NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The North Little Rock City Council took a condemnation order for an old hospital the city's mayor said should have been taken down 10 years ago.
The old Baptist Memorial used to soar above the city, but today it's a one-story, hollowed-out shell. Mayor Joe Smith said he has been getting complaints about the wide-open, overgrown lot amid signs that homeless people are taking shelter there.
"It's time to get busy. It's been ten years," said Mayor Smith. "We've had a lot of patience with the developer over the years trying to help him come up with creative ideas and I believe it got on the back burner of the developer."
That developer is called One Pershing Circle LLC, headed by Bob Francis. He bought the 40-acre site from the city in 2009. The original hospital went up in 1941 and served North Little Rock until 1999, when Baptist Health opened a new facility across town. The city controlled the space for another ten years but couldn't find a suitable, permanent tenant and sold to Francis with some suggestions of what to build there. A decade later, the upper floors have been torn down, but a sweeping ground floor is covered in graffiti, broken glass and trash piles.
"[Francis] is a fine man, and his partners are fine people," Mayor Smith said. "But they are doing other projects right now and this project doesn't seem to be very high on their list."
The Monday city council vote would declare the property a public nuisance and condemn what is left of the buildings. It would also give Francis time to fix the property. Just like in 2009, there are some ideas city leaders hope he considers.
"There was a village for a senior village up there with assisted living, nursing home, independent living," Mayor Smith said. "We talked about a solar farm at one point, but it was too expensive back then. It's cheaper now, so maybe we consider that again."
No matter what, it will have a great view of the cities and the Arkansas River. It's close to Interstate 40 and can be easily secured, making it ideal for residential property. While the mayor isn't in the real estate business, he's eager to get this once-prime property out there on the market.
"There's a lot of potential there and hopefully the publicity we're getting on this might wake up a developer out there going 'hey that is a pretty good place,'" he said.