Formerly a surface parking lot, the Arcade Building transforms a quarter block into a pedestrian friendly and vibrant destination. The design compliments the character of the district using a brick pattern to mimic the adjacent historic structures. Modern additions to the district are echoed with alucabond panels curving along the primary corner.  Street sides are lined with small retail bays anchored by the restaurant that integrates outdoor seating on both corners adding liveliness to the streetscape. The alleyways were transformed into lit, welcoming walkways to act as portals for visitors to the multi-use theater and street vendors for the farmers market. The second floor houses the balcony of the theater, an events room operated by the public library and the archival offices for the neighboring historical collections institute. These offices required secure access to the institute without exiting the building, so a Kalwall wrapped sky bridge links the two building adding to the alley lighting at night with its lantern-like glow. The third floor is home to an insurance firm, classroom space for a graduate school, and the offices of AMR Architects, Inc.

This project is a mixed-use building in downtown Little Rock consisting of 98 residential units, an integrated parking deck, and ground floor retail. Located in the rapidly expanding River Market District of the city, the project adds density and vibrancy to the neighborhood – helping expand the area to the south to connect into the historic Quapaw Quarter. The ground floor of the building, sitting at the corner of a highly trafficked intersection, includes resident amenities and retail locations which add to the urban character of a constantly growing city street. Residents park in a secure, integrated parking deck rising for four levels. Beginning on the 5th level, nearly 100 residential units of varying sizes and configurations rise all the way up to 17th level of the building tower. These units include a wide variety of high-quality finishes, many personalized to the individual tastes of their inhabitants. All units provide a connection to the outside environment – whether through balconies, patios, or French balconies. The 18th level is a partial floor providing a large open roof deck and a party room, where resident can gain dramatic views of the surrounding city. The building is constructed of a post-tensioned concrete structure, and is clad in rich, natural materials – copper, zinc, concrete, sandstone, aluminum, and glass – all giving it a solid, lasting character

Located in the expanding River Market District, the project adds a vibrancy to the neighborhood. The ground floor of the building includes resident amenities and retail spaces. A secure, integrated parking deck rises from the 2nd floor to the 5th floor for residents to park in. Three finish out packages are available: The Lofts on the 6th -11th floors; The Residences from 12-17; and The Penthouses on 18 and 19. A large furnished Party Room sits at the top with views of Little Rock’s skyline.

Overview from Artspace.org: Artspace Windgate Campus grew out of a strategic effort to benefit community led by the Windgate Foundation with key support from civic leaders, arts organizations, local artists, and creative businesses. Due to strong local momentum for the arts as a strategy for community development, Artspace worked with the Little Rock and North Little Rock communities beginning in 2018 to explore the feasibility of an Artspace live/work project. Located in the historic East End, and through its proximity to the Clinton Presidential Center, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and the future home of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the Artspace Windgate Campus will be another anchor for Little Rock’s expanding arts and culture scene. The new construction development features a four-story building that provides 60 units of affordable live/work style housing designed for artists and their families, ten working artist-in-residence studios, ample event and gallery space including a large outdoor courtyard, and approximately 16,000 square feet of commercial space to provide space for local arts and cultural organizations. To designate Artspace Windgate Campus as a destination for the arts, public art components will include murals situated on the building’s exterior spaces and sculptural components in the outdoor courtyard along College Street. The exterior design reflects the level of artistic activity occurring within the multifamily affordable housing units and commercial studios; and a rooftop deck provides welcoming views of downtown. The units are one-, two-, and three-bedrooms, addressing the need for affordable housing for individual artists and their households. Artspace Windgate Campus will bridge geographic and cultural creative communities through a critical mass of residential units and commercial space that prioritizes a diverse creative workforce, and provides a sustainable home for a broad creative sector.

The old High School building in Mena, Arkansas sits at the base of Rich Mountain State Park along Mena Street (Mena’s “Main Street"). Long vacant after the school programs moved to the new campus across town, a community group and private developer engaged AMR to create a vision for this building’s potential. The two-story building is planned to house an business incubator / innovation hub on the ground floor, along with community event space and a new home for the city library. A new construction open-air addition is envisioned to create a large gathering space and literal “basecamp” for tourists as well as locals, merging the energy of the businesses along Mena Street with the State Park tourism and outdoor activities. The second floor comprises 14 residential units, which will provide a modern, “urban” housing type not currently available in the area.

ASC ARTSx3 is the culmination of efforts by The Arts and Science Center for Southeast Arkansas to expand community and art space in downtown Pine Bluff. By acquiring two buildings next door, they were able to expand their program three-fold (hence the "x3"), to provide additional services and cater to more art disciplines. When the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC) first looked at expanding next door, they looked at it through an ambitious lens of how to honor the past legacy of Downtown Pine Bluff, the history of the buildings, and the origin story of their own organization while still addressing and adapting to the current needs of their city, community, and patrons. Downtown Pine Bluff, Arkansas was once one of the three largest concentrations of African-American owned businesses in the entire United States. In its heyday, the ASC ARTSx3 was a firehouse, dairy creamery, and auto parts store. It was this synergy that the design team used as a primary focus in the overall design and concept of the project. Phase I of this project, the northern half of the building, was renovated to be the new home for ARTSpace on Main. This portion houses art galleries, multi-purpose spaces, costume storage and a multi-use shop for set building for the ASC Theater. The existing commercial storefronts were replaced with bi-fold garage doors similar to the original firehouse doors. On both the first and second floor, large garage doors divide each space to allow the building to use each space individually or all in unison for one large event. The series of glass garage doors also allows for the visual connection from Main Street all the way through the building to the ARTS Yard behind it, which can act independently or as an extension of the program for both the ARTSpace and the ART Works buildings. ART Works on Main, Phase 2 and the southern portion of the building, furthers ASC’s mission of community engagement, but in a different vehicle. This building was still an active auto parts shop when phase one, ARTSpace, began construction. The idea with ART Works was to create a multi-use flexible black box theater to complement ACS’s established more traditional theater. The building is connected both internally and externally to ARTSpace on Main allowing them to work together and reconfigure as needed. The owner also really wants to encourage artists in residency and new apartments in Downtown Pine Bluff, so there are five dwelling units and five leasable artist studios along with shared common area for residence, artists, and performers to bond, collaborate, and build community. The biggest achievement of the ASC ARTS x3 project is the success of taking two underutilized historic buildings, carving into them, weaving them together, and turning them into mixed-use spaces that allow downtown to have a 24/7 community engagement. This constitutes a fundamental shift in the feeling of community ownership, pride, and a sense of progress.

This infill project at 1424 Main St. in the burgeoning SOMA (“Southside Main Street”) district blends design concepts of today with more traditional sensibilities suited for its historic neighborhood. South of the Interstate-630 divide, SOMA is a large, mostly residential neighborhood filled with historic properties. It’s an eclectic mix of buildings from a wide range of time periods dating back to early 1900s Victorian architecture. Being directly on Main Street, the commercial strip in the district, the project is a hybrid of small scale commercial and residential. 1424 Soma is one of only a few new-construction projects in the district in recent years, and is unique in its more contemporary design. The 2-story building houses 16 apartments, 14 of which comprise the entire upper level, while the majority of the ground floor is dedicated to five commercial spaces. In order to satisfy key design standards outlined by the Design Overlay Commission, factors such as height, scale, and proportion had to be considered for their appropriateness. Traditional elements of rhythm and symmetry with familiar components such as columns, bay windows, and retail storefronts were used, but with an updated aesthetic. The introduction of a central courtyard on the second level not only provides an amenity for the tenants, but also further breaks down the scale of the building to a more appropriate level at the sidewalk. A balance of brick and metal cladding nods to the more typical building materials of the neighborhood, while providing a point interest and departure.

This project requires the parking deck stay operational during construction due to revenue generated from leased parking. The deck currently only has three small retail bays at the East end that under serve the demand. Several retailer and restaurants approached the owner and developer about potentially adding lease space to the South elevation of the first floor due to the pedestrian counts. The developer is also property manager who receives weekly calls trying to locate affordable apartment units in the River Market District. The onus of this project is to re-use the existing parking deck in a way that is minimally invasive, keeping the parking counts high while gaining valuable retail and dining space on the first floor and providing compact affordable apartments on the upper floors. The high level of activity on 3rd Street, including foot traffic, parade routes, human scale foosball, and dodge ball tournaments, and street fairs, means this project has very small windows where the street will be allowed to close during construction. The use of pre-fab living units attached to exposed metal frames will drastically reduce the construction time. The abundance of shipping containers at the Little Rock Port Authority and the capability of our local manufactured home industry will allow for these pre-fab units to be more cost effective.

The Mann Lofts occupy what was once the original, three-story Blass Department Store that was built in 1871. Renovation of the building along with a seven-story addition and parking deck completes a three-part, half-block re-development project located along historic Main Street in downtown Little Rock. The building has been converted into 19 luxury apartments with an outdoor courtyard for residents to gather and socialize with one another. Located at the ground level are various street-facing retail spaces. The re-development of the Main Street area was made possible due to New Market Tax Credits awarded by the Heartland Renaissance Fund of Little Rock. Once an abandoned, run-down area, the revitalization of Main Street continues revival with the Mann Lofts being a catalyst for the growth.

Standing seven stories high, this downtown mixed-use building consists of condos, office space, and restaurant. Completed in 2002, it is was one of the first mixed-use buildings with upscale condos in Little Rock’s River Market District. On-site amenities include gated parking, security, and a rooftop viewing deck.