The target area of downtown Pine Bluff soon to benefit from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant can possibly be redeveloped into a residential district, a city official said.
Lori Walker Guelache, director of the Pine Bluff Economic and Community Development Department, said the Pine Bluff Downtown Development District is being viewed as a site for residential development.
The EPA announced Monday the city would receive a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant toward addressing, cleaning up and revitalizing local properties, with the shuttered Hotel Pines, Saenger Theatre and bus terminal buildings identified as priority sites.
Before the city can access the grants, Guelache said, administrative steps must be taken. She explained those include paperwork the EPA is requesting from the city.
“We included these sites because they are city- or nonprofit-controlled sites,” Guelache said. “Because there is also redevelopment potential, we want to make sure there are key sites in the proposal. We’re projected to do 15 cleanup plans, and these plans are all supporting downtown revitalization.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The immediate need for the city is to identify how to remove any contamination from the properties before they can be redeveloped, Guelache clarified. She added an environmental specialist has been hired to help with planning stages.
A timeline has not been established for when the department expects to access the grant funds or begin work on the priority sites.
“The biggest benefit is that it allows for planning costs to be covered, that support redevelopment,” Guelache said of the grant. “The idea is how to move past (addressing contamination) to get to a use. One of the planned elements is a resource road map that identifies funding resources that support redevelopment of the building.”
The Economic and Community Development Department is continuing to meet with other entities that have stake in downtown properties for the plans, according to Guelache.
Pine Bluff Rising, a nonprofit group, has owned the Hotel Pines building on Fifth Avenue and Main Street since 2017. The city owns the Saenger Theater building on Second Avenue, and the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency owns the bus terminal on Fourth Avenue.
URA Director Chandra Griffin said the original plan to convert the terminal area from Walnut to Pine streets and from Third to Fourth avenues remains.
“There was testing done at that site and they say there was possibly an existing gas station and possibly gas tanks,” Griffin said, adding a study is being done to determine whether excavation is needed. “I know everybody wants to see something. They want to see not just work below the ground but above the ground.”
The Hotel Pines, which has not been in use since 1970, was proposed to be converted into a boutique hotel to tell some of the overlooked stories of Pine Bluff’s past, particularly its African American history, Guelache said.
Mayor Vivian Flowers said she sat in on meetings since last year, when she was still a state representative. Flowers noted the application for the EPA grant nearly fell through because of a tight deadline amid a mayoral transition.
But Flowers credited the work of Guelache, city grant writer Tiffany Copeland and others involved in winning the grant.
“We’re hoping to see the Hotel Pines as a viable project. It’s a treasure worth saving because it’s a beautiful building,” Guelache added. “It’s all about coming together and looking at plans for the district and create synergy.”