Shelby Drive Centers Sell for $1.3 Million

Southaven-based Akshay Patel has bought strip shopping centers at 3810 Shelby Drive and 3842-3858 Shelby Drive from Shopping Centers of TN, a general partnership between Georgia Commercial Stores Inc. and Ajani LLC, for $1.3 million. The deal closed June 20.

The 3810 Shelby Drive center is an 11,400-square-foot Class B center built in 1997. It sits on about 1 acre on the northeast corner of Shelby Drive and New Getwell Road in Eleanor M. Pelts Manor subdivision. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2011 appraisal is $746,200.

The 3842-3858 Shelby Drive center is a 5,824-square-foot Class B center built in 1994. It sits on 0.7 acres directly east on Shelby Drive of the first shopping center. The 2011 appraisal is $381,200.

The purchase was financed with a $1.1 million loan through the seller, Shopping Centers of TN.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Kate Simone

Shelby County Jobless Rate Stuck at 10 Percent

Shelby County’s non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 10 percent, unchanged from the same rate in April.

Figures released Thursday, June 24, from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development show Shelby County had a labor force of 440,660 for the month, with an unemployed population of 44,040.

Tennessee’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May was 9.7 percent, up from April’s rate of 9.6 percent.

– Andy Meek

Baptist Recognized for Quality Care

Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis and Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women have been recognized with the Premier QUEST Award for High Value Healthcare Honorable Mention.

The honorable mention awards were presented to hospitals that achieved top performance in the original three QUEST measures: cost, evidence-based care and mortality.

QUEST is a three-year program that invites hospitals across the nation to develop and share best practices for improving performance in quality, safety and efficiency.

The five areas of measurement include mortality ratio, appropriate care, efficiency, harm avoidance and patient experience.

In addition, Baptist Memorial Health Care was named one of the 10 largest Non-Catholic Religious Health Care Systems in Modern Healthcare’s 35th Annual Hospital Systems Survey.

Baptist placed fifth in the 2011 systems survey that was sent to hospitals to complete and return to Modern Healthcare to be ranked in categories. Baptist also placed fifth in last year’s survey.

Modern Healthcare sent the survey to organizations that own, lease or sponsor two or more acute-care or psychiatric hospitals. The organizations provided information on the total number of hospitals, net patient revenue, net operating income, net income and total asset figures within their fiscal year.

– Taylor Shoptaw

MAA Continues Acquisition Spurt

Memphis-based MAA, formerly known as Mid-America Apartment Communities, has acquired Tattersall at Tapestry Park, a 279-unit upscale apartment community located in the Southeast sub-market of Jacksonville, Fla.

Tattersall at Tapestry Park is a condo-quality community developed in 2009 as the second phase of a mixed-use development project. The first phase of the development – which was not acquired by MAA – includes condominiums, retail and office space, restaurants and a hotel.

The acquired community includes a four-story parking garage, a lakefront walking trail, sundeck pool and other resident facilities.

The community is between the beaches and downtown Jacksonville and offers close proximity to a number of major employers in the area, including the regional corporate headquarters of Fidelity National Financial and CSX. The area is also home to two of Jacksonville’s top employers: Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Merrill Lynch.

“Jacksonville is North Florida’s employment hub and home to the largest deepwater port in the South,” Al Campbell, MAA executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a release. “We believe Jacksonville will continue to offer strong leasing fundamentals for the foreseeable future.”

The acquisition was funded by common stock issuances through MAA’s at-the-market program and borrowings under current credit facilities.

The acquisition marks MAA’s fifth apartment acquisition in two months.

On May 2, the firm announced the acquisition of two new, high-end Florida apartment communities – The Retreat at Magnolia Parke Apartments in Gainesville and Atlantic Crossing in Jacksonville.

One month later, MAA entered the Richmond, Va., market with the purchase of The Hamptons at Hunton Park, a 300-unit upscale apartment community.

Most recently, MAA announced June 14 its purchase of Avala at Savannah Quarters – a 256-unit apartment community in Savannah, Ga.

– Sarah Baker

Crye-Leike Launches New Mobile App

Crye-Leike Realtors Inc. recently unveiled its mobile app available for free download, allowing people to search and find information such as a local office, agent, open houses, nearby listings, property pictures and more.

“Buyers in the current real estate market have many choices and come to expect great pictures and information to help them make the best decision,” said Harold Crye, co-founder and CEO of Crye-Leike. “The more technology advances, the easier it is for buyers to find exactly what they’re looking for, saving time and money.”

Crye-Leike’s app store offerings for Apple and Android cover 95 percent of its mobile visitors’ device preferences. The main benefit of the app is that it shows viewers properties for sale based on their current location using a phone’s GPS, said Angie Vandenbergh, Crye-Leike web manager.

“Our mobile app allows for more spontaneity when searching for a home,” Vandenbergh said. “If you are in a neighborhood you like and want to know what’s for sale nearby, the app will tell you. If you are out and about on a Sunday and want to know if there are any open houses around, the app will tell you.”

The iPhone and Android apps are available at www.crye-leike.com/main/mobileapp.php.

In addition to the new mobile app, Crye-Leike’s technology work has recently won two awards from Leading Real Estate Companies Of The World, a global network of 600 premier real estate firms. Crye-Leike.com was honored with the “Best Website Search Engine Optimization Strategy” Award, and, for the second year in a row, Crye-Leike.com also earned LeadingRE’s Website Quality Certification.

– Sarah Baker

Memphis Facility Offers 'Any Lab Test Now'

A new facility is providing lab tests that don’t require physician’s orders or insurance coverage.

Any Lab Test Now, 5075 Park Ave. in the heart of East Memphis, says it provides hundreds of blood tests, including female and male health and wellness panels, pre-employment drug screening, complete blood panels, paternity testing and DNA tests.

Costs start at $49, and results are usually available within 24 to 48 hours.

After analyzing test results, Any Lab Test Now employees let people know whether their results fall within a normal range. If results are outside that range, staff recommend people take the test results to a physician.

The facility also administers flu shots and vitamin B-12 injections.

Founded in 1992 and based in Atlanta, Any Lab Test Now has about 120 facilities nationwide.

Andrew Rock, who recently opened the Memphis location, said his goal is to make health information available to everyone in a cost-effective and convenient manner.

He also said that because the company doesn’t file insurance – although patients can do so on their own – and the process is streamlined, his facility is able to offer lower pricing.

Rock said he believes lab testing should be available to everyone, regardless of whether they have been to a doctor beforehand.

“The intention is not to circumvent doctors, but to help doctors make diagnoses more quickly,” Rock said.

– Aisling Maki