HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — On a site famous for its fire in 2014, a business group in Hot Springs wants to make the place where the old Majestic Hotel once stood famous again for water.
“We are promoting the idea of a thermal pool project for this site here with the idea that the National Park is only a couple blocks that way,” said Clay Farrar, secretary for the group called Fifty for the Future. “We would have a series of cascading thermal pools that would be available both winter and summer.”
The idea would transform what was once an old abandoned hotel and a sign of decay in Hot Springs and replace it with a park bubbling into life and representing the very thing that gives this city its name. The organization released a proposal in the week of the five-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed part of the hotel complex. It took four years to demolish the other buildings on the site and clean up potentially hazardous debris. The new park would be modeled on facility in New Zealand and would feature an entertainment center and retail outlets.
“Our first goal is to be included in the feasibility study as a viable project,” Farrar said referring to plans by the city to have engineers from the University of Kansas evaluate different proposals.
The group knows it could be stacked up alongside commercial developers.
“We would welcome any credible development here,” he said. “It's not that we're against something else. It's just that we're for the thermal pool. If someone came along with a $100-million hotel we would be pleased. If someone came along with another creative idea that takes advantage of the natural beauty of Hot Springs, we would be pleased.”
Farrar cites surveys that say many of the city's namesake springs are hidden or underutilized. The park would be sustained on the 300 thousand gallons of water that flow into area creeks every day. That will help with the costs, knowing the city can't make the concept happen on its own.
“We're open to any idea,” Farrar said. “But we're really starting out with the idea of a public-private partnership.”
To see the entire proposal, the organization has a website here.