Downtown rebound

LITTLE ROCK — When a tornado tore through downtown Little Rock in January 1999, it destroyed dozens of houses in neighborhoods already showing the scars of urban decay.

One of the hardest hit areas was the neighborhood east of South Main between the Governor’s Mansion Historic District and the MacArthur Park Historic District.

After the debris was cleaned up and dangerous structures razed, what was left was a study in extremes - with beautifully renovated grand old homes surviving near the damaged shells of abandoned houses. And then there were the vacant lots - no block seemed to have escaped the effects of the twin terrors of urban decay and Mother Nature.

Today, however, a quick tour of the area shows that things seem to be improving. Scattered throughout are new houses - some designed to blend in with the remaining historic houses, others standing out with contemporary designs and materials.

The change is due to the efforts of numerous entities and individuals. This includes private builders who recognized the value of empty and inexpensive lots in the heart of the city, the nonprofit Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp., which worked with the Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to design and construct three houses, and, most of all, perhaps, new homeowners who were willing to buy into the future of this urban enclave.

“This neighborhood being so close to downtown is one of the reasons we’re experiencing such a strong interest in rebuilding efforts here,” says Scott Grummer, executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp.

On a recent morning, Daniel Peurifoy of Maumelle and Jason Clem of Little Rock were atop bright yellow scaffolding, tools in hand, applying strips of siding to a house being assembled at East 19th and Cumberland streets in the Pettaway Park neighborhood. Now graduates, the pair were pitching in to help finish a project they worked on as UA architecture students. Students had designed the structure, which was mainly built in pieces in a Fayetteville warehouse.

These houses have restrictions on who is eligible to buy them. A prospective buyer must make no more than 80 percent of the median household income of the area.In the Pettaway Park neighborhood, which is roughly bounded by 15th Street to the north, 24th Street to the south, Interstate 30 to the east and Main Street on the west, the income maximums are approximately $34,900 for a one-person household, $39,900 for a two-person household, and $44,900 for a three-person household.

The previous year the students had also helped design and build a house nearby at 1805 Commerce St. “Last year’s class used two modules in their house,” Peurifoy says of the 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom, one-and-a half-bath house that is for sale at $137,500. A grant of up to $20,000 is available toward the purchase price for eligible buyers.

“It looks like a pair of boxes stacked on top of each other. But this one has four modules and won’t look like a bunch of different units.”

“And this one will have a more open floor plan, which is hard to do with modules,” Clem says. A bridge-like hallway and interior courtyard will connect the two sections of the house. It is expected to be completed sometime this fall.

A NEW START

In May 2010, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for Quincy and Stephanie Scott’s new 1,200-square-foot “contemporary modern” modular house at 1519 Commerce St., the first of the prefabricated houses built by about two dozen UA architecture students.

The Scotts are paying $109,500 for their new house with a 30-year, 0.25 percent fixed-interest mortgage, thanks to a city grant that helped pay down the interest and financing through the Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America, a national nonprofit organization that doesn’t require down payments or excellent credit from its clients.

The boxish frame with floor-to-ceiling windows features a large, recessed front porch and an open floor plan. It has a modern vibe with bedroom doors hidden within the walls and kitchen and bathroom counters made of concrete.

The house was designed with energy efficiency in mind, with overhangs to provide shade, spray foam to seal gaps and an energy-efficient furnace and tankless water heating system.

The Scotts’ house was the first one built by UA architecture students in conjunction with the Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp.

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

Inner-city settlers are also thinking outside the traditional floor plan, with at least one of the more adventurous finding her Home Sweet Home in a structure fabricated partially from metal shipping containers.

In 2011, the Community Development Corp. unveiled a house in Pettaway Park constructed of four 8-foot by 40-foot shipping containers that, in a former life, ferried unknown cargo (but not hazardous materials, one is assured) across the ocean from China. The four containers were welded together to create Valarie Abrams’ 1,281-square-foot house at 421 E. 21st St. The three-bedroom, two-bath house was built by Little Rock-based Smart Structures.

Abrams bought her shipping container house for $120,000 and lives there with her 16-year-old daughter, Dante Renee. A mirror-image shipping container house next door is also available for sale. Asking price for the 1,281-square-foot, three bedroom, two-bath house is $138,000.

“It’s been great,” she says of comfortable, stylish structure, adding, however, that it’s not quite as energy efficient as expected.

“But I absolutely love the house,” she says, adding that she often forgets its former function. But a glance at the ceiling and some exposed wall sections - which retain their ridges - serve as a reminder.

In downtown Little Rock, Page Wilson of Little Rock, owner of Paul Page Dwellings, has been building new houses since 2006.

Wilson has built several houses in the area south of Main Street around 15th and Rock streets and he lives nearby.

“These aren’t really modern homes but instead are contemporary ones,” says Wilson, who previously worked for 28 years as a soybean and rice farmer. “They are interpretations of an East Arkansas farmhouse vernacular.”

His environmentally friendly houses average about 1,320 square feet and sell for about $125,000. He says the buyers are mostly those who have lived in urban areas before, are college educated, between the ages of 30 and 50, and they often work downtown.

“I’m trying to have an impact on how people live,” Wilson explains. “If I can build smaller homes that use less water, less electricity, and less gas, then I feel like I’m making a difference.

“I build small homes that are good. They’re not like a BMW but instead like a Toyota Corolla; it’s small but well made and dependable.”

MORE SIGNS OF LIFE

Meanwhile, a few blocks south in Pettaway Park, the once-withering neighborhood is seeing signs of new life.

In the last decade, about 20 new single-family houses have been built - 12 within the last three years, says Grummer with the Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp.

A bonus for the neighborhood, according to Maggie Hawkins, community facilitator for the East 21st Neighborhood Alert Center, is that the new houses are owner-occupied.

“When the resident of a property is the homeowner, they have more of a vested interest in the neighborhood and its success,” Hawkins says.

Many of those moving in are younger working professionals, Grummer adds.

“There’s been a shift in demographics,” Grummer says. “And this younger generation is not interested in having an older, deteriorating home and putting in the amount of maintenance it needs. Instead, they want a more sustainable type of structure, and green seems to be the way people are looking.”

The biggest draw for them in Pettaway Park may be the very reason earlier residents left - its urban location.

“It’s the closest neighborhood to downtown,” Grummer says. “Times are changing and people are wanting to be closer to where they work. They are finding they can have a more efficient and diverse living experience in the downtown area.”