Architect shows off tech park designs

Correction: Chad Young, vice president of Wittenberg, Delony and Davidson Architects, showed the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board renderings of two site plan options Wednesday. The name of the architecture firm was misspelled in this story.

An architect presented renderings of the future downtown technology park Wednesday, but said that more research must be done before he can recommend whether the historic KATV building should be torn down or restored for the tech park's purposes.

Chad Young, vice president of Wittenber, Delony and Davidson Architects, showed the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board drawings of two site plan options at the board's evening meeting -- one that integrated the 1928 building into the plans, and another that didn't.

The board voted last month to locate the tech park in and adjacent to a downtown city block between Main and Scott streets off Capitol Avenue that includes the KATV studio, which is the former Worthen Bank Building and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. An initial proposal that called for the demolition of that building drew opposition from preservationists.

The rendering of what the tech park could look like if the KATV building were kept includes putting an eight-story, 160,000-square-feet office building between the KATV building and a cluster of buildings that includes the Mays, Byrd and Associates law firm as well as the Exchange Bank Building and its annex. The Exchange Bank Building is also listed on the national historic register.

Currently, a parking lot separates the studio and the law firm.

A second rendering showed the KATV building demolished and a 192,000-square-foot building in its place and the parking lot. This option allows for extra square footage but wasn't necessarily preferred by the board.

"Being able to preserve [the KATV building] would give an added feature to what downtown is all about," board member C.J. Duvall said.

That led board member Kevin Zaffaroni to ask if the building would be gutted and just the outside restored if the board decided not to demolish.

"That's essentially the path I would recommend you go down if you kept the KATV building," Young responded. "Basically, keep the shell, maybe put a new roof on it. ... I think that's the path to take. It'd be a clean slate on the inside."

Vanessa McKuin, the executive director at the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas, told the board she was relieved to hear that keeping the building is still an option.

"I'm encouraged to see that there's consideration being given to keep the KATV building, the historic Worthen Bank Building," she said, adding that there is a 20 percent federal tax credit and a 25 percent state tax credit available for the rehabilitation of historic buildings.

In a letter she sent to the tech park board last month on behalf of the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas' board of directors, she wrote that the KATV building "is a significant piece of Main Street's and Little Rock's identity because of its association with one of the state's oldest businesses and because of its architectural quality and design by George R. Mann, the principal architect of the State Capitol."

She also said that a critical component of creating a sense of place, which is a stated goal for the tech park, is "retaining distinctive structures that give people an authentic understanding of where they are -- that they are some place with history, some place that matters."

"The Worthen Bank Building already contributes to the genuine sense of place on Main Street," her July 21 letter said.

Scott Walters, rector at Christ Episcopal Church at Scott Street and Capitol Avenue, also attended Wednesday's meeting to voice concerns about the direction the tech park designs are headed.

He questioned the need for the 800-space parking garage planned for a half block along Scott Street between Capitol Avenue and Fourth Street.

"It begins to feel like Scott Street is the alley," he said, noting there is already a large parking lot at Scott and Capitol.

Young said the first floor of the tech park garage would be retail or office space and that the facade of the other levels would look like office space.

In response to the concerns of Walters and McKuin, Zaffaroni said this was a healthy discussion to have.

"Let's get this out at this point so we can build allies for this park instead of debating this stuff," he said, before directing his comments to Walters. "To me, if I was sitting at that [church] property, I'd say this is a hell of a lot better than we have today."

Metro on 08/14/2014