The Financial Quarter- Downtown Little Rock

[skirby]

There is a push to encourage development/make over the CBD. The Financial Quarter is the new name for this area. StudioMain is working to develop a plan for  it. The goal is to put living spaces in the area and make it more than just office space. They want to see  the bank lobbies  redeveloped into more than what they are now since the banking business has changed since the buildings were built. MT is also behind seeing a change  and I wouldn't be surprised to see them doing projects in the Quarter. The Quarter is bounded by Broadway and Main and from 6th to the river.

 

[Arkanzin]

I like it!  

Bank of America has a huge lobby.  It used to be filled with people at desks and clerks at the teller area.  Now, not so much.  Last time I was in there there was one person at a sea of desks and one or two tellers behind the bar.  Lots of what is now wasted space. 

The upper floors, too, where the bank used to have more offices are basically deserted as BoA has down-sized and moved many services to service centers miles away. 

 

Edited August 27, 2015 by Arkanzin

[Architect]

Why did THV Channel 11 edit the top of the Region's building (to erroneously show TWO top floors) on their newscast set?

Someone had to intentionally do that. For what reason, I have no idea. If it was to conceal a business name (the Regions sign at the top of the building), why not just omit the letters in Photoshop rather than modifying the architecture of the building?

Maybe I'm the only one that's noticed or that it bothers. Ha!

[Arkanzin]

9 hours ago, Architect said:

Why did THV Channel 11 edit the top of the Region's building (to erroneously show TWO top floors) on their newscast set?

Someone had to intentionally do that. For what reason, I have no idea. If it was to conceal a business name (the Regions sign at the top of the building), why not just omit the letters in Photoshop rather than modifying the architecture of the building?

Maybe I'm the only one that's noticed or that it bothers. Ha!

Ha!  That's funny!  I never noticed it.  Now it will bother me! 

[skirby]

The Bank of England wants to purchase the Cromwell Building located at Markham and Spring to become home for 275 employees. They have made an offer on the building and are awaiting a decision from the Little Rock Visitors and Convention Bureau to see if they want to purchase the property. The LRVCB has a first right of refusal due to their current lease agreement.

[skirby]

On 8/9/2016 at 8:00 PM, skirby said:

The Bank of England wants to purchase the Cromwell Building located at Markham and Spring to become home for 275 employees. They have made an offer on the building and are awaiting a decision from the Little Rock Visitors and Convention Bureau to see if they want to purchase the property. The LRVCB has a first right of refusal due to their current lease agreement.

The LRVCB has decided to purchase the building. Now the question is what will the Bank of England do.

[Architect]

10 minutes ago, skirby said:

The LRVCB has decided to purchase the building. Now the question is what will the Bank of England do.

Wasn't the Bank of England located across the street in the old UALR Law School building adjacent to the Doubletree?

[skirby]

They still are. The reason they were looking to purchase the Cromwell  Building is their expanding workforce. When they offered to buy the building they said they might have to relocate outside of the downtown Little Rock area if the purchase did not take place.

[theman]

13 hours ago, skirby said:

They still are. The reason they were looking to purchase the Cromwell  Building is their expanding workforce. When they offered to buy the building they said they might have to relocate outside of the downtown Little Rock area if the purchase did not take place.

I can't believe that there is not space in one of the towers downtown for The Bank of England to move into if they want to stay downtown.

[Smith]

6 hours ago, theman said:

I can't believe that there is not space in one of the towers downtown for The Bank of England to move into if they want to stay downtown.

Two floors of the Tower building will be empty when the Dept. of Arkansas Heritage moves to their new space on LaHarpe.

[Arkanzin]

The Bank of America building was pretty much empty the last time I was there.  The lobby was, in fact ,sad.  Where there used to be numerous tellers behind the counter, there were one or two tellers at a long counter.  Where there used to be numerous account services people at desks talking with customers and on the telephone, was a group of desks pushed off to the side, empty.  The place was much like a morgue.  

Upstairs was not much different.  Where there used to be loan officers and other administrative offices, empty.  All the jobs were transferred to regional offices or Charlotte.  

I've wondered just how long Bank of America would continue to own/lease such a large amount of space for few employees and customers.  

[Architect]

5 hours ago, Arkanzin said:

The Bank of America building was pretty much empty the last time I was there.  The lobby was, in fact ,sad.  Where there used to be numerous tellers behind the counter, there were one or two tellers at a long counter.  Where there used to be numerous account services people at desks talking with customers and on the telephone, was a group of desks pushed off to the side, empty.  The place was much like a morgue.  

Upstairs was not much different.  Where there used to be loan officers and other administrative offices, empty.  All the jobs were transferred to regional offices or Charlotte.  

I've wondered just how long Bank of America would continue to own/lease such a large amount of space for few employees and customers.  

With respect to the lack of traffic in traditional flagship bank lobbies, this is largely a by-product of a change in market demand and the prevalence of online banking...certainly not unique to this bank or this facility.  In fact, this trend is largely what has precipitated the need for the "Financial Quarter" study...how to "reactivate" these previously active, but now largely empty lobbies; how to make the interior space more relevant and engaging with pedestrian traffic.

[ArkansasTraveler]

On 8/25/2016 at 1:56 AM, theman said:

I can't believe that there is not space in one of the towers downtown for The Bank of England to move into if they want to stay downtown.

There's room, but I think Bank of England is a bit choosy because it helps being as close as possible to the existing large downtown banking operations.  The Tower Building is an intriguing option, since there's also ground floor space available beyond the soon-available offices farther up, opening up the potential for a retail bank branch within the building (even if there's no way to incorporate a drive-thru).

[skirby]

The old Sterling Building is getting a facelift.

[skirby]

Work continues on the Sterling Building.

[adman0468]

Simmons Bank is buying the Acxiom building in downtown LR and bringing all of their employees together from multiple locations. I assume this means the Simmons Tower will get renamed. Anyone know who is another large occupant that could take it over? I know Entergy has a lot of space there, but I've heard they don't want their name on the building because it doesn't look good to the general public.

[ndark]

I think Entergy is the largest occupant even now but have heard the same thing about using their name on the building. Entergy Arkansas played a huge role in the initial construction though. Would be fitting. 

Probably will be another bank. 

[Smith]

On 3/10/2017 at 0:21 PM, adman0468 said:

Simmons Bank is buying the Acxiom building in downtown LR and bringing all of their employees together from multiple locations. I assume this means the Simmons Tower will get renamed. Anyone know who is another large occupant that could take it over? I know Entergy has a lot of space there, but I've heard they don't want their name on the building because it doesn't look good to the general public.

I also read that Simmons will be keeping their headquarters in Pine Bluff. Is there that many employees down there or is there some sort of tax benefit by not moving it to LR?

[skirby]

I wonder if the Bank of England will consider moving into the tower and getting naming rights? Last year it tried to buy the Cromwell building but it did not work out. Simmons only occupied four floors in the building so a whole lot of space it not involved. Bank of the Ozarks would make a good fit for the building but it is working on building a new HQ campus in west LR.

[Architect]

4 hours ago, Smith said:

I also read that Simmons will be keeping their headquarters in Pine Bluff. Is there that many employees down there or is there some sort of tax benefit by not moving it to LR?

Lots of political heat for moving HQ out of small towns (Murphy in El Dorado, Acxiom in Conway - then LR - now back to Conway, Simmons in PB)...I think ideally they'd probably like to move the headquarters, but won't do so for political reasons, at least in the near-term, even if effectively most of the management ends up in Little Rock.

[Architect]

I don't know if this is the right threat to post this, but Little Rock has lost some significant corporate headquarters in the past ten years, Alltel (buyout), FIS (moved to Jacksonville, FL...huge mistake on local/state gov't to let that get away), now Acxiom (back to Conway, but the writings on the wall..eventually to California).  Two of these corporate HQ had "towers" with their logos emblazoned across the top...now gone.

[theman]

11 hours ago, Architect said:

I don't know if this is the right threat to post this, but Little Rock has lost some significant corporate headquarters in the past ten years, Alltel (buyout), FIS (moved to Jacksonville, FL...huge mistake on local/state gov't to let that get away), now Acxiom (back to Conway, but the writings on the wall..eventually to California).  Two of these corporate HQ had "towers" with their logos emblazoned across the top...now gone.

The writing is on the wall on Acxiom moving its HQ to California but will it keep a big presence in Conway. FIS did move its HQ but 1200 people work for FIS in LR. Alltel's buyout did cause LR to get another Fortune 500 company, Windstream that is continuing to grow. Alltel seperated its wireless and landline business. Verizon bought the wireless business and Windstream was born to run the landline business.

[ArkansasTraveler]

On 3/13/2017 at 0:34 PM, skirby said:

I wonder if the Bank of England will consider moving into the tower and getting naming rights? Last year it tried to buy the Cromwell building but it did not work out. Simmons only occupied four floors in the building so a whole lot of space it not involved. Bank of the Ozarks would make a good fit for the building but it is working on building a new HQ campus in west LR.

Or, as an alternative, maybe they could take the former TJ Raney & Sons building in Riverdale, if it would have enough room for their employees.  The existing bank in the neighborhood could also take the old Regions space that was vacated in November.  I look for BOZ to remain out west for a long time to come.

[Architect]

55 minutes ago, ArkansasTraveler said:

Or, as an alternative, maybe they could take the former TJ Raney & Sons building in Riverdale, if it would have enough room for their employees.  The existing bank in the neighborhood could also take the old Regions space that was vacated in November.  I look for BOZ to remain out west for a long time to come.

There were casual/informal inquiries into BOZ locating downtown, but it's clear they are not interested in developing something in the Financial Quarter in the near-term, which is too bad...they are quickly becoming a large corporation, and are building a new HQ out west to accommodate that growth for the foreseeable future.

[ArkansasTraveler]

This is less than encouraging for developing the Financial Quarter concept, but I can't say I'm surprised.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/mar/07/news-in-brief-20170307/