Appling Farms Property Financed for $10 Million

     VLE Properties II Inc. has filed a $10.2 million mortgage through AmSouth Bank, now Regions Bank, for about 15 acres in Appling Farms Business Park that the company bought in 2006.
     The property is west of Appling Road north of Interstate 40. VLE bought the land Nov. 30 from Belz Investco GP and Belz Investment Co. LP for $2.3 million, financing it at that time through AmSouth for $1.8 million.
     An outline plan for the 90-acre Appling Farms Business Park, formerly Whitten Business Park, was filed in October 2005.
     The $10 million mortgage was signed by Vick L. Etheridge, president of VLE Properties II Inc. Calls for details were not returned.

Buckeye Plans Sale Of North Carolina Facility

     Buckeye Technologies Inc. plans to sell its Fiberline operation in Lumberton, N.C., company officials announced Tuesday.
     Buckeye has retained Morgan Keegan and Co. Inc. as its exclusive financial adviser in connection with the possible sale of the Lumberton facility.
     The Lumberton operation has the capacity to produce 8,000 metric tons of fiber a year and currently is operating at about 90 percent capacity with annual sales revenues of about $14 million.
     Since September 2001, the Lumberton facility has been producing bleached cotton fiber using a batch bleaching process to treat a variety of cotton fibers.
     "In August of 2003, we consolidated the Lumberton cotton fibers operation into our Memphis facility due to the decline in demand for cotton content printing and writing papers," Buckeye chairman John B. Crowe said in a statement. "Since 2003, the Lumberton team has made the necessary modifications to manufacturing costs and product mix to become a profitable, growing and labor efficient stand-alone operation."
     Crowe added that if a suitable sales arrangement was not found, Buckeye would continue to operate the Lumberton facility.

Nissan's Memphis Operations Scheduled to Crank Up Soon

     Nissan North America plans to have its new regional distribution facility open for operations by April.
     In December, it was announced that Nissan had chosen Memphis to launch a 413,000-square-foot facility that would be in southeast Shelby County.
     The facility will be in the Delta Point One building, a 127-acre business park near Holmes and Getwell roads. The business park was developed by Indianapolis-based Lauth Property Group.
     "We are pleased to partner with Nissan to develop a facility that will serve the company's needs and provide jobs to many people in the Memphis area for years to come," Lauth's Midwest regional director Tag Birge said in a statement.
     The Nissan facility will employ about 40 to 50 employees, said Fred Standish, director of corporate communications for Nissan. Those employees will come from a third-party provider.
     "It's going to support all Nissan dealers in the U.S.," Standish said. "It'll handle about 70,000 of what we call slow-moving parts numbers. These are parts that are not ordered a lot, you know, as opposed to oil filters, which are ordered frequently; these would be parts that are not ordered that frequently."
     Following Nissan's announcement to open in the Delta Point building, Lauth officials said they expect other companies to move quickly into the center as well.
     Once the building is fully leased, Lauth intends to break ground on Delta Point Two, a 493,000-square-foot distribution and warehouse facility. Lauth's master plan eventually calls for four industrial buildings at Delta Point.