Round-the-clock living

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fifth and last article in a series about the development of downtown Conway and the Conway Downtown Partnership.)

Basically, it is about options.

Whether shopping, housing or eating, the Conway Downtown Partnership hopes to create a downtown area that offers Conway's young, educated population anenvironment in which to spend its money.

T.J. Covington, director of the Downtown Partnership, George Covington, partnership chairman of the board, Cheryl Park, partnership board member and Kordsmeier, partnership board member, are committed to the revitalization of downtown Conway. They are pictured Friday morning on top of the Halter building, which is currently undergoing renovations, overlooking Oak Street in downtown Conway.

CDP Director T.J. Johnston heads the partnership and said knowing merchants help the CDP achieve its goals has brought him the most satisfaction.

The goal is to create a 24/7 downtown area where people can live, work, shop and play, according to Johnston. The partnership has already begun creating such a neighborhood.

The University of Central Arkansas recently leased a two-story building at the corner of Caldwell and Locust streets that students may rent.

The partnership convinced Bentonville-based developer Chris Seay to include seven loft apartments in the Halter Building in an effort to create the downtown they hope for.

The CDP works with landowners, but tries not to micromanage the downtown's development, Johnston said.

"We try to encourage [developers to follow our plan] but we don't have total control with the project," Johnston said.

The CDP has seized opportunities as they arise, though. After a fire decimated multiple stores along Oak Street and required the demolition of two shops, the CDP responded quickly and purchased the property.

The partnership saw an opportunity to sell the land to a company wishing to develop along their plans.

Express Male-EM Jeans required some convincing, but the partnership announced that EM Jeans would move into a new building that the husband and wife owners of EM, Larry Rogers and Liz Snipan, would finance.

Brad Lacy, who directs the Conway Development Corporation, said that his organization supports the CDP fully because recruiting major investors to Conway requires a vibrant downtown.

"I had an executive from a company tell me that Conway is the only town he knows that has a plan for everything," Lacy said.

The city's ability to plan a technology park along the Interstate and attract investment such as the Conway Commons, which contains Target and Home Depot, without losing businesses from their own downtown, impressed the executive.

Along with working with possible investors, a key to the CDP's plans has included beautifying and improving the streets and streetscapes along Front Street, and eventually along Oak Street.

The CDP chose distinctive streetlights to line the sidewalks and illuminate the buildings at night.

Johnston said the streets and streetscaping would eventually be found throughout downtown, though the Partnership must solicit funding first.

Raising money will not happen quickly, but the Partnership has managed well thus far. Johnston and his board have secured public funding totaling more than $1.2 million.

Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor said the Arkansas Congressional Delegation happily helped Congressman Vic Snyder acquire a Housing and Urban Development Grant for Conway's downtown.

"It's not often that you see the leadership of a community work together like Conway's," he said. "I don't know how they act when [the delegation is] not around, but they were united when they came to us for the grant."

Presenting a united front is why CDP chairman George Covington helped form the group in 2001.

"We had to get people focused. You can get a lot more done by working together," Covington said. "When companies that are looking to move to Conway visit, they look at the downtown. They might not have anything to do with the downtown, but they want to see it."

Prior to the CDP's formation, the downtown had many individual business owners who communicated with one another but had no formal organization. The founding members decided to establish a structure that would create cohesion among the merchants. The first goal was hiring a director who could devote his time to organization. "Something like streetscaping requires more money than [the CDP] can raise. To do that you have to hire a director who can write grants and communicate with government officials," Covington said.

Covington has no idea how large the downtown might one day become. Neither can the partnership assess the saturation point for new development.

Covington said he hopes the downtown continues growing and one day reaches Hendrix, but he said he could not imagine what the college's plans actually would become.

The downtown plan drawn by Chicago-based urban designers Sakal and Hood when the firm visited Conway includes a sizable chuck of real estate, Johnston explained. The boundaries extend from Hendrix to St. Joseph and from Locust Street to Harkrider Street.

Many of those involved with the partnership have large investments that successful development could enhance. Covington owns properties throughout downtown, and Johnston has become a property owner as well. He and Brad Lacy have bought four properties in downtown.

Not all investment is monetary, though.

Covington became interested in Conway's downtown because of his heritage as much as anything. His family business has occupied the same Front Street property since 1923, and Covington grew up in the blue house that sits next to his roofing and sheet metal company, which also rests on Front Street.

"You remember the way it was. Then, when you came downtown on a Friday afternoon two years ago nothing was happening," he said. "Does it not excite you when you come downtown and see parked cars along Front Street on a Friday night?"

Covington gets the same rush when a merchant opens a new store in one of his properties. "When I do a project, I am always thinking 'I shouldn't have added that [detail]," he said. "Then, when the business has a crowd gathered at their opening it is just a rush."

Maumelle's lack of a cohesive downtown caused Johnston to appreciate Conway's downtown.

Originally, Johnston worked as an intern with the Conway Development Corporation. He earned a permanent job as a project manager responsible for wooing individual companies to Conway. When Jamie Gates, who served as the CDP's original director, took a job as assistant to the mayor at Conway City Hall, the CDP decided Johnston would make a suitable replacement. Working for the CDC taught Johnston about economic development.

"[Companies] aren't looking to pick [a city], they are looking to cut [a city]," Johnston said. "If your city is picked, it is because you were the last city on the list." With that knowledge, Johnston took over the CDP.

Pryor said he, Snyder and Senator Blanche Lincoln supported funding the CDP's project because they fear that too many American towns have lost their identity due to quick growth. Cities expand outward and lose their core, he explained. Expansion is not a bad thing, but he hoped all cities could also support their traditional downtown while also growing.

Congress just wants to make sure the option remains.