Downtown Jonesboro’s changing face: Kent Arnold reflects on growth, challenges and the road ahead

Jonesboro, AR — (JonesboroRightNow.com) — May 6, 2025 — For more than two decades, Kent Arnold has had a front-row seat to the evolution of downtown Jonesboro.

As president and CEO of Arnold Group Real Estate, his office has anchored the area since 2001. He’s watched buildings change hands, concepts rise and fall, and what was once a near-empty stretch of Main Street slowly pulse back to life.

“When I got there in 2001, the 200 block was like a ghost town,” Arnold said. “There were no liquor licenses, there was no place to get a drink. So, everything you see down there in the 200 to 300 block has come in the last 25 years.”

Though slow, the growth has been significant, Arnold said. He points to new businesses like Vietnamese Kitchen, Lemonade House Grill, and a soon-to-be revamped restaurant at the former Creegan’s location, now under renovation to become the Cotton Club.

“Creegan’s was there for 14 years, operated by a guy out of Little Rock. He never came to town,” Arnold said. “When he listed it with me, it sold for $865,000. They’re putting about a quarter million into remodeling. It’s going to have a really nice downstairs and the second floor is going to be a sports bar. So, now you’ve got new energy downtown.”

But for all the wins, the road hasn’t been easy.

“There’s been very little new built downtown in the last 25 years. Most everything has been redone, remodeled,” he said. “Downtown gets a bad rap because this Citizens Bank building has been kind of negative — closing the street down, hurting some of the people that have restaurants.”

One question mark still hangs over the corner of Washington and Main—what’s the plan for that space?

“I’ve heard nothing about it,” Arnold said. “But, you know, my gut tells me that it will be parking for a long time.”

That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, in Arnold’s view. With multiple restaurants clustered nearby—like Bamboo, the Parsonage, and Omar’s—he said more parking is desperately needed.

“That’s all in one block, but there’s so little parking,” Arnold said. “That’s why I hope they leave that [Washington and Main location] as parking up there near the courthouse.”

Some properties, he said, are still struggling to find the right buyer or tenant — like the former Roots restaurant space.

“We started out at like $600,000. And that’s a little bit high. We lowered the price down to $549,000 and that’s where we are now,” Arnold said. “The lease that we’re asking is $4,000 a month, which is a little bit higher than the market will bear. It’s had a lot of showings. We could’ve leased it for $2,500 or $3,000 to somebody. It’s ready to go.”

Another property up for grabs is the former Godsey’s building, which was occupied by Ben-Yay’s and Sugar Grits.

“Here’s what I would say: last year was the worst real estate market in 30 years,” Arnold said. “There’s two million realtors in the U.S. — 700,000 of them didn’t sell one property last year. So, I think it’s very interesting to see a million-dollar property put up downtown, and it’s usually gone within 30 to 60 days.”

Still, one issue looms over downtown revitalization efforts: traffic.

A recent social media post from a downtown business owner voiced concern that traffic would worsen once the Washington/Main project wrapped up. Arnold acknowledges those concerns but says it’s a bigger infrastructure issue than many realize.

“I have worked for a pedestrian-friendly downtown for years. But the bottom line is there’s only two North/South arteries in Jonesboro. One of them is Main Street. The other one is Highway 49,” he said. “Caraway Road used to be available, but it got blocked off. You can’t go north through the college anymore.”

That leaves downtown bearing the brunt of commuter traffic.

“Of the 8,000 cars that travel downtown every day, 7,500 of them are only trying to get north,” Arnold said.

Arnold brought up a possible solution: sturdy, short, vertical posts that have a timer that block through-traffic on Main Street in the evening hours.

“If at 6:30 every night, these three poles would come up, where you cannot make it through downtown, and it directs you to turn right—you could cut out 80% of the traffic at night,” he said. “You would make it much more pedestrian-friendly.”

Despite the obstacles, Arnold remains optimistic about the future of downtown Jonesboro. He sees progress — even if it’s incremental.

“I’ve just seen it come such a long way, inch by inch,” he said. “It’s hard to make it as a small restaurant downtown. But there’s been a lot of them that have, and a lot of them are still in business. The Rec Room seems like it’s doing well. The Vietnamese Kitchen is doing well. Bamboo is one of my favorite places. I would say that was a very healthy two blocks. It’s just unbelievable that we have as much as we have down there.”