NEWS IN BRIEF

Building permits up in Fort Smith region

Residential building permits were up dramatically in April for the Fort Smith Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to a recent report.

The statistical area saw 142 permits in April, well above the 32 permits issued in the same month last year and above the five-year monthly average of 51. The permits included 116 multifamily units. The statistical area includes Sebastian, Crawford and Franklin counties in Arkansas, and Le Flore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma.

“Construction permits numbers blew the doors off this month,” said Kermit Kuehn, director of the Center for Business Research and Economic Development at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

April home sales rose 14.1 percent from the year ago period, but the average price per home sold was lower at $106,140.

Retail sales were 2.3 percent lower than in April 2012. Nonfarm employment for the statistical area was 117,400, 500 more jobs than last year, and the unemployment rate, with no seasonally adjustment, was 7.2 percent, one-tenth of a percentage point higher than in April of last year.

  • John Magsam

Warehouse sold, is to get Leisure Arts

Investment firm Mohr Capital has acquired the former Scholastic Books distribution center in Maumelle, the Dallas firm said Thursday.

Mohr plans to complete improvements to 200,000 square feet for Leisure Arts, which is moving its offices and distribution center from west Little Rock to Maumelle. Leisure Arts will retain its 125 employees in Arkansas and plans to add jobs, Jim Dittrich, a senior vice president, said in a prepared statement.

Mohr will offer the remaining 300,000 square feet in the building for lease.

Mohr did not disclose the price paid for the building.

“With 34- to 46-foot ceiling heights, [the building] is one of the tallest warehouses with available space in the area,” Scott Henry, Mohr’s director of acquisitions, said in a prepared statement.

  • David Smith

State index up 0.74; Acxiom gains 4.1%

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 0.74 to 284.80 Thursday.

“U.S. stocks rebounded on Thursday after some weaker than-expected economic data helped stoke optimism the Fed will continue asset purchases at their current pace,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.

Acxiom gained 4.1 percent on average volume, and Deltic Timber fell 1.7 percent in light trading.

Volume for the index was 22.1 million shares, compared with average daily volume of 25 million shares.

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

Business, Pages 31 on 05/31/2013

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