Economic development does not exist in a bubble. There are myriad factors that bring new businesses to town or allow existing businesses to expand, a skilled workforce, adequate real estate and a business-friendly community among them. Adequate housing and quality-of-life amenities for residents are a must, and it helps if there are a couple visitor-friendly bragging points to wow location scouts.
Getting the ball rolling can be tough, but each investment spurs countless other investments as the increase in workforce, residents and visitors brings about a need for additional products, services and amenities, perpetuating the economic cycle.
Perhaps no one knows that better than Cole McCaskill, interim president and CEO of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce and Hot Springs Metro Partnership. First joining the chamber as an intern in 2013, McCaskill spent about nine months as director of customer service before becoming downtown development director in the wake of the Majestic Hotel fire in 2014.
Cole McCaskill
In that role, the Hot Springs native helped transform the once boarded-up downtown area into the thriving community hub that exists today. After being promoted to vice president of economic development in 2017, he continued to champion downtown while encouraging other aspects of business life in the city. He assumed the interim role in May.
Arkansas Money & Politics caught up with McCaskill to pick his brain about the state of the city and the finer points of economic development.
Arkansas Money & Politics: How are you settling into your new role as interim president and CEO?
Cole McCaskill: Great. I’ve been here 13 years. I started as an unpaid intern. I’ve done just about every job on the way up. I know exactly what needs to happen and have worked with the boards and the leadership for many years. I was vice president of economic development for the last nine years, functionally involved in economic development activities, so I’d say real well.
AMP: What are some of your Day 1 priorities?
McCaskill: As interim, I’m not really making a lot of big changes. I’m really just serving in the transition capacity. There will be a national search for a new president and CEO, so really, just kind of a transition time right now.
AMP: Do you hope to be considered during the national search?
McCaskill: Oh, yeah. I’m going to throw my hat in the ring. We definitely want the best person for Hot Springs, and I think it will be a great process.
AMP: What are some initiatives currently underway at the chamber and partnership?
McCaskill: Workforce development is one of the biggest ones. A few years ago, a lot of our businesses brought us an issue that there was a labor shortage, and in economic development, we like to help private businesses create new jobs. That’s the No. 1 goal in economic development, and our businesses were saying, “We can’t create new jobs because we have so many existing job openings we can’t fill. We can’t get enough people hired for those jobs.”
That’s a big obstacle for economic development. If we can’t help private companies create new jobs, we’ve got to work on the obstacles that are in the way for that, so we started looking and researching and came up with a new workforce development program.
The goal was to try to capitalize on all of the graduating seniors in the seven local independent school districts in Garland County and to let them know about all the great job opportunities that exist in Hot Springs and Garland County at all different skill levels, whether they’re wanting to go into the workforce right out of high school or they want to get some kind of technical training certificate, an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree or an advanced college degree. We really started breaking down that barrier between the private sector and the public education center to communicate, “Here are some of the great career paths that exist in Garland County.”
Oaklawn, seen here, and Xpress Boats are two of Hot Springs’ largest employers and economic drivers. (File photos)
AMP: What are some employers you are working to highlight?
McCaskill: Oaklawn Park and CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs are two of our large employers. Xpress Boats and Veranda Luxury Pontoons, both under the same ownership, they’re our largest manufacturer. We have five companies in the aerospace industry. Of course, aerospace and defense is a very important industry in the whole state of Arkansas. Mountain Valley Water — major employer in our area.
AMP: What other initiatives are currently underway?
McCaskill: We’ve had a downtown development initiative going for a little bit over a decade. It’s had a lot of success. We’ve had 260 new businesses open downtown since 2014. Of those 260 new businesses, 72 percent are still open. The national small-business survival rate is about 50 percent, so we’re really proud that we’re beating that national average in a big way.
There has been about $230 million invested into downtown Hot Springs in that same time period, since 2014. That investment has all been from the private sector, and it was to bring in new business. A lot of those were building renovations, property renovations, some new construction but all for the purpose of opening new businesses downtown, and there’s quite a bit underway. There’s a brand-new hotel, a new Hampton Inn, under construction right now, and the National Park Service is investing in the Maurice Bathhouse downtown. That’s a little over $30 million right now to bring that building up to modern standards to attract a new business into it. The Maurice Bathhouse has been the only remaining vacant bathhouse along Bathhouse Row.
We’re really excited about the continued success of downtown. It’s really become an attraction all of its own for folks all over Arkansas and the region who want to come visit a cool downtown that has all the things that they want to do — lodging, shopping, eating, bathing, the spas. We have a great heritage of thermal bathing, spas in Hot Springs. It’s just a great place to come and relax, have a great weekend. There’s something for everybody to do.
Xpress Boats
AMP: What allowed you to beat the national average for small-business survival by 22 percent?
McCaskill: I know without question it’s the tourism, the demand that’s brought here by 9.7 million visitors a year. There’s a huge demand for all kinds of products and services that come along with those folks. There’s a huge market to do business.
The national park has a symbiotic relationship with downtown Hot Springs; I think last year’s national park visitor numbers were about 2.5 million folks, and you can’t visit Hot Springs National Park without also visiting the commercial strip of downtown.
The national park doesn’t have any parking — 2.5 million visitors a year and no parking — so the city and the private businesses and the county service a lot of that tourism infrastructure, which is places to stay, places to eat, places to shop, the roads — all that. There’s private infrastructure to support all that demand, and there’s also public infrastructure that we have to support that demand.
AMP: What plans are in the works for the Majestic Hotel site?
McCaskill: There were two proposals delivered to the city of Hot Springs by the Majestic committee for ideas to develop the former Majestic Hotel site. One of those was a private development, kind of a mixed-use development to establish new construction, to house new retail on the site. The other was the idea to build a new main Garland County Library branch on that site.
Currently, the library is asking for a property tax new millage on the November ballot to see if the voters will approve that new construction project, so that’s really the latest there. It’s going to be up to the voters of Garland County to see what the next step is there at the Majestic site.
