Gateway Towne Center: I-30 & I-430

[Architect]

Tesla is FINALLY building a Supercharging station in Little Rock, which closed a gaping hole in their cross-country network.

http://m.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/apr/16/all-charged-up-tesla-building-station-i/

I'll admit I'm pretty surprised (shocked even) that it is being located on I-30 instead of along the "cross-country" I-40.

p.s.  Memphis just got theirs 4 months ago, along with Texarkana.  Apparently the "delay" in the Arkansas location was a long-standing state statute that required any entity selling electricity to register as a "utility" provider.  This was changed with Senate Bill 272 that was signed into law by Gov. Hutchinson on March 1.

[SangreRaVen]

Well it will be interesting at the very least and something that this complex can push and trendy and up to date. There are a lot more Tesla's in Central AR than most ppl might think.

 

-R

[theman]

According to Arkansas Business Hooters may be locating in Gateway Towne Center.

[SangreRaVen]

oh dear lord... why?..... blah...

 

-R

[vbfl85]

On 4/16/2017 at 8:54 PM, Architect said:

Tesla is FINALLY building a Supercharging station in Little Rock, which closed a gaping hole in their cross-country network.

http://m.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/apr/16/all-charged-up-tesla-building-station-i/

I'll admit I'm pretty surprised (shocked even) that it is being located on I-30 instead of along the "cross-country" I-40.

p.s.  Memphis just got theirs 4 months ago, along with Texarkana.  Apparently the "delay" in the Arkansas location was a long-standing state statute that required any entity selling electricity to register as a "utility" provider.  This was changed with Senate Bill 272 that was signed into law by Gov. Hutchinson on March 1.

According to the supercharger map on Tesla's website.  In addition to Little Rock; Fort Smith, Clarksville, Forrest City, Blytheville, and Arkadelphia will be getting supercharger stations. 

[SangreRaVen]

Well that at least gives them a good start for a network, wonder how long it takes one to charge.

 

-R

[Architect]

2 hours ago, SangreRaVen said:

Well that at least gives them a good start for a network, wonder how long it takes one to charge.

 

-R

I think 30 minutes gives you something like 80% of a full charge?  Something like that...

[Smith]

On 4/19/2017 at 0:43 AM, theman said:

According to Arkansas Business Hooters may be locating in Gateway Towne Center.

As mentioned, Hooters has applied for an alcohol permit for an address on Bass Pro Drive. I would prefer a new to market Red Robin, Joe's Crab Shake, etc but it will bring some traffic hopefully. I was out at Bass Pro this last weekend and trees are being cleared behind the building. Construction has also started on the Movie Tavern.

Edited April 28, 2017 by Smith

[SangreRaVen]

Yeah I would prefer stuff new to market rather than something we already have. Granted there is only one Hooters in the area, it is not a place I prefer to visit. Hopefully though are more stuff starts to come in we can get some new to market items that we can enjoy

 

-R

2 hours ago, Architect said:

I think 30 minutes gives you something like 80% of a full charge?  Something like that...

Not bad, that might drive some traffic into some of the shops and restaurants in the area... assuming you leave your car there to charge unattended

Guess I could have Googled it: 

Tesla supercharging stations charge with up to 145 kW of power distributed between two adjacent cars, with a maximum of 120 kW per car. That is up to 16 times as fast as public charging stations; they take about 20 minutes to charge to 50%, 40 minutes to charge to 80%, and 75 minutes to 100%.

 

-R

[adman0468]

1 hour ago, SangreRaVen said:

Yeah I would prefer stuff new to market rather than something we already have. Granted there is only one Hooters in the area, it is not a place I prefer to visit. Hopefully though are more stuff starts to come in we can get some new to market items that we can enjoy

 

-R

Not bad, that might drive some traffic into some of the shops and restaurants in the area... assuming you leave your car there to charge unattended

Guess I could have Googled it: 

Tesla supercharging stations charge with up to 145 kW of power distributed between two adjacent cars, with a maximum of 120 kW per car. That is up to 16 times as fast as public charging stations; they take about 20 minutes to charge to 50%, 40 minutes to charge to 80%, and 75 minutes to 100%.

 

-R

They typically pick locations with a lot of food and shopping options nearby so that people can have a way to pass the time while it charges. I'm fascinated by the idea, but it would still be a bit of a hassle trying to do a long trip that way.

[SangreRaVen]

oh yeah for long distance that would suck, unless there is one near places you normally stop. I wonder what the charging rate is.

 

-R

[Architect]

21 minutes ago, SangreRaVen said:

oh yeah for long distance that would suck, unless there is one near places you normally stop. I wonder what the charging rate is.

 

-R

Ummmm....totally FREE (at least for all original Model S owners).  I think they are just now starting to charge a nominal fee for new Tesla owners.

[ecity3138]

On April 28, 2017 at 9:02 AM, Smith said:

As mentioned, Hooters has applied for an alcohol permit for an address on Bass Pro Drive. I would prefer a new to market Red Robin, Joe's Crab Shake, etc but it will bring some traffic hopefully. I was out at Bass Pro this last weekend and trees are being cleared behind the building. Construction has also started on the Movie Tavern.

A lot of people on thv11 Facebook post regarding Hooter's coming to Gateway Town Center has preferred a Joe's Crab Shack over Hooter's. Personally, I don't care for neither one of those restaurants and would rather have a Pappadeaux, Razoo's Cajun Cafe, Landry's, Willie G's Seafood, or any other nice upscale seafood restaurant in the area. Besides, Joe's Crab Shack is not expanding at this time due to the struggles its parent company (Ignite) is experiencing.

A spokesperson from Pappas Restaurants (parent company of Pappadeaux) said the company have no plans to open a Pappadeaux in Arkansas within the next five years. I don't think they will ever come here from the way the spokesperson sound on the phone.

The lot that is being cleared behind Bass Pro Shops will be restaurants. There will be a couple of restaurants on that site with Hooters being one of them and two other unnamed restaurants that cannot be disclosed at this time.

Edited April 29, 2017 by ecity3138

[Architect]

On 4/29/2017 at 9:58 AM, ecity3138 said:

A lot of people on thv11 Facebook post regarding Hooter's coming to Gateway Town Center has preferred a Joe's Crab Shack over Hooter's. Personally, I don't care for neither one of those restaurants and would rather have a Pappadeaux, Razoo's Cajun Cafe, Landry's, Willie G's Seafood, or any other nice upscale seafood restaurant in the area. Besides, Joe's Crab Shack is not expanding at this time due to the struggles its parent company (Ignite) is experiencing.

A spokesperson from Pappas Restaurants (parent company of Pappadeaux) said the company have no plans to open a Pappadeaux in Arkansas within the next five years. I don't think they will ever come here from the way the spokesperson sound on the phone.

The lot that is being cleared behind Bass Pro Shops will be restaurants. There will be a couple of restaurants on that site with Hooters being one of them and two other unnamed restaurants that cannot be disclosed at this time.

Speaking of Pappadeaux's, which is one of my favorite restaurants...they are opening a location in Oklahoma City.  Pappadeaux's is fantastic, but it's also very pricey...something I'm sure not lost on the owners relative to demographics of potential new sites.

[ArkansasTraveler]

After the ill-received inclusion of Cajun's Wharf into the Landry's chain in the '90s, I doubt Landry's is in a rush to return to central Arkansas. Even if it's now been nearly 20 years since that all went down.

[Architect]

23 minutes ago, ArkansasTraveler said:

After the ill-received inclusion of Cajun's Wharf into the Landry's chain in the '90s, I doubt Landry's is in a rush to return to central Arkansas. Even if it's now been nearly 20 years since that all went down.

Speaking of, Cajun's Wharf - at least at lunch - is pretty spectacular.

[ecity3138]

3 hours ago, ArkansasTraveler said:

After the ill-received inclusion of Cajun's Wharf into the Landry's chain in the '90s, I doubt Landry's is in a rush to return to central Arkansas. Even if it's now been nearly 20 years since that all went down.

Some of their restaurant concepts (including Landry's Seafood House in Branson and other states) are pretty good but not spectacular. I've been to their Willie G's Seafood and Steak near Galleria Houston and it was very good. The company have grown significantly since the last time it made a presence in Arkansas. They own casinos, entertainment districts, theme restaurants (ex: Rainforest Cafe), hospitality, and a variety of other upscale restaurants across the country.

The problem Landry's had with Cajun's Wharf during the 90's was when they tried to make changes to the restaurants that everybody was accustomed to (such as removing favorite menu items and changing ingredients) instead of maintaining  the menu and recipe the same as the original owners had. It wasn't successful and they had to sell it back to the original owners. Cajun Wharf is still great after all the years and their business still thrives.

With that being said, I wouldn't think those mistakes would stop Landry's from making a presence in Arkansas.

Edited May 2, 2017 by ecity3138

[SangreRaVen]

Looks like this document they posted on their website mentions a few things including some of the developments. Did not even realize they had added it, it has been so long since they updated their website. 

http://www.gatewaytowncenter.net/news/ARB-Mar27-17.pdf

 

-R

Edited May 26, 2017 by SangreRaVen

[Arkanzin]

Hooter's will be building a location at 1 Bass Pro Drive.  Chick-Fil-A is 2 Bass Pro.  Will the Hooter's location be in the parking lot of Bass Pro?  

Edited June 9, 2017 by Arkanzin

[Armacing]

On ‎4‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 2:04 PM, Architect said:

Ummmm....totally FREE (at least for all original Model S owners).  I think they are just now starting to charge a nominal fee for new Tesla owners.

I'm asking because I don't know:  Does a Tesla have to be charged at a special charging station?  Can it not be charged at any of the generic electric car charging points I see located in parking lots around here?

[adman0468]

2 hours ago, Armacing said:

I'm asking because I don't know:  Does a Tesla have to be charged at a special charging station?  Can it not be charged at any of the generic electric car charging points I see located in parking lots around here?

Yes, it can, but these are much, much faster. They're meant to be your "fill-up" on a long trip, which is why this one was installed. So owners could travel from Dallas to Memphis.

[Architect]

1 hour ago, adman0468 said:

Yes, it can, but these are much, much faster. They're meant to be your "fill-up" on a long trip, which is why this one was installed. So owners could travel from Dallas to Memphis.

Well, it wasn't installed specifically for Dallas-Memphis, but rather is just another cog in their nationwide network.

[Armacing]

On ‎6‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 4:06 PM, Architect said:

Well, it wasn't installed specifically for Dallas-Memphis, but rather is just another cog in their nationwide network.

Do those places sell food?  Because that could definitely be a good place to sell food to a "captive audience" who has 30 minutes to wait around.  Now what kind of food would appeal to the average Tesla driver?

[SangreRaVen]

I think that is why they pick areas with shopping centers and plenty of food options around them.. that way they can go shop or grab a bite while the car charges

 

-R

[Arkanzin]

I was out at the Outlet Center this weekend and looked to see how the H&M location was coming along.  The area between H&M and the parking lot was fenced off.  There is also a large hole in the wall of the side of the building.  Is H&M going to expand the store to the parking lot?  I think the area was originally designed for a fast-casual restaurant.