Celebrating 50 Years of Architecture
To a Better World, One Project at a Time
As we celebrate 50 years of TAGGART Architects, we are honored to reflect on the journey that has brought us to this milestone and to share our vision for the future. What began as a passion for thoughtful, purposeful design has grown into an award-winning practice, licensed in 32 states, with a reputation for shaping spaces that inspire, function and endure.
Our mission has always been clear — to create architecture that enriches lives, strengthens communities and stands the test of time. Over the past five decades, we have had the privilege of designing schools that foster learning, workplaces that drive innovation, civic buildings that connect communities and health care spaces that improve lives. With each project, we have remained committed to the core principles of sustainability, innovation and a deep understanding of the people who will inhabit the spaces we create.
Looking ahead, the next 50 years hold even greater possibilities. The built environment is evolving rapidly, shaped by advancements in technology, the urgency of climate responsibility and the ever-changing needs of the people who interact with our spaces. TAGGART Architects is prepared to embrace these challenges with the same forward-thinking approach that has defined us for the past five decades.
We will continue to push boundaries in design, explore the limitless potential of emerging technologies and, most importantly, remain true to the values that have guided us from the beginning — people first.
To our clients, partners and team members — past, present, and future — thank you! Your trust, creativity and collaboration have been the foundation of our success. As we step into the next chapter, we do so with excitement, purpose and a commitment to designing a better world one project at a time.
Here’s to the next 50 years of vision, innovation and excellence!
With appreciation and optimism,
to
Standing L to R: Sarah Halldorson, John Potter, James Bakanovic, Steve Grisham, Philip Quandt, Bram Keahey, Shannon Sanders, Alan New, Bill Gray, Jay Gillespie, Billy Mathis, Kaley McClain, Meredith Davies Spray, Mike Callahan
Seated L
R: Brie Gregory, David Raboin, Reyna Calvo, Malia Stauffer, Brandon Ruhl, Jessica Cooper, James Meyer, An Le, Justin Mallett
James Meyer Managing Partner
Bram Keahey Managing Partner
Brandon Ruhl Managing Partner
Reflecting on 50 Years and What Is to Come
Brandon Ruhl, one of the managing partners for TAGGART Architects in North Little Rock, succinctly summarized the firm’s 50th anniversary, which it celebrates in 2025.
“Fifty years means we are doing it right,” he said. “It also means to me that what we are doing is sustainable for years to come.”
Doing something right, indeed. Since its founding by Burt Taggart Jr. in 1975, the firm has stamped its mark on schools, hospitals, office buildings and other iconic projects throughout its hometown, as well as across the state and even the country.
The firm has been a driving force behind the revitalization of the Argenta Arts District in downtown North Little Rock, where it now calls home after moving in 2020 from its original location just off the city’s main retail hub. From the roof of the firm’s 600 Main Building in Argenta, designed and built to serve as its new headquarters, several iconic structures that help define the area and are TAGGART projects can be seen — Argenta Plaza, the First Orion building, Simmons Bank Arena, Dickey-Stephens Park, the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub and Argenta Contemporary Theatre.
The new North Little Rock Events Center, under construction nearby on the riverfront, is another TAGGART project.
The move to Argenta and its role in growing downtown are evidence of its plans to embark on another half-century of producing high-quality, functionally efficient, budgetconscious architecture that gratifies and inspires the end user.
Burt Taggart Jr. forms
Burt Taggart and Associates
Ruhl and his fellow managing partners, Bram Keahey and James Meyer, reflected on the firm’s anniversary, on significant projects and moments, and what is next for the next 50 years.
Charles D. Foster joins BT&A
Buck Matthews joins BT&A Taggart & Associates Engineers originated. In-house engineering added to services. 1975 1977 1976 1979
Argenta Plaza / North Little Rock
What is the secret behind a successful 50 years?
Ruhl: The firm has remained successful and healthy throughout the decades thanks to our leadership, our commitment to our clients and a will for excellence in the profession. Architectural practice is just that — it’s practice. Architects only get better the more that they practice, and with 50 years under our belt, we are very confident in our abilities!
How does it feel knowing that the firm was a major driver in the transformation of Argenta into a thriving arts district?
Meyer: Refreshing. As architects, we are students of cities and their design. Great cities “breathe.” They are flexible and react to the changes around them over time. It was amazing to see two gravel parking lots transform into Argenta Plaza, worldclass public spaces and mixed-use buildings. Now we are working with Mayor Terry Hartwick on the next big step on Main Street with the North Little Rock Event Center. After that, we only have to look out the window to dream about what could happen next.
To what do you attribute the firm’s growth and success?
Meyer: A culture of listening. Rarely are we the experts on any given project. Instead, it is our clients who bring their expertise and innovative thinking to flavor each project. Our job is to be creative problem solvers who shape our client’s goals and ideas into buildings and spaces. Our culture embraces the challenge of solving problems in novel ways that match our clients’ individual character.
Is there a certain project that stands out for encapsulating the spirit of a specific community?
Keahey: Some projects just have fun concepts. Of my 33 years at TAGGART Architects, the ASU Welcome Center/Centennial Bank branch in Jonesboro may be my favorite design project. Centennial Bank made an investment in the A-State campus by designing a building to be a campus hub and reflect the spirit of the proud university. The concept was “building as logo.” I love this strong concept that was fitting of a college campus where school spirit dominates.
What is the firm’s “secret sauce”?
Keahey: Devoted people believing in the work, believing in the mission and believing that they are making a difference. To have a firm dedicated to those things for so long means that the firm’s initial values were strong enough to have continued for so long.
Is there a specific project that encapsulates the firm’s values?
Ruhl: I love every project that I have ever received the honor to be a part of, but I even more so cherish the relationships that each project brings along with it. One of my very first, and a project that has a lasting impact on my professional development, is the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub. This project started as a pro-bono effort to help a newly formed nonprofit organization incubate an art studio, maker space, tech center and coworking space all under one roof.
Matthews becomes partner
Jerry Currence joins BT&A
Foster becomes partner
Office at 4500 Burrow Drive in North Little Rock
North Little Rock Event Center Rendering
It had lofty goals for economic development and young talent retention in central Arkansas and very little private funding. Because I was the newest intern, and the lowest paid employee of the firm at the time, it made sense for me to take on this project. Reimagining a 100-year-old building with a contemporary program that I believed in and no cap on my time investment or worry of profitability was a dream project!
With a half century now behind it, where does the firm go next?
Ruhl: Anywhere our clients want to go! We are now licensed in 32 states, thanks to repeat clients who want TAGGART to serve all their projects. Over the past year, we have strategically diversified our portfolio of project types. It is intriguing to find ways to apply lessons learned in one type of project to a completely different challenge. Change is inevitable, and we intend to evolve while staying true to our core values.
Mike Callahan joins BT&A
1985 1987
From Pencil on Paper to BIM The evolution of architecture
Architecture has evolved much over the half century that TAGGART has been in business. Though most of the work is now done on computer screens as opposed to paper, TAGGART still ensures its work always maintains the “soul” of hand drawings.
Mike Callahan partner
The pace of architectural technology has been utterly amazing. When I joined the firm in 1987, we were doing design and drawing all by hand. There were no computers or plotters. We ran copies — blueprints — of hand-drawn drawings on a blueprint machine. We went through the phase of drawing on Mylar (plastic) sheets and doing “overlay” drafting. It was a very crude form of “computer drafting” using different layers of drawings to create a final complex drawing.
When we finally got our first Computer Aided Design (CAD) equipment, it was very basic and could only generate simple floor plans and building elevations. I remember our first plotter for doing large drawings was a dot-matrix printer that took forever just to plot one drawing sheet.
CAD systems now have amazing capabilities. We have some exceptionally talented employees who can produce fantastic drawings, project renderings approaching photograph quality, fly-around graphics and other incredible graphics. I am certainly old school with manual drawing. It’s a gift that only certain people have.
Bill Gray chairman emeritus
When I first started, you drew designs by hand. It was pretty time consuming. Pencil on paper led to pencil on plastic sheets to BIM. We always start off with hard sketches, even now. In the early 2000s, we went to drawing on computers. Computers can do so much now. It’s allowed architecture to really change.
Alan New partner
The design process begins with a hand sketch and a deep understanding of the client’s needs. It involves developing multiple ideas that form the foundation of a building, program or solution. Hand sketching is essential to this exploration, allowing for the free flow of concepts without attachment, and enabling the refinement of the best possible creative solution.
Bill Gray joins BT&A
Building a Legacy TAGGART works to impact communities
Since its launch in 1975, TAGGART has stamped its imprint onto North Little Rock and the city’s downtown Argenta Historic District.
TAGGART was the lead architectural firm for Simmons Bank Arena, opened in 1999 as Alltel Arena on the North Little Rock riverfront, as well as Dickey-Stephens Park, located just down the street and home of the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team. TAGGART also designed the reimagined North Little Rock High School west campus, also located downtown.
The firm is proud of its North Little Rock roots and the role it has played in helping revitalize Argenta, but its work has also impacted communities throughout the region and beyond.
“Our firm has always been involved with community-related events both professionally and personally,” said Mike Callahan, firm partner.
TAGGART’s portfolio is diverse, but as central Arkansas grew, the firm made its
hay in the realms of health care and education. Then came Alltel Arena.
Chales Foster, retired firm president, said the firm’s selection as firm of record for the arena helped raise TAGGART’s profile. A project as big as Alltel Arena — the region’s first true multipurpose arena and at the time one of the biggest projects ever undertaken in central Arkansas — will do that.
Some of the firm’s signature projects outside Arkansas include the Cleveland Clinic Edwin Shaw Rehabilitation Hospital in Ohio and Select Medical rehabilitation hospitals in St. Louis and Las Vegas.
Inside the Natural State, TAGGART’s design and renovation work in the health care arena includes numerous projects for Unity Health and CHI St. Vincent Health System of Little Rock.
On the educational front, TAGGART has done extensive work with the North Little
Rock School District, as well as the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and the Little Rock and North Little Rock campuses of the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College.
***
The firm was launched as Burt Taggart & Associates, Architects, in 1975. The original office was located on Burrow Drive near the intersection of U.S. 67/167 and McCain Boulevard in North Little Rock. The firm name changed to Taggart, Foster, Currence, Gray Architects in 1991 to reflect shareholder changes, and the current TAGGART stylization was adopted in 2006. Growth necessitated expansion at
TAGGART groundbreaking / North Little Rock
Foster and Matthews become owners
BT&A opens office in Newport Beach, Cal.
Burt Taggart Jr. retires
Currence and Gray become partners
CHI St. Vincent Infirmary / Little Rock
the Burrow site until it demanded a look downtown to Argenta. The firm’s headquarters at 600 Main opened in 2020.
Callahan said the firm experienced some lean years early on as it established itself, but the quality of its work stood out.
“The firm’s size expanded and contracted over the years in response to the economy and the number of projects that we had,” he said. “The firm expanded and got larger when we gained a national hospital client and started doing projects all over the country. Many years later, we essentially outgrew our original office space and constructed a new office addition to upgrade and house more staff.”
Callahan said the firm considered the move for years, calling its still-sparkling, threestory headquarters a “dream come true.”
“I don’t know how many times we
attempted to move, but economic conditions prohibited it from actually happening. Things finally fell into place in 2018 and 2019 with the Argenta Plaza and First Orion building projects that really jump-started the Argenta development and our new office,” he said.
Bill Gray, retired president, CEO, shareholder and still practicing as chairman emeritus, said the original plans called for a single-story building.
“We added stories to accommodate requests,” he said. “We kind of stuck our neck out a little bit and took a financial risk. We did our building, Argenta Plaza and the First Orion building at the same time. It’s cool seeing our projects have that big of an impact at one time.”
Arkansas Department of Energy & Environment / North Little Rock
UCA Integrated Health Sciences / Conway
Community Partners
At
TAGGART,
clients are more like family members
The signage may indicate that TAGGART is indeed an architectural firm but as far as its clients are concerned, the North Little Rock firm celebrating 50 years in business this year is so much more.
First and foremost, TAGGART is a partner with the clients and communities it serves. Community is big at TAGGART, as evidenced by its investment in the downtown Argenta district of its hometown.
“The move to Argenta was a prime example of us supporting local
UNITY HEALTH
The architectural industry is one of regulations and codes as every design must be safe and functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. Nowhere is that more important than in health care where hospitals and clinics are in the business of saving lives.
Through its long working relationship with health care clients, Searcy-based Unity Health being one of them, TAGGART has distinguished itself as an architect of choice.
“The major concern from a health care facilities standpoint is making sure that you’re meeting the codes the state health department is requiring of you,” said Stuart Hill, Unity Health’s chief financial officer. “They have been a big part of our growth and as a result we’ve come to trust in how they help us, all the way through from the design to the finish.”
Hill said the relationship with TAGGART goes back at least to 1998 and has included multiple facilities expansion projects that have kept the hospital on the forefront of medical care.
The newest project built out the company’s presence in Jacksonville, where TAGGART refurbished an existing hospital building.
merchants and the revitalization of downtown Main Street,” said partner Mike Callahan.
TAGGART’s clients do not have to be located in North Little Rock to benefit from the firm’s commitment to community. Its portfolio is full of clients both public and private who count TAGGART as a true partner in their success.
licensing standpoint,” Hill said. “[TAGGART] had to be very careful to make sure we were meeting codes and everything was being done appropriately.”
“Our Jacksonville hospital was a pretty significant project because it was like building a brand-new hospital from a regulatory and
Callahan and Keahey become partners
Looking to the future, the health care system has retained TAGGART for a project that will redefine health care for the people of Cabot. Hill said the architectural firm has conducted master planning
for a 100-acre piece of ground that will one day blossom into a medical center.
“They’ve done a nice job at putting a master plan together and doing design work regarding what the health care facilities will look like,” he said. “We have gone through a couple of iterations
WINROCK AUTOMOTIVE GROUP
When it comes to architectural design, most car dealerships fail to turn many heads. That was before Winrock Automotive Group approached TAGGART about a project that would redefine the car buying experience in Little Rock.
“The first project they did was our Mercedes-Benz dealership down here on Colonel Glenn,” said Jesse Munn, Winrock Automotive’s chief financial officer.
“That was a complete from-the-ground-up design for a dealership we relocated from the Riverdale area of Little Rock. It was the first ‘auto house’ design, which was a new concept by Mercedes-Benz.”
The resulting building was unlike anything seen in the local market, featuring nearly three stories of clear glass that, when lit up after dark, shimmered against the night sky. Completed in 2018, Munn still talks about the building with a note of wonder in his voice.
and the latest is a pretty good design of a physician building with some ambulatory services. We plan to be here for a long time, 50 or 100 years from now, and we want to be good neighbors in the community throughout.”
“It looks like a little jewel box at night when it’s lit up. It’s very open and airy and very bright because of the tons of glass on three sides of the showroom,” he said.
The finished 34,000-square-foot building was so impressive, it even caught the attention of the higher ups at the U.S. division of the German luxury automaker.
“Mercedes-Benz was so impressed with it, their entire executive crew flew down here from New Jersey for the grand opening,” Munn said with pride.
Since that signature project, Winrock Automotive Group has come back to TAGGART again and again for various other design work including the company’s Honda of Jonesboro dealership in Jonesboro and Honda World dealership in Conway.
“Most recently they did about a 25,000-square-foot expansion of our Subaru dealership here in Little Rock,” Munn said. “There’s also a 15,000-square-foot expansion of the Jonesboro store that we completed at the end of February.”
Munn said the distinguishing characteristics of working with TAGGART include the company’s expertise and responsiveness.
“They have an experienced staff and they’re responsive; if you ask for something, you get it and you get it in a timely manner,” he said.
“When people come back and buy the second or third car from us it’s because we’ve treated them fairly and treated them right. I see the same thing in TAGGART; the fact that we’ve used them for multiple projects since 2008 says they’re doing something right. I think it’s a testament to them.”
TFCG acquires Sims, Grisham Blair Architects
Steve Grisham named principal Benton School District projects
CENTENNIAL BANK
Kelly Straessle, director of facilities and procurement for Centennial Bank, has been with the institution for 23 years, 22 in her current role. During that time, she estimated, she has managed some 40 projects, both new builds and remodels in communities across Centennial’s footprint in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and Texas.
“Our primary architect for most of our jobs we’ve done over the years,” she said. “TAGGART knows our employees, they know our policies, they know how we like things built. We have the same philosophy — it’s all about taking care of the customer. It’s understanding what the customer needs. It’s understanding how times change and how the needs of customers change over time. That’s what we do for our own customers, and that’s what TAGGART has done for us.”
Two projects in particular stand out to Straessle, the first being a Florida location where TAGGART leveraged an alternative energy strategy, including a Tesla battery system that runs on the sun.
“Our thoughts were if something were to happen, if we were to have a hurricane and the area lost power, we would still be able to take care of our customers as long as the sun came up,” she said. “Even if everything else is shut down, we’re going to be able to serve the community.”
Straessle’s other favorite project — Centennial’s Little Rock branch in the Riverdale neighborhood — not only stands out from the
NLR SCHOOL DISTRICT
Successfully juggling multiple multi-million-dollar projects at any given time is the sign of an experienced and well-managed architectural firm, but rarely does that situation present itself with a single account. Yet that’s just the situation TAGGART faced in 2012 for its client, the North Little Rock School District.
It was also a chapter of the firm’s story that served to further solidify TAGGART’s already-impressive reputation, said Dr. Greg Pilewski, superintendent.
“Our long-term relationship with TAGGART goes all the way back to the 2012 millage campaign, the first in the modern era,” he said. “To my knowledge, it might be the only one in American public education that passed a millage that would build nine schools all at one time. That’s pretty amazing.”
run-of-the-mill office building for its design, but for the challenges it presented to get built during COVID-19.
“Trying to get to job site meetings, trying to get materials ordered were major challenges,” she said. “It was a really uneasy time for all of us and yet, TAGGART designed an absolutely beautiful building that adhered to our budget and yet is also very inviting for all our customers.”
Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment
Dickey Stephens Park (HKS JV)
Alan New becomes principal designer
One media outlet called the 2012 vote to increase the millage as “North Little Rock’s miracle,” and the same can be said for the work TAGGART pulled off simultaneously, which not only transformed the educational landscape but radiated the company’s reputation far and wide for years afterward.
“When I got here [in 2020], I got a phone call from a superintendent outside of Austin, Texas,” Pilewski said. “He called me out of the blue, never met the guy, and he said, ‘Hey, we’re building a high school and our architects down here said we have to come visit your high school. We want to model our high school after yours.’
“I don’t think you can say anything better than that, when people from out of state want to come and see your work and how you did it and all the design that went into it.”
During his tenure, Pilewski has had the opportunity to work with TAGGART on numerous other projects and has come away from each as impressed as the Texans did back in the day.
“I love their attention to detail; they spend a lot of time on the front end really trying to get the vision right. They want to hear what’s important to us, what we envision, and then they take that scope all the way down to the practicality of the design.”
The partnership may soon have its next big chapter with a new millage vote on the near horizon, but whatever happens at the polls, the bond between client and architect is ironclad.
“Over the last five years they’ve been just great to work with and easy to work with and they’re so professional,” Pilewski said. “I tell them all the time, I love the fact that they challenge me to think differently about buildings.”
Imprint on Argenta
• Simmons Bank Arena
• Dickey-Stephens Park
• Argenta Downtown District Masterplan (supporting TSW)
• Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum Expansion (unbuilt)
• Argenta Contemporary Theatre
• Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub
• Argenta Gallery
• ACANSA Headquarters
• Riverfront Museum Study (unbuilt)
• Argenta Plaza
600 Main Building / North Little Rock
• 600 Main Building
• First Orion
• Power + Ice Building (unbuilt)
• Centennial Bank Argenta Branch
• Sixth and Olive Townhouses
• 1 Riverfront Plaza Renovation
• ATG Headquarters
• Big Rock Quarry Park (unbuilt)
Big Rock Quarry Park Rendering / North Little Rock
Currence and Gray become majority shareholders
• Evo Business Environments (on the boards)
• The Sanctuary (under construction)
• North Little Rock Event Center (under construction)
Brandon Ruhl joins the firm Foster retires
Tagg-Teams
TAGGART's legacy built on local relationships
There are countless details that go into taking a structure from the page to the pavement — budgets and estimations, site specifications, permits, contracts and designs. The measure of any successful project, however, is its people: both the tenants and who will move into the space and the army of architects, engineers, construction teams, contractors and other professionals who are charged with ferrying the job from start to finish.
For TAGGART, people are paramount. From its earliest days, the firm has fostered relationships with clients and partners across countless communities, industries and interests, garnering a five-decade long reputation both for the quality of its work and the warmth of the team behind it.
Ed Tinsley co-founded Tinsley-Mullen Engineers, or TME, alongside Rusty Mullen in 1995, and the company joined Bernhard in 2014. Bernhard and its predecessors have been working with TAGGART for nearly 30 years, Tinsley said, and they have completed hundreds of projects together, including hospitals, universities and office buildings.
“My favorite project with TAGGART is the 1995 expansion of White County Medical Center,” said Tinsley. “TAGGART selected Tinsley Mullen Engineers as the MEP engineer for this major project in our very first year of existence … Charlie Foster, Jerry Currence and Bill Gray took a big risk s electing us for the project, and we will forever be grateful for their confidence in us. We would not be where we are today absent their trust.”
The trust TAGGART has placed in its project partners has been returned tenfold, not least because the firm has proven its own reliability time and again. There are basic marks of character that improve one’s chances of success in almost any line of work.
Jerry Currence passes TFCG rebrands as TAGGART Architects
First Orion / North Little Rock
James Meyer joins firm
North Little Rock High School (with DLR)
“In the construction business in general, there are certain partners or groups of people you like working with because you can trust them,” Robbins said. “When you enter into a project with a design team, and a construction partner, too, the truth is, you’re all partners whether you want to be or not.
“As a team member and as a team leader, they kept things running smoothly and honestly. You knew what you were getting, and they knew what you were going to give them.”
Anyone who has had the opportunity to share a jobsite with TAGGART has experienced their “directness, honesty and integrity,” as Robbins described it. Likewise, Tinsley summed up the firm’s approach in one word: collaborative. That spirit of cooperation and openness does not simply make for better designs and structures. It is the embodiment of TAGGART’s promise to “eliminate stress and make the design and construction process a pleasurable experience for all involved.”
a springboard for the growing downtown district as it welcomes more business, residents and visitors.
“A big project is just an accumulation of a lot of small problems that are being solved,” Robbins said. “They’ve been through them all, they solved them well, they did them efficiently, and so that makes a huge impact.”
“After working with TAGGART for many years, my impression of them has never wavered,” Tinsley said. “They are always prepared and produce outstanding designs that not only look good, but more importantly, work well. To me, what stands out about TAGGART is their commitment to design buildings and projects that age well over time.”
A move downtown reflects the intentionality with which the firm is approaching its next 50 years. Taking a proactive role in the revitalization of the city’s historic Argenta neighborhood, TAGGART has been involved in some of the Arts District’s marquee projects, not least of all its own new headquarters. The 600 Main Building, as it is known, also houses North Little Rock Tourism and the city’s welcome center, as well as the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association. Close by is another TAGGART project, the five-story First Orion building. Between the two lies the community’s latest landmark, a project it hopes will be
“Antique Brick & Block and TAGGART partnered together on Argenta Plaza, which transformed the area into an urban park,” said Jason Garner, president of Antique Brick & Block. “Their progressive vision led to the construction of one of the best-utilized and flexible public spaces in central Arkansas.”
Completed in 2020, the Argenta Plaza was built to be the city’s front porch, complete with shaded modern swings, a “backyard” greenspace, water features and ample accommodations for all manner of public and private events. The plaza’s accessible, welcoming design complements the vibrant walkable neighborhood in which it sits.
“Every project we undertake with TAGGART gets that same energy, and we are inspired by their passion and innovation,” Garner said.
The effect architecture can have on communities is hard to overstate. Speaking about TAGGART’s wide variety of health care projects, Robbins hit on a point that rings true throughout the firm’s
Unity Health / Jacksonville
ASU Welcome Center
CHI St. Vincent Arkansas Neuroscience Institute
UA Pat Walker Health Center
Meyer and Ruhl become partners
body of work, from out-of-state hospitals to Arkansas universities, and especially in its home territory.
“Having an aesthetically pleasing but very functional workplace that is within the budget for the clients, that has a huge impact,” he said. “Having it constructed well, having it managed well and having it managed in a cost-effective way is very beneficial.”
Nabholz CEO Jake Nabholz pointed to a litany of successful jobs the two companies have worked on over the course of a long partnership, such as builds for the University of Central Arkansas, CHI St. Vincent and the Unity Health-White County Medical Center.
“Nabholz has had the privilege of working with TAGGART for over 40 years, and we have always had great respect for their people and the work they do,” he said. “Burt Taggart, Charlie Foster, Jerry
Currence and Bill Gray built a great organization on the principals of integrity and client-focused, personalized service that continues today. Brandon [Ruhl], James [Meyer] and Bram [Keahey] continue that legacy, and we wish them continued success and look forward to many more projects together.”
An even truer test of the firm’s mettle is its reaction in the face of obstacles, which are all but inevitable. Mitigating those issues professionally, efficiently and effectively comes down to the small things, Robbins said, but that nuanced approach makes a world of difference.
“There’s always unexpected things that come up in the construction process,” Robbins said. “You’ve got to jump in, roll up your sleeves, work things out and get things right again. They’re very good at that, and they deal with it. They’ve run into almost everything over the years, I can promise you that.”
Jerry E. Currence Advance Arkansas Endowed Scholarship in Architecture & Interior Design established at University of Arkansas
James Bakanovic named principal
UA-PTC / North Little Rock
UA-PTC Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute / Little Rock
Argenta Plaza
Hometown Firm On the Boards
When it comes to hometown institutions, it does not get any more “hometown” or “institution” than TAGGART Architects. Over the course of its first 50 years, the North Little Rock firm launched in 1975 has played a key role in the growth of the city including the revitalization of the downtown Argenta Arts District.
John Gaudin, an investment advisor and entrepreneur who was instrumental in the development of Argenta, worked closely with the firm to create the vision for the area. Gaudin first got to know the late Jerry Currence, a former firm partner and downtown champion, when the firm first considered relocating.
“Jerry was an incredible guy and a phenomenal architect,” Gaudin said. “What I love about his work is he could conceptualize immediately and draw it for us to look at to see if it’s an idea that we would be interested in.”
One of Currence’s legacy projects is the Innovation Hub in Argenta, which he designed.
“The Innovation Hub has been a real success and thanks to Jerry’s design, it makes it flow really well within the space,” Gaudin said.
Beyond his architecture work, Currence was involved in starting the Argenta Downtown Council, and he sat on many local boards.
“He just became a full partner of Argenta,” Gaudin said.
Alan New, lead designer and partner at TAGGART, has become another champion for downtown. He shares many characteristics of Currence, Gaudin said, such as being able to take an idea and quickly draw a vision.
“He’s one of those architects that if you’re looking for cutting-edge, really great artistic concepts, Alan can articulate that extremely well,” he said.
New is also involved in the city outside of his work at TAGGART. He and his wife have been partners in many of the downtown projects, Gaudin said.
“TAGGART, and both Jerry and Alan, have always been first to volunteer on projects, but also to support ideas that I had,” Gaudin said.
Bill Gray, TAGGART’s chairman emeritus who retired in 2024, said one of his favorite TAGGART projects is Simmons Bank Arena.
“Early in my career, in 1997, we worked on what was then Alltel Arena in a joint venture with the Polk [Stanley Wilcox] firm and a firm out of Georgia,” Gray said. “I was project manager for our firm. It was a unique building — you don’t get to work on many 18,000-seat arenas.
“Seeing how the ice floor goes in and then the basketball court goes above it and then from arena football to concerts, it’s interesting to design something that could be multipurpose. It’s one of our most impactful projects.”
Keahey, Meyer and Ruhl become owners
Rush Specialty Hospital - Chicago
Bill Gray retires and becomes chairman emeritus
Unity Health - Cabot
Safe Harbor Brady Mountain / Royal
Riverside Park + Event Center / Batesville
North Little Rock High School Old Main
