LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) — New attractions are coming to an already booming part of Little Rock. Otter Creek will soon welcome a brand new hotel and a movie theater that will feature eleven screens, food, and so much more.
Groundbreaking has already begun for the new shopping center behind the Outlets of Little Rock, and now construction crews are laying the foundation.
Developer Tommy Hodges explained that the soon to be Gateway Shopping Center would be a 24 hour, seven-days-a week entertainment attraction. Hodges is ready for the two new features soon coming to Otter Creek.
“It’s really become an entertainment center,” Hodges said. “The movie gallery will be an upscale sort of new type movie where food and beverage will be a part of the deal.”
Next to that sits two acres of land for a brand new Hilton hotel.
“Hotels will feed restaurants,” Hodges said. “We have some new restaurants coming.
Hodges said more than 100,000 cars pass through the area on Interstate 30 every day, and a large number of those people travel back and forth between Pulaski and Saline County. He said it’s the shopping center where they tend to stop and shop and with places like Bass Pro, Dave & Busters, and the stores at the Outlets of Little Rock that will help with creating an entertainment space for Little Rock.
“We still have a lot of land,” Hodges said. “So it’s going to grow and develop for the next few years.”
Right now 50 acres remain unused, but developers are quickly turning the dirt filled place into a mixed-use space.
“A couple of new restaurants are coming,” Hodges said. “I am not at liberty to say who they are, but a couple of new restaurants are coming in, over next to the mall and Bass Pro Shop,” Hodges said it doesn’t stop there, and when developed, the new Gateway Shopping Center will be a 365 days a year hotspot for commuters and Arkansans passing through.
“We’ve got a new 10,000 square foot shopping plaza that will be built here behind this fence,” Hodges said. “And construction will start on that in the next few weeks, so we are busy.”
Both the hotel and movie theater are set to open in the fall, and there’s already talks about adding apartments, office space, and two lakes on the property.