Winrock International is packing up to move, having sold its gleaming 25,000-SF headquarters on Riverfront Drive in Little Rock for $5.3 million this month.
The nonprofit global development agency has promised to keep its home in central Arkansas, though it hasn’t yet said precisely where it’s moving. The destination apparently will not be the eastern edge of downtown near Heifer International’s headquarters. An announcement will come, officials said.
An investment group led by Cushman & Wakefield/Sage Partners bought the Winrock International building in a deal brokered by that group’s Ryan Gibson and Matt Imhoff. Uniti Group Inc., the Little Rock fiber and telecommunications company, will be moving into the former Winrock building, company officials confirmed last week.
Winrock made clear that financial pressures did not drive its move. The nonprofit was founded by former Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller in the 1960s and has agricultural, environmental and social betterment projects going on in 46 countries.
“We were founded in Arkansas and it will always be the home to our headquarters,” Winrock International President and CEO Rodney Ferguson said in a statement. “Winrock’s financial position is stronger than ever, but more Winrock staff are choosing hybrid and remote working models, and that has reduced our real estate needs.”
Uniti, now on Executive Center Drive in Little Rock, has 123,000 miles of fiber routes in the United States. Bill DiTullio, the company’s vice president for finance and investor relations, said Uniti has no move-in schedule yet. “I can confirm that we’re moving into the building, but not much else at this time,” he said.
Imhoff, a vice president of Sage Partners, called Winrock International “a great Arkansas institution” and said the property deal “supports the growth of central Arkansas and ensures that Winrock International continues to be a great asset to both the state and the world.” The 2101 Riverfront drive location, near the Riverdale neighborhood, “offers a modern home for future tenants,” said Gibson, also a Sage vice president. “It is a tremendous opportunity to assist Winrock with this transition.”
Originally built in 2004, the property was one of the city’s first celebrated “green” buildings. Sage Partners, with offices in Rogers and Little Rock, will handle the property. Sage manages and markets more than 6.5 million SF of office, industrial and retail space in Arkansas.
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