Representatives from a real estate development company that met with the mayor's office last week are working with the owners of the old Walmart building attached to The Pines mall in an effort to redevelop the site for entertainment.
The old Walmart building was bought by Apex Cinema in 2020 to transform the vacant 90,000-square-foot space into a multi-screen movie theater and entertainment location.
Felix Waller, owner of Apex Cinema of Oklahoma, which has luxury-style theaters in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, said the region here was underserved by entertainment venues and that he wanted the city to buy the building and lease it to him.
Instead of leasing, however, Apex Cinema purchased the building, located at The Pines mall, for an estimated $450,000, according to Jefferson County real estate records in the assessor's office. According to the Arkansas Secretary of State website, Waller filed his company, Pine Bluff Digital Entertainment LLC, in November 2019, with the sale of the property occurring in December 2020. Public documents estimated Pine Bluff Digital Entertainment LLC would generate $202,276 in annual revenue and employ about 30 people at the Pine Bluff location. Waller has, however, never moved forward on the project.
According to a memo from the mayor's office, the Woodmont Co., a real estate development company based in Fort Worth, is also interested in working with other property owners whose buildings are attached to the mall, such as Dillard's, to redevelop the entire mall complex.
Woodmont intends to send a more-detailed outline of its vision to the Pine Bluff City Council to review in the coming weeks with potential ways that the city can support this project, according to the memo.
The Pines mall was previously scheduled to be auctioned in May but the sale was rescheduled to July 25-28, with a starting price of $1.5 million, according to the auction website Ten X.
The website states the sale of the mall, which sits on a 56-acre lot totaling 332,577 square feet built in 1986, will include the former Sears building, another building, and a 1.08-acre lot next to KFC, and a 4.5-acre lot in front of the Dillard's building.
The property is listed by David Elrod of Elrod Real Estate, which lists the property as providing a small income stream due to common area maintenance reimbursements from KFC and Red Lobster and the ability to rent the parking lot out for various events.
It also lists the eight-screen movie theater that was previously being leased by Rain Investments and a nail shop that has 12 pedicure stations.
The mayor's office also received two proposals from potential shelter managers. The memo states that the Opportunity House committee is meeting to review and score the proposals and will present a selection recommendation for review and approval to Development & Planning office once a viable candidate has been selected and vetted.
The city of Pine Bluff has applied for a U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration Statewide Planning Grant, which, according to the memo, is to help municipalities throughout Arkansas identify potential areas that would be excellent sites for industrial development.
The memo states the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration has selected the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to manage the statewide planning grant. As part of the grant, the Economic Development Commission will be contracting with a third-party consultant to perform site analysis and economic impact studies.
Pine Bluff identified the 500 acres at Grider Field, owned by the city, as a potential industrial park site.
The eligibility requirements include a site intended for industrial development that would have the necessary space for such a development.
Pine Bluff Transit was awarded a grant in the amount of $180,000. Cassandra Shaw, Pine Bluff Transit director, received notification from Sen. John Boozman's office on Wednesday that Pine Bluff Transit had been awarded an FTA Funding Grant, according to the memo.
The grant award is part of the Areas of Persistent Poverty Program that supports planning, engineering and technical studies or financial planning to improve transit services in any areas experiencing long-term economic distress.
Shaw said Pine Bluff Transit will use the funds for its Transportation Options to Accommodate Lives Project, which entails studying how transit can improve the lives of citizens within impoverished areas.