Forming the Unconformable in the
Pettaway Neighborhood.

By Mike Orndorff

Pettaway Square, envisioned by developer Michael Orndorff, plays host to apartments and over a dozen commercial units, fostering a vibrant community for entrepreneurs. *Photos by Sara Reeves*

I cut my teeth as a home builder around 2012 in Benton. For years, all across the United States, subdivisions were rolled out with finished streets and utilities but were left vacant of homes. I didn’t know it at the time but I was spoiled. Those empty lots were cheap, labor was cheap, materials were cheap and interest rates were much better than they are today. Additionally, subdivisions have an advantage over infill development because of their Bill of Assurance that makes the lion’s share of decisions for you. With “copy and paste” style house plans, I built 50 homes using just three different sets of plans. The hardest part of my job was figuring out how to build them with the least number of windows and the smallest set of cabinets possible. They are the two big-ticket items that appraisers pay no mind to.

Just a couple of years later my girlfriend and I were planning on getting married and wanted to build a home together in a walkable community that was a little closer to the action. We found the empty lot that our home stands on now, and it was a short walk to the ice cream shop and several restaurants, one block and walking bridge away from a dog park and fine arts museum.

Our neighborhood was almost entirely unknown; even the residents didn’t know our name. Between redlining decades earlier, white flight, gang violence and even a tornado, half the neighborhood, I’d say, was vacant land. But the bones were perfect and the neighbors that were still here were good ones. They had seen it all and were glad to have new life being breathed back into their streets.

It was hard starting out because we didn’t have the appraisals to support the sales prices that new construction labor and materials demanded. We stretched and fought and asked more of appraisers than they were used to and slowly made a chain gang of reliable comps for us to build on.

Our buyers were not completely convinced yet, either. The neighborhood still had a reputation, and the perception wasn’t great. There were some homes we couldn’t sell or rent, but Airbnb was beginning to be a thing, so we tricked people who didn’t know any better into staying in our neighborhood and continued to build homes so that we could “literally” change the perception.

Many of the lots were developed over a hundred years ago. The lot sizes were replated through some handshake agreement, leaving many just 50 feet deep, with 25 feet setbacks off the front and back that left us with zero feet to build on. One lot was just 32 feet wide and 62 feet deep. So, we built a tiny home on it of just 270 square feet.

Shotgun homes — homes that are just 12 to 18 feet wide in many cases — once lined our streets on lots just 25 feet wide. It’s not often you will find two lots the same. So, you have to think through a new house plan every time. Many times, due to modern-day zoning, these empty lots, while accommodating a home just a few years earlier, were now undevelopable or “un-conforming.” Which meant you would have to spend over $1,000 usually and notify all your neighbors in a 200-foot radius and wait a couple months or three to find out if you could build a home on it or not.

Between banks, appraisers, persuading buyers, crime and maneuvering the city, it sometimes feels like you’re fighting for something every day before you even get to have it out with your subcontractors and vendors. The politicians do everything they can to help, but there are new problems every single day. We burn through our political capital before the ink on the check is dry.

But, 10 years later, my wife and I are raising our two kids, who are 3 and 5, in a neighborhood that’s right next to three parks. We still walk to go out to eat, grab something from the convenience store and even get groceries sometimes. But now we get to do it on nicer sidewalks that are mostly shade covered by the trees we planted.

We have regular farmers markets in two different directions just a short walk away. The owners of the locally owned businesses here know my children by name. They get to grow up watching people chase their dreams and are exposed to a culture rich in different ideas and lifestyles.

We don’t drink and drive here because our locally owned microbrewery, Moody Brews, is literally in the middle of our neighborhood. You can skip the car entirely and walk home. Our coffee shop, Pettaway Coffee, has a hard time competing with the speed of 7 Brew but since it’s basically next door, it’s still quicker. And it’s a lot more enjoyable to get out of your car, and say “hi” to the barista or a neighbor along the way.

While constructing Pettaway Square, a neighbor who is a barber came to me with the idea of opening up his own shop called Blue Water. He’s thriving now with two employees after being in business for over a year. If that’s not enough, we have a locally owned bookstore called Paper Hearts, a shared studio space called The Commons@ Pettaway, a Nail Salon called L’Etoile and a hair salon called Honeycomb Hair Lounge.

The whole place is alive. We have weekly farmers markets, book clubs, book signings and author Q&As. We host yoga in our communal space, but much more. We’re offering breathwork classes — a form of therapeutic, controlled breathing which can influence a person’s mental, emotion or physical state. People who visit are consistently blown away with how awesome it is here! Live bands and even the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra have put on free concerts in our neighborhood; last weekend we had a bluegrass band perform during a market. I’m telling you, it’s amazing here!

We built homes with front porches on them and hid the parking. We dropped the fence height so people could see over them. Our Bill of Assurance was written in the late 1800s so we were not bound to building 1,800-square-foot ranch-style homes over and over again. We get to turn our imaginations loose, which results in some really interesting architecture.

Our sidewalks with tree-lined canopies are filling out and offering some relief from the hot sun and adding color and beauty to the streets. We have some of the highest comps in the city of Little Rock. Everyone knows our name now. We have the tightest knit set of neighbors around, often going on vacations together!

This is why we do infill development. It’s not to make money or build political capital you can use to twist the Legislature’s arm on a beneficial bill. You do it because you are one of those naïve dummies who think you can spend your life making a difference in this world, one starfish at a time. If you can put down some roots and be determined, it will happen. There were only a few of us when we started, but now there are dozens. Come to Pettaway and see what neighborhoods could and should look like!

Mike Orndorff is a home builder and placemaker in downtown Little Rock.

Forming the Unconformable in the Pettaway Neighborhood.

Forming the Unconformable in the
Pettaway Neighborhood.