Five more companies will be among the Little Rock Technology Park tenants when it opens March 1, the park's executive director, Brent Birch, announced Tuesday.
The latest tenants are software engineers MobX; software developer Touchwood Technologies Inc.; Playbook Weight Management; Noble Impact, an education initiative; and On Site Hepatology, for doctors and their liver disease patients.
The park's second and third floors, for month-to-month tenants, are now 82 percent leased with 14 companies. Longer-term lease space is 25 percent filled, with Ritter Communications, the Venture Center and Blue Sail Coffee Roasters among those clients.
The tech park is at 417 Main St. in Little Rock.
A second phase of the park's development will involve the purchase of a parking lot at the northeast corner of Fourth and Main streets and the studio and parking deck owned by KATV-TV.
The Little Rock Board of Directors approved a $1,364,591 million disbursement to the tech park Tuesday, which tech park officials say could be used to begin negotiations on Phase 2 property purchases.
Birch said the Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board has not set a priority on which property to purchase first.
The money disbursed by the city comes from a 2011 sales tax increase, of which $22 million was promised to the tech park over the 10-year life of the tax.
With the latest disbursement included, the city has given the tech park about $8 million.
"[There's] no immediate or direct plans for these funds. [They] could be used to service debt or purchase additional property as we shift our attention to future phases after phase one is up and running," Birch said previously.
"For us to be able to negotiate in earnest on any of the remaining target properties, we need to have these funds in hand versus negotiating then having to go back to the [Little Rock Board of Directors] for approval of disbursement," he said.
Metro on 02/22/2017