Petit & Keet Bar & Grill, a joint venture between veteran Arkansas restaurateurs Louis Petit and Jim Keet, is scheduled to open May 18, according to a Tuesday news release.

It will open in the previous 1620 Savoy location at 1620 Market St. in Little Rock.

Arkansas Business first announced plans for the restaurant in September.

"We are excited to bring a chef-driven menu, original signature cocktails, and an expansive wine list with affordable prices to the West Little Rock area," Keet said in the release. "Little Rock has a growing number of food savvy customers who are looking for restaurants that are locally owned with great food, unique and vibrant atmospheres, and a top-notch staff. We look forward to exceeding their expectations."

Keet has been in the Arkansas restaurant business since 1975, and currently owns and operates Taziki's Mediterranean Cafés and Paninis & Co. in Arkansas with his sons, Tommy and Jake, who also are partners in Petit & Keet.

Petit, recently inducted into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame, was an original owner of Jacques & Suzanne, a legendary Little Rock restaurant that introduced a number of restaurateurs and chefs who went on to open other famed establishments in the area.

"Jim and I have been friends for decades and share a passion for excellent food and outstanding service. We have been talking about bringing an exciting new restaurant to Arkansas for years and we are looking forward to making Petit & Keet an unforgettable venue for our guests," Petit said.

The interior of Petit & Keet, which the release described as a "polished-casual restaurant and bar," was designed in collaboration with Little Rock native Garry Mertins and KO Construction Management was the contractor for the project.

The new restaurant will have a varied menu crafted by local chefs and will use as many local products and ingredients as possible, the release said. Petit & Keet will also have a full bar with specialty drinks, cocktails and "a first-class bartending staff."

"With the restaurant's polished-casual redesign, guests will be able to enjoy the outdoor patio, a new sidewalk café, or the redesigned dining room," the release said. "Petit & Keet will also have three private event rooms, accommodating parties from 10 to 70."

Brent Lenners, who previously has served as food and beverage director for Native Lights Casino in Oklahoma and Margaritaville Resort & Casino in Shreveport, Louisiana, will be Petit & Keet's general manager. His wife, Tyler, will be assistant general manager and event coordinator.

Haag Brown Commercial Real Estate and Development unveiled on Tuesday The Reserve at Hill Park, a new lifestyle-oriented office project inside the 38-acre, multi-use Hill Park Development. 

The multi-use real estate concept, billed as the first of its kind in northeast Arkansas, seeks to promote a more flexible work environment and healthy lifestyle, the developers said.

Announced in 2015, the development is located on Ritter Drive and features a private running trail, lake and pavilion nestled among 20 acres of forrest. 

"Imagine being able to camp with your family, paddle board after work or take a conference call while walking on the trail," Haag Brown Principal Broker Joshua Brown said.

Among the park's features: wifi throughout the development, which Brown said will help tenants work outside traditional office spaces and encourage the creation of an outdoor professional community.  

"We spend more time at the office than we do in our own homes," Brown said. "Statistics show that 20 to 30 minutes of continuous movement each day has tremendous health benefits. We want to provide that for people."

The park is already home to offices for Ritter Communications, Stephens Inc., Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates, and Majewski Plastic Surgery and Spa. Haag Brown plans to move its headquarters to The Reserve at Park Hill once construction of a new facility is finished late this year. 

Tuesday's event culminated with the announcement that Tacos 4 Life Grill will open a new location at 2929 Parkwood along Red Wolf Boulevard, the site of the old Craighead County Fairgrounds. The move comes as the restaurant chain eyes expansion inside and outside the state. 

"It's fun to be in a community like Jonesboro that is rapidly growing," Tacos 4 Life founder Austin Samuelson said. "There is obviously a lot of pride here." 

Based in Conway, Tacos 4 Life Grill operates with a mission to prevent childhood hunger with its Meal 4 Meal program, which provides food to a child in need for every meal purchased. The Jonesboro restaurant is expected to open in the fall, after a Searcy store is up and running. Jonesboro will mark the company's seventh franchise in the state since opening in June 2014. 

WASHINGTON — Fewer consumers signed contracts to buy U.S. homes last month as the spring buying season revs up with stiff competition for homes amid lagging inventory.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its pending home sales index slipped 0.8 percent to 111.4 in March, from 112.3 in February.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, said that even with the dearth of inventory, activity was still strong enough to be the third best in the past year. He said the low supply of homes could mean higher prices in the months ahead.

"Sellers are in the driver's seat this spring as the intense competition for the few homes for sale is forcing many buyers to be aggressive in their offers," Yun said.

The Realtors reported last week that Americans had purchased homes in March at the fastest pace in over a decade, as more people seek to close deals with home prices on the rise.

Although they had ticked down the past few weeks, average interest rates on a typical 30-year mortgage are back over 4 percent again. Rates are expected to continue to rise from last year's record lows, another reason people are eager to buy. The bad news for buyers is that the number of houses for sale has dropped to its lowest level in nearly 20 years.

Regionally, only the South saw an increase in signed contracts last month, up 2.9 percent. Signed contracts in the Northeast and West both declined 2.9 percent. The Midwest saw a 1.2 percent decline.

Pending sales contracts are a barometer of future purchases. A sale is typically completed a month or two after a contract is signed.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The industrial market is a tricky one in northwest Arkansas.

The region’s economy is strong, as is its residential market, its office market and its retail market. Just about anywhere in northwest Arkansas, there are prominent signs advertising space for lease or land to build on.

That’s not quite how it works in the industrial market. Bill McClard, the former NFL kicker who is now a senior vice president with Lindsey & Associates, said industrial developers can’t wait around to be asked to build.

McClard is handling the leasing for a 130,000-SF building that Crossland Construction is building at 28th and J.

“It’s not preleased, and we have found you have to have at least a roof and walls or people are not going to wait for you to get a building done,” McClard said. “It’s almost build it and they will come. You put up a sign anywhere I’ve been in the state that says ‘Build To Suit’ and the sign will rot. You have to build something for people to look at.”

McClard said the warehouse building is approximately 30 percent completed, and he has begun to reach out to potential tenants. He said the space will possibly be subdivided if multiple tenants show interest.

“We’re soliciting people who might be interested and we’ve had a nibble or two on it,” McClard said. “We don’t have anything solid as yet. We’re still four months from having a building done.”

Butch Gurganus, a principal with Colliers International, said there isn’t a lot of industrial land available to build on. Or, more accurately, there is not a lot of land zoned for industrial construction.

Gurganus said a year ago that many people who have land for sale have the land zoned as commercial since commercial land attracts higher prices. Retail and office projects generate higher rents so developers can afford to pay more for those properties; industrial developments don’t have the same rent rates so land price is an important factor.

“There’s not much available of quality space,” Gurganus said. “There’s not a lot being built. We haven’t seen a lot of industrial being built. Whenever we look for industrial land, you can look for any kind of land, odds are you will have to rezone something.”

McClard agreed that finding the land is often the most problematic factor of the industrial market.

“Trying to find quality industrial land that you can build on that has a good location is very difficult,” McClard said. “We’ve built a couple of buildings in Bentonville, and we like Bentonville a lot but I had to go out there and rezone those. The city of Bentonville has been nice enough to work with us to rezone those.”

Industrial is also a diverse market from the tenants’ point of view. Industrial is not just 130,000-SF warehouses or a large manufacturing plant. Some industrial tenants need a much smaller place, making high land prices even more of a hurdle.

Gurganus said when he moved to northwest Arkansas more than a decade ago, there was the idea that industrial rates were the same regardless of the size of the development.

“There’s 10,000 [square] feet and 200,000 feet,” Gurganus said. “When I first came here in ’05 — and some people still think this way — there was no distinction between 10,000 and 200,000. There’s demand for both, but it’s hard to get the land numbers to work. You have to go a little further out.”

Both Gurganus and McClard said the industrial market in northwest Arkansas is more of a warehouse-distribution model than a manufacturing one. There is still hope that the continually growing region and Wal-Mart’s desire to bring more manufacturing to the United States will spur further industrial development in northwest Arkansas.

“There’s not space, but there’s not a lot of people looking for the space that is not there,” McClard said. “If suddenly we have people come to town that need space, there’s not much to look at. Our market is growing, we have 800 people a month coming in. We know that Wal-Mart would like to see manufacturing come in here, although that is somewhat difficult.

“We also have a president who is trying to bring some manufacturing and what better place to bring manufacturing than right next to the biggest retailer in the world if you’re building anything from Tonka toys to toasters.”

There’s nothing wrong the retail market in northwest Arkansas.

The vacancy rate in the market is less than 5 percent and new areas of development are showing promise, experts said. The Pinnacle area in Rogers is an obvious growth area as new offices and retail centers feed off each other.

“In terms of activity and tenant demand, I would say the retail market is as strong or stronger than it has been,” said Alan Cole, a principal with Colliers International. “Retail is a very hot sector in the market. What we are seeing is there are certain corridors that are ripe for expansion and will probably be a focus for retailers over the next year or two or five.”

Joe Whisenhunt’s Whisenhunt Investments built a 24,000-SF retail center and has a 16,000-SF center under construction on Pauline Whitaker Parkway. The completed center, District Shops I, is filled up with active or pledged tenants, and the second center already has one confirmed tenant: Mirabella’s Table, a restaurant by Carl Garrett, who owns the popular Table Mesa in downtown Bentonville.

Burke Larkin of Whisenhunt said that the market is strong enough that the retail center is offering a minimum five-year lease.

“The rents are good right now,” Larkin said. “We’re kind of getting picky and choosy with our tenants. We’re signing some five-, seven-, 10-year deals. We have a good mix of local, regional and national tenants.”

Shops I, the completed center, has tenants such as Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, Kom Hot Yoga and Adella Nail Bar. Developers try to get lease combinations that work well with each other so a retail center becomes a destination for today’s shoppers.

“You go do your yoga and then get your nails done and then go get tacos,” Larkin said. “That’s a female friendly shopping center when it’s all said and done. That’s just what the market is doing right now.”

T.J. Lefler, executive vice president with Sage Partners, said grocery-anchored centers that offer goods and services consumers can’t buy online are good bets. Amazon can ship just about anything to your house but it can’t give you a manicure or a workout.

“You really can’t order your haircut on the internet,” Lefler said. “Anytime you see a center come available on the market, it doesn’t last very long. Ten years ago, there were a lot of centers being built for no reason. Now any center I see has a reason. They’re preleased at least half. It’s tenant-driven. There’s not a lot of spec out there.”

Cole said Pinnacle will be popular until it fills up, which could be soon the way retail center space gets scooped up as it become available. With Pinnacle filling up, developers are naturally looking for the next hot spot. So far, that looks to be a few miles to the south at Pleasant Grove. The downtown areas of each of the region’s four main cities continue to be popular as well.

“It is blowing up down there,” Larkin said of Pleasant Grove. “There is all kinds of stuff happening down there. I look forward to what happens a year from now.”

Don’t forget the downtowns, though, Cole said, pointing out Bentonville’s surge, Fayetteville’s steady activity and Springdale’s resurgence.

“Those downtown areas that have been overlooked for retail for the past decade have all really started seeing this renewal,” he said.

If recent history is any indication, the Rice Office Complex shouldn’t stay vacant for long.

That is certainly the hope of CrossMar Investments and Marshall Saviers of Sage Partners. CrossMar is developing the building, which is still in the planning and approval stage with the city of Bentonville; it will be just off Central Avenue adjacent to Interstate 49.

Saviers and Sage Partners are handling the leasing. A sign of the region’s thirst for high-quality office space is the approximately 71,000 SF of space that has already been advertised for leasing, even though ground hasn’t been broken for construction.

“I don’t know if you would call this ‘Northwest Arkansas 3.0,’ but we’re becoming a more mature area,” Saviers said. “As that happens, as the tenants become more mature, folks want a higher quality space. It’s the next evolution.

“When people are moving here from wherever, that is what they want. Most of the people who live here now are not from northwest Arkansas. You have to mimic those areas that they came from.”

The ROC, as CrossMar is calling the development, is actually just the first planned building of four that are expected to add 210,000 SF of office space to the market. Like most new office construction, it has certain features and amenities that modern companies are looking for.

The ROC will have 24-foot ceilings, exterior walls with plenty of windows to let in sunlight and fast internet and other technology. This building trend has become prevalent in northwest Arkansas, something CrossMar learned when it renovated a 60,000-SF building with a modern look a few years ago and saw it immediately leased up. They built a new building in the same vein next door and it was scooped up, too.

“We didn’t know if the market was ready,” Saviers said. “We had it leased up before it was completed. We were like, ‘Whoa, we have something here.’ Then they built the building in the back that was 30,000 [SF] with a similar feel but a new building, and that was leased up before it was completed.

“We’re parlaying that into the RICE office complex. The owners think it’s another project that will have success.”

The success of new office construction is partially based on the quality of product but also because of the demand for it. David Erstine of CBRE said the area’s vacancy rate in the office market is 8.6 percent, basically the same as it was the year before.

“We’ve got strong occupancy,” Erstine said. “Any vacancy of single-digit percentage usually indicates a healthy office market. We’re in pretty good shape.”

The Pinnacle area of Rogers is a hot corridor. The 10-story Hunt Tower, a modern, glassy building that dominates the skyline just off Interstate 49, is set to be joined by others.

Joe Whisenhunt’s Whisinvest Realty has one office building under construction just off Pauline Whitaker Parkway where it will be sandwiched between two retail centers Whisinvest is also building or has built. Whisinvest plans two more office buildings in the development.

“One thing I would note in that arena, in that Pinnacle area, there is more developer competition than we’ve seen in quite some time in and around Pinnacle,” Erstine said. “You have three or four groups competing for office occupants. That is something interesting to us, the amount of developers tackling that Pinnacle submarket.”

Erstine said the south end of the northwest Arkansas market — by that he means Springdale and Fayetteville — has an office focus that is geared more toward smaller footprints. While the north is looking for 30,000-SF users, the south has more potential lessees looking for, at most, 10,000 SF.

“You don’t see that reliance on the vendor and supplier community that you do moving up north,” Erstine said. “Build to suits have picked up some momentum, especially at the south end of the market. That’s occupants telling the development community we need some more space.

“We’re at the stage in the cycle in the north Fayetteville market that new construction is warranted. You have some groups looking to do some freestanding, single-tenant, smaller-footprint buildings.”

Choices for the coffee-loving crowd are proliferating in downtown Little Rock what with the opening or scheduled opening of at least four new coffee shops within the last few months.

They are:

• A full-service Starbucks, which opened in September in the Little Rock Marriott at 3 Statehouse Plaza.

• Blue Sail Coffee, at 417 Main St. in the Little Rock Technology Park. Blue Sail, owned by Kyle Tabor, originated in Conway, where it has two locations, one of which is also a coffee roastery while the other is also a bakery. “Downtown Little Rock has needed coffee for a long time,” said Tabor, an Arkansas Business 20 in Their 20s honoree in 2015. “We heard that from so many people.” Blue Sail opened in March and Tabor said business has been good.

• Zetêo Coffee, which was scheduled to open to the public Saturday, at 610 President Clinton Ave., the Rock Dental Brands building that used to house the Clinton Museum Store. Zeteo, owned by Jon and Trina Mitchell, is another example of a Conway coffee shop branching out to Little Rock. Zetêo will offer coffee from Onyx Coffee Lab of Springdale. Unlike the Conway shop, the Little Rock location will also serve beer and wine.

• Nexus Coffee & Creative at 301B President Clinton Ave., next to the former location of Ten Thousand Villages. The owner is Amy Moorehead, who earned a degree in hospitality management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and who previously was the director of membership and special events at the Arkansas Hospitality Association. Her timeline to open is sometime this summer, and Nexus will partner with Leiva’s Coffee, the family-owned coffee company based in Sherwood, to roast its coffee.

We visited a little with Moorehead, who described Nexus’ “crop to cup campaign,” which focuses on providing a better quality of life coffee farmers. “The community, when they purchase our bags of coffee or our cups of coffee, they’re supporting that as well and they’re giving back to the farmer,” she said.

Nexus will also offer specialty tea and “a simplified menu with top-quality food items,” serving breakfast, lunch and “shareable appetizer options for our happy hour.” It will serve Arkansas cheese and bread, local craft beer — including Diamond Bear and Lost Forty — along with local wine from Raimondo Winery and Post Familie Vineyards & Winery, as well as others.

It’s a family-operated enterprise, Moorehead said, and the venture is funded through a combination of her money and a loan from Arvest Bank.

“We’re very serious and we’re very committed,” she said. “We want to see this expand in the community and beyond Little Rock but stay within the state of Arkansas.”

Despite the surge in coffee-oriented restaurants downtown, Moorehead thinks there’s room for everybody.

“There’s room to share. Our goal is to work with other coffee shops in the area to promote this coffee and tea industry that has yet to be very established in Little Rock and beyond,” she said.

She sees the coffee and tea scene as a way to bring people together to share ideas and stories. “A lot of what we’re doing is promoting that creativity and that networking that already is here in Little Rock but it’s taking it to a new level with coffee and tea.”

Speaking of Onyx
Three Onyx Coffee Lab representatives won recognition in the 2017 U.S. Coffee Championships in Seattle late last month. Dylan Siemens won first place in the brewers cup competition; Mark Michaelson, first place in the roaster division; and Andrea Allen, second place in the barista competition. This is an impressive showing. Winners will go on to compete in the World Coffee Championships later this year.

A retail building in west Little Rock tipped the scales at $4.01 million.

Beefam LLC and Bonerts MV LLC of Santa Ana, California, acquired the 7,457-SF project at 17701 Chenal Parkway, home to Pei Wei and Mattress Firm. The seller is Promenade at Chenal Lot 3 LLC, an affiliate of Thompson Thrift Development Inc. of Terre Haute, Indiana.

The deal is financed with a 10-year loan of $2.95 million from Arvest Bank of Fayetteville. The 1.47-acre development previously was tied to an October 2015 mortgage of $2.36 million held by Old National Bank of Evansville, Indiana.

The location was bought for $925,000 19 months ago from Red Little Rock Land LLC of Overland Park, Kansas.

Parking Purchase
A parking lot in downtown Little Rock weighed in at $2.1 million.

Scion Investments LLC, led by Reed Lynch, purchased the 0.96-acre property on the east side of Broadway between Third and Fourth streets. The seller is 301 South Broadway LLC, led by the S. Gene Cauley Irrevocable Trust.

South Broadway carried $1.7 million of the purchase price. The property previously was linked with a June 2008 mortgage of $1.2 million held by First Security Bank of Searcy.

The property was acquired for $1.7 million in June 2008 from Little Rock’s Bank of the Ozarks.

Crest Acquisition
An undeveloped 10-acre parcel in west Little Rock changed hands in a $1.03 million transaction.

Crest at Chenal LLC, led by Larry Crain Jr., bought the land near the southwest corner of Chenal Parkway and Northfield Drive. The seller is the Presbytery of Arkansas.

The deal is backed with a two-year loan of $824,000 from First Security Bank. The land previously was tied to a pair of December 2014 mortgages totaling $1 million held by BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Mississippi.

The property was purchased for $262,000 in August 1991 from Deltic Farm & Timber Co. of El Dorado.

Rural Acreage
About 41 acres in west Pulaski County is under new ownership after an $800,000 transaction. Aaron Gamewell and Nola Proctor acquired the property nearly 3 miles west of Ferndale from the John & Carolyn Russell Family Trust.

The deal is funded with a one-year loan of $400,000 from Relyance Bank of Pine Bluff. The property was assembled in four deals totaling $181,400.

The sellers were Barbara Pride Whitfield, $81,600 in February 2000; the Paul R. Pride Revocable Trust, $27,300 in February 2000; Judy Hampton, $7,500 in March 2001; and Walter and Nancy Dunn, $65,000 in February 2011.

Industrial Land
Land on the southern edge of the Little Rock Port Industrial Park rang up a $357,500 sale.

Bevans Family Ltd., led by James Shipman, purchased 11 acres at the northwest corner of Zeuber and Thibault roads.

The sellers are the Barbara & George Beene Joint Revocable Trust, Mary McKinnon Biondo Joint Revocable Trust, William W. Crawford, Bobby Fewell Revocable Trust, Glenda Shannon Fewell Family Trust, Thomas I. Koike & Kay K. Koike Trust, Louis Anthony Renaud, Georganne R. Freasier Revocable Trust, Jerome Sherman, Anthony and Myrtle DiPietro, John Meadors, Robert Watkins and Matthew and Grant Williams.

The property was acquired for $105,308 in December 1979 from Mary Toney.

Alignment Buy
A 3,068-SF commercial building in North Little Rock drew a $260,000 transaction.

Alignment Properties LLC, led by Kristin and John Clark, bought the former Wooldridge Photography project at 5307 JFK Blvd. from Tim Wooldridge.

The deal is financed with a 15-year loan of $208,000 from Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

A 0.4-acre development previously was linked with a January 2011 mortgage of $229,000 held by One Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

Wooldridge purchased the property for $155,000 in March 2001 from Scott and Connie Scherz.

Multifamily Deal
A four-unit apartment building in Sherwood sold for $200,000.

Hadir Orkibi acquired the 202-208 Cherrie Ave. project from TNT KLATR LLC, led by Zeke Tanner.

The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $159,375 from Caliber Home Loans Inc. of Irving, Texas.

The 0.33-acre development previously was tied to a July 2014 mortgage of $185,000 held by Eagle Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

The property was bought for $205,000 nearly three years ago from Kenneth Rhone.

Sologne Manor
A 7,099-SF home in the Sologne Circle neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development tipped the scales at $1.21 million.

The RAL Revocable Trust, led by Marilyn Rene Nauman, purchased the house from the Lowell Steven Jumper & Sheila Dianne Jumper Revocable Trust.

The Jumpers acquired the property for $400,000 in March 2007 from J&J Family Ltd., led by Richard E. Jones.

Orle Residence
A 5,751-SF home in the Orle Circle neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development changed hands in a $752,000 sale.

James and Virginia Hill bought the house from Robert and Shanon Greer. The deal is funded with a five-year loan of $675,000 from Citizens Bank of Batesville.

The residence previously was linked with a March 2015 mortgage of $417,000 held by First Security Bank.

The location was purchased for $132,000 in December 2007 from Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado.

Woodland’s Abode
A 3,180-SF home in west Little Rock’s Woodland’s Edge neighborhood is under new ownership after a $636,000 transaction.

Virginia Mullins acquired the house from Duston Hennard Homes Inc. The deal is financed with a 30-year loan of $325,000 from Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

The residence previously was tied to an October 2015 mortgage of $365,000 held by the bank.

The site was bought for $79,000 19 months ago from Rocket Properties LLC, led by Ron Tyne and Lisenne Rockefeller.

Bell Pointe House
A 3,903-SF home in west Little Rock’s Belle Pointe neighborhood rang up a $540,000 sale.

Nahel Saied purchased the house from Liudmila Schafer. The deal is backed with a 15-year loan of $424,400 from Eagle Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

The residence previously was linked with a pair of mortgages totaling $577,000 held by Arkansas Federal Credit Union of Jacksonville.

The property was acquired for $607,000 in December 2012 from the Paul W. Stout Revocable Trust.

Osage Falls Home
A 4,725-SF home in Maumelle’s Osage Falls neighborhood drew a $525,000 transaction.

Dorman Reed bought the house from the Jonathan G. Young & Karen A. Young Trust No. 1. The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $375,000 from Quicken Loans Inc. of Detroit.

The location was purchased for $95,000 in October 2010 from Wanda Carroll.

Miramar Dwelling
A 4,000-SF home in the Miramar Place neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development sold for $506,361.

Brent and Kristi Robinson acquired the house from WI Properties LLC, led by Todd Witham.

The location was bought for $89,000 in December 2014 from Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado.

Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde calls PACE financing a home run, something that makes “a lot of sense to a lot of people.” U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton calls PACE a scam to “trick seniors into taking out high-interest loans for 20 years, along with liens on their homes.”

Cotton has targeted Property Assessed Clean Energy financing in new federal legislation co-sponsored by Sen. John Boozman, his fellow Arkansas Republican, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Cotton and Hyde agree on one thing about PACE — that it’s a relatively new financing mechanism that lets property owners borrow up to 100 percent of the cost of weatherization, energy-efficiency features and renewable energy upgrades like solar panels, with the government collecting the payments as part of property tax bills.

Beyond that basic definition, though, the two public officials might be describing two different creatures — one a beauty, the other a beast. Actually, they are talking about different species of PACE. The program Hyde promotes in Arkansas currently involves only commercial properties and has not been controversial. The programs Cotton is targeting nationally are residential efforts that even PACE-related companies admit need more scrutiny.

In Arkansas, PACE is for now offered only to commercial and industrial property owners, who have used it to finance efficiency projects in central Arkansas and in Fayetteville and Springdale. Cotton says his legislation will have no effect here, but PACE leaders disagree.

They fear that the bill will impose a huge regulatory burden, cripple growth and essentially kill their efforts to extend residential PACE to the state.

They also see Cotton’s language as incendiary.

“Residential PACE loans are a scam. Predatory green-energy lenders are changing state and local laws,” said a statement from Cotton, whose Protecting Americans from Credit Exploitation Act (incorporating PACE into its own acronym) would classify PACE deals as loans and make them subject to federal Truth in Lending Act requirements. Cotton says his bill’s disclosure rules would “reduce the advantage that PACE loan sharks have over hard-working Americans.”

California and Florida homeowners have indeed reported incidents of abuse, describing contractors who drummed up business by selling them on poorly explained 20-year payback plans with interest rates of up to 10, 11 or 12 percent. Informed that the property assessment attaches to the property, not to themselves, borrowers say they increased their property tax load without realizing that tax encumbrances might make it difficult to sell their houses.

Many of these borrowers “will eventually be at risk of foreclosure,” according to an assessment by Elder Law and Advocacy of San Diego, a prospect that it called “terrible at any age put especially egregious for an 80-year-old with minimal resources.” It cited loans carrying interest above 10 percent along with fees of 7 percent.

PACE defenders say that despite some clear abuses, complaints are relatively rare. While they support more disclosure and efforts to weed out exploitative companies, they also say the cure in Cotton’s bill, introduced in the Senate on April 5, is worse than the disease.

Lien Rights an Issue
Cotton and his aides say commercial programs in Arkansas have nothing to fear, even as they argue that PACE financing should logically be considered as loans. But Will Gruber, a lawyer for Pulaski County, and PACE official Frank Mayfield insist that assessments have long been legally distinct from loans.

They also suggest that Cotton and his co-sponsors are carrying water for the mortgage banking industry, which objects to the fact that PACE repayments, tied to tax lien powers, take precedence over mortgages and home equity loans in foreclosure cases.

“They’re concerned about the lien rights and priority,” said Mayfield, chairman of Energy Improvement District No. 1, covering Fayetteville and Springdale. (PACE financing is made possible through energy improvement districts, entities similar to improvement districts that finance things like sewer systems, sidewalks and streetlights.) “The mortgage bankers insist on calling these loans, but that’s not accurate.”

An aide to Cotton speaking on background told Arkansas Business that PACE arrangements are loans and should be subject to Truth in Lending, and that no other kinds of loans that come after a mortgage are paid first.

A letter to Cotton, Boozman and Rubio from the American Bankers Association, the Arkansas Land Title Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association of Arkansas, among others, laments that a patchwork of local and state laws “do not treat PACE loans like the mortgage financing products they are” and do not apply “the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ‘Ability to Repay’ and ‘Know Before You Owe’ rules.”

Mayfield countered by saying that applying the Truth in Lending Act would redefine PACE boards as mortgage lenders and saddle them with 1,000 pages of burdensome regulations.

“We agree with Sen. Cotton that common-sense consumer protection is absolutely required,” Mayfield said. But he described PACE in Arkansas as a local program overseen by citizens on the improvement boards, along with professional administrators who make sure that each project meets specific payback requirements and that energy savings provide “positive cash flow to building owners.” He said the new requirements would mean PACE leaders would have to “lawyer up to figure out what we have to do.”

While the residential abuse stories focus on interest rates of up 10, 11 or even 12 percent, the interest rate was 6.5 percent for the largest commercial project yet in Arkansas, almost $650,000 worth of heating and air, water and electricity-conserving fixtures and a “green” reflective roof at a $6.5 million 50-unit apartment complex under construction on Aldersgate Road in Little Rock.

Gruber, the attorney for Pulaski County, noted that state law does authorize residential PACE, even though current programs are strictly commercial and industrial. The law “requires protections against the very problems the senators imply occur in other jurisdictions,” Gruber wrote by email. “We’ve successfully avoided the pitfalls without unnecessarily burdening companies competing in the PACE market.”

Those companies include PACE Arkansas, an affiliate of PACE Equity of Milwaukee, which provided financing for the energy efficiency features at the Aldersgate apartment complex.

“We’re disappointed that, to the best of our knowledge, neither senator representing Arkansas reached out to Arkansas’ PACE stakeholders,” Gruber said, offering Pulaski County’s expertise.

Cotton’s staff said the senator had talked to various people to ensure that his bill would not have an impact in Arkansas. But they said Cotton has an obligation to all Americans. “Senator Cotton’s role on the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee spurred his interest and led him to take action on PACE problems beyond Arkansas,” said Caroline Rabbitt, his communications director.

Cotton’s team drew a distinction between sophisticated businesspeople taking advantage of the Arkansas commercial program and the poorer and often elderly homeowners who feel misled by residential PACE in Florida and California. While a business executive might easily see an 11 percent loan over 20 years as a bad deal, residential borrowers were susceptible to vague promises and dubious websites that Truth in Lending would curtail, staffers say. Some borrowers didn’t realize that they were allowing a lien on their houses, or that they could lose their homes in a default.

Those problems may not exist in Arkansas, but Cotton wanted to be proactive, Rabbitt said.

The senator also disagrees with a 2016 decision by the Department of Housing & Urban Development, which will allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure mortgages that also carry liens from PACE financing as long as FHA loans keep their priority status. The prospect of the government being stuck with the aftermath of PACE deals gone bad adds a taxpayer protection element to Cotton’s mission, staff members said.

The bottom line, Cotton believes, is that Americans should get the same disclosures about PACE financing as they do about loans. One staff member pointed out that Truth in Lending requirements apply to everything from pawn shop loans to large mortgages. If Americans could be assured of those protections in PACE cases, Cotton says, they can make their own informed choices.

Subprime Parallel Seen
Some financial analysts have seen a parallel between rapid growth in PACE financing and the conditions that led to the subprime crisis of 2008. Surging PACE numbers have whetted investors’ interest in bonds created from bundling the debt obligations.

The value of securitized residential PACE obligations has grown to nearly $3 billion nationwide, with one company, Ygrene, leading the way with $479 million in projects, according to PACENation, a trade and promotion group. Residential PACE financing grew from just $500 million in 2014 to some $3.4 billion last year, with programs up and running in 34 states.

The Arkansas Legislature enabled PACE in 2013, and the law signed by Gov. Mike Beebe allowed cities, counties and the state to create energy improvement districts. In the legislative session that ended last month, a bill to make the state’s PACE law language correspond more favorably with other states’ programs died in committee, signaling to PACE backers that more work is left to be done.

“We are going to go back at it,” Mayfield said. “While residential PACE has yet to happen in Arkansas, I am hopeful that with experience in the commercial sector and collaboration with the banking industry, our state will soon enjoy the benefits of reduced energy expenses and creating good jobs going forward.”

Mayfield agreed that more must be learned about how PACE finance affects the buying and selling of upgraded houses, and he hopes to apply research being conducted now to residential PACE programs should they come to the state.

Cotton wants protection for all, Rabbitt says. “He believes these lending arrangements are loans and should have the same disclosure as any other loan, especially given the lengthy terms and home liens.”

How PACE Works

→ A state enacts legislation authorizing the establishment of a PACE program. In Arkansas, enabling legislation was passed in 2013.

→ A local government creates a PACE program. Two have been established in Arkansas, but they are both commercial programs rather than residential.

→ A homeowner or commercial building owner identifies energy improvements to implement and applies for PACE financing.

→ The PACE administrator approves the financing arrangement and the jurisdiction assigns a tax assessment to the property.

→ The homeowner or business completes the approved energy improvements.

→ The property owner repays the cost of the improvements, plus interest, over time through a tax assessment on the property tax bill.

Zero Mountain Inc. of Fort Smith bought approximately 32 acres of land adjacent to its North Little Rock warehouse for $452,000 in early April, and CEO Joseph Rumsey said the purchase was for possible future expansion.

Zero Mountain provides cold and dry warehousing for clients such as OK Foods, American Vegetable, Cargill and Butterball. Founded in 1955, it has facilities in Russellville, Lowell and Johnson.

It moved into central Arkansas when it bought a 87,500-SF warehouse complex for $2.4 million in late 2016.

The land it just added is to the north and east side of the complex at 1400 Gregory St. Rumsey said about half of the acquired property is designated wetland so it can’t be built on. “We got the land to have the land,” Rumsey said. “We don’t have any plans right now.”

Rumsey said the company is currently remodeling the warehouse complex it acquired last year. The complex is about 25 percent full, and Rumsey said the goal is to reach capacity soon.

“These are expensive buildings to operate and run,” Rumsey said.

Rumsey said he is confident that the North Little Rock facility will eventually fill up and the food industry should continue to be strong.

Conway will be getting a Burge’s Restaurant this summer, at the southeast corner of Dave Ward and Equity drives, at the entrance to the Acxiom campus.

It will be Burge’s third location, after Lewisville (1962) and Little Rock (1974). Bruce Stracener, who doesn’t pay much attention to titles — “I kind of do everything around here” — called it a “slow expansion strategy.”

Burge’s owner, Jeff Voyles, said he’d considered opening a third location in west Little Rock a couple of times, “but I never was comfortable with the location, but this Conway location I really like. I think it’s a good fit. We have a lot of customers that come from Conway.”

Groundbreaking on the building that will house the restaurant took place about two weeks ago. Burge’s will occupy 4,000 SF and a second tenant will occupy the remaining 1,200 SF, Voyles said.

Voyles said he’s also had a lot of requests to open a Burge’s in northwest Arkansas. “My thinking was do a Conway location and maybe have something in the Fort Smith-Russellville area and also in the Fayetteville area.”

Voyles, originally from Texarkana, grew up eating at the original Burge’s in Lewisville, founded by Alden Burge. He bought both locations eight years ago from Alden’s son, Jack.

Voyles used to be an investment broker and Jack Burge was one of his clients. Voyles sent Burge’s hams and turkeys to clients all over the country. When Burge started thinking about retiring, he urged Voyles to buy Burge’s.

Although running restaurants is a little different from being an investment broker, his financial background has helped him, Voyles said.

Voyles received his finance degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 1989, so “in some sense it’s going back to my roots. I’ve always loved Conway as a town.”

A historic 10,041-SF building in downtown Little Rock recently rang up a $950,000 sale.

The Arkansas Department of Heritage bought the former headquarters of the Mosaic Templars of America at 906 Broadway from the Leonal W. Kilgore Revocable Trust.

The department bought the vacant, two-story building because Gov. Asa Hutchinson wanted to save it, said Melissa Whitfield, a spokeswoman for the Department of Heritage.

“It’s the only remaining building built by Mosaic Templars of America, and it was their Arkansas state temple building,” Whitfield said.

The department has hired Jameson Architects PA of Little Rock to prepare the building for a tenant on the first floor, which could be the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission.

The second floor will remain unused for now. The building isn’t expected to be ready for renters until January, she said.

Ryan Watley has been named CEO of Go Forward Pine Bluff, a volunteer group backed by Simmons First National Corp. that aims to stop the city's population decline and bolster its tax base.

Watley is an assistant professor of chemistry and the assistant director of development for athletics at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. At Go Forward Pine Bluff, he'll be responsible for coordinating with city officials and other organizations to execute Go Forward's plan.

Founded in 2015, Go Forward Pine Bluff is a 100-volunteer group financed by Simmons First National Corp. and led by former CEO Tommy May and Simmons First Foundation board member Mary Pringos. The group has announced an ambitious plan of 27 proposals to revive a city marred by a crumbling downtown, sagging economy and crime.

The plan hinges on a public vote for a five-eighths-cent city sales tax that would raise some $32 million before lapsing after seven years. About $20 million more is planned via private fundraising. The vote is set for June 13.

"Dr. Watley is the perfect person to oversee our efforts," May said in a news release. "This is Pine Bluff's best opportunity to attract businesses and ensure a promising future for our young people. We've seen the city's population decline from 57,140 in 1990 to 44,772 in 2015. We must act now."

A Pine Bluff native who returned to the city to work for UAPB in 2015, Watley played football and majored in chemistry at the university and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 2009. He then received his doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Oklahoma. 

During his time in Oklahoma, Watley was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a research associate in the Organic Chemistry Division. In 2015, he was the assistant to the athletic director for community outreach and fundraising at Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

"As a native of Pine Bluff, a graduate of UAPB and an experienced development officer, I feel I'm positioned to lead this effort," Watley said. "This role requires a keen focus on execution. I've established a reputation of producing results."

The Downtown Springdale Alliance on Monday announced that Kelly Hale Syer will serve as its new executive director.

A lifelong resident of northwest Arkansas, Syer has more than 25 years of experience with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the University of Arkansas, Tyson Foods Inc., Cox Communications and most recently the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. 

Her background includes roles in public relations and marketing, recruitment, community affairs, event planning and fundraising.

Syer replaces the organization's first executive director, Misty Murphy, who held the position for nearly two years and is expected to remain a volunteer contributor.

In addition to leading the DSA, she will take a leadership role in implementing the Downtown Master Plan's infrastructure improvement plan, advocating for and providing project management for urban development projects.

"Building upon the organization's existing energy and momentum of bringing people together to celebrate the city's rich history while creating engaging new traditions is a key to Springdale's future growth, and I can't wait to be part of it all," she said.

Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado said Wednesday that first-quarter profit spiked 175 percent amid higher prices for lumber and medium density fiberboard.

The publicly traded lumber and real estate company (NYSE: DEL) reported quarterly net income of $1.1 million, up from $395,000 in the same quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share came in at 9 cents, up from 3 cents last year.

The profit came on revenue of $53.2 million, up 5 percent from last year.

In its earnings release, the company attributed the results primarily to a rise in operating income in manufacturing division, which saw higher prices for lumber and MDF, an increased volume of lumber sales and improved operating performance at its MDF plant.

"Deltic continues to benefit from its well-positioned asset base and solid team, which have allowed the company to improve financial performance over the prior year's first quarter," John D. Enlow, president and CEO, said in a news release. "Our average sales price for lumber sold increased 10 percent, along with slightly higher sales volumes compared to the first quarter a year ago." 

Enlow also said "uncertainty over the Canada-U.S. trade dispute and duties favorably impacted our markets."

Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department announced it would put a 20 percent tariff on most Canadian softwood lumber imports, the latest salvo in a long-running dispute between the U.S. and Canada. Tariffs on imported lumber could be good for U.S. manufacturers, which could raise prices. 

During the quarter, the company's manufacturing division posted operating income of $4 million, up from $3.3 million in the same quarter last year, and net sales of $47 million, up from $43.8 million last year.

The company's woodlands division posted operating income of $5.2 million, down from $5.3 million last year, and net sales of $10.9 million, up from $10.5 million last year.

The real estate division posted an operating loss of $900,000, up from a loss of $600,000 last year, and net sales of $1.3 million, down from $2.2 million last year.

Enlow has been CEO since March 8. The former Weyerhaeuser vice president took over for D. Mark Leland, who led the company on an interim basis after long-time leader Ray Dillon retired last year.

Brandon Huffman is the president and CEO of Huffman & Co. in Little Rock

Huffman grew up in Dallas and Huffman attended the University of Texas from 1996-2000 on a golf scholarship while pursuing a sports management degree. He moved to Arkansas to work at his father-in-law’s business, Horton Drywall, and then started his own drywall company in 2005. He began doing general contracting work in 2011.

Huffman launched his property management business in 2014. Huffman Drywall has completed more than $80 million worth of contracts during the past 12 years; HuffJones Property Management manages more than 2,000 student housing beds and 350 market-rent units with another 750 units coming online within the next 18 months.

Huffman has developed and built properties valued at more than $200 million.

What is your favorite part of doing what you do?

I love the challenge of taking a piece of property and finding the highest and best use for it. I really enjoy situations where I can find ways to make something a reality when all the signs make it seem impossible.

When were you bitten by the building bug?

In 2011 after the slowdown in the economy, I wanted to find something that would produce long-term cash flow and equity in real estate projects. The downturn hit my drywall company just as it did the rest of the construction industry, and it opened my eyes to the fact that I should not simply rely on a single revenue stream. Instead, I needed to diversify and find other sources of income.

Your company has come a long way since opening in 2005. Could you give a brief overview of its evolution?

From 2005-11, I had a commercial drywall company working in Arkansas and surrounding states. Along with continuing our drywall operations, we started developing and building student housing projects at college campuses along with hotels and multifamily housing projects from 2011-17. Many of these projects are in Arkansas, but we’ve also been able to reach out to other states, such as Texas, Tennessee, Kansas and Florida.

On all of the projects we own, we act as our own general contractor. However, we have also found opportunities in acting as the general contractor for third parties, and that is becoming a larger part of what we do. In addition, we have a property management company that manages all of our student housing and multifamily projects. Currently, we have a backlog of almost $200 million, which will keep us busy over the next 24 months.

What are the biggest challenges confronting your company?

The labor shortage has definitely been the biggest challenge confronting our companies as we grow.

Who are your mentors, people who made a difference in your life?

My dad ingrained in me at an early age to become a business owner, and he has always been my biggest supporter. My father-in-law, Kevin Horton, has been my business mentor. I have been able to lean on him countless times for advice, and he has given me sound counsel.

What’s the best advice you ever received?

My dad always told me to tell the truth, have integrity and do what you say you are going to do. My father-in-law told me to save my money, and not only will it get me through hard times, it will give me numerous opportunities.

Mistakes are said to deliver some of the most meaningful lessons. What was your most important mistake that has helped shape your career?

I have had the opportunity to start many businesses over the years, and by far the most successful ones have been my core businesses: construction, real estate development and property management. When I have gone outside the box into things I did not know well, I got hurt the most. And from those lessons I have learned: Stay with what you know best.

A 10,430-SF retail building in west Little Rock weighed in at $3.57 million.

Gateway Village I LLC, led by Tommy Hodges, sold the 6 Bass Pro Drive project, home of David’s Burgers, Hogman’s Gameday Superstore and more.

The new ownership was divided among three limited liability companies managed by the Little Rock office of Colliers International: 300 West Lime (Lakeland), 64.9 percent; Huntsville Investors, 25 percent; and Gateway Village Lot 2, 10.1 percent.

The deal is financed with a seven-year loan of $2.88 million from Greenwoods State Bank of Lake Mills, Wisconsin.

The 1.74-acre development previously was tied to an October 2014 mortgage of $1.7 million held by Malvern National Bank.

The land is part of a four-part assembly of 176 acres in January 2002 deals totaling more than $2.4 million.

The sellers were Canadian Pacific Properties Inc. of Alberta, Calgary, $1.46 million; Otter Creek Development Co. LLC, led by Robert McGinnis and Byron Eiseman, $784,000; Cynthia Keaton, $143,000; and the Jennifer Mae Kochtitzky Trust No. 2, $81,390.

Garment Plant
An 89,516-SF industrial building in east Little Rock tipped the scales at $1.85 million.

Ty Garments USA LLC, an affiliate of Suzhou Industrial Park Tianyuan Garments Co. Ltd. of China, bought the 8909 Fourche Dam Pike project from Joseph T. Ryerson & Son Inc. of Chicago.

The 10-acre location was purchased for $108,900 in September 1973 from the city of Little Rock.

Sonic Sale
A fast-food eatery in west Little Rock rang up a $1.3 million sale.

D.L. Rogers Corp. of North Richland Hills, Texas, acquired the Sonic Drive-In at 11700 Col. Glenn Road.

The seller is LLEJ Lot 1 LLC, led by Leonard Boen. The 1.73-acre location was bought in October 2002 as part of a $1.9 million deal with Rector Phillips Morse’s Birch Brook Inc.

Heights Retail
A 6,900-SF retail center in the Heights area of Little Rock changed hands in a $975,000 transaction.

Three Shops With A Top LLC, led by John Hathaway, Tomas Bohm and Wesley Martin, purchased the 5707-5711 Kavanaugh Blvd. project. The seller is Bee Properties LLC, led by Joseph Beck.

The deal is backed with a five-year loan of $780,000 from IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana.

The Beck family has owned the 0.24-acre development since June 1946.

Riverside Purchase
A 4.54-acre commercial site in west Little Rock sold for $950,000.

Riverside Properties LLC, led by Lisenne Rockefeller, acquired the land at the northwest corner of David O. Dodd Road and Lawson Cut-off.

The seller is Terraforma LLC, led by Doug Meyer and David Bruning.

The property was purchased in January 2004 as part of a $225,000 deal with Mark Riable Ltd. and Susan McNamara Smith.

Office Acquisition
A 2,924-SF office building in west Little Rock drew a $900,000 transaction.

Madison Markham LLC of Issaquah, Washington, bought the 12211 W. Markham St. project from Vandervoort Enterprises LLC, led by Blake Price.

The deal is funded with a four-year loan of $1 million from Washington Trust Bank of Seattle.

Vandervoort Enterprises acquired the property for $615,000 in April 2011 from Centennial Bank of Conway.

Concrete Transactions
Two North Little Rock concrete properties combined for a $535,000 deal.

Razorback Concrete Co. of Wichita, Kansas, purchased the 4000 Crystal Hill Road project for $360,000 and the 2500 Eanes Road project for $175,000.

The seller in both deals is Two LLC, led by Keith Ingram. The projects previously were linked with a November 2013 mortgage of $1.1 million held by Cadence Bank of Memphis.

The 6.35-acre Crystal Hill property was acquired for $186,000 in July 2003 from Peggy and Richard Pryor and Patricia and Arthur Norris.

The 8.97-acre Eanes Road development was bought for $120,000 in March 2010 from Weaver-Bailey Contractors Inc., led by Charles Weaver.

Club House I
A 3,079-SF home near the Country Club of Little Rock is under new ownership after a $709,000 sale.

Lindsay and Nicholas Makris acquired the house from Shawn and Elizabeth Grotte. The residence previously was tied to a December 2009 mortgage of $360,000 held by Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

The Grottes purchased the property for $475,000 in October 2007 from Jana and John Turner.

Club House II
A 2,962-SF home near the Country Club of Little Rock rang up a $635,000 sale. The Ashley B. Jackson Revocable Trust bought the house from Michael and Marsha Ballard.

The residence previously was linked with a December 2015 mortgage of $300,000 held by BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Mississippi.

The Ballards acquired the location for $160,000 in April 2015 from James Gray.

Woodland’s Home I
A 4,235-SF home in the Woodland’s Edge neighborhood of west Little Rock changed hands in a $599,900 deal.

Karmon and John Johnson purchased the residence from Mark and Kristen Schneider.

The deal is financed with a 30-year loan of $300,000 from the Bank of England. The house previously was tied to a March 2016 mortgage of $440,000 held by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

The Schneiders bought the property for $550,000 14 months ago from The Dillon Group Inc., led by Janet Dillon.

Condo Residence
A 1,658-SF high-rise condo in downtown Little Rock sold for $565,000.

Cynthia Fisher acquired the sixth-floor unit in the River Market Tower at 315 Rock St. from Austin and Ann Grimes.

The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $508,500 from One Bank & Trust of Little Rock. The residence previously was linked with an April 2010 mortgage of $203,500 held by Arkansas Federal Credit Union of Jacksonville.

The Grimes family purchased the property for $513,000 in June 2009 from River Market Tower LLC, led by Jimmy Moses and Rett Tucker.

Prospect Abode
A 2,292-SF home in Little Rock’s Prospect Terrace neighborhood drew a $535,000 transaction.

Dawn Scott bought the house from Robert and Eliza Gaines. The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $424,100 from Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

The residence previously was tied to a March 2013 mortgage of $360,000 held by Delta Trust Mortgage of Little Rock.

The Gaines family acquired the property for $458,000 more than four years ago from Charles Henry Jr. and his wife, Susan.

Woodland’s Home II
A 5,368-SF home in the Woodland’s Edge neighborhood of west Little Rock is under new ownership after a $527,000 sale.

Carl Dyer Sr. and his wife, Marsha, purchased the house from Thomas and Cherel Chilton. The deal is financed with a 30-year loan of $421,000 from the Bank of England.

The residence previously was linked with a January 2012 mortgage of $358,375 held by Summit Bank of Arkadelphia.

The Chiltons bought the property for $519,000 in January 2012 from The Wilson Co., led by Janet Dillon.

Multimillion-Dollar Construction

Medical Office    $16,000,000
Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics
800 Fair Park Blvd., Little Rock
Kinco Constructors LLC, Little Rock

Construction projects are flourishing in Jonesboro, despite the financial woes plaguing one of its largest commercial ventures.

Inside the city limits, $164 million worth of construction is in motion, led by St. Bernards Medical Center in downtown Jonesboro. And more projects are on the way.

Construction is expected to start soon on the $60 million Embassy Suites and Red Wolf Convention Center on the campus of Arkansas State University, Tim O’Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Hospitality Management of Springfield, Missouri, said in an email to Arkansas Business last week. “We are waiting for the building permit which we will have any day,” he wrote.

The project is expected to take 14-15 months to complete. It will feature a 202-room Embassy Suites hotel, 40,000-SF Red Wolf Convention Center and Houlihan’s restaurant. Killian Construction Co. of Springfield, Missouri, is the general contractor. The project is scheduled to open before the start of the fall 2018 semester at the college.

The other convention center project in Jonesboro, however, is struggling and has been hit with a number of contractor’s liens and lawsuits.

Other projects in Jonesboro are doing better. St. Bernards Medical Center recently completed its $7.35 million Ben E. Owens Cancer Center addition and renovation project, said Kevin Hodges, vice president of affiliated and senior services at St. Bernards.

The work was one of four phases that will total $137.5 million at St. Bernards in downtown Jonesboro, which has helped fuel interest in the area, Hailey Knight, executive director of the Downtown Jonesboro Association, said in an email.

“We have 29 new lofts being built,” she wrote. “People are attracted to this area.”

She says downtown also benefited from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State, which enrolled its first class of 120 students last August.

Also helping development in Jonesboro is Craighead County’s low unemployment rate, which has been attractive to developers, said Joshua Brown, principal broker of Haag Brown Commercial Real Estate & Development in Jonesboro.

The unemployment rate for the county was 2.8 percent in March, which was lower than the state’s rate of 3.6 percent and the national rate of 4.5 percent.

And he said that the city is still seeing commercial projects as a result of NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro spending $400 million on its medical campus, which opened in January 2014.

Here are some of the current top projects in the city.

St. Bernards Medical Center Surgery Tower/ Emergency Department Ambulance Entrance

Cost: $80 million
Contractor: Nabholz Construction Corp. of Conway
Architect: HKS Inc. of Dallas
Projected Completion: Spring 2019

St. Bernards announced in December 2015 that it was starting a four-phase construction project.

The centerpiece of the project is the $80 million, 245,000-SF, five-story surgical and intensive care tower and renovation of the emergency department, said Hodges.

The project will consolidate services into one building, he said. It will also provide a new entrance for emergency services. The first level will have 14 surgical suites and a pharmacy, and the second floor will be a 48-bed critical care unit. Hodges said the project was financed through a bond issue and with the health care system’s cash reserves. After this project is complete, Hodges said, another phase will begin on renovating areas that haven’t yet been identified. He didn’t have a cost estimate for that construction phase.

Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center

Cost: $25 Million
Contractor: Construction Network Inc. of Jonesboro
Architect: Pure Architecture Studio LLC of Milwaukee
Projected Completion: Unknown

Jonesboro Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center broke ground in August, and problems soon developed. Subcontractors earlier this year began filing liens against the project totaling more than $900,000.

The developer, Northern Arkansas Hotel & Convention Center LLC, hasn’t made any payments to the general contractor and owes $1.5 million to subcontractors and a supplier, according to documents filed in court late last month.

Sean Stem, the president of Construction Network Inc. of Jonesboro, said in an affidavit filed April 21 that Northern Arkansas Hotel & Convention Center “has failed to make payments to CNI and to date has made no payments in any amount to CNI related to work performed on this project.”

The Jonesboro Advertising & Promotion Commission on April 13 sent a letter to Northern Arkansas Hotel & Convention Center demanding copies of several documents involving the financing of the project; it also asked to see a commitment letter from Hyatt. If the commission doesn’t receive the paperwork by May 19, it will rescind its pledge of $300,000 to the project.

Chris Keller, CEO of Northern Arkansas Hotel & Convention Center, didn’t respond to an email message from Arkansas Business last week.

Last week, Keller returned nearly $75,000 the A&P Commission had given for the project, Chairman Jerry Morgan said in an email to Arkansas Business last week. The check “didn’t have any correspondence with it,” he said. “It was just the check.”

FNB Financial Park

Cost: $20 million
Contractor: Ramsons Inc. of Jonesboro
Architect: WD&D Architects of Little Rock
Projected Completion: Spring 2018

First National Bank of Paragould announced in September that it was building a five-story, 60,000-SF building for its Craighead County operations. First National spokesman Blake Guinn said the bank’s headquarters will remain in Paragould.

The Jonesboro project will have a community room, an outdoor terrace and “public events will be welcomed and encouraged,” according to a First National news release. The site also will have underground parking for 50 vehicles.

The project is on schedule and should be completed in the spring of 2018, Guinn said.

Arkansas State University Undergraduate Housing

Cost: $14.8 million
Contractor: Huffman & Co. of Little Rock
Architect: Planworx Architecture of Raleigh, North Carolina
Projected Completion: Fall 2017

The two buildings, totaling 350 beds, for undergraduates at Arkansas State University won’t look “anything like dormitories from the late 20 century,” said spokesman Bill Smith. “They’ll have 9-foot ceilings. They have ceiling fans. They have walk-in closets.”

The amenities will be comparable to off-campus apartments, he said.

A-State signed a 35-year land lease agreement with Zimmer Development Co. of Wilmington, North Carolina, to build the dorms along with graduate housing. Zimmer also will maintain the units while A-State will manage and market the complex, according to an A-State news release. During the initial years, Zimmer will pay $200,000 annually for the undergraduate land lease.

Smith said A-State’s on-campus housing had operated at full capacity for several years.

The arrangement with Zimmer “was seen as a way to enhance the inventory of campus housing without the debt load that might come with it.”

Arkansas State University Graduate Housing

Cost: $12.2 million
Contractor: Huffman & Co. of Little Rock
Architect: Planworx Architecture of Raleigh, North Carolina
Projected Completion: Fall 2017

The 165-bed complex for Arkansas State University’s graduate students is expected to open by the fall, said A-State spokesman Bill Smith.

The rooms feature their own bathrooms and closets, he said.

Zimmer Development Co. is also leasing the land the building is on and will pay $105,000 during the initial years.

“Our student community has grown,” then-Chancellor Tim Hudson said in a February 2016 news release announcing the housing projects. “These projects allow us to accommodate students who want to reside on campus throughout their career.”

The two projects will bring the resident total to about 3,700.

St. Bernards Heartcare Center Renovation

Cost: $12 million
Contractor: Nabholz Construction Corp. of Conway
Architect: HKS Inc. of Dallas
Projected Completion: December 2017

The 14,000-SF renovation work at St. Bernards Heartcare Center started in January and is expected to be completed by the end of the year, said Hodges, the St. Bernards VP. The facade of the center will remain the same, but the inside is being renovated so that all noninvasive procedures will be conducted on the first floor and invasive procedures on the second. It also is adding a cardiac catheterization lab. The third floor, which had been a shell since the building opened in 1999, will be built out to hold a 26-unit patient prep and recovery area and a separate family waiting area, according to St. Bernards.

This chart shows privately owned housing starts in the United States from January 1959, when they stood at 1.66 million, through March 2017, when they totaled 1.22 million. The shaded areas indicate recessions.

They stood at their lowest rate during those years in April 2009, when they totaled 478,000.

Housing starts in March 2017 were 6.8 percent below the revised February estimate of 1.3 million, but 9.2 percent above the March 2016 rate of 1.11 million.

No $21 million, six-story building goes up without a well-thought-out plan.

When the building is under construction across the street from the corporate headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, planning becomes even more important. The Dave Grundfest Co. of Little Rock realized that after it was hired to build the 8W Center at Walton Boulevard and Eighth Street.

The property is owned by Troy Link, who co-owns Link Snacks Inc. of Minneapolis, the company best known for its Jack Link’s beef jerky products. Nielsen Architecture of Bentonville designed the building for developer Newmark Grubb Arkansas of North Little Rock.

The challenge of the 8W Center was not the design or price tag, but the location. As one might expect, there is quite a bit of rush-hour traffic around Wal-Mart’s headquarters, and a Walmart Supercenter is nearby as well.

Jeff McNeil, an executive with Grundfest who oversaw the project, said the construction schedule had to be organized to minimize complications. Further complicating the construction was the fact that the 8W Center covered almost the entire lot, so space was short for stroring building materials.

“There was no room because of the roads, and the building took the entire footprint of the lot,” McNeil said. “The logistics of the location was a challenge. You know, Wal-Mart is pretty demanding, and we didn’t want to interfere with any of their access. It was a big coordination effort.

“What made this project successful was timing the trucks in to unload [materials] right off the trucks into place. We literally would unload steel and concrete and things like that right into place.”

The effort was a success. The 8W Center was completed earlier this year, and a Jimmy John’s sandwich shop, owned by Troy Link, has already opened on the ground floor.

Bentonville Boom

The 8W Center was just one of seven multimillion-dollar commercial construction projects in Bentonville in 2016. It ranked as the 17th largest in the state and was fourth among the 30 projects in Washington and Benton counties.

“This was one of our largest projects, for sure,” McNeil said. “It’s a real significant project for us that we are proud of — not only because of the size and the construction amount, but because of the complexity of the construction. This is a true urban setting even though you don’t think of Bentonville as a real complex urban environment. In this particular case it really was.”

Nabholz Construction Corp. of Conway has three Benton County projects on the 2016 list, one of which it has completed. Nabholz had 33 of the state’s largest projects, including the $98 million Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Springdale, which ranked second.

In Benton County, Nabholz built the $20 million-plus 8th Street Market and Brightwater Culinary School in Bentonville, and it is finishing up on a complex that will include a $15.6 million elementary school and a $13.5 million middle school.

“There is a general uptick, a good feel for what is being done in Benton County,” said Greg Fogle, president of Nabholz’s Midwest division. “It’s not record-breaking, but it is definitely noticeable. There is a lot of nice activity happening right here in Benton County, and that is enjoyable for everyone involved.

“It’s a good time to be in construction.”

Nabholz’s completed project is a combination market-educational facility designed by Hufft Architects of Kansas City in Bentonville’s Market District. Northwest Arkansas Community College of Bentonville uses part of the facility for its Brightwater Culinary School, while the rest is set aside for food-related commercial stores.

The culinary school opened for events this year, while the market spaces are still being developed. Bike Rack Brewing has already opened in the 8th Street Market, which probably gives culinary instructors something to look forward to at the end of the day.

Fogle said Bentonville’s growth is evident across the commercial construction sectors. Nabholz doesn’t do residential or multifamily buildings — there are several such projects that made the 2016 largest projects list — but Fogle said interest is strong in retail, medical and schools.

Those are usually clear indicators the region or city is growing. The schools that Nabholz is building for the city of Bentonville are the Osage Creek Elementary and Creekside Middle School. The project, 180,000 SF combined, is scheduled to be completed in time for next school year’s start in August.

“This is our home district,” Fogle said. “The Bentonville School District is clearly a success story, and it’s fun to be a part of their growth, which has been pretty remarkable.”

Unique Looks
Fogle said the school district was determined to get its money’s worth for the $29 million initial price tag that came with the schools’ construction.

“Bentonville is very focused on making certain their value remains very high,” Fogle said. “They’re certainly not going to be extravagant. They focus on building the right building for the best possible price.”

Private commercial buildings can have a little more flair and ingenuity.

The Brightwater-8th Street Market project was a repurposing of an old Tyson hatchery, which was a Krispy Kitchens manufacturing plant before that. Tyson used it for 33 years before closing it in 2005, and the Walton Family Foundation provided the grant that allowed the building’s reuse for NWACC.

Fogle said Hufft’s design called for keeping some of the old look and feel of the facility.

“The reuse of the building was dramatic,” Fogle said. “The effort that has gone into transforming that space truly was remarkable from an architectural standpoint and from a construction standpoint. I consider it one of the most challenging projects that we have had recently. What’s cool, too, is they went to great lengths to preserve the visual elements of that old manufacturing-processing plant.”

Fogle said the walls and structural steel weren’t painted or refurbished but left rough-looking for effect. He said it’s a modern facility that still looks like an old manufacturing plant.

“It really did help preserve the history of the building,” Fogle said.

McNeil said the 8W Center was a unique design for Bentonville because of the six stories, three of them are dedicated to a 185-car parking garage. The first floor is retail, the top two floors are reserved for offices while the second through fourth floors are parking.

McNeil said other urban areas have incorporated this multiuse design, but since northwest Arkansas is generally roomy, it hasn’t been used in Arkansas. The crowded nature of the Wal-Mart HQ area made it a perfect plan for the 8W.

“The intent was to hide the parking garage inside the building and not make it look like a parking garage,” McNeil said.

“It’s a real significant type of building for Bentonville. It’s probably going to be a pioneer for some future-type vendor buildings.”