News in brief

Crowne Plaza in LR

sold in $13.5M deal

A west Little Rock hotel has swapped ownership in a $13.5 million transaction and joins a growing portfolio headed by Shashwat Goyal.

The Crowne Plaza Little Rock at 201 S. Shackleford Road was acquired by WLR Hotel LLC. The seller was Robert M. Goff and Associates.

The hotel's general manager, Steve Holcomb, confirmed the sale but said he wasn't permitted to say anything else, including whether any changes are anticipated at the five-story, 244-room full-service hotel built in 1985.

Goyal also is behind I Square Management LLC, which he formed in 2014. According to its website, its portfolio includes the Holiday Inn West Little Rock, the Holiday Inn Express Airport, the Holiday Inn Express in Forrest City, the Comfort Inn in Fort Smith and the Hampton Inn Maumelle.

I Square Management has two more hotels under development, according to the website: The Element by Westin in Bentonville and the Fairfield Inn and Suites By Marriott in Fayetteville.

-- Noel Oman

2 top Dillard's execs

paid $2.5M in 2016

Dillard's Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Dillard II earned $2.5 million in total compensation in 2016, according to the retailer's proxy statement.

Dillard II earned a base salary of $1 million, $1.1 million in nonequity incentive plan compensation and $243,631 in other compensation. He also received $166,146 in stock awards.

Alex Dillard, the company's president, also earned $2.5 million. Executive vice presidents Mike Dillard and Drue Matheny received $1.46 million and $1.43 million, respectively. Dillard's co-principal financial officers -- Chris Johnson and Phillip Watts -- earned $803,400 and $784,696, respectively.

Dillard's will hold its annual shareholders meeting at 9 a.m. May 20 at the company's headquarters in Little Rock.

The business agenda includes the re-election of 12 board members. The company also will hear a shareholders proposal to separate the chairman and CEO positions.

-- Robbie Neiswanger

Arkansas Index falls

0.11, ends at 341.74

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, slipped 0.11 to 341.74 Friday.

Winners and losers were evenly divided.

America's Car-Mart rose 2.8 percent in heavy trading. ArcBest fell 2.9 percent on low volume.

For the week, 13 stocks declined and five advanced.

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

Business on 04/08/2017

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