The city of North Little Rock is taking a hard look at its former central fire station, and the result could be sweet, creamy goodness for area residents.
Little Rock-based Loblolly Creamery LLC, a well-loved central Arkansas purveyor of homemade small-batch ice cream, has offered to buy the city’s former central station, located at Maple and 8th Streets. North Little Rock has been looking for an alternate use for the station after construction of a new station at 13th and Main was finished in June.
No hard-and-fast decision was made at Monday’s city council meeting, but the council did vote not to take up an emergency reading of a proposal submitted by downtown Little Rock bar staple Willy D’s. That seemingly leaves the door open for Loblolly, which earlier submitted an offer of $825,000 for the fire station. Loblolly presently operates three locations in central Arkansas, with two in Little Rock (SOMA and Hillcrest) and one in Benton, plus an ice cream truck.
Monday night, the city council approved a request from North Little Rock Mayor Terry Hartwick and City Clerk Diane Whitbey to enter into a nonbinding letter of intent with Loblolly. What does that mean? In terms of municipal matters, think of the letter of intent as a “proof of concept” in which the bidder confirms their intent while supplying an outline of operations, cost of the project, estimated length of time and other factors. It allows both parties – the city and the business – to enter into preliminary dialogue without being bound by future promises.
Though we would never stick our nose into such matters (ahem), the idea of fresh ice cream in a fire station appeals to us, especially if it involves somebody sliding down a fire pole to hand us a double-dipped key lime pie ice cream cone. Check in with us here at AY Media Group as this cold and delicious civic issue develops.
