Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff has purchased the 12-story Acxiom Building in downtown Little Rock, and Acxiom Corp. will move its headquarters back to Conway, where it was founded, the two companies announced Friday.
The purchase price initially wasn't disclosed.
The acquisition of the 188,460-SF office building at 601 E. Third St. with its supporting five-story parking deck will allow Simmons to consolidate staffers and provide additional space for future growth.
"We have people all over Little Rock that we inherited when we bought Metropolitan National Bank and Delta Trust & Bank," George Makris Jr., Simmons CEO, told Arkansas Business on Friday. "It has become a logistical nightmare from a corporate communications standpoint."
Arkansas Business reported Simmons' interest in the property in a "Whispers" item in January.
The purchase will facilitate the consolidation of about 200 staffers scattered around town.
Most of those are on floors 11-14 at the Simmons Tower at 425 W. Capitol Ave. Three of those floors were occupied by Metropolitan National Bank, which Simmons bought in 2013.
The consolidation of offices is expected to take place over the course of the next year. Simmons will remodel and refit the building and begin moving associates from various central Arkansas offices to the new location.
The transaction involves the city transferring ownership of the 2.13-acre development to Acxiom, which will sell the land and building to Simmons. The property was held nominally by the city to facilitate a $17 million bond issue to finance construction of the project 15 years ago.
In a news release, Acxiom said all employees working at the building "will remain with the company, with a few transitioning to home-based work and a small number remaining in Little Rock." It said the majority of employees "will work from Acxiom's original Conway campus, which was built in 1969, the year the company was founded."
Moving workers from Little Rock will bring the number of employees at the Conway campus to about 1,500, the publicly traded data services firm said.
"As Acxiom has expanded its locations and service offerings to meet the needs of clients around the world, we have made it a priority to provide our associates with modern workspaces that foster engagement, collaboration and teamwork," Acxiom CEO Scott Howe said. "This relocation will provide all central Arkansas associates with a more collaborative environment to work together and meet the needs of our global client base."
Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry welcomed the news.
"Acxiom is one of Arkansas' most remarkable success stories, and we're excited to see it continue to expand its presence in our beloved city," he said.
Acxiom announced plans to build the building in 1999. The city of Little Rock helped the project along with a multimillion-dollar revenue bond issue that meant Acxiom didn't have to pay property taxes for the duration of the debt.
Simmons Bank is the banking subsidiary of publicly traded Simmons First National Corp., which has $8.4 billion in assets and three acquisitions pending. The company has more than 1,900 employees in Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas.