Several projects under the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency received the green light to move forward during this week's meeting.
One of those projects is the Sixth Avenue and Main Street Project. Commissioners approved an offer and acceptance letter that would allow the agency to purchase the lot that sits directly behind the Simmons Bank Motorcade branch for $35,000.
In April 2021, Go Forward Pine Bluff, under the leadership of CEO Ryan Watley, presented renderings that would transform a two-block area from Sixth Avenue and Main Street to State Street into a community space for shopping, food and other activities.
Proposed construction space would include several zones, with Zone 2 becoming a retail haven filled with decorative container spaces that could be used by entrepreneurs who don't have or aren't looking for a storefront.
The containers would be curbed with a power supply, allowing many possibilities for how the space could be used. Examples given in the presentation were retail, food and meetings.
Zone 2 would also feature a 1,250-square-foot retail incubator, transforming the Simmons Bank branch area into micro storefronts and allowing retailers to occupy these temporary stores that would have either been too risky or financially prohibitive for a retail startup.
A food hall with a rooftop bar would also be featured in Zone 2.
Agency Executive Director Chandra Griffin said negotiations have already been established with the present owner, and according to the contract, the closing date is Aug. 20.
Agency Chairman Jimmy Dill did have some concerns about the lot, stating the current owner purchased the lot at a tax sale and his title would not be a good title.
Reviewing the assessor's report, Dill said a limited warranty deed was all that was available.
According to Griffin, the offer and acceptance letter does state the seller will obtain and deliver to the buyer an owner's policy of title insurance in the amount of the purchase price reflecting merchantable fee simple title to the property satisfactory to the buyer.
The other approval was to allow Griffin to negotiate and approve a contract for Terracon Consulting Engineers to start a Phase 2 environmental site assessment of the downtown housing project. The housing development will run from Walnut to Pine streets and from Third through Fourth avenues. A vacant former Greyhound bus station sits on the property.
During Phase 1 of Terracon's site assessment, the following were recognized:
• Potential for residual impact from the former Greyhound Bus Terminal portion of the site.
• Potential residual impact from the use of ink and solvents from the printing shops
• Potential residual impact from the use of petroleum products and solvents from the machine shop.
• Potential residual impact from the use of petroleum products or solvents from the bus greasing shop and auto service shop.
• Potential impact from petroleum products and solvents from the gasoline filling station.
• Potential impact from solvents from the adjacent dry cleaners.
In Phase 2, Terracon would evaluate the property by geo-tech drilling, scheduled to start next week.
According to Terracon's project information history dates, information as far back as 1885 shows the site location was used as a cotton warehouse, lumberyard, storefront and various other uses. By the 1940s and 1950s, the site was used primarily for commercial purposes including a printing shop, machine shop, furniture shop, auto servicing business, restaurant, storefront, a bus station and a bus service center.
The site continued to change from 1961 to 2006 with some additions like an office and parking lot as well as the removal of warehouses on the east part of the site. In 2010 to 2013 the east warehouses were removed as well as most of the buildings on the east half with only the bus depot and the storefront remaining.
Terracon will perform an environmental Limited Site Investigation to assess recognized environmental conditions and site concerns for $14,750.
The $14,750 includes field services, drilling, private utility location, analytical analysis and reporting. It does not include cleanup. The objective is to assess the presence of chemicals commonly associated with the site concerns at concentrations above laboratory reporting.
Griffin said she is unsure of how long the survey is good for, if it is possible to update it if time runs out, whether there would be an additional cost, and whether they will have to move forward with remediation after the drilling is done.
Griffin said she would get answers to those questions before finalizing the contract agreement.