Warren Stephens isn't the force behind a partnership wanting to build an arts center or museum in North Little Rock's downtown with the help of a city sales-tax increase, Stephens said Thursday through a spokesman.
Polling about the potential tax increase had prompted unconfirmed reports that the Arkansas Arts Center, with the possible private backing of Little Rock financier Stephens or his family, would relocate from Little Rock to North Little Rock to anchor the project that could also include a hotel and conference center. Specifics of the potential project have yet to be revealed.
Frank Thomas, Stephens' spokesman, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday that reports of involvement by the chief executive officer of Stephens Inc. are incorrect.
"Warren Stephens is not the person or entity behind the large donation that has been discussed in conjunction with the future of the Arkansas Arts Center," Thomas said.
Both the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation and North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith released prepared statements in the past two days addressing reports on the Arkansas Times blog, based on unnamed sources, that said a supposed $100 million project would involve moving the Arkansas Arts Center to North Little Rock and include a $40 million private contribution, primarily backed by the Stephens family.
The separate statements did acknowledge talks between the city and the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation, a separate nonprofit that owns and maintains the center's art collection.
Smith told the Democrat-Gazette on Thursday afternoon after returning from a one-day trip to San Diego on city business that a lack of details in the early stages of any project is "normal in this situation."
"For people interested in doing a project, whether it's ever so small or very large, they certainly don't want to be the one to have the spotlight on them until they're for sure that they want to take the next step," Smith said.
"I don't know if anything is ever going to come from it," Smith said about the possible project. "I anticipate this is either going to die a quiet death or everybody will know what's going on in, say, 30 days from now. The decision will have to be made to see whether the citizens of North Little Rock and the City Council want to go forward with it, or it will just go away."
About 400 North Little Rock households were polled by telephone within the past three weeks asking if they would support a 1 percent city sales tax that would go toward an arts center and museum complex. Smith said in a Democrat-Gazette article Jan. 24 that the project would be comparable in cost and scope to the $80 million Verizon Arena and would be on or near the Arkansas River in the city's downtown.
The project could include a hotel and convention center as well, Smith said at the time. The project would be funded as part of a public-private partnership supported by the tax increase and a private donation, he added.
When asked Thursday if the Arkansas Arts Center would be involved in the possible project, Smith said: "It would involve an arts center. That was what the poll said."
Smith said Thursday he hasn't been informed of the poll results.
Smith never identified Stephens as the private benefactor behind the suggested project connected to the sales-tax discussions, North Little Rock spokesman Nathan Hamilton said Thursday.
Stephens donated property and made other contributions toward the creation of the $40.4 million Dickey-Stephens Park baseball stadium that, in 2007, led to the relocation of the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team from its longtime home in Little Rock to North Little Rock's riverfront.
The Arkansas Arts Center Foundation's statement from Chairman Robert Tucker denied that there are any "current plans" to move the Arts Center to North Little Rock.
"The Foundation has had discussions with both Little Rock and North Little Rock to identify potential opportunities," Tucker wrote Tuesday night.
A statement by Smith on Wednesday cited his city's "long-time financial support" to the Arts Center, which he said would continue "no matter any decision they make regarding location." North Little Rock contributes $40,000 to the Arts Center annually.
"My conversations with the AAC Foundation about their future plans are exciting, welcome, and most importantly for everyone to remember, merely conversations," Smith's statement said.
Responding to the two statements, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola told the Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday that the two neighboring cities should "not try to steal each other's assets." Little Rock owns the Arts Center's building in MacArthur Park, appoints its board members and budgeted $550,000 to the center for this year.
"I'm sorry Mark feels like I did something wrong," Smith said Thursday. "I didn't. I always try to represent my city in the best way I possibly can."
Smith has previously confirmed that he was aware of the planned polling before it began, but said the city wasn't involved. The polling was done by a company Smith said he had been in contact with for "seven or eight months," but he wouldn't name the group behind it.
The City Council approved in December the sale of 5.8 acres of riverfront land, known as the Smarthouse Way property, so it could be marketed for development by a group of national companies. J. Fletcher Hanson III, chief executive officer of Newmark Grubb Arkansas, a real estate investment company in Little Rock, heads the purchasing group.
The Smarthouse Way property, however, isn't the site connected to the project involving a possible sales tax, Hamilton has said. The city owns other property just west of Verizon Arena about a block off Main Street.
A 1 percent sales tax would raise $16.2 million annually, according to North Little Rock's 2015 budget. If a sales tax is approved by voters, half of the revenue would be dedicated to the city's Police and Fire departments, Smith has said.
Consumers currently pay 8.5 percent in sales tax in North Little Rock, which breaks down to a 1 percent sales tax from the city plus 6.5 percent from the state and 1 percent from Pulaski County.
Metro on 02/06/2015