Nearly 18 months to the day have passed since an EF3 tornado slammed into Little Rock’s Pavilion in the Park on March 31, 2023.
Ever since that supercell battering, the three-story structure has operated as a hybrid: part construction site and part office-retail center.
Matthew Dearnley, a member of the ownership-management team at the landmark property, hopes that a return to normal is less than a year away at 8201 Cantrell Road.
A January insurance payout finally let the storm repairs begin taking shape in earnest, he said. On any given day, 20-30 construction workers are making repairs to the exterior as well as inside.
The building’s HVAC system is working again, and roof repairs recently were completed on the southern portions of the 82,000-SF mixed-use project. Work shifted to the northwest roof the week of Sept. 16.
“We’re getting there,” Dearnley said. The goal is completion by spring for all repairs, including work on its complex roofing system’s concrete tiles and glass skylight.
“The big piece will be getting the skylight glass replaced,” said David Porter, CEO of Little Rock’s Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. “It took a while to determine what needed to be done. We weren’t sure whether the damage was structural or if it was framing or glass. Thankfully, it’s only glass.”
However, damage to the framing will require a full replacement of the northern glass curtain wall on the front of the building.
“The major damage was to the roof and skylight,” Porter said. “Our work was really involved with a re-pair assessment. That took a lot of forensics, if you will.”
Totaling about 12,800 SF, the skylight largely consists of 4-foot-by-4-foot pieces of custom glass. In all, 214 out of the 875 or so pieces require replacement.
Each piece of glass was inspected to identify and size damaged pieces for a replacement order and determine which pieces needed to be repaired by resealing only. The work will entail a full re-cap and re-caulk of the remaining system.
“We’ll be north of $10 million,” Dearnley said of the expected total restoration price.
That figure, greater than its $4.2 million purchase price in April 2012, encompasses renovation work to upgrade the property, too.
Among the aesthetic items on the to-do list are upgrading the interior lighting, soundproofing to improve the acoustics of the atrium, restroom upgrades and improved space to support events.
“We’re looking to add some sparkle for the tenants,” Dearnley said. “The ability to host events and activities is one of the reasons they want to be here in the first place.”
Shawn Carroll, partner and sen-ior vice president at Little Rock’s East-Harding Inc., said the “biggest dance” was working with the owner and tenants to keep the building open as much as possible while en-suring that everyone was happy and safe.
Part of that dance required the general contractor to build temporary corridors of strandboard, plywood and mesh safety fence framed with 2-by-4 studs to allow protected passage beneath the atrium area.
“That’s what we’re excited about taking down [in the coming months],” Dearnley said.
On Thanksgiving, construction will close down for the holidays until after New Year’s Day to allow merchants to operate without the distraction.
The original vision of Pavilion in the Park was to capture the ambiance of a European hilltop village, with different storefronts for each merchant opening onto the indoor streetscape of the atrium.
While the retail-centric tenant mix has expanded to include more offices over the years, maintaining the project’s historic vibe remains at the forefront in the renovation.
“I’m excited to be a part of reintroducing the property,” Porter said. “Our firm designed the project originally. That’s a personal opportunity for us to take care of that building, to bring it back refreshed and repaired.”
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