A 162-unit apartment complex planned for the center of North Little Rock's downtown will be built as a "fit" to the surrounding neighborhood for residents to "work, live, play" and contribute to the community, North Little Rock Planning Commission members heard Tuesday afternoon.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a site-plan review that showed the outside of the buildings, landscaping and lot dimensions on the vacant Prime Quality Feeds mill site between East Fourth and East Fifth streets and Poplar and Magnolia streets. A future planning review will detail the inside of the buildings.
The concept of Thrive Argenta, by the Fort Smith-based ERC multifamily and commercial real estate company, is for a three-story apartment complex that won't be "just an apartment complex," ERC representative Mary McGetrick told commissioners.
Similar Thrive developments can be found in Bentonville and in Jenks, Okla. The complexes can also offer mixed use of "small local businesses" on ground floors if needed, McGetrick said. The company's website, thriveerc.com, uses the tag line "live inspired" for the "urban lifestyle experience."
"Thrive is a work, live, play community," McGetrick told commissioners. "All of our Thrive communities are developed to contribute to the neighborhood and the community they are placed in. We like to fit our buildings to the community we move into.
"We're not just building an apartment complex," she said. "We want to contribute to the community."
The project also fits into Mayor Joe Smith's previously detailed vision of having a mix of dense residential developments to complement new retail businesses and restaurants that would border a planned town square on Main Street between East Fifth and East Sixth streets, one block from the apartment project's northwestern edge.
The public town square, to be developed and maintained by the city, would be modeled after the larger Sundance Square Plaza in the center of the 35-block Sundance Square shopping and entertainment district in downtown Fort Worth. Having an adjacent mix of residences and businesses would help support the North Little Rock public plaza and vice versa, the mayor has said.
The apartment complex will be geared toward "probably young professionals or younger families," McGetrick said, because of the dense living space. The similar apartment complexes in Bentonville have units that are 520 to 1,000 square feet, and the Jenks development has apartments that are 616 to 1,100 square feet, according to the company website.
There are plans for 86 spaces for on-site parking, with about 150 total spaces after available on-street parking is counted, McGetrick said.
"It's not one per unit," she said. "When it's a really dense, urban environment, you have to abandon that 1-for-1 ratio."
Danny Bradley, the mayor's chief of staff, said during a subdivision committee meeting before the full commission meeting that the street parking would be in public right of way and maintained by the city.
"They'll maintain everything behind the curb, the sidewalks, trees and landscaping," Bradley said of the property owner.
McGetrick emphasized that the apartments' location would allow tenants to be near the River Trail, which follows along the Arkansas River in both North Little Rock and Little Rock, as well as Metro Streetcar trolley stops. Verizon Arena and the Dickey-Stephens Park baseball stadium are both short walks from the location, and Little Rock's River Market entertainment district is right across the river.
"We hope some of our residents would recognize that," she said.
If future city requirements are met, a construction start date could be early to mid-summer, McGetrick said.
Metro on 03/15/2017