A downtown plaza in North Little Rock will have a free-standing water wall, jetted fountains, oxbow lake-shaped berms, an audiovisual screen wall and a "front porch" complete with porch swings, according to a conceptual look of the planned plaza Mayor Joe Smith unveiled Monday.
The plaza area, along Main Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, has long been an idea of Smith's to create a public space that invites people to gather for festivals, lunches, visits, special events or to just relax outdoors.
"This plaza is really generating economic goodwill for our city," Smith said at Monday's City Council meeting, where the public got its first look at the latest plans through a PowerPoint presentation. "It's going to be a special place."
The conceptual design, which can still change, city Communications Director Nathan Hamilton said earlier Monday, was produced by Taggart Architects of North Little Rock and DLand Studio of New York City's Brooklyn borough. A "flyover video" of the concept can be seen on North Little Rock's website, nlr.ar.gov. The final version was completed Monday.
"We wanted everybody to see it," Smith said. "Give us your opinion as to what you think."
A pair of three-story buildings are proposed on the plaza's north side. One building the city will partner in constructing in order to relocate the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau on one floor, and Taggart is to relocate its offices to the building's third floor. A third tenant is to be announced later, Smith said. J. Chandler and Co. of Little Rock has a purchase option on the site adjacent to the plaza that would house a restaurant on its ground floor and possibly residences on its upper floors, Smith said.
Two other city-owned properties are also available for development, one behind, or east, of the plaza. Centennial Bank officials, which originally looked at the northeast corner at Main and Bishop Lindsey Avenue (Seventh Street), announced last week that the bank wouldn't relocate to that site. Part of the block to the east of that spot is taken up by the Rock Region Metro Streetcar Trolley Barn.
"My goal is to break ground sometime after the first of the year and have it open by Christmas," Smith said of the plaza. He added that he hoped the other two planned buildings follow the same schedule.
Though Smith has previously estimated a cost for the plaza near $3 million, a final cost isn't yet known as its features are still being priced, Hamilton said.
"We'll have a better estimate of the costs in a few weeks," Hamilton said.
Funds will come from money accumulated from the city's sale of other real estate in the past five years, Smith said. New revenue from a 1 percent city sales tax that city voters approved in August won't be used for the plaza, Smith said.
The design incorporated patterns of the oxbow lakes created by the Arkansas River on the city's east side, something the New York architects noticed in an aerial view of the city and wanted to include to localize the design, Hamilton said. The central "interactive water feature" of the lighted, jetted fountains and the grassy berms follow that pattern.
The water wall is projected to be 50 feet long and 20 feet high and will also be lighted, according to plaza information provided. The front porch concept is seen as a shaded spot to relax in, eat lunch or for scheduled festivals to convert into a home base for their event, Hamilton said. The audiovisual screen will be behind a stage next to the Heritage Building on the plaza's south side onto which movies, sports events and other shows can be projected.
"The water wall is the 'Wow!' factor," Hamilton said. "The oxbow-shaped fountains I've never seen before. The front porch, as you're driving along Main Street, you'll absolutely notice it.
"All of those are things that set us apart from anything else around here," he said. "It will be attractive to residents, visitors and, importantly, potential new businesses."
While the plaza has been commonly referred to as "Argenta Plaza" or the "Argenta Town Square," Smith announced that naming of the public space will be left to the city's residents.
"I thought it would be fun for our citizens to be part of helping us name this," Smith said. "We'll open it up on Facebook for your nominations."
Details of the naming contest will be announced sometime this week, Hamilton said.
Metro on 09/26/2017