
The developer of the proposed massive $346 million plan for North Little Rock told Whispers that his development project for Hot Springs remains in the works. “We absolutely are not turning away from anything in Hot Springs,” Mike Halupka, president and CEO of Altis Capital of Hot Springs, told Whispers last week. “It wasn’t all talk.”
Way back in March 2020, just as the pandemic began, Halupka told us that his company was raising $30 million for an entertainment project in Hot Springs. And he hoped to have the first phase of the multiphase project opened just before the summer of 2021.
But COVID put the plans on ice.
“What I can say is I’ve been meeting with some local groups about some plans that we’re wanting to take effect, most likely by the end of this year,” he said. “We haven’t located anything or identified anything. We just know that we don’t want to outright leave Hot Springs as an option. We just had to shift things around post-COVID.”
In the meantime, Halupka said the North Little Rock project is moving forward.
“We have financing set up for a draw scheduled to be assigned soon,” he said.
About three months ago, a finance group from Florida agreed to fund the $346 million project, Halupka said, but he declined to name the group.
He said the project would add 6,000 jobs, not the 7,000 listed on the company’s website.
He also declined to say where the development would be located. “We want to make sure we release things as we have solid information,” Halupka said. “Otherwise, your other reporters will say, ‘It’s all talk.’”