innovate arkansas

Three sites in the middle of Little Rock are being recommended as possibilities for a potential 30-acre research park.

A timeline presented to city officials on Tuesday suggests early 2013 as a target date for the park's first building. The three sites each meet specified criteria that they be within a five-minute drive of research institutions at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Arkansas Children's Hospital.

The first two sites are located within the city's 12th Street Corridor currently being studied for economic-development opportunities.

Site A is bordered by I-630 on the north, 12th Street on the south, Fair Park Boulevard on the west and Jonesboro Drive on the east. Site B is bordered by 12th on the north, Franklin Elementary on the south, Tyler Street on the west and the Madison Heights housing development on the east.

Site C is just north of the UALR campus in the Oak Forest neighborhood, and bordered by 19th Street (north), 23rd Street (south), Coleman Creek (west) and Fillmore Street (east).

The study was prepared by ANGLE Technology Group of Charlottesville, Va., a consulting firm that specializes in helping spawn urban research parks. It has helped develop 73 such parks in the U.S., United Kingdom and the Middle East. It was funded through the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District and with contributions from UAMS, UALR and the city.

Land acquisition and infrastructure costs for the development's first phase come in at $41.5 million. ANGLE CEO Gary Evans said funding, ideally, would come from public and private sources. Phase 1 would entail acqisition of the site and completion of a 100,000 square-foot building. Within 15 to 20 years, the site could house 10 buildings up to five stories tall and four parking decks.

The study was commissioned by the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce to serve as a road map, not a site selection or funding study, said project leader Dickson Flake.

"We're not in a sprint. We're in a marathon," Flake told a gathering of city and Chamber officials who met at Chamber offices to hear highlights of the ANGLE findings. Flake said the Chamber has been leading a quiet effort for the past four years to initiate development of a research park for Little Rock.

"We want to get the public involved now," he said.

Site A was chosen for its visibility from Interstate 630 and 12th Street, its access to the I-630/Fair Park interchange, potential frontage on Fair Park, and pedestrian connections to UAMS across the Jonesboro Drive overpass. Site A would border two proposed projects -- a public library branch on the east side of Jonesboro Drive and a hotel development just west of the site.

Site B is considered for its location midway between the UALR and UAMS campuses, but the site encompasses Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church. The study stresses that consideration of the site must be sensitive to the retention of the church, which it calls an anchor and stabilizing influence for the area.

Site C would represent a virtual extension of the current UALR campus, but it encompasses the Methodist Children's Home and visibility from main thoroughfares is limited.

In addition to proximity to the city's research institutions, site criteria includes good visibility and access.

ANGLE officials touted Little Rock's as a potential medical-research hotbed, in particular the BioVentures startup incubator at UAMS and UALR's Nanotechnology Center.

The park would foster an environment of medical-research based startups to grow and contribute to the local economy by creating jobs and continually attracting more young startups, Evans said.

"There's a particular strength here related to medical sciences that provides a platform to build from," Evans said. "There's a very strong collaboration between UAMS, UALR and Children's Hospital that is a very clear strength."

Now that potential sites have been identified, Evans said the next step in the process should be identifying a local "champion" to take up the cause and help sell it to government officials and the public. The creation of a Research Park Authority would follow. Enabling legislation that would allow for creation of a park authority was passed by the Arkansas General Assembly in 2007. Little Rock now needs to engage the process of actually creating it, Evans said. But most importantly, he noted, comes fundraising.

Evans said potential sources of funding are the federal government, local taxes, bond issues and private sources. He cited the University of Arkansas Research and Technology Park in Fayetteville as a good example of a public-private funding mix. 

Research Park Authority members would be appointed by the park's sponsors, which currently entail UAMS and UALR, and final selection of the park site would be determined by the RPA.

"You have all the ingredients here," Evans said. "Somebody needs to be able to put it all together."

Click here to see the full study (PDF).