Enchanted by the Spa City

LITTLE ROCK — Jon Roberts of Austin, Texas, is one of the nation’s foremost community-development consultants, and he’s enchanted by Hot Springs. His company, TIP Strategies, completed an economic-development plan for the Spa City last September. “Hot Springs could be one of America’s truly great cities,” Roberts says.

He notes that there aren’t many places that can claim a national park, popular lakes, a thoroughbred racing facility, a first-class convention center and a relatively new arena all within several miles of each other. Roberts is among those who would like to see Hot Springs return to its place as the Saratoga of the South. Roberts understands the sad situation that was the subject of last week’s column-the proliferation of empty, decaying buildings in the historic heart of the city.

Roberts says the inherent advantages of Hot Springs have led to “complacency. The risk is one in which ‘good is good enough.’ This viewpoint threatens to compromise the city and the region. It would perhaps be defensible if the region were doing well. In fact, there are dire warning signals. Population growth has become stagnant. The tax base is fragile. Bold initiatives, from education to redevelopment, have received only tepid support. Further, many of the greatest assets of the community are increasingly in danger of decline. These extend from the business base to hotels and even retail trade.”

Roberts says it would be an overstatement to claim it’s a time of crisis, but it’s not overreaching to suggest that Hot Springs cannot afford to squander more opportunities. The strategic plan Roberts wrote describes the redevelopment and revitalization of downtown Hot Springs as the best opportunity for enhancing economic vitality.

He says economic developers across the country have learned that a healthy downtown makes it easier to recruit businesses. Roberts says business prospects often see the state of downtown as a “reflection of whether a community values investment and excellence. Companies realize that in the competition for talent, a community that offers a higher quality of life and stronger sense of place finds it easier to recruit and retain the workers it needs to remain successful.”

That’s the crux of the issue: Reviving downtown Hot Springs is about more than attracting tourists. It’s also about attracting young, highly educated, creative people to live in the city. Here’s the bad news, says Roberts: “Few recent efforts toward downtown revitalization and redevelopment in Hot Springs are apparent.”

He’s right, of course. Rather than focusing on the businesses moving into the bathhouses, the proliferation of art galleries and the other good things happening downtown, too many visitors have their memories sullied by huge structures such as the Majestic Hotel and Medical Arts Building that stand empty.

“Through most of its history, downtown wasa major destination for tourism and economic activity in Hot Springs,” Roberts writes in the strategic plan. “Its proximity to Hot Springs National Park and the presence of Bathhouse Row drew visitors to the region for more than a century. But downtown Hot Springs has lost much of its luster. Historic structures are in need of investment, ground-floor retail space is underutilized and the upper stories of most buildings remain vacant. The lack of new investment should be a great concern to Hot Springs’ leaders and citizens. One serious risk is that these buildings could fall into disrepair and no longer be salvageable. If this were to occur, Hot Springs would undoubtedly see its competitive position as a tourism destination erode. It is extremely important that the community no longer allow the status quo to continue.”

With the economy slowly recovering, can the city now attract outside investors who will sink capital into projects downtown? The risks are there, but given Hot Springs’ long history as a magnet for tourists, the upside is tremendous for those willing to invest in hotels, condominiums, apartments and upscale retail establishments. One thing Roberts calls for is improving the somewhat tacky Central Avenue corridor from Oaklawn to downtown.

“While much of Hot Springs’ history and image is inextricably linked to Bathhouse Row, other destinations appear to have surpassed the urban core as tourism draws,” he says. “For example, Oaklawn now brings approximately 1.6 million tourists to Hot Springs annually, and Lake Hamilton and Lake Ouachita are also major attractions. Few benefits of tourism spending, however, can be seen in downtown Hot Springs. At the same time, few amenities such as retail, restaurants and hotels that serve visitors are apparent within the area surrounding Oaklawn.”

Roberts proposes linking the area’s various attractions to create a more complete experience for visitors. He says Central Avenue should be viewed as the “primary linkage between Hot Springs’ two premier urban attractions: Bathhouse Row and Oaklawn. It should serve as the focal point for robust economic activity, creating a dynamic environment for small businesses and visitors alike.”

It appears that at least part of the city’s business leadership now realizes that downtown Hot Springs is the key to moving that part of the state forward. Each time I walk down Bathhouse Row, I find myself thinking about what once was. Like Jon Roberts, I also find myself dreaming about what someday might be.

Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities. He’s also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.