Permits Filed For Oak Hall Building

     The owners of the Oak Hall Building at 555 Perkins Road Extended have filed building permits for a renovation that will give the 42-year-old structure a fresh look.
     Glen Bascom Sr., a partner with the building's ownership group, 555 Perkins LLC, filed a $1 million building permit on the property. It was filed simultaneously with a $600,000 permit by Kent Davis, the president and CEO of First Capital Bank, which will occupy the first floor of the 91,000-square-foot building.
     Glen Bascom Jr., another partner in 555 Perkins LLC, said the company has put a construction contract out to bid and hopes to make a decision on the general contractor by March 1.
     The project architect is Renaissance Group of Lakeland, while Memphis-based Commercial Alliance Management LLC will handle leasing for the building, which was built in 1966 and is about one-third occupied, Bascom Jr. said.
     555 Perkins LLC is a partnership between Bascom Jr., Bascom Sr. and Chris Montesi. The group bought the ground lease of the Oak Hall building for $1.2 million from LaSalle Bank NA in December 2006. Bascom Sr. had owned the land since the late 1980s and had been receiving rent checks for the building.
     Bascom Jr., who also owns Bascom Realty LLC of Arlington, said the company first considered emptying the building to make the renovation smoother, but that changed once the owners began meeting with existing tenants.
     "A lot of them really want to stay," Bascom Jr. said. "They've been there for a long time. We understand that, so we're working around that issue. We're trying to relocate everybody on the third floor of the building, that way we'll have them all on one floor and construction guys can work around them."
     As plans become firm, 555 Perkins LLC soon will begin looking for new tenants that will complement Germantown-based First Capital.
     "We're trying to make it a real attractive place," Bascom Jr. said, "and we're kind of picky on who we want to have next to the bank."
     Construction timeline and the project price will be announced in early March, Bascom Jr. said.
     

Five Foreclosures Filed Against Alexander

     Five first-run foreclosure notices appear starting on Page 31 of today's Daily News for properties owned by Charles Alexander. The latest notices are in addition to more than 10 filed earlier this week.
     SunTrust Mortgage Inc. is the owner and holder of mortgages for three of the properties: 2169-2171 Marble Ave., 715 Richmond Ave. and 566 Boston St. Residential Funding Corp. is the owner and holder of the loans for the remaining two properties, 662 Eads Ave. and 1443 Emmason St.
     The Boston Street and Richmond Avenue properties are scheduled for foreclosure sale March 6 at noon at the southwest Adams Avenue entrance of the Shelby County Courthouse. The other properties are slated for sale March 13 at the same location.
     With the exception of the Eads Avenue location, for which Alexander took out a loan in June 2006, the properties were mortgaged in late 2005.
     All of the properties are subject to a tax lien filed by the Internal Revenue Service in October 2006 for $1,247.10. Oakland Deposit Bank is listed as a lienholder on the Boston Street property.
     The Daily News in the past few days has published 13 first-run foreclosure notices for properties owned by Alexander, in addition to the five notices beginning today.
     Alexander is listed on the Tennessee Secretary of State Business Information site as the registered agent for ASIC Inc., a real estate brokerage company with a residential Germantown address. ASIC Inc. was administratively dissolved in late 2004, according to the site.
     ASIC Inc.'s principal address on the Secretary of State site is 3415 Bedford Lane in Germantown, which is a residence that was sold to Brenda Smedley by Charles W. and Patricia Alexander on April 30, 2007, for $864,000, according to the Shelby County Register.
     However, an online search turns up a Collierville address for ASIC's office. Calls to a number listed with the Collierville address were not answered.
     Alexander's address, according to the Secretary of State's site, is 494 N. Hollywood St., which, according to an online search, is also the address for Great American Homes of Tennessee Inc. The number for Great American Homes has been disconnected.
     For more information on the past foreclosure notices filed against Alexander, visit www.memphisdailynews.com.
     

2007 Freight Activity Down, DOT Says

     Freight activity fell in 2007 for the second straight year, while a passenger index rose, according to government data released Wednesday.
     The Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said its freight transportation services index, which measures changes in the output of services by the railroad, air freight and trucking industries, was 108.8 in December, a 0.1 percent loss from the same month in 2006.
     The freight index also fell 1.3 percent from its November level. For all of 2007, the freight index fell 0.1 percent compared with a drop of 2.2 percent in 2006.
     The freight index started in January 1990 at 66.6, and peaked in November 2005 at 113.1.
     Canadian National Railway Co., Union Pacific Corp., Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and CSX Corp. are among the largest railroad operators. Trucking companies include Con-Way Inc., Marten Transport Ltd., YRC Worldwide Inc. and Knight Transportation Inc. Air freight providers included FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc.
     The passenger transportation index, which measures local transit, air travel and intercity railroads, gained 2.5 percent to 117.1 in December from a year earlier. That index, which also was up 1.8 percent from its November level, started at 70.5 in 1990 and peaked at 117.4 last August.
     For 2007, the passenger index grew 2.5 percent, the sixth straight annual increase.
     The government's combined freight and passenger transportation services index in December was 110.5, a 0.6 percent gain compared with the same month in 2006. It started at 67.1 in 1990 and peaked at 112.6 in May 2006.
     The December government data are preliminary and scheduled to be revised in four months.
     

Cordova Resident Chosen For Taxpayer Advocacy Panel

     Cordova resident Gregory Blanchard has been chosen by the U.S. Treasury Department to serve on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. The group's primary functions include listening to taxpayer concerns and making note of items that can help improve service and customer satisfaction with the Internal Revenue Service.
     Blanchard, a compensation adviser for FedEx Express and a small-business owner, is one of 98 volunteers serving on the panel.
     TAP members devote 300 to 500 hours a year doing work related to their panel responsibilities. The Taxpayer Advocate Service provides funding and staff support, and annual reports on the group's work are submitted to the treasury secretary and the IRS commissioner.
     

Luminetx Names Schnee VP of Global Marketing

     Christopher A. Schnee has been named vice president of global marketing for Memphis-based Luminetx Corp.
     In making the announcement, company officials said Schnee's appointment as vice president of global marketing will help to solidify the company's executive team and positioning for major market expansion this year.
     Schnee has more than 12 years' experience in medical imaging and capital equipment. He leads Luminetx's product development, strategic brand and customer-focused marketing directives. He also spearheads clinical and customer service divisions and is responsible for international distribution and development needs.
     Before joining Luminetx, Schnee served as director of marketing for Austin, Texas-based Healthtronics. He also has held management positions at Smith & Nephew and GE Healthcare.
     

Davidson Hotel Co. Names McCurdy VP of Operations

     Michael J. McCurdy has been named vice president of operations for Memphis-based Davidson Hotel Co.
     Edward J. Buckley has been named general manager of the Renaissance Chicago North Shore in Illinois, the position previously held by McCurdy.
     Since joining Davidson in 1997, McCurdy also has served as general manager for the 312-room Park Vista Resort Hotel in Gatlinburg, Tenn., and the 215-room Omni Indianapolis North Hotel in Indiana. Prior to that, he held a number of managerial positions for the Snavely Hotel Group and for Harley Hotels.
     McCurdy earned a bachelor's degree in food service and housing administration from Pennsylvania State University and a master's of business administration from the University of Tennessee.