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Meet Little Rock, Arkansas


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Hey,

I just found this site through google, and I love it already. Usually, I post at skyscrapercity.com, but ever since they got rid of the search function, the site has been a pain to visit (never get rid of the search function, ever.) Anyways, there are not many Arkansans here to represent our state, so I thought I'd post some pics of our capitol. Some of these were taken from my previous posts on ssf, as well as other Arkansans' posts:

Little Rock:

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According to USA Today, the Clinton Center has already generated over 1 billion in economic developments in little rock, even though it has yet to be completed.

heifer international headquarters (will be adjacent to clinton center)

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Little Rock is planning on building a landmark within the next few years by converting an old railroad bridge to a landmark. Here are the entries:

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A new marina downtown for ....err....boats....:

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Old State House

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Convention Center:

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River District:

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Arkansas Arts Center:

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Historic Arkansas Musuem (Downtown):

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State Capitol:

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The Peabody:

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Federal District Courthouse Expansion:

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Winrock international headquarters:

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1. HOT OFF THE PRESSES: Moses/ Tucker Development group just announced this new 17-story condo tower for downtown Little Rock. The project should be completed by '07 and contain 106 condos ranging from $250,000 to over $1 Million each! The location is just off the River Market about a block.

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2. The First Security Center just opened its doors today. This is a mixed-use facility with a bank, Courtyard Marriott, condos, and office space. The building is 14 stories tall and sits right on President Clinton Avenue in the heart of the River Market District!

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3. The Arkansas Travelers just made a huge announcement regarding a new downtown ballpark, which will sit on the North LR side of the river. It will have a high rise building built on site and fans will have awesome skyline views as they watch the game!

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4. The Clinton Library is scheduled to open November 18 and is projected to draw 100's of thousands of visitors each year! It also has a very nice public park area.

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5. The Heifer International headquarters is currently under construction. It is located right next to the Clinton Library in a part of downtown that, until recently, was an eyesore of vacant industrial buildings and warehouses.

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6. Little Rock has now become the 2nd smallest city in the US to have a light rail system. It just opened to the public yesterday (10/28/04):

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7. I promised a few pics of the River Market District, so here you go:

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(Museum of Discover in River Market Dist.)

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And, well, I'm from Hot Springs, which isn't exactly a large city by any means, but here are some pics of it:

Hot Springs (where I live):

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Convention Center:

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I haven't been keeping track of new developments, but I'll post what I find.

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Fantastic shots! I particularly like the one from the park:

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I think the Clinton mage-wide is neat/weird :)

What sort of landmark will it be? Just something cool, or are they wanting to maek a big deal out of it? That tower seems to be a prevalent theme in all of the proposals.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Little Rock looks great.  I am impressed with all of it but the Clinton, trailer on stilts, Library.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It has been hailed by many architecture groups as a unique and revolutionary design.

Those who claim it looks like a trailor are those who never liked Clinton to begin with.

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Wow, I had no idea the Little Rock was such an impressive and nice looking place. I am quite surprised by the level of developent. The Little Rock LRT was unknown to me and I am glad they pulled that off. New rail systems are so rare these days especially outside the major metros. There must be some really forward thinking people in LR.

BTW, Johnny welcome to UrbanPlanet and we won't hold that SSC thing against you now that you found the better forum. I hope more from your state join us here. ;)

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Very impressive. I haven't been to Ark. yet.  I need to make a trip.

I would love to learn more about the LRT.  How long is the line.  Do you have a route map you can post.  Thanks in advance.

,

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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The River Rail system had it's official opening on Nov. 1, 2004. It's only a few miles long and encompasses attractions in both North Little Rock and Little Rock. As you can see, phase 2 will reach the Clinton Library.

The following article, from the Arkansas Times, discusses phase 3, which would reach the capitol, Central High, other attractions, and possibly the airport.

Interestingly, at http://www.cat.org/projects/regional_rail.html, the Central Arkansas Transit Authority discusses the possibility of having a light rail system for central Arkansas (Little Rock and close cities/suburbs), including "Light rail, streetcars, monorail, Personal Rapid Transit, and other technologies are defined in the report."

Here comes the trolley

Jennifer Barnett Reed

Updated: 11/11/2004

RIVER RAIL: New trolleys serve library area.

Between the crowds and the Secret Service closing off parking garages, getting anywhere near the Clinton library on opening day in a car may be next to impossible.

Enter Little Rock

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While it is true that I once loathed Clinton, I have moved on. My feelings for the trailer/museum/library have nothing to do with Clinton. I just think it is an ugly structure which doesnt interact with its surroundings from what I can tell from the photos. The fact that it has won architectural awards from groups that confuse modern art with good architecture is meaningless to me. By the way, I was paying Little Rock a compliment in general. I think it looks great and I am considering a visit after seeing the photos. Lighten up.

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  • 1 month later...

LRT Update:

The Little Rock River Rail has two new trolleys on order. They are expected to seek bids for Phase 2 expansion within two months. If bids are inline then the expansion could be up and running by next summer.

Also, the 100,000 passenger milestone has been passed within 6 1/2 months of opening. This exceeds the 130,000 riders expected for the first year before operations began.

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I'd like to see stronger interaction and cooperation between Little Rock and Memphis.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That would be nice but first I think cooperation between Little Rock and North Little Rock would be in order. As mentioned above North Little Rock is trying to build a new baseball park but there has been very little support from the south side of the river. Although they have cooperated on Alltel Arena and the trolley on most other projects they show little support if one side wins out over the other.

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johnnydr87,

Great pics of LR. I was born in SouthEast, Ark.

Kinda off subject, but do you mind posting more pics of Hot Springs, maybe I'll start a new "Hot Springs" thread. I have family in Benton, Ark and I went to Magic Springs as a kid. Everytime I go up I plan to visit Hot Springs again but I never can squeeze it in. I will be graduating graduate school in a year, so I have to make a decision as to where I want to live, and from what I remember, Hot Springs was awesome. I'm also considering NorthWest Ark. Maybe we'll discuss this too on the new thread. Thanks.

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This weekend is Riverfest weekend in Little Rock. Riverfest is a three day festival on both sides of the river. It has been reported that tickets have been purchased from 25 states. For those of you around Hickory, N.C. you can hear a broadcast of the events from Lenoir-Rhyne College. Also, this will be the first year for the River Rail Trolly to operate during the festival carring riders from one side of the river to the other. You can buy a 3 day pass before the gates open for $7.50. What do you get for $7.50, I'm glad your asked. The lineup includes: B.B. King, Richard Thompson, the Wallflowers, Hank Willaims Jr., Joe Nichols, the Black Crowes, REO Speedwagon, Robert Randolph and the Family Band to name a few. Attendance expected to top 250,000 if the weather stays nice.

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I'm curious to see what you mean by cooperation between Memphis and Little Rock. As far as the actual possibility of that...well, let's get the stretch of I-40 between to two cities ironed out. It's truly insane to make a drive between the two cities, and I really doubt many care to pay $400 for a 30min. flight on NWA from MEM to LIT.

I think Little Rock really looks great in the pics! I've been before and remember thinking that it was a pretty city. I'm sorry about the Clinton double-wide...at least it's the prettiest trailer! My only issue was the convention center. I don't know if it was the picture or what, but I like the convention center in Hot Springs a lot better than the one in Little Rock...it seems as though the two should be switched! The Hot Springs one looks much more urban and suitable for a large city than the one in the state capital!

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Does anyone have any details on the light rail system?  They are looking into a light rail system to help alleviate some of the growth up here in northwest Arkansas.

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Little Rock's is an old-fashioned electric trolley system that connects the core of downtown with the Rivermarket District, Clinton Library, and downtown North Little Rock via the Main Street Bridge. The whole loop is just a couple of miles though there is a plan for expansion. Ridership has been heavier than expected thus far.

I don't think a light rail system in NWA will happen any time soon but if it did we are talking about a completely different animal. The rough equivalent of what's going on in LR would be a trolley system that covered the UA campus and Dickson/the Square in Fayetteville, which I do think would do well but is not being considered.

However, the push in NWA is for a system more in line with Dallas' DART lines parallel to I-540 linking Fayetteville, Springdale, Lowell, Rogers, and Bentonville. With the relatively low traffic counts and sparsity of population this kind of project seems wasteful and I doubt it would be used much. I think the money would be better used widening I-540 to six lanes.

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Little Rock's is an old-fashioned electric trolley system that connects the core of downtown with the Rivermarket District, Clinton Library, and downtown North Little Rock via the Main Street Bridge.  The whole loop is just a couple of miles though there is a plan for expansion.  Ridership has been heavier than expected thus far.

I don't think a light rail system in NWA will happen any time soon but if it did we are talking about a completely different animal.  The rough equivalent of what's going on in LR would be a trolley system that covered the UA campus and Dickson/the Square in Fayetteville, which I do think would do well but is not being considered.

However, the push in NWA is for a system more in line with Dallas' DART lines parallel to I-540 linking Fayetteville, Springdale, Lowell, Rogers, and Bentonville.  With the relatively low traffic counts and sparsity of population this kind of project seems wasteful and I doubt it would be used much.  I think the money would be better used widening I-540 to six lanes.

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<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I see your reasoning but I think by the time it would be built there would be more of a need for it. The last study that was done recomended that I-540 be widended from 6-8 lanes. But I think the worst part of it is all the build-up of traffic on the access roads connecting to I-540. Everyone keeps predicting the population growth to keep going. I also think part of the reasoning is that it wasn't that long ago that this area was a small 'sleepy' area. Once the talk of an 8 lane highway finally popped up, I think the idea has put off a number of people. This area has always been a bit different than the rest of the state and I think they try to do things differently up here, especially Fayetteville. The idea of trying to get more people out of their cars appeals to many people in Fayetteville. Here in Fayetteville they've put a lot of effort into building a bike/trail system into the city. So that people can ride their bicycles around instead of their vehicles.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Up date on North Little Rock riverfront ballpark. It looks a though it might not happen. Even with the land being given to the city the price tag is causing delay. When the delay was announced the Mayor of Little Rock said he would try to keep the ballpark in Mid-town. Someday maybe LR/NLR will realize what is good for one is good for the other. This is the view from the ballpark if built in North Little Rock.

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Some good news. I was on the trolley Saturday and they announced that the 120 thousand ridership mark would be passed that afternoon. It looks like they will pass their projected one year mark within 8 months. Also, Tower Development out of California has purchased a block on Main street LR with the purpose of redevelopment. The block contains several 10 to 12 story bulidings they intend to convert to mixed use. Its good to see some outside money involved.

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