NEWS IN BRIEF

LR's BSR pays $51M for Texas apartments

BSR Real Estate Investment Trust in Little Rock has acquired the Broadstone Park West apartment complex in Houston for $51 million.

The property, built in 2014, is a 370-suite, garden-style residential community. With the acquisition, BSR will own 2,332 apartment units in the Houston metro area.

"Broadstone is an attractive asset with the newer amenities that our residents want," said John Bailey, BSR's chief executive officer, who added that the company will manage the property as well.

The property is expected to be immediately accretive to BSR's adjusted funds from operations.

Broadstone is the 11th acquisition BSR has made since going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in May 2018. Most recently, BSR announced in March the $55 million purchase of a 349-unit apartment complex in the Austin, Texas, area.

-- Andrew Moreau

State taking reports on seeds from China

Arkansans who have received unsolicited packages of seeds can now report such instances through an online form of the state Department of Agriculture.

The packages have been sent by mail over the past few weeks, according to reports by several state agriculture departments.

The Arkansas department has received 223 reports of unsolicited seeds. It has received 11 packets of seeds from the public.

The "Unsolicited Seed Reporting Form" is at the department's website, www.agriculture.arkansas.gov, at the link for the department's Plant Industries division. The seeds also can be reported to the department at (501) 225-1598.

The department asked Arkansans who have received the packages not to open, plant, or throw the seeds away. The department said it will arrange for pickup of the seeds, which will then be sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for identification and destruction.

Some 40 field inspectors across the state will pick up the packets from "locations within their areas where they are already performing their regular duties," the department said.

"At this time, we don't have any evidence indicating this is something other than a 'brushing scam' where people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false customer reviews to boost sales," the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Thursday.

-- Stephen Steed

10 state stocks fall; index drops by 2.73

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Friday at 413.22, down 2.73.

Ten of the 14 Arkansas stocks fell while all three major indexes continued their July rally, particularly with a boost in technology stocks.

Shares of Murphy Oil fell 2.2%. Shares of USA Truck rose 1.14%.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

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