Sync

By Shannon Sturgis Henson Flye's downtown dwelling used to be a drug store. He's remodeling the place and calls it a work in progress. + Enlarge

LITTLE ROCK — Having lived in Philadelphia and San Francisco, Henson Flye had an idea for what he wanted out of a home when he moved back to Arkansas.

"I always wanted a big, open space. Like a warehouse kind of space," he said.

He found it in a block of old storefronts in downtown Little Rock that he's working to turn into both a living space and working studio.

Dating back to the early 20th century, teens or twenties perhaps, the row of three single story buildings have served mostly for retail shops in the past. Those uses have left their legacy on the space, and that's part of what drew Flye to it.

"The floor sold me," he said, pointing to the patterned tile of the main living room and kitchen area, which once was a drug store and soda fountain. "It's definitely got character - past lives."

Of course, the floor took a lot of work to get back to some semblance of its former glory - and it was far from the only thing. Though an existing raised platform provided a place, the kitchen itself had to be built by adding in a false wall and bringing in piping. The cabinets were bought, but the countertop Flye crafted himself. To connect the buildings he's knocked out brick walls and created doorways, again doing the masonry work and sealing off exposed pipes himself. The only contracting, he said, was for plumbing and electrical work and bringing in central heat and air to the living area (approximately half the combined 3,750 square feet).

"Everything else I've done myself," he said. "I've worked as a painter, and I've been around stuff like that. I'm pretty handy."

And good thing since there's a lot left to do, he adds. Things like creating another false wall, some paneling, frosting windows and fixing masonry. The roof also needs some work, and there are exterior changes he'd like to make, assuming he can get the appropriate approvals since the buildings are in a historic district.

Living with all the dust all the time is a hassle, Flye said, but the hassle is worth it.

"I love it. It feels like I'm home and I'm here," he said. "It's so very different how a wide open space makes you think. It's like your brain can expand out into that open space."

Living old school

By Shannon Sturgis Ryan Hitt inhabits one of the former classroom spaces of Eastside Lofts. His particular apartment used to house a home econom... + Enlarge

Ryan Hitt has a blackboard in his bedroom. Not a newfangled dry erase marker board, but a real deal, old school (literally) blackboard.

Though he doesn't mind having it, it's not his personal decorating touch. It's a reminder of the past life of his apartment at Eastside Lofts in downtown Little Rock, which used to serve the city as first a high school and then a junior high.

The Eastside project is one in a series of historic renovations undertaken by the Arc of Arkansas, a statewide membership organization providing support, housing, advocacy, education and leadership to people with developmental disabilities and their families. First opened in 2002, Eastside is one of its properties open to tenants both with and without disabilities. Hitt said he heard about the place through his uncle, Arc's CEO, and moved in two years ago.

"Being on my own with all this space, it was kind of weird at first," he said of the loft, which measures about 1,200 square feet. "[But now] I love it, I love all the space. It's really unique, really different."

Hitt's unit used to be the home economics classroom. As such, the longest wall of the apartment is lined with a huge wooden built-in with lots of different cabinets where students used to store their projects.

The apartment has drawn varied reactions from friends. Most love it, but more than a few say coming over feels like going back to school again. Hitt, who went to older schools Park Hill Elementary and West Campus in North Little Rock, said even he gets that same feeling from time to time. A further reminder can be found steps from his front door, the name Louis Sanders Jr. scratched into the window by some young hoodlum - back in 1926.

Being a musician, he said he's a little disappointed he can't play music louder - the walls in the building are massively thick, but don't seem to muffle music well. But then again, that's something he would have to be conscious of in any apartment, so why not have a neat one, he reasoned.

"There are multiple people who want my apartment when I move," he said.

Housing concrete

By Shannon Sturgis Covington Towers is an old concrete company in Conway that's been revamped and made into apartments. + Enlarge

Touring the tri-level interior of Sujith Kumar's spacious one bedroom apartment at Covington Towers in Conway, its modern tile floor, shag carpet and low-key fixtures provide no visual hints that it was once a hollow 700-ton storage bin, one of five used when the facility was the home of F & F Concrete.

It's only from the outside - either looking up at the building or down from one of rooftop patios - that it becomes blatantly obvious this imposing structure - once hailed as one of the most handsome in the ready mix concrete industry - was not originally built to be a residential building. A massive formed concrete barrel shell roof covers the structure, and a four story ramp once used to convey rock up to the top of the building now serves as a sloping fire escape.

"Mark my words, I will definitely take my bike down that ramp before I move," said Kumar.

Joining the political science department at the University of Central Arkansas this year, Kumar moved in back in July, having found the place almost by accident.

"I literally drove past this place and said ,'Hey wait, what is that?' And the colleague I was with said, 'Oh, some crazy person turned that into an apartment,'" he said.

He immediately went back and found a phone number for leasing information - and found the "crazy person" to be Covington Properties, which turned the five storage bins into three-story apartment or office units. It didn't take much convincing to get Kumar in.

"I looked around quite a bit, and this is by far the most interesting place I found to live," he said.

Neighbor Julee Jaegar, who with her husband Tyrone moved into a stand-alone unit that once was the "batch plant" (where everything was mixed together) back in June, agreed. Moving to Arkansas from Lincoln, Neb., they were looking for something out of the ordinary when someone at a Little Rock party told them about a "grain silo that had been made into an apartment." They spent all weekend Googling for it, and ultimately got clarification when they were sent an article that appeared in Dwell magazine talking about the Covington project.

Though solidly soundproof, the unit doesn't keep out the noise from the nearby train tracks, Kumar noted. And some corners are kind of dark because windows are limited (and none of them open). But the industrial surroundings aren't as dense as they appear - he's within walking or biking distance of work, the commerce on Harkrider, and the renovated downtown area.

"At the end of the day, I love being here," Kumar said. "I've never enjoyed any place I've lived, ever. And I was unsure about coming to Conway, but I love being here."