thewizard16

We have them here in Wichita and people seem to like them (and they're always busy) despite strong local pizza offerings nearby as well. It was explained to me as being "to pizza what 5 Guys is to burgers".

I'm impressed by how well those buildings turned out... Totally changes the look and feel of that corner, which is really an entrance to a revitalized Main Street, for the better. I look forward to checking them out the next time I'm in LR.

That's great, in my opinion. That building is pretty.. unfortunate... looking and 4 stories will add a nice bit of density to that corner and help enhance the feel of the "entrance" to that part of Main Street.

There's one in Fayetteville and one in Rogers, so if they're looking into entering the LR market that center might be a good opportunity for them. Though I'm surprised if they were looking for a while that they didn't throw one in Shackleford Crossings, McCain area, or somewhere out west.

We have one in the mall nearest my house in Wichita (Dillard's is another anchor) and it seems quite nice. It reminds me a lot of Macy's with a more "traditional" upscale flair. The Dillard's in the mall is also pretty nice, as I imagine it has to be to compete somewhat, but Von Maur still felt higher end. My take: They're not Nordstrom, but it's nicer than a standard Dillard's or Macy's.

Nike Factory Store is basically the outlet store of Nike. Most of their stores are "factory stores" and many of those are in outlet malls. There are only a few actual Nike Stores and they're in major cities.

I'm so excited by what Main Street is going to look like in a few years. I'm a little sad that I'm leaving Little Rock before all this really gets wrapped up, but it'll definitely give me something to look forward to when I visit.

I'm very pleased by the selection/location since I think it will help build momentum on the part of Main Street most likely to eventually tie into the actual River Market core. Although we've known through rumblings that this was likely to be Aloft for a while now, it's very nice to see it confirmed and for there to be a pretty strong time-line on renovation. The coffee shop and restaurant space are great news too. I think Main Street is going to be pretty cool in about 5 years.

The Pei Wei at Midtowne (in Little Rock) is dangerously close to my house. I don't want to know exactly how much I spent there since moving here. At any rate, I think one would do extremely well in Fayetteville. The one in Midtowne is always busy and they've been working on plans to build two more here for quite some time, surprised they haven't jumped into NWA yet.

That is a big building for an Aloft in Little Rock (considerably larger than what was hoped to be built originally I believe), but if that is true that would be very nice. Nothing against Marriott but we're running out of their brands to locate downtown and Aloft would be a different atmosphere than anything else down there now.

Exciting news. Main street is going to be very nice in a few years the way things are shaping up.

I've thought that property would be a perfect development spot. Especially if that damn RV park would ever sell and be turned into something more appealing.

I'm glad they're open to it, but I wouldn't give Walmart too much credit for leading revitalization. They're following what the market (particularly the young professional and retiring baby boomer demographics leading downtown residential revitalizations in cities) now demands: stores in urban cores. It's smart business, but it's motivated by market trends and the desire to grow the company, not help the downtown areas that they once were blamed for killing off (that was market demand too, I don't really blame them for that). By necessity these urban stores are smaller format, and Walgreens, CVS, and other chains have been willing to jump into that niche and Walmart doesn't want to miss the next area of retail focus so they're getting in on it too. I believe Target is experimenting with the small format downtown stores too. I love the idea and hope it continues to expand. The Walmart on Campus at UofA is a great example of how a very small format Walmart can work very well in a high density area and provide for most of your daily needs, while being a little more affordable than a comparable Walgreens. I'd love to see them put one in downtown Little Rock with so much new residential going in down there, but it may be too small a market for them at this point. A neighborhood market like this one in Bentonville could definitely work though... Just in case anyone from Walmart out there is reading this.

I agree, I was just pointing out that in a market this size, the supply vs. demand for fitness centers is worth thinking about. LA fills a market segment that was previously left pretty much to 10 Fitness so they're bound to lose a number of their "premium" members that value higher end benefits like a pool, sauna, racquetball, basketball, childcare while they workout, etc. more than they value being able to work out after 10 or 11pm. 10 can't afford to add those kinds of features and keep their prices so low, so if they want to keep their premium members around (for whom the $29.99 a month is less than $10 more than what they're paying for 10 Fitness) they may have to rethink their approach to the premium membership, because those are the people they're most likely to lose to LA. (Me and a group I used to work out with at 10, for example.) The $10 a month just want a place to run or lift a few weights members are definitely their core backbone and aren't going anywhere though, I agree with you on that, but their most profitable memberships are the more at risk and likely something they're thinking about when it comes to funding these new renovations and expansions. I've always been a fan of 10 Fitness though, so I hope their business model continues to adapt and they don't become the run-down cheap gyms in a few years like similar concepts do in some cities with more premium gym offerings.

I was wondering that too. I have heard several compliments about the airport from first time visitors due to the way the lobby and ticketing area is now, but the terminal itself now looks even worse by comparison. I respect their approach to keeping their finances strong and minimizing long term debt though, so I'll say I respect their choice to spread out the renovations even though my general impatience wishes they could do it all at once.

Oh, I'm sure it was busy, but that's not correct from an objective viewpoint. I'm at LA now (formerly 10 on Parham) and there are a good number of people that have moved over. When one of the desk employees at 10 saw my "LA Fitness" keytag one of the last times I was over there she commented that "geesh, lots of people switching over there lately". I don't imagine it will cause them to cut back or anything since they're still the cheapest option out there and their facilities aren't bad, but to think that the entrance of a huge, well branded, higher end gym to the area with three high impact locations isn't going to affect 10 Fitness at all is illogical. My point was that if their membership base is not expanding as quickly, or if the hit they take from LA Fitness opening actually causes a slight drop in revenue for a while, it's very unlikely they're going to continue to expand and remodel at the pace they have been recently.

I hope so. That is a popular facility and as busy as they were when I went there regularly I remembered thinking it'd be a good move. Not sure if LA Fitness has drawn away enough people (despite the cost difference) that they may not be as eager to expand right now though.

Yes, it does need a lot more work, but it's coming along nicely. Little Rock's 5 mile number is of course way higher than those others, but I agree with wmr's sentiment that it's not the important number. The important numbers are the .5 and 1 mile. I would say that although the development density in downtown Fayetteville does not appear greater than Little Rock (it obviously isn't), the residential density is far, far higher. Little Rock has a glut of commercial space downtown but the 1 mile radius has very little residential space and they've been slowly adding to it over the last 10 years. I think they've hit a cusp of sorts on development momentum and I think once you see the massive projects on Main St. completed in a couple years the downtown will have a totally different feel (and a lot more residents), but Fayetteville is unique among those three in that it has been working on that corridor a lot longer and it paid off in a big way. I don't know of any city the size of Fayetteville that has the kind of feel Dickson/WAC area does, and I would love it if Little Rock could even compare to Dickson in the next few years.

Awesome news. Capitol is a great street that feels active during the day and adding residential there just makes sense. (Plus that building is beautiful from the 2nd floor up.) It should help the Main Street merchants and interest in leasing retail space on Capitol too. Lots of progress going on downtown right now!

Ah, didn't realized that had closed but makes sense with the new one out by Walmart. That would be a better location for them anyway, a bit more space and still has a drive through.

Slim Chicken's second location in Little Rock will be on N Shackleford in/near the West Chase Plaza shopping center. I assumed it was going to be at the former Back Yard Burgers location there as well, but the addresses don't quite match up so I'm not sure if it will be there or somewhere in the shopping center.

I hate that I would probably use something like that quite a bit if it existed.

That makes total sense. The wheels have been turning on the NLR location approximately as long as they have been on the Chenal (old Sports Authority) location so that is probably right. The employee I was talking to is new to the area and not familiar with many landmarks/streets yet, so all he knew how to tell me was that it was on McCain near the mall and I was having a hard time thinking of open land or spaces large enough around there.

So in addition to their Midtown and Chenal locations, LA Fitness is also building a gym in North Little Rock on McCain... anyone know where on McCain they're putting it?

After seeing your picture I decided to drive down Main today since I had been out of town and hadn't seen downtown in weeks. Main has a lot of activity with all the construction going on right now and I really like it. Hopefully in a year or two the activity will be people living and shopping there, but for now construction activity is a big step in the right direction. The whole street feels like it's in renovate and rent mode right now.