Real estate listings for condos inside the Citizen's Bank Building in Hot Springs show the building's exterior and renderings of a kitchen "fit for a chef with top of the line appliances."
Downtown Hot Springs had a big 2015, marked by new investment following the Majestic Hotel fire in 2014, and 2016 could bring more residential real estate projects to the Spa City.
Cole McCaskill, downtown development director for the Hot Springs Metro Partnership, said last year saw 15 commercial real estate transactions and more than $21 million in capital investment downtown, including more than $8 million in sales.
A majority of the redevelopment is residential space, which McCaskill said is severely lacking.
Much of the development was prompted by the February 2014 fire that destroyed the Majestic Hotel, an iconic, historic building. The disaster prompted city leaders to create a plan to prevent future fires and encourage new investment in the district.
Since then, there have been more than 20 commercial real estate transactions downtown, McCaskill said. Some are smaller buildings, but others are “very significant,” and all have plans for redevelopment, he said.
In all, downtown also saw 19 new businesses open in calendar year 2015 while only five closed. “It’s a huge trend up from past years,” McCaskill said.
In 2014, there were only seven commercial real estate transactions, about $3 million in sales and three new businesses downtown, according to McCaskill.
People like Jason Taylor aim to reverse the trend. Taylor purchased the seven-story 22,400-SF First Federal Building, also known as the Citizens Building, at the corner of Central Avenue and Bridge Street downtown in July for $1.1 million, according to property records.
He’s currently working to convert it into condominiums with a restaurant on the ground floor.
“It’s kind of an identity-changing project downtown,” McCaskill said. “It’s meeting needs that are called out for in our new downtown strategic plan, which asks for a big bump in residential living downtown. They’re preselling condos in that building, and that is going to be the upper-highest end that the market will bear in Hot Springs.”
Taylor said that in 2015, more money was spent on commercial real estate in downtown Hot Springs than in the 10 previous years combined. He plans to have the Citizens Building’s residential space and restaurant finished sometime in the spring.
One of the six residential spaces in the building has been presold after about two weeks on the market.
“I think there’s been a need for [residential space] for a long time; there just hasn’t been the interest from developers,” Taylor said.
The Citizens Building has seven floors, the bottom two with 4,800 SF each and the third with 3,200 SF. The remaining floors are 2,400 SF apiece.
The fourth and fifth floors will each have two units; the sixth and seventh floors will be their own units. Prices range from $325,000 to $1 million, Taylor said.
The seventh-floor unit will feature 16-foot ceilings with an elevator that opens directly into the space, giving it a “New York feel,” according to Taylor.
Taylor is promising a high-end restaurant on the first floor, featuring a wood-fired grill. He said he couldn’t yet disclose the restaurant’s name.
“There’s not a lot of downtown residential,” McCaskill said. “There’s no downtown luxury residential. So they’re wanting to come in at the very top and get a taste of what the market was there. They wanted to capture the people who could pay the most for a downtown spot.”
‘A Ton of Private Interest’
Other new developments in downtown Hot Springs include a new bank branch, a couple of bed and breakfasts and additional, but smaller, condo developments and downtown living. Most of the residential spaces will be anchored by retail on the first floor.
“There is a ton of private interest and reinvesting in downtown Hot Springs,” McCaskill said. “A lot of the people buying property have a connection to the city, kind of a nostalgic thing. They want to do their part and bring it back to its glory days.”
McCaskill said that most of the work currently planned or underway will be finished within the next four years, with many of the projects completed before then. Among them: renovation of the Austin Convention Hotel & Spa, set to be finished early this year. The project will remodel 196 rooms and 7,000 SF of meeting space, and add 5,000 SF of meeting space and a restaurant and lounge called The Inside Track. The hotel is also changing its name to The Hotel Hot Springs & Spa.
Taylor is also working on two other projects, but said he can’t yet release details. But one is a 17,000-SF building that he expects to close on within the next two weeks. He plans to convert it into an entertainment and bar space. A second project includes more loft condos with first-floor retail and a restaurant.
Even with new investment and renovation, planners are aiming to retain downtown’s historic patina.
“I’m reluctant to say that downtown will look totally different because it’s got the historic feel and as many people as we put downtown it still won’t change the look that much, but I think it’ll feel different,” McCaskill said. “There will be more of a vibrancy downtown.”
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