Fourth site proposed for LR Tech Park

The Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board heard a proposal for a fourth site at its monthly meeting Wednesday at the Jack Stephens Center.

The site, where a Sears retail building and auto center is currently located, is just north of Interstate 630 on South University Avenue. Coldwell Banker Commercial Senior Vice President Jim Hathaway presented the proposal.

"This is clearly as acceptable a site as you've had in front of you," Hathaway said.

Hathaway said the lease on the main Sears property was near its end, but the auto center's lease would not expire until 2017. He noted there is a provision in the lease that the easternmost 2.88 acres of the property can be sold with a year's notice if the owner believes the sale is beneficial. That land could be used to erect the first buildings of the technology park, Hathaway noted.

The proposed site is 12.53 acres, flanked by 5th Street to the west and University Avenue to the east. Consultant Charles Dilks, considered an expert in technology and research parks, also proposed to combine the site with an adjacent property south of I-630 on South University Avenue, known as the "Brandon Property." The five-acre Brandon Property, which at one time had been proposed as its own site, currently includes a parking lot and a three-story warehouse.

The total amount of land between the two proposed sites is around 18 acres, Hathaway said. The board has agreed to evaluate the land, despite the previous acreage requirement for a proposed site being 30 acres.

Hathaway also said the site should be considered because of the recent economic developments in the surrounding Midtown area as well as the widening of major roadways near University Avenue and Markham Street.

"This area has become a very strong, redeveloped area," he said.

In terms of accessibility, Hathaway said that his own experiment concluded that the travel time between the park to UAMS or UALR, the park's two major sponsors, is no more than four minutes and 20 seconds.

"If that other property can be made available, we should at least look at it," Board Chairman Mary L. Good said of the site.

The board is still considering the three already-proposed sites — one at 701 Collins Street, another at the southeast corner of Asher and University avenues and the third between 1911 and 2225 John Barrow Road. The introduction of the fourth site will not mean the dismissal of any of the other proposed sites.

"We are not throwing away the three sites we have, we're simply adding to it," Good said.

Good added that there is no timeline for selecting a location for the park.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more details.