Harold Copenhaver and Harold Perrin hold a lot in common. Besides sharing the same first name, both men have spent decades living and working in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Both have a long history of civic involvement and both ran for and were elected mayor of the Northeast Arkansas city. In fact, their respective administrations fell back-to-back, Perrin from 2009 to 2020 and Copenhaver taking the reins after that.
Historic preservation is an essential part of community and economic development. Arkansas’s historic buildings tell stories about commerce, government, transportation, education, agriculture, recreation, social norms and more. Their preservation and reuse create distinctive places where people want to live, and it’s good for the environment, conserving materials and embodied energy.
Fayetteville needs about 1,000 new units of housing annually to keep pace with projected population growth. Beginning in 2019, however, Fayetteville’s population growth began to increase at a rate beyond housing production. From 2019-2022 Fayetteville fell about 1,480 housing units short of demand, and from 2021-2022 the population growth was 78% above projected.
If walkability and connectivity are the keys that can unlock the potential of a downtown corridor, an urban neighborhood or even an entire region, one would be hard-pressed to find a key ring that jingles louder than the Central Arkansas Regional Greenways Master Plan. This plan, which will connect four counties and 19 communities through an expansive system of trails, will ultimately provide an active transportation greenway network for the heart of Arkansas and bring a wealth of potential to the area.
Born out of the evolution of the real estate and hospitality industry, “short-term rentals” refer to lodging accommodations rented out for (typically) less than 30 days. While they aren’t new, companies such as Airbnb and VRBO popularized the rise of the sharing economy, which resulted in the now commonplace practice of renting out spare rooms or entire properties to travelers and temporary visitors.
Downtown Paragould has been a growing destination for locals and tourists alike for shopping, dining, local theater, live music and events for years. This thriving historic district will soon have the capability to host even more gatherings for family and friends with the highly anticipated restoration of Paragould’s 100-year-old power plant. Originally the town’s first pump house and generator, the reimagined power plant will once again spark new life into Paragould as a multiuse event facility known as The Station Powered by First National Bank.
The influence of Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh has stretched beyond his community of 11,000. Elumbaugh has caught the attention of Mountain Bike Magazine, Smart Growth America and former first lady Michelle Obama. More often, he’s caught the attention of other communities who are eager to download his playbook and unlock the potential of their communities. He’s generous with his time. He’s been to Mountain Home, Searcy, Pocahontas and Harrison, and the list goes on.
Many people care deeply about Little Rock and are eager to see improvements in various areas, but enhancing collaboration is essential for lasting impact. Our Little Rock is one movement on the scene that offers a path for grassroots urbanism to take hold.
The proposed Rogers Comprehensive Plan is intended to serve as the city’s official policy document for community development. The plan is designed to be evergreen: It won’t expire; instead, it will evolve with the city. Through this plan, we’re establishing a framework for long-range planning that will preserve our existing community assets, prepare the city for growth, support a robust economy and foster an inclusive social environment.
Bringing neighborhoods to life requires the art of placemaking, a nuanced blend of creativity and collaboration. One of the biggest elements of getting this delicate balance just right includes working with an area’s existing assets, and no one knows this better than Pine Bluff native, Brandon Ruhl.
North Little Rock’s Second Street Promenade district — the area along the Arkansas River south of Broadway between the Broadway bridge and Interstate 30 — could provide a massive economic development opportunity for Central Arkansas. The ideas are there; what’s needed is a concerted commitment by public and private investors to bring them to fruition.
Downtown North Little Rock already attracts over 2.3 million visitors annually, 65% of them from outside the immediate North Little Rock/Little Rock area. About 40% of those visitors come from more than 50 miles away. Boosting development in the Second Street corridor; increasing programming at all venues and public spaces, such as festivals; and adding attractions will dramatically increase the number of visitors and the fiscal benefits they afford.
Major cities have seen huge increases in tax revenue, private investment, tourism, jobs and population growth. The leadership of both Oklahoma City and Tulsa made a huge commitment to develop similar areas of their downtowns several years ago and the results have exceeded the expectations of most everyone. North Little Rock already has been seeing investment in its downtown and the Second Street corridor, but much more can be done.
Second Street Promenade District showing major anchors in both downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock; image thanks to Greg Nabholz
The Second Street Promenade is the primary east-west pedestrian-friendly route between Dickey-Stephens Park on the west and Simmons Bank Arena on the east. With access to three pedestrian-friendly bridges and the Main Street Bridge, the area is also a connector to downtown Little Rock.
The district was envisioned in master planning studies completed in 2004, 2006 and 2010. All addressed the challenges of linking the riverfront to the downtown core across the gap caused by Riverfront Drive and the flood wall, and all called for a major new catalytic waterfront attraction to complement the existing anchors.
The 2004 plan, by MRA International, concentrated on a waterfront development strategy. This initial Second Street Promenade plan envisioned a major project between Simmons Bank Arena and the river to be called Arena Square and City Landing. The proposal linked the arena directly to the river by a reimagining of Riverfront Drive and elevated walkways over the flood wall. It also envisioned a City Marina and Waterfront Village near the Baring Cross Bridge.
Two years later, Gorman Design Inc. updated MRA International’s work incorporating Dickey-Stephens Park and the new Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame facility in the arena and integrating the proposed City Landing with the Inland Maritime Museum.
Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates completed the most recent plan. This plan first identified the boundaries of the district known as the Second Street corridor and called for a road diet for Riverfront Drive to make it more pedestrian-friendly and to provide better access to the Arkansas River. The plan also included an upgrade to the landing for the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge and parts of North Shore Park east of Interstate 30.
Developments first proposed in the plans include Dickey-Stephens Park, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum and landings at the Clinton and Junction bridges. Just outside the district, but envisioned in the MRA plan, is Rockwater Village and Marina. Renovation of One Riverfront Plaza; construction of The Vue, a multifamily project adjacent to Dickey-Stephens Park on the west and on the Arkansas River; and the new Broadway Bridge, which includes a separate bike and pedestrian path, have also been completed.
Projects in the planning stages include a mixed-use development at 200 Broadway St. adjacent to Simmons Bank Arena; a city conference center; expansion of the Inland Maritime Museum; a trail leading from the riverfront west of the Simmons Bank Arena and crossing Broadway to Magnolia Street; and improvements to the Rock Region METRO streetcar stop on Main Street.
Current anchors and potential future developments connected by transportation corridors; image thanks to Greg Nabholz
Ideas for new destination attractions:
A multipurpose sports complex on top of the parking lot south of Simmons Bank Arena. The complex could house an ice rink, sports courts and indoor soccer facility. It could be configured to have movable seating to accommodate 3,500 to 4,000 people to house newly recruited sports teams, such as minor league hockey, arena football and basketball teams. The complex would cantilever over Riverfront Drive into North Shore Park and would add arena parking.
An Arkansas River Center. The facility, which could be built over Riverfront Drive, could accommodate the expanded Inland Maritime Museum, a hotel and even an aquarium. It could be connected to the planned conference center to the north across Washington Street.
A flexible venue hosting a variety of uses, including e-sports in the space adjacent to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
In addition to attractions, the plan should include the new restaurant, retail, office and residential development.
It will take a partnership of city, county and state agencies; nonprofit groups; and the private sector to maximize the potential of the corridor. Partners — all existing organizations, businesses and property owners that fall within the district — must look at existing incentives, grants and other funding available for either the infrastructure or the individual projects and create new local incentives to attract private capital.
The development plan must strategically integrate all the anchors to existing and future transportation connections within the Second Street Promenade to the rest of downtown Little Rock/North Little Rock. Overcoming existing barriers to riverfront access and a parking management plan are key parts.
If this public-private partnership can become a reality, a development action plan could easily be developed by the end of this year. By the end of 2024, some of the planned developments should be completed, and by the end of 2029 a fully developed Second Street Corridor as envisioned by previous master plans can be a reality.
Greg Nabholz is CEO of Nabholz Properties in Conway and a placemaking economic development consultant who has been a resident of Argenta since 2007.
Anyone who has visited Bentonville over the past 15 years has no doubt noticed the pristine landscaped spots around town that hug the booming development here. City leaders are predicting a new project soon to launch will add even more amenities to this scenic Northwest Arkansas community.
Bentonville Parks and Recreation’s Quilt of Parks Project will connect the city’s parks with new greenspace, plazas and gardens via a pedestrian-friendly promenade running through the center of town. The new walkway will be closed to vehicular traffic and lined with garden nooks, cafe seating, play areas and food trucks.
David Wright, Bentonville parks and recreation director, said the finished corridor will serve several purposes, not the least of which is helping the city manage its many community events more efficiently.
“Downtown Bentonville has really become the epicenter for public events in Northwest Arkansas,” he said. “You have the Bentonville Film Festival, all these cycling festivals and races, the Bentonville Half Marathon, first Fridays and the farmers market events. All these events were taking place on the square, which is the center of trade in our community, the epicenter of our town and the personality of Bentonville.
The A Street Promenade plan will either expand Dave Peel Park at its current location or move it to what is now the Second Street parking lot to make room for an event space.
“But that also meant we were taking events that attract 10,000 people and we were cramming them into a quarter of an acre. We started thinking about how nice it would be to, instead of having five public spaces in downtown Bentonville, to have one solid space that weaves together like a quilt, where you’re just moving from one part of downtown to another.”
From these initial conversations in 2017, a plan was ultimately passed by the Bentonville city council in 2020 to convert NE A and SE A streets from vehicular traffic to pedestrian-only, directly connecting three city parks and running within a block or less of two more along the route. The A Street Promenade also features Bentonville landmarks, including Compton Gardens, the Razorback Greenway, Lawrence Plaza, 21C Museum and Hotel, the Benton County Courthouse, Dave Peel Park and the Bentonville Square.
Wright said the new plan was heartily received by residents as a bold and innovative feature that will greatly enhance the livability of the community.
“I will tell you that locally our citizens are very excited,” he said. “In my 15 years here, I’ve been invited to come talk to different groups about park openings and that kind of stuff, but I’ve never seen the excitement that I have with this project. People are excited about what it’s going to do for our events, about the new events that it can bring to our downtown, but also just the experience in downtown on, like, a random Tuesday night.”
The business community has been equally enthusiastic about the new plan. Two hotels will open right into the promenade space, and there’s been other interest from entrepreneurs and developers looking to place shops and restaurant downtown.
The new event space would include quiet garden rooms off the main event lawn.
“While the Parks and Rec Department is managing this project and it certainly is going to give you a park-like feel when it’s all done, this is really an economic development project,” Wright said. “I’m already hearing rumors of some of the stuff that’s going on at the south end and it’s exciting to hear about the investment that will really turn this into one of the premier promenades in the country.”
Project leadership hopes to break ground on the ambitious project, to be built in stages, in mid- to late summer with an eye on completion in early 2025. Total cost for the improvements, which will include extensive renovations to two of the city parks along the route, is expected to be $20 million.
“When you look at the ROI from our investment in our public spaces downtown, it’s really easy to see the return,” Wright said. “We’re investing in spaces for people because we know that businesses will come in behind it. Our body of work proves that; we’ve seen it happen in downtown already.
“We know people are moving here for our bike trails. We know people are moving here because of our investments in public recreation; that has been a really good model for us. Our approach to economic development is to attract new residents because with that comes jobs and businesses and everything else. I think this project really leans into that.”
Read more about the new promenade at quiltofparks.com.
Britin Bostick, long-range planner and special projects manager for the city of Fayetteville, jokingly titled her presentation on the transformation of the city’s legacy commercial corridor “71 steps to 71B” in a presentation to the Arkansas Chapter of the American Planning Association meeting last October. While perhaps not 71 steps, the name accurately reflects the complexity of the work to transform U.S. Highway 71B. I was privileged to be a member of the team involved with the 71B Corridor Study and its implementation. The process brought together business and property owners along the corridor with a team of planners, market analysts, engineers, landscape architects and environmental scientists.
Best known as College Avenue, 71B’s two southern segments have different names: the newly named Nelson Hackett Boulevard and South School Avenue. Much of the 71B corridor has transferred from the Arkansas Department of Transportation to the city.
U.S. Highway 71 was established in 1956 with the passage of the Federal Highway Act. Prior to the construction of Interstate 49, the corridor served as the primary north-south regional connection between Northwest Arkansas cities and southwest Missouri. The commercial corridor beyond Fayetteville’s downtown core began its current development pattern in the late 1940s with more rapid expansion from 1950s through the 1970s. Today, the corridor serves both regional and local traffic within Fayetteville and the region.
In 2018, the city of Fayetteville initiated a community planning process to rethink the 71B Corridor through a formal study. RDG Planning and Design led the study and partnered with Garver. A critical goal of the project was to engage the community in order to develop strategies for the corridor’s long-term economic vitality, address traffic congestion, increase access to affordable housing, increase safety and convenience for all modes of travel, encourage active and healthy living, and create an attractive front door to Fayetteville’s downtown and adjacent neighborhoods.
The plan resulting from this study includes a rich tapestry of elements weaving together a dynamic and vibrant city fabric. The plan depicts the relationship between the transportation and development aspects of the corridor while laying the groundwork for public and private investment, quality of place, economic resiliency and environmental responsibility. Martin Shukert, FAICP, principal at RDG Planning and Design and the project leader of the study, devised the term “Corridor Urbanism” to describe his approach to this plan. Shukert’s focus on true implementability in regard to every facet of the plan is inspiring and refreshing. According to the plan, the five broad categories of guiding principles of Corridor Urbanism include:
1. Reality and Respect — respecting and dealing with the realities of the corridor.
2. Resident Population — providing for the needs of the resident population supporting the corridor.
3. Opportunities — capitalizing on opportunities for change.
4. Transportation Function and Choice — ensure transportation modes function well and provide true choice of modes.
5. Urban Environment — providing a rich and dynamic environment for urban growth.
The city of Fayetteville is actively working to implement the plan with a variety of efforts. The projects, listed below, are funded by a $226 million bond issue passed by Fayetteville voters in 2019; the set aside for 71B is $73.9 million.
• Nelson Hackett Boulevard (formerly Archibald Yell Boulevard) safety improvements, projected to be completed by summer.
• Appleby/Plainview/Rolling Hills connection, starting in late 2023.
• College Avenue improvements, from East North Street to East Sycamore Street, projected to start this spring.
The design work for the three projects is ongoing. The value of visioning and planning has been evident to the project engineers. Garver’s Ron Petrie, PE, said, “Most great projects start with a vision, and there is great value in utilizing the planning process to translate the vision to an accessible and comprehensible plan. To be truly successful, the plan must be implementable and functional for those who are currently living, working and running businesses in the corridor today, while still allowing for the realization of the vision through the incremental evolution of the operation and feel of the corridor over time.”
The transformation of the 71B Corridor rests within a broader context of efforts that began over two decades ago with renewed focus on downtown Fayetteville and subsequent planning efforts. Those evolving efforts show a progression of investment, planning and implementation efforts that built the groundwork for the incremental transformation of development form and land use regulation within the city.
According to Fayetteville Development Director Jonathan Curth, the 71B Corridor Plan factors into the consideration and support of rezoning requests that provide for the expansion of housing opportunity along the corridor. Curth also expressed that “having agency over the College Avenue facility has helped to keep the momentum of the vision and plan moving forward.”
Marty Shukert (RDG) works with stakeholders in Fayetteville on early corridor concepts during a charette for the corridor study.
While working through the preliminary plans for corridor improvement last summer, Bostick and I met with a number of property and business owners along the corridor to discuss the proposed improvements and changes. Through this process, the details and the site level functionality of each property supporting its current occupant was examined. Each site had unique needs for deliveries, access, parking and visibility. The dreams and aspirations of each individual business and property owner as well as colorful history about the corridor was uncovered. It was fascinating and grounding to work one-on-one with these individuals who constitute the economic fabric of the city. We worked in collaboration with other city staff and engineers throughout Garver to devise custom solutions to meet the needs of the city, corridor users and individual owners.
“I never expected that getting sunburned standing in a parking lot talking to a local business owner would result in pretty strong backup for policy recommendations citywide.”
Bostick said the process has lent itself to a broader policy change in some respects. “In that process of walking through the design of the envisioned streetscape and access plan, many technical decisions were made that have impacted higher level planning policy decisions,” she said. Because of the work that we went through to resolve corridor access issues, steps were taken to assure that strong policy regarding best practices is in place to address these issues on new sites. “I never expected that getting sunburned standing in a parking lot talking to a local business owner would result in pretty strong backup for policy recommendations citywide. If that’s not what it means to be a planner, then honestly, I don’t know what is,” she said.
The corridor is transforming, and the incremental visions of the past 20 years are coming to fruition. The process requires persistence, empathy, attention to detail, one-on-one conversations with citizens and time. It is complex, challenging and rewarding to work in tandem with others to create better corridors and communities where we are able to live, work and recreate.
Juliet Richey, AICP, is an urban planning leader at Garver.
Restaurateur Daniel Bryant has invested much in rehabilitating several historic properties in recent years, including several in the commercial corridor of the National Register-listed Hillcrest Historic District and elsewhere. His investment has included not only capital, but also time, energy and thought.
Three projects are detailed here: two historic adaptive reuse and rehabilitation projects in the Hillcrest commercial corridor, which is characterized by pedestrian-scaled architecture, historic properties and more recent infill construction, and the Esso Station on West Markham, across from the State Capitol grounds.
One of the most exciting properties that Bryant developed, in cooperation with his partner Doug Martin, is the restaurant Hill Station.
The site was once the location of the Hillcrest Fire Station, but the station outgrew its space by the 1950s. For a short while it was a Magnolia Gas Station, which in 1957 was made the Helmich Garage, which it remained for decades.
The partners planned to retain the garage and construct an addition that was sensitive to the character of the historic district. They sought the expertise of preservation architect Tommy Jameson to design the new restaurant with a nod to the past, keeping in mind the scale, architectural character and historic fabric of the district. When the removal of a house was required to address a lack of parking, the team recruited local builder Steve Gardner to assess the feasibility of relocating the cottage. The plan was successfully executed: The small cottage was moved and rehabilitated less than a mile from its original location. Not only was the cottage rehabbed, the house adjacent was also rehabilitated, and now they are both beautiful owner-occupied homes.
The crescent-shaped retail area The Duke — historically the Saul Harris Building, another contributing structure of the Hillcrest Historic District — was constructed in 1930. It was perhaps the first shopping center in Little Rock constructed specifically for the soon-to-arrive automobile culture, with parking and a gas station out front (the gas station is now Leo’s Greek Castle). Though the building had been occupied, it was underused and needed attention. Bryant employed preservation architect Tim Heiple for the rehabilitation of The Duke, named after William Marmaduke Kavanaugh, namesake of the boulevard that runs through the neighborhood. In addition to restoring the front elevation of the building, it once again contains small shops. Bryant hopes the tenant mix will keep Hillcrest “vibrant and interesting.” It’s important to note that the rehabilitation of The Duke took advantage of state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, which were necessary to make the project economically viable.
Esso Station, restored; image thanks to Brian Chilson
Bryant acquired this abandoned gas station several years ago and began the rehabilitation just as the COVID pandemic hit. The results are amazing, and given its proximity to the State Capitol, it should be in high demand for office space as well as a venue for receptions.
The project was one of the most challenging and transformative projects that we at the Quapaw Quarter Association have seen recently. As with each project, the use for the building was decided before the work was underway.
This historic Esso Station had been closed for many years, and even though vehicular service had ceased decades ago, the property was still filled with all of the tools, supplies and hazardous materials associated with a gas and service station. As one would anticipate, the site needed complete abatement before rehabilitation could begin. This rehabilitation required extensive restoration of the exterior enamel panels and the substrate that supported them. Bryant employed Jameson to design the project, including investigating appropriate paint colors to match the original building and configuring the space for the new use while respecting the historic layout. This project was awarded state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits and is consistent with federal treatment standards.
The property had been an eyesore for decades, but is now an asset to Little Rock and an excellent example of an adaptive reuse of a historic property.
Patricia M. Blick is the executive director of the Quapaw Quarter Association. Founded in 1968, the Quapaw Quarter Association’s.mission is preservation of Greater Little Rock’s historic places.
More than 100,000 people from all over the country have moved to Northwest Arkansas since 2010, largely thanks to vendor migration to Walmart. But while the retail giant is one reason people have moved in, it isn’t the only reason they stay: Here, newcomers to the Ozarks plateau find recreation and arts offerings comparable to anywhere else in the nation.
The town of Rogers, settled in the 19th century as a railroad shipping point for apples, is illustrative of growth in Benton (and Washington) counties. Its charming historic downtown just east of Interstate 49, with brick-laid streets, antique stores and other shops and restaurants, has a quaint appeal amidst a bustling city whose population has tripled in the past 30 years.
“There’s no question this part of the state is experiencing a boom,” said John McCurdy, director of community development for the city of Rogers. “It has for some time. Booms are an opportunity. The question isn’t whether we need to plan for growth, it’s how.”
Railyard Park on First Street.
Rogers is revamping, starting with an update to its Comprehensive Growth Map (CGM), a blueprint guiding future development decisions. Rogers’ CGM paved the way for rezoning in the downtown area in 2015 and expanding to the greater area of Rogers in 2018.
The updated zoning is “building value throughout Rogers,” said Susan Henderson, the principal at PlaceMakers LLC, who has partnered with Rogers on its development plan. “It will serve two important roles: to assure protection in areas like established neighborhoods where change is a threat, but also [to] bring lots of opportunity to areas that are commercial or mixed-use.”
Henderson and McCurdy provided a history lesson in the role of zoning in city planning. Zoning falls into one of two categories: use-based and form-based. Used-based zoning restricts where and how commercial, industrial and residential areas are located. Form-based focuses on design and what is envisioned for the area at large.
Onyx Coffee Lab, another sign of Rogers’ revival.
Zoning practices in the United States date back to the early 20th century when, at the end of the industrial revolution, urbanization was on the rise. It made sense to separate the industrial parts of the city from where people lived to reduce congestion and protect people from pollution. Fast-forward a few decades, with the widening access to automobiles, and the suburbs were born, pushing residential areas to the edges of town. That left downtown areas struggling and more cars on the road commuting to workplaces. While this kind of zoning still has its place (think airports, industrial manufacturing plants and agriculture), over the decades there has been a shift to a more multifunctional, form-based zoning. Now planners want to bring people back into urban areas where they can get from their home to work, shop and play without needing a car. In addition to minimizing traffic, form-based zoning can energize a city and build community.
And that’s exactly what you’ll see in Rogers. The original boundary of the historic district included a cluster of commercial three-story buildings. Not only are they architecturally beautiful, they’re also functional. Originally, the first floor would commonly be used as commercial space, the second floor for office space and the third for residences. The recent adoption of form-based zoning has Rogers using many of its buildings in the way for which they were originally intended. In some ways, as Rogers expands, the more akin it is to how it was before.
““We’re lucky here in Rogers because there is so much existing infrastructure we can use and build upon.” ”
“We’re lucky here in Rogers because there is so much existing infrastructure we can use and build upon,” McCurdy said. “We’re making decisions with future and existing residents in mind. We’ve prioritized affordable and equitable housing by developing a range of housing types, but we also have left established, residential neighborhoods as they are because they’re still working for people. It’s all about finding the balance.”
A native of Rogers, McCurdy has a vested interest in seeing the development plan succeed. The retired Air Force pilot, who holds a degree in engineering and a master’s degree in strategic planning, spent the last four years of his service in construction management, working in the U.S. and in the Middle East. When he was ready to retire from the Air Force six years ago he could have moved anywhere, but chose to move back to his hometown.
“I saw what was happening in Rogers and was so impressed,” he said. “I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to help if I could.”
Thanks to his past experience, McCurdy knows what it takes to create more diverse and resilient communities.
“John is a visionary when it comes to building a better Rogers and thinks very strategically about the best ways to achieve that goal,” Henderson said. “There’s a culture of collaboration and customer service [with the development team] that is fabulous and encourages us to believe this code will be effectively administered.”
The project hasn’t gone without its challenges. People can feel uneasy about potential change, fearing it could negatively impact the value of their largest asset, their home. Henderson considers it part of the job to help people see what zoning facilitates and to be transparent in their process. “Local insights always make for better codes,” she said.
“We’re not in the business of making things worse,” McCurdy joked. “I think residents have largely seen how they are benefiting from the changes we’ve made and I like to think we’ve done a good job at listening to them when they have concerns. In that way, it’s a team effort in every aspect.”
The dedication of McCurdy, his team and partners (who also include DPZ CoDesign and Garver engineering of North Little Rock) to involve the community, listen to their concerns and address them accordingly has meant there is little public resistance to the plan.
Urbanization is a key driving force behind how cities go about zoning their communities. Building cities around the use of cars doesn’t make as much sense as it once did. Developing communities around people instead seems to be the wave of the future, and Rogers is proof that the concept can work.
It’s not often that someone can be claimed as a favorite son of a community to which they’re not native. But in the case of Michigander Shawn Hipskind, Benton is willing to make an exception.
Hipskind, a serial entrepreneur, moved to Arkansas in 2000. His business interests are varied, having included real estate, construction, development, excavation and even a restaurant and music venue. Now, he can add another title to that distinguished list: catalyst for the rebirth of Benton’s downtown district.
“I see vibrant downtowns as the growth center for the future of communities, as communities with vibrant downtowns are able to keep their college-age students locally instead of them going off to big cities,” Hipskind said.
“Vibrant downtowns are what people want to be near and [where] they want to live by. ”
Hipskind’s march toward downtown’s revival is a study in recognizing opportunity and pivoting to meet it. He was in his residential construction phase when he saw the first hints of the economic meltdown that would land full force in 2008.
“I saw it coming, so I switched over and got my commercial license because the government was going to give away a bunch of shovel-ready projects for commercial contractors,” he said. “We switched over to commercial contracting to avoid going bankrupt, like all my buddies did, in ’08 and ’09.
“I started doing first-time homebuyer homes because they were giving away $12,000 tax credits to first-time homebuyers. I think I sold more houses the first year of the crash than I’ve ever sold in my entire life.”
A decade later, Hipskind and his family were thinking of moving to Northwest Arkansas, but were turned off by the cost of living. That’s when he made a life-altering discovery.
“We researched prices of housing and decided real quick we weren’t moving to Bentonville, but we really liked that downtown town square,” he said. “When we looked around at Benton, we noticed it’s super similar. We’ve got a nice little courthouse, we’ve got a nice little town square, all we needed to do was build it out. It’s just been neglected for 60, 70 years.”
For about $350,000, about the same money commanded by a single fixer-upper in Bentonville, Hipskind bought an entire block of downtown Benton in 2017. He leveled the existing homes on the parcel, replacing them with 14 new ones.
Valhalla Kitchen + Bar; image thanks to Brian Chilson
“Most of the houses didn’t even have floors on the inside,” he said. “When you walked in, the floor systems had totally rotted out straight through to the dirt. Through the crawlspace you could see the ground; when you stepped through the threshold, you stepped onto dirt.”
Today, Hipskind has been honored by city leaders for replacing the ramshackle homes with new models. But at the time, he said, the effort to replace the homes wasn’t without its vocal detractors.
“People hated me for tearing down those houses. It was brutal,” he said. “A lot of people got mad at me and a lot of bad things were said about Shawn Hipskind, because the houses were in the historic district.
“I’d even say to people, ‘Do you want to buy one of these houses?’ And they’d be like, ‘Yeah.’ I’d take them inside and their jaw would hit the floor that wasn’t there, you know. They were like, ‘Sorry I wasted your time,’ and run off before they could pay me $80,000 for the shack with no floor in it. They somehow didn’t want to do that.”
Whatever goodwill the housing phase of revitalization may have cost him, he more than recouped with his second development project.
“After I got all these houses built, I really wanted places for people to hang out in downtown Benton now that there were places for people to live,” he said.
In 2019, Hipskind purchased the historic, if long-languishing, Palace Theatre, saving it from an uncertain future. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the Palace Theatre was built in 1919, for $60,000, more than $1 million in today’s dollars. One of three original movie theaters in Benton, it’s the oldest building of its kind in Saline County.
Hailed at its opening in the local media as “The Show Place of the South,” the two-story brick building at 224 W. South Street. boasted a large marquee that extended over the sidewalk and a brightly lit entrance. Inside, there were 1,000 luxurious seats, an intricately decorated stage and a glass-enclosed box office. It debuted Friday, March 5, 1920, with the silent film “In Walked Mary.”
Unfortunately, the shine of the grand new theater was to be short-lived, as ownership sold the Palace just a few months after opening. It changed hands several times during the 1920s until being purchased by the city in 1929.
For nearly a century after that, it served myriad municipal purposes, including as a youth center, the Saline County Library and, since 2005, for storage. In 2012 the structure was added to the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas’s list of “Most Endangered Buildings,” and in 2014 landed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places. But city leaders remained stumped as to what to do with it, with demolition never being completely ruled out as an option.
RŌBER is an upscale restaurant and whiskey lounge; image thanks to Brian Chilson
Enter Hipskind, who converted the space into restaurants, including Valhalla Kitchen + Bar and Axe Throwing and Baja Grill, and added RŌBER Cocktails + Culinary in the annex next door. Hipskind, who originally operated Valhalla, recently sold the business to operators Craig Roe and Heather Baber-Roe, who own the other two concepts and who rebranded it Valhalla Kitchen + Bar.
“Baja Grill is 3,000 square feet and Valhalla is 3,000 square feet, and the Axe Throwing is 1,500 square feet,” Hipskind said. “RŌBER is a newer high-scale restaurant that we built out and that might be closer to 4,000 square feet counting the whiskey lounge and everything they put in there.”
For his work, Hipskind received the Visionary Award from the Benton Chamber of Commerce and the market has responded positively as well. Other developers have followed his lead with other downtown renovations and property values have spiked, sure proof of any real estate concept.
Hipskind said he’s taking a break from development for the moment, although he retains ownership of The Palace and leases all but one of the homes. He said he’s got additional project ideas in mind for the future, but for now is content to simply look upon what’s been done with pride.
“Things are becoming more local and it’s not a necessity for all these big, huge chains to take over a city anymore,” he said. “It’s just a huge benefit for everybody if we’re keeping these dollars local and they’re circulating within these local districts instead of getting pushed out to wherever these people hold their corporations. That’s our money that’s funneling out of Central Arkansas.
“[The projects] turned out pretty much how I envisioned them. I was pretty confident that it was going to be a home run if I could just get through the massive amount of work that had to take place. Everybody was super thrilled whenever I took over The Palace, and by the time that had happened, I had already done the block downtown. This is me saving history, not destroying it.”
A slight loosening in recent years of the once-draconian Arkansas liquor laws has transformed many cities across the state, bringing life back to struggling urban areas and abandoned buildings.
Conservative Arkansas, which didn’t allow restaurants to serve mixed drinks until 1969 and still prohibits the retail sale of alcohol on Sundays, began to license brewpubs in the 1990s, allow commercial sales of craft beers in 2000, and license distilleries in 2010.
The embrace of alcohol has literally changed Arkansas’s landscape, as breweries, brewpubs and restaurants fill real estate, most often in communities’ downtowns. The changes, initiated by the state to increase tax revenues, have been a boon to communities economically, culturally and gastronomically and have brought new life to once-empty storefronts.
Take the abandoned storefront on one of the most legendary streets in Arkansas history: In 2017, blues fans in Helena-West Helena for the annual King Biscuit Blues Festival were abuzz at the sight of “distillery coming soon” signs in the windows of a vacant building at once-bustling 430 Cherry Street Area farmer Harvey Williams had got the idea to use the sweet potatoes grown on his family’s land to make vodka, giving rise to Delta Dirt Distillery. The pandemic slowed progress at the business a bit, but Delta Dirt’s first batch was ready at the end of 2020, and the distillery opened for business in April 2021.
This farm-to-bar distillery is one of just a handful of Black-owned distilleries in North America. Delta Dirt Distillery is unique in another way: It’s a too-rare sign of life on a street once lined with good businesses, in a town that has seen its share of economic hardship in recent decades, in a county that ranks among the poorest in the U.S.
Williams said he originally planned to open the distillery on the family farm, some 20 miles outside of town, but opted instead to locate in the 7,000-square-foot facility on Cherry Street, a location that had been for sale for a long time. The building had been “fine meats market” at one time, he said, a grocery store, a pawn shop and beauty supply store. The Williams family gutted it, removing false ceilings and walls “to get a clean canvas,” and did most of the work themselves. Steel beams were added along both sides of walls, and damage from a water main leak that had gone undetected for years was repaired.
“I grew up knowing Cherry Street as a place we would shop and go to town. But it wasn’t in my mind when we put [the distillery] there that we would be a part of revitalization,” Williams said. “We turned out to be a destination. I didn’t, in my own lack of wisdom, have that thought.”
Now, Delta Dirt’s tasting room hosts not just individual consumers, but school, college and FFA group tours. “It gives me a lot of joy to explain what we do,” Williams said. “The business model is built upon the product going out the back door and have it to go beyond Helena. But the tasting room is so people can see ... what happens at a distillery. Most people who come in and see a future for Cherry Street don’t live here. I’m encouraged by those conversations.
“I’m hoping I can get some other businesses to come down here. We haven’t had the imagination to think about what these buildings can be.” However, the Williamses are planning to open a brick-oven pizza parlor next door to the distillery.
Last year, Delta Dirt sold more than 1,000 cases of its unique vodka and a gin infused with botanicals. Next year, look for Delta Dirt bourbon, also made with Delta-grown sweet potatoes.
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It’s been a long road for Arkansas to get to the manufacture of alcoholic beverages. In 1983, the Arkansas Brewing Co. opened in Little Rock, operated by then-Fordyce Mayor William Lyon, but the brewery ran afoul of state laws and closed in 1986.
Enter Vino’s, known today as “Little Rock’s original brewpub.” When it started serving food in the 1909 Muswick building at Seventh and Chester streets in 1990 the brewery was still a distant dream. When it did begin brewing, in 1993, the brewing equipment was installed on the floor above the restaurant. That meant employees had to lug empty kegs through the kitchen and up a narrow flight of stairs, and take full kegs down the same treacherous path, David Jukes, a former Vino’s manager, told this reporter.
On April 24, 1993, Vino’s owner Henry Lee declared to the Little Rock Free Press “The drought is finally over!” The brewpub sold all 170 gallons of its three different beers that opening day. Brewers Mark Crossley and Preston Buchner had figured they’d brewed enough for two weeks: That they’d underestimated demand was an understatement. Impatient for the place to open, “Patrons were lined up, pounding on the doors and windows, before noon,” Stephen Steed reported in the Free Press.
Vino’s got the brew ball rolling in 1993; image thanks to Brian Chilson
Another hurdle remained: to-go beer. Again, as pretty much the only game in town, Vino’s paved the way, with Lee testifying in favor of the move before the legislature. Almost unnoticed in the already earth-shattering to-go beer legislation was an even more ground-breaking proviso: that it be allowed seven days a week.
“Sunday beer — that seemed like a miracle!” Jukes said. “That was a game-changer.” The market was thirsty for take-home brew, and on Sundays demand was even heavier. To meet demand, Vino’s expanded to the building immediately east of its location on Seventh, moving in brewing equipment, expanding restaurant storage and adding seats and a patio. One of the first economic success stories of modernized alcoholic beverage laws was under way. Today, as breweries and brewpubs have come and gone over the decades around the state, Vino’s remains an anchor on Seventh Street.
A similar story was happening a year earlier in Fort Smith, at Weidman’s Old Fort Brewpub. It opened in 1992; its state permit was approved in 1995.
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As the 21st century dawned, the time was right for the state’s first commercial brewery in modern times: Diamond Bear Brewing Co. The brewery began life in 2000 at a gorgeous former car dealership at 323 Cross Street in Little Rock. It gained the first toehold in the nascent state market for local-brew package sales using a bottling crew fortified with volunteers. “They just needed extra physical hands, like to yank a bottle out,” Bitsy Spencer LaFayette, a frequent volunteer on Diamond Bear’s early production lines, told the promotional publication Brewed in Arkansas in 2019. “It was exciting,” she said of assisting at what was then the state’s only commercial brewery. “It was all so new!”
Diamond Bear has since moved to a greatly expanded location across the Arkansas River, at 600 N. Broadway in Argenta, but its original Cross Street location has remained a spot for entrepreneurship in the food and beverage field, housing an artisan cheese shop, and now Dempsey Bakery, specializing in gluten-free products.
Stone’s Throw Brewing in Little Rock was one of the nano-breweries able to follow in the wake of comparative behemoth Diamond Bear. “Initially we were only looking for a space to brew,” co-founder Ian Beard explained. “As the idea of including a taproom evolved, downtown made more sense.” The 1,900-square-foot location, built in the 1940s at 402 E. Ninth Street, is in the MacArthur Park Historic District, which is overseen by a city commission. Many early ideas didn’t work with the city codes designed to protect the historic character of the district and had to be scrapped: “Things like our signage, patio and back door all had to go through an approval process,” Beard said.
Stone’s Throw is a stone’s throw from the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts; image thanks to Brian Chilson
Stone’s Throw’s “MacPark” location looks prescient now with the transformation of the former Arkansas Arts Center into the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts a block east on Ninth Street and new residential construction in the area. But it’s also been a mixed bag: “When we moved in, the neighborhood was still mostly historic buildings, many of which were homes or flats converted to inexpensive apartments,” Beard said. “When we started, most of our staff lived within a few blocks and walked to work. Most moved out of the neighborhood as rents went up.”
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Rapp’s Barren Brewing Co., 601 Baker Street in Mountain Home, is another example of how breweries can bring new life to communities while honoring their histories. Kyle Swallow said he and co-owners Russell Tucker and Chris Gordon chose the company’s historic and now gorgeously restored location because, “We wanted to be part of the community. The last decade or so, our downtown has been pretty vacant.” So, the group “bought the oldest building on the square.”
History is kind of Rapp’s thing. The brewery’s name derives from the original name of the Baxter County settlement, Rapp’s Barren, coined by founder Henry Rapp in 1810 to reflect the town’s location in a clearing. The settlement was incorporated in 1888 as Mountain Home.
The brewery opened in September 2017 at a different location; it moved June 2021 to the Baker Building, a two-story building erected in 1892.
The Baxter County town was the first community in Arkansas to take advantage of the 2021 state law permitting “entertainment districts,” which allow for the carrying of open containers of alcohol within a designated area, Swallow said. There were initial objections to the establishment of an entertainment district, but Swallow said they were overcome: “It’s not Bourbon Street by any means.” Too, he said, “It’s definitely brought life back to the square. Now there’s a wine bar, a burrito restaurant, a coffee shop, a whiskey bar, all within the past couple of years, and an ice cream shop coming.”
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The state went from about a dozen breweries in the early 2010s to more than 30 by 2016. Distillers have expanded, too, producing cider (Black Apple in Springdale), mead (Arkansas Meadery in Alexander) and sake (Origami Sake in Hot Springs). So, raise a glass: That growth is still bubbling over and is benefiting the people, buildings and tax coffers of towns and cities. Cheers to that!
The looming Fort Smith murals painted on the side of OK Foods’ silos are as captivating a piece of public art as can be found anywhere in Arkansas. Soaring over the landscape on one edge of downtown, the black-and-gray “American Heroes” depicts three individuals in stunning detail: Kristina, a young business owner, and Ed, a Navajo man active in the Lawbreakers and Peacemakers reenactment group, flank one square silo, while Gene “Beck” Beckham, a World War II veteran and 70-year OK Foods employee, is portrayed on the other.
As with all great artwork, the key to “American Heroes” is the angle of perspective of the viewer. In this case, the angle of the subjects’ view is important as well. Ed’s gaze is downward as if taking stock of what’s behind him; Kristina looks out steady and confident to her right, and Gene’s eyes aim skyward. It’s an apt representation of life, be it individual or in the collective, seen in triptych: acknowledgement of the past, focus on the present and a glimpse of the future.
“Placemaking has been an effective catalyst for revitalization and renewal throughout fort smith.”
If Fort Smith entrepreneur Steve Clark’s work in reviving his longtime hometown needed an illustration, many would do, but none would be as fitting as Guido van Helten’s monochrome masterpiece. Clark, a highly successful entrepreneur that claims Fort Smith as his adopted hometown, has spearheaded the drive to reinvigorate the city’s core through public art, repurposed buildings and fresh thinking.
“Anything we can do to make it easy for people to live, work and play and then make it desirable for developers, through any number of plans, to develop should be top of mind for those of us working on downtown and for the city at large,” Clark said.
Clark’s love affair with the city dates back to his childhood where trips to Fort Smith would form a blueprint for what he would attempt to resuscitate later in his adult life.
“I graduated from Roland, Oklahoma, High School in Sequoyah County and have had a bit of a romantic relationship with Fort Smith,” Clark said. “You leave Roland, you drive through the bottoms where it was agriculture and then you would get to the Arkansas River where you’d cross the bridge. Coming off the bridge you’d be coming into this really picturesque downtown. There was kind of this transition from rural agricultural to urban downtown and I was always captivated by it, whether it was lit up for Christmas and the holidays or just bustling with activity.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arkansas in 1986, Clark lived in Little Rock for a spell before returning to Fort Smith in his 30s. He founded Propak, a provider of logistics, transportation and supply chain management solutions, growing the company to thousands of employees, including dozens in its downtown Fort Smith headquarters. He also founded Rockfish, a digital media company, and while growing both companies he couldn’t help but notice how the vitality of his businesses stood in sharp contrast to the generally stagnant state of the community he called home.
“[Industry] was still going, but you could certainly feel that there was beginning to be a bit of transition,” he said. “And then when Whirlpool closed their big plant here [in 2012], it took us quite a while to see that not only is Fort Smith changing, but the economy at large is changing. I feel like we went through maybe a 10-year stretch where I’m not sure we really knew what to do.
“Fort Smith is a city with fantastic bones, but it was a very strong manufacturing city, and when Whirlpool went away I think we were focused on trying to do what we had always done. Even though we have a fantastic chamber and fantastic leadership at the chamber, what we as a city had been set up to do was changing.”
Rockfish sold in 2016 and Propak in 2022 and today Clark remains employed by the latter in addition to mapping, out other entrepreneurial pursuits. That, and his ongoing work to help Fort Smith reimagine itself and its place in the global marketplace.
South Ninth Street mural.
“We can never lose sight of the fact that we’re in a global fight for the maintenance of jobs and the attraction of new jobs and the education to prepare us for the jobs of the coming generation, which is changing quickly,” Clark said.
It’s not the first time the city has had to radically change course to keep up with the changing times. Steeped in frontier lore, Fort Smith was founded in 1817 as a military outpost, with a small settlement sprouting up around it. The military would be an important economic driver in some form for the next 200-plus years, thanks to the establishment of Fort Chaffee in the 1940s, but dwindled until the U.S. Army base transitioned to an Arkansas National Guard training facility in the 1990s.
Economic diversification came via manufacturing that took advantage of the river, railroad and later highway transport that was available. Like the military, manufacturing remains an important sector, though not nearly what it once was. The loss of Whirlpool and its 900 jobs sent shockwaves through the local economy, and a period of malaise set in as the city struggled to reimagine itself.
Into this breach stepped community visionaries, Clark among them, who lent critical leadership to the efforts of the city to regain its momentum.
“You can’t really explain the why, other than you kind of wake up and realize there’s no economic cavalry coming. You fight a little harder if you think you’re on your own,” Clark said of his motivation to get involved. “And let’s face it: The economy has changed so dramatically and shifted from local to regional to state to national and then global that the things we’re doing, or trying to do here, are literally the minimum price of participation.
“I think that’s kind of where I landed, that it was not realistic to think a municipality or bureaucratic organization could have that kind of perspective or vision. You can’t even be upset about it. They’re simply not set up for it. It takes a lot of the same entrepreneurial tenets that exist in business or commerce and need to be applied on a larger scale for civic return.”
Clark and his allies in this effort approached the problem from a wholly unique angle. Whereas traditional strategies revolved around cheap land parcels or available warehousing, the new approach called for something called placemaking, investing in community amenities that enhanced quality of life to lure employers and attract and retain workforce.
A bold reassigning of both chicken and egg in the economic development equation, placemaking has been an effective catalyst for revitalization and renewal throughout Fort Smith ever since, particularly downtown.
At 70 S. Seventh St.
Clark’s fingerprints on this process are most clearly visible through 64.6 Downtown, a nonprofit committed to creating vibrant spaces through business development, arts and culture, special events and projects. That group spawned The Unexpected, which is responsible for much of the larger downtown artwork that peeks out seemingly everywhere today.
Since 2015, The Unexpected has steadily helped craft the city’s new image, inspiring countless other communities statewide to follow suit in public art. But as with all radical new ideas, the early years of the effort ran contrary to many residents’ tastes.
“I remember telling people I may literally be forced to move because of this, because there was a huge outcry of people who did not like the idea of art on historic buildings,” Clark said. “I was standing in front of a broken, empty building that a beautiful mural was going on and a woman was standing there just shaking her head. I go, ‘What do you think?’ She said, ‘I don’t like it.’ I said, ‘What do you not like?’ She said, ‘It’s not our history.’ I said, ‘But frankly, neither are empty buildings and broken glass.’
“I wanted to be empathetic because what she was saying was ‘It’s not how I would do it.’ Fort Smith was stuck in her mind in a very particular, sentimental way. But the flipside of that is, as I told her, I love our history, I just don’t want to live in it. It’s important to remind people that this is who we are and then to act on that to make people see downtown differently than they’ve been used to seeing it.”
In the eight years since The Unexpected debuted, others in the city have adopted its audacious mindset, launching revamped living and gathering spaces, establishing festivals and birthing attractions including the crowning achievement of the U.S. Marshals Museum, slated to open this summer. As each new dream comes online it spawns something else, with the museum promising to be the biggest incubator of all.
“[The museum] has been a long-term process. I have been involved with it as a donor throughout,” Clark said. “Anytime you can have a federal museum in your city, especially one of the magnitude of U.S. Marshals, it’s a big thing. It would be impossible to overestimate the potential value.
“We have the largest undeveloped riverfront, I think, of any mid-sized city in the country. I think that becomes the first big ornament on that tree, on the river. The way I look at it is it puts us in a tier of cities that take themselves seriously and take their citizens seriously by doing the things they need to do for continued growth in the future.”
As commanding and ambitious as art such as “American Heroes” is, it’s not the only thing that catches the eye in downtown Fort Smith these days. Public art abounds in large, vibrant murals on brick and board and via street pieces that range from bronze effigy to whimsical junk sculpture. There’s also a certain art to the way commercial buildings have been refreshed, of the music and the food aromas that float on the breeze in summertime. All of which Clark has played a role in nurturing, either directly or indirectly, as part of a long quest to help the city rediscover itself.
Steve Clark
“Before The Unexpected, downtown just kind of was what downtown was. It was where the courthouse was, it had a lot of history,” Clark said. “Now you’ve got people wanting to bring their families downtown to see the arts. You have greater civic participation, greater attendance at the city director meetings, more people willing to say this is what we need, this is what we want.
“It’s not just about attracting jobs; it’s about keeping jobs, it’s about making Fort Smith a place where ultimately people don’t want to leave. That really has to be the first goal. And I think that’s what we’re doing. I think we’re seeing ourselves, maybe for the first time in a long time, as a place where people want to stay.”
Talking about such achievements lends a crackling energy to Clark’s voice. There’s still work to be done to help solidify the residential and commercial amenities downtown, but there’s an undeniable air of optimism in Fort Smith, to his great delight and satisfaction.
“So many things in history are not quite explainable other than there seems to be a rising up of people who say, ‘This isn’t necessarily the type of city that we want right now,’ so what does the city that we do want look like?” Clark said.
“People ask me why do this? The answer is, because this is the type of city I want to live in, that’s why. A city that can appreciate the arts, a city that can appreciate its historicity but not necessarily be stuck in it.”
