BusinessTN

Chattanooga/East
Knoxville/East
Memphis/West
Nashville/Middle

Chattanooga/East
Knoxville/East
Memphis/West
Nashville/Middle

CHATTANOOGA

Atlanta

• Citing a flawed, 200-year-old survey, lawmakers in drought-stricken Georgia proposed moving the state's boundary with Tennessee a mile north—to incorporate part of Tennessee's Nickajack Lake.

Chattanooga

• Cameron Harbor plans to extend south the revitalization of Chattanooga's riverfront by building a hotel, restaurant, marina and condominiums on land previously occupied by Jones-Blair Paint Co.
• As construction progresses on a $15 million FedEx Ground facility on Chattanooga's Southside, FedEx Freight announced it will build a new, $5-10 million facility near the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport.
• Lexington, Tenn.-based FirstBank, which operates a mortgage office in Chattanooga, prepared to enter the city's full-service banking market with the opening of two bank branches in April.
• Hamilton County Sheriff Billy Long was arrested. Among charges are that he targeted for extortion convenience store owners operating illegal gambling machines and selling ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine.
• Realtor Hudson Cos. announced it hopes to increase its national profile by affiliating with Chicago-based Grubb & Ellis, an international commercial real estate and investment management company.
• City economic leaders and nonprofit development group RiverCity Co. unveiled a plan to create a new, high-tech downtown tax base based on industries like information technology, clean energy, finance and insurance.
• TVA announced it will pay $22 million to repurchase the downtown offices it has leased since 1986, when it sold the 1.1 million-square-foot complex to a Chicago real estate partnership.
• U.S. Xpress co-chairman Pat Quinn was among a panel of transportation experts who testified before Congress in favor of raising the federal gasoline tax, which funds most highway infrastructure.

Cleveland, Tenn.

• Packaging and warehouse company Derby Industries, which added 50,000 square feet to its warehouse last year, plans a new 82,000-square-foot addition as it seeks to expand as a third-party outsource provider.

Dalton, Ga.

• An acid used in carpet manufacturing has been found in Georgia's Conasauga River, prompting the state to begin statewide testing of drinking water intakes for traces of the suspected carcinogen.

Jasper, Tenn.

• John "Thunder" Thornton, who purchased land from TVA to build a gated community on Nickajack Lake, has purchased another 8,800 acres nearby, on the Cumberland Plateau and the side of Jasper Mountain.

Chattanooga/East
Knoxville/East
Memphis/West
Nashville/Middle

KNOXVILLE

Greeneville

• Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline will close its plant in Bristol in April, cutting 253 jobs. The Bristol location, which produces the penicillin-based antibiotic Augmentin, was told in September 2006 that operations there would eventually be phased out because generic alternatives to Augmentin had cut deeply into the market share.

Kingsport

• Eastman Chemical Co. reported a solid 2007 fourth quarter with earnings of $1.21 per share versus earnings of $1.12 per share for fourth quarter of 2006. After selling several operations, specifically in the PET division, Eastman has seen the best three-year period of earnings in the company's history. The company's aim is to pull earnings up to $10 per share by 1012.

Knoxville

• Goody's Family Clothing capped off a challenging year by receiving a $65 million capital infusion from its existing sponsor, an entity affiliated with Prentice Capital Management, while trimming its home office workforce by 5%. In other news, the retailer of moderately priced clothing reported positive customer feedback on the 2007 launch the new Ashley Judd clothing line, and it made substantial investments in its inventory tracking systems.
• The combined St. Mary's Medical Center and Baptist health systems is now named Mercy Health Partners, which echoes other systems under the Catholic Healthcare Partners' umbrella—the parent company of the merged hospitals. St. Mary's finalized the deal in January after Baptist struggled and failed to reconcile its million-dollar debt.
• Pellissippi State Technical Community College has secured state-purchased property to build a new, $22 million campus in Blount County. Currently, there are 700 students who attend classes at the college's satellite location in an old Blount County elementary school building. The 39.5-acre property is located on Highway 321, and the college hopes to open the new campus in 2010.
• Regal Entertainment Group may have posted a drop in its 2007 fourth quarter revenues—$599.9 million compared to $652.7 million in revenues for the fourth quarter in 2006—but the $485 million in dividends paid after the successful IPO of National CineMedia, with which Regal has financial ties, piqued shareholders' interest. Earlier this year, Regal announced its pending cash purchase of Consolidated Theatres for $210 million.

Maryville

• Casual dining chain Ruby Tuesday announced plans to open five franchised restaurants in airports, including those in Orlando and Detroit. Both locations are scheduled to open in early 2009.

Oak Ridge

• The U.S. Department of Energy gave UT-Battelle an A grade in the area of science and technology after a review of management at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, particularly for Spallation Neutron Source activity and the new bioenergy research center. This review determines UT-Battelle's fee to DOE for managing the labs, which was $10.4 million, or 97% of the maximum fee, for fiscal year 2007.

Chattanooga/East
Knoxville/East
Memphis/West
Nashville/Middle

MEMPHIS

Memphis

• First Horizon National Corp. announced plans in early February to slash stock dividends 45 cents a share each quarter to 20 cents after reporting higher than expected losses in the fourth quarter of nearly $250 million, a loss largely attributed to real estate loan problems. A week later, the Memphis-based financial firm said it intended to pull out of national home building and commercial real estate lending everywhere except in Tennessee and select areas in the Southeast. Earlier, a deal with Cincinnati's Fifth Third Bancorp to acquire nine Atlanta branches and substantially all the local assets of First Horizon fell through just before contracts were signed. Officials for Fifth Third blamed First Horizon for "abandoning the transaction" and consequently sued the company in Ohio federal court.
• Fred's Inc., the Memphis-based discount retailer announced plans to close 75 stores, or 10% of the chain, later this year as part of its new cost-cutting campaign. Executives, who did not announce which stores would be closed or how many employees would be affected, said they expect the maneuver to increase the company's annual operating margin by 4.5%. The company also plans to open 18 stores and 15 pharmacies this year.
• Morgan Keegan's Select Value Fund was ranked No. 1 by The Wall Street Journal. Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Co.'s large-cap value fund's 19.2% return in 2007 topped one-year returns of 503 similar funds, and 3.4% for December 2007, the highest among the 537 large-cap value funds ranked by the Journal in that period.
• Mueller Industries, a leading manufacturer of copper tube and fittings, brass and copper alloy rod, aluminum and forgings and other fabricated products, announced revenue had dropped 22% from last year. The decline, from $148.9 million to $115.5 million, represents a fall from $4 to $3.10 per diluted share.
• Private equity investment firm Waud Capital Partners reported it had lured Albert Cantu to come aboard as executive partner, a move that will place the former ServiceMaster Corp. senior executive in direct competition with ServiceMaster, where his late father Carlos was CEO. Cantu will lead WCP's investment strategy in the consumer services sector, according the company.
• U.S. Concrete Inc. sold flagging Memphis unit to Memphis Ready Mix for more than $7 million. The Houston-based concrete company said the Memphis division had reported a nearly 50% drop in revenue from 2006 to 2007 ($24.4 million to $14.5 million) while posting a pre-tax loss that was up more than 100% ($2.8 million from $1.3 million).

Jackson Miss.

• The Mississippi state senate voted to stop seven counties from developing new gaming properties—a move that appeased the state's conservative religious leaders as well as gaming executives in the seven counties that already have casinos. The bill is a boon to Memphis, which benefits from the country's third largest revenue-generating gambling destination in Tunica County.

Chattanooga/East
Knoxville/East
Memphis/West
Nashville/Middle

NASHVILLE

La Vergne

• Michigan-based Whirlpool Corp. shuttered its Tennessee plant, relocating refrigerator production to Arkansas, affecting 500 Middle Tennessee jobs.

Spring Hill

• Around 2,400 workers returned to work at the General Motors Corp. plant after a 12-month layoff period while the automaker renovated its Saturn plant. Returning workers are building a new Chevrolet crossover model, a key component of a new labor deal GM reached with the United Auto Workers last year. GM later announced early retirement incentives and buyouts that could affect as many as 600 Spring Hill workers.

Nashville

• Looking to diversify its economic base, 201-year old Belle Meade Plantation announced plans to start its own winery. If all approvals go as planned, product could be available for sale by 2010.
• Centennial Medical Center, part of the TriStar Health System, received approval from the Tennessee Health Services Development Agency for a $143 million campus expansion project that includes the addition of 51 licensed beds and major medical equipment. THSDA also approved expansion of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. A new building will house 190 new and relocated obstetrical, pediatric and neonatal intensive care beds.
• California-based Tower Land Co., which has been steadily buying up significant land holdings in Nashville and across Tennessee over the past few years, purchased a majority interest in the Fontanel Mansion—country singer Barbara Mandrell's former Whites Creek abode—as well as surrounding acreage. Terms were not disclosed. The mansion had been listed for $14 million. Separately, Tower also recently bought a 639,000-square-foot distribution building
• in Dyersburg.
• Gibson Guitar Corp., whose brands include Gibson and Epiphone guitars and Baldwin pianos, announced it would merge with TC Group, a Danish audio equipment company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The combined company will be based in Nashville. Based in Risskov, Denmark, TC Group makes amplifiers, speakers and digital processors. TC Group CEO, Anders Fauerskov, Gibson's new COO, will remain in Europe. Gibson now boasts 5,000 employees worldwide.
• San Francisco technology services company ServiceSource announced it would establish operations in Nashville, employing 125. The self-proclaimed founders of the service performance management industry boast clients that include AT&T, GE Healthcare, Microsoft and Motorola.
• Middle Tennessee State University graduate and trustee Pam Wright, founder and CEO of Wright Travel Agency, which has 21 offices in eight states and specializes in corporate travel, granted the school a $1.25 million endowed chair in entrepreneurship in the MTSU'S Jennings A. Jones College of Business. MTSU's nine-year-old entrepreneurship program currently has 199 students and is one of the school's fastest-growing programs.