Walton Arts Center confirmed this week that it's working with R.A. Wilson Enterprises on an agreement to operate The Majestic, the 5,000-capacity outdoor entertainment venue R.A Wilson has proposed for the 101 Park Ave. location that's sat idle since 2006.

The local development firm has had the property under contract since July, when the Hot Springs Board of Directors adopted an ordinance ratifying a purchase agreement for the $2,163,128 sale of the 7-acre site the city acquired in 2015. Per the contract, the sale can't close until R.A. Wilson secures a memorandum of agreement with a venue operator.

Walton Arts Center owns and operates the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers. R.A. Wilson President/CEO Rick Wilson has said The Majestic will be a sister venue to the larger Walmart AMP.

"Walton Arts Center is in the early stages of an agreement with the developer," WAC Public Relations Director Jennifer Wilson said Monday in an email. "We have agreed upon a framework for how Walton Arts Center would manage, operate and program the venue and are currently working with R.A. Wilson Enterprises to create a memorandum of understanding based on that framework."

She said WAC President/CEO Peter Lane will be at the city board's April 5 business meeting.

Rick Wilson said earlier this month that an agreement won't be completed before the board convenes on April 5. The 90-day extension R.A. Wilson exercised at the end of last year extended due diligence to April 16. A resolution extending due diligence beyond what's provided for in the contract will be on the April 5 agenda.

The nine-month extension Rick Wilson requested in a March 14 letter to the city would extend due diligence to Jan. 20 of next year. The property will have been under contract for 18 months by then, almost 10 months longer than the March 31 date the board set for closing the sale. Issuing a new request for proposals if the sale doesn't close by the end of the month was one of the six 2022 goals the board established at its July 2021 goal setting/budget priorities work session.

The city was prepared to issue a third RFP last spring after the board chose not to extend exclusive negotiations with the Dallas-based team that proposed a $110 million thermal water resort for the Majestic site. The Grand Point Investment Group and Cienda Partners-led team told the board last March that the pandemic had frustrated its efforts to find investors for the project.

Before the city could issue a third solicitation, R.A. Wilson made a $2.16 million offer last April. The board approved the purchase agreement three months later.

"The timing of this with respect to the extension is because the contract will expire April 16, in which case the earnest money would default to the city if not extended," City Attorney Brian Albright told the board at Tuesday's agenda meeting.

Rick Wilson has offered to refund the $100,000 in earnest money Oct. 20, three months before the end of the nine-month extension he requested. Per the contract the board adopted in July, the money becomes nonrefundable at the end of due diligence or if R.A. Wilson terminates the contract before then.

Rick Wilson has "indicated he will be able to share some of the things he's already done during the due diligence process, why things may have been stagnant during the due diligence process and what's happening moving forward," City Manager Bill Burrough told the board Tuesday.

Rick Wilson said the pandemic delayed the market analysis for The Majestic project, which has had a cascading effect. The protracted analysis delayed negotiations with operators. The details it provided, ranging from ticket and concession prices patrons are willing to pay to the seat cushion thickness they prefer, gave operators a sense for the viability of a venue that's yet to be built on a site R.A. Wilson doesn't have title to.

"It helped us negotiate an end result with an operator for a nonexistent amphitheater," Rick Wilson said, noting that it's taken "1,000 baby steps" to advance the project to the operating agreement phase. He said the memorandum of understanding he's negotiating with WAC is the prelude to a binding agreement.

"The operator in this case is going to be known as operator and tenant," he said. "The actual agreement will be styled more of a landlord tenant lease agreement. The MOU essentially sets forth in writing all the terms the landlord and tenant have agreed upon."

He said the design phase can't begin in earnest until an operator has been secured, and the geotechnical investigation of the site can't be completed until architects have a better sense of the venue's design.

"We were about to waste a lot of money on core drilling some areas we're not certain we're going to construct on until we get back to design," Rick Wilson said. "We started it, but it's temporarily stalled until we can complete another level of design."

He estimated a nine- to 10-month construction phase, pushing the proposed spring 2023 opening date to later that year.

"We'll still have a 2023 season," he said. "It will just be a shortened season."

Print Headline: Walton Arts Center confirms Majestic involvement

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