Businesses haven’t been interested in the retail space available in Little Rock’s 12th Street Police Station that’s been empty for more than 2½ years, city officials say.
The $12.5 million police station opened in September 2014 with promises that at least four businesses would move into the ground-floor, mixed-use space on the Pine Street side of the station at 3917 W. 12th St.
Elected leaders and city staff members met with nearby residents in May 2015 to ask what they wanted to see in the space. Top choices were a farmers market, a bank or other financial institution, an entrepreneur center, a pharmacy, an art gallery, a coffee shop or a bakery.
But today there’s just concrete and almost 8,000 square feet of unfinished space waiting for occupants.
The city hired a real estate consultant in August to help it market the space. Officials told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette at the time that they had set a target goal for businesses to move in by early 2017.
City Manager Bruce Moore sent a memo to the Board of Directors last week saying the consultant has given tours, but no one has been interested in moving in.
He said several challenges have emerged.
“The most pressing concern is parking for customers and employees of the retail space,” Moore wrote.
The city has an agreement with the nearby Theressa Hoover United Methodist Church to build and share a parking lot that would serve retail customers, but construction hasn’t begun.
Even so, the lot would be about a block away from the building. Moore said the city is negotiating with another property owner to purchase a lot south of the station, which would be used for parking.
“Access to the building and signage are another challenge. Several potential tenants have looked at the space; however, they have expressed concerns regarding the distance from the parking lots to the front door of the space. In addition, the lack of a drive-thru window has hindered financial institutions from being interested in the property,” Moore’s memo said.
At the May 2015 community meeting, the chief executive officer of Southern Bancorp publicly expressed interest in locating a branch in the police station. Attempts to reach him last week to get an update on his company’s interest were unsuccessful.
The city has paid Charles Johnson, a consultant with Citadel Real Estate Services, $2,150 so far for his efforts to market the venue.
Moore’s memo said there were potential tenants and mentioned a meeting set up for the end of April to “explore this opportunity further.”
When asked who those potential tenants are, Special Projects Administrator Scott Carter said he, Moore and Ward 2 City Director Ken Richardson met with the 12th Street Health and Wellness Center Community Advisory board last week about possibly locating in the space.
He said the board members shared ideas and were interested in using public meeting rooms at the police station, but he didn’t say the group wanted to occupy any of the mixed-use retail space.
When asked how many businesses have expressed interest in looking at the space, Carter said Johnson “has given a couple of tours and had several phone conversations.”
At-large City Director Joan Adcock requested the update that Moore provided in the memo. She said last week that she thinks it’s time for the city to change its plans.
“I think we should go ahead and find another use for it within our Police Department. As they said, the parking is unbelievable over there. No one is going to want to walk a block or two,” Adcock said. “They told us before they had researched it and [there] would be lots of people wanting in there. One was a bank, but a bank wants [drive-thru] windows. Even these credit unions going in lots of areas, they have drive-thru windows also. I just don’t think our research was thorough enough in the beginning.”
Some police officers are stationed at the Willie Hinton Resource Center farther up 12th Street. Adcock suggested moving them into the police station to free up space and parking at the Hinton Center, where numerous neighborhood events and meetings take place.
Carter said the city “might consider” locating city services in part of the space, “but no firm decision” has been made.
Richardson, who represents the 12th Street area on the city board, advocated for the retail space to be included when the city announced plans to build the police station. The idea was that it would foster a better relationship between the community and police.
Richardson didn’t return several phone messages and text messages seeking comment last week.
Carter said in an email that Richardson has said he wants to have additional neighborhood meetings about the mixed-use space.
“They might be standalone meetings or part of other meetings,” Carter said. “The meeting on Thursday, April 27, [with the health and wellness center] was a meeting that involved community feedback for suggestions on potential uses.”