REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

Camping World affiliate buys Arkansas RV dealer in $6.3M deals

FRHP Lincolnshire LLC paid $6.3 million last month in two separate deals to buy the River City Recreational World dealership and adjoining rental and storage space on Warden Road in Sherwood.
FRHP Lincolnshire LLC paid $6.3 million last month in two separate deals to buy the River City Recreational World dealership and adjoining rental and storage space on Warden Road in Sherwood.

FRHP Lincolnshire a limited liability company affiliated with Camping World, paid $6.3 million last month in two deals to buy the River City Recreational World RV dealership and adjoining rental and storage space on Warden Road in Sherwood.

River City Recreational World covers almost 11 acres on Warden Road, according to Pulaski County real estate records. The property was appraised at about $3.1 million.

FRHP is based in Lincolnshire, Ill.

The sellers were PR Properties LLC and I-40 RV Exchange Holdings LLC.

Paul Minton is manager and chief executive officer of PR Properties and I-40 RV Exchange.

The Sherwood dealership will keep the River City name, a company executive said. Since the purchase last month, the Sherwood store has added new employees and new recreational vehicle lines, including the Freedom Traveler.

FreedomRoads-Camping World, a joint venture of FreedomRoads LLC and Camping World Inc., was founded in 2006, according to Bloomberg News.

FreedomRoads-Camping World was attracted to River City because of the extremely high number of RV registrations in the area, said the company executive, who asked not to be identified. The company also operates dealerships in North Little Rock and in Lowell. Both use the Camping World name.

FreedomRoads-Camping World has about 130 locations in the country. It bills itself as the largest retailer of recreational vehicles in the country.

BEAR PAW

Homebuilder ARG Little Rock LLC bought lots in the Valley Ridge Phase 3 and Bear Paw Phase II subdivisions for $965,000 in two transactions last month.

Rausch Coleman Emerald Mountain LLC and Sherwood 2015 LLC were the sellers.

ARG and Rausch Coleman are affiliated companies.

ARG Little Rock borrowed $625,000 million from Danville-based Chambers Bank to finance the lots in Sherwood's Bear Paw addition. ARG also borrowed about $540,000 from Chambers Bank for two other lots in the Bear Paw addition.

Valley Ridge is in Shannon Hills.

Rausch Coleman Homes is the largest homebuilder in Arkansas, with houses in Northwest Arkansas, Sherwood, North Little Rock, Cabot, Beebe, Bryant, Alexander, Conway and Jacksonville. It opened a branch in Jonesboro last year.

David Frye, an executive with Rausch Coleman, is also manager of ARG.

Rausch Coleman starts about 400 houses a year. It has been in business for 60 years and built more than 20,000 houses. It also builds houses in the Kansas City, Mo., area; Oklahoma City; Tulsa; the Birmingham, Ala., area and in Texas.

CYPRESS BAY

Cypress Bay Development LLC paid $530,000 to Country Club Development LLC last month to add homes in a Maumelle subdivision.

The purchase includes more than 30 acres of timberland near Counts Massie Road.

The two companies are owned by almost the same people, said Tommy Wright, owner of John Wright Construction who also has an ownership in the development companies.

Owners of the two businesses include Wright, Jack Wilson of construction firm Woodhaven Homes and investor Ronnie Shrader. Cypress Bay has developed about 1,600 lots and more than 20 subdivisions in Maumelle.

The property in this transaction is past the Jump Zone amusement center near Counts Massie, Wright said.

Home construction has "picked up big time" in the past year and a half, Wright said.

From 2008 until recently, home construction was the worst in his 42 years in the business, Wright said.

"For instance, Cypress Bay was selling 100 lots a year until 2008," Wright said, speaking of a subdivision in the center of Maumelle. "In about [nine or 10 years] after that, we sold a total of 80 lots."

Wright had nine speculation houses for sale in 2008, but they didn't begin selling until the past year or so, Wright said. They had been "eating our lunch," sitting unsold, Wright said.

NORTHSHORE LAND

Coulson Oil Co. paid about $431,000 last month for three acres in the NorthShore Business Park near Interstate 430 and Crystal Hill Road in North Little Rock.

Coulson Oil, which distributes gasoline and diesel fuel, plans to build a 15,000-square-foot corporate headquarters on the property.

The property was appraised at about $531,000 this year.

Coulson Oil has been at its Pike Avenue location in North Little Rock for almost 50 years.

The seller was Pfeifer Family Limited Partnership No. 1, led by Gene Pfeifer as its general partner.

OTTER CREEK SALE

O'Reilly Automotive Stores Inc. bought an acre in southwest Little Rock on Otter Creek Road for $365,000 last month.

O'Reilly, based in Springfield, Mo., has six stores in Little Rock and four in North Little Rock. It has stores in 85 Arkansas cities and more than 5,000 stores in 47 states.

The seller was Newview Investment Properties LLC, led by Price Gardner, manager of the firm.

A spokesman with O'Reilly in Springfield did not return a call seeking comment.

SundayMonday Business on 05/13/2018

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