LITTLE ROCK — After years of delays because of the chilling effect of the recession on retail expansion, the Park Avenue mixed use development in midtown Little Rock has scored its second major component.
A Dallas apartment developer will spend more than $30 million to build 261 upscale apartments there, executives with the Dallas firm of Lang Partners say. Site work has begun, said John Ausburn, director of development for Lang.
The apartments should be completed by early next year, he said.
In 2007, the Strode Property Co. of Dallas bought the 27 acres beneath University Mall for $21 million. The mall was leveled in early 2008, and initial work began that year on Park Avenue, a retail, residential and commercial complex on South University Avenue.
Strode had hoped to open the center by October 2009, but progress was slowed by a recession, which officially lasted from December 2007 until June 2009.
The primary piece to the center was a Target store, which opened in 2010.
The four-building apartment complex will fill another need of the center.
“Apartments ... provide people to eat in the restaurants, shop in the stores and work out at the [planned]athletic club,” said Jim Irwin, a partner in Irwin Partners, a Little Rock commercial real estate firm that has worked with Strode in assembling property for Park Avenue. “It just generates people in the shopping center.” The Midtown Redevelopment Advisory Board and the Midtown Design Overlay District approved by the Little Rock’s Board of Directors have overseen the development of Park Avenue from the beginning.
Building the apartments is “very significant,” said Stacy Hurst, a Little Rock city director.
“The Urban Land Institute in their study calls for more mixed-use development in the midtown area,” Hurst said. “And in the statement of expectations adopted by the Midtown Redevelopment Committee, that also called for more mixed-use development. So the residential component achieves that for Park Avenue.”
Lang will build two four story apartment buildings and a five-story building in the middle of Park Avenue, plus a four-story building on McKinley Street, north of the Target store. The three adjacent buildings will have 202 units and the fourth building will have 59 units, Ausburn said.
In addition to Target, these stores are open in Park Avenue: an AT&T store, a Verizon store, Sports Clips, Mattress Firm, Cheddar’s Casual Cafe and Carter’s, a children’s apparel store. A Staples office supply store is to open today and a Radio Shack is to open March 3.
C.F. Jordan Construction of Dallas is the general contractor for the apartments.
With the construction of the apartments, other retail spaces in Park Avenue also will be built this year, Irwin said.
Lang was attracted to Little Rock because the apartment market is tight, said Dirik Oudt, president of Lang.
“We like urban sites that are really close to major employment centers with a lot of retail around it,” Oudt said. “Ultimately, we try to provide a pedestrian-oriented lifestyle. So if you work at St. Vincent, you could walk across the street to work, you can get breakfast or go to a fitness center. Conceivably, you could go through several days without getting in your car.”
The four apartment buildings will cost about $21 million, and landscaping, parking and other aspects will bring the cost to about $31 million,Oudt said. Lang has not settled on a name for the apartments, Oudt said.
The apartments will rent for $800 to $1,750 a month. They will range from 600 square feet to 1,500 square feet.
There are several apartment complexes being built this year, primarily in North Little Rock and in northwest Little Rock, said Ted Bailey, a partner with The Mutlifamily Group, a commercial real-estate firm that specializes in brokering apartment complexes in Arkansas.
The Park Avenue living space is the only new apartment construction in midtown Little Rock, Bailey said.
Park Avenue is a good location for upscale apartments, Bailey said.
“This is an attractive site and is obviously very close to the hospital,” Bailey said. “Shopping and restaurants are right there, too.”
The rental rates for the Park Avenue apartments are similar to those in other new apartment construction in the county, Bailey said. More than 500 apartment units are scheduled to open in Pulaski County this month.
Lang Partners has built similar projects in Dallas and Fort Worth, and is planning an apartment project in Austin, Texas, Oudt said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/25/2012