Work has begun in downtown North Little Rock on the $10 million First Orion headquarters site and the city-owned, $4 million Argenta Plaza that will be in front of First Orion just off Main Street.
The 42,000-square-foot plaza will be on the east side of Main Street between Fifth and Sixth streets. First Orion, a company that develops and sells software for cellphones, will relocate from Little Rock into the planned five-story building directly behind the plaza.
A short ceremony was held Thursday morning to note the start of work. Construction equipment was placed on the properties shortly afterward. Construction is scheduled to be completed on both within a year, city officials said.
The plaza is also to have a mixed-use building that will house a restaurant on the plaza's north side. No tenant has been named yet.
Just to the north of the restaurant building, the North Little Rock Convention and Visitor Bureau's new headquarters is planned to be built as part of a three-story building that will include the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association and Taggart Architects, with a rooftop deck. Each tenant will take up its own floor in the building.