Christmas came early for Rhett Tucker. This month, he and partner Jimmy Moses watched as builders put the finishing touches on the Arcade Building in the Little Rock River Market District.
“It’s more gratifying than anything else,” Tucker says. “We couldn’t do this by ourselves. A lot of people worked together to get it done.”
The 59,000-square-foot space at 100 River Market Ave. is a joint venture between Moses Tucker Real Estate and the Central Arkansas Library System. The $14 million project has taken three years to complete. Fringe Clothing, a ladies’ apparel store, and Dandelion, an herb, spice and tea store, both opened earlier in December. However, the most anticipated opening this month is Cache, a fine-dining spot featuring cuisine by chefs Payne Harding and Matthew Cooper, with an opening date of Dec. 31.
The two-story restaurant features a 10,000-square-foot space on the first floor with a bar and dining area that includes a view of the open kitchen. The second floor features a lounge with an open fireplace and a private dining space.
“The restaurant is a great anchor,” Tucker says. “It is going to be a destination restaurant. People are going to come from miles around to eat there.”
Little Rock insurance agency Meadors Adams & Lee will move its office into the building in January, and AMR Architects also has space in the building. Tucker says he hopes to fill the three remaining retail bays by the end of the first quarter of 2014.
The building also has a space for CALS’ archives and classrooms to be used by the Clinton School of Public Service, as well as a top-floor theater, which opens in January, that the Little Rock Film Festival will call home. The theater will also be available for CALS and Clinton School lectures.
The building will be linked by sky bridge to the Arkansas Studies Institute, a project executed by CALS executive director Bobby Roberts. The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and Main Library are other branches of the CALS network located in the River Market.
“[Roberts] has developed a campus that is the envy of any library system in the country,” Tucker says. “It’s a real anchor downtown.”
Other projects Moses Tucker has developed downtown include the Museum of Discovery, the Melton Building and the River Market building.
“It’s kind of like your children; you love all of them, but this one is unique because of its mixed uses and because it is a joint venture with CALS,” Tucker says.