BENTONVILLE, ARK. — NAS Investment Solutions has acquired a 30,829-square-foot office building in Bentonville, along with five tenants-in-common (TIC) co-owners. Nick Viscount and Tim Winton of Keystone Mortgage Corp. arranged a 10-year, fixed-rate loan for the acquisition on behalf of the buyer. Other terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The property features a brick-and-glass architectural design and was solely occupied by a Fortune 500 company at the time of sale.
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Dougherty Mortgage LLC has arranged a $23.9 million Fannie Mae loan for the refinancing of Bowman Pointe Phase I, a 217-unit multifamily community in Little Rock. The Minneapolis-based company arranged the 10-year loan with a 30-year amortization schedule on behalf of the borrower, Bowman Pointe LLC. Bowman Pointe features a business center, clubhouse, virtual fitness studio, fitness center and a resort-style pool with cabanas.
BENTONVILLE, ARK. — Hunter Hotel Advisors has arranged the sale of two hotels in Bentonville: the 78-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott and the 130-room Candlewood Suites Rogers. Investra Capital Inc. purchased both assets for an undisclosed price. Hospitality Ventures Management Group was retained to manage the extended-stay hotels. Both properties feature indoor pools, fitness centers and business centers, and are located near the Walmart World Headquarters.
HOT SPRINGS, ARK. — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of Clarion on the Lake, a 150-room hotel in Hot Springs. A regional hotel owner/operator purchased the asset for an undisclosed price. Kevin Hanley and Patrick Culligan of HREC represented the undisclosed seller in the transaction. The hotel is located on the shore of Lake Hamilton and features a swimming pool, outdoor cabana bar, volleyball court, picnic area and a playground.
BENTON, ARK. — GBT Realty has opened The Shoppes of Benton, a $36 million shopping center in Benton, roughly 25 miles southwest of Little Rock. The 170,000-square-foot center is home to tenants including PetSmart, Kay Jewelers, Maurices, Texas Roadhouse, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, Ulta Beauty and Hobby Lobby. Tuesday Morning, Avalon Nails, Flowers & Home, All Aboard Restaurant & Grill, Red Robin and Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers are expected to open by the end of the year. The Shops at Benton is GBT Realty’s first project in Arkansas.
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured a $29.5 million loan for Sterling District, a 198-unit student housing community in Fayetteville, less than a half mile from the University of Arkansas campus. Caleb Marten of KeyBank structured the fixed-rate, first-mortgage loan with seven years of interest-only payments through a correspondent life company relationship. Sterling District features a swimming pool, hot tub, fitness center, study rooms, game rooms, cyber café and an outdoor courtyard with barbeque grills.
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. — Strategic Student & Senior Housing Trust Inc., a REIT focusing on student housing and seniors housing acquisitions and sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management LLC, has purchased a student housing community near the University of Arkansas for $57 million. Known as The District, the 592-bed community is located at 376 W. Watson St. in Fayetteville, roughly a half-mile from the university’s campus. The 198-unit property includes one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom, fully furnished floor plans. Completed in 2016, the LEED Gold-certified community features a business center, study rooms, pool, spa, courtyard, fitness facility and a yoga room. Asset Campus Housing will manage the property, which was 95 percent preleased at the time of sale for the 2017-2018 academic year.
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Ziff Properties Inc. has purchased Bowman Curve Shopping Center, an 81,271-square-foot retail development located near the intersection of North Bowman Road and West Markham Street in west Little Rock. Mason Lewis and Todd Rice of Colliers International represented the buyer and seller in the $7.1 million transaction. The company plans to invest in cosmetic and structural renovations for the center.
BENTONVILLE, ARK., AND NEW YORK CITY — Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has agreed to acquire online apparel retailer Bonobos Inc. for approximately $310 million in cash. Walmart, the giant discount department store chain, expects to complete the transaction by September. The announcement comes on the heels of Walmart’s acquisition of online women’s apparel retailer ModCloth in March. Founded in 2007 by Andy Dunn and Brian Spaly, New York-based Bonobos designs and sells its own brands of clothing for men. These brands will be featured and sold on various Walmart-owned digital platforms, including Jet.com, which Bentonville-based Walmart acquired in August 2016 for approximately $3 billion. Bonobos also operates 35 physical retail locations, known as Guideshops, across the United States. Walmart currently has no plans to feature lines of Bonobos clothing in its brick-and-mortar locations, according to The New York Times. Under the terms of the agreement, Dunn, the current CEO of Bonobos, will oversee the company’s collection of clothing brands that are designed in-house and distributed online. Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart U.S. e-commerce and founder of Jet.com, says the acquisition reflects the company’s long-term e-commerce strategy. “We’re seeing momentum in the [e-commerce] business as we expand our value proposition with customers,” he …
FORREST CITY, ARK. — Shandong Ruyi Technology Group (Ruyi), a textile manufacturer based in China, plans to invest $410 million into the former Sanyo manufacturing facility in Forrest City. The facility will be the company’s first property in North America. Ruyi plans to employ up to 800 people at the plant, with plans to begin renovations in the fourth quarter of this year. The property has been vacant since Sanyo shut down production in 2007. Ruyi will use the facility to take 200,000 tons of Arkansas cotton annually and spin it into yarn for textile use. The company plans to begin operating at the Forrest City plant by mid-2018. The Arkansas Economic Development Commission worked with Ruyi to bring this deal to fruition. Ruyi can earn up to $4 million in grants from the State of Arkansas, depending on the company’s job creation at the plant.