KATV, Channel 7, the ABC affiliate that will be moving this year from its longtime base at Main and Fourth streets in Little Rock for a new home in the Riverdale section, has already departed its River Market outpost, where it produced “Good Morning Arkansas” for the past several years.
The studio space, at President Clinton Avenue and Ottenheimer Plaza, is being advertised by Newmark Moses Tucker Partners of Little Rock. Matthew Beachboard, a Newmark associate, confirmed Thursday that the property is still available for lease.
Officials for the station declined to answer questions about the move, but station General Manager Mark Rose told Whispers in December that the move to Riverdale had been delayed from last spring by the COVID-19 pandemic but would proceed this year.
KATV got a city variance in 2019 for a higher transmission tower at the Riverdale site, former home to the Arkansas Student Loan Guarantee Foundation.
After renovations, the station will occupy a two-story, 22,000-SF building built in 2006 for the foundation. The station paid $4.4 million for the Turtle Creek building and 4 acres.
The move out of the River Market studio is presumed to be a precursor to KATV’s bigger move from 401 Main.
That two-story masonry structure was dedicated in 1928 as the new headquarters of Worthen Bank. The neoclassical-art deco building, which KATV acquired in 1969, was designed by George R. Mann, the architect known for the Arkansas State Capitol and dozens of notable buildings in Little Rock. 401 Main was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, and the station has indicated it will go on the market after the move.
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