Years of Rehab Get More National Recognition for Argenta

A neighborhood once plagued by crime and dilapidated homes is getting some national attention for the turnaround it`s made. Anyone driving through the Argenta Historic District can see the difference made by 13 years of rehabilitation. An old house on 5th Street in North Little Rock is keeping its owner, Don Chambers, busy on Saturdays. "It was built in 1908, the city`s first clerk, Adam Gurlock built the house," Chambers said. "It was taking on water, the chimneys dilapidated...floors rotted here and there, the house had to be re-leveled," he said. But plenty of homes in Argenta are getting a face lift and a work out. Just ten years ago, not so many homes in this historic neigborhood were in such good shape. "When police would come here, they would not come in a single car, they would always bring two," said long-time resident and Argenta Community Development Corporation director, Rosemary Hamel. "There were murders, robberies, a lot of vacant housing." But the June issue of Realtor magazine gives the Argenta CDC a nod for what it has done to improve safety. "One of the two houses we purchased, two people had been arrested for murder, separate murders out of that same house," she said. The number of police calls from Argenta has gone form over 1,600 in 1994, to 754 in 2002. By buying houses and helping others do the same, the corporation has renovated old homes to looking good as new. "It`s a tangible perception of what is happening here," said Hamel. What has happened between 1990 and 2000 is population and poverty decreased by 26% and 25%, respectively. The median household income jumped 34%. Where residents were once in a hurry to leave the neighborhood, they`re now seeing results they can live with. "People are coming here to buy, desperately seeking housing," said Hamel. The Argenta CDC says because there are fewer homes in the neighborhood that need their help now, they plan to branch out to other areas, such as Baring Cross and the Holt neighborhood in Mid-City, for a little rehabilitation there.