Plans have changed for the redevelopment of a historic building in downtown Hot Springs.
The Thompson Building and the Dugan-Stuart Building will both become hotels on the recommendation of a consultant group, said Robert Zunick, one of three partners in development company TKZ LLC.
Plans for the redevelopment project, announced in June, had the Dugan-Stuart Building, 344 Central Ave., becoming a residential and retail space, possibly including vacation rental units.
"We had a hotel consulting group ... do a market analysis and they recommended that we do hotels in both buildings," Zunick said in an email. "They will operate under the same banner and the Dugan Stuart will be more of a suites/extended-stay property."
The Thompson Building, 422 Central Ave., is still to become a 62-room hotel with a business and fitness center.
He said the hotels will be managed by one team and that negotiations are ongoing "for a franchise to affiliate with."
Both buildings will have ground-floor retail spaces.
In June, work on the properties was expected to start this fall and be completed in 2015. Zunick did not say whether the construction dates have changed.
TKZ estimated in June that the cost of the redevelopment of the buildings would range between $5 million and $10 million.
The development group purchased the buildings in June from the Wheatley family for $2.5 million.
Both the Thompson and Dugan-Stuart buildings, each five stories, are on the National Register of Historic Places, said Jim Fram, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce.
The Thompson building was built in 1913 in a neoclassical style by George R. Mann, the main architect of Arkansas' Capitol. The Dugan-Stuart Building was built in 1904.
Fram said the project by TKZ LLC is one of several redevelopment projects in Hot Springs.
Regions Bank is remodeling a downtown building and there are plans to convert the historic Hale Bathhouse into a boutique hotel and restaurant, he said. Hot Springs National Park officials were not available Friday to comment on the Hale Bathhouse plans.
"It's kind of a domino effect," Fram said, adding that the project by TKZ will give the city the more retail spaces, development of historic buildings and ability to "put visitors in an upscale room."
Business on 09/20/2014