Couple's trusts buy office building in LR
The trusts of Dr. Douglas Kerin and Peggy Kerin recently bought the Winrock Place office building in Little Rock's Riverdale for nearly $2.9 million. The central Arkansas couple bought the 24,000-square-foot building at 2222 Cottondale Lane from investor group River's Edge Development Co. LLC.
Drew Holbert, principal and vice president for Arkansas in the brokerage department of Colliers International, said the Kerins bought the offices as an investment. Colliers represented the seller.
The building's largest tenant is the nationally known Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. Holbert said the building is nearly at capacity and that all tenants remained through the sale.
Douglas Kerin is a doctor in diagnostic radiology with a practice in Russellville, according to information on WebMD.com.
-- Cyd King
Sam's Club to award grants to small firms
Sam's Club announced its Small Business Economic Mobility initiative Tuesday, a five-year investment in small businesses that includes initial awards totaling $13.6 million.
Grants are geared for increased access to capital and borrower education. Sam's Club and the Sam's Club Giving Program are focusing on business owners in low-to-moderate income communities.
The initial awards are going to eight national nonprofit organizations. Sam's Club chose organizations "that provide access to capital and education to under-served U.S. small businesses including women, minorities and veterans, a release from Sam's Club said.
Those grants, according to the release, will allow for 5,000 loans to qualifying businesses, generate $100 million in new capital from "non-bank, community lending resources" and support 28,000 jobs.
The Sam's Club Giving Program was established by the Walmart Foundation in 2008.
-- Chris Bahn
Index tumbles 8.14 on earnings gloom
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, sank 8.14 to 383.61 Tuesday.
"The major market averages closed lower as investors moved to the sidelines in response to the latest round of mixed corporate and economic releases," said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Simmons First Investment Group Inc. in Little Rock.
Earning reports have been hard on Arkansas companies this week, Williams said.
Murphy USA saw a hard sell-off in heavy trading after the release of its earnings on Monday after trading closed, Williams said.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 05/06/2015