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The last I heard Argenta Place was being downsized. It will only be 3 floors. The website says it is fully leased but also says it was built in 2005. There was a problem with parking. The redelopment plan for NLR shows only a three story building on the block. Also, Sam Perroni has nothing to do with Argenta Place. Argenta Place is being developed by John Gaudin and First Security Vanadis Capital. Gaudin recently bought the building Twin City Bank was looking at. Mr. Gaudin also owns the old Rhy Furniture Store building. This space might be a possibility for a new HQ for the bank. Mr. Perroni is developing a project further North on Main near the trolley barn.

Something not mentioned before First Security is building a branch across the street from Alltel Arena. It is on the Northside of Broadway and just West of I-30. I think it is their first location in NLR.

Sorry. Is Perroni the one that's doing the 3-story mixed use development on Main with ground floor retail and two floors of condos over it?

The AB News article made it sound as if they had modified the plans for Argenta Place and were going to do something even better. Have you heard anything new?

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Sorry. Is Perroni the one that's doing the 3-story mixed use development on Main with ground floor retail and two floors of condos over it?

The AB News article made it sound as if they had modified the plans for Argenta Place and were going to do something even better. Have you heard anything new?

You are correct about the Perroni project. The last I read anything about the redesign of Argenta Place was an article dated

July 19th. The project has been reduced from $13 million to around $2.5 million. The new design is called a better fit by the historic commission.

Argenta Place to be built across the intersection. Part of the awning has been taken off since this picture was taken.

dscf2993yq8.jpg

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You are correct about the Perroni project. The last I read anything about the redesign of Argenta Place was an article dated

July 19th. The project has been reduced from $13 million to around $2.5 million. The new design is called a better fit by the historic commission.

Argenta Place to be built across the intersection. Part of the awning has been taken off since this picture was taken.

dscf2993yq8.jpg

Thanks for the update and pics, skirby. You're a real God-send to this board.

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You are correct about the Perroni project. The last I read anything about the redesign of Argenta Place was an article dated

July 19th. The project has been reduced from $13 million to around $2.5 million. The new design is called a better fit by the historic commission.

Argenta Place to be built across the intersection. Part of the awning has been taken off since this picture was taken.

dscf2993yq8.jpg

Anything will look nicer than what's there now. Thanks, skirby.

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Yeah, I noticed that too. Maybe they can finally get started on that next year and the Rock Island Bridge near the Clinton Library.

Does anyone think it is strange they are going into the final fundraising without first releasing the final plans? The plans were to be finished up in July but nothing has been said about them. It would be nice to have the Enclave and the Junction Bridge open up close to the same time.

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Does anyone think it is strange they are going into the final fundraising without first releasing the final plans? The plans were to be finished up in July but nothing has been said about them. It would be nice to have the Enclave and the Junction Bridge open up close to the same time.

It would be nice to have a lot of these issues resolved when Little Rock hosts the NCAA Tourney. It will be a downtown riverfront event and how we present the city for that weekend will determine not only whether the tourney will return to Little Rock but will probably play a role in helping us get a number of future events.

Both bridges have been delayed far longer than I expected. I hope that's merely because they aren't cutting corners on improving them.

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It would be nice to have a lot of these issues resolved when Little Rock hosts the NCAA Tourney. It will be a downtown riverfront event and how we present the city for that weekend will determine not only whether the tourney will return to Little Rock but will probably play a role in helping us get a number of future events.

Both bridges have been delayed far longer than I expected. I hope that's merely because they aren't cutting corners on improving them.

I forget, what year is LR hosting the tournament? ... and is it just the first 2 rounds of the tourny, or is there a slim chance we're a regional.

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I forget, what year is LR hosting the tournament? ... and is it just the first 2 rounds of the tourny, or is there a slim chance we're a regional.

It's the 2008 Tournament. The most I've heard is first and second rounds. Charlotte and Phoenix have the regionals, while Detroit & Houston will host the semi-finals. The other first and second round sites are Birmingham, Anaheim, Denver, Omaha, Washington D.C., Raleigh, and Tampa.

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Okay, thanks. It looks like we're in pretty good company with the other host cities.

If each of the 4 teams brings an avg. of 8,000 fans, LR/NLR could get some nice exposure. Especially since the majority of the focus will be in the River Market District. Not that it would be ready in time for this, but I would think that downtown NLR could easily maintain a 10-15 story hotel on the river to take advantage of the LR skyline and also the increasing number of events that this area is attracting.

Edit: My math is way off. As Aporkalypse points out in a later post, there are 8 teams and not 4. So LR could see as many as 64,000 fans making the trip.

Edited by Cru Jones
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Okay, thanks. It looks like we're in pretty good company with the other host cities.

If each of the 4 teams brings an avg. of 8,000 fans, LR/NLR could get some nice exposure. Especially since the majority of the focus will be in the River Market District. Not that it would be ready in time for this, but I would think that downtown NLR could easily maintain a 10-15 story hotel on the river to take advantage of the LR skyline and also the increasing number of events that this area is attracting.

NLR does need additional hotel rooms near Alltel Arena. One of the reasons given for the state basketball tournament moving to Hot Springs was lack of rooms. They do not like having to bus players to the arena. There is an empty block South of the arena and between the Enclave and I-30 that would be a prime place.

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NLR does need additional hotel rooms near Alltel Arena. One of the reasons given for the state basketball tournament moving to Hot Springs was lack of rooms. They do not like having to bus players to the arena. There is an empty block South of the arena and between the Enclave and I-30 that would be a prime place.

LR/NLR have AMPLE hotels rooms for the state basketball tourney. I would wager there are considerably more in a 2 mile radius than there are in all of the city of Hot Springs. The hotel requirements for the NCAA tourney sites are actually very stringent and few smaller cities qualify.

The Riverfront Wyndham is nice but I agree, a high rise riverfront hotel near the arena would do well. Maybe that will eventually happen on some of the land near the ballpark.

I don't know what occupancy at the Wyndham is like but it seems like it would be ripe for addition of a room tower.

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I don't know what occupancy at the Wyndham is like but it seems like it would be ripe for addition of a room tower.

During the process for choosing the site of the Clinton Library in the late 90's, the owner of the Wyndham which I believe was still a Hilton, said he would add a tower if the President chose the NLR site. He didn't and the plans fell through.

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LR/NLR have AMPLE hotels rooms for the state basketball tourney. I would wager there are considerably more in a 2 mile radius than there are in all of the city of Hot Springs. The hotel requirements for the NCAA tourney sites are actually very stringent and few smaller cities qualify.

The Riverfront Wyndham is nice but I agree, a high rise riverfront hotel near the arena would do well. Maybe that will eventually happen on some of the land near the ballpark.

I don't know what occupancy at the Wyndham is like but it seems like it would be ripe for addition of a room tower.

To host a NCAA regional a city has to have a certain amount of full service hotels, I believe it is eight, within a certain radius of the arena to house teams and media.

With all of the development going on in downtown NLR I'm suprised that a hotel has not been mention or an expansion of the Wyndham. It gets counted for its hotel rooms when they talk to groups about holding their conventions in Little Rock. The growth in the convention business alone should warrant something in downtown NLR.

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During the process for choosing the site of the Clinton Library in the late 90's, the owner of the Wyndham which I believe was still a Hilton, said he would add a tower if the President chose the NLR site. He didn't and the plans fell through.

I didn't know that. Frank Fletcher owns that hotel and he has the means to do just about anything he wants if he thinks it will work. He really lucked out when the arena site was chosen, though.

To host a NCAA regional a city has to have a certain amount of full service hotels, I believe it is eight, within a certain radius of the arena to house teams and media.

With all of the development going on in downtown NLR I'm suprised that a hotel has not been mention or an expansion of the Wyndham. It gets counted for its hotel rooms when they talk to groups about holding their conventions in Little Rock. The growth in the convention business alone should warrant something in downtown NLR.

Nine - one for each team and one for the NCAA. Lack of hotels was the reason LR was passed over on its first bid for the NCAA tourney site but apparently doing very well and handling the SEC Women's Tourney helped.

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It would be sorta of hard for Frank Fletcher to build an addition to the Wyndham. He sold the undeveloped property next to the Wyndham to Stephens for the ballpark. I guess he could always tear down part of the existing hotel but I think the cost would be to high to do this.

He could close one of the restaurants and build a tower there. I don't know how well the Riverfront Steakhouse is doing but that would be an option. You could always reopen on the first floor of the new tower.

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I didn't know that. Frank Fletcher owns that hotel and he has the means to do just about anything he wants if he thinks it will work. He really lucked out when the arena site was chosen, though.

Nine - one for each team and one for the NCAA. Lack of hotels was the reason LR was passed over on its first bid for the NCAA tourney site but apparently doing very well and handling the SEC Women's Tourney helped.

Other things that helped also were the record crowds at the state championship games that Alltel hosted and even the 15,000 that attended the ABA Championship game. These along with the success of the SEC women's tournament has shown that the area likes its basketball.

The renovation of the Peabody helped in the bid process.

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Arkansas Business reorts: "Details are few, but an announcement is imminent about a new planned community in the works for the North Little Rock riverfront." More details will be released later this fall. They gave an example of Harbor Town on Mud Island in Memphis.

Wow, if that's true. That's a very special development in Memphis.

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