Tax less if Albert Pike has old look

‘Historic’ credit rule limits redo

The Albert Pike Hotel will undergo a $6 million renovation, including a cleaning of the exterior of the historic structure in downtown Little Rock.
The Albert Pike Hotel will undergo a $6 million renovation, including a cleaning of the exterior of the historic structure in downtown Little Rock.

The more the Albert Pike Hotel changes when it undergoes a $6 million renovation, the more it will look like its old self - from the street and in the common areas of the historic structure, that is.

That’s because of restrictions on federal Historic Tax Credits that BSR Trust LLC received in its acquisition of the downtown edifice built in 1929.

“Historic Tax Credits say that the building needs to look exactly like it looked when you bought it,” Dan Oberste, general counsel for the trust, said Wednesday.

Aside from the spacious, ornate lobby and mezzanine, which will be painted and cleaned, the emphasis will be on the 130 rent-subsidized units where residents, who are over age 55, live.

Units with kitchens will get new cabinets and appliances. Bathrooms will get a makeover and floor coverings will be replaced. Doors and windows will be replaced as well. The renovation is expected to take about a year.

The hotel has 17 vacancies, which will allow residents to simply move to another room as the renovation, which will start in two to three weeks, proceeds floor by floor, said Kea Calame, senior development officer for BSR, which is headquartered in Little Rock and Montgomery, Ala.

The exterior will get a general cleanup “so that it will shine and look good,” as will the common area, or lobby. “The idea is to continue to host wedding events and receptions.”

The vision is for the Albert Pike to be “somewhere I’d put my grandmother,” Oberste said.

The plan is to create a first floor community room with televisions and computers, he said.

The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit stipulates that residents of the hotel cannot make more than 60 percent of the area median income, according to Jason McVay of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

Monthly rent ranges from about $630 to more than $800, Calame said.

BSR Trust paid $3 million to Lincoln Investments LLC of Jonesboro for the 10-story hotel, according to Pulaski County Circuit Court records, which also show that its market value was $4.5 million.

BSR Trust was formed by the merger of Bailey Properties LLC and Summit Housing Partners LLC in 2012.

It owns or manages 111 multifamily properties across the South.

Business, Pages 27 on 05/23/2013

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