A new batch of commercial and residential projects is dotting the redevelopment map of east downtown Little Rock. The area of activity east of Interstate 30 stretches from the East Village area south to the adjoining Hanger Hill neighborhood.
Most of the work is devoted to new construction cropping up on formerly fallow sites. An exception is the planned renovation of the historic Woodruff House at 1017 E. Eighth St.
Partners Steve Gardner and Gabe Holmstrom began working on the project even before they invested $115,000 to purchase the antebellum house and adjoining land 11 months ago.
“Why don’t we buy it?” Holmstrom remembers saying after years of looking at the property. “Things are picking up in the area. We think it’s the right time.”
He and Gardner were encouraged to take on the costly this-old-house endeavor by new developments in the area: the Artspace Windgate campus, touted as a $36 million project set to open in spring 2026 at 1102 E. Eighth St. across the street from the Woodruff House, and Brent and Tracy Cryder’s $5 million-plus Southern Tail Brewing at 900 E. Ninth St.
Ground was broken on Oct. 9 for the four-story Artspace Windgate project, with ground-floor commercial space, a 70-slot parking deck and 60 upper-floor residential units. The 11,000-SF Southern Tail Brewing opened Sept. 16.
Plans for the Woodruff House aren’t finalized, but Gardner and Holmstrom are looking at nine apartments. The configuration envisioned is three units on the ground floor, four on the second floor and two on the top floor.
Looking Back
The two-and-a-half-story house was built in 1853 for William E. Woodruff, founder of the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi: the Arkansas Gazette. Built in the Greek Revival style, the nearly 7,000-SF home was owned by the Woodruff family until 1891.
“I really enjoy those historic houses, bringing it back,” Gardner said. “But it’s expensive to bring it back to what it was.”
Estimated cost for restoring the Woodruff House?
“It’s impossible to say at this stage,” Gardner said. “Now we’re going to have to get serious about what rents we can get and make sure it’s viable and pull the trigger. Hopefully that will be fleshed out in the next six months.”
The former single-family residence has served as a boarding house for young women and apartments since 1921. The multifamily use began with the Cottage Home for Girls followed by the Colonial Club for Business Girls.
The boarding house layout featured 12 bedrooms, each housing two or three women. Later modifications expanded the floor plan to 14 apartments.
Gardner has looked at the property on behalf of would-be investors who considered redeveloping it into a boutique hotel and others who weren’t sure what to do with it because of the preservation restrictions and financial challenges.
“I’ve crawled underneath, and it’s built solid,” Gardner said. “We’re starting with a good base. It’s just going to take a lot of time and money to bring it back.”
The first step was forming plans that met the approval of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program and the Department of the Interior and ensured the project would qualify for state and federal tax credits.
Located in a designated opportunity zone, the project also qualifies for other tax credits, accelerated depreciation and no capital gains if the property is held for 10 years before selling.
Gardner and Holmstrom currently are working to gain some needed elbow room for a buffer by requesting the city partially abandon an alley on the southern property line that is practically at the edge of the house.
“It’s kind of a labor of love and makes you a little money,” Gardner said. “We’re willing to do it. We just need to figure it out.”
In Hanger Hill
South of East Ninth Street in the adjoining Hanger Hill neighborhood, Mike Orndorff has several projects in various stages of development.
“There’s a fair amount of energy going into this area,” he said.
Known for his recent development work in the Pettaway neighborhood on the west side of Interstate 30, Orndorff ventured to the east side to build three single-family homes now on the market. The 1,400-SF houses are at 1505 and 1507 Welch St. and 1411 College St.
Among other infill construction projects on the drawing board, Orndorff plans to build eight residential units at the southeast corner of Barber and 16th streets. The configuration is still taking shape, but he is eying two 600-SF houses and six possibly two-story residences, each under 1,000 SF.
He hopes to get all the infrastructure work squared away on the 0.34-acre site during the first quarter and start building.
At the southwest corner of College and 15th streets, Orndorff intends to develop several mixed commercial-residential buildings each in the 1,800-SF range. He’s looking to replicate layouts of small ground-floor commercial and upstairs residential that proved popular in his nearby Pettaway neighborhood projects.
“We’re still hashing it out,” Orndorff said.
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