CONWAY — The old Conway Towne Centre is looking younger every day.
A new 12-screen Cinemark Theater is scheduled to open Friday, Dec. 10, just in time for Christmas. The shopping-center parking lot has been reconfigured and repaved, empty stores are being leased, and storefronts have new facades.
“It’s on track,” said Gary Smith, director of business development for Flake & Kelley Commercial in Little Rock, which manages and leases the shopping center on U.S. 65.
“It’s going to be a brand-new-looking center when we finish,” he said.
Built in 1986, the shopping center had lost several tenants in the past few years. It was once home to Walmart and Hastings, but one by one, the stores moved out.
As of last week, Smith said, he had several signed leases from new businesses, and some local stores are relocating there.
Wimpy’s Burgers and Fries of Tennessee will renovate the former Hardee’s building near the entrance to the center, Smith said, and construction will take 60 to 90 days.
Also coming to the center is Hut 8, a women’s clothing store, which has a location in Fayetteville.
Some existing Conway businesses are relocating to the Conway Towne Centre. Emerge Clothing Boutique, a women’s clothing store, is moving from Old Town Place on Donaghey Avenue to the revamped center.
Renee Stone, 28, owner of Emerge, said she moved from the newer strip mall for two main reasons — more square footage and more walk-in traffic.
Stone said she is expanding her everyday clothing line and prom dresses and is adding wedding dresses.
“My store will be twice the size it is now,” Stone said.
She will take over the space closest to the theater that formerly housed Stage.
“The thing that attracted me the most is that the Towne Centre has been around a long, long time,” Stone said. “With the movie theater coming in and the new facelift of the whole facility, it attracted me to go back to a place that has been in Conway forever.”
Stone, who grew up in Conway, said she remembers the Conway Towne Centre when it was thriving and had Walmart.
Tina Gavazzi, owner of Merle Norman on Dave Ward Drive, was scheduled to open Tina Marie’s Wig Boutique last weekend.
“We figured that place was going to blow back up because of that new movie theater, and we wanted to get in on the ground floor,” she said. “They updated the shopping center; it just looks really nice.”
VCC Construction of Little Rock is the general contractor for the multimillion-dollar project. Sam Alley, CEO of VCC Construction, is one of the owners of the shopping center. He said the update is a $7 million to $8 million project.
“It’s really great news for central Arkansas, and Conway in particular,” he said.
Smith said local ownership is a plus.
“It will take the stigma off [the center],” he said. “It’s not owned by a group out of New York; it’s owned by a local group of investors in Little Rock.”
Alley’s son Derek Alley of Dallas, director of VCC Construction, said he visits the property every two to three weeks. The investors “wanted to give the Conway Towne Centre a new breath,” he said.
“We’re very excited about the progress that’s been made,” Derek added. “We’ve seen significant interest from local and national retailers.”
“Everything has really gone as planned, and the city of Conway has been really wonderful to work with,” he said, mentioning Mayor Tab Townsell,
Conway Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Brad Lacy and Conway Corp.
“I think it’s a testament to when developers and the city can work together to get things done, good things happen,” Derek added.
He said he predicts that in four to six months, 90 percent of the shopping center will be leased.
Townsell said he appreciates the investors for taking on the shopping-center project.
“The theater itself was a major investment,” he said.
The former six-screen, 12,236-square-foot Cinemark theater was demolished to make way for the new theater, which has approximately 40,000 square feet and stadium seating, “similar to the Rave,” Sam Alley said. It will be an XD auditorium, which has the capability to show 3-D movies.
University of Central Arkansas student Olivia Lefler, 19, said she’s excited to have a new theater in Conway.
“Since they’ve closed that one down, I’ve started going to the ones in Little Rock — the Rave and the IMAX,” she said. “It’ll definitely be nice to stay here in town and go to a movie.”
Conway has one other theater, Faulkner Cinema 6 off Oak Street.
When asked what will happen to that decades-old theater, manager Jordan Plotner said, “We’re not going anywhere.”
Townsell called the shopping center project “outstanding.”
“It was getting tired, and that’s one of our biggest entrances to the city and a big entrance to the Branson corridor. It’s important for us to look good and make a statement for the city.”