Lofts part of project along Main Street in downtown Little Rock nearly finished

Work on the lofts segment of the Main Street Lofts mixed-use development at Sixth and Main streets in Little Rock is nearing completion.

Matt Foster's MWF Construction LLC is the contractor on seven permits totaling more than $900,000 to complete work on 34 apartments in the historic property, part of the city's creative corridor.

The building's ground floor already is home to the Arkansas Repertory Theatre's Black Box Theatre in The Rep Annex at 518 Main St.; Ballet Arkansas at 520 Main St.; the advertising firm Cranford Co. at 524 Main St.; and Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery, which is at 108 W. Sixth St., Suite 1.

Most of the commercial tenants have been in the building since 2015. The development initially was led by real estate developer Scott L. Reed of Portland, Ore. New project backers took some time to gather the funding needed to complete renovations.

The apartments, a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, are mostly on the second and third floors. The apartments should be finished within the "next few months," Foster said.

-- Noel Oman

Cybersecurity chief at Wal-Mart retiring

Kerry Kilker, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s senior vice president and chief information security officer, is retiring after more than 30 years with the company.

Wal-Mart Chief Information Officer Clay Johnson announced Kilker's retirement in an internal memo to employees. He said Jerry Geisler, who has been assistant chief information security officer with the company since 2015, will replace Kilker in the leading cybersecurity role.

Kilker began his career at Wal-Mart in 1985 as an information technology applications programmer and held numerous roles with the company before becoming chief information security officer in 2007.

"Through his vision and leadership, Kerry has grown and developed a strong information security program and highly capable team which continues to set industry leading practices," Johnson said in the memo.

-- Robbie Neiswanger

Arkansas Index up as nine stocks rise

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 1.37 to 417.79 Tuesday.

Nine stocks advanced, eight declined and one was unchanged.

P.A.M. Transportation rose 4.4 percent in light trading.

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

Business on 01/10/2018

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