Despite being adjacent to the redeveloped riverfront, the Clinton Presidential library, and a sizable convention center, the traditional main street in Little Rock, AR, was largely neglected.
The main street did have one important asset: a professional repertory theater. “But,” says Mayor Mark Stodola, “they had no friends, they had no neighbors. I knew that if I could get the arts organizations to all congregate around the repertory theatre, perhaps we could create some synergy.”
The overall vision was that Main Street would become a Creative Corridor featuring several anchoring arts organizations, galleries, and artist housing in upper stories over ground-floor shops and restaurants all with low-impact development of the project streetscapes.
Now, with Phase I complete, the city is seeing a 50-to-one return on investment and new businesses are flocking to the downtown.
“The area has transformed,” Stodola says. “We’ve had over $100 million in investment in Main Street. The total public investment is about $1 million from the federal government and a little less than $1 million in terms of the city, some of it being for grant match.”
The full article appeared in our print edition. To always get the full story, read Downtown Idea Exchange.
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