PINE BLUFF -- The Pine Bluff Civic Auditorium Commission has struck an agreement with the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency to acquire and renovate the Plaza Hotel, putting the city in the hotel business and giving the convention center a hotel anchor again.
The five-story, 200-room hotel was built in 1980 and has fallen into disrepair in recent years. Commissioners have said the hotel cannot be used by the convention center in its present state.
Maurice Taggart, director of the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, said Tuesday that the agency is poised to purchase the property from its owner, Mike Patel, for $1.2 million. Taggart said finalizing the sale will take three to four months, and renovations are expected to take an additional 12-14 months at a cost of $8 million to $10 million.
"We haven't done a specific analysis from beginning to end, but that's the general consensus of what it's going to be," Taggart said.
Taggart said the purchase price will be borne by the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, which is funded through Go Forward Pine Bluff, a public/private partnership that is funded through a five-eights percent sales tax passed by city voters in 2017.
According to a resolution approved Tuesday by the auditorium commission, once the purchase is finalized, the hotel will be transferred to the commission. The commission will be tasked with issuing a request for qualification to attract a hotel franchise to engage in a public/private partnership to design, renovate and operate the hotel.
To help finance the renovation, the commission will consult with the Pine Bluff Advertising and Promotion Commission on a bond issue, according to a key provision of the resolution.
"We're creating a partnership whereby, long-term, in terms of the taxes that will be brought in by the hotel, I think that will take care of itself," Taggart said. "This is within the urban renewal area, so we will have a partnership with them."
Mayor Shirley Washington said the purchase and renovation of the hotel is part of an overall plan to transform Pine Bluff into a destination city as a magnet for tourism by offering a number of options for tourists, conventioneers, sports teams and others.
"With the coming of the casino hotel, there will be people who will stay there, yes, but there are people who will not stay there," she said. "We're energizing the area downtown with the aquatic center, where we are going to do swim meets, which will bring swimmers in from all over the state."
Washington noted that the city recently hosted a softball tournament and is home to the recently revived King Cotton Classic basketball tournament, all of which she said are big draws and will enhance revenue coming to the city once a sufficient number of quality rooms are available.
Marty Huddleston, director of operations for the convention center, said the lack of suitable lodging in Pine Bluff has had a direct and negative affect on the ability of the city to attract convention business.
"When I arrived here 35 years ago, the city had 1,500 convention-quality rooms available," Huddleston said. "We have around 350 now, but with the addition of the casino and now this, that brings us up by 500 more. Once that happens, we'll be able to compete in a big way."
Commissioner Lisa Kosmitis agreed.
"Most conventions want to locate close to appropriate hotel accommodations," she said. "If a convention is going to have to put people up in Little Rock, they may as well have the convention in Little Rock. This will put us back into the ring."
State Desk on 10/16/2019