Newmark Moses Tucker, Doctors to Spend $35M to Redevelop Kmart Store

A rendering of the planned Premier Medical Plaza, a 45,000-SF facility at the site of the vacant Kmart on Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock.

(A correction has been made to this article. See end for details.)

Newmark Moses Tucker Partners of Little Rock on Thursday announced plans for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of the vacant Kmart store at 10901 Rodney Parham Road into a medical plaza.

The commercial real estate firm said it has teamed with Premier Gastroenterology Associates of Little Rock to create the “Premier Medical Plaza,” a $35 million facility that will add 100,000 SF of new space to the market.

Chris Moses, president and CEO of Newmark Moses Tucker Partners, told Arkansas Business that there were already several medical groups considering becoming tenants.

“The renovation will include a complete new look for the property both inside and out,” Moses said in a news release. “The Kmart store will not be recognizable once the exterior improvements to the building are complete. In addition, the center will have a new parking lot with extensive landscaping, a new entry off both Rodney Parham and Shackleford Roads and signage. It will transform not only this largely vacant center but also the neighborhood around it.”

Plans call for demolition and environmental work to start in 30 days, with full construction underway by early 2019. The building is set to open by summer 2019.

The architect for the project is WER of Little Rock, the general contractor is Clark Contractors of Little Rock, and construction financing is being provided through First Arkansas Bank & Trust of Jacksonville.

“The facility’s name will recognize its owner and principal occupant, Premier Gastroenterology Associates of Arkansas, who will occupy approximately 45,000 SF of space in the building,” Premier CEO Bill Greene said in the release. “This is an ideal location for our physicians and the thousands of patients we see each month from the greater Little Rock area and around the state.”

Partners in Premier, a physician-owned practice, include Drs. Terence Angtuaco, Angelo Coppola, Dhaval Patel, Paul Svoboda, Steve Jones, Brian Hughes and David McElreath.

(Correction, Sept. 27, 2018: The bank financing the construction was incorrect in the original article.)