Sandy Straessle has been named a customer service manager for the Little Rock branch of Stone Bank of Mountain View. Straessle most recently was a teacher at Our Lady of the Holy Souls School in Little Rock.

Scott Frederick has been named controller for Oaklawn Racing & Gaming in Hot Springs. He is a certified public accountant and a certified treasury professional. Frederick brings more than 20 years of experience in accounting and financial services to Oaklawn.

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

Land for a corporate campus in west Little Rock was assembled in deals totaling $12.57 million.

Little Rock’s Bank of the Ozarks Inc. acquired about 46.2 acres of mostly undeveloped property in a series with:

• Ranch Properties Inc., led by Ed Willis, 23.53 acres for $7.88 million;
• FCC Tract D Partnership, also led by Willis, 13.41 acres for $3.11 million;
• Saddle Creek Church, the 8.18-acre church campus at 18020 Cantrell Road for $1.4 million; and
• FC Grass Farms LLC, led by Willis, 1.06 acres for $169,222.

The church property was purchased for $205,000 in June 1995 from the Pulaski County Baptist Association Inc.

The rest of the land was bought in August 1984 as part of a $2.15 million deal with Johnson Land Co., led by Glenn H. Johnson.

Industrial Transaction

A 70,000-SF industrial building in Jacksonville tipped the scales at $2.5 million.

Jacksonville Chamber Foundation Inc., led by Mike Wilson, purchased the 1809 Swift Drive project to house production of SIG Sauer’s elite performance ammunition. The seller is Meador Brother’s LLC Co., led by Greg Meador.

The deal is funded with a 10-year loan of $2.5 million from First Arkansas Bank & Trust of Jacksonville.

The 8.57-acre development previously was tied to an April 2008 mortgage of $2.7 million and August 202011 mortgages totaling $400,000 held by First State Bank of Russellville.

The land was acquired for $85,700 in March 2005 from the city of Jacksonville.

Convenient Buy I

A 4,742-SF convenience store in Little Rock weighed in at $950,000.

Han & Son Inc., led by Keong Suk Son, bought the Superstop project at 3100 W. Roosevelt Road and an adjoining undeveloped 1.76-acre parcel. The seller is Kim Properties LLC, led by Grace Kim.

The deal is backed with a three-year loan of $712,500 from First Arkansas

Bank & Trust and a one-year loan of $120,000 from Kim Properties.

The property was assembled in two deals totaling $180,000.

The sellers were McDonald’s Corp. of Oak Brook, Illinois, $120,000 in October 2003, and Razorback Bail Bonds Inc., led by Ronald Oliver, $60,000 in May 2004.

Warehouse Acquisition

A 38,000-SF warehouse project in east Little Rock sold for $835,000.

Ben Davis Properties Management LLC, led by Ben and Diane Davis, acquired the 3101 Dugan Drive project. The seller is ABP AR (Little Rock) LLC, an affiliate of Bluelinx Corp. of Atlanta.

The deal is financed with a five-year loan of $709,750 from Community First Bank of Pea Ridge (Benton County).

The 9.31-acre development previously helped secure a June 2006 mortgage of $295 million held by German American Capital Corp. of New York.

The land was assembled in two transactions with the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Co., $8,500 in January 1965 and $5,000 in February 1973.

Retail Purchase

A 5,440-SF retail project in downtown North Little Rock changed hands in a $650,000 deal.

Kiyen Investments LLC, led by Kiyen Kim, purchased the Argenta Market at 521 Main St. The seller is Old Silver City LLC, led by John Gaudin.

The deal is funded with a four-year loan of $536,000 from One Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

A 0.24-acre development previously was linked with a January 2007 mortgage of $690,000 held by Summit Bank of Arkadelphia.

The property was acquired for $350,000 in May 2006 from Bell Thacker Enterprises LLC, led by Ian Thacker.

Convenient Buy II

A 3,082-SF convenience store in North Little Rock rang up a $500,000 sale.

8701 Maumelle LLC, led by Mohammad Honarmand, bought the closed Citgo at 8701 Maumelle Blvd. The seller is J.N.H.L.M. Inc., led by David Jones.

The deal is backed with a five-year loan of $425,000 from the seller.

The 1.36-acre location was purchased for $494,000 in July 1987 from William Putnam.

Recycled Office

An 11,700-SF office building in Maumelle drew a $490,000 transaction.

Vision Outdoor Media LLC, led by William and Sharon Smith and Ronald and Glenda Smith, acquired the former Maumelle Athletic Club at 2 Country Club Circle from Centennial Bank of Conway.

The deal is financed with a three-year loan of $444,000 from Bear State Bank of Little Rock.

Karmmik LLC, led by Mark and Kim Bingman, forfeited the 2.37-acre development to Centennial in June 2014 in lieu of foreclosure.

The property was tied to a November 2008 mortgage of $1.4 million originated by Jonesboro’s Liberty Bank of Arkansas.

Mini-Storage Land

An undeveloped 4-acre parcel in Sherwood is under new ownership after a $300,000 sale.

Mini Storage Service Co. LLC, led by Terry Bean, purchased the land near the southeast corner of Manson Road and Jan Drive. The seller is Meyer Rentals LLC, led by Keith Meyer.

The property is helping secure a five-year loan of $1.2 million from First Security Bank of Searcy.

The Meyer family has owned the property for more than 36 years.

Prospect Abode

A 2,816-SF home in Little Rock’s Prospect Terrace neighborhood sold for $795,000.

Susanna Shermer and Mechan Vanderpool bought the house from David Weed. The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $636,000 from Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

The residence previously was linked with October 2015 mortgages of $417,000 and $227,800 held by Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

The property was purchased for $449,000 in February 2002 from AC/DC Investments Ltd., led by Angie and Dennis Cooper.

Woodland’s House

A 4,925-SF home in the Woodland’s Edge neighborhood of west Little Rock changed hands in a $705,000 deal.

Nicholas and Jamie Booker acquired the house from the Michael and Valerie Moran Family Revocable Trust.

The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $564,000 from Regions Bank.

The residence previously was tied to a November 2012 mortgage of $416,250 held by Arvest Mortgage of Lowell.

The location was bought for $58,000 in February 2012 from RLA Watkins Ltd., led by Robert and Lauren Watkins.

Courts Residence

A 4,680-SF home in The Courts neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development rang up a $537,500 sale.

Nawab and Akhtar Ali purchased the house from Thomas and Jennifer Pledger.

The deal is financed with a 15-year loan of $417,000 from First Financial

Bank of El Dorado. The residence previously was linked with a June 2015 mortgage of $352,000 from BNC National Bank of Glendale, Arizona.

The Pledgers acquired the property for $450,000 in December 2013 from One Bank.

Foxcroft Home

A 3,366-SF home in Little Rock’s Foxcroft neighborhood drew a $530,000 transaction.

Michael and Sara Koger bought the house from the namesake revocable trusts of James and Meredith Hugg.

The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $380,000 from Bank of Little Rock Mortgage Corp.

The residence previously was tied to a February 2013 mortgage of $367,000 held by BOKF of Tulsa.

The Huggs purchased the property for $375,000 in June 2006 from Jon Sharon Bailey.

Eight-Digit Construction

Landmark Apartments   $19,400,000
16000 Rushmore Ave., Little Rock
VCC LLC, Little Rock

Brandon Woodrome was a young man in a hurry: out of school early, married early, starting businesses early. He even ran for office before he was old enough to drink.

In 2013, the year he turned 26, his Fort Smith construction company, Behr LLC, generated $10.2 million in revenue, and Woodrome had a number of projects in the pipeline.

But things weren’t what they seemed.

“What happened was our growth outpaced our actual sales,” Woodrome said last week in an interview with Arkansas Business. “And instead of responding to a decline in sales by controlling overhead expenses, I just tried to push through and underbid projects. It compounded the problems.”

On Sept. 22, three days before his 29th birthday, Woodrome waived indictment and plead guilty to one count each of bank fraud and wire fraud in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Arkansas. He admitted to receiving more than $2.1 million from First Western Bank of Booneville and a finance company in Texas by submitting fraudulent invoices, crimes for which he faces years in federal prison.

While cooperating with federal law enforcement agents, Woodrome also was dealing with his own personal bankruptcy and one for Behr.

“It’s really painful,” Woodrome said in describing the bankruptcies. “I left so many people unpaid.”

In addition to interviewing Woodrome, Arkansas Business reviewed several lawsuits against him and Behr and delved into their bankruptcy filings to take a look into what happened to the young developer who grew up fast and quickly self-destructed.

Fast Start
Born in 1987, Woodrome said he didn’t have stable childhood.

“Since I was a kid, I’ve had to take care of myself,” he said. “My mom left when I was in the third grade, and then my dad’s rights were terminated as a parent when I was in my early teens.”

He spent some time in foster care and then was reunited with his mother.

When he was 16, he started working for a Fort Smith construction company. Within three months, he was moved into the front office and began learning about projects. “I was seeing all the different phases of the job,” Woodrome said.

Woodrome graduated from high school early by taking extra classes. He got married at 17, and he and his wife, Heather, now have four children.

Woodrome started his first construction business in 2007, when he was 19. He called it Heatherwood Homes LLC.

He said he obtained construction loans to fund his business model, which was simple: Woodrome would build a duplex and then rent it out until he found an investor to buy it.

He completed two duplexes the first year in business, five the next and 20 the following year.

“And it just kind of grew from there,” Woodrome said.

In early 2008, when he was 20, he sought the Republican nomination to represent Arkansas House District 64, which covered a portion of Fort Smith, but lost to Stephanie Malone by 23 votes.

Woodrome turned to commercial construction projects and created Behr LLC in 2010.

“The business model worked,” he said. “2010 and 2011 were good years, if I’m remembering correctly.” At its height, Behr had 45 employees.

But in the middle of 2012, he noticed a decline in sales, followed by another down year in 2013.

Behr had $10.2 million in revenue in 2013, which would have ranked it No. 26 on Arkansas Business’ list of largest commercial contractors in the state for that year. The next year, though, revenue plummeted to $6.7 million.

“Trouble really came in 2014,” he said.

Joplin Project
Woodrome said the roots of his financial crimes can be traced to a land deal that collapsed in Joplin, Missouri.

“Instead of just building things … I began to purchase property and develop it and try to sell the end product,” he said.

In 2012, Behr spent $370,000 for 6 undeveloped acres in Joplin with a plan to develop it into apartments. He thought he had lined up a buyer for the finished development, Heow Inc. of Sarasota, Florida. Although no contract was signed, it seemed like a done deal, he said.

But there was a glitch. The loan officer he had worked with left the bank, so his construction loan was delayed for several months.

Meanwhile, Woodrome said, Heow backed out of the deal. (No representative of Heow could be reached for comment.)

“That hurt me,” Woodrome said. “I went from (expecting to make) $1 million on an apartment complex to losing quite a bit of money.”

The project remains undeveloped.

He said he should have learned from that failure. “But I did it again,” Woodrome said. “And it didn’t work out, and it compounded some things.”

Fateful Decision
Woodrome said his cash flow would have allowed his business to survive losing money for a few consecutive months. But without a correction, “eventually it comes to a head,” he said.

And that’s what happened in 2014.

“At that point, I should have closed the books on Behr,” Woodrome said. “I should have said, ‘I’m done.’ ”

Instead, he pushed ahead, hoping that in six to eight months he could have his financial problems worked out.

“And there wouldn’t be a bunch of people holding the bag,” Woodrome said. “So that’s when I decided that I was going to do what I did.”

What he did was this:

In October 2014, Behr obtained a $795,000 construction loan from First Western Bank to buy undeveloped land at South 31st Street and Phoenix Avenue in Fort Smith. He was going to build a medical clinic there, according to the information filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Snyder in the Western District of Arkansas.

Behr started construction the following month. The loan agreement called for Woodrome to submit subcontractors’ invoices to the bank as work was completed. But Woodrome started submitting phony invoices.

Woodrome received more than $300,000 from First Western between November and December 2014 based on fraudulent subcontractor invoices.

And he wasn’t done.

In January 2015, Woodrome created a line of credit with a factoring company, Rioux Capital of Austin, Texas. The arrangement with Rioux allowed him to sell his accounts receivable in exchange for 80 percent of their value.

In February 2015, Behr began building a strip center at 5400 Phoenix Ave. in Fort Smith for a company that owned the undeveloped land. Woodrome, however, submitted invoices to Rioux that were not actually receivables. They were invoices for work that had already been paid for by the landowner.

Between February and July 2015, Woodrome received a total of $7 million from Rioux, with $1.8 million of it coming from fraudulent invoices.

In a Nov. 15 bankruptcy proceeding, a recording of which Arkansas Business reviewed, Woodrome said he used the money to pay bills. And while the influx of money didn’t stop the financial bleeding, Woodrome said he was 60 to 90 days from getting back on track in the middle of 2015.

“At this point, no one knew what was going on,” he said.

Instead, he became suicidal “because what I was doing was in contradiction to what I believed,” he said. “It messed with me a whole lot.”

Woodrome said he decided to confess to Bill Rioux, president at Rioux Capital.

Woodrome took a plane to Texas and met with Rioux in the summer of 2015.

“I confessed to him what I had done,” Woodrome said. “The meeting ended, in my mind, as good as it possibly could have ended. He expressed a willingness to work through this.”

But it wasn’t worked through. Through the first nine and a half months of 2015, Behr’s revenue was just $4.2 million. A year ago this week, Woodrome decided to file for bankruptcy reorganization instead of a liquation.

“Behr was being picked apart by two or three larger or more aggressive creditors to the point that there was going to be nothing left for anyone else,” Woodrome said in the November bankruptcy proceeding. “In the end, [to] provide a distribution of something to more people instead lots to a few, that was the ultimate decision.”

Behr listed $5.7 million in debt and $3.9 million in assets.

Shortly after filing Behr’s bankruptcy, Woodrome confessed to federal agents, who began investigating the case.

Meanwhile, the bankruptcy reorganization didn’t go according to Woodrome’s plans.

In February, the acting trustee, Daniel Casamatta, pushed for Behr’s bankruptcy to be converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation. The company was no longer in operation. It had revenue of a little more than $31,000 between Oct. 14 and Dec. 31 — and about a fourth of that went to pay Woodrome.

“The primary party that benefits from the case remaining in Chapter 11 appears to be Mr. Woodrome,” Casamatta said.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ben Barry agreed and ordered the conversion on March 30.

By that time, Woodrome also had filed for personal bankruptcy. In May, Rioux sued Woodrome to block him from discharging the $2.8 million he owes to the finance company. Rioux alleged in the lawsuit that Woodrome committed fraud to obtain the money. Some of that $2.8 million is legitimate debt that would be able to be discharged. How much that is, though, was unclear as of last week.

Rioux said in the lawsuit that Woodrome, through Behr LLC, provided “documents which he created or altered which established false and inflated proof of accounts receivable in an [unfortunately successful] attempt to secure continued financing from Rioux.

“Woodrome, at all times, was the managing member of Behr and was personally responsible for the creation and alteration of the above-described documents.”

A hearing on that issue is set for Nov. 14 in Judge Barry’s courtroom.

In Woodrome’s personal Chapter 7 filing, he listed debts of $4.2 million and assets of $670,000. He reported a gross income of $93,400 in 2014 and nearly $200,000 in 2015. The biggest asset listed was a six-bedroom, 3,600-SF home with three-car garage on 1.2 acres in Fort Smith.

Woodrome said he initially claimed the house as an exemption. His plan was to eventually sell the house so his wife could use the proceeds while he’s in federal prison.

Then he said he decided to hand the house over for foreclosure to help repay creditors.

“So there’s no cushion for my family,” Woodrome said. “But I guess there never should have been.”

A sentencing date hasn’t been set. He has agreed to pay restitution to his victims, and the terms of his plea agreement suggest the young man in a hurry will likely serve three to four very slow years in prison.

Property owners in downtown Little Rock’s Metrocentre Improvement District No. 1 are finally getting a break from decades of shouldering $12.5 million of debt.

Special improvement taxes on more than 200 properties were slashed by 85 percent in the aftermath of a final bond payment in March.

That $335,000 outlay extinguished the last in a series of bonds that financed revitalization efforts in a 45-block commercial area that included the ill-fated Metrocentre Mall.

For private property owners within the district, those annual assessments represented another layer of taxation on top of conventional property taxes. The added cost also created a disadvantage in the competition to lease space to tenants.

“It’s a $1 per SF difference,” said Hank Kelley, CEO and partner at Flake & Kelley Commercial.

Kelley and Warren Stephens, CEO of Stephens Inc., are among a group of downtown stakeholders hoping to dissolve the improvement district and be fully shed of its financial obligations that date back nearly 40 years.

“We didn’t think the improvement district was going to last as long as it did,” Kelley said.

The Metrocentre Improvement District commission agreed to dissolve the district subject to the consent of a majority of its property owners. The necessary signatures are said to be in hand, awaiting verification.

“That is the direction we’re heading,” said Millie Ward, an MID commissioner. “That seems to be the wishes of a majority of the members. It’s a complex undertaking to unwind it all.”

Once verified, the petition would then be presented to the city attorney as the basis for an ordinance to dissolve the district through the city board.

But there could be a hitch in the timetable for dissolving the improvement district. One last bond issue remains outstanding.

Until Walter Hussman retires the $6.3 million bond issue, the improvement district may not be able to close its books and fade into history. As it stands now, that won’t happen until 2025.

The 1985 bonds used by Hussman’s Little Rock Newspapers Inc. was the largest of 22 tax-free bond issues made through the improvement district over the years.

When he wanted to put a printing press in the Terminal Building at 500 E. Markham St., Hussman got unprecedented assistance from Metrocentre Improvement District commissioners.

That required a controversial vote to make the property, today’s Museum Center at 500 President Clinton Ave., part of the improvement district although it lies two blocks beyond its boundaries.

Hussman received the benefit of the improvement district’s bond-issuing capability without having to pay special improvement taxes on the property. It was a consideration unlike any other associated with bonds issued through the improvement district.

Until the Metrocentre Improvement District is closed, members will have to be content with the drastic reduction in property assessments.

The reduced assessments and income from the MID-owned parking deck on the west side of Scott Street between Sixth and Seventh streets chiefly fund the clean and green crew who wrangle trash and care for the trees and shrubs.

The parking deck is one of the two most significant assets of the special improvement district. The other is the 11-foot, 5-inch bronze Henry Moore sculpture, Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge, which was installed at Capitol and Main Street in 1978.

When the district is dissolved, the parking deck would likely be deeded to the city. The Arkansas Arts Center is mentioned as a leading candidate to receive ownership of the sculpture.

The Downtown Little Rock Partnership is paid $100,000 annually to administer the financial affairs of the improvement district.

“Most people think if the improvement district goes away the Downtown Partnership goes away,” Executive Director Gabe Holmstrom said. “That’s not true.”

The initial mission of the improvement district was to develop the Metrocentre Mall in hopes of stabilizing the migration of businesses from downtown Little Rock. The pedestrian mall was among a long line of similar projects in cities across the nation that failed to stem the move to the suburbs.

As Metrocentre Mall was languishing, the improvement district picked up the development of two parking decks, part of the original mission discussion.

The projected financial performance of the parking decks didn’t materialize. That situation improved over time but still left the improvement district saddled with more debt and extended the payout period.

Doug Meyer, an MID commissioner, is among those who believe the district’s perseverance over the years contributed to the more recent successes in downtown revitalization.

“In retrospect, if it would’ve been delayed, it would probably be a huge success,” Meyer said. “Timing is everything.

“Now you’re getting people working downtown, eating downtown, living downtown and shopping downtown. It will be interesting to see if another improvement district comes to fruition if this one is terminated.”

Timeline of Metrocentre Improvement District No. 1

December 1976: A $4.5 million bond issue funds the development of a pedestrian-friendly streetscape in the heart of downtown Little Rock. The project closed motorized traffic on Main Street between Third and Seventh streets and on Capitol Avenue between Scott and Louisiana streets.

In addition to building water features and planting greenery, asphalt pavement was replaced with brick paving for foot traffic. The bonds also financed the $185,000 (more than $800,000 in 2016 dollars) purchase of the Henry Moore sculpture: Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge.

October 1978: The pedestrian-only Metrocentre Mall opens.

December 1985: An $11.8 million bond issue refinances the $3.8 million debt remaining from the original bond issue and pays for the construction of two, 650-slot parking decks. The city made a special one-time payment of $500,000 to the improvement district to help the effort.

The city-owned parking deck sites are on the east side of Main Street between Second and Third and on the west side of Scott Street between Sixth and Seventh.

The Metrocentre Improvement District Commission approves adding Walter Hussman’s Terminal Building to the improvement district. The move allows Hussman’s Little Rock Newspapers Inc. to make a $6.3 million tax-free bond issue through the improvement district.

However, Hussman isn’t required to pay an annual assessment to the improvement district on the property, now known as the Museum Center at 500 President Clinton Ave. The special accommodation doesn’t sit well with some members of the improvement district.

January 1991: The city removes the pedestrian mall features and reopens Main Street to vehicular traffic, and the Henry Moore sculpture is moved from the center of Main and Capitol. The 1,200-pound bronze work eventually is relocated to the southeast corner of Louisiana and Capitol when the last piece of the pedestrian mall on Capitol Avenue is removed in 1999.

November 1997: A $7 million bond issue refinances the remaining debt from the 1985 bonds, reducing the interest rate from 9.33 percent to 5.17 percent. The new issue also includes the flexibility of selling the parking decks, something prohibited under the 1985 terms. The Statehouse Parking Deck at 201 Main St. is sold to the city for $2.1 million in connection with the refinancing.

November 2012: A $1.5 million private placement bond issue with Arvest Bank of Fayetteville refinances the remaining 1997 issue debt and reduces the interest rate to 1.99 percent.

March 2016: The final bond payment is made, and the Metrocentre Improvement District Commission approves dissolving the district subject to the consent of a majority of its property owners. The vote tally is tied to the valuation of property ownership within the district, not individual owners.

However, until Hussman pays off his 1985 bond issue in 2025, the improvement district may not be able to disband.

The percentage of U.S. households that are “unbanked,” meaning no one in the household has a bank account, fell to 7 percent in 2015, compared with 7.7 percent in 2013, according to preliminary results of an FDIC survey, the “2015 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.”

The changes are occurring across demographic groups, with the unbanked rates among black and Hispanic households falling by about 10 percent.

The findings were contained in published remarks by Martin J. Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., who spoke Sept. 8 to the FDIC 16th Annual Bank Research Conference in Arlington, Virginia. In his speech, Gruenberg shared a preview of the 2015 FDIC survey of the banked and underbanked, a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau every other year.

Gruenberg said the survey, for the first time, asked consumers for their perception of how interested banks are in serving households like their own. “A majority of unbanked households reported that they believed that banks were not at all interested in serving households like theirs,” he said. “This level contrasts sharply with the four-in-five banked households who indicated banks were very or somewhat interested in serving households like their own.”

The trustee for Little Rock developer Philip Herrington withdrew a request last week that his bankruptcy be converted from reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation.

A hearing on the issue had been scheduled for Tuesday, but Acting U.S. Trustee Daniel Casamatta agreed to give Herrington more time to file his required paperwork.

In addition, Herrington is working on a settlement with his creditors. If the settlements fall apart, Herrington will dismiss his Chapter 11 reorganization or convert to a liquidation by December.

If you recall, Herrington filed for Chapter 11 in March and listed $13.45 million in debts and only $5.1 million in assets.

In his earlier motion to convert the case to a liquidation, Casamatta said Herrington had failed to hand over copies of his 2013, 2014 and 2015 tax returns, even though he was asked several times to do so.

As part of the agreement to withdraw the motion, Herrington has agreed to file those with the trustee this week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ben Barry approved of the Herrington’s extension.

Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock on Tuesday reported record third-quarter net income of $76.0 million, up 65 percent from the same quarter last year, as it completed two major bank acquisitions.

The publicly traded firm (Nasdaq: OZRK) said diluted earnings per common share were a record 66 cents, up 27 percent from the same quarter last year.

"We are very pleased to report our record third quarter results with our two recent acquisitions included," Chairman and CEO George Gleason said in a news release. "These transactions bring many strategic benefits to our company and significant value to our shareholders from the resulting accretion in book value, tangible book value and earnings per common share. We had an excellent quarter, and the value of these acquisitions, the strength of our organic growth and our pristine asset quality were all clearly on display."

More: Read the full earnings report here.

During the quarter, Bank of the Ozarks completed two previously announced acquisitions: Community & Southern Holdings Inc. of Atlanta and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Community & Southern Bank; and C1 Financial Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida, and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, C1 Bank.

Together, the two deals were worth about $1.2 billion when they were announced last fall. They put Bank of the Ozarks in new areas of Georgia and Florida, and made Bank of the Ozarks the biggest bank headquartered in Arkansas when ranked by assets, which total more $18 billion as of Sept. 30.

Also: Bank of the Ozarks spends more than $12 million on land for new headquarters.

Bank of the Ozarks said third-quarter net interest income was a record $175.1 million, up about 82 percent from the third quarter of 2015. Non-interest income was $29.2 million, up 32 percent from the third quarter of 2015. 

The company's efficiency ratio was 38.1 percent compared to 37.6 percent in the third quarter of 2015. 

LITTLE ROCK - Supporters of a plan to legalize casinos in three Arkansas counties are projecting the move would create an additional $122 million in tax revenue each year and thousands of new jobs, but opponents of the ballot measure are rejecting the study as "propaganda."

Arkansas Wins in 2016, the group behind the ballot measure, released a study it commissioned on the economic impact of the proposal to legalize casinos in Boone, Miller and Washington counties. The study says the three casinos would create 3,200 direct jobs and more than 3,400 construction jobs.

Protect Arkansas Values/Stop Casinos Now, the group opposed to the measure, dismissed the study and noted the consultants have conducted research for Cherokee Nation, a major backer of the proposal.

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

As the nation's economy expanded this summer, Arkansans reported feeling more confident than at any time in the past two years, according to the fall 2016 Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey released Tuesday.

The current consumer sentiment index for Arkansas is 86.7, up from 84.9 in March and significantly higher than the 77.8 reported in September 2015, the report said. It's the highest index score for the state since this survey began in spring 2014.

In Arkansas, consumer opinion as surveyed in August ranked higher than the regional reading of 85.6.

"In August 2016, the Arkansas unemployment rate was among the lowest in the United States, even as the national economic expansion continued," said the survey's lead economist, Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas. "Unsurprisingly, consumer sentiment in Arkansas was at its highest measured level since the inception of the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Index. Moreover, the increase in sentiment was widespread in families with both higher and lower incomes."

Researchers conduct 1,200 random phone and online surveys twice a year to produce the results, which show sentiment in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Among families who earn more than $75,000 a year in income, sentiment increased from 86.3 in March to 95.6 in August. The biggest gain was among respondents with a bachelor's degree, whose sentiment increased from 85.8 in March to 96.9 in August.

"Arkansans pay attention to the economic signs in their communities and those signs are positive," said Jim Cargill, president and CEO of Arvest Bank in central Arkansas. "They're encouraged by job opportunities and business and construction growth, all of which gives them confidence about their personal financial prospects. As always, we are prepared to help with any needs Arkansans may have."

The current regional index for Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri — including Greater Kansas City — is 85.6, up from March's index of 83.4. This regional increase is in contrast to the national index, as reported by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan, which dipped from 90.0 in March to 89.8 in August.

A northeast Arkansas banker and his wife have given $1 million to the Arkansas State University business college.

Charles and Kay Luter announced the donation Thursday evening at the college's homecoming banquet, where Charles Luter was named the college's business executive of the year.

"There is no one who cares more for this university, about the future, and the opportunities our students are going have than Charles and Kay," Shane Hunt, the college's dean, said. "For them to be willing to make this gift and impact what we are able to provide for years to come is something that is transformational."

The money will endow a college scholarship and two professorships, as well as pay for building improvements and help students studying finance and banking get hands-on experience.

"Whatever success Kay and I have had in life, it really has evolved around Arkansas State," Charles Luter said. "I've always been an advocate that if you are bringing these students on campus from all over Arkansas, other states and other countries, the university should be able to get those instructors to give those students the best education they can get."

"I've always been connected to Arkansas State in one way or another," Kay Luter said. "Arkansas State gave me my dream and that was to be a teacher. And, then I became a teacher here."

Charles Luter earned a business administration degree from the university in 1966; Kay Luter received her bachelor's degree in education in 1965 before completing a master's degree in 1978.

In 2008, the couple gave $400,000 to the university's athletics program. At the time, it was the largest single donation in A-State athletics history.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe appointed Charles Luter to the university's board of trustees in 2011. His five-year term expired in January.

More than five dozen townhomes in Maumelle weighed in at $8.5 million.

EIIC LLC, led by Jean Eiler, purchased 61 townhomes in The Villas at Audubon near the northwest corner of Audubon and Club Manor drives.

The sellers are KJune Properties LLC, led by Kerri Elder, and Elder-Montagne Holdings LLC, led by Jim and June Swink.

The deal is financed with a five-year loan of $3.4 million from Great Southern Bank of Springfield, Missouri, and an $880,000 loan from Elder-Montagne Holdings.

The 7.53-acre development previously was tied to a July 2007 mortgage of $9.6 million held by Great Southern.

The site was acquired for $903,000 more than nine years ago from Gleneagles Inc., led by Frank Hickingbotham.

Office Acquisition I
Third-floor office space in downtown Little Rock tipped the scales at $2.7 million.

Business Boy LLC, led by Roberts Lee, bought the 9,362-SF home of the Meadors Adams & Lee insurance firm in the Arcade Building at 421 President Clinton Ave.

The seller is Clinton-Commerce LLC, led by Jimmy Moses and Rett Tucker. The deal is backed with a 20-year loan of $2.27 million from One Bank & Trust of Little Rock and a $409,000 equipment finance agreement with Enterprise Financial Solutions Inc. of Memphis.

The space previously helped secure a September 2012 mortgage of $5 million held by First Security Bank of Searcy.

The 0.48-acre location was purchased for $1.5 million in January 2009 from Arkansas-Democrat Gazette Inc., led by Walter Hussman Jr.

Warehouse Buy
A 48,257-SF warehouse complex in Little Rock changed hands in a $1.5 million deal.

Charles Whiteside III and James Osborne acquired the 6200-6210 Dividend St. project from S&D Realty Corp. of Monroe, Louisiana.

The 9.21-acre property was bought in March 1962 as part of a $98,000 deal with the Industrial Development Co. of Little Rock, led by R.A. “Brick” Lile.

Office Acquisition II
A 9,656-SF office building in west Little Rock is under new ownership after an $840,000 transaction.

Ellicort Holdings LLC, led by James Keane, purchased the property at 11412 Huron Lane.

The seller is H-C building Co. LLC, led by John Hudson.

The deal is funded with a seven-year loan of $714,000 from Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

The 0.74-acre property was acquired for $465,000 in August 1995 from Charles and Carolyn Ward.

Willow Creek Sale
A dormant 133-unit apartment project in southwest Little Rock rang up a $750,000 sale.

Willow Redevelopment LLC, an affiliate of Cross Equities of Addison, Texas, bought Willow Creek Apartments at 7515 Geyer Springs Road from City National Bank of Los Angeles.

The deal is financed with a three-year loan of $2.19 million from American Bank of Commerce in Wolfforth, Texas.

The bank recovered the 4.35-acre development at a $522,000 foreclosure sale in April 2015 from Little Rock Group LLC, led by Steven St. Clair.

Convenient Deal
A Jacksonville convenience store drew a $650,000 transaction.

MJ International LLC, led by Mi Jung Jeon, acquired the Citgo at 120 Marshall Road. The seller is Mid-State Distributing Inc., led by Khairunissa Mandani.

The deal is backed with a three-year loan of $501,500 from First Community Bank of Batesville.

The 0.65-acre property was bought for $60,000 in June 1986 from Kerr-McGee Refining Corp. of Oklahoma City.

Office Acquisition III
A small office building in Little Rock sold for $275,000.

Frizzell Investments LLC, led by Patrick and Kathleen Frizzell, purchased the 1,258-SF project at 1723 N. University Ave. The seller is 1723 North University LLC, led by Rebecca Bailey Kane.

The deal is funded with a five-year loan of $237,775 from Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

The 0.14-acre development previously was linked with a September 2010 mortgage of $142,000 held by North Little Rock’s National Bank of Arkansas.

The property was acquired for $65,000 in October 1998 from Patsy Long.

Multifamily Purchase
A small apartment project in west Little Rock changed hands in a $235,000 deal

Khan Properties LLC, led by Muhammad Atif Khan, bought the four-plex at 11009 Mara Lynn Drive. The seller is Rainfall Properties LLC, led by QuioLi Lei.

The 0.18-acre development previously was tied to an $186,100 mortgage held by Nationstar Mortgage LLC of Lewisville, Texas.

The property was purchased for $235,000 in April 2007 from Stormy and Diane Smith.

Industrial Transaction
A 16,000-SF industrial project in southwest Little Rock is under new ownership after a $207,000 transaction.

Bushwacker Products Inc., led by Bo Richards, acquired the 7721 Distribution Drive project.

The seller is Lift Truck Service Center Inc., led by Carl Morehead.

The 1.07-acre development was bought for $132,500 in November 1990 from the Marion Jepson estate.

Heights Home
A 3,235-SF home in the Heights area of Little Rock sold for $835,000.

Nathan and Emily Sutterer purchased the house from Christopher and Christy Milligan.

The deal is financed with a 30-year loan of $668,000 from Delmar Financial Co. of St. Louis. The residence previously was linked with an August 2012 mortgage of $612,000 from Bank of Little Rock.

The location was acquired for $240,000 from An Teach Beag LLC, led by Michael Higgins.

Chi Funding I
A dormant Aloft Hotel redevelopment in downtown Little Rock is backed with a $4.52 million mortgage.

Chi Hotel Group LLC, led by Jacob and Jasen Chi, received the loan from Arkansas Federal Credit Union of Jacksonville.

The 12-story Boyle Building at 500 Main St. previously was tied to a June 2015 mortgage of $3.2 million held by IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Chi Hotel Group bought the 0.19-acre development for $4.5 million in March 2014 from Main Street Lofts LLC, led by Scott Reed and Wooten Epes.

Surgical Construction
Construction of a 10,450-SF outpatient surgical center in North Little Rock is in motion with a $4.3 million funding agreement.

BLK Properties LLC, led by Butchaiah and Lakshmi Garlapati, obtained the 23-year loan from Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

The 1.28-acre site for the Arkansas Pain Center project at 4331 E. 43rd St. was purchased in February 2015 as part of a $228,000 deal with DOW Investments LLC, led by Dow Worsham II.

Chi Funding II
A west Little Rock eatery is securing a $2.32 million financial package.

Rowan Development LLC, led by Jasen and Jacob Chi, got the loan from Arkansas Federal Credit Union.

The 0.77-acre La Madeleine development at 12210 W. Markham St. previously helped secure an April 2012 mortgage of $2.5 million held by IberiaBank.

The property was acquired more than four years ago as part of a $2.4 million deal with Crain Investments Ltd., led by Larry Crain Sr.

Seven-Digit Construction

Mini-Storage    $6,191,803
1620 Brookwood Drive, Little Rock
Greenbar LLC, Greenwood, Indiana

Pharmacy Renovation    $3,584,783
Arkansas Children’s Hospital
1 Children’s Way, Little Rock
Nabholz Construction Corp., Conway

New House    $1,350,000
4900 Stonewall Road, Little Rock
Jon Callahan Construction Inc., Jacksonville

Asa Cottrell has been promoted to senior vice president and sales manager for Arvest Bank in central Arkansas.

Most recently, Cottrell served as a senior vice president and manager of Arvest Wealth Management for the bank’s Little Rock and Fort Smith markets. In his 22 years of banking, Cottrell has served as a vice president, location manager and client adviser for Arvest in Siloam Springs.

Greg Garner has been promoted to senior vice president and chief operations officer at Relyance Bank in Pine Bluff, and Tracey Hisaw has been promoted to senior vice president and chief risk officer.

Garner has nearly 30 years of banking experience, and Hisaw has 26 years of banking experience.

Ryan Lilly has been promoted to vice president at BancorpSouth Bank as a commercial lender in Fayetteville.

Lilly serves as a board member of the Northwest Arkansas Appraisers Section. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arkansas and an executive MBA from Tulane University.

Lilly served as chief financial officer for a Benton County nonprofit agency before he joined BancorpSouth in 2013.

Donna Dodge and Daniel Sims have been promoted to bank senior examiner at the Arkansas State Bank Department in Little Rock, and Adam Chase, Kelly Davis, Wes Mathis and Wynne Morgan have been promoted to bank assistant examiner.

Prior to joining the department, Dodge worked for the Bank of Fayetteville. Sims served as a teller at Centennial Bank in Conway while completing a loan internship and as an internal auditor. Dodge and Sims were hired by the department as commercial examiners in September 2013.

Chase, Mathis and Morgan joined the department as commercial examiners in September 2015 at the northwest Arkansas office, and Davis joined as a bank examiner trainee in September 2015.

Thomas “Tom” Rudkin has joined DD&F Consulting Group Inc. in Little Rock as a principal of the bank consulting firm. He will be responsible for mergers and acquisitions and strategic business development. Rudkin has more than 30 years of experience in M&A and investment banking. He has completed transaction projects totaling more than $7 billion.

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

Twelve of the 103 banks chartered in Arkansas have branches in other states. One of them is Farmers Bank & Trust of Magnolia, which was doing business 50 miles away in Texarkana, Texas, even before it acquired 1st Bank early last year.

Two weeks ago, FB&T opened a de novo branch in the north Dallas suburb of Prosper, about 225 miles from home.

“We already had so many customers over there that it was a natural fit for us to move over there and service them,” CFO Drew Chandler said. He described those customers as legacy customers from Farmers, not customers acquired along with 1st Bank.

FB&T hired a familiar name to tackle the big city market: Mack Streety, formerly of Jonesboro’s Liberty Bank of Arkansas and then of its acquirer, Centennial Bank of Conway.

Texas is Streety’s old stomping ground. His LinkedIn page says he’s an Aggie, and he worked for various banks in Texas earlier in his career.

“Going into more of a growth market is going to be a new thing for us,” Chandler said. There are no current plans for additional branches.

So you want to know more details about the regulatory-mandated sale of Allied Bank of Mulberry. We aim to please.

Today’s Bank of Huntsville was awarded ownership of the $66.3-million asset lender with a negative bid of $6.1 million.

Today’s took on all the good and bad assets of Allied Bank with one exception: Unidentified securities valued at $1.3 million.

Who else expressed an interest in Allied?

We know of two others.

They would be the $9.5 billion-asset Centennial Bank of Conway, flagship of publicly traded Home BancShares Inc., and the $383 million-asset FNBC Bank of Ash Flat.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has partnered with McLarty Capital Partners of Little Rock to launch a private investment fund the two groups said could inject $100 million in rural small businesses.

The McLarty Capital Partners Rural Business Investment Company will be the fifth RBIC that USDA has helped start since 2014, part of the USDA's goal to attract private capital to investment opportunities in rural America.

"Innovative small businesses throughout rural America need the same access to capital as their urban business counterparts," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release. "McLarty Capital Partners is an important ally in USDA's efforts to reenergize the rural economy, help small businesses grow and strengthen local communities."

The USDA said the MCP Rural Investment Fund will ensure that businesses in smaller communities have access to the money they need to accomplish their goals.

"We are pleased to partner with USDA in this innovative public-private partnership to propel and sustain small business growth in rural America," Franklin McLarty, McLarty Capital Partners co-founder, said. "With roots in America's heartland, McLarty Capital Partners is committed to ensuring that small and medium sized enterprises have the means necessary to achieve their business goals, and this endeavor only furthers that mission."

McLarty Capital Partners was founded in 2012 by co-presidents McLarty and Christopher Smith. It provides financing to small- and medium-sized enterprises in the U.S.

The USDA formed the new fund under its Rural Business Investment Program.

U.S. homebuilders' confidence eased this month after surging to the highest level in nearly a year in September.

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

IberiaBank Corp. on Monday said Gregory K. Smithers, an executive vice president and regional president of the bank's Tennessee operations, will now also oversee the bank's Arkansas operations.

Smithers is taking over for Pete Yuan, Arkansas' current regional president, who is taking over the bank's business in Texas. Yuan, who became Arkansas regional president in 2010, will be based in Houston; his responsibilities will include management of IberiaBank's Houston and Dallas franchises and the company's title business.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to manage our Arkansas franchise," Smithers said in a news release. "We have an excellent footprint throughout the state and are well positioned for the opportunities in front of us."

Before joining IberiaBank in 2008 as market president in Memphis, Smithers was a commercial relationship manager and then senior vice president and manager of First Tennessee's Memphis Commercial Banking Group. He began his banking career at Boatmen's Bank of Tennessee. 

IberiaBank Corp. of Lafayette, La., entered Arkansas in 2006 through its $130 million purchase of Pulaski Investment Corp., the holding company for Pulaski Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

"We're not in crisis; we're getting back on our feet," economist Jim Glassman told a small gathering of business professionals Wednesday at an economic outlook luncheon sponsored by Chase, the Little Rock Regional Chamber and Arkansas Business.

Glassman is managing director and head economist for Chase Commercial Banking.

He spoke at the Capital Hotel in Little Rock about how layoff levels and the unemployment rate are low, and said job growth is strong. GDP growth is also on pace with layoff levels, Glassman said.

He also lamented the lack of policy discussions in this year's election cycle.

Glassman said that while the U.S. House of Representatives is likely to remain in Republican control, there's a possibility that the Senate will go to the Democrats. But whoever is elected president will not have data to support another stimulus package like what the nation saw during the Great Recession, he said.

Glassman said that while many people blame manufacturing job loss on globalization — a feeling Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump taps into — innovation has been more disruptive. 

For example, planes now have the technology to practically fly themselves, he said, and although there are still pilots, the value of those pilots is lessened. Glassman added that innovation also creates jobs that require workers with more skills.

But the economy is not as bad as it might seem to the general public, Glassman said.

He called the nation's recovery from the Great Recession "beyond normal," although he said history books would likely label it as a normal recovery. Glassman said the Federal Reserve should raise interest rates to avoid dislocations and back off from stimulus to avoid long-term dislocations and to balance the economy.

When the housing bubble burst in 2007, economists said recovery would take decades, and Glassman said his 10-year estimate was the among the most optimistic.

But he noted that, after only nine years, housing prices are back to what they were in the spring of 2007; unemployment has dropped from about 10 percent to around 5 percent; 2 million people in their 20s and 30s are returning to the job market after going to school when opportunities were scarce; and a record number of people, about 15 million, are employed.

The automobile industry is also back to normal, Glassman said, to the surprise of those in the industry. And although the country is in debt, its debt is not growing faster than the economy.

But one concern the next president must address is the rising cost of health care and the imbalance in entitlement programs like Social Security, he said.

Glassman said that for every $1 paid into Medicaid and Medicare, $3 is taken out — a reality that's difficult to talk about politically.

In northwest Arkansas, building permits have increased, the supply of remaining lots continued to fall and the number of complete but unoccupied houses remains low, according to Arvest Bank's residential real estate market Skyline Report for the first half of 2016.

Kathy Deck of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, is the lead researcher of the report, which is sponsored by Arvest. She called demand for new housing in the region "robust." 

"In a fast-growing economy like the one we are experiencing, it is not unusual to see supply outstrip demand slightly," she said. "At this point, inventories remain low, so there is some room for an increase. Prices have been increasing over the past few years, so the increased pace of building may help keep home prices affordable as the selection of available properties increases."

More: Click here to see the complete report.

There were 1,561 building permits issued in Benton and Washington counties from Jan. 1 through June 30, a 15 percent increase from the same period of 2015 and a 30 percent increase compared to July to December 2015, the report said.

The average value of building permits in northwest Arkansas from January to June was $226,466, down 3 percent from the average value reported in the same time period of 2015 and down 5 percent from the average value reported from July to December 2015.

In total, 4,373 existing homes were sold in Benton and Washington counties during the first six months of 2016, an increase of 16 percent from the same time period of 2015.

The average sales price of Benton County homes during the first half of 2016 was $218,482, up nearly 6 percent from the second half of 2015. In Washington County, the average price of existing homes was up 7 percent from the average sales price in the second half of 2015.

"With economic growth and low unemployment in northwest Arkansas, families are needing homes," said Dax Moreton, senior vice president and loan manager for Arvest Bank in Prairie Grove.

Using the absorption rate from the past 12 months implies that there is a 46.1-month supply of remaining lots in active subdivisions in the region, the lowest level since 2007. But an additional 5,539 residential lots have received either preliminary or final approval in the two counties. Adding those proposed lots extends the supply to 75.1 months, the report said.