39 replies to this topic

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Oct 27 2005, 03:06 PM, said:

That's what Emporis has it listed as.

I'm not to familiar with Pine Bluff, and it's hard for me to believe it also. I saw the building on their website and it said 1929.

Guess I'll have to look into it.  I still have family that live near Pine Bluff, I'll have to ask sometime.

[Mith242]

Ironically more people seemt o be voting for Fayetteville.  It certainly has the potential but it's also ironic because it's the one city with probably the strictest building codes and they seem to be considering adopting codes to limit buildings heights sometime in the near future.  They may not but I've been hearing some talk of some of the city council and planning board looking into it.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 21 2005, 02:36 PM, said:

Ironically more people seemt o be voting for Fayetteville.  It certainly has the potential but it's also ironic because it's the one city with probably the strictest building codes and they seem to be considering adopting codes to limit buildings heights sometime in the near future.  They may not but I've been hearing some talk of some of the city council and planning board looking into it.

That's why I voted for Rogers.

I know all of the publicity the Renaissance Tower has been getting for being 16F. Imagine what would happen if someone wanted to build a 25F building or so.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 21 2005, 02:39 PM, said:

That's why I voted for Rogers.

I know all of the publicity the Renaissance Tower has been getting for being 16F. Imagine what would happen if someone wanted to build a 25F building or so.

Yeah right now I doubt the city would overwhelmingly approve something 25 story.  Now it's possible after we get some more buildings around 15 stories that they'd consider something taller because it would stand out so much.  But you never know.  Besides if it was a really great oppotunity to get something in they could approve it if they really liked the design even if it was taller than they might like.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 21 2005, 02:49 PM, said:

Yeah right now I doubt the city would overwhelmingly approve something 25 story.  Now it's possible after we get some more buildings around 15 stories that they'd consider something taller because it would stand out so much.  But you never know.  Besides if it was a really great oppotunity to get something in they could approve it if they really liked the design even if it was taller than they might like.

It really wouldn't be a problem up here in Benton County, unless it's near say a Big Lake .

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 21 2005, 02:53 PM, said:

It really wouldn't be a problem up here in Benton County, unless it's near say a Big Lake .

Yeah although I guess I can sorta see it being a bit odd because there's not anything else really out the except for houses.  I'm hoping after this development it might open the doors for some others.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 21 2005, 03:02 PM, said:

Yeah although I guess I can sorta see it being a bit odd because there's not anything else really out the except for houses.  I'm hoping after this development it might open the doors for some others.

Hopefully.

[Aporkalypse]

My suspicion is that you'll never see a "skyline" in NWA per se but you'll see a number of office towers similar in scope to the Plaza West building in Little Rock in all 4 main towns.  I don't think you'll see much clustering as each town will want its own.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 21 2005, 03:14 PM, said:

My suspicion is that you'll never see a "skyline" in NWA per se but you'll see a number of office towers similar in scope to the Plaza West building in Little Rock in all 4 main towns.  I don't think you'll see much clustering as each town will want its own.

That's probably the most likely outcome.  There won't be much incentive to get very high if the buildings are all scattered throughout the area.  Now if there was one urban center than you'd be more likely to keep seeing more tall buildings.  And as you said there will probably be some competition between cities or at least none of the cities working together in that aspect.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 21 2005, 03:17 PM, said:

And as you said there will probably be some competition between cities or at least none of the cities working together in that aspect.

That's the biggest problem up here.

Non-Centralization and Non-coordination kills us up here.

Edited by mcheiss, 21 November 2005 - 04:06 PM.

[Aporkalypse]

mcheiss, on Nov 21 2005, 04:06 PM, said:

That's the biggest problem up here.

Non-Centralization and Non-coordination kills us up here.

Unfortunately, progress in that arena has been minimal in the last 5 decades.  It's always been that way.

[mcheiss]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 21 2005, 09:16 PM, said:

Unfortunately, progress in that arena has been minimal in the last 5 decades.  It's always been that way.

It probably will remain that way for a while.

[Architect]

You guys have pretty much covered all the valid points, but let me mention Hot Springs.  No, I don't think it WILL have the greatest chance in the future, but I would wager that right now, it has the largest skyline outside of LR/NLR.  Frankly, you could argue that in many ways, it has one of, if not the most urban cores of any Arkansas city.  Take note the next time you are there....solid blocks of urban density, not having received the axe that LR did in the 50's - love the art deco Medical Arts building (16 floors? It was the tallest in Arkansas for quite some time).  Great urban streetscape really unlike anywhere in Arkansas - reinforced by lots of pedestrian/people activity.  Hot Springs is very urban.

[Aporkalypse]

Architect, on Jul 25 2007, 09:47 PM, said:

You guys have pretty much covered all the valid points, but let me mention Hot Springs.  No, I don't think it WILL have the greatest chance in the future, but I would wager that right now, it has the largest skyline outside of LR/NLR.  Frankly, you could argue that in many ways, it has one of, if not the most urban cores of any Arkansas city.  Take note the next time you are there....solid blocks of urban density, not having received the axe that LR did in the 50's - love the art deco Medical Arts building (16 floors? It was the tallest in Arkansas for quite some time).  Great urban streetscape really unlike anywhere in Arkansas - reinforced by lots of pedestrian/people activity.  Hot Springs is very urban.

I agree with that.  It would be nice if it could add a mid-rise convention hotel or two downtown into the mix.  I don't think the demand's there right now and I think effort is better spent making the Arlington and Majestic successful.

I absolutely love downtown Hot Springs and I agree it is probably the 2nd most urban-feeling city in Arkansas.  Fayetteville is urbanizing pretty well but isn't quite caught up yet.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Jul 27 2007, 10:32 AM, said:

I agree with that.  It would be nice if it could add a mid-rise convention hotel or two downtown into the mix.  I don't think the demand's there right now and I think effort is better spent making the Arlington and Majestic successful.

I absolutely love downtown Hot Springs and I agree it is probably the 2nd most urban-feeling city in Arkansas.  Fayetteville is urbanizing pretty well but isn't quite caught up yet.

Yeah Hot Springs is nice.  I guess I'm wondering if any other city outside central Arkansas will resist the suburban growth issues.  I think there's more of a tendency in many of Arkansas' cities to grow outward.  Fayetteville is trying to address it but that doesn't mean it will be successful.  Seems like most 'taller buildings' today tend to be some sort of mixed-use condo buildings.  But that market seems to be in a slump right now.  That and I'm not sure if a more urban style condo development will work in Hot Springs.  I think most people will tend to opt for smaller condo developments away from downtown Hot Springs.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Jul 27 2007, 01:04 PM, said:

Yeah Hot Springs is nice.  I guess I'm wondering if any other city outside central Arkansas will resist the suburban growth issues.  I think there's more of a tendency in many of Arkansas' cities to grow outward.  Fayetteville is trying to address it but that doesn't mean it will be successful.  Seems like most 'taller buildings' today tend to be some sort of mixed-use condo buildings.  But that market seems to be in a slump right now.  That and I'm not sure if a more urban style condo development will work in Hot Springs.  I think most people will tend to opt for smaller condo developments away from downtown Hot Springs.

Part of the problem is the Lake is such an attraction and there's the biggest concentration of condos in Arkansas near Central Ave over Lake Hamilton.  The other is that Hot Springs Village' golf community is the dominant retirement community in Arkansas.  Those two have such a pull that downtown HS probably doesn't have much of a condo market, though there probably is room for some.  There are a lot of artists, etc that would probably opt for them.

[NLRguy2008]

what a stupid topic.  how about none?  I just moved to Little Rock from Dallas 2 years ago.  Little Rock has a decent skyline for such a small city, but give me a break.  No other city in Arkansas will have a skyline even close to Little Rock's within the next 50-100 years.  I think it's funny that this is a real topic on here.

[Mith242]

NLRguy2008, on Sep 16 2008, 10:36 PM, said:

what a stupid topic.  how about none?  I just moved to Little Rock from Dallas 2 years ago.  Little Rock has a decent skyline for such a small city, but give me a break.  No other city in Arkansas will have a skyline even close to Little Rock's within the next 50-100 years.  I think it's funny that this is a real topic on here.

If you don't like it go somewhere else.

[totheskies]

NLRguy2008, on Sep 16 2008, 10:36 PM, said:

what a stupid topic. how about none? I just moved to Little Rock from Dallas 2 years ago. Little Rock has a decent skyline for such a small city, but give me a break. No other city in Arkansas will have a skyline even close to Little Rock's within the next 50-100 years. I think it's funny that this is a real topic on here.

Whoa, WTF???  I hope living in Arkansas for a year or so has allowed you to go through some "de-Tex" and I hope your manners have improved.  Oh, and this is coming from someone living in Houston.  

I agree with some of the above posts... Hot Springs has all of the "right ingredients".  The problem is that their growth pattern have been explosively sprawlrific over the past few years.  Several of those precious buildings in downtown are just sitting around vacant.  Until the city seems some revitalization, I worry that the growth is just going to follow the freeways instead of concentrating in the city's precious dense urban neighborhoods.

But beyond that, I still voted for Hot Springs.  The city has a very good bus system, which allows for much more mobility than some of the other cities.  IMO, it's much more extensive than ORT which serves over half of the list here!!

[hogfan4life]

totheskies, on 17 June 2009 - 03:19 PM, said:

Whoa, WTF???  I hope living in Arkansas for a year or so has allowed you to go through some "de-Tex" and I hope your manners have improved.  Oh, and this is coming from someone living in Houston.  

I agree with some of the above posts... Hot Springs has all of the "right ingredients".  The problem is that their growth pattern have been explosively sprawlrific over the past few years.  Several of those precious buildings in downtown are just sitting around vacant.  Until the city seems some revitalization, I worry that the growth is just going to follow the freeways instead of concentrating in the city's precious dense urban neighborhoods.

But beyond that, I still voted for Hot Springs.  The city has a very good bus system, which allows for much more mobility than some of the other cities.  IMO, it's much more extensive than ORT which serves over half of the list here!!