THE STATE’S BUSINESS NEWS AUTHORITY. Pharmaceutical Controversy Arkansas A Pulaski County circuit judge rules in favor of a doctor who wants to dispense prescription drugs from her Business office. Turf war inevitable. [P9] UPDATED DAILY: ArkansasBusiness.com VOL. 29, NO. 46 NOVEMBER 12-18, 2012 $1.50 SPOTLIGHT: Investment Properties Apartment Multi- Managers Face Crime, This Week’s Family Disrepair ‘The snowball effect’ Exec Q&A: and how to avoid it Jeff Yates By Luke Jones Multiplies [email protected] Th e certifi ed leasing specialist and part- ner at Irwin Partners Apartments remain hot We’ve all heard it: “You shares some insights wouldn’t want to live there. It’s into the central Arkan- commodity in LR area, NWA dangerous.” Sometimes, it’s so sas commercial real dangerous that the government estate market. [P26] By George Waldon steps in. Management is fired. [email protected] Residents are evicted. Buildings are razed. Hundreds of new apartments have hit the Pulaski County How does a property get to market, and hundreds more are on the way. Favorable market this point, and what can land- The List [P17] conditions and available financing have kept the line of new lords do to prevent such a down- Largest Residential projects growing and moving. ward spiral? w Property Managers Lindsey Management of Fayetteville will expand its Jason Bolden, a real estate extensive Arkansas portfolio by 432 units when The Greens attorney and a former presi- Whispers [P3] at the Rock is built out. The company ranks as the largest dent of the Little Rock Landlord Familiar brand name residential property manager in the state, a first-time list on Association, said it’s a snow- will disappear in 2013 Page 17. ball’s path down a steep hill and Lindsey's $25 million development in North Little Rock's the good decisions need to hap- Counts Massie corridor is among the biggest under construc- pen at the top. tion. “There’s only one factor: bad management. Period,” Bolden APARTMENT MARKET CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 said. “If you had great manage- ment in place, those kinds of mistakes don’t happen.” Longtime Little Rock resi- dents may remember “Sin City,” a group of apartments near Chicot Road that were a hive of violent crime in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, the apartments were closed, and this year the city board of directors voted to spend $70,000 bulldozing the abandoned buildings. SNOWBALL CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 Riverside at Rockwater opened in June near the site of the old Vestal Nursery in North Little Rock. [PHOTO BY JASON BURT] Online all the time. Th e new ArkansasBusiness.com Left to right: Jennifer Pyron, Ashley Blackstone, Tom Brannon, Alyse Eady, Heather Bennett MOST COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL CALENDAR IN TOWN Jennifer Pyron of Little Rock Soirée visits Today’s THV This Morning to fill you in on all things cultural in the city. VISIT LITTLEROCKSOIREE.COM, FAMILY PLANS IN YOUR AREA LITTLEROCKFAMILY.COM AND Be sure to catch Heather Bennett of Little Rock Family on TODAYSTHV.COM FOR THE BEST IN Today’s THV This Morning for the latest information on CENTRAL ARKANSAS COVERAGE. fun family-friendly activities in Central Arkansas. Arkansas Business November 12, 2012 3 Coleman No Longer Coleman Dairy, the 150-year-old Little Rock ebrate its 150th birthday this year, our insider Arkansas milk brand, will disappear in 2013. Or so a conjectured. Business Coleman insider confirms. The Coleman family is still involved at These days, Coleman is a division of Hiland the Little Rock plant through Cherb and Walt Dairy of Springfield, Mo. Next year, the Hiland Coleman, who are plant manager and control- Dairy brand will replace the Coleman brand ler. The plant employs 230 people. Whispers on all products from the lone Coleman plant in Hiland also owns Hiland-branded plants in Little Rock. Fayetteville and Fort Smith. For daily news, register at ArkansasBusiness.com/Enews Why? Most of Hiland’s customers are regional, Purple Cow for Conway them is the Purple Cow. “so they are in the process of eliminating Remember hearing that the local brands and going to a regional brand,” Purple Cow was working to open our insider said. The Coleman company was a restaurant in Conway? Steve Standridge News sold 17 years ago, “and Earlier this year, Philip Steve Standridge now has so I guess we’ve been Tappan, busi- one less legal battle to deal with very fortunate that this ness part- as he prepares for his criminal hasn’t happened before ner of Purple trial. now. It’s one of those Cow President Standridge, the former insur- things that happens.” Todd Gold, ance agent from Mount Ida who The Coleman fam- said the com- is facing 12 felony federal counts ily started the company pany had “lined up a great oper- related to allegedly fraudulent in 1862 in Little Rock. ator/partner if [the] lease trans- premium finance loans, recent- The family sold the busi- action becomes a reality.” ly settled a lawsuit where he ness in 1995 to a coopera- Tappan declined at the time and his agency were accused of tive that Turner Holdings of to be more specific. fraud and defaulting on loans Covington, Tenn., bought However, Hendrix College in totaling $152,400. in 1998. Prairie Farms of Conway is moving forward early Standridge agreed to pay the Carlinville, Ill., owner of in 2013 with a multiuse building plaintiff, Cornerstone Finance Hiland, then bought Turner project adjacent to the campus Co. of Columbia, Mo., $45,000 Holdings in 2007 and made and has named the first com- in three $15,000 installments. Coleman a division of Hiland. mercial tenants who have com- But if he misses a payment, Prairie Farms might have waited to drop the mitted to the coming building then Cornerstone will go after Coleman name till 2013 so Coleman could cel- on Steel Avenue. Yep, you guessed it: One of WHISPERS CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Ranked among the nation’s top ten insurance restoration contractors in both the Qualified Remodelers and Remodeling Magazine – August 2012 Licensed General Contractors Specializing in all types of Disaster Restoration including Contents. Fire • Smoke • Water • Storm • Environmental Emergency Response Hotlines (501)758-2845 Toll Free 1-855-METRO-79 www.MetroDisaster.com 4 November 12, 2012 Arkansas Business WHISPERS WHISPERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 cel the policies so that any unearned pre- Rock, where he has pleaded not guilty. taurants in the state in 2012? mium would be returned to Cornerstone Standridge’s defense team is sched- Packet House Grill in Little Rock, Standridge for the $152,400 plus $15,000 and applied against the balances owed uled to have a hearing on Nov. 20 involv- Taziki’s in Conway and Houlihan’s in for attorney’s fees and other amounts. on the promissory notes, the lawsuit said. ing a subpoena issued to Darwin Hendrix, Rogers have already opened, and Little Cornerstone filed the lawsuit last year That’s when Cornerstone learned the CEO of the Bank of Delight. He was Rock in November has the openings of in U.S. District Court in Hot Springs. that “no such insurance policies existed supposed to hand over all of the bank’s Local Lime, Utopia Restaurant & Lounge The company said it handled the insur- despite the contractual obligations and records involving a number of loans and Dixon Road Blues Cafe on the agenda. ance premium financing for several of representations” of Standridge and the related to Standridge’s case. And those are just a handful of names Standridge’s lumber company clients. companies that borrowed the money. In response, Hendrix said he was that come to mind for your Whispers Cornerstone made the loans between Cornerstone’s lawsuit said Standridge prohibited from disclosing nonpublic writers. April 2009 and February 2010. Standridge used “deceptive, false, unconscionable, personal information of a customer. We So, we wondered if the Arkansas res- and his agency had guaranteed them, willful, and malicious” tactics to obtain understand that some of the records taurant market is growing post-reces- and Cornerstone held the policies as col- the loans. Cornerstone wanted its money the defense team is seeking involve the sion. lateral. back for the loans and was seeking at bank’s suspicious activity reports. Not so, said Ed Barham, spokesman When the loans started default- least $500,000 in damages. for the Arkansas Department of Health. ing, Cornerstone contacted the insur- With that case settled, Standridge Restaurants can’t open in the state with- ance companies that held the policies. now can turn his attention to defending Restaurant Market ‘Flat’ out permits from ADH, and the year- Cornerstone wanted the carriers to can- himself in U.S. District Court in Little Have you noticed a flurry of new res- over-year totals of active food service permits aren’t tremendously encourag- ing when analyzed, he said. In December 2011, the state had 15,759 active permits, Barham said. Last week, the state had 15,792. Thirty-three new permits statewide is barely a blip. The number of permits is up by about 1,000 since 2009, but that is mainly because the ADH began requiring per- 92% of health mits for school concession stands. School Trouble professionals recommend It looks like the former superinten- dent of the Pine Bluff School District isn’t going away quietly. Jerry Payne is suing the school district QUALCHOICE. for firing him from his $145,000-a-year In a recent survey, 92% of doctors, nurses and staff would Name Date recommend our insurance. They know the quality customer Address service we offer – whether it’s when you’re getting a quote, Mary Gay Shipley, That Bookstore in Blytheville.