# Port Authority Land-Sale Resolution Resolution 0429221 of the [[Little Rock Port Authority]] Board of Directors, adopted 2025-04-29, authorizing Executive Director [[Bryan Day]] to sell up to 400 acres of the "Ratliffe Property" to [[Willowbend Capital, LLC]] for economic-development purposes. ## What's inside - Resolution title: *"A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE LITTLE ROCK PORT AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH WILLOWBEND CAPITAL, LLC TO SELL UP TO FOUR HUNDRED (400) ACRES OF LAND FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PURPOSES."* - Body: WHEREAS recitals; Section 1 (sale authorization and legal description); Section 2 (submission to City of Little Rock Board for final approval); Section 3 (severability); Section 4 (effective date). - Approval: Clay McGeorge, Chair; Bryan Day, Recording Secretary. ATTEST line for Notary Public, State of Arkansas (notary acknowledgment block not filled in within the produced .docx). ## Key takeaways - **Authorization scope.** The Board authorized Day to sell *"up to four hundred (400) acres of land to Willowbend Capital, LLC."* The actual conveyance (per [[Willowbend Capital Warranty Deed]]) covered 383.52 acres, within that authorization ceiling. - **The property — by name.** *"the Port Authority owns or will own certain real property located north of Earl Lane and east of Harper Road in Pulaski County Arkansas, which is commonly known as the 'Ratliffe Property.'"* The "owns or will own" recital — combined with the deed-chain references to Ratcliff family conveyances in 2020 and 2024 — describes a Port assembly of multiple Ratcliff family tracts that was still completing at the time of the resolution. - **The Chamber's joint review.** The fourth WHEREAS recites: *"the Little Rock Port Authority staff, in conjunction with [the] Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce has reviewed the Purchase Agreement and believe its terms to be favorable for the Little Rock Port Authority."* This documents the [[Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce]]'s role as a substantive transaction participant — not merely an external recruiter. The Chamber's involvement is the documentary anchor for Bryan Day's 2026-05-26 statement that *"the chamber did [sign an NDA] on our behalf."* - **Buyer's right to exclude land.** The third WHEREAS notes: *"the Purchaser reserves the right to exclude from its acquisition certain environmental or culturally sensitive areas that the Purchaser might identify during its due diligence investigations with the purchase price related to the acquisition being reduced in a pro-rated manner."* This explains the gap between the 400-acre ceiling, the resolution's 385.16-acre description, and the 383.52-acre final conveyance. - **Legal description.** A detailed metes-and-bounds description of approximately **385.16 acres** in Sections 19, 29 and 30, Township 01 North, Range 11 West, plus six numbered parcels (A: 188.63 acres; B: 81.20 acres; C: 41.09 acres; D: 36.34 acres; E: 23.73 acres; F: 1.28 acres). The boundary description is internally near-identical to (with minor pre-survey vs. post-survey differences from) the survey and deed descriptions. - **City approval required.** Section 2: the Board *"authorizes the Executive Director to submit this property disposition to the City of Little Rock Board of Directors for final approval"* — confirming the two-step Port + City framework. The City Board's MOU resolution was adopted the same day (2025-04-29); the City's separate deed-authorization resolution is referenced by the deed but the executed text is not in this production. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Bryan Day]] — Executive Director, Little Rock Port Authority; authorized signatory and Recording Secretary of the resolution. - [[Clay McGeorge]] — Chair, Little Rock Port Authority Board of Directors. - [[Willowbend Capital, LLC]] — purchaser counterparty. - [[Little Rock Port Authority]] — selling party. - [[Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce]] — joint reviewer of the Purchase Agreement per the fourth WHEREAS. - [[City of Little Rock]] — referenced as the body that must give final approval. - Ratcliff family (via "Ratliffe Property" naming) — original landowners; the property is identified by family-name convention. ## Concepts invoked - "Economic development purposes" — the resolution's stated purpose for the sale. - Two-step Port-then-City authorization — the Port Board approves the disposition; the City Board ratifies. Both happened 2025-04-29. ## Events documented - The 2025-04-29 adoption of Port Resolution 0429221. ## Cross-references - [[Willowbend Capital Warranty Deed]] — the resulting 2025-06-24 conveyance. - [[Willowbend Capital Closing Statement]] — the financial-settlement counterpart. - [[City of Little Rock Willowbend Resolution]] — the (draft) City counterpart resolution. - [[The Port of Little Rock Data Center]] — the project-level synthesis. ## Open questions / follow-ups - **The Notary acknowledgment.** The ATTEST line is blank in the produced .docx — likely a template artifact rather than a defect in the as-adopted resolution. Whether the as-filed Port records include a separately notarized signed copy is a follow-up. - **The Purchase Agreement itself.** The resolution references but does not attach the underlying Real Estate Purchase and Sale Agreement, "on file in the office of the Executive Director." That document is the substantive contract; whether it is producible under § 25-19-105(b)(9)(A) is a pending question. - **The Chamber's NDA.** The "in conjunction with [the] Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce" recital, combined with Bryan Day's 2026-05-26 statement that the Chamber holds the project NDA, makes the Chamber's project file a high-value Tier-1 target — see the [[Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce]] page and the open Chamber FOIA initiative.