HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (KTHV) - Nearly five years after the Majestic Hotel fire, state and city leaders celebrated a major milestone for the site in downtown Hot Springs. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality signed off on a “brownfield” clean-up. It has city leaders remembering the past, looking up, and looking ahead.
“A special place gives us a sense that it's not just a geographic location but represents something more,” said Liz Robbins, with the Hot Springs Historical Society as she told the story of legacy of the property at the intersection of Central Ave, Park Ave. and Whitington Ave. As she tells it, history closed in 2006 and then burned to the ground in 2014. “An event that left a gaping empty space in the heart of downtown Hot Springs.”
But now Hot Springs leaders declared a readiness to move forward.
“You know Hot Springs is open for business and we're looking to have this add to that,” said Mayor Pat McCabe at the ceremony where he helped cut a ribbon and answered questions about what’s next for the site of the former historic hotel. After fire destroyed the “yellow brick” part of the building, the city condemned and bought the rest. It took two years to demolish the structures, but small amounts of lead turned up in the debris, prompting the city to call in ADEQ to oversee the final phase of cleaning the site.
“We need ideas and we need ideas that can be fully developed,” McCabe said. “We have no clue as to what we're going to get. We're going to do our focus groups. We've got our stakeholder groups through the balance of this year and large community forum groups.”
Among the ideas, an amphitheater or performance space. Some want a hotel to return, but both the mayor and Robbins mentioned the city's famous waters as a centerpiece.
“I hope it's something that represents Hot Springs in some way,” said Robbins. “Perhaps doing something in part of the property with thermal water.”
“I think at the end of the day, and that end of the day is not today,” McCabe said. “It might be two or three or five years out. You're going to see that that was a great investment.”
Meetings with local stakeholders and businesses are already underway. Designers from Kansas State University and Fay Jones School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas will present some of the ideas at public forums early in 2019.