Things are bustling on a Wednesday morning at the Highland Pellets plant in Pine Bluff. The $229 million facility manufactures wood pellets for the European market. Due to its modern, efficient production methods, the plant created only 70 full-time jobs. But it's expected to create hundreds of indirect jobs across south Arkansas in the timber industry due to its tremendous demand for pine. When fully operational, Highland Pellets will produce more than 600,000 metric tons of pellets annually with an annual direct financial impact of at least $85 million on the Pine Bluff area.
An investor named Tom Reilley is the mastermind behind Highland Pellets. Reilley, who calls New Hampshire home, is a former senior managing director for investment banking company Bear Stearns. He transferred to London in 2002 to establish a wealth management division for the firm, then left Bear Stearns in 2007 to open a private equity company. When Reilley decided to put together a partnership that would supply wood pellets needed to generate electricity in Europe, he knew nothing about Arkansas, much less Pine Bluff. He simply wanted a place with a good transportation infrastructure, competitive utility rates and lots
of timber within a 100-mile radius.
Reilley didn't count on falling in love with the historic port city on the Arkansas River, which has been down on its luck for decades. He has, in essence, adopted Pine Bluff. Reilley is one of those idea-a-minute entrepreneurs. What differentiates him from many such dreamers is that he has so far put his time and money where his mouth is, bringing together a skilled team to help implement his vision for the city.
Reilley walks in at 9 a.m. and apologizes that a meeting is running long. He has left several visitors in a small conference room with Stuart Hee, a Hawaii native who now lives in Brooklyn. Hee worked with Reilley at Bear Stearns from 2000-07 and then joined him at the private equity firm, which invested around the world in shipping, real estate, renewable energy and financial services.
"I called Tom back in March to see how he was doing, and all he could talk about was Pine Bluff and its challenges," Hee says. "He told me that he was a fan of the mayor [Shirley Washington] and asked if I would come to Pine Bluff for a few days to provide the city with some operational and financial advice."
Hee was in Pine Bluff the following week. Months later, he's still at it. This is a man who worked in Boston for five years, London for six years and Hong Kong for seven years. Hee and Reilley first met when Reilley was visiting upstate New York in the 1990s. Hee was an undergraduate at the time at Cornell University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1999 in policy analysis and management after having attended prep school at the Punahou School in Honolulu and the famed Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
"This is a guy who does things like open geothermal power plants in the Philippines," Reilley says of Hee. "He brings a dispassionate view to what for me is a passionate situation in Pine Bluff. His analytical skills are needed here, and I'm glad he has found Pine Bluff as interesting as I have. It's intriguing and infectious at the same time."
The night before, the Pine Bluff City Council had voted 5-2 to turn down a zoning request that would have allowed Reilley and some partners to transform the Greystone home at 4001 S. Cherry St. into a bed-and-breakfast inn. Reilley partnered with brother-in-law Nate Drinkwine and local businessman Win Trafford to buy the home. The Pine Bluff Planning Commission earlier voted 5-1 to allow the property to be rezoned for residential-commercial use.
"When we acquired the property, the sidewalk was in disrepair, the house was rapidly deteriorating, the landscape was overgrown," Reilley says. "If we execute on the plan, the property will be a beautiful asset that the community will be proud of."
A Pine Bluff Commercial editorial prior to the vote stated: "We can't understand why anyone would oppose renovating the old Greystone mansion that's nestled in thick woods off Cherry Street at 40th Avenue. We had an opportunity to explore the property this week and were struck by its old-world charm. Inside, thick carved wooden panels adorn many walls, and antique crystal chandeliers, which have no doubt hung above countless dinner parties and spirited conversations over the years, leave impressions like no modern home could. ... We have investors who are willing to pour countless dollars into one of our city's historic, grand old homes. It's a no-brainer, really."
The often byzantine world of Pine Bluff politics has discouraged numerous investors in recent years. One of the visitors asks Reilley if he wants to throw in the towel after the council's vote the previous evening to deny the Greystone rezoning request.
"No," he answers without hesitation. "We're going to triple down. I see this as a teaching moment."
Reilley says he plans to introduce a revised plan for Greystone and will attempt to personally visit with hundreds of people in the neighborhood in order to address their concerns.
After leaving the Highland plant, the first stop on the Tom Reilley tour of Pine Bluff is a building downtown on Barraque Street. The building was constructed in 1883 to house a hardware store. Glazed brick and a balcony were added in 1931.
"What we want to do is renovate this into a premier Southern blues venue, restaurant, distillery and craft beer bar that will tie into regional development efforts along the newly renamed Delta Rhythm and Bayous Highway," Reilley says.
He views the facility as the catalyst for an entertainment district that would be a smaller version of the River Market District in Little Rock and re-establish Pine Bluff as the regional capital of southeast Arkansas. The Pine Bluff entertainment district would be known as the Cotton District. Rather than driving to Little Rock, people from towns such as McGehee, Dumas, Lake Village, Fordyce and Rison could now stop in Pine Bluff for dinner and entertainment.
The Delta Rhythm and Bayous Alliance was formed in February 2016 with Pine Bluff as the northern anchor and Greenville, Miss., as the southern anchor. Those behind the alliance hope to coordinate the promotion of festivals, museums, hiking and biking trails and other assets in the region. Legislation that dubbed U.S. 65 in south Arkansas the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Highway was approved by the Arkansas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in March. Two days prior to the bill's signing, the alliance received a letter from the Arkansas Educational Television Network stating that it was interested in creating a documentary about the corridor.
Just down the street, an even more ambitious project is being launched. Reilley created an entity known as Pine Bluff Rising, and in January the organization announced that it had acquired the former Hotel Pines from previous owner Elvin Moon. Reilley said at the time that he would determine if the structure, which has been mostly vacant since the hotel closed in the spring of 1970, could be saved. Several months later, Reilley announced that not only could the building be saved but that he had embarked on a mission to raise $35 million for a massive renovation.
The Hotel Pines opened in November 1913 at the northwest corner of West Fifth Avenue and Main Street in what at the time was a booming downtown business district. Train passengers using the nearby Union Station could walk to the hotel, designed by architect George Mann, who also designed the state Capitol and the Marion Hotel in Little Rock. The building has changed hands numerous times through the years, but no developers have been able to raise the money needed to reopen it. Reilley envisions an 84-room upscale hotel along the lines of the Capital Hotel in Little Rock. He believes that if the project is combined with a renovation of the city-owned Pine Bluff Convention Center and a hotel that connects to the center, the city can again attract the annual meetings of major state associations.
Construction fencing has been placed around the Pines, and signage on the fence hints at what's to come. East Harding Construction of Little Rock has been busy in recent months cleaning out tons of debris, pumping water out of the basement, patching the roof and constructing temporary structures to ensure the building is sound until several columns can be replaced. Tile floors and marble walls, which are in remarkably good shape considering the building has been empty for 47 years, symbolize the Pines' past reputation as one of the finest hotels in the South. Reilley envisions a restaurant on the first floor that will be a regional draw with businesses on the second floor that will ensure traffic in the building throughout the day.
Van Tilbury, the president and CEO of East Harding, is high on both Reilley and the potential he sees in Pine Bluff.
"We were a founding member of the Pine Bluff Construction and Trade Alliance in March," he says. "We held a kickoff meeting with 67 people in the room to learn more about the alliance, which is focused on involving as many Pine Bluff-based businesses as possible in commercial construction projects. The goal is to build capacity among local businesses and to keep as many construction dollars as possible in the local market. Our company has worked in Pine Bluff for 15 years."
Tilbury describes Reilley as someone with "a big heart who's very smart and has great business acumen."
WEH Architects/Planners of Little Rock and interior designer Kaki Hockersmith also are involved in the Hotel Pines project.
Back in December, when he spoke at Southeast Arkansas College's graduation ceremony, Reilley explained his motivation this way: "I live in New Hampshire. I came here for profit--trying to get a 10-year contract from our customer in the United Kingdom, raising the money to do it. I flew in. I flew out. I rarely stayed. But I made relationships over time. I was drawn to this community that obviously had a thriving past. I was so curious about what happened here. Why the downtown decay? Why the rundown houses? People were so friendly. There was a strong sense of community and generational relationships. This was no longer about me. This was about a community."
Editorial on 10/08/2017