When Simmons Prepared Foods Inc. of Siloam Springs decided a few years ago to start from scratch to increase its fresh and frozen chicken production, Simmons bought 800-plus acres for $14 million and then went about designing what COO David Jackson called a “50-year investment.” read more >
Silver Development Co., Larry Crain Jr.’s non-car venture, is watching its 188-unit Chenal Village fill up as the high-end duplex project beckons 55-and-up renters. read more >
Museums need to supply “social space,” says famed architect Jeanne Gang. If they are to survive, they need to be places where people want to be. And that is what her design seeks to do for the expanded, renovated Arkansas Arts Center, a $98.8 million project: provide a “cultural living room.” read more >
Shortly after Walmart opened its first Supercenters with food markets in 1988, top executives began to see groceries as the retail titan’s future bread and butter. Now Walmart is America’s biggest grocery seller, and food is becoming ammunition in the Bentonville company’s online duel with Amazon. read more >
Some University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences employees saw red flags long before auditors discovered a deficit at the Myeloma Institute for Research & Therapy that was allowed to grow to $29 million over nine years. read more >
PAM Transport Inc. of Tontitown is fighting a class-action lawsuit brought in 2016 that it said could send shock waves through the trucking industry and radically change the way drivers are paid. read more >
Baptist Health, CARTI projects add to two decades of development on Springhill Drive in east North Little Rock, a place that was once best known as the lonely Interstate 40 location of ABF Freight’s central Arkansas terminal. read more >
Verizon Arena is recognized as the key that started a redevelopment engine for downtown North Little Rock. Celebrating its 20th birthday in October, the facility is touted as an $83 million, debt-free, financially self-sufficient showcase for central Arkansas events. read more >
The debut of a major riverfront arena 20 years ago turned out to be a warmup act for the real headliner: a sweeping transformation of downtown North Little Rock. read more >
Reports that there were “no ducks” in the Arkansas Delta this hunting season were greatly exaggerated, but industry leaders are concerned nonetheless. read more >
In December, creditors forced Gary R. Gibbs, the developer of the Delta Resort & Spa in Desha County and the Hotel Hot Springs & Spa, into bankruptcy for defaulting on $119.4 million in loans. It's familiar territory for Gibbs, who recovered from a 2005 bankruptcy only to fall back into financial distress after the New Orleans bank that made his loans failed. read more >
The Arkansas Delta Council, a nonprofit economic development organization still in formation, hopes to raise money and entice investors to a region that has been losing population, unevenly but inexorably, for half a century. read more >
North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith had heard complaints about the North Little Rock Municipal Airport. Last fall, he asked some of the critical executives to put their concerns in writing, into a form he could take to the City Council. They did, and the remarks were scathing. read more >
The airport code is HOT, and these days it’s both an identifier and a description: Traffic, revenue and optimism are climbing at Hot Springs Memorial Field. read more >
It doesn’t take a numbers guru to know that things are adding up for the Fayetteville Executive Airport at Drake Field. Summer Fallen, the airport service manager, says the airport has felt the positive effects of a strong economy in northwest Arkansas. read more >
As chairman and CEO, Chris Roberts is leading the campaign to rebrand and relaunch Capital Bank with a $50 million stock offering. The 50-year-old banker considers his recent move from Simmons Bank to be a curtain call on his 27-year lending career. read more >
In late 2015, Suneet Singal thought he had a great deal with Heartland Bank of Little Rock. read more >
Community banks lack the financial and human capital of their larger counterparts to invest in research and development, but they need new technologies all the same. Partnerships with financial technology startups are a practical way to address this need, four of the state’s community bankers told Arkansas Business. read more >
Pinpointing legally permissible real estate for the state’s first medical cannabis enterprises after a 2016 legalization vote was like plunging into the haystack to find the perfect spot for a needle, those involved in the process say. read more >
A company behind about two dozen nursing homes in Arkansas is facing increasing scrutiny over the nonprofit status of its facilities, which plaintiffs have dismissed as a ploy to avoid liability in cases alleging improper care. read more >
