Sale offer fumbled, group claims in suit
Poor advice from the company managing the Regions Center led the ownership group of the downtown Little Rock office building to reject a "bonafide" $46.5 million offer to purchase the building and ultimately forced the group into bankruptcy, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware.
The ownership group, 400 Capitol Center, accuses the management company, Sperry Van Ness First Guardian, a partnership of FGG Inc. and SVN International Corp., of failing to properly review and evaluate the July 2016 offer from JS Partners LLC of Nebraska.
The lawsuit was first reported by Arkansas Business.
Wells Fargo filed for foreclosure in November against the ownership group, which purchased the building for $32 million in 2006. The group soon filed for bankruptcy.
The lawsuit said the management company didn't tell the ownership group about the offer until after it had expired and that it recommended the offer be rejected. But it "failed to consider, or report" that the lease of a major tenant was set to expire in 2016, the suit said. The tenant, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, didn't renew its lease, which left the group unable to pay off its loan, the lawsuit said.
-- Noel Oman
Contract signing set for bathhouse hotel
Zest Enterprise is set to sign a lease Friday with the National Park Service to build and operate a boutique hotel in the Hale Bathhouse on Central Avenue in Hot Springs National Park.
The signing of the contract will be at 2 p.m. Friday, followed by an open house before renovations begin.
Zest Enterprise is a limited liability corporation established by Pat and Ellen Rose McCabe of Hot Springs, who submitted a proposal for a boutique hotel and restaurant. The lease authorizes the McCabes to offer overnight accommodations with access to the thermal waters for each of the nine rooms. The lease also allows for a conference center.
-- Stephen Steed
Index declines 0.44, closes day at 329.96
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.44 to 329.96 Monday.
"The major averages were mixed as investors focused on monetary policy ahead of the Kansas City Fed annual summit in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Thursday," said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Simmons First Investment Group Inc. in Little Rock.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 08/22/2017