John Burkhalter, chief executive officer of Burkhalter Technologies Inc., plans to build a $70 million mixed-use development that will include luxury apartments on 19 acres in Conway, Burkhalter said Friday.
The project, known as Fountaine Bleau Apartment Homes, will be the first at Central Landing, the site of the former Conway airport. Construction should begin this summer.
"Conway's economy is strong and growing," Burkhalter said in a prepared statement. "We believe the Conway area market is ready for an upscale apartment home community that provides the amenities, services and standard of living that professionals can expect from a Fountaine Bleau property."
The Central Landing development is a 150-acre redevelopment of Conway's former airport site. The Conway Development Corp. closed on the purchase of the site from the city earlier this year.
Since then, Conway Development Corp. focused on "an urgency to develop with a desire to develop well," said Jamie Gates, the corporation's executive vice president.
-- David Smith
Texarkana airport plans $15M upgrade
A proposed $15 million terminal at Texarkana Regional Airport will double the space of the existing terminal, feature two jet bridges and include an automated checked-baggage handling system, the airport director said Friday.
The two-level, 37,000-square-foot facility will replace a 17,000-square foot terminal built in the 1950s, director Mark Mellinger said. Checked bags are hand-searched by Transportation Security Administration personnel.
The new terminal will be able to handle 100,000 boardings annually, up from the 37,000 last year, he said.
The airport is served by American Airlines, which has four departures daily during the week and three on weekends to Dallas on regional jets.
The new terminal will position the airport to help attract another airline or an additional destination, which would "enhance the economic development" of the region, Mellinger said.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2020.
-- Noel Oman
P.A.M. climbs 2.8% as index falls 2.71
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.71 to 438.65 Friday.
P.A.M. Transportation rose 2.8 percent in light trading.
Windstream fell 6.9 percent on low volume.
Total volume for the index was 21.4 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 06/30/2018