Colonial owner calls for improvements to downtown intersection

Downtown business owner Rik Gale talks about his ideas for the fountain area at the north end of Central Ave., Wednesday, April 17, 2019.
Downtown business owner Rik Gale talks about his ideas for the fountain area at the north end of Central Ave., Wednesday, April 17, 2019.

The redevelopment of the Majestic Hotel site has been at the center of civic debate, but a downtown business owner says improving the adjacent intersection is just as vital to the area's future.

Rick Gale's proprietorship of the Colonial Pancake and Waffle House affords him an up-close perspective of where Central, Park and Whittington avenues converge. Spending his formative years growing up on Whittington Avenue and at the upper Central Avenue restaurant his family has owned since 1962 gives him an appreciation of the hub's significance to the character of downtown.

He can remember when the crossroads of downtown was the gateway to Hot Springs. While he sees its past in vivid hues, Gale sees an even brighter future for the intersection. Artist renderings he commissioned envision elevated walkways spanning streets, water features in the median and a new fountain at the center.

"People are looking for something to look at," he said, explaining that the success of the Majestic project will be a function of what's done at the intersection. "I've lived here my whole life and grew up five blocks away. This part of town, in my opinion, is ready to bust wide open. There's property for sale all up through here."

The boom times Gale foresees are a prediction shared by many who participated in public input sessions the city held earlier this month. Whether it's the site of a luxury hotel, thermal pools or transcendent civic space, the Majestic property is seen as a catalyst for downtown investment that will reverse the flight of financial and human capital Gale said began when the city's commercial center migrated south in the 1980s.

Iconic was a descriptive common to many of the comments and suggestions offered at the sessions. Divergent concepts and ideas were expressed, but the hope that something iconic will occupy the 101 Park Ave. site was a unifying thread.

Gale doesn't see a hotel as the realization of that hope.

"I feel like (the Majestic site) is one of the most valuable, sought-after pieces of property in Arkansas, but that doesn't mean stick a $200 million hotel on top of it," he said. "Whatever you put there, you need to make a legacy to your children. To me a hotel there isn't a legacy. That's just another building. Put a big old tower there, a walkway going across there and one over to a parking lot.

"We need an attraction down here. Not a hotel."

Gail said he hopes whatever happens comes into focus soon. August will mark the fourth anniversary of the city's acquisition of the 5-acre property. The hotel was shuttered in 2006. Buildings that survived a 2014 fire were demolished in 2016, and the state certified the property as free from environmental liabilities in October.

The city said a redevelopment plan could emerge as soon as September. That's the target date for selecting a proposal from those offered in response to the solicitation the city plans to issue next month.

"I just want to see some movement," Gale said. "It's been over four years now, and it's time to move. If they sold it four years ago, there would be a hotel standing there right now. Just do something."

Local on 04/22/2019

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