Hot Springs National Park - Historic Property Leasing (U.S. National Park Service)

The National Park Service, through the Historic Properties Leasing Program, is offering these historic properties for business lease opportunities. The buildings are being rehabilitated to tenant-ready condition with federal funding. Here is the most recent Request for Proposals, open June 1-September 30, 2008. It is a 17.8 mb Adobe Acrobat file; if you cannot open this file, you may request to have a copy mailed to you.

NPS Photo/Gail Sears

Superior Bathhouse

Superior Bathhouse
The northernmost bathhouse on Bathhouse Row, the Superior was completed in 1916, designed by architect Harry C. Schwebke of Hot Springs, Arkansas. The building was constructed on the site of an earlier Superior Bathhouse and is simply designed in an eclectic commercial style of Classical Revival origin. It contains 7,966 square feet of leasable space. See floor plan.

NPS Photo/Gail Sears

Hale Bathhouse

Hale Bathhouse
This Hale was built in 1892-93, replacing an earlier Hale Bathhouse. The building underwent extensive renovations in 1919 (design by George Mann and Eugene Stern of Little Rock) and again in the late 1930s (design by Thompson, Sanders, and Ginocchio of Little Rock). The latter renovation changed the facade from neo-Classical Revival to Mission Style in 1939-40. The Hale contains 9,582 square feet of leasable space. The bathhouse business closed in 1978. See floor plan.

color photo of Maurice, a three-story Spanish-style white stucco building with a green tile roof

NPS Photo/Gail Sears

Maurice Bathhouse

Maurice Bathhouse
The Maurice Bathhouse is a three-story structure with a basement and exterior dimensions of 100 feet by 100 feet. It contains 17,979 square feet of leasable space. The exterior architecture is an eclectic mix of Spanish and Italian Renaissance Revival Styles. Faced with stucco and inset colored tiles, it has good proportions, simplicity of design, and crisp detailing. The entry is a sun porch with five arched windows set in antis between two pavilions. The five-bay motif is used again on the third floor in the central block.
The Maurice Bathhouse closed in 1974. See floor plan.

Bathhouse Rehabilitation
Through several phases over the past three years, each bathhouse available for lease was stabilized. Each got new insulated roofs and a modern heat and air system. Exterior accessibility ramps, improved drainage systems to control spring water seepage into the basements and structural support as needed were part of this effort.
When completed, the current phase of rehabilitation in the Superior and Hale Bathhouses will provide electric and plumbing systems. Similar work is beginning in the Maurice Bathhouse.

Steps in Leasing a Historic Building

A Request for Proposals is announced. Anyone interested in leasing one of the offered buildings has six months from this point to prepare a proposal.
Proposals received are sent to the NPS Midwest Region for review.
Qualified applicants are notified if their proposal has been accepted.
Lease negotiations begin and this process can take more than a year.
A lease is signed and the lessee takes possession of the building. They begin to make any renovations that have been approved to adapt the building for the specific business. A lease may be in effect for up to 60 years.