PINE BLUFF -- As a young girl, Trudy Sanders of Spring, Texas, enjoyed swinging around the large columns that anchor the Hotel Pines' facade to Main Street in downtown Pine Bluff. Her mother scolded her, but the little girl couldn't resist holding on to the ornate pillars and twirling around as fast as she could.

Sanders, 81, remembers staying at the Hotel Pines many times during the 1940s on visits to see her dad, who worked as an engineer for the Cotton Belt Railroad.

"It was my palace," she said. "Oh, if you could have seen it. I expected a queen to come waltzing down the steps. It was purely magical."

It's been more than 40 years since the Hotel Pines has hosted guests. The six-story, U-shaped building looms large over Main Street as a ghostly reminder of the city's past, living on mostly through memories like those from Sanders' childhood.

Interest in restoring the Hotel Pines has been building over the past several years, though none of the proposals to restore it have panned out. It's been on the market for decades and has a current sale price of $52,000.

Messages left for the property's owner, E.W. Moon of Los Angeles, were not returned last week.

Dee Herring, chairman of the Pine Bluff Historic District Commission, said a new group of investors have signed a letter of intent to purchase and restore the structure, adding that the deal "seems promising."

She declined to discuss details, citing the pending agreement.

"We feel like we are moving in the right direction with the property," Herring said. "It is structurally sound but would need a lot of work to restore. We really feel like this could be the big spark downtown Pine Bluff needs right now."

News that the Hotel Pines could once again be open has many in Pine Bluff beaming.

Pine Bluff Alderman Bill Brumett said he would like to see the hotel used for loft apartments.

He said the grandeur of the hotel's interior still shines, even through decades of grime and decay.

"It would be awesome if someone or a group would rescue the Pines Hotel," Brumett said. "Pictures of it in its majestic heyday are amazing."

Pine Bluff Mayor Debe Hollingsworth has said that the Hotel Pines is an important part of any downtown revitalization project, calling it a "jewel of our city."

The city is preparing to restore sidewalks and add new landscaping to an area of downtown that encompasses the Hotel Pines, which anchors the corner of Fifth Avenue and Main Street. Herring said this project "will only enhance what we are hoping to see done at the Pines."

When it opened in 1913, the Hotel Pines was regarded as one of the finest hotels in Arkansas, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.

Located near the Union Station, the hotel offered porter service to carry baggage to and from the station. It also was the location of society balls and dances, banquets and business and civic meetings.

The idea for the Hotel Pines began on July 21, 1910, after a group of wealthy Pine Bluff residents organized to discuss building a luxury hotel downtown to help further economic growth in the city. Dubbed the Pine Bluff Hotel Co., the group authorized the issuance of $250,000 in capital stock.

During that time, the area north of Cotton Belt and Missouri-Pacific railroad tracks that split Main Street between Third and Fourth avenues was a key commercial district, though business wasn't as successful to the south.

The investors hoped the new hotel would attract more traffic to the area, which it did.

Built at a cost of $350,000 -- which is about $6.5 million in today's dollars -- the hotel was designed by architect George R. Mann, who designed the state Capitol, among other notable structures throughout the state in the early 20th century.

The first-floor ceilings of the hotel are coffered and supported by a full entablature, mounted on pink marbleized columns.

Its lobby is a barrel vault supported by gray marble columns and pilasters. The lobby's ceiling is a curved, multicolored lead stained-glass skylight.

A bowed balcony supported by a large decorative bracket sits over the main entrance, and the walls are decorated with gray marble.

Intricate patterns of mosaic ceramic tiles lay across the lobby floor -- the same floor that Sanders clicked across decades ago while wearing black Mary Janes and holding her mother's hand.

Sanders said she hasn't been back to Pine Bluff in 40 years, but seeing the Hotel Pines again one day, especially if it's restored, is on her must-do list.

"It's exciting news to think about the old hotel, smelling my mother's perfume and seeing my dad coming in to see us," Sanders said. "It was just a special part of my life."

State Desk on 09/01/2014