Dick's Sporting Goods Coming Soon to McCain Plaza

Dick’s Sporting Goods is set to open in Spring 2018 at the McCain Plaza Shopping Center at McCain Boulevard and U.S. Highway 67 in North Little Rock.

The center’s new owners, TriGate Capital, LLC of Dallas, are spending more than $8 million to build the store and renovate the center, according to Vice President Adam Aultz.

TriGate acquired the 290,000-SF shopping center for $23.15 million in June 2016 through its affiliate, TPP 303 NLR Plaza LLC.  Dick’s will occupy 50,000 SF in the space formerly occupied by the Cinemark movie theater, which had been closed for years before TriGate bought the center.

The building that housed the movie theater has already been demolished. The Dick’s store will be built on that lot.

Aultz told Arkansas Business that Dick’s would fill a void left by Sports Authority, which left the center before his company purchased it. Nearby Gander Mountain has also been advertising a liquidation sale.

“There are a couple of smaller, boutiquey sporting goods stores but nothing big, so we thought this was good fit,” Aultz said.

Jeff Yates of ARK Commercial of Little Rock and Greg Bracchi with Edge Realty Partners of Dallas represented Dick’s in negotiating its new lease. Ethan Slavin of JAH Realty of Oklahoma City and T.J. Lefler of Sage Partners of Fayetteville represented TriGate.

Aultz said TriGate is having all the facades at the center redone and is about 75 percent finished. It has also done maintenance work — repairing roofs and painting — and installed new LED lights in the parking lot.

“We’ve tried to listen to our tenants about what they want to see,” Aultz said.

TriGate also plans to resurfacing the parking lot and upgrade signage and landscaping.

With Dick’s, the center will be about 94 percent leased, with a few units available in the back for small retail shops or restaurants, Aultz said. His hope is those will come with the announcement of this new anchor tenant.

“We’d like to fill it up, if possible,” he said.

Other anchors at the center include Burlington Coat Factory, Petsmart, T.J. Maxx, Michaels, Ross Dress for Less and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Sage Partners, which has offices in Little Rock, has been hired for third-party leasing and management.

Aultz said all the stores in the center had done well there and were eager to extend their leases when they heard the new owners would revamp the center.

“The center hadn’t had any money spent on it in years and years so everyone was pretty willing to agree” to endure construction outside the winter sales when their stores were flush with customers, he said.

Aultz also said the city had been supportive of TriGate’s plans and the firm is looking for more opportunities in the state.

SCM Architects is the architect for the project, and JAH Realty helped with the renovation and lease negotiations.

Aultz added that he’s from Little Rock and especially excited about what’s happening.

“My grandmother lived in North Little Rock and so I went to that movie theater as well,” he said. “And I knew this property extremely well. So it’s been fun for me … to be able to work on it and to help transform it.”