North Little Rock hires architect to work on downtown plaza

7-0 vote awards job to Taggart; Centennial Bank OK’d to review site for branch

Map showing the location for the Proposed Centennial Bank site and Argenta Plaza in North LIttle Rock
Map showing the location for the Proposed Centennial Bank site and Argenta Plaza in North LIttle Rock

Downtown Main Street in North Little Rock is edging closer to a new look between Fifth and Seventh streets.

The North Little Rock City Council voted 7-0 on two separate contracts Monday night to push ahead on a downtown plaza between Fifth and Sixth streets and for Centennial Bank to possibly build a new branch at Main and Bishop Lindsey Avenue (Seventh Street). Alderman Ron Harris was absent.

The city is entering into a contract with Taggart Architects of North Little Rock for the design and construction supervision of a downtown plaza at 510 Main St. that the city will build. Taggart will partner with DLandStudio, a landscape architecture firm from New York, to manage various consulting firms to design the plaza, or town square, according to the contract.

A contract with Centennial Bank will allow the bank to conduct a feasibility study on city property at the corner of Main Street and Bishop Lindsey Avenue, with an option to buy. If purchased, the bank's Argenta bank branch would relocate from 305 E. Broadway. The property is on the west side of the Rock Region Metro Trolley Barn. Seventh Street becomes Bishop Lindsey Avenue east from Main Street.

The plaza, a goal of Mayor Joe Smith for some time, is budgeted to cost $3 million, according to the legislation. Funds in an account built up through city property sales and property exchanges, Smith said, is about $1 million short at this time. Some capital funds from the city Parks and Recreation Department could make up that difference, the mayor said.

"All in all, this is a park," Smith said.

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The plaza is to front Main Street between Fifth and Sixth streets. Consultants working with the Taggart firm are to include engineers in civil design, mechanical, electrical and plumbing design, structural design, specialty lighting services, audiovisual systems and water features design.

"We're having to bring in so many designers to put together a plaza like I think we want," Smith said.

Smith has said he wants the plaza to be patterned after Fort Worth's Sundance Square Plaza, which is in the center of a much-larger business and entertainment district. Smith has said that he wants some type of water feature to be in the North Little Rock plaza, copying a popular feature of Sundance Square Plaza, which has both jetted and cascading fountains.

Smith also announced that the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau will likely move from Burns Park to a new building next to the plaza and would then manage and maintain the plaza.

Just north of the plaza area, Centennial Bank officials will have 120 days to conduct due diligence and decide whether to purchase the approximately 8,000-square-foot property from the city for $11 per square foot, or about $88,000, according to the legislation approved. The bank branch would be a multistory building, Smith said.

J. Chandler and Co. of Little Rock had an earlier option on the same property, but its potential investors didn't want to rent space, Smith explained. Owner John Chandler, Smith said, would concentrate on developing a restaurant next to the plaza.

Metro on 04/25/2017

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