Now surrounded mostly by empty lots and boarded-up storefronts, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation of Las Vegas (Reynolds was a former owner of the Arkansas Gazette newspaper) and the United Way of Southeast Arkansas placed this 41,000-square-foot building for community service organizations in an effort to kick off a major revitalization in this section of downtown. Designed by a Pine Bluff firm, the zigzag-shaped one-story red brick building has a modern version of a monitor roof, which allows clerestory windows to flood the public areas with light; the ceiling inside has exposed beams.
Across W. 2nd Avenue from this building, at number 207 W. 3rd, sits the Community Theatre, opened in 1922 and renovated to its present Art Moderne design in 1952. The plain painted-facade building is enlivened by an angled marquee carrying the theater’s name in large neon letters across its top and a big C at its front.