Opinion: First ticket to Little Rock toughest to buy

While Springfield Business Journal staff members didn’t fly on our recent trip to Arkansas’ capital city, I have to agree with the above sentiment expressed numerous times during our stay.

Why? Mostly because the red carpet was laid out for the 200-plus Alliance of Area Business Publication members who invaded the city during the first weekend in June. Our host colleagues, Arkansas Business Publishing Group, had a lot to do with the southern hospitality bestowed upon us.

Starting with the welcoming reception at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Arkansans pulled out all the stops for us.

We stayed at the city’s most prestigious property: The Peabody Hotel. While it’s not the original – that’s found in Memphis, Tenn. – it was complete with the famed ducks, the hotel’s only permanent guests. The ducks live in a rooftop greenhouse called “the penthouse” and are ushered into the lobby water feature at 11 each morning and back to the rooftop at 5 each evening.

It’s a grand event that some travelers plan their days around. A hotel staff member dressed in a fancy red coat escorts the ducks up and down the main elevators and rolls out a red carpet for each trip. All the while, the King Cotton March is playing.

It’s a sight to see.

$1B in development

On that same glass elevator just occupied by the ducks, you can’t help but notice redevelopment and new construction throughout downtown Little Rock. The first condo high-rise is emerging and will add to the area’s several hundred existing residential units, mostly lofts. Across the river in North Little Rock, dirt is cleared in the shape of a diamond. It could only be the new home for the city’s Arkansas Travelers Double A baseball team.

Redevelopment of The Capital Hotel across the street from The Peabody could soon create healthy competition and add to the district’s 2,000 new or refurbished hotel rooms.

There is a River Market District and a fantastic trolley system.

This is just some of the evidence that downtown Little Rock is going through a rebirth. Officials claim $1 billion in economic development has occurred since the Clinton Center was announced in 1997.

By comparison, Springfield’s downtown is doing well; sure we can’t claim $1 billion in economic development, but Springfield can’t claim a U.S. president, either.

As we went to press with this issue, Springfield city officials and downtown developers were meeting to discuss investor confidence in downtown and Jordan Valley Park. It’s good to know they aren’t satisfied because despite all the progress, there is still much work to be done. Retail continues to be sluggish, highlighted by the recent decision of Ashley Ramsdell to move her Prima Donna boutique out of the Holland Building on the square.

Retail is scarce in Little Rock, too; there were no drug stores or clothing shops within walking distance of our hotel – only gift shops and restaurants.

Interestingly, Springfield’s population is not that different from Little Rock’s – roughly 150,000 vs. roughly 180,000.

Governor sighting

The conference hosts even brought Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in for two events: the welcoming reception at the Clinton Center and a luncheon, where the governor was keynote speaker.

Huckabee pointed out that this AABP conference coincided with Wal-Mart’s annual shareholders’ meeting a few hours to the northwest of Little Rock. Speaking about Wal-Mart as an asset for the state, Huckabee noted how the retailer’s Saturday morning business meetings were more like Pentecostal church services. There, he said, executives always opened the meetings saying, “We’re only as good as next week’s sales.”

As I sat there in historic Little Rock, I thought, “That’s exactly the same as my business.” SBJ is only as good as our next issue. That’s my pledge to you – to produce a better paper each time it’s sent through the press. And that’s my weekly emphasis to the editorial department.

There are some things with Wal-Mart that I don’t agree on. This is not one.

By the way, don’t be surprised if Huckabee decides to run for president, as the rumors have stated, and makes a successful bid at it. He’s polished in appearance and speech. Sound like any other politician from Arkansas?

Not N.Y., not L.A.

It should be noted that our Arkansas Publishing Group hosts also are responsible for designing SBJ’s award-winning Web site. As reported in the June 5 e-news Daily Update and in the June 12 issue, SBJ received an AABP gold award for best Web site, meaning the top regional business journal site belongs to us. Not Crain’s New York. Not Los Angeles Business Journal. Nope, it’s produced right here in Springfield.

Flex360, a Web development division of Arkansas Publishing, and designer Mike Ortega created sbj.net. I had the pleasure of shaking Ortega’s hand after receiving the award.

We are extremely proud of the Web award, as well as the second-place best cover title SBJ received.

That said, my positive outlook of Little Rock may be a bit jaded by those two national awards. They sure made the drive home more palatable.

Eric Olson is Springfield Business Journal editor.[[In-content Ad]]