Downtown Little Rock

[BMW335i]

Originally Posted by latunafish

It is not insignificant when it happens to you.

I would agree with that.

[Ice_Major]

Got to give credit where credit is due. Little Rock has an impressive downtown for a city its size. The city leaders did an excellent job of promoting local area businesses to set up shop while also preserving and/or expanding park space. The river adds a scenic touch. I live in Texas but would rank it better than every Texas city except Austin or San Antonio. Every time I visit, I enjoy running the trails along the river through the parks and over the bridge.

[latunafish]

Well, I was going through Little Rock yesterday and decided to drive around my old neighborhood and a few west Little Rock places that I always frequented. ( sam’s, lowes, Home Depot, Kroger, Starbucks and target) I was pleasantly surprised, I only saw one for sale sign in my old neighborhood and business was very robust at all the commercial places. I don’t think they are missing me at all.

[Woodlands]

I just wrapped up a four day stay in Little Rock. Overall I was impressed with the City. Downtown "River District" was nice, walkable and had a few nice restaurants and the market.. I took in the dueling piano bar one night, R&B at the Library another and of course Cinco De Mayo at Diablos. All were nice venues and easy walk from the Marriott. I did go over to North Little Rock as well. I actually like the feel of that are too especially how the residential neighborhoods are in close proximity to the downtown area. My conference offered some neighborhood tours.. so I took in the area around Little Rock Central High and an neighborhood up in NW Little Rock called Hillcrest and The Heights. I was amazed about how much people were spending on homes $200k to $300k up there just to tear them down and build mcmansions and the fact that some were selling for in upwards of $1million. I liked the small neighborhood commercial areas long Kavenaugh Blvd and their proximity to the surrounding neighborhoods. I got the sense from neighborhood guide that the "movers and shakers" in LR live in this area? I was a little surprised that the neighborhood seemed OK with the tear downs and didnt feel that it was changing the character of the neighborhood. Some cities would fight to keep such original and historic homes but it seems that as long as the builder tried to blend the old with the new residents seemed OK and didnt want to restrict or regulate these tear downs or conversions which is completely their right to do so.

Central Little Rock seemed a little more challenged with some vacants buildings and lots, but it appeared to be up and coming unless someone tells me different.. Same for North Little Rock.. There was a lot of talk about neighborhoods in the South and South West but I didnt have a chance to get down there... As an aside.. my conference was on neighborhood development so that is why there was such a focus on downtown and residential areas.

A couple of other observations.. There was a heavy police presence downtown.. They were in cars and in those mobile towers that I have only seen in New Orleans to watch crowds. I thought that was interesting given the "strip" was only a few blocks long.. They also blocked of the street in front of the River Market later in the evening. I dont know if that is something they do all the time or if was in direct response to a rather long traffic jam of cruisers that stretched pass the Marriott and up to the Flying Fish. I walked over to the Hilton and had a drink on the roof top.. The surrounding area seemed to be under construction and a few locals I talk with seemed irritated by the entire project and the Clinton Library for some reason. They were more critical of LR that I expected and were surprised I was even visiting. At any rate.. Had a great time love he river and the waterfront (want to get back to kayak down the river at some point.. I heard it was nice at night) .. My one complaint was the airport... WTH... TSA has to do a better job.. lots of folks were missing their flights because of their pace and the line went from the check point to the top of the escalator.. Is that normal? I guess its a good problem to have.. seem like a very busy small airport....

[BMW335i]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

I just wrapped up a four day stay in Little Rock. Overall I was impressed with the City. Downtown "River District" was nice, walkable and had a few nice restaurants and the market.. I took in the dueling piano bar one night, R&B at the Library another and of course Cinco De Mayo at Diablos. All were nice venues and easy walk from the Marriott. I did go over to North Little Rock as well. I actually like the feel of that are too especially how the residential neighborhoods are in close proximity to the downtown area. My conference offered some neighborhood tours.. so I took in the area around Little Rock Central High and an neighborhood up in NW Little Rock called Hillcrest and The Heights. I was amazed about how much people were spending on homes $200k to $300k up there just to tear them down and build mcmansions and the fact that some were selling for in upwards of $1million. I liked the small neighborhood commercial areas long Kavenaugh Blvd and their proximity to the surrounding neighborhoods. I got the sense from neighborhood guide that the "movers and shakers" in LR live in this area? I was a little surprised that the neighborhood seemed OK with the tear downs and didnt feel that it was changing the character of the neighborhood. Some cities would fight to keep such original and historic homes but it seems that as long as the builder tried to blend the old with the new residents seemed OK and didnt want to restrict or regulate these tear downs or conversions which is completely their right to do so.

Central Little Rock seemed a little more challenged with some vacants buildings and lots, but it appeared to be up and coming unless someone tells me different.. Same for North Little Rock.. There was a lot of talk about neighborhoods in the South and South West but I didnt have a chance to get down there... As an aside.. my conference was on neighborhood development so that is why there was such a focus on downtown and residential areas.

A couple of other observations.. There was a heavy police presence downtown.. They were in cars and in those mobile towers that I have only seen in New Orleans to watch crowds. I thought that was interesting given the "strip" was only a few blocks long.. They also blocked of the street in front of the River Market later in the evening. I dont know if that is something they do all the time or if was in direct response to a rather long traffic jam of cruisers that stretched pass the Marriott and up to the Flying Fish. I walked over to the Hilton and had a drink on the roof top.. The surrounding area seemed to be under construction and a few locals I talk with seemed irritated by the entire project and the Clinton Library for some reason. They were more critical of LR that I expected and were surprised I was even visiting. At any rate.. Had a great time love he river and the waterfront (want to get back to kayak down the river at some point.. I heard it was nice at night) .. My one complaint was the airport... WTH... TSA has to do a better job.. lots of folks were missing their flights because of their pace and the line went from the check point to the top of the escalator.. Is that normal? I guess its a good problem to have.. seem like a very busy small airport....

Glad you generally enjoyed your stay in Little Rock. For the record, I've never seen those "tower police" deals in downtown Little Rock, only in suburban shopping centers around Christmas (and I work downtown)...very strange. Anyway, regarding the tear-downs in the Heights and Hillcrest, the only real way to control that is to create either an overlay district (which I think Hillcrest has), or a full local ordinance district, which creates strict design controls. Consequently, there are always lots of complaints, but never enough to create an appetite for strict controls (turns out people like the disease more than the medicine). As far as TSA, there used to be a real capacity problem, but the TSA checkpoint was enlarged several years ago to combat backups, and I haven't seen that in a while. I wonder if it wasn't a staffing issue that day? Either way, I'd argue that both our downtown and our airport punch a bit above their weight with respect to our peer cities. Thanks again for visiting!