Little Rock Tech Park: Authority won't meet as site review continues ...
Little Rock Technology Park Authority
Little Rock Tech Park: Authority won't meet as site review continues
Posted
by Max Brantley
on Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 1:43 PM
No meeting of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority this month. Chair Mary Good says the board continues to gather site information.
When last we checked in, Board member Jay Chesshir raised some sharp questions about late-arriving site proposals involving the former Brandon's Furniture store on University Avenue and, past I-630 to the north, property on which, among others, a Sears now sits.
Good's announcement of no meeting this month included related information:
* NEW SITE: One is a memo from developer Jim Hathaway, who brought in the late arriving proposal for the Sears parcel. He said he didn't want to engage in the lobbying some others had engaged in. Rather, he urged the board to consider factors listed by consultant Charles Dilks as indicators for a successful location:
Proximity to sponsoring institutions; Neutrality of location to sponsoring institutions; Prominent visibility?-Image Accessibility for both private and public transportation Quick Access from primary road system Ability to phase development and conserve capital All utilities in place with no need for offsite runs Proximity to amenities such as shopping, medical services, hotels and restaurants Minimum number of landowners with which to negotiate
E-mail by Dilks to Mary Good makes the same points.
* SEARS PROPERTY: Hathaway also provided a detailed memo on the potential cost of the Sears property, which isn't currently for sale and remains under lease: starting about $7.9 million. He also addresses a question of whether the same ownership's adjacent Doctors Building might be available at some point in the future. Some portions could be leased to the Tech Park as turnover occurs, he said.
* ARCHITECT REPORT: Good also released a letter from architect/planner William Gaudreau based on a preliminary tour of the former Brandon's building. He was brought in by Dilks. It said the building merits further consideration and that there is potential there to create a "successful multi-tenant complex."
* DILKS RESPONDS TO SHARP QUESTIONS: The key memo is probably consultant Dilks' answer to questions posed by Chesshir on his previous support for a 30-acre site, contiguity of property and other considerations that would not be met by the Brandon/Sears sites. Thirty acres would be ideal, he said, but the Brandon/Sears twofer's "prime location" outweighs its lack of acreage. Similarly, the split site, while not ideal, has the benefit of high visibility and is already linked by a sidewalk that could be made "more attractive." He said he'd "easily" walked it himself. (Me, too. Trust me. It's a high-traffic-volume dangerous, unpleasant stroll.) Can renovation be more expensive than new construction? Sometimes, yes, he said, though he said the Brandon building had "good bones" and could be renovated easily, though he said that could be known for sure only when bids were taken. His friend, the architect Gaudreau whom Dilks selected to tour the building, has experience in such work, Dilks helpfully noted. Finally, yes, the fully developed proposal would require a parking deck, but other options in the original search would, too.
What you have here continues to be an outside consultant who, for whatever reason, seems determined to guide the Board away from sites produced, studied and vetted under an advertisement-for-proposals process. Dilks at least seems to have put aside the Forest Hills residential neighborhood option he originally favored at the insistence of Board member Dickson Flake and taken up, too, by Good and Board member Bob Johnson. Intense community pressure against that site set the search for alternatives in motion.
Tags: Little Rock Technology Park, Mary Good, Charles Dilks, Image
Speaking of...
The Max is Back, But Depleted Edition
March 22, 2013
The private option, tax cuts, school choice, voter ID, Big River Steel, the political impact of a Republican majority in the legislature, the governor's race, the tech park and delay tactics in the Lake Maumelle watershed ? all covered this week. /more/
Questions to the Tech Board ? from the Tech Board UPDATE
March 20, 2013
Why a divided site on 12 acres instead of contiguous on 30? And so forth. /more/
The God, Guns and Fetuses Edition
February 15, 2013
The latest on the reduction in the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery rewards to students, voter ID, the abortion bans, the grand ethics bargain, the professor carry bill, the hiccup for the spending cap legislation, Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson's high-flying disclosures and the tech park ? all covered on this week's edition. /more/
The open line
February 14, 2013
The line is open. Closing out: * EQUAL RIGHTS? /more/
Tech park board meets; no progress
February 13, 2013
Little Rock Technology Park Authority's board chair Mary Good opened today's meeting with a statement she'd told the Times on Monday: "There is still a misunderstanding," she said, "of the vision of the park." /more/
Tech Park talk underway
February 13, 2013
Leslie Newell Peacock is covering the meeting of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority. Kelly Dudzik of Fox 16 supplied the photo above via Twitter of a good crowd gathered as the board discusses finalists for a site, all of them unsuitable in the eyes of a hired-gun consultant operating under the sway of tech park godfather Dickson Flake. /more/
Late night notes? saber rattling, lawyer rattling
February 12, 2013
Mailbag notes: * TOM COTTON SHAKES HIS FIST AT NORTH KOREA: What's a North Korean nuclear test got to do with the 4th District of Arkansas. /more/
Morning mailbag: Schools, courts, accountability
February 12, 2013
I mentioned the other day that Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Courtney Henry Goodson had recently become the court's liaison to the Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct, a court-appointed body that oversees the ethical standards of lawyers. /more/
UPDATE: Engineering firm reports on Tech Park site finalists
February 11, 2013
The Crafton Tull engineering firm has submitted its review of the three sites being considered for the Little Rock Technology Park ? east of Interstate 30 near the Clinton Library; on the west side of John Barrow Road and at Asher and University. /more/
Tech Park decision nears ? downtown, the best site, will have opposition
February 9, 2013
I received notice this week of a meeting Wednesday of the board of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority. /more/
More ?
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