Our Town

North Little Rock notebook

Marketing planned for former Rye site

With the demolition of the former Rye Wholesale Furniture Building, 201 Maple St., underway last week, the building's owners will start a new marketing plan for the property.

The Rye Building, built in the early 1970s, has served a variety of temporary purposes since the furniture company moved away in late 2005 -- and has been mentioned as a potential site for a hotel, the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. In its most recent years, however, it's been more of a vacant shell in North Little Rock's downtown Argenta district.

"It's one of the last eyesores in Argenta," said John Gaudin, whose New Argenta Fund partnership with Harold Tenenbaum and Greg Nabholz owns the property. "We want to clear it out and get aggressive with our marketing."

The city came close to owning the building when former Mayor Patrick Hays pushed through a land swap of four city-owned properties in exchange for the Rye Building in September 2010. The City Council deadlocked at 4-4 before Hays voted to break the tie to approve the property exchange.

The economic downtown and contaminated soil on one city property was blamed for delays in the deal being completed. Mayor Joe Smith let the transaction die at the end of last year rather than extend the agreement for a seventh time.

Chattanooga mayor set for Argenta talk

Chattanooga, Tenn., Mayor Andy Berke will be the keynote speaker at the Argenta Downtown Council's annual luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in North Little Rock.

The event, in its eighth year, is the Downtown Council's annual fundraiser to help it provide services within the city's Argenta downtown and promote downtown activities and businesses.

Berke, a former Tennessee state senator, was elected Chattanooga's mayor in March 2013. As mayor, Berke has called for establishing an innovation district of startup businesses, retail stores, new housing and public spaces in a walkable urban core.

Tickets to the luncheon are $100, or $1,000 for a table of 10. For tickets, contact the Downtown Council at argentadc.org or call (501) 993-1234.

Paragould students donate ship model

About 130 Greene County Tech Junior High School students in Paragould created a replica of the former USS Arkansas battleship and will donate it to the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock, the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau announced on its Facebook page last week. The bureau cited a report by Jonesboro television station KAIT-TV.

The battleship, launched in 1911, participated in both World War I and II, earning four battle stars in World War II, according to the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Decommissioned after the war, the ship became a target for atomic naval tests and sunk July 25, 1946, in the Bikini Atoll lagoon in the Marshall Islands.

The museum is to receive the replica Thursday, said Greg Zonner, the museum's executive director.

Metro on 06/07/2015

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