Plaza, projects in downtown North Little Rock hit snag

Coordinating all contractors cited

An artist’s rendering shows the proposed downtown North Little Rock plaza.
An artist’s rendering shows the proposed downtown North Little Rock plaza.

Construction on the Argenta Plaza and two adjacent, multistory buildings in North Little Rock won't get underway this month as city officials had hoped because of difficulties in coordinating the three different projects in a small area.

The $4 million Argenta Plaza, intended to feature oxbow-shaped berms and jetted fountains on Main Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, is projected as a centerpiece for outdoor public and private events in North Little Rock's downtown.

Behind the plaza, First Orion, a company that develops and sells software for cellphones, is to build its new headquarters in a five- or six-story building. A three-story building on city property at 600 Main St., just to the plaza's north, is to house the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and two private businesses.

"If we were just doing the plaza by itself we could start on it in 30 days, probably," Mayor Joe Smith said Tuesday. "Because we're trying to construct a $5 million building and a $15 million building and the plaza at the same time, that's slowed us down, because the coordination between all of the contractors is very complicated.

"I think we can do it all in 12 to 14 months," Smith continued. "Hopefully, by the summer of 2019, all of it will be finished."

Smith had earlier said the city was shooting for the plaza to be open to the public by Christmas, the first of the projects expected to be completed.

"It's all moving, but just not moving as fast as we wanted it to," said Danny Bradley, Smith's chief of staff who doubles as chairman of the Downtown Development Board that has been coordinating the property sales and will manage construction of the 600 Main building. "We're thinking that, by June, all three of them will be going."

Smith said he wants to get all the groundbreaking and "dirt work" done this summer, "before we lose our good summer construction weather."

Logistics have proved problematic, Smith said, because of the multistory First Orion building's close proximity to the plaza. Besides the grassy berms, according to early designs, the plaza is to also include a 50-foot-long freestanding water wall, intricate brickwork and jetted fountains inset into the pavement that, if put into place first, could be damaged by the adjacent construction work.

The First Orion building will require "big steel and big heavy machinery, so we have to work around that issue," Smith said.

"That project is going to have a huge economic impact on our community, so it's got to take precedent," he said about the First Orion venture.

Smith was to meet with architects later Tuesday afternoon and discuss budgets with planners, he said, but final drawings hadn't yet been completed.

"The architectural drawings are well on their way, but there's always something that pops up that slows things down," Smith said. "I think we could go out to bid the plaza [construction] in a week if we wanted to.

"We may have to make a few cuts here and there," Smith said about the budgeting process. "But I'm not going to give up quality."

Metro on 04/11/2018

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