Leisure Arts, a Maumelle company that supplies instructional publications and products for knitting and other do-it-yourself crafts, has been sold to the owner of a Eugene, Ore., wholesale distributor of crafts.
The acquisition by Cynthia Morris was completed July 1, according to a news release posted on the websites of Leisure Arts and PA Distribution, which Morris owns.
The sale of Leisure Arts came six days after the warehouse and office space housing Leisure Arts at 104 Champs Blvd. in Maumelle changed owners in a $20.75 million transaction, according to the Pulaski County assessor's office.
Leisure Arts was a division of the media giant Comcast Corp. No price was disclosed.
"The acquisition is a merger of equals, allowing both companies to benefit from the synergistic strengths of each other," according to the news release, which described Leisure Arts, founded in 1971, as "a strong and trusted brand with the consumer and a reputation for quality content."
PA Distribution is a wholesale distributor of more than 500 national brands, manufactures "thousands of crafting items" under the Paper Accents brand of mixed media and paper crafting and produces a line of basic crafting components, the news release said.
Leisure Arts, meanwhile, said it has 6,000 "active titles and e-patterns" and "hundreds of products at retail." It also curates "collections of craft titles for retailers across America.
"In support of each other under common ownership, this range of resources will be significant mutually, providing solutions for our wholesale customers," the news release said.
Leisure Arts has been at its Maumelle home since shortly after the 497,000-square foot property, known as the Little Rock Logistical Center, was acquired in 2013 by Mohr Capital, a privately held real estate investment firm based in Dallas. Scholastic Distribution Services sold the building to Mohr for $5.4 million.
Real Capital Solutions Inc., a Colorado real estate investment firm, purchased the building in 2014 for $11.2 million.
The new owner of the property is Glen Una Management, a privately held real estate investment and management group based in Austin.
The former Leisure Arts property on Ranch Drive in west Little Rock was purchased by the Little Rock School District and is now Pinnacle View Middle School.
Business on 07/11/2019