Diamond Bear eatery to open today in NLR
Diamond Bear Brewing Co. is to open its Arkansas Alehouse restaurant today in North Little Rock.
Brewery President Russ Melton said Diamond Bear was granted its conditional occupancy certificate for the approximately 1,500-square-foot restaurant on Wednesday afternoon. Melton described the menu at the restaurant, which is attached to the brewer's new location, as "simple" and "beer-centric."
Diamond Bear, which began brewing in 2000, is now at 600 N. Broadway in North Little Rock. It is the site of the former Orbea USA bicycle-manufacturing site. Investment for the project was between $2.5 million and $3 million, Melton said last year.
Melton said the brewing operation should be running again in "two to three weeks."
-- Chris Bahn
Ferneau still plans The Still downtown
Donnie Ferneau said Wednesday that his plans to open The Still, a Southern-cuisine restaurant, in the Capitol Lofts project in downtown Little Rock, are still set on go.
On Friday, Ferneau posted on his Facebook page his intention to move Good Food by Ferneau, a catering and takeout operation he started earlier this spring, from Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church to the former Argenta Market in downtown North Little Rock.
"We're still in the works on planning [The Still] as well. We've just been very blessed with customers loving the good food that we've been doing," he said. "I started with this small business, and I'm going to strike while the iron's hot." He said he has signed a letter of intent with the Capitol Lofts LLC for The Still. Ferneau said he hopes to have Good Food open by mid-July.
He established his reputation in Little Rock with his restaurant, Ferneau, later Rocket 21, in Hillcrest. He was bought out.
David Robinson, one of the partners in the Capitol Lofts project, which will have 56 apartments and street-level commercial space, said it may be the spring of 2015 before The Still opens, because of construction delays.
-- Jack Weatherly
Arkansas Index falls with market retreat
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.43 to 348.73 Wednesday.
"U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday after the World Bank cut its global growth forecast and as the shocking primary loss by Rep. Eric Cantor [R-Va.] rattled investors who are concerned gridlock will be coming back to Capitol Hill," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Bear State Financial fell 3 percent in heavy trading.
Simmons First National lost 1.9 percent in light trading.
Deltic Timber was down 1.8 percent on above-average volume.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 06/12/2014