Printer, apartment complex, store change hands; LR port buys 2 tracts
The Watkins Co. of Little Rock sold its 12.7-acre site in the Otter Creek Industrial Park to Indian Bayou Farms LLC last month.
The deal was valued at almost $5.5 million.
Watkins Co., a printing company, sold its building and will lease it back, said a spokesman with Indian Bayou Farms.
Stephanie Smith is listed as an officer of Indian Bayou Farms, which was formed in 2011.
Richard Watkins, owner and president of Watkins Co., did not return a call seeking comment.
The 162,970-square-foot, one-story building was constructed in 1992.
APARTMENT COMPLEX CHANGES HANDS
Tri-5 LLC of Fort Smith sold the Ridgecrest Apartments at 2000 Reservoir Road in Little Rock for almost $5.2 million last month. The buyer was Ridgecrest LRAR LLC of Encino, Calif.
Ridgecrest Apartments is a 223-unit complex, said Dave Pinson, chief executive officer of Trinity MultiFamily of Fort Smith, which managed the property when Tri-5 owned it and will manage it for the new buyer.
Tri-5 bought the apartments, known then as Warren House Apartments, in 2015 for $3.6 million and put $500,000 into the project for capital improvements, Pinson said. The improvements included exterior painting, parking lot repair and remodeling the leasing office, Pinson said.
Ridgecrest Apartments were 92 percent occupied at the time of the recent sale, Pinson said.
“[Ridgecrest LRAR] bought a stabilized asset, and they are looking at it as a long-term hold,” Pinson said. “The buyer was interested in the strong real estate economics of the Little Rock market.”
Trinity manages 13,000 apartment units in seven states, Pinson said.
PORT AUTHORITY ACQUISITION
The Little Rock Port Authority bought two tracts last month for $2.9 million — approximately 278 acres for $1.95 million and 40 acres, including a 6,000-square-foot house, for $950,000.
The sellers were Roseleta Bartholomew and Bartholomew’s R-Bar Farm LP, said Bryan Day, executive director of the port.
In 2011, Little Rock voters approved a measure to raise the sales tax, with $10 million over the next 10 years to be used for land acquisition by the port, Day said.
“In order to grow, attract industry and increase jobs, we need real estate to sell and lease to industry,” Day said.
In November, the port also bought about 160 acres from the Selz-Thibault Land Trust for $1.3 million, Day said. The property acquired last month is south of Welspun Pipes, Day said. It is flat farmland.
“While we have no plans for [the land] today, it will be marketed in the future for industry,” Day said. “We’re
also looking at a couple of other parcels. That will give us about 500-plus acres to attract a major industry to the port.”
The port still needs to expand utilities, improve roads and install railroad infrastructure, Day said.
The sales tax continues to fund the port’s land acquisition program, so funds are still available, Day said.
“We hope over the next 1½ to two years, ideally, to buy another 1,000 acres or so,” Day said. “That gives us a good inventory of real estate to go out and market the port to the world and try to get high-paying jobs to central Arkansas.”
The Little Rock Port Authority is likely to market the land to four industries, Day said — advanced machinery, such as Caterpillar or a windmill-blade plant; metals, such as Welspun; food producers; and chemical petroleum pipe
businesses. There are no specific leads now, he said.
Sites at the Little Rock Port were under early consideration by Toyota before it finally decided to build the Toyota Tundra in San Antonio and by Big River Steel for a steel mill that eventually was built near Osceola.
The port has about 40 companies with more than 3,500 employees.
DOLLAR GENERAL SALE
PB General Holdings (Asher) LLC sold a Dollar General store at 7710 Colonel Glenn Road in Little Rock to SS Realty LP of Toronto for almost $1.6 million last month.
The 12,480-square-foot store was built in 2010. PB General Holdings (Asher) bought the land in 2010 for $258,000.
Leonard Boen, manager of PB General Holdings (Asher), did not return a call seeking information.