CALS Should Buy Site (Letter to the Editor)

Your recent article () provides some interesting glimpses into the wrangling inherent in property development, specifically in terms of the mindset of "developers" and their disconnect with opposition to pet projects.

I had occasion to meet Jimmy Moses a few years ago during the initial construction phase of the First Security Building. He impressed me with his intelligence and his long-standing commitment to revitalize downtown Little Rock. But, although he profiles himself as an urban planner, he is first and foremost a developer.

The same goes for John McKibbon of McKibbon Hotel Group, who will own and operate the proposed hotel.

You have to understand, developers don't think like you and I. They exist in a world where an idea to acquire land for a building, if properly researched, planned and funded, should be all that is required to produce their latest project. Any private citizen or group outside of the development sector opposing the plan must be misinformed or simply lacking proper judgment. And, unless a planning commission or city council vote negates the proposal, it goes forward as scheduled.

Should the Aloft Hotel project be allowed to proceed, it will result in a garish, age-centric hotel catering to the 35-and-under set, one not in keeping with the universal mission and outreach programs of the Central Arkansas Library System campus.

My recommendation for CALS Director Bobby Roberts: Get with your board and your wealthier patrons and devise an alternate plan for the site, even if it means purchasing the lot without altering it. If you feel some sort of hostelry would enhance the campus, design a smaller property (say 50 rooms and suites) with a literary theme and ample meeting space that would include the 300-seat auditorium you have already discussed.

It would give a self-contained dimension to the various intellectual and educational happenings at CALS and provide the Arkansas Literary Festival additional facilities to utilize in taking that event to the next level.

The city of Little Rock should intercede and vote down this current proposal. If another hotel is needed in the River Market District, which is debatable at this time in this economy, Aloft isn't the one that should be developed.

CALS should decide what is to be built on that site, not a developer.   

Rick Rogers
Conway

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