Frayser Apartments Face Foreclosure Sale

The owner of the Whitney Manor and Frayser Manor apartment complexes in Frayser has been foreclosed, and both properties will be sold on the courthouse steps April 6, according to a notice on Page 39 of today’s print edition of The Daily News, and also at The Daily News Online, www.memphisdailynews.com.

Whitney Manor Real Property Holdings LLC and Frayser Manor Real Property Holdings LLC, which are managed by the same person, defaulted on a $2.4 million loan issued by Madison Realty Capital LP and dated March 14, 2007.

Whitney Manor is a 96-unit apartment complex at 3081 St. Charles Drive. Built in 1968, the complex sits on 6.83 acres at the northeast corner of Steele Street and Whitney Avenue. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2009 appraisal is $1.4 million.

Frayser Manor is a 106-unit apartment complex at 931 Frayser Blvd. Built in 1974, the complex sits on 6 acres near the intersection of Frayser Blvd. and Thomas Street. The assessor’s 2009 appraisal also is $1.4 million.

Daniel Ross signed the trust deed as managing member of Whitney Manor Real Property Holdings LLC and Frayser Manor Real Property Holdings LLC, both of which list a Southington, Conn., address.

The properties will be sold on the steps of the southwest corner of the Shelby County Courthouse April 6 at 10:30 a.m. with Charles S. Sanger serving as successor trustee.

Frayser Manor Inc. was listed on the notice of foreclosure sale as a party that may claim an interest in the property based on a $600,000 trust deed it issued to Whitney Manor Real Property Holdings LLC for the Whitney Manor complex.

Also, Southern Carpet & Tile and the Sherwin Williams Company were listed on the notice of foreclosure sale as parties that may claim an interest based on liens each company filed against the properties.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

Sportsman’s Warehouse Closing Local Stores

Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings announced this week that it will close 23 stores, including its Memphis and Southaven locations.

The Sportsman’s Warehouse Southaven store was in the Southaven Towne Center, which recently has lost other big-box retailers such as Linens ‘N Things, Circuit City and World Market.

The 23 closed stores will be liquidated to reduce bank debt, according a statement by Stuart Utgaard, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. The Midvale, Utah-based company also will sell 15 other stores in the Northwestern states of Oregon, Montana, Washington, North Dakota and Idaho to UFA Co-operative Ltd., a Calgary-based company.

UFA had already invested in Sportsman’s Warehouse and announced in November its plans to buy a majority interest, but the economic situation delayed the buyout.

Utgaard said he hopes the changes will allow the company to move forward as a viable entity with about 2,300 employees.

Tenn. Senate Passes Measure Banning Local Wage Increases

Local governments would be prohibited from imposing a minimum wage higher than the federal rate under a proposal that passed the Senate.

The measure sponsored by Republican Paul Stanley of Germantown was approved 18-13 on Thursday. The companion bill has been assigned to a House subcommittee.

Stanley says the measure is necessary to prevent wage disparity among counties.

However, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle of Memphis opposed the measure because he doesn’t approve of a “centralized government telling us how to live.”

Earlier this month, a proposal to hike the state’s minimum wage for employees who receive tips to $3.28 per hour failed in a House subcommittee.

For more, read the bills S.B. 0083 and H.B. 0064 at http://www.capitol.tn.gov.

Business Inventories Fall by 1 Percent in January

Businesses slashed inventories for a fifth straight month in January as they struggled to cope with a deepening recession.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday businesses reduced their stockpiles by 1 percent in January, essentially in line with the 1.1 percent drop that analysts had forecast.

The five consecutive declines marked the longest stretch of reductions since inventories were cut for 15 straight months from February 2001 to April 2002, a period that covered the country’s last recession.

The 1 percent reduction in inventories followed a revised 1.6 percent drop in December, which was a bigger decline than the 1.3 percent fall originally reported.

For January, inventories were reduced at all levels of the supply chain. Manufacturers cut their stockpiles by 0.8 percent, wholesalers reduced inventories by 0.7 percent and retailers cut inventories by the largest amount of all, a drop of 1.7 percent.

Those declines came in response to plunging sales. Total business sales were down 1 percent in January, following an even bigger 3.4 percent fall in December. Sales for January were down 14 percent from the same period a year ago as the current recession has sharply reduced demand.

The ratio of inventories to sales remained at 1.43 in January, the same level as December. That means it would take 1.43 months to eliminate existing business stockpiles at the January sales pace. That is the highest level of inventories to sales since it stood at 1.44 in September 2001, the month before the last recession ended.

Tenn. Panel Would Get Temp Members Under Bill

Republicans would take control of the State Election Commission three years ahead of schedule under a measure that passed the Senate.

The measure sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, a Collierville Republican, passed the chamber 24-8 on Thursday. The companion bill has been assigned to a House subcommittee.

Republicans won a majority of seats in the Legislature last November, but the five-member State Election Commission still has three Democrats and two Republicans.

Norris’ proposal would add two new members to the commission – both Republicans – to give the GOP a 4-3 majority until 2012, when the extra two seats would be eliminated and the commission would revert to a five-member panel.

Read the full text of S.B. 0547 at http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/.

Weichert, Realtors Moves to New G’Town Location

Weichert, Realtors – Chapman & Associates has moved to a new office at 3059-2 Forest Hill-Irene Road in Germantown.

Weichert’s new Germantown office began operating March 1 and will serve as the agency’s permanent headquarters. The company previously leased office space in Collierville.

Weichert will keep its same phone number, 850-2282.