housing.

Ah. I hadn’t associated the Maly name with the NLR development. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree it’s probably at Outlets or Little Rock. What is Malys? I hadn’t heard about that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OKC has one, interestingly.

Gotcha. I hope you're right! It would be cool to have both if it's financially viable for each of them. I agree that it's also a nice sign of confidence regarding Main Event, etc. What is iFly? Is that the free-fall simulator?

Because my emphasis is on the number two. The entry price is very steep for venues of this scale/complexity…much more than a trampoline park (which given the carnage of previous trampoline ventures in the market, probably isn’t the best example). I think it would be a strain on both venues if they were both to become a reality, and that wouldn’t be healthy for either of them. I love central Arkansas, but this isn’t a huge market. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk