It appears that Matthews Management Co. of Little Rock, one of the businesses descended from the Justin Matthews Sr. real estate empire in North Little Rock, is kaput.
Whispers has tried for several weeks to contact owner David Matthews through his lawyer, Patty W. Lueken of Little Rock, and his brother, Hal Matthews of North Little Rock. Failing that, we’ll just have to settle for what’s on the public record.
In a motion to reduce the child support Matthews pays to his ex-wife, Susan Darcey, Lueken reported to Pulaski County Circuit Court last month that her client “has lost his ownership of and income from Matthews Management Company due to his inability to refinance the loan.”
Real estate records indicate a refinance of sorts occurred last year.
WM Capital Partners XLII LLC of New York provided a one-year loan of $1.7 million to Matthews in June 2014 after buying two mortgages held by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.
WM Capital in turn leveraged its position with a $1.8 million loan from Bank of Commerce in McLean, Texas.
In connection with this reshuffling of debt was a warranty deed executed in June 2014 between Matthews Management and WM Capital.
There is no indication any money changed hands, and the deed wasn’t filed of record until 13 months later, in July 2015.
Three properties are in play with the mortgages and deed.
Two are in Sherwood: the 45,000-SF building at 5410 Landers Road leased to Lisa Academy and the adjoining Sonic Drive-In at 5400 Landers Road. The third is a Precision Tune project at 4630 JFK Blvd. in North Little Rock.
Did Matthews default on the mortgage held by WM Capital because he couldn’t find replacement financing, which led to the filing of the presigned deed?
WM Capital hasn’t filed any paperwork releasing Matthews from his debt.
It’s unclear who the investors are in WM Capital Partners 42. Scott Whitworth, manager of the $3.2 million fund, didn’t return calls last week.
Family History
Matthews Management Co. was a spinoff of a spinoff. Back in the early 1990s, descendants of Justin Matthews Sr. divided up their inheritance.
David, a son of Justin Matthews III, did business with two of his three brothers, Jed and Hal, as Matthews Properties LLC from 1994 until 2001. Then David and Jed split, acrimoniously, from Hal, which among other things led to the formation of Matthews Management. Jed formed his own venture and was living in California by the time the fourth brother, Justin Somers Matthews, died in 2011.
Matthews Management’s status with the Arkansas secretary of state is listed as “revoked,” which often just means the franchise tax hasn’t been paid.
But the divorce court filing and David Matthews’ resume as posted on LinkedIn suggest that the company is really and truly defunct.
According to LinkedIn, Matthews was president of Matthews Management Co. until October 2015 and is now an inside sales executive for Infolob Solutions Inc. of Irving, Texas.
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