NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Monday night, the City of North Little Rock gave the green light for a new conference center that's set to be built in downtown Argenta.
It's a project that has been years in the making, and it's for the first time, it's now moving towards construction. At the board meeting, members approved $3 million from the city's general fund to kick off the project.
The conference center is set to be built on the old city services lot, and Mayor Terry Hartwick said this is the first big step to a project years in the making.
"I guess you might say, I'm tired of saying, 'go to Little Rock.' It's a perfect spot," Hartwick said "We got the new hotel coming over across the street. It's a lot of parking spaces. So far, I mean, if you can put 18,000 people into the Simmons Arena, [the center and hotel] will hold 1,000 people for dinners."
While Mayor Hartwick said the build could be expensive, once the conference center and hotel are complete, the city expects to bring in millions more and expand downtown businesses.
Hartwick expects to open up the construction bid in a few months and to start building in October. He said the center should be done in early 2026 right alongside a new hotel that the city proposed last year.
