NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The old Park Hill Elementary School building in North Little Rock has remained mostly vacant for years, but a church is planning to renovate the space.
The Ridge Assembly purchased the historic building on May 31. Kenny Meckfessel now has a big project on his hands. He is in charge of the renovations.
"The church is going to take up most of the part of the building that was built in 1964,” Meckfessel said.
Meckfessel is the lead pastor of the Ridge Assembly and currently has a church in Sherwood and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He said it is time to expand to North Little Rock.
"A lot of families are moving into the North Little Rock area and the downtown area and we wanted to be able to reach all of them,” he said.
One of the future pastors of the church said the old Park Hill Elementary building ended up being the perfect place to put a church.
"It's been abandoned for a while. One of the things we preach is the idea of restoration and rebirth and so it's just really fitting that we're rebuilding this school,” Jeremy Eckart said.
Stacey Reynolds is the owner of Blue Yoga Nyla. Her studio is one of the businesses occupying some of the old classrooms inside of the school.
"It's so exciting to see someone investing in the property. It's just a new energy in this space,” Reynolds said.
She says since Meckfessel bought the property, her studio is also expanding.
"Blue Yoga Nyla is going to have this entire end of the building now. We'll have three practice rooms,” she said.
She said having the church move in will help revitalize Park Hill.
"It's such a neighborhood feel. We're a community up here and this community really built our business and I'm grateful for that,” Reynolds said.
Meckfessel hopes to be a positive light in the community.
"They're strategically planning for people to be able to walk more, shop more, more restaurants. It's going to be a wonderful family oriented neighborhood,” he said.
The Ridge Park Hill opens in mid-October for Sunday night services. Then right after the first of the year in 2020, they will be doing Sunday morning services. The official launch day and grand opening will be Easter 2020.