News in brief

Doublebee's upgrade to be bigger, better

A bigger version of Doublebee's No. 116, the convenience store and gas station that was a fixture at Cantrell Road and Riverfront Drive in Little Rock for more than 25 years, should be in place by year's end.

The store closed last year after problems with the station's fuel tanks and its owner, B-B Oil Co. Inc. of Searcy, decided it was time to start over.

"We had a release there that we reported and dealt with," company President Steve Lightle said Monday. "As we were remediating the project, we decided it would be a good time to tear down the old facility and relocate it on the property so we could build a bigger store with more fueling positions."

The new building will encompass 4,500 square feet and have 12 fuel pumps. M&A Jones Construction Co. of Batesville is the contractor for the $1.1 million project, according to a building permit issued last week.

"Hopefully, we'll get the darn thing up and going by the middle of December," Lightle said.

-- Noel Oman

State index up 5.36 to close at 445.62

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, rose 5.36 to 445.62 Monday.

"The S&P 500, Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq all rose on Monday helped in part by strong earnings results from Berkshire Hathaway and news that Facebook is planning to offer new services," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.

Total volume for the index was 17.1 million shares.

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

Business on 08/07/2018

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