Metrocentre Improvement District

The Metrocentre Improvement District No. 1 is a state legislated special improvement district comprising 44 blocks of downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. The improvement district is managed by the Little Rock Downtown Partnership.

Metrocentre was first proposed in September 1972 by Little Rock Unlimited Progress as a "new concept for creating a pedestrian shopping and business mall downtown." The concept was born in reaction to tremendous retail growth in suburban neighborhoods, and decline of downtown Main Street sales. The retailing pattern observed by Unlimited Progress was mirrored across the United States.

The boundaries of the concept were originally eight blocks bounded by Third, Seventh, Louisiana, and Scott streets. Improvements in the district were to be funded by self-imposed voluntary taxes to fund revenue bond issues. The bond issues were conceived of as a way to provide "convenient access; a place to park; and a place to walk," according to local architect and Metrocentre designer Byron Chapman of Erhart, Eichenbaum, Rauch, and Blass. Other agencies involved in the creation of the pedestrian mall concept included Comprehensive Professional Services and Cromwell, Neyland, Truemper, Millet, and Gatchell. Improvement District authorities also had the power of eminent domain.

Transit in the retail district would change under Metrocentre. Auto traffic would be encouraged by the new Main Street Bridge and a Wilbur D. Mills Freeway interchange to the south. Part of Main Street and the Capitol Parkway would be closed to vehicular traffic other than buses, and made into a pedestrian walkway. The area would also be bounded on the northeast and southeast corners by parking garages, and connected to superblocks of retail development by air-conditioned skyways. The Metrocentre retail plan was inspired by a 1972 visit to Minneapolis' successful downtown Nicollet Mall by several Unlimited Progress representatives, and capitalized on certain aspects of the Main Street 1969 plan. Nicollet Mall was completed in November 1967.

Porter Briggs of Old Town Properties said of the organization in 1977, "Metrocentre is a great thing, because it's the first thing, in my opinion, that's been done here since World War II for the pedestrian. Everything else has been done for the automobile."

While the Main Street Mall at the center of the development has largely been deemed a failure, the Metrocentre Improvement District continues to operate.

References

• Joseph A. Huddleston, "'Metrocentre' is Discussed for Downtown," Arkansas Gazette, September 13, 1972.
• Joseph A. Huddleston, "Plan for Mall at LR Seen as Catalyst to Revive Business," Arkansas Gazette, October 3, 1972.
• "Metrocentre: Exciting Concept for Downtown," Arkansas Gazette, September 14, 1972.
• Leslie Mitchell, "Property Owners Push Downtown Mall Plan to Near Starting Soon," Arkansas Gazette, July 26, 1973.
• "Petitions for Downtown Mall Moving Ahead With Slow Haste," Arkansas Gazette, January 6, 1974.
• David Terrell, "Little Rock Story: Downtown Residential Area Becomes Increasingly Attractive as a Place to Live and Work," American Preservation 1.1 (October-November 1977): 69.