HomeMy WebLinkAboutHDC2001-008 Memorandum To Jim Lawson and Curran Hall Visitors Center From Barry Travis 06/22/2001Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau
From the desk of:
Barry Travis
Executive Director
P. O. Box 3232
Little Rock, AR 72203
Phone: (501) 370-3200
Fax: (501) 376-4138
Email: btravisQ.littferoc k.c; )m
MEMORANDUM.......
TO: Jim Lawson
FROM: Barry Travis
Executive Director
DATE: June 22, 2001
RE: Curran Hall Visitors Center
The enclosed brochures were created several years ago to promote saving and therefore the
development of Curran Hall Visitors Center. Our estimates then of 50,000 were based on 1-30
travel, according to the highway department, which was extremely low in our opinion. This
number should be much higher now since the Presidential Park and Heifer Project are on the
horizon. If you consider where Curran Hall is located in relation to those projects, the River
Market in particular and then downtown in general it should be obvious that even minimal
success will generate substantial need for parking.
The comment from the Post Office is encouraging, but I don't think that we should count on that
availability in the future as a guarantee. Actually, we would like to get possession of the triangle
shaped property east of the Post Office for future additional bus and RV parking and are working
on that right now.
Billboards that will be several miles out on the Interstate advising the traveler of the Visitor
Center's location will supplement highway signage.
I believe that our visitor count and therefore vehicle count will be much higher than we dreamed it
would be when this project got started a few years ago. And, as was pointed out in the Future
Little Rock Study, Curran Hall is ideally located and is the ideal structure for Little Rock's
Welcome and Visitor Information Center.
Our office, the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, will staff the facility with at least four
full time employees, two part-time employees and two volunteers daily. We will have the center
open seven days a week, approximately ten hours a day and also have some evening functions
such as private receptions, parties and meetings. We expect Curran Hall to be a very busy place
and hope that the limited parking available will be adequate.
Thank you for your interest and assistance. Good luck with your efforts. Please let me know if we
can be of further assistance in any way.
BT/cd
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