Hot Springs

[luvhotsprings]

Not exciting news, but Hot Springs Flea Market is moving locations. The new location is going to be in the old Lakeside Supermarket on Malvern Avenue - in the industrial area of town.

Edited January 11, 2015 by luvhotsprings

[luvhotsprings]

Kilwin's Chocolate Factory is opening a franchise at 264 Central Avenue, which is set to open April 2015. This is Arkansas's second location. Also, according to the plumbing permits, another Dollar General is being built at 830 Mountain Pine Road.

[luvhotsprings]

I went driving around after dinner today, and there is a new bank next to Java Primo, called Citizen's Bank. Also, CVS put up their signs in front of the old Shell and Perkin's restaurant. On Malvern, a new strip center called Hite Plaza is almost completed. There's also a new strip center going up next to Dollar General at the corner of Carpenter Dam and Shady Grove Road, called Shady Grove Plaza.

Edit to add: It also looked like Debra's Restaurant is almost open in the old Nom Nom's location.

Edited January 18, 2015 by luvhotsprings

[luvhotsprings]

Fountain Lake High School was approved to be a charter school. Also, a new Regions bank is going to be built at 302 Malvern Avenue - downtown - along with a new parking deck. A new Vietnamese restaurant has also opened up at the old Fuji Japanese Restaurant on E. Grand. 

Edited January 20, 2015 by luvhotsprings

[luvhotsprings]

The Waffle House by the racetrack is set to open back up - after an extensive remodel - is set to open in a week or so.

Edited January 24, 2015 by luvhotsprings

[luvhotsprings]

First National Bank was bought out by a bank called Bear State Financial; a bank headquartered in Harrison, Arkansas. 

[luvhotsprings]

The Hungry Greek has pulled a beer and wine permit. It will be in the Central City shopping center, next to Subway, most likely. 

[luvhotsprings]

According to plumbing permits, Spa City Wine Girls is going downtown at 258 Central Avenue, along with a coffee shop called, Kolletive Coffee & Tea at 110 Central Avenue. Off of 70 West, on Marion Anderson, a crepe restaurant is opening up called, Alexa's Cafe el Creperie. Also, the Perkins and Shell Station are completely demolished, and construction has begun on the CVS. 

[luvhotsprings]

The bottom floor of the Medical Arts building has been purchased by TKZ LLC, which also are the owners of the Dugan-Stuart and Thompson buildings. In the Sentinel Record, TKZ said they are already making improvements to the bottom floor, and they have a list of potential tenants that are wanting to occupy the bottom floor. A group on Facebook is trying to push the city to condemn the building, but TKZ said that if the city does condemn, that could cause problems with people already trying to buy the remainder of the Medical Arts Building. 

 

I, personally, hope that they restore the Medical Arts Building, because it truly is an amazing building and a huge part of Hot Spring's Downtown. More and more is going to continue to go downtown; with more retail, restaurant, hotel, and apartment options, the downtown will thrive like it used to. 

[Mith242]

The bottom floor of the Medical Arts building has been purchased by TKZ LLC, which also are the owners of the Dugan-Stuart and Thompson buildings. In the Sentinel Record, TKZ said they are already making improvements to the bottom floor, and they have a list of potential tenants that are wanting to occupy the bottom floor. A group on Facebook is trying to push the city to condemn the building, but TKZ said that if the city does condemn, that could cause problems with people already trying to buy the remainder of the Medical Arts Building. 

 

I, personally, hope that they restore the Medical Arts Building, because it truly is an amazing building and a huge part of Hot Spring's Downtown. More and more is going to continue to go downtown; with more retail, restaurant, hotel, and apartment options, the downtown will thrive like it used to. 

Yes, it would be a real shame to lose the Medical Arts Bldg.  I seriously doubt anyone would put anything 'better' in it's place.

[wmr]

That building is amazing.  What kind of people would be urging the city to condemn it?  That makes no sense to me.  

[luvhotsprings]

That building is amazing.  What kind of people would be urging the city to condemn it?  That makes no sense to me.  

 

Yes, it would be a real shame to lose the Medical Arts Bldg.  I seriously doubt anyone would put anything 'better' in it's place.

 

There's a person who started a group on Facebook urging condemnation, so they can get developers more interested. It doesn't make any sense to me either, but I guess good luck to them. I'm ready to see what happens to the Medical Arts Building, though. 

[luvhotsprings]

MedExpress is building a location at 3412 Central Avenue, where a bar used to be, in the same parking lot as John's Honda. 

[luvhotsprings]

Don Juan's is opening its third location in the Indiandale Shopping Center, off of Malvern Avenue, tomorrow. The mall has also started renovating the empty storefronts, and one more store has gone out of business since I was last there. There were a total of 18 empty storefronts, so hopefully the group that bought it - the same group who owns the NWA Mall - can fill those vacancies. 

[luvhotsprings]

Hot Springs Baseball Museum is opening at 211 E. Grand Ave. This will be a great addition to the downtown area. 

[luvhotsprings]

Kollective Coffee & Tea opened today downtown. On the downside, Park Island Market & Cafe is possibly closing its doors, which will be detrimental to the Park Ave. revitalization, if more businesses close their doors. Hopefully, the Majestic and the sleazebag motels get cleaned up soon. 

[luvhotsprings]

The Howe Hotel, also known as the Desoto Hotel has sold to a new owner, and plans could include a rooftop restaurant and garden. This is great news, and I assume more great things are going to happen to Downtown in the near future. 

[burnz34]

Cool.

[luvhotsprings]

Kilwin's opened last Thursday downtown, which is a great plus. Also, a plumbing permit has been pulled for the Hungry Greek, and it will be next to Subway in the Central City Shopping Center. 

[luvhotsprings]

The Austin is being converted into a Holiday Inn, and it will connect to the convention center. Another hotel is going to built next to the Holiday Inn, and will also connect to the convention center. It will be globally branded.

And while downtown is on a boom, the mall is being auctioned off, which can't be a good thing. I hope the mall will find a good owner who will fill in the vacancies.

[skirby]

Stayed at the Arlington Hotel over the weekend. Unless they do some major rehab I will not do it again. At one time it was a great hotel and with the right amount of money and management it could be again.

 

 

Across the street is the Medical Arts Building. At 16 floors it was the tallest building in the state from the time it opened until 1960. Now it is vacant except for one ground floor retail establishment.

 

 

It rained most of the time I was there and I didn't even take my camera with me. The above shots are from my phone.

 

One of the bright spots was dinner on the patio at Rolando's. You have to go up three sets of stairs to get to it and it is worth the climb.

 

 

[luvhotsprings]

Stayed at the Arlington Hotel over the weekend. Unless they do some major rehab I will not do it again. At one time it was a great hotel and with the right amount of money and management it could be again.

 

 

Across the street is the Medical Arts Building. At 16 floors it was the tallest building in the state from the time it opened until 1960. Now it is vacant except for one ground floor retail establishment.

 

 

It rained most of the time I was there and I didn't even take my camera with me. The above shots are from my phone.

 

One of the bright spots was dinner on the patio at Rolando's. You have to go up three sets of stairs to get to it and it is worth the climb.

 

 

I agree, the Arlington does need a lot of work, but great pictures of the natural scenery downtown!

Walmart Neighborhood Market has been confirmed in the Indiandale Shopping Center off of Malvern.WNM will start construction late fall. Plans are to destroy the buildings that once held Alco and Save-A-Lot. Also, the Arvest Bank there currently will also be demolished and the land will be used for more parking. Arvest Bank will be building a new branch at the corner of Shady Grove and Malvern.

[luvhotsprings]

Yesterday, an open forum was held in the Medical Arts Building lobby to put thoughts and ideas to further help revitalize downtown. Some ideas were having a tech center downtown, and for citizens to have more parking. Today, there is a special Board of Directors meeting for the purchase of the Majestic Hotel. Hopefully this is good news for the city and the rubble will be taken care of.

Besides downtown, the mall was auctioned off for 5.5 million dollars. Whomever the new owners are, I hope they can fill the empty vacancies with known stores that the people of Hot Springs want, because not everyone wants to travel to Little Rock to shop.

[luvhotsprings]

Another Walmart Neighborhood Market is coming to Hot Springs! This WNM will have a fuel station unlike the one planned on Malvern Ave. It will be on the corner of Majestic Lodge Road and Airport Road. The only concern for me is the traffic, because they are already tons of wrecks at that intersection, already. 

[luvhotsprings]

Home2 Suites by Hilton is going to build a 91-room hotel at the corner of Central Avenue & Catalina Circle on 7South. Also, the Majestic property will have a closing date of August 21st with cleanup expected to start soon after on the yellow brick portion of the building. The Thompson Building is now in the process of being renovated into a boutique hotel - lots of great things going on downtown.