Mullenix Unveils Rose Creek Station Project Near Arkansas Capitol

Lobbyist Ted Mullenix is renovating this house-turned-office-building. (Madeline Circle)

One of Arkansas’ most prominent lobbyists is moving his office from the Winthrop Rockefeller Building east of the Capitol to an office building he has renovated on a hilltop across Third Street.

Ted Mullenix, a former state legislator and longtime lobbyist, is renovating a house-turned-office-building north of the Capitol as part of a project called Rose Creek Station. Mullenix is hopeful the office building will be complete by Labor Day, he said.

The 13-acre property, which Mullenix assembled through multiple transactions for at least $2.8 million, will include about 6,000 SF of office space across two floors in a former house Mullenix said is about 100 years old. The house had been turned into apartments and then into office space but was nearly vacant, Mullenix said.

The property will also include a restaurant called Fork, headed up by Little Rock chef Ira Mittelman, in a space that previously housed Mexican eatery Mar y Tierra Cantina & Grill. Mittelman is the restaurateur who was behind two now-closed local favorites — Park Hill Grill in North Little Rock and Ira’s Restaurant in downtown Little Rock.

Mullenix said he is seeking investors in the project, which could include additional development.

Mullenix said the city of Little Rock has requested that he donate a portion of the property as a trail and that he is considering the proposition. The Rose Creek Trail would be an off-street paved trail connecting the Arkansas River Trail to Rose Creek Park, according to Maneesh Krishnan, the city’s interim public works director. The city is working with Mullenix, volunteer organizations and a design consultant on the project, Krishnan said.