Downtown Little Rock's Creative Corridor -- a redeveloped area that encompasses the 100-600 blocks of Main Street -- has been in the works for years, though visible signs of improvement began to surface in earnest just late last year.
On Monday, city leaders and officials from other governmental entities will gather at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, at 601 Main St., to show off completed sections of the corridor's Low Impact Development streetscape in the 100-300 and 500 blocks.
Fetching and environmentally friendly aspects now noticeable at street level include bioswales -- landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water -- as well as porous pavers, rain gardens and biodiverse vegetation. The corridor also is offset by public art installations, all intended to designate the strip as a hub of pedestrian activity, sociability, recreation and aesthetics.
"It makes it a more friendly place and more walkable, more livable," said Gabe Holmstrom, executive director of the Little Rock Downtown Partnership.
"People feel safe, and they are safe," Holmstrom continued. "I think all these things create a culture that will attract people, and there are businesses that are going to want to be where the people are."
The intent of the Creative Corridor is to reclaim long-neglected Main Street as an arts district with a smattering of cultural amenities -- galleries and performance arts organizations plus creative companies, such as the recently relocated Cranford Co. and CJRW, both advertising and marketing firms, and M-3 Productions, formerly Jones Film & Video. Plans also call for affordable housing above street level, a rarity at this point in Main Street's revitalization.
Coming soon to the 400 block: the Little Rock Technology Park, a $22 million investment in the Creative Corridor that is expected to attract budding technology companies to the downtown area. Upward of $100 million in private-public investment had been constructed, committed or planned for the corridor, the city has said.
When CJRW first considered a move from its former location on Capitol Avenue three years ago, co-founder Wayne Woods convened his top 11 professionals in a room to weigh in on five or six potential new locations.
CJRW Chairman and CEO Darin Gray, who was not with the firm at the time the decision was made, said the informal committee members agreed that the Creative Corridor is the place to be.
"The Creative Corridor is where it's going to happen," Gray said. "This is where the restaurants are and retail will be."
A representative for competitor Cranford Co., located at the other end of the block, agreed.
"There's an energetic atmosphere here that seems to be growing every day," Cranford Co. principal Jay Cranford said of the corridor.
"It's always been our mission to bring Madison Avenue-quality advertising to Main Street," Cranford added, "and we've been longtime supporters of the arts community and downtown, so having our office in the Creative Corridor, plus the upcoming technology park, made this the perfect place for us to establish Cranford Co."
The project has long been a goal of Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, he said in a public invitation posted on the city's website Friday.
"Returning Main Street to a vibrancy reflected by bustling activity, buildings with sidewalk cafes and people both young and old engaged in lively conversation as they leisurely stroll down its sidewalks is now becoming a reality," the mayor said in his post.
The redevelopment of the section of Main Street has been a shot in the arm for attracting other businesses. Property values are on the rise and the two restaurants on Main -- Samantha's Tap Room and Wood Grill and Bruno's Little Italy -- are doing a healthy business, Stodola said.
"It's been a great, great economic injection of energy and money and has resulted in a lot of people making money, too," Stodola added in a telephone interview.
After a presentation at The Rep, those attending Monday's event are invited to tour the streetscape and attend an arts open house and reception at The Rep's new space and areas leased by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Arkansas, Matt McLeod Fine Art, and Cranford Co.
Business on 09/12/2015