Are dormant development plans for an Aloft Hotel in downtown Little Rock getting ditched in favor of apartments?
Chi Hotel Group LLC is looking at the possibility of up to 96 apartments in the Boyle Building at 500 Main St.
You might recall that the Little Rock group, led by Jacob and Jasen Chi, once had plans to redevelop the 12-story office building into a hotel.
Once upon a time, plans included a 3,500-SF upscale restaurant, 4,000 SF of meeting space, a rooftop pool and lounge plus a ground-floor coffee shop.
In preparation for the redevelopment, the building was gutted with only the load-bearing columns re-maining.
That’s as far as the project progressed since the property was acquired for $4.5 million more than three years ago.
Is the new vision for the Boyle Building preceding new activity for the adjoining M.M. Cohn Building?
The disarray of the unfinished redevelopment at 510 Main St. was said to be a contributing factor in the Aloft project entering limbo.
But new ownership and money have cleared up the legal cloud hanging over the 62,688-SF former department store.
Elsewhere on Main, the K Lofts project at 315 Main St. is nearing completion.
We’re told final inspections of the elevator system and sprinklers are the biggest items remaining for the 32-unit apartment redevelopment. July 2 is a target date for obtaining a certificate of occupancy.
Two blocks to the south, work to complete apartments at Main Street Lofts could begin in two weeks.
We’re told it should take about six months to finish work on 30 upstairs apartments in the 41,816-SF Arkansas Building at 524 Main St. and 21,000-SF Arkansas Annex at 514 Main St.