Arkansas Business introduced “The Power List” in 2006 and last updated it in 2014. It’s a chore that inspires a certain amount of dread in the staff because there are so many people and so many industries and so many opportunities to overlook someone important and to make some sort of error.

But we keep doing it because there is value, for our readers and for us, in having just a little bit of insight into the people who are leading the largest companies and institutions in the state. And while many of the same names and faces show up list after list, there are always dozens of new ones as well. Nowhere are there more new faces than in the Government category, since the power concentrated there changed radically at the beginning of 2015.

I have given up hope that we’ll ever get this list “just right,” but I do want to make this clear: No attempt was made to ensure women and minorities were well represented or that the breadth of the state’s geography was covered. Instead, we simply profiled the people running Arkansas’ leading business, professional and nonprofit entities.

The vast majority of the biggest businesses are still being run by white males, although the number of women has grown, and most are in the population centers of Pulaski, Benton and Washington counties. While the leaders range in age from 30-something to 70-something, most of those on our Power List are in their 40s and 50s.

The total number on our list this time is 179, but our goal has never been a particular number. Our goal is to give readers a resource to help navigate the leadership of the largest companies or institutions in the individual industries. And some industries have broader bases than others.

I am taking a vacation next week, but I do want to hear from you — complaints, suggestions and, most importantly, any corrections. You can reach me at GMoritz@ABPG.com.

The Power List

Accounting

Agriculture & Timber

Architecture & Engineering

Banking & Finance

Construction

Economic Development

Education

Energy & Utilities

Government

Health Care

Insurance

Law

Manufacturing

Media & Marketing

Nonprofits

Real Estate & Development

Retail

Technology & Telecom

Tourism

Transportation

Kathryn Hicks has been named vice president and market leader for Centennial Bank in Mountain Home, and Harrison Young has moved to Mountain Home as a loan officer.

Hicks has worked for Centennial for 17 years of her 18-year banking career.

Young was previously a loan officer in Centennial’s Atkins and Dardanelle branches.

John Craig has joined BancorpSouth Bank in Fort Smith as first vice president of commercial lending. Craig, who has 21 years of banking experience, is a 2009 graduate of the American Bankers Association National Commercial Lending School at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Clay Cannon has joined AgHeritage Farm Credit Services in Little Rock as a credit analyst trainee, and Shannon Koder has been hired as a loan processor.

Cannon earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture business from the University of Arkansas.

Koder previously worked for IberiaBank as an assistant branch manager.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

The sale of a 260-unit apartment project in Little Rock’s Riverdale area weighed in at more than $39.62 million.

Riverhouse/ML-BWP LLC and Riverhouse/1031 LLC, both of Nashville, Tennessee, bought their namesake apartment project at 1200 Brookwood Drive. The seller is Riverdale Residences LLC, an affiliate of LIV Development of Birmingham, Alabama.

The deal is financed with a $26.1 million loan from CBRE Multifamily Capital Inc. of Houston, Texas.

The 7.62-acre development previously was tied to a September 2015 mortgage of $39.6 million held by Protective Life Insurance Co. of Birmingham.

The location was purchased for $2.57 million in March 2014 from Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development.

Multifamily Purchase

A 98-unit apartment complex in North Little Rock tipped the scales at $1.7 million.

OOWALGE LLC, led by Valecia Ootsey-Walker, acquired Parkway Crossing Apartments at 2000 Parkway Drive. The seller is Marsilmor Properties LLC, led by Helen Marshall.

The deal is backed with a four-year loan of $1.5 million from One Bank & Trust of Little Rock and an 18-month loan of $100,000 from Marshall.

The 5.21-acre development previously was linked with a December 2012 mortgage of $1.2 million held by One Bank.

Marsilmor bought the property for $1.5 million in February 2006 from Parkway Crossing LLC, led by J. Patrick McGuire.

Warehouse Buy I

An 18,000-SF office-warehouse in North Little Rock changed hands in a $1.02 million sale.

Bx3 Real Estate Holdings LLC of Dallas purchased the project at 4601 E. 43rd St. from LETA Properties LLC, formed by the late Leta Keenihan.

The deal is funded with a 10-year loan of $814,400 from Frost Bank of San Antonio.

The 1.27-acre development was previously tied to an April 2009 mortgage of $984,000 held by Delta Trust & Bank of Little Rock.

The property was acquired for $820,000 in December 2005 from The Woodcrest Co. LLP, led by James P. Matthews.

Convenient Deal I

A Sherwood convenience store rang up an $850,000 transaction.

HYC Corp., led by Han Cho, bought the T-Ricks project at 14815 Hwy. 107. The seller is Mid-State Distributing Inc., led by Khairunissa Mandani.

The deal is financed with a $529,900 mortgage held by Centennial Bank of Conway.

The 0.42-acre development previously helped secure a May 2008 mortgage of $3.8 million held by T. Ricks LLC, led by Rick Kent.

Mid-State purchased the property for $600,000 in May 2008 from T. Ricks.

Downtown Sale I

A 14,000-SF building in downtown Little Rock is under new ownership after a $715,000 sale.

Arkansas Community Colleges, led by Bill Stovall III, acquired the 815 Main St. project. The seller is Haybar Properties LLC, led by Bryan Hosto.

The deal is backed with a $799,000 loan from Centennial Bank. Haybar bought the 0.16-acre development for $305,000 in May 2007 from Sam Bracy III.

Downtown Sale II

A 33,472-SF building in downtown Little Rock drew a $545,000 transaction.

300 S. Broadway LLC, led by Joe Carter, purchased the 300-310 Broadway project. The seller is Gay Oil Co., led by Jerry Gay.

The deal is funded with a two-year loan of $800,000 from One Bank.

Gay Oil acquired the 0.48-acre development in three deals totaling $47,500. The sellers were Thomas and Maggie Ashcraft, $35,000 in October 1924; Fred and Mary Allsopp, $6,250 in January 1925; and E.O. and Emma Bagley, $6,250 in January 1925.

Convenient Deal II

A Jacksonville convenience store sold for $500,000. Diamond State Oil LLC, an affiliate of North Little Rock’s Coulson Oil Co., bought the J&J Mart at 2215 First St. The seller is Mat Investments LLC, led by Everette Martin.

The deal is financed with a six-month loan of $400,000 from BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Mississippi.

The 0.53-acre development previously was linked with a December 2004 mortgage of $496,981 held by Centennial Bank. Mat Investments purchased the location for $125,000 more than 11 years ago from Diamond State.

University Property

A 20,310-SF former auto dealership property in south Little Rock changed hands in a $430,000 transaction.

Hairston Properties LLC, led by Edwin Hairston Jr. and his wife, Rejena, acquired the 5804 S. University Ave. project from Gerald Martindill Jr. and his wife, Cathy.

The deal is backed with a five-year loan of $100,000 from IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana.

The Martindills bought the 1.6-acre property for $450,000 in December 1990 from Betty Lee Adock.

Warehouse Buy II

A 12,000-SF warehouse in southwest Little Rock rang up a $400,000 sale.

#40 Real Estate Partnership LLC of Dallas purchased the 10224 Sibley Hole Road project from the Danny & Rhonda Heathcock Revocable Living Trust.

The 4.19-acre development was acquired for $280,000 in April 2010 from the Ed & Emma Lou Culin Revocable Trust.

Charity Expansion

A nonprofit expanded its west Little Rock location in a $232,172 deal.

Easter Seals Arkansas bought the adjoining 1,432-SF house at 3800 Woodland Heights Road from Neva Harden.

The 0.52-acre property was purchased for $1,800 in June 1959 from Roy and Rita Parlier.

3M Acquisition

An industrial concern added to its holdings in southeast Little Rock in a $210,000 transaction.

3M Co. acquired the 4.44-acre property at 6908 Arch St. from William Otis Brakebill and Barbara Nichols.

The Brakebill family bought the property for $7,000 in August 1947 from Joe and Elizabeth Geyer.

Woodland’s Abode

A 4,176-SF home in the Woodland’s Edge neighborhood of west Little Rock is under new ownership after a $582,000 sale.

The Bruce E. Murphy Revocable Trust purchased the house from Keith and Julie McPherson.

The residence previously was tied to an April 2013 mortgage of $399,000 held by Carroll Mortgage Group Inc. of Little Rock.

The McPhersons bought the location for $62,000 in January 2009 from Rocket Properties LLC, led by Lisenne Rockefeller and Ron Tyne.

Midland Residence

A 4,443-SF home in Little Rock’s Midland Hills neighborhood drew a $540,000 transaction.

Jennifer and Daniel Anderson acquired the house from David and Penelope Rudder.

The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $485,000 from Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

The residence previously was linked with a July 2011 mortgage of $160,000 held by Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama, and a November 2011 mortgage of $251,500 held by Bank of Little Rock Mortgage Corp.

The Rudders purchased the house for $295,000 in November 1994 from Dorothy Schwarz.

St. John’s Home

A 2,782-SF home in the St. John’s Place neighborhood of Little Rock sold for $525,000.

The Wightman Family Trust, led by Dennis and Marnie Wightman, bought the house from Purcell Smith Jr. and his wife, Joan.

The residence previously was tied to a May 2008 mortgage of $138,123 and a May 2013 mortgage of $148,124 held by IberiaBank.

The site was acquired for $200,000 in July 1989 from St. John’s Place, a joint venture led by Andrew McDonald, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Little Rock; and Dickson Flake.

An analysis by national correspondent Ryan Cooper for TheWeek.com declared the 401(k) system to be “a blight on the face of the American republic.” That’s the kind of over-the-top headline that is click-bait these days, but when you look at the numbers, the only conclusion one can reach is that a disaster is looming — even if we blame operator error rather than the system itself.

“The median balance among all families is a piddling $5,000, but even among families whose head of household is 56 to 61 years old, the figure is a mere $17,000,” Cooper wrote, using statistics ultimately derived from the Federal Reserve Bank’s Survey of Consumer Finance. “Millions of people are about to reach retirement age with maybe half a year’s income saved up, and millions more have nothing whatsoever.”

Now, the median balance for households that actually have retirement savings is about $60,000 — but that’s little comfort when you realize that nearly half of households have no retirement savings at all.

There are a lot of factors that keep people from saving enough for retirement, not the least of which is the fact that half of all households in this country get by on $50,000 a year or less — sometimes much less. And for the lower income tiers, real wages have been stagnant while things like housing, education and health care have not been. Not by a long shot. What’s more, the number of households with retirement savings is actually lower since the Great Recession than before.

Even households that are earning more don’t seem to be serious about retirement savings. Only one in 10 households headed by a person between 55 and 65 has at least four years of income set aside; the nonprofit National Institute on Retirement Security recommends a savings target of five times income by age 53 and 7.4 times income by age 65. (I’ll wait while you do the math and have a good cry.)

In his analysis, Cooper refers to the “paradox of thrift,” which is a fairly well-understood phenomenon: The kind of savings and thriftiness that are good for the individual are not good for an overall economy that depends on consumer spending. Looking at retirement savings suggests to me that there might also be a paradox of optimism: Americans seem so sure that their future prospects will cure their past failures that they don’t take the steps necessary to secure that bright future — even as the time to correct course grows shorter by the day.

Financial optimism isn’t limited to retirement planning. I have three women friends who are in the process of ending marriages of three decades and more, and I can’t help worrying about their financial well-being as much as their psychological state. “Gray divorce” — divorce over age 50 — is twice as common as it was 25 years ago, according to researchers at the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and older divorce “is associated with fewer financial resources compared with divorce that occurred at younger ages, at least among women.”

All three have developed lifestyle habits that assumed that the future would be at least as financially secure as the past, which may not have been irrational but was certainly optimistic. One of my friends may be able to stay in the house she loves; the other two will have to move to dramatically cheaper quarters because they still have large mortgages at an age when being mortgage-free ought to be in sight. I attribute this to more optimism, since both incurred significant new debt by buying houses with their husbands literally months before the marriages collapsed.

It feels strange to argue against optimism, but here’s another paradox: Nothing makes the future feel sunnier than having a rainy-day plan.

***

Yes, I understand the math on paying off a mortgage versus investing the money instead, but the point is that most Americans do neither.

Gwen Moritz is editor of Arkansas Business. Email her at GMoritz@ABPG.com.

New details in the M&M Environmental Group LLC’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy show it has $8.4 million in debts.

The Conway firm that provided environmental services to the oil and gas industries filed for bankruptcy liquidation last month, but it didn’t list many financial details. The amended filing reports M&M has $3.2 million in assets. (See M&M Cleanup Company Meets Messy End.)

M&M Environmental, if you recall, fell into receivership in February after the relationship between the company’s owners became so strained that they couldn’t agree on whether to file for bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy filing by the company’s receiver, attorney Charles Coleman of Wright Lindsey & Jennings LLP of Little Rock, shows Centennial Bank of Conway is the biggest creditor, owed about $4.3 million. That debt is secured by rolling stock, equipment and accounts receivable. M&M owes another $2.7 million to 149 companies that have unsecured claims.

M&M reported its gross revenue was $6.3 million in 2015.

The bankruptcy comes a little more than a year after Omega Capital of Tulsa bought a majority interest in Sam McFadin’s M&M Environmental Oil Services LLC of Conway for $7 million in December 2014. The companies gave the combined firm a similar name, M&M Environmental Group.

It wasn’t long before the relationship between Omega Capital and McFadin soured. McFadin was fired as CEO in October, but he remained on the board of directors. The M&M Group accused him of fraud, misconduct and other wrongdoing in a lawsuit against him in Faulkner County Circuit Court.

McFadin denied the allegations and filed a counterclaim accusing M&M and Omega Capital of breach of the employment agreement, defamation and more.

That case has been put on hold as a result of the bankruptcy.

Did you know one of the tallest buildings in Arkansas is marked for sale?

The 30-story Regions Center in downtown Little Rock and its adjoining six-story parking deck are carrying a list price of $40 million. The last we heard, the 547,000-SF office project at 400 W. Capitol Ave. had a vacancy rate of about 8 percent.

The forecast vacancy rate in the coming months is 22.1 percent. Helping keep more of the building full for now is a recent 86,165-SF lease by USAble Mutual Insurance Co. But reshuffling of USAble space around town is associated with the pending climb in the vacancy rate.

The building’s proximity to the Clinton Presidential Library, State Capitol and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus was listed as an upside to its location.

UALR, 5.7 miles away?

Regions Center is owned by a group of entities controlled by Triple Net Properties LLC of Santa Ana, California.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster rate in the fourth quarter than previously estimated, boosted by stronger consumer spending. Consumers may be providing more lift to the economy in the current January-March period.

The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy grew at a modest 1.4 percent annual rate in the October-December period. That was better than the 1 percent growth rate estimated a month ago but still below the 2 percent annual growth for the July-September quarter.

Most of the strength in the revision for last quarter came from an upward boost to consumer spending, particularly involving recreation. Exports also were not as weak as previously thought.

The estimated growth of the U.S. gross domestic product — the nation's total output of goods and services — was the government's third and final look at GDP for the fourth quarter.

Friday's report also contained a potentially worrisome sign — a weak first estimate of corporate profits. It showed that pretax profits fell 7.8 percent in the fourth quarter after a 1.6 percent drop in the third quarter. Fourth quarter profits were also down 11.5 percent from a year earlier — the steepest annual drop since 30.8 percent plunge in the fourth quarter of 2008 at the depths of the financial crisis.

On the other hand, consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, grew at an annual rate of 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter, faster than the 2 percent growth estimated a month ago. Many economists saw this upgrade as a welcome sign that spending should remain strong, helped by solid employment gains this year.

"The consumer is back in the driver's seat with their foot down hard on the gas as last year came to a close," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York. "Real economic growth was stronger than we thought late last year, and this makes us more hopeful that the first quarter will be better than expected."

Also helping boost growth was a slightly smaller drag from the nation's trade deficit: The deficit widened in the fourth quarter but not as much as previously thought. Exports fell at a 2 percent annual rate, not the 2.7 percent decline estimated a month ago. Trade subtracted 0.14 percentage point from growth in the fourth quarter, less than the 0.25 percentage point previously estimated.

A slowdown in stockpiling by businesses reduced growth by 0.22 percentage point, slightly more than the 0.14 percentage point drag previously estimated.

Many economists think growth as measured by the gross domestic product is accelerating in the current quarter to a 2 percent annual rate. But some analysts have been downgrading their estimates of late, reflecting some weaker-than-expected economic data.

Analysts at forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, for example, on Thursday reduced their forecast of first-quarter GDP growth to a 1.5 percent annual rate after the release of a weak report on new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods. Those orders dropped 2.8 percent in February.

That decline was seen as a sign that the nation's manufacturing sector is still struggling with weakness overseas and a strong dollar, which has made American-made products more expensive in foreign markets.

This year, continued strong gains in hiring could boost household incomes and support solid increases in consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity.

This month, the Federal Reserve left its key policy rate unchanged after having raised it from a record low in December. Fed officials also scaled back their expectations for the number of rate hikes this year from four to two.

The officials said they thought the global economy and financial markets still pose risks even though financial markets have stabilized since the year began. Stocks had nosedived after investors worried about how steep the slowdown would be in China, the world's second-largest economy.

Analysts have forecast that for 2016 as a whole, the economy will grow around 2 percent. That would be down from 2.4 percent growth for all of 2015, a figure that was not revised in the new report.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Arkansas' February unemployment rate is 4.2 percent, down from 4.4. percent in January and 5.6 percent in the same month last year, according to report Friday from the state Department of Workforce Services.

The rate is lowest it's been since September 2000, when it was also 4.2 percent, an all-time low, according to the department.

The report said Arkansas' civilian labor force gained 8,360 workers, a result of 10,702 more employed and 2,342 fewer unemployed Arkansans. 

The U.S. jobless rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent in February. 

More: See the full report.

"Arkansas' unemployment rate has been in a steady decline, down one and four-tenths of a percentage point over the year," BLS Program Operations Manager Susan Price said in a news release. "The state is now seven-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate."

Earlier this month, the department reported January's unemployment rate of 4.4 percent. At the time, Michael Pakko, chief economist and state forecaster at the Institute for Economic Advancement at University of Arkansas at Little Rock, told Arkansas Business he expected the rate to remain at — or slightly below — that level for some time.

"While we may see further declines in the next few months — there may be even a slight up-creep — ... I wouldn’t expect any significant changes," he said.

Friday's report put Arkansas' civilian labor force at 1.35 million in February, up 28,785 from the same month last year. The year-over-year change includes more than 16,000 fewer unemployed workers.

Since February 2015, nine major industry sectors posted job growth and two sectors posted declines, according to the report.

• Trade, transportation and utilities added 9,600 jobs. Gains were reported across all subsectors, with retail trade up 5,600. 
• Employment in leisure and hospitality increased by 8,000, with the majority in food services (7,200). 
• Educational and health services rose by 6,100, mostly in health care and social assistance (5,300). 
• Professional and business services added 2,200 jobs. 
• Mining and logging declined by 1,600.
• Manufacturing declined by 1,500.

According to a February survey of business contacts, a little less than 50 percent expect economic conditions will worsen in 2016 compared with 2015 — a marked decline from three months earlier, when only 14 percent of contacts expected economic conditions to worsen in 2016.

This information comes from latest Little Rock Burgundy Book, a quarterly review of economic information published on March 24 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The Little Rock Zone includes the majority of Arkansas, except the northeast part of the state. The population in the zone is about 2.5 million, including 710,000 who live in the Little Rock metropolitan statistical area.

Measured from a year earlier, nonfarm payroll employment in the Little Rock MSA increased by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.

"Our firm has had difficulty filling positions because of a lack of skilled applicants locally and regionally; national applicants are commanding too high of a salary," a Little Rock area contact said in the report.

Payroll employment growth was stronger in Fayetteville (4.7 percent) and Texarkana (2.2 percent).

The zone’s unemployment rate averaged 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter and its lowest level since 2001.

Residential building activity was mixed across the zone in the fourth quarter, as single-family building permits rose in some areas and fell in others. Year-to-date home sales increased 8.1 percent compared with a year ago.

"Home sales activity is seasonally weak," a Little Rock zone real estate contact said in the report. "Speculative building is still very low as most local builders will not start a new home unless it is presold."

Commercial vacancy rates increased modestly in most segments.

Arkansas bankers reported that loan demand in the second quarter of 2016 is expected to be similar to a year earlier.

"Not much new business is taking place in the commercial and industrial lending marketplace," a Little Rock banker said in the report. "Most of the business is coming from stealing it from another financial institution."

Households in the zone continued to increase their total debt balances in the fourth quarter, surpassing the peak reached during the financial crisis. In the nation as a whole, debt per household is still nearly 15 percent lower than in 2008.

In the agriculture industry, Arkansas cropland values increased by 3.5 percent in 2015, its slowest growth since 2009, according to the USDA estimates.

"As row crop farmers make plans for the 2016 crop year, they are currently facing the worst grain prices and economic outlook in the past 6 to 7 years," an Arkansas contact said in the report. 

Matt Brasel of Rogers has been promoted to the newly created position of area president of Bear State Bank for northwest, central and southwest Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Brasel was previously northwest Arkansas regional president for Bear State and before that was a senior vice president and commercial loan officer for First Federal Bank, which was merged into Bear State.

Joey Small, a private wealth adviser with Ameriprise Financial in Little Rock, has been named to Barron’s Magazine’s annual list of America’s Top 1,200 Advisors: State-by-State.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

A west Little Rock auto dealership tipped the scales at $7.5 million.

MAG-AR I Colonel Glenn LLC, led by Mark McLarty, purchased the 17,690-SF North Point Nissan facility at 1 Col. Glenn Plaza Drive.

The seller is Asbury Automotive Arkansas LLC, an affiliate of Asbury Automotive Group of Duluth, Georgia.

The deal is backed with a $6.37 million loan from Suntrust Bank of Atlanta.

The 11.58-acre development previously helped secure a September 2013 mortgage of $75 million held by Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The property was assembled as part of three deals totaling $4.9 million with Colonel Glenn Development Co., led by Robert Vogel and Gary Lay: $1.17 million in October 2000, $1.13 million in September 2002 and $2.61 million in October 2003.

MAG-AR 6030 Landers Road LLC, another McLarty Auto Group affiliate, bought the 18,130-SF North Point Mazda facility at 6030 Landers Road in North Little Rock for $2.8 million.

The seller is Asbury Automotive Arkansas Dealership Holdings LLC, another affiliate of Asbury Automotive Group.

The deal is financed with a $2.38 million loan from Suntrust Bank. The 1.3-acre development previously helped secure a $100 million funding agreement with Wells Fargo Bank of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

AAADH acquired the property for $2.5 million in May 2011 from TFM Properties LLC and MHC Partnership, both led by Steve Humphries.

Staybridge Land

The future site of a Staybridge Suites hotel in midtown Little Rock weighed in at $2 million.

Midtown Hospitality LLC, led by Kalpesh and Bhu Makan, James Barnes and Brandon Huffman, bought the 2.69-acre location near the northwest corner of Interstate 630 and University Avenue.

The seller is BH University Development LLC, led by Barnes and Huffman.

Construction is funded with a five-year loan of $11.28 million from Simmons First National Bank of Pine Bluff.

The property previously helped secure a June 2013 mortgage of $3 million from Commercial Bank & Trust of Monticello.

BH University purchased the former Brandon House Furniture for $3 million more than two years ago from MBC Holdings Worldwide LLC, led by Bruce Burrow and Marty Belz.

Kinco Sale

An 11,175-SF office-warehouse in west Little Rock rang up a $1.6 million transaction.

Chenal & Wellington Development LLC, led by Haitham Alley, acquired the former home of Kinco Constructors at 15617 Kanis Road. The seller is Kinnaman Properties Ltd., led by Lellan Kinnaman Jr. and Lellan Kinnaman III.

The deal is backed with an 18-month loan of $1.61 million from Simmons First National Bank.

The 5.53-acre property was bought for $66,800 in July 1978 from Paul and Lois Bell.

NLR Acquisition

A 1.3-acre commercial site in North Little Rock changed hands in a $1.47 million sale.

Patmurphy Properties LLC of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, purchased the land at the northwest corner of Warden Road and Somers Avenue from NLR Palio Partners II LLC of Dallas.

The land previously was tied to a June 2014 mortgage of $900,000 held by First State Bank of Russellville.

The property was acquired for $1.15 million 21 months ago from an ownership divided primarily between David and Holly Parker, 47 percent, and Richard and Nancy Parker, 47 percent.

The remaining 6 percent was split evenly among the R. Bradley Parker Irrevocable Trust, 1.5 percent; Robert D. Parker Irrevocable Trust, 1.5 percent; Rachel Parker Harding Irrevocable Trust,

1 percent; Jessica Parker Casey Irrevo-cable Trust, 1 percent; and David Dallas Parker Irrevocable Trust, 1 percent.

Residential Acreage

A 38.77-acre tract in west Little Rock is under new ownership after a $775,400 transaction.

Denny Road LLC, led by Graham Smith, bought the residential land on the south side of Denny Road a quarter-mile west of Kanis Road. The seller is Alligator Investments LLC, led by Rush Harding.

The deal is financed with a $1.05 million loan from Bear State Bank of Little Rock. Alligator Investments purchased the property for $450,000 in April 2010 from Pulaski Academy.

Convenient Transaction

A 6,690-SF convenience store in North Little Rock sold for $600,000.

Ebenezer Investment LLC, led by Joseph Park and Sung Kim, acquired the Conoco at 5524 Fairfax Drive from Yong and Maeng Kim.

The deal is funded with a 20-year loan of $480,000 from BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Mississippi.

The 1-acre development previously was linked with a September 2015 mortgage of $540,000 held by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

The property was bought for $570,000 in August 2005 from OK Food Mart Inc., led by Ok Hui Johnson.

PC Hardware Buy

A 30,600-SF office-warehouse in North Little Rock drew a $500,000 transaction.

PC Hardware LLC, led by Essa Alley, purchased the 510 E. Fifth St. project. The seller is the Borchert-Pierini-Russenberger Partnership, led by William Russenberger Sr.

The deal is backed with a one-year loan of $500,000 from First Security Bank of Searcy.

The 1.08-acre property was acquired for $260,000 in May 1986 from the Martha B. Bradshaw Trust.

Prospect Residence

A 3,444-SF home in Little Rock’s Prospect Terrace neighborhood changed hands in an $880,000 sale.

Bryan and Kathryn Mullooly bought the house from Julia and Randolph Garcia.

The deal is financed with a 30-year loan of $710,000 from Simmons First National Bank.

The residence previously was tied to a July 2012 mortgage of $345,000 from Simmons.

The Garcias purchased the property for $845,000 more than three years ago from Stephen and Erica D’Addario.

Woodglen House

A 3,174-SF home in Little Rock’s Woodglen Park neighborhood rang up a $555,000 transaction.

Kent Tiller and Jorge Sarmiento acquired the house from Gerald Fason Jr.

The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $416,999 from Wells Fargo Bank.

The residence previously was linked with a November 2012 mortgage of $260,000 and a February 2013 mortgage of $58,750 held by Summit Bank of Arkadelphia.

Fason bought the property for $70,000 in May 2011 from Farmers Bank & Trust of Magnolia.

Sezanne Abode

A 3,796-SF home in the Sezanne Court neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development sold for $510,000.

Sudhir and Neelam Joshi purchased the house from James and Melissa Martin.

The deal is backed with a 15-year loan of $408,000 from One Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

The residence previously was tied to a December 2013 mortgage of $295,000 held by IberiaBank Mortgage Co. of Little Rock.

The Martins acquired the site for $75,000 in December 2012.

The seller was Sale Enterprises LLC, led by Chris Sale.

Seven-Digit Construction

82 Units    $4,670,000
Argenta Flats
600-880 Maple St., North Little Rock
Salter Construction Inc., Conway

Family Life Center    $2,200,000
Longley Baptist Church
9900 Geyer Springs Road, Little Rock
Cason & Associates Inc., Little Rock

Vehicle Maintenance    $1,258,000
MEMS Facility
1121 W. Seventh St., Little Rock
Nabholz Construction Corp., Conway

2013 was supposed to be a banner year for Little Rock businessman Stephen K. Parks’ coal businesses, but things were falling apart even before the year arrived.

In October 2012, federal agents raided Parks’ Little Rock home and businesses and collected documents. As a result of that raid, the government on Feb. 1, 2013, seized $6.2 million in cash and other assets.

The seizure of money and the fact that it was under a criminal investigation prevented one of Parks’ companies, Ecotec Coal Inc., from moving forward with two contracts to provide clean coal, according to Ozark attorney Christopher Brockett, who is representing Ecotec in a dispute over the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to disallow $147 million in tax credits. The IRS made its decision in August 2013, and the case has been pending since Ecotec challenged the IRS in U.S. Tax Court in November 2013.

Brockett said that Ecotec was close to having a contract with the Port of Louisville, Kentucky, but a company official there disputed that claim to Arkansas Business last week. No one at the only other company that Brockett said was in negotiations with Ecotec, AES Shady Pointe Inc. in Panama, Oklahoma, could be reached for comment.

Ecotec was founded in 2005 by a penny stock company, Geotec Inc. of Delray Beach, Florida, to produce clean coal. Parks took ownership of Ecotec in 2009, which was the same time the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filed a civil suit accusing Geotec Inc.; Bradley Ray, who was Geotec’s CEO; former CEO William Lueck; and CFO Stephen Chanslor of false filings and accounting improprieties. In 2010, without admitting or denying the allegations, Geotec and the officers entered into a consent judgment. Ray was fined $75,000 and Chanslor was assessed a penalty of $25,000. Lueck cooperated and didn’t have to pay a fine.

Tax Credits

Before wading into federal coal credits, Parks was involved with Arkansas tax credits.

In the early 1990s, the Arkansas General Assembly passed legislation that allowed the creation of regional industrial development companies with the goal of helping develop businesses and create jobs. Once an IDC was approved, it could offer tax credits to startup companies, which could then sell the credits to raise money.

After a company called Arkansas Valley Regional Industrial Development Co. of Little Rock received its approval in 2002, Parks, who had no role in that company’s creation, jumped into action. Parks launched three companies: Natural Gas Solutions LLC, Sea Heritage Investment LLC and Winstarrs. Sea Heritage was created to fund the recovery of a sunken fortune of Spanish treasure off the coast of Panama.

In 2006, Columbia Mutual Insurance Co. and Columbia National Insurance Co. sued Arkansas Valley, Natural Gas Solutions, Parks and others in U.S. District Court in Little Rock and accused them of fraud in connection with Columbia buying more than $300,000 worth of tax credits. The case settled in 2008 and the insurance companies received a total judgment of $375,000 against Parks and his National Gas Solutions.

Regions Bank sued Sea Heritage in Pulaski County Circuit Court in 2006 for defaulting on a $200,000 loan it took out the previous year. Parks was named in the lawsuit because he had guaranteed the loan.

By the time Regions received a judgment in November 2007 for $231,000, Parks had already moved on to his new venture, coal tax credits. The docket sheet doesn’t indicate that the judgment was paid.

Sometime in mid-2007, Parks was in his Little Rock office “and some guys from Florida walked in and said, ‘We understand you have experience with state income tax credits. And we want you to be involved in the Ecotec matter,’” said Brockett, Ecotec’s attorney.

One of the people was Ray, the CEO of Geotec, a publicly traded company founded in 1996. In 2003 and 2004, Geotec’s business focused on a 10-year exclusive license on a patent involving a type of gas generator used in wells. In 2005, the company turned its attention to “green energy,” according to Brockett’s pleading in U.S. Tax Court. Geotec created Ecotec Coal LLC that year.

In late 2006, Ecotec Coal landed a contract to produce about 30 million tons of coal for a little more than $4 per ton. Brockett said he couldn’t remember which company the contract was with, but he said it was unrelated to Ecotec.

The U.S. Tax Court pleadings, however, show the contract was with Universal Coal, a company that was owned and managed by Ray, the CEO of Geotec, which was the owner of Ecotec. In a follow-up call with Arkansas Business, Brockett said Ecotec and Universal Coal were considered unrelated businesses because Geotec was a publically traded company and Ray owned an interest in it.

The contract, however, allowed Ecotec to generate the tax credits. In exchange for investing in Ecotec, investors would receive credits to offset some of their income taxes.

“And Ecotec’s interpretation under the [tax] code was it had 10 years to produce the amount of coal to qualify those tax credits,” Brockett said.

The IRS disagreed and denied the credits and other claims, saying Ecotec didn’t have the documentation to support the issuance of tax credits. Brockett disagrees. In 2006, he said, Ecotec had two small prototype machines that worked to clean the coal.

“I don’t know that they produced large quantities, but they had produced at least some in 2006 to qualify” for the tax credits, Brockett said.

King Coal

In 2007 Parks was involved in creating King Coal LLC of Little Rock to develop a deep mine in Scranton (Logan County). King Coal wasn’t involved in tax credits.

In early 2008, Parks, who owned 4 million shares of Geotec, became president of Ecotec. Ecotec still hadn’t produced the 30 million tons of clean coal, as required by the contract with Universal Coal. By May or June 2009, Parks traded his shares of Geotec to Geotec to become sole owner of Ecotec.

Under Parks’ management, Ecotec continued to suffer setbacks and didn’t come close to fulfilling the 2006 order from Universal Coal.

That changed in 2012.

In the middle of that year, Ecotec started negotiations with the Port of Louisville to use Ecotec’s clean coal process on all the coal that was passing through the port.

Brockett said that as a condition of getting the contract with the port, Ecotec had to show that it had more than $7 million in liquidity available, which it did in 2012 through its related company, King Coal.

A setback occurred in October 2012, when the IRS and federal agents seized several documents at Parks’ home and businesses.

Brockett said that Parks thought the seizure of documents was related to a possible audit and everything would be worked out. Parks maintained he didn’t do anything wrong, Brockett said.

Ecotec’s 2012 Christmas card to all its investors said, “Thank you. We are ready to flip the switch and move forward,” Brockett said.

Weeks later, in February 2013, the federal government seized the millions from Parks and his companies. Brockett said the seizure and the looming criminal investigation derailed the contract with the port and with AES Shady Pointe.

Joe Tegart, vice president for sales and marketing at the port, remembers things differently.

He told Arkansas Business last week that he remembered King Coal coming to a meeting and “maybe one or two talks with them on the phone or something, but nothing in depth.”

And he said there wasn’t a contract in place nor did he know anything about companies having to have $7 million in the bank.

Brockett acknowledged that he had never seen the contract with the port that his client Parks told him existed.

More than two years passed before Parks waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with selling tax credits that didn’t exist for his company Global Coal. He was sentenced to 27 months and ordered to pay the IRS $845,000 in restitution. He also forfeited all the other money and assets seized.

As part of the plea deal, Parks agreed to dissolve the companies he had controlling interest in since 2005, which included King Coal, Global Coal and Ecotec.

Before dueling convention centers became a thing in Jonesboro, they were a thing in Texarkana. And it’s not turning out well in Texarkana.

Perhaps you remember our reporting in 2012 on plans by officials in Texarkana, Arkansas, to proceed with a convention center despite the opening on Oct. 5, 2012, of the $24 million, 25,000-SF Texarkana Convention Center on the Texas side of the city. Those plans were spearheaded by one Harold Boldt, who was then the Texarkana, Arkansas, city manager. Boldt searched and finally found a local investor to develop a convention center on the Arkansas side: Dr. Hiren Patel, a doctor of internal medicine living on the Texas side of the city.

Patel, with a lot of incentives from Texarkana, Arkansas, finally got the $18 million convention center on the Arkansas side of the city up and running in August 2013, though the incentives prompted a look from the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit.

Well, big, big problems for Patel and the Arkansas Convention Center have arisen in recent months. Here’s a rundown of the latest developments:

• Midsouth Bank of Lafayette, Louisiana, filed a foreclosure petition in Miller County Circuit Court in October against Patel, Nila Patel, the doctor’s wife, and Patel’s Texarkana Hotels LLC, an Arkansas company. The bank says the Patels have defaulted on more than $10 million in loans used to build the Arkansas Convention Center and is seeking the center’s sale to satisfy the debt.

Miller County Circuit Judge Brent Haltom has scheduled a hearing in the case for April 4.

• In November, Midsouth sued the Patels for $2.8 million, alleging they defaulted on a loan for a hotel they own in Texarkana, Texas, the Country Inn & Suites hotel.

• On Nov. 3, Patel’s company Krishna Associates LLC of Texarkana, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Krishna Associates owns Country Inn & Suites. That filing came right before a foreclosure sale of the hotel, according to the Texarkana Gazette.

The Chapter 11 filing halted the sale.

Krishna Associates went on to report no income for 2015, $5.3 million in debts and $3.2 million in assets. The latest operating report, filed on Tuesday, showed the hotel losing $74,172 in February.

• On March 17, Bowie County, Texas, Circuit Judge Leon Pesek Jr. issued a summary judgment against the Patels because they had personally guaranteed the loan, finding they owed Midsouth more than $2.8 million on the hotel loan.

Regarding That Audit …

As for Harold Boldt, the city manager? Well, you may remember that the city fired Boldt in March 2013 and then turned around and rehired him in September 2013.

In February 2014, the Division of Legislative Audit released its report regarding Texarkana’s dealings with Patel. It found numerous apparent violations of state law and the report was forwarded to the local prosecuting attorney.

Boldt went on to serve Texarkana until resigning in June 2015.

In October 2015, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the Arkansas State Police had investigated Boldt and found what it thought were three misdemeanor actions.

But Carlton Jones, a then-prosecuting attorney for Miller County, declined to prosecute because Boldt had left office, and Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, to whom a perjury charge was referred, said he didn’t believe Boldt had committed perjury, the newspaper reported.

In March 2012, Joe Whisenhunt placed a $19 million bet on northwest Arkansas and, four years later, it’s looking like a winner.

Whisenhunt, the head of Little Rock’s Whisenhunt Investment Group, paid cash for 375 improved, undeveloped acres along Interstate 49 in Rogers. The acquisition was actually three separate deals involving OREO property that had been forfeited to Bank of America as a result of $80 million in bad loans.

It was prime land — part of the famed Billion-Dollar Mile — but in post-recession times, developers were somewhat hesitant to re-enter the market. Whisenhunt changed that.

“It signaled the end of the recession,” said Ramsay Ball, executive broker with Colliers International in Rogers. “Those properties were stalled, and now they’re building out. They validated the region.”

Johnny Kincaid, the then-COO of Whisenhunt Investment Group, said at the time of the purchases that the group planned to be patient and prudent with its new properties. Burke Larkin was hired to run Whisenhunt’s Whisinvest Realty LLC in northwest Arkansas, and he joked that for the first year of his new job he made sure the new property was properly mowed and adorned with Whisinvest signs.

“They said it in 2012, that we weren’t buying property at fire-sale prices to sell it at double the money and be done,” Larkin said. “The whole point of buying all this on the interstate was to build something special there.

“The market was at the bottom. I didn’t even come up and focus on any of this. Really and truly, we didn’t start doing any real work until March 2013. We got our signs up and started working it a little bit.”

Learning the Market

Larkin worked in Russellville before moving to northwest Arkansas for Whisinvest. He said one of his favorite business sayings is about how you have to be in the market to know what the market is going to do.

Once Whisinvest was in, it learned some things. Larkin said that, soon after the acquisition, Whisinvest was asked about retail space at Pleasant Crossing.

The interest was so high that Whisinvest developed Pleasant Crossing Shoppes, a 22,000-SF retail center. It opened in 2014 and has filled all but 2,000 SF.

“Everybody said, ‘If y’all will do that, we’ll do this,’” Larkin said. “Mattress Firm said they wanted to be an end cap, and we weren’t even sure we were going to do an end cap. We built that, and I was shocked and amazed by how much activity we had getting that thing leased up.”

Whisinvest sold approximately 40 single-family home lots and 40 acres of residential land in The Grove to homebuilders. Those rooftops under construction ties in with the retail construction Whisinvest and other developers have planned for south of The Grove.

A short distance from Pleasant Crossing Shoppes, Matt Sitton is finding similar leasing success with his Pleasant Crossing Commons. He bought 30 acres of OREO land for $4.3 million from Arvest Bank and anchored the subsequent retail center with Burlington Coat Factory.

The next tenant set to move in is Ross’ Dress for Less, and Sitton said he has another signed lease for a retailer to move from Pinnacle Promenade to his site.

“It’s a lot of momentum, a lot of robustness,” Sitton said.

Larkin said adding residents in previously bank-owned, undeveloped property to the north of Pleasant Crossing is helping fuel interest in more retail development.

“All that old bank-owned property, I like to tell people, has all turned into something,” Larkin said. “We didn’t think we would do anything in The Grove for five or seven years. But we also didn’t think we’d get back into the single-family lot development business, which we haven’t but that is who we have sold to. We like the rooftops.

“Stuff is happening now. There are survey flags popping up and the public hearing notice signs. We’ve seen that a lot in the last four years.”

Outlet Mall Interest

Whisinvest broke ground on the first building at The District at Pinnacle Hills, which is scheduled to have nearly 200,000 SF of retail space and 170,000 SF of office and restaurants on 55 acres. The District is located just south of the Pauline Whitaker Parkway and is next to the Walmart Neighborhood Market.

Larkin said he is in talks with a hotel about selling part of the District acreage closest to the interstate.

Whisinvest has 10 acres of office space across from the Hunt Tower on Champions Drive. Pinnacle Hills West Office Park is 60 percent leased, Larkin said.

One of the prominent tracts of the Whisinvest property is the great swath just to the east of Interstate 49 running from Pleasant Crossing south to Oakwood Avenue in Lowell. The total acreage is approximately 119 acres, and Larkin said interest is high.

Approximately 17 acres of one of the southern tracts is under contract — which in this case is a 6-month or longer process — and Larkin said WIG is interested in turning some of the rest into an outlet mall.

“After the success of the one down in Little Rock with the Bass Pro Shop, we’d like to do an outlet mall here,” Larkin said. “We’ve talked to some of the larger ones, and we’d like to be partners in that. We don’t want to just sell; we want to be a part of the future development.”

Ball represented Bank of America in selling The Grove property for $4 million to Whisenhunt in 2012, and he said WIG’s entry into the market was like the “Wild West with a new sheriff in town.” Ball said that when he came to northwest Arkansas in 2004, he thought the market was so frenetic he stayed out of it.

Now, the market is being influenced by professionals like Hunt Ventures, Whisenhunt, Sitton and others, Ball said.

“It has made it easier for other people to be rational,” Ball said. “I don’t want to compete in a market with someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. You don’t want to do things when crazy people are doing things that don’t make any sense.”

Larkin said he is by nature a fast mover but, at WIG and Whisinvest, everything is thoroughly vetted before any project proceeds.

“I think it is happening faster than they thought, but I’m an optimist,” Larkin said. “I would say we’re not moving fast enough, but in their mind we’re moving way fast.

“We couldn’t have bought it any better. It wasn’t just a great deal; it was a great piece of land. We don’t build stuff that is going to stay empty.”

Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff announced Thursday that, effective Friday, its bank subsidiary will convert from a national banking association to a state-chartered bank.

The publicly traded company announced the move in February. It also plans to change the name of its subsidiary from Simmons First National Bank to Simmons Bank.

"The charter conversion is a strategic undertaking that we believe will enhance our operations in the long term," said Marty Casteel, chairman and CEO of Simmons Bank. "We’re strongly committed to operating our organization with a focus on community banking. We believe it will be advantageous for our shareholders, customers and associates to work with regulators who are accustomed to community banks and the challenges they face."

Simmons is one of several federally-chartered banks that have been moving to state charters.

The financial woes of dapper Little Rock businessman Phil Herrington have prompted a trip to bankruptcy court.

Herrington’s Chapter 11 filing comes less than three months after a $3.1 million personal judgment followed him from Oklahoma.

That judgment, which bears 11.5 percent interest, is held by Timberdell Road Group LLC.

You might recall the group of Oklahoma City investors acquired the judgment against Herrington and his Herrington Inc. and Gaillardia Development Co. LLC in October.

In his bankruptcy petition, Herrington lists estimated assets and liabilities at between $1 million and $10 million each.

No details on assets yet, and all debts are categorized as unsecured. The creditors include:

• Allied Bank of Mulberry (Crawford County), $262,000 owed on an “agriculture” loan.
• Security Bank of Stephens (Ouachita County), $165,075 owed on a real estate loan.

Three blocks of credit card debt are held by Bank of America, $42,779; American Express, $26,350, and Wells Fargo on a Dillard’s card, $4,826.

Listed as potential liabilities are pending lawsuits by Gaillardia Investors LLC, $5 million; and OPUBCO Development Co., $1.2 million.

Two years ago, we told you about Herrington’s troubled ownership of Gaillardia Golf & Country Club, with its 275-acre golfing spread and 7,240-yard championship course.

Herrington was ousted from operational control of the northwest Oklahoma City club amid accusations of mismanagement and later from ownership of Gaillardia.

Herrington bought the club in December 2002 as part of a $9.1 million deal with OPUBCO Development Co., led by Christine Gaylord Everest.

LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas finance officials say a boost in tax collections and lower than expected refunds last month pushed the state's revenue for the year so far nearly $73 million higher than forecast.

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration said Monday that net available revenue in March totaled $413.7 million. That's $48.6 million above the same month last year and $41.1 million above forecast.

More: View the complete report.

The state's net available revenue for the fiscal year that began July 1 totals $3.8 billion, which is $123 million above the same time last year and $72.9 million above forecast.

Sales and individual income tax collections were above last year's figures and above forecast, while individual and corporate tax refunds were below forecast. Corporate income tax collections were below last year but above forecast.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Hiren Patel, the Texas doctor who developed the Arkansas Convention Center in Texarkana, Arkansas, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, adding to a string of financial setbacks for Patel and the convention center.

Patel and his wife Nila filed bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in Texas, claiming between $1 million and $10 million in assets and liabilities and between one and 49 creditors. Among those to whom the Patels owe money: BancorpSouth Inc. of Tupelo, Mississippi; BMW of North America of Phoenix, Arizona; the IRS; and M&T Bank of Dallas.

The day before the Patels filed individual bankruptcy reorganization, one of their companies, Texarkana Hotels LLC, the holding company for the convention center, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming between $1 million and $10 million in assets and liabilities and between one and 49 creditors.

Among those creditors is Midsouth Bank of Lafayette, Louisiana. Midsouth filed a foreclosure petition in Miller County Circuit Court in October against Patel, his wife and Texarkana Hotels LLC, saying the Patels have defaulted on more than $10 million in loans used to build the convention center.

Previously: Convention Center woes still splitting Texarkana.

Midsouth's lawsuit seeks the center’s sale to satisfy the debt. But the Patels' bankrupcy filings automatically stay that request.

More detailed filings are expected later.

Last week's filings aren't the first time a Patel company has filed bankruptcy amid foreclosure proceedings.

In November, Krishna Associates LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Krishna Associates owns a Country Inn & Suites in Texarkana, Texas. The bankruptcy filing came right before Midsouth sought a foreclosure sale of the hotel, saying the company defaulted on a loan. 

The filing halted the foreclosure. On March 17, Bowie County, Texas, Circuit Judge Leon Pesek Jr. issued a summary judgment against the Patels because they had personally guaranteed the loan. The judge found the Patels owed Midsouth more than $2.8 million.

Arkansas Business reported in 2012 on plans by officials in Texarkana, Arkansas, to proceed with a convention center despite the opening on Oct. 5, 2012, of the $24 million, 25,000-SF Texarkana Convention Center on the Texas side of the city. 

Those plans were spearheaded by Harold Boldt, who was then the Texarkana, Arkansas, city manager. Boldt searched and found a local investor, Hiren Patel, to develop a convention center on the Arkansas side.

Patel, with a lot of incentives from the city, finally got the $18 million convention center on the Arkansas side of the city up and running in August 2013, though the incentives prompted a look from the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit.

WASHINGTON — High fees. Conflicts of interest. Inappropriate investments.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve policymakers grappled at their last meeting over how to respond to a slowing global economy. They ultimately decided to leave a key policy rate unchanged despite arguments by some officials that delaying further rate hikes could be risky.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)