Take me to the River Market Re-examining Little Rock’s riverfront entertainment district

August 28 - September 3, 2023

By Becca Bona

Spanning an eight square-block in downtown, Little Rock’s River Market district harbors history and has played host to a number of iconic businesses, festivals, and events over the years.

Notwithstanding, it took the coming together of city leaders, private developers, the Central Arkansas Library, entrepreneurs, and eventually - the public at-large in the late ‘90s to put the pieces together for the River Market to thrive. The recent slew of restaurants closing in the area, however, along with the perception of public safety have Little Rockers questioning the River Market, its prosperity (or lack thereof), and its nebulous future outlook. 

The River Market now more than ever can be easily discounted, thanks to the rise of other vibrant areas downtown including North Little Rock’s Argenta, Little Rock’s South Main, Pettaway, and East Village neighborhoods, to name a few.

However, as Executive Director of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) Nate Coulter noted, the River Market issue is important to everyone, regardless of their address. “You can’t expect Little Rock, and I argue - Central Arkansas and the whole state to thrive - if downtown Little Rock is hollowed out,” he said. “It’s in everybody’s interest, whether you live down here, work down here, or just play down here, for it to prosper.”

Upping the ante 

Part of the River Market problem, is a negative connotation involving downtown, public safety, and what citizens perceive to be a lack of resources. No one knows this better than Executive Director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership (DLRP), Gabe Holmstrom. 

The DLRP is responsible for spearheading a number of events and projects in and around downtown Little Rock, including a public art grant match program and the popular Main Street Food Festival. The DLRP is also heavily involved in policy work behind the scenes - notably helping to pass legislation making outdoor entertainment districts possible. 

Holmstrom is a huge supporter of planning, especially when it comes to downtown, but understands the public’s lack of familiarity with all the nuances, entities, and resources it takes to get things done. One of his favorite examples includes something as simple as unifying streetlights. On the corner of Capital and Main, for instance, there are five different types of streetlights. And while the obvious answer is a uniform fixture, it gets complicated quickly.

“It’s an easy enough solution,” he said, “but then how do you do it? Who pays for these lights? Who puts them up? It just becomes difficult to implement.”

Holmstrom pushes back against focusing on what downtown and the River Market might lack - and instead focuses on potential and opportunities.

“The city we have now will look completely different in two-and-a-half to three years,” he noted. Holmstrom highlighted key projects that will change the entire landscape of what Little Rockers know as their downtown today, including: 

The renovation of the Boyle Building for the future home of the Attorney General’s Office on the Southwest corner of Capital and Main

The development of the Dental and Vet School on the Heifer Campus by OneHealth

The development of the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in the East Village by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The expansions of the Clinton Foundation 

The conclusion of the I-30 construction project including the proposed Deck Park

The renovation of the Main Library in the River Market

The recent grand opening of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts

The recent renovation project of the Museum of Discovery

On top of this - the city has announced plans to create a Master Plan in downtown Little Rock. “Where I think the Master Plan can play a role is the connectivity of these different neighborhoods,” Holmstrom said. “Let’s look at the success of other cities and other communities where they’re connecting their different neighborhoods.”

This connectivity just might be the type that could raise the waters and increase the tides of all Little Rock’s neighborhoods.

Inside Ottenheimer Hall: 

The Past, Present, and Future

Winding through the capital of the Natural State - the Arkansas River carves quite the path - dividing Little Rock from North Little Rock and beyond. The glistening waters, however, have always been underutilized. 

This thought was at the forefront of the River Market’s redevelopment - in a monumental joining of the minds in the ‘90s. Spearheaded by Jimmy Moses and Rett Tucker, supported by City Director Dean Kumpuris, and based on Seattle’s Pike Place Market - the River Market Hall (Ottenheimer Hall) was first thought of in the early ‘80s. 

It opened in 1996, functioning as a public market complete with a multitude of vendors offering everything from Middle Eastern cuisine to coffee and beyond.

Victoria Gross, an Arkansas native, was heavily involved with Ottenheimer Hall back in the day. She started out as an intern in her late teens, but stayed on through her entire twenties, working her way up to Director of Catering. “I just found my niche,” she said. “I loved working there.”

Not long after opening, a demonstration kitchen was added to Ottenheimer, and Gross created recipes there in real time - showing patrons how to make a complete meal utilizing items from the market. 

The market not only provided a function for patrons - but it served as an entrepreneurial incubator for businesses - a food truck model before that craze had really hit Little Rock. “I think the River Market was ten years too early for the Little Rock audience,” Gross said. “I think it needs to be taken back to its roots.” 

And the bones are there, for Ottenheimer to be a new kind of destination, but it’s going to take some work. Hours are still limited post-COVID, only running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, and closed on Saturdays and Sundays. The demonstration kitchen is long gone, and the variety of vendors is nowhere near where it once was or could be. Plus, as Holmstrom pointed out - the space doesn’t have a liquor license, so patrons can’t take advantage of the entertainment district designation via Ottenheimer Hall’s offerings.

“I think that the original concept could actually work if we educated people,” Gross said. “I think that people want to know their farmers. They want to know their vendors and where their meat comes from.

From her perspective, the success of Ottenheimer Hall and the River Market at-large depends on its identity. The area should be a destination for Little Rockers, but it needs one more thing to thrive - a tangible goal and a solid vision of what success looks like. 

“It’s got to have a champion and it’s got to have somebody that believes in Little Rock to support it,” she said.

The View From the Fifth Floor

What often goes unmentioned in conversations about the River Market and its potential to thrive is the Central Arkansas Library System’s main branch. The Main Library opened one year after Ottenheimer Hall, and has been iconic of the area and heavily involved in programming ever since.

Conversations about the River Market tend to gloss over the library altogether, and quickly encompass the topic of crime and public safety. Holmstrom noted that statistically the River Market is one of the safer areas in the city. Coulter, however, had more to add on that topic especially as it pertains to the unhoused population.

As a public institution, the library is open to everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status. “Everybody comes to the library for a variety of reasons,” Coulter explained. “Some people come because of the safe space it provides, because they need to get out of the elements and they don’t have anywhere to go.”

He believes there needs to be education on what a prosperous area looks like - unhoused individuals included. “The answer to that is to create a thriving community of people of all ages and all socioeconomic backgrounds,” he said. “And it then becomes a part of the social fabric, and the unsheltered people in our society are just like all the other different unique components in our society.”

There is a larger conversation, he believes, that needs to be had from city leadership addressing the issue of public safety. “I’m confident that there are lessons from other cities around the country on how to do that,” he said. “City leadership needs to deal with it in an open, realistic way. [...] and if you have these transparent conversations, then the perception about how serious the issue of public safety is in the River Market gets put in proper perspective.”

Coulter notes that often, transplants to Little Rock tell him how amazing the quality of the library is. Outside of the many awards the library has received on both the local and national level - the best temperature test is the support Little Rock’s citizens continue to give to the institution. Little Rock voters tend to support CALS at the polls, again and again.

In fact, the main branch of the library is closing its doors on September 1 for an extensive renovation project. The reimagining of the space will be focused on attracting people of all ages to the space, and includes moving the children’s floor to the first floor as well as moving public art to make it more accessible. Coulter also has plans for some green space across the street, as well.

He’s perhaps most excited about the plans for the top of the building, however. “The cherry on top, literally and figuratively, is we want to put some sort of rooftop venue on the building for programming or for just hanging out,” he said.

As far as the River Market’s future, Coulter believes it’s going to take a village - literally.

“Let’s look for places where we can agree on things,” he said. “Let’s share the input on the best angles and the best ways to approach problem solving. And then in the end, the results will appear to the benefit of everybody, everybody will get credit and the city will thrive from it.” 

Becca Bona is a freelance writer from Little Rock. bona.becca@gmail.com