Getwell Walgreens Financed for $2.9M

1201 Get Well LLC has filed a $2.9 million trust deed through TD Bank NA for a Walgreens building at 1201 Getwell Road.

1201 Getwell LLC bought the site in October for $4.9 million. Sale documents filed at the time list a New Jersey address for the limited liability company. The building is leased to Walgreen Co. and tax bills are being sent to the company’s Deerfield, Ill., headquarters.

The property is a 14,462-square-foot Walgreens store on 2.3 acres at the southwest corner of Rhodes Avenue and Getwell Road. The store was built in 2004, and the Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2011 appraisal is $2.1 million.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Three Attorneys Join Jackson Lewis Locally

Three attorneys have joined the Memphis office of Jackson Lewis LLP law firm.

Labor law practitioner James Stock Jr., has joined the firm as partner. Also, Robbin Hutton and Carrie Kinsella have joined the firm as of counsel and associate, respectively.

Stock is a top-rated senior litigator and counselor in labor and employment law and has been nationally recognized for both trial and appellate work. Hutton has more than 15 years of experience in the areas of employment and labor law, insurance defense and civil litigation, with nine years exclusively devoted to employment and labor matters.

Kinsella regularly represents and advises employers on various employment-related issues, including discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, among other matters.

– Andy Meek

Crye-Leike Commercial to Auction Memphis Sites

Crye-Leike Commercial Auction Services will conduct an auction for multiple properties in the Memphis area Feb. 23 at noon at Crye-Leike’s headquarters, 6525 Quail Hollow Road.

There are three separate sellers, all properties are positioned to be sold and the sellers are highly motivated to sell them, said principal auctioneer Bill Caller.

The first featured property is about 31 acres at 4530 Clarke Road in Hickory Hill South’s 38141 ZIP code. The property, which is being sold absolute, includes a house and currently has residential zoning. Caller said it also has potential for future commercial or industrial use.

The second property is Players Forest Office Park off Players Club Parkway in Quince/Ridgeway’s 38119 ZIP code. There are nine tracts/wooded lots located inside the gated office community ranging from a 1/2 acre to 1.6 acres. The properties will be sold absolute and can be sold individually, in combination or as a whole.

The last property includes three flex warehouse buildings at 4652, 4660 and 4668 Damascus Road, ranging from 7,450 square feet to 10,160 square feet. There is a published minimum bid of $83,000 each.

Caller said the Damascus lots have already generated interest. The properties will be available for inspection Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We’ve already gotten two pre-auction offers on them,” Caller said. “They were decent offers, but not good enough to take them off of the auction block at this time.”

For all sets of properties, there is a 10 percent buyer’s premium that applies to each high bid. Buyers need to be prepared to provide a 10 percent down payment and sign a real estate contract the day of the auction.

– Sarah Baker

Int'l Paper CEO Faraci Joins Fish and Wildlife Board

John V. Faraci, chairman and CEO of International Paper, has joined the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Board.

Carl R. Kuehner III, chairman of the board of directors of the NFWF, announced Faraci’s appointment.

Faraci serves as chairman of the Brazil-U.S. Business Council and sits on the boards of United Technologies Corp. and the American Forest & Paper Association.

Faraci also serves as a trustee of Denison University and the American Enterprise Institute, and on the advisory board of the Moscow School of Management – SKOLKOVO. He is a former board member of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation.

– Sarah Baker

Christ Community Receives March of Dimes Grant

The March of Dimes Tennessee Chapter awarded a $20,000 grant to Christ Community Health Services.

The grant will be used to expand services in Christ Community’s CenteringPregnancy program. CenteringPregnancy is a national program started by the Boston-based Centering Healthcare Institute Inc. to combat infant mortality.

Christ Community Health Services launched its CenteringPregnancy site in 2008 at the Broad Avenue Health Center.

With the March of Dimes funding, CenteringPregnancy will be able to expand services to 40 Spanish-speaking clients and accommodate service needs for 100 black clients.

– Taylor Shoptaw

Gallery to Premiere Withers Documentary

The Withers Collection Museum and Gallery, 333 Beale St., will feature a premiere Thursday, Jan. 26, of a new documentary on civil rights era photographer Ernest Withers.

The documentary, titled “Quarterback,” includes interviews with the photographer taped before his death in 2007. The screening starts at 6:30 p.m. as part of a benefit for launching a new media production company.

The museum and gallery features Withers’ photographs, which span most of the 20th century in Memphis and the South.

– Bill Dries

UTHSC Prof Awarded Grant to Test Bone Graft Device

Dr. Thomas W. Currey, associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Chattanooga campus, has received an $873,964 award from the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity. UTHSC’s main campus is located in the Memphis Medical District.

The money will help fund a two-year study focused on developing and performing in-vitro and preliminary testing of a nanofiber-based, bio-resorbable bone graft substitute.

The research will be a joint university and private-sector endeavor that offers the potential for future nanomedicine research efforts in multiple medical disciplines. The university team will collaborate with professionals at such companies as eSpin Technologies in Chattanooga, which will develop the nanofiber device, and Advanced Plasma Products in Knoxville, which will perform and test the sterilization technique.

– Aisling Maki

Poll: Texting While Driving as Bad as Drunk Driving

A University of Tennessee poll shows an overwhelming majority of Tennesseans think texting behind the wheel is as unsafe as drunken driving. Yet 27 percent of respondents said they had texted while driving in the previous month.

The poll was conducted by UT’s Center for Transportation Research. It showed a nearly equal percentage of people think drunken driving is highly dangerous, but 4 percent of respondents said they had done it in the last 30 days, according to The Knoxville News Sentinel.

Center director Jerry Everett said drivers seem to recognize the behaviors could have disastrous results, yet some rationalize that it’s OK to take the risk.

The telephone survey included responses from 928 Tennessee residents between February and April.

– The Associated Press

Sales Contracts for Homes Dip From 19-Month High

The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell in December after hitting the highest level in a year and a half a month earlier.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday its index of sales agreements fell 3.5 percent last month to a reading of 96.6. That’s down from November’s reading of 100.1. The reading is still the second highest since April 2010, the last month that buyers could qualify for a federal home-buying tax credit.

A reading of 100 is considered healthy.

– The Associated Press