Partnership to build rehabilitation center
Mercy Fort Smith is teaming with Kindred Healthcare to build a 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Fort Smith.
The construction start on the $23 million project is expected in the fall, and work on the facility will take a little over a year, according to a news release Wednesday. The exact location of the 50,000-square-foot hospital has yet to be determined.
Kindred Healthcare, based in Louisville, Ky., will manage operations at Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital Fort Smith as part of the joint venture. The hospital will treat adults recovering from strokes, neurological disease, brain and spinal cord injury and other injuries or illnesses, according to the release.
The Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy organization and Kindred Healthcare already have a partnership at rehabilitation hospitals in Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.
-- John Magsam
Food delivery tie-up now just Bite Squad
Restaurant delivery service Waitr has combined its Little Rock operations with former rival Bite Squad under the Bite Squad name.
Waitr bought Bite Squad earlier this year. The company began operating Wednesday under the single name.
"We're combining our resources and expertise under the Bite Squad brand to offer the most convenient and highest quality delivery experience possible," Adam Price, Waitr chief operations officer, said in a news release.
Customers now have access to more than 230 area restaurant partners on the newly consolidated platform, starting at $2.99 per delivery.
Waitr partner restaurants and uniformed employee drivers -- now wearing a slightly different shade of green -- are transitioning to the Bite Squad platform. Waitr and new customers must download the Bite Squad app on an Apple (iPhone and iPad) or Android device or can order online at bitesquad.com.
-- Eric E. Harrison
Index climbs 1.48, ends day at 407.83
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Wednesday at 407.83, up 1.48 points.
Shares of ArcBest Corp. rose 3.5%. Murphy USA shares fell 2%.
"Equities opened higher but slid during the day to close relatively unchanged as expectations for a tariff agreement between China and the United States at the G-20 meeting Friday in Osaka, Japan, have diminished although the energy sector outperformed following a drawdown in weekly crude inventories," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens 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 06/27/2019