By Roby Brock
Arkansas Economic Development Commission Director Maria Haley is representing the state in a trade mission trip to Beijing, China. The trip is being coordinated by the Southern Governors’ Association.
The meeting will be the first of two gatherings between officials from the U.S. and China and will provide a forum for participants to begin discussions on the expansion of U.S. exports to China, how to increase Chinese investment in the South, and how to identify partnerships between Southern and Chinese companies.
In late August, Chinese provincial governors will travel to Birmingham, Ala., to meet with their SGA counterparts to continue discussions.
New $28 million hotel, art museum coming to Bentonville
21c Museum Hotels will build a new $28 million boutique hotel and contemporary art museum in downtown Bentonville, capitalizing on the forthcoming Crystal Bridges art museum.
The new 21c hotel and museum should open in 2012 and will bring an estimated 160 new permanent full-time jobs No northwest Arkansas. Investors in the sustainable project include a Walton family partnership and Bentonville Revitalization Inc.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, currently under construction, will be located approximately a quarter-mile from 21c Museum Hotel in downtown Bentonville.
IP closing Jonesboro plant
International Paper is closing a corrugated box plant in Jonesboro. An expected 86 workers will lose their jobs. International Paper blamed the shutdown on the loss of local customers and a struggling economy. The company will consolidate most of the Jonesboro business into the Olive Branch, Miss., plant where it will add a third shift and approximately 20 workers. The Jonesboro plant produces corrugated boxes for poultry and industrial companies.
Pet food company hiring 44 in Dumas
Privately held DAD’S Pet Care announced it is creating 44 new jobs at its Dumas pet food manufacturing facility.
How big of an impact will that be on the Southeast Arkansas community? The new jobs will increase the company’s work force by 75 percent, according to state economic leaders.
The 44 new positions include microbiologists, lab technicians, quality technicians, various management positions and skilled and semi-skilled manufacturing/warehouse employees. All assignments are full-time and include full benefits with wages commensurate with the position.
Passport and visa company locates in Hope
A Briggs Passport and Visa Expeditors, a company that works to secure passports and travel visas for international travelers, dedicated its new client service center in Hope. The company will hire 10-20 people. When fully staffed, the company expects the facility to answer over 20,000 calls each month.
A Briggs works with the U.S. Passport Agency and foreign embassies and consulates to secure passports and travel visas as quickly as 24 hours.
The company says it will locate service operations to Hope and an IT center to Polk County. It will set up a headquarters in Little Rock, which will serve as one of 14 regional offices in the U.S.
Stimulus funding spawns 25 new jobs at UA company
Arkansas Power Electronics International Inc., a small business headquartered at the Arkansas Research Technology Park at the University of Arkansas, received two contracts totaling $3 million. The contracts were awarded from stimulus funds through the U.S. Army and are expected to lead to the creation of more than 25 high-tech engineering jobs at the company over the next three years.
The research is intended to improve the electronics systems in military vehicles, but those improvements could ultimately be used in consumer hybrid and electrical cars and trucks.
Optus spins off divisions in sales, acquisition
Jonesboro-based Optus, Inc. has sold four of its divisions in separate transactions and had another group acquired by North Little Rock-based Heritage Communications Inc.
HCI and Optus, companies that provide telecommunications and data services for business customers through new and refurbished equipment, will join forces in central Arkansas. The merger was a private transaction whose terms were not disclosed.
HCI will retain all of the Optus telecommunications technicians and salespeople, both companies disclosed.
In four additional transactions, Optus announced that it will sell its field services divisions in Dallas, Houston, Jonesboro, Memphis and Texarkana to local partners.
Electronic game wagers still strong and growing
The Arkansas Racing Commission’s May report on electronic games of skill (EGS) wagers shows another strong month for Southland and Oaklawn racetracks.
While not record months for either location, both gambling facilities saw EGS numbers rise over the previous month and the prior year. Electronic games of skill include video poker, video blackjack, and other wagering machines.
Oaklawn EGS wagers topped $39.7 million in May 2010, up 9 percent from April and 44 percent from May 2009. West Memphis-based Southland saw EGS wagers climb above $53.7 million in May, a 7 percent increase from the previous month and a 39 percent increase from May 2009.
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Roby Brock, a freelance journalist based in Little Rock, writes weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau. His weekly television program airs at 10 p.m. Sundays in Central and Northwest Arkansas. His e-mail address is roby@talkbusiness.net; his Web site address is www.talkbusiness.net.
