TWENTY YEARS IN, RIVER MARKET KEEPS ROLLIN’ ON THE RIVER
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BY DWAIN HEBDA PHOTOS COURTESY MOSES TUCKER REAL ESTATE
sked to describe downtown Little Rock’s pre-River Market era, real estate developer Jimmy Moses paused. Given the runaway success and rampant development that has transpired there over the past 20 years — inspiring projects from North Little Rock’s Argenta District to South Main Street Little Rock along the way — it’s a tall order.
“Well, if you kind of go back to the first half of the 1990s,” began the founder and chairman of Moses Tucker Real Estate, “before anything began, East Markham Street, now President Clinton Avenue, was mostly a boardedup and largely deserted old commercial district. There was a casket company on the corner, LaHarpe Office Furnishings and further down the street, what was called the Terminal Building.” That two out of three businesses Moses mentioned evoke images of death is fitting. Photos from that era reveal a streetscape right out of a zombie movie: stark, crumbling brick buildings and weedy, empty sidewalks perched hard against the searing Arkansas sky, utterly devoid of life or promise. Little Rock’s downtown had suffered the same fate as many cities during the 1970s and 1980s as
ON THE WATERFRONT — Downtown’s River Market lights up the neighborhood. A steady influx of new residential and hotel construction sidles next to bars and restaurants to make the district a 24/7 attraction.
economic meltdowns and the rise of ancillary neighborhoods drained the life from the city’s core like topsoil ferried away by a hundred-year flood. “Prior to 1995, I remember the east side of Main Street was pretty much a ghost town,” said Mayor Mark Stodola. “I remember walking down there and there were these old warehouse buildings, most of them boarded up or they were certainly underutilized, and there were a couple that were open where you could get some used furniture. That was it, basically.” Twenty years later, a stroll through the River Market on any given day is to see everything an urban neighborhood should be: a thriving corporate enclave, home to a growing horde of urban denizens and a showcase of activities for all ages. The sparkling new condominiums and apartments nestle against office space carved out of historic buildings or encased in steel and glass. The River Market is unquestionably a 24-hour operation; most evenings, music throbs out of local venues or wafts through
the twilight from the First Security Amphitheater, tinged with hundreds of aromas from $50 ribeyes to food truck tacos al pastor. “We’ve had communities like Jackson, Mississippi, come up and ask, ‘How did you all do this? And not only how did you get it started, but how have you been able to maintain it?’” said Bruce Moore, Little Rock city manager. “I think there’s a few reasons. One, we continue to focus on it. We know it’s an integral part of our city, so we’ve got to continue to ensure it’s a safe place and that it fosters and enhances the quality of life where people not only want to work down there, they want to live down there.” The River Market as an economic strategy was not a novel undertaking — lots of cities across the country took a shot at similar projects to help jump start their local economies — but Little Rock’s success makes the district a model for others to follow. If it’s not the best development the city’s ever seen, it’s certainly in the conversation. “When prospective customers come to see our headquarters, they are flabbergasted by what, sometimes, I think Little Rock takes for granted,” said Rush Harding, CEO of Crews & Associates. “When we have people from other state capitals in the South and they see the bustle and the energy and the activity, they’re incredulous that ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT www.arktimes.com www.arktimes.com
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