LR Tech Board OKs Consultant Recommendations For Main Street HQ

After more than two years of speculation and controversy, the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board approved a consulting firm’s recommendation to begin talks to purchase “prime property” in the downtown area to serve as the city’s “tech park” headquarters.

ARK Commercial and Investment Real Estate, led by Jeff Yates, presented its findings on Wednesday to the Technology Park Authority Board. Yates’ endorsement follows a long fight over the location of the park’s headquarters that began in summer of 2012 with community requests for site proposals.

Yates and his firm were hired by the board in February 2014 to assist in investigating, negotiating, and budgeting a proposed site for developing a Technology Park on Little Rock’s Main Street. The consulting firm recommended that the Technology Park board acquire the following properties.

· West half-block of the 400 Block of Main Street
· East half-block of the 400 Block of Main Street
· West half-block of the 400 Block of Scott Street
· Parking lot at the northeast corner of Main Street and 4th Street
· As part of the purchase of other parcels, a one-lot parking lot along Scott Street, adjacent to the Women’s City Club (Junior League) building

“After months of searching the area, we are confident this site offers the largest feasible group of available properties on Main Street that is nearest to Markham Street, President Clinton Avenue, and the downtown resurgence that springs from the River Market,” said Yates, in a press release. “This is a prime location to harness the growing energy from an area that is emerging as a downtown center for both entertainment and commerce.”

Yates said ARK Commercial’s property search included investigation of 98 parcels throughout the city’s “Creative Corridor.” The next step, Yates told Talk Business, will be to begin talks with the property owners on how much to pay for the downtown buildings and land.

“We have initiated preliminary talks, but there have not been any written offers or responses,” said the Little Rock real estate developer. “We have had some discussions about a range of values, but nothing has been finalized.”

Yates also said that he hopes to complete negotiations as “quick as I can.” He said once a cost evaluation is completed and a final value is negotiated, then his firm will move forward with acquisition of the properties.

The tech park’s approval of locating in Little Rock’s so-called “Creative Corridor” comes at a time when start-up and entrepreneurial activity in the downtown area is rapidly picking up pace. In early June, the Technology Park board announced the hiring of Brent Birch as director on June 4. Birch is the former chief information officer for Arkansas Business Publishing Group.

On May 19, Gov. Mike Beebe and Little Rock Chamber of Commerce celebrated the launch of the Arkansas Venture Center (AVC), a nonprofit agency aimed at fostering grassroots growth of startup and entrepreneurial activity in Central Arkansas. The AVC, which is now housed in the Little Rock chamber, is expected to relocate soon to a new location in the Main Street corridor.

In addition, the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub has also announced several initiatives since landing in North Little Rock’s Argenta Arts district at the beginning of the year. The center, led by Arkansas lawmaker Warwick Sabin, is a nonprofit designed to promote entrepreneurship and small business development in Central Arkansas. The group recently announced the Arkansas Fellowship, a two-year fellowship program that focus on developing the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders in the state.