Thursday Kudos: Arvest Mortgage Tops Billion Dollar Mark

Arvest’s mortgage division hits an early milestone, Mid-south Community College makes a prestigious list, and a new hotel opens in Little Rock’s River Market.

ARVEST MORTGAGE TOPS BILLION DOLLAR MARK
Arvest Bank announced that its mortgage division originated more than $1 billion in new mortgage loans, its 11th consecutive year to top that benchmark. Company leaders said they reached the billion-dollar milestone at its earliest point ever in the fiscal year.

In a 13.8 percent increase from last year, the company originated more than $624 million in new mortgage loans in the first quarter of 2013. In total, mortgage loans at Arvest increased 7.8 percent during the first five months of 2013 over the same time period in 2012. Mortgage refinancing accounted for 56.7 percent of that total increase.

MID-SOUTH COMMUNITY COLLEGE MAKES TOP 10 LIST
Southern Business & Development magazine has included Mid-South Community College in its “Ten Outstanding Southern Community Colleges for Workforce Training.”

Mid-South Community College (MSCC), is recognized for its work in collaboration with the Arkansas Delta Training and Education Consortium (ADTEC). The Consortium includes MSCC, Arkansas Northeastern College, Arkansas State University-Newport, East Arkansas Community College, and Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas.

MSCC works in partnership with four sister institutions in the Arkansas Delta to meet the workforce training challenges with an innovative, industry-driven approach to education and training.

RESIDENCE INN OPENS IN LITTLE ROCK
The 107-suite Residence Inn by Marriott in Little Rock’s River Market opens Friday, June 7. The Residence Inn Little Rock Downtown will operate as a Marriott franchise, owned by McKibbon Hotel Group, Inc. and managed by McKibbon Hotel Management, Inc. of Tampa, Florida.

Residence Inn properties are designed as all-suite hotels that offer studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites. Designed for stays of five nights or more, each suite has, work space, a fully-equipped kitchen with a coffeemaker, microwave oven and residential-sized appliances.