2006?s Best and Worst

“Over supply” and “market correction” were the catch phrases for developers, bankers and even consumers as 2006 wore on. But despite hard numbers that showed the area has too many empty houses and too much unoccupied commercial space, nearly everyone we talked with maintained steadfast optimism about Northwest Arkansas and its ability to rebound from a bump.
Although real estate woes grabbed headlines, here are some of our other observations about news during 2006.
Best Bottom Line Invention
Li Cai, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Arkansas, invented a diaper-changing pad that makes it easier to clean a baby’s backside. The resulting company, Cont?r, took third place for its business plan competition at the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup.
Worst Day at the Office
The Bassett Law Firm in Fayetteville lost two of its lawyers on Jan. 10.
Founder and managing partner, Woodson W. “Bill” Bassett, 79, died of prostate cancer during the day, and David Wall, 38, a partner, was found dead in his home at about 9 p.m. He died of an apparent heart attack sometime the evening before.
Best Company Names
Some of the more creative names of companies incorporated in Northwest Arkansas in the past year included Blind Squirrel in the Barn LLC, The Boozle LLC, We Know Better LLC, and Crispy Bacon LLC.
Worst Sentencing
Thomas Coughlin, the former vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, was sentenced to a mere 27 months of home detention, five years of probation and ordered to pay $461,000 in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion.
Wal-Mart told the Securities & Exchange Commission in 2005 that it had requested his resignation because of a disagreement concerning gift card use and reimbursements valued between $100,000 and $500,000.
Best Small Biz News
In February, Business Journal staff found that tourist business along U.S. Highway 71 between Fayetteville and Alma picked up about 39 percent during 2004 (the most recent numbers available).
Small business owners along the route told us that their enterprises were recovering for the first time since Interstate 540 opened in 1999.
Worst Berry News
In March, we found a disturbing trend in agriculture: Some blueberry farmers were calling it quits and selling their land for subdivision development (a small business owner can make about $38,000 more per acre with a lot less work).
Benton and Washington counties still lead the state in overall blueberry production.
Best Saleswoman
Keri Barber, agent for Dallas Real Estate Services Inc. in Fayetteville, posted $87.5 million in sales for 2005, easily taking the No. 1 spot on the annual Top Grossing Real Estate Agents list.
Worst Sports Start
Out-of-towners Bill and Katona Hargrave, original owners of National Indoor Football League team, the Arkansas Stars, sold the franchise within five weeks of the team’s first kick-off. The team forfeited a few games but finished the season with new owners.
Best Bank Performer
Priority Bank of Ozark entered the Northwest Arkansas market as the top bank by return on assets (for calendar 2005). Priority had an ROA of 1.88 percent, but president John Harrell said as the bank builds more branches, his efficiencies will slip some.
Best Double Take
Speaking of John Harrell, we ran across another banker with almost the same name that caused some brief confusion.
Jon Harrell is the president of Signature Bank of Arkansas’ Rogers office. Jon Harrell is the son of Searcy W. Harrell, CEO of family-owned Harrell Bancshares in Camden.
The two Harrell bankers are not related.
Best String of Hits
Country radio station, KKIX-FM owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, topped the Arbitron ratings chart for 41 of the last 42 Arbitron books, or about 21 years running.
Worst UA Employee Loss
Economist Jeff Collins, director of the Center for Business & Economic Research in the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, announced he was leaving that position.
Collins said he will work in the private sector.
Best Set of Statistics
Thirty-five percent of the 2006 class of 40-under-40 honorees said that spending more time with family was their biggest challenge. Thirty-eight percent had two children and 82.5 percent were married.
Worst Financial Fight
Garrison Financial Corp. of Fayetteville and Crews & Associates went toe-to-toe at a Fayetteville City Council meeting over which firm would manage $69 million of the City of Fayetteville’s money.
Crews is a Little Rock-based subsidiary of First Security Bancorp of Searcy and not an SEC-registered investment adviser, which was the rub as far as GFC was concerned. In the end, the city decided it didn’t matter and Crews was awarded the contract.
Best Dam Project
The City of Fort Smith unveiled its $180 million, 196 foot-tall dam at Lake Fort Smith in October. The revamped lake can now hold 325,000 gallons of water, sufficient supply for projected population growth for the next 50 years.
Worst Thefts
Thieves capitalized on the booming building activity in Northwest Arkansas by stealing copper wiring from construction sites. One theft from Rogers Public Schools was valued at $6,000.
Best Servant-Leader
Don Pitts, chairman of United Holding Co. was seen shoveling icy sludge off the sidewalk at United Bank in Springdale.
Top 10 Northwest Arkansas
Business Stories of 2006
1 — On May 19, Tyson Foods Inc. announced that John Tyson would step down as the company’s CEO and that Richard Bond, former CEO for IBP Inc., would fill that role. Three days later, Bond announced $110 million in spending cuts for the company and expressed his desire for Tyson to a return to a “commodity” mindset.
2 — Despite a public relations blitz in 2005, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wavered a little in ’06. The world’s largest retailer conceded defeat in South Korea and Germany, selling 101 stores. And early Christmas same store sales were flat or even down for the first time in 10 years.
The company is regrouping and pushing its way into Japan and India and is exploring more upscale lines in its stores.
3 — According to the Arvest Bank commissioned Skyline Report, number crunchers at the Reed Report, bankers, developers and title companies, Northwest Arkansas is overbuilt with both commercial and residential property.
But throughout the year most said “cautious optimism” was the rule of thumb and construction continued, albeit at a slower pace.
Still, at the end of the third-quarter, Benton County had 2,956 complete and unoccupied homes, up from 1,518 for the same period a year earlier.
4 — After years of planning, the $84 million Pinnacle Hills Promenade mall opened in Rogers on Oct. 4.
Anchored by Dillard’s and JCPenney’s, the open-air Promenade includes 980,000 SF of gross space, enough room for 88 business and restaurants. The mall was developed by General Growth Properties Inc. of Chicago and The Pinnacle Group of Rogers.
5 — Springdale voters narrowly approved funding for a new baseball stadium that eventually led to the announcement that the minor league Wichita Wranglers would relocate to that town.
But other professional and minor-league teams and events also announced their intent to capitalize on Northwest Arkansas. A total of eight professional events and teams could ring up to $80 million annually for the economy, but it begs the question: Are there enough discretionary dollars to support all the venues?
6 — After back-to-back losing seasons, Houston Nutt led the Razorbacks to 10 wins in the regular season, the Southeastern Conference West title and a berth in the Capital One Bowl. It will be the first New Year’s Day bowl for the Hogs since losing 10-3 to the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2002 Cotton Bowl.
The success came on the heels of Arkansas signing four players from Springdale High School, including Mitch Mustain, who started eight games at quarterback, as well as the hiring of Bulldogs coach Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator. Sophomore Darren McFadden won the Doak Walker Award.
Surely, the Razorback Foundation and statewide tourism trade will benefit for the next couple of years just from 2006’s success.
7 — On Aug. 1, developer Brandon Barber and his company, The Barber Group announced a $100 million, 22-story Westin hotel/condo project in Rogers on the east side of Interstate 540. But during the fall the group decided to move the project across 45th Street. Then in December the group, along with The Pinnacle Group, began exploring the option of erecting the Westin on the west side of I-540.
8 — The Divinity hotel, another Barber project, was finally approved by Fayetteville’s Planning Department to build a $70 million, nine-story building on Dickson Street. The building was whittled down from an initial 15 stories and is planned to have 137 hotel rooms and 30 condos.
But, there are at least two other condo projects slated for Dickson Street — the eight-story Underwood Plaza, the seven-story “Dickson” — not to mention the seven-story Legacy building a block off Dickson Street. The Legacy is yet-to-be-completed and is also being developed by Barber.
9 — Trucking tycoon, angel investor and partner with The Pinnacle Group, J.B. Hunt died on Dec. 7 after being hospitalized for head injuries attributed to a fall (p. 1). He was 79.
10 — A tornado swept through Northwest Arkansas on the night of March 12, damaging several farms and multiple houses under construction. One farmer, Josh Thompson, said the storm destroyed one of his turkey houses, killed 1,000 chicks and did about $70,000 in damage.