Board sees potential tech park in architect's renderings

Members of the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board on Wednesday afternoon were shown an architect’s renderings of what the park could eventually look like once construction is complete.

Chad Young, of WD&D Architects, presented the exhibits to four of the seven members of the board in its monthly meeting.

The renderings showed what the park would look like at its potential location, which the board approved last month.

On July 9, the board approved a parcel of land along Main, Scott and Fourth streets in downtown Little Rock, which would provide 540,000 square feet of buildable space. The site would feature three six-story buildings with skywalks accessing each building and a parking structure, which would accommodate approximately 1,000 cars, Arkansas Online previously reported.

Young’s renderings showed how the park would look with and without the the old Worthen Bank building, which currently houses KATV, Channel 7.

The possible demolition of the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has drawn some negative attention from historic preservationists, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Vanessa Norton McKuin, executive director of the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, attended Wednesday’s meeting and said she was encouraged to see that keeping the Worthen Bank building was among the architect’s options.

She also told the board that federal and state tax credits are available for the reconstruction of the building if it’s kept.

“There’s a 20 percent federal credit and a 25 percent state credit, which applies to qualified rehabilitation expenditures,” McKuin said. “I would encourage you to look into those, and I hope that [preserving the Worthen Bank building] will happen.”

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more on this story.