Hillcrest Real Estate

What makes Hillcrest special

Where is Hillcrest, and what does it feel like?

Hillcrest sits on the ridge northwest of downtown Little Rock, between West Markham Street on the south and the ravines of Allsopp Park on the north, from University Avenue west to about Woodrow Street east. UAMS is at its southwest corner. The Arkansas State Capitol is about 2.5 road miles east.

It began as Pulaski Heights. Michigan investors bought about 800 acres in 1891 and platted the first ten blocks in 1892, but almost nobody lived there until the streetcar reached the hill in the early 1900s. Pulaski Heights incorporated as a town on August 1, 1905, and voted to consolidate with Little Rock on January 4, 1916. The Hillcrest Addition, platted in 1906, eventually gave the area its name; the old name survives in the school names, and The Heights is the separate neighborhood north past Cantrell Road, with later and larger homes.

That history explains the feel. Streets follow the ridge instead of a flat grid, Kavanaugh Boulevard cuts diagonally along the old streetcar route, and the shops are woven into the houses rather than set apart. People walk to coffee, to the Saturday market and to the park. It reads like a small town a mile from the medical district.

What do Hillcrest's houses actually look like?

This is a pre-World War II neighborhood. The National Register survey behind the district listing found housing built mainly between about 1890 and 1940: Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Prairie, Craftsman, English (Tudor) Revival and a few late-1930s Modernistic houses. Craftsman bungalows dominate; the survey counted 614 of them, 38 percent of all structures, followed by roughly 192 English Revival and about 120 Colonial Revival houses. Of 1,611 properties in the original district, about 1,035 were judged contributing. Expect a deep front porch, tapered columns and a brick fireplace, or a steep-roofed brick cottage with an arched front door.

South of Kavanaugh the streets are lettered, A through J, crossed by north-south streets named for presidents; these blocks are the flattest and most uniformly 1910s to 1920s. North of Kavanaugh the ground climbs and the streets bend (Kenyon, Lookout, Beechwood, Crestwood, Edgewood, Sherwood), lots turn irregular, and the houses lean into the 1920s and 1930s. Condos and small apartment buildings sit along Kavanaugh and Beechwood. Most lots are 50 feet wide or narrower, which is why the city's overlay rules focus on scale.

What an older Hillcrest home needs

Buy a 1920s house with your eyes open. Foundations are typically pier-and-beam over a crawlspace, often stepped down a slope on the ridge streets. Have the inspector get under the house and look for moisture, sagging girders and past leveling. Sloped floors are common; the question is whether the movement is old and stable or active.

Original wiring was knob-and-tube. Many homes were rewired decades ago, but not all and not always completely, and insurers care, so have an electrician confirm what remains and whether the panel can carry modern loads. Galvanized water lines and clay or cast-iron sewer laterals are the plumbing equivalent; run a sewer camera on any pre-1950 house.

Any home built before 1978 falls under the federal lead-based paint rule: sellers must disclose known lead paint or hazards, give buyers the EPA pamphlet and allow a 10-day window for a lead inspection. Then the trees. Hillcrest's mature oaks and pecans are a big reason people buy here, and they also lift sidewalks, hold moisture on roofs and send roots into old sewer lines. Budget for an arborist's look at anything large leaning toward the house.

Does the historic district restrict what I can do to my house?

Two different things are at work. The Hillcrest Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1990 (reference 90001920), bounded roughly by Woodrow, Jackson and Markham streets and North Lookout Road, with a boundary increase in 1992. That listing is honorary. The City of Little Rock states it places no obligations or restrictions on private owners; the city's only locally regulated historic district, where a Certificate of Appropriateness is required, is MacArthur Park downtown.

What does regulate exteriors here is the Hillcrest Design Overlay District, a zoning overlay in city code (Chapter 36, Division 13, current form adopted March 2, 2010). It runs roughly from Markham north to L Street and Allsopp Park, and from University Avenue east to the Arkansas School for the Blind and the Ozark Point water plant, excluding the Midtown overlay along Markham.

What the overlay controls, and what it does not

The overlay does not dictate style; the ordinance says so, while asking that new work respect the prevailing styles. It regulates scale. For single-family and two-family lots it sets a floor-area ratio (0.37 for one story, 0.50 for two, 0.55 for a built-out attic on lots under 8,000 square feet), maximum lot coverage of 50 percent under roof (60 percent on lots of 4,500 square feet or less), a minimum 15-foot front setback aligned within 10 percent of the neighbors, a 39-foot height limit to the ridge, and a rule that additions stay within one story of the adjacent houses.

It applies when you build new, redevelop beyond 50 percent of a structure's replacement value, expand, or pull a permit for exterior improvements. Routine repairs, maintenance and interior work are exempt. On Kavanaugh between Rose and L streets, commercial buildings must hold a front setback of no more than 10 feet, with parking beside or behind.

The Hillcrest Residents Association has asked the city to amend the overlay, including a combined side-yard setback of 28 percent of lot width and a lower ratio for two-story additions. The city's page still presents those as proposals, so call Little Rock Planning and Development for the current text before planning an addition.

Which schools serve Hillcrest? The address-specific answer

Hillcrest is inside the Little Rock School District, and the elementary answer changes partway through the neighborhood. We pulled the district's published attendance-zone maps and the LRSD zone-lookup layer maintained by Pulaski Area GIS.

Elementary: most of Hillcrest is zoned to Pulaski Heights Elementary at 319 North Pine Street, including the lettered streets from Markham through J Street, Hillcrest Avenue, Lee Avenue, Woodlawn Drive, Kavanaugh from roughly the 1400 to the 3500 block, and the streets around Cedar Hill, Oakwood and Ozark Point. The northern tier is zoned to Forest Park Elementary at 1600 North Tyler Street. West of about Monroe Street the line follows Evergreen Drive, so the 1200 through 1700 blocks of the north-south streets, plus L, O and P streets, Crestwood, Edgewood, Sherwood, Southwood, Edgehill and the 3600 to 4800 blocks of Kavanaugh, are Forest Park. East of Monroe the line runs just north of North Lookout Road toward Allsopp Park, which keeps Kenyon, Lookout, Beechwood, Palm, Ash and Spruce in the 500 through 1100 blocks with Pulaski Heights.

Middle and high school: every Hillcrest zone block we checked between University Avenue and Woodrow Street is assigned to Pulaski Heights Middle School (401 North Pine Street) and Little Rock Central High School (1500 Little Rock Nine Way). Blocks west of University carry different assignments.

What changed in 2026, and what is still coming

On August 27, 2026 the Little Rock School Board approved new high school zones (Map 3.5) for Little Rock West High School, which the district says opens in fall 2027. The areas moved were John Barrow, River Ridge and Robinwood. Nothing we found moves Hillcrest out of the Central zone, and the board also adopted a policy letting students choose a high school outside their zone and stay through graduation.

Separately, the LRSD Forward plan released September 4, 2026 recommends closing Western Hills, Mabelvale and McDermott elementary schools beginning in 2027-28, with Williams Magnet, Mann Magnet Middle and Mabelvale Middle in alternative options. Forest Park, Pulaski Heights Elementary and Pulaski Heights Middle are not on those lists, but the board had not voted as of mid-September and elementary and middle boundaries remain under study.

The posted elementary map is the district's 2025-26 version, and maps get redrawn. Never rely on a listing remark. Call LRSD Student Registration at (501) 447-2950 or use the lookup at lrsd.org, and if the address is near Evergreen Drive or North Lookout Road, ask for it in writing. Or send us the address and we will run the check.

How do you get around, and what is daily life like?

Measured by road from Kavanaugh and Walnut, the farmers market corner at the center of the neighborhood: UAMS is about 1 mile, the I-630 ramp at Fair Park Boulevard about 1.5 miles, the Arkansas State Capitol about 2.5 miles, the I-30 and I-630 interchange and the River Market each about 3.5 miles, I-430 at Cantrell Road about 6 miles, and Clinton National Airport about 8 miles. In practice residents use Markham and Cantrell more than the interstates.

Kavanaugh Boulevard is the reason people choose Hillcrest over a bigger house elsewhere. The commercial stretch runs from Stifft Station at Markham up through the blocks around Beechwood, Walnut and Palm: restaurants, bars, coffee, boutiques and services in one- and two-story buildings built to the sidewalk. Kemuri, the Japanese robata and sushi restaurant at 2601 Kavanaugh, is one anchor; we keep this list short on purpose and will walk the street with you.

The Hillcrest Farmers Market is current and year-round: every Saturday morning at 2200 Kavanaugh Boulevard as a service of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 to 11 a.m. May through September and 8 to 11 a.m. October through April.

Allsopp Park is 75 acres of ravine and ridge at 3700 Cedar Hill Road, bought by the city in 1927 and shaped by landscape architect John Nolen's 1931 plan for a wildlife sanctuary with recreation. Today it has tennis courts, ball fields, a playground, a pavilion, restrooms and trail loops that connect the neighborhood to Cantrell Road.

Neighborhood organizations and the calendar

The Hillcrest Residents Association is a voluntary membership group, not an HOA, with a stated mission to encourage community, preserve historic character, promote safety, protect the parks, and support the neighborhood schools and commercial district. It runs garden and holiday decor contests, park workdays and school events, and it drove the overlay revision effort.

The Hillcrest Merchants Association hosts First Thursday Shop and Sip on Kavanaugh every month. Hillcrest HarvestFest, the fall street festival on Kavanaugh benefiting The Allen School, is set for Saturday, October 17, 2026, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

What does it cost to own in Hillcrest beyond the mortgage?

Property tax in Arkansas is figured on assessed value, which the Pulaski County Assessor sets at 20 percent of market value, times the local millage. Owner-occupants who register a homestead get a credit of up to $600 on the real estate bill, owners 65 or older or disabled can freeze the assessed value, and each year's bill is payable the following year, delinquent after October 15. We do not quote a tax figure here; the assessor's parcel record for a specific address is the only honest source.

There is no HOA in Hillcrest. Condo buildings along Kavanaugh and Beechwood have their own dues, which we pull from the association documents on any unit you consider. Flood status is parcel-specific: most of Hillcrest sits high on the ridge, but the ravines feeding Allsopp Park and low corners near Markham deserve a look at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov).

The real ownership cost is maintenance on a house that is 90 to 120 years old: roof and gutters under heavy tree cover, crawlspace moisture, aging sewer laterals, single-pane windows, and the labor to work on plaster and original trim. None of that is a reason to avoid the neighborhood. It is a reason to buy with a good inspection and a realistic first-year budget.

Buying and selling in Hillcrest with the Rackley Team

Buyers here have usually decided on the place before the house, so the work is finding the right block, reading a 1920s structure honestly, and confirming the school line, the overlay rules and the flood panel before the offer. We do that for every address you consider, with crawlspace, sewer and electrical specialists who know these houses.

For sellers, the value is in the story and the record. We document every update the house has had, photograph the porch and the trees at the right hour, price to the block rather than the zip code, and market to the buyers already searching Hillcrest by name. Chase Rackley, Principal Broker, Rackley Realty, (501) 519-4889.

Hillcrest questions, answered

• What school is my address zoned for?
• Hillcrest vs. Chenal: which fits you?
• The Heights
• Midtown Little Rock
• Moving to Little Rock relocation guide
• Sell your home with the Rackley Team

Ready to make a move in Hillcrest? Call or text the Rackley Team at (501) 519-4889. Let's do the deal.