This adaptive reuse of an underutilized 1960s strip shopping center grounds with 1,700 parking spaces—equivalent in area to 14 city blocks—provides a new community anchor for the South Central Neighborhood in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The repair project has two objectives: 1) connect the shopping center grounds with its surrounding neighborhood; and 2) infuse neighborhood structure (walkability, mixed uses, pedestrian-oriented spaces, etc.) into the adaptation of the parking lot.
We asked: what if the Jefferson Square parking lot was infilled with a street grid anchored by a true neighborhood square at Highway 63B? The square organizes a new open-air food canopy with two fast casual dining restaurants, food trucks, and itinerant food vendors. A new building for small tenants or a much needed grocery store faces the new Olive Street. The square anchors a larger productive landscape that ecologically manages urban stormwater, while mitigating the parking lot’s heat island effect with new tree canopies—we botanize the pavement. Substituting car parking for new neighborhood park spaces makes sense for a community where 30 percent of families do not own a car. Both the street and shopping center retrofit provide a new shade economy in an Arkansas delta neighborhood where heat can be deadly.
Sponsor
U.S. Department of Transportation
Client
City of Pine Bluff