Little Rock will receive title to a $5 million sculpture to become the signature piece at the entrance of the to-be-renovated Arkansas Arts Center by erasing the debt of a downtown improvement district.
The decision was made official by the city Board of Directors at a meeting Tuesday evening with a unanimous vote.
In the deal, the Metrocentre Improvement District is releasing title to the Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge sculpture by renowned English artist Henry Moore in exchange for title to the land underneath its Sixth and Scott streets parking garage, as well as being released from any claim to unpaid rent over the years.
Little Rock paid $500,000 to purchase the land for the improvement district to operate the parking decks in 1984.
There was an agreement for the district to pay the city rent, but that never happened and the city did not pursue any remedy to collect that rent, City Attorney Tom Carpenter said.
Years ago -- before Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola's tenure as mayor -- the city attempted to calculate the past-due rent and it was more than $1 million at that time, Carpenter said. He does not know how much past-due rent is owed now.
Regular city government critic Russ Racop said he has calculated that past-due rent equals at least $3 million.
He told the city board before its vote Tuesday that the exchange was a "bad financial deal."
The improvement district acquired the Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge sculpture in 1978 for $185,000. The district's attorney, David Menz, said it was appraised in 2014 and valued at $5 million.
"The city comes out ahead," Stodola told Racop on Tuesday. "This is actually a very good deal for the city."
The sculpture currently stands in the courtyard of Union National Plaza at Fifth and Louisiana streets. It was moved there in 1999 and had previously been at Main Street and Capitol Avenue as part of the pedestrian mall project.
The Metrocentre Improvement District has plans to dissolve once its bonds are paid off in 2025.
At that point, all of its assets -- including the parking decks and the sculpture -- will revert to the city anyway, Menz and Stodola have said.
Stodola said that in order for the city to move the sculpture to the Arts Center grounds in MacArthur Park, the city needs to have it insured.
The city has to have title to the sculpture to properly insure it.
City Director Dean Kumpuris, a champion of art and culture in the city, said that even if the city wanted to collect back debt, there's a question on whether a court would cap the amount that had to be paid back at five years instead of the full 33 years.
"It's hard to think this is not a win-win for everybody," Kumpuris said. "First of all, if the bondholders ... went to the Metrocentre Improvement District and said sell our assets, they could sell the Henry Moore sculpture and it's sold to someone in New York City tomorrow and it's gone. ... We get the land, deck and Henry Moore [sculpture] and what they get is they don't have to fight about this the next six or seven years."
The Downtown Partnership operates the deck for the improvement district. Stodola has said when the deck becomes a city asset, there would likely be an agreement for the partnership to continue its operation.
Metro on 03/21/2018