# Stratus Vesting Deed (Adams) The 2021 Fiduciary's Deed by which John William Adams, as Personal Representative of the Estate of O'Deal L. Adams (deceased), conveyed the 160-acre Project Stratus site in Section 30, Township 5 North, Range 14 West, Faulkner County, Arkansas, to himself as Grantee. This is the corpus's **first Tier-1 anchor for the Conway data-center site location**, resolving the long-standing open question in [[The Conway Data Center Project]] that "the site is not located to a parcel anywhere in the corpus." The deed predates the Project Stratus MOU by nearly four years; it is the documentary basis of the Adams family's title to the rezoned property and was filed with the rezone application as evidence of the applicant's standing. ## What's inside - `Stratus.Vesting Deed.Adams (002).pdf` — 4 pages, image-only scan, OCR'd at 200 DPI. Faulkner County Inst. # L202107772, recorded 2021-04-16 09:26:09 by Crystal Taylor, Faulkner County Circuit Clerk. ## Key takeaways - **The deed.** Fiduciary's Deed from John William Adams, as Personal Representative of the Estate of O'Deal L. Adams, Deceased, in the Probate Division of the Faulkner County Circuit Court (Probate Case No. 23PR-20-94), to John William Adams as Grantee, for "the sum of One and No/100 Dollars ($1.00) and other good and valuable consideration" (`Stratus.Vesting Deed.Adams (002).pdf` p. 1). Executed 2020-04-16, recorded 2021-04-16. - **The property.** "The North Half (N½) Northeast Quarter (NE¼) of Section Thirty (30), Township Five (5) North, Range Fourteen (14) West, Eighty (80) acres, more or less," AND "The South Half (S½) Northeast Quarter (NE¼) of Section Thirty (30), Township Five (5) North, Range Fourteen (14) West, Eighty (80) acres, more or less" — 160 acres total in NE¼ of Section 30 (`Stratus.Vesting Deed.Adams (002).pdf` p. 1). This is the same 160 acres rezoned A-1 → I-3 by Ordinance O-25-39 (legal description in [[Rezone Ordinance O-25-39 and REZ-0425-0052]]: "CONTAINING 160.57 ACRES MORE OR LESS"). - **Faulkner County recording.** Filed and recorded as Doc Num L202107772 in 4 pages on 2021-04-16 by Faulkner County Circuit Clerk Crystal Taylor, by N. Spiller, D.C., $30.00 fee (p. 1). - **The transfer tax exemption.** "No tax is due: Exemption (check one exemption below)" → "Other (Explain): Fiduciary Deed - Estate of O'Deal L. Adams" (p. 4). The fiduciary-deed exemption explains why the Estate-to-heir transfer paid no transfer tax. - **Grantor and Grantee address.** Both grantor (Estate of O'Deal L. Adams) and grantee (John William Adams) listed at the same address: 865 Heritage Point, Conway, AR 72034 (p. 4). The land at issue (NE¼ of Section 30, T5N R14W) is geographically distinct from the residence address; the residence is the Personal Representative's address. - **Drafter and return-address counsel.** "THIS INSTRUMENT PREPARED BY (AND AFTER RECORDING RETURN TO): Gary D. Jiles, Esq., THE JILES Firm, P.A., Attorneys At Law, The Frauenthal Building, 904 Front Street, Conway, Arkansas 72032" (p. 3). The Jiles Firm is a Conway-based law firm — local probate counsel, not the Forgelight transactional counsel ([[Kutak Rock LLP]] / [[Stuart C Hindmarsh]] in Rogers, AR, who appears on [[Forgelight Ventures, LLC]] and [[Willowbend Capital, LLC]]). - **Probate file reference.** Probate Case No. 23PR-20-94 in Faulkner County Circuit Court — a public docket case that surfaces the underlying estate proceedings. Not in the corpus. - **Two corrections in the deed text.** The acknowledgment names "the Estate of Marion Harvey Adams" once (p. 2, line 75) where O'Deal L. Adams was clearly the named decedent throughout — a scrivener's error in the notarial block. And the front-page table omits the word "Quarter" in "Northeast Quarter (NE¼)" once. Both are minor and do not affect the operative grant. ## People and orgs mentioned - **John William Adams** — Personal Representative of the Estate of O'Deal L. Adams (deceased); Grantee in this deed; rezone applicant on REZ-0425-0052 (per [[Rezone Ordinance O-25-39 and REZ-0425-0052]]). - **O'Deal L. Adams** — deceased; original landowner. - **Gary D. Jiles, Esq.** — The Jiles Firm, P.A., 904 Front Street, Conway; preparer. - **Crystal Taylor** — Faulkner County Circuit Clerk (in 2021; the more recent recording of the ordinances on 2025-05-12 shows Nancy Eastham as Clerk, indicating a clerk turnover). ## Concepts invoked - Faulkner County probate procedure — Personal Representative's authority to convey real property under a Probate Court order. - Arkansas Real Property Tax Affidavit of Compliance — DFA form for the transfer-tax exemption claim. - Fiduciary's Deed — Arkansas estate-transfer instrument. ## Events documented - 2021-04-16 recordation of the deed in Faulkner County (Inst. # L202107772). The deed predates the project; relevant to the project only as it establishes title in the rezone applicant. No separate Event page warranted. ## Cross-references - [[Rezone Ordinance O-25-39 and REZ-0425-0052]] — the rezone case based on this title. - [[Annexation Ordinance O-25-37 (Lollie Rd)]] — annexes the surrounding 296.21 acres; the Adams Property is the rezone's south boundary marker. - [[Project Stratus MOU and April 1 Special Council Meeting]] — MOU references "a prospective site" without identifying it; this deed plus the rezone is the link to a specific parcel. - [[The Conway Data Center Project]] — synthesis previously flagged "the site is not located to a parcel anywhere in the corpus"; that gap closes here. ## Open questions / follow-ups - The Adams family's negotiations with Forgelight Ventures, LLC are not in the corpus. A purchase agreement, option, or letter of intent between the Adams interests and Forgelight has not surfaced — the MOU contemplates a "prospective site" and Gates's [[Project Stratus Next Steps and Sequence]] memo states annexation enables the company "to close on the property," suggesting closing was downstream of the April 2025 council actions. The closing record itself, if it has occurred, would be a separate Faulkner County deed. - The probate file (Case No. 23PR-20-94) is a public Faulkner County record; if anything in the Adams estate proceedings relates to the data-center transaction, a probate-docket retrieval would surface it. Not pursued in this ingest. - Whether John William Adams is the sole heir / sole party in interest, or whether other Adams family members have claims on the property, is not established by this deed alone (it conveys the Estate's title to Adams individually after the probate court's order).