Shops at Rock Creek Sell for $4.4 Million

The Shops at Rock Creek, a two-building, 61,000-square-foot strip shopping center built on two parcels in 2006, has sold for $4.4 million.

The buyers are Southstar Holdings UNCC LLC, with a 65 percent interest, and RC Memphis LLC, with a 35 percent interest. The seller is Wells Fargo Bank NA, acting as trustee for Morgan Stanley Capital I Inc., commercial mortgage pass-through certificates series 2006-IQ12. The buyers financed the purchase with a $3.4 million loan through First Tennessee Bank NA.

The center sits on 5.5 acres at the southwest corner of North Germantown Parkway and Rockcreek Parkway. The Shelby County Assessor’s combined 2010 appraisal of the two parcels is $6.8 million.

The center was one of several retail sites sold at a foreclosure sale in October. That sale was because the owners of The Shops at Rock Creek, Kapree Rock Creek LLC and Memphis Rock Creek LLC, defaulted on an $11.7 million loan dated November 2006. Following that sale, Centerline Servicing Inc., the properties’ receiver, contracted the Memphis office of Colliers International to lease, manage and sell the properties. For details, see the Oct. 15 issue of The Daily News at www.memphisdailynews.com.

A message left for the president of Southstar Holdings UNCC was not returned by press time.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Kate Simone

Loeb Properties Exploring Overton Square Opportunities

A new developer may be getting in on the act soon to redevelop Overton Square.

Loeb Properties is in the “exploratory stages” of considering some aspect of redevelopment at the square, confirmed broker James Rasberry.

Rasberry, principal of Rasberry CRE, declined to share details beyond that because the discussions are at an early stage.

The news comes after the failure several months of ago by plans by Oklahoma-based Sooner Development to tear down several of the square’s older buildings to make way for a grocery store and smaller retail buildings.

– Andy Meek

Ford Veto of Leave Resolution Holds But Leaves Scars

Outgoing interim Shelby County Mayor Joe Ford got his way on his veto of a plan to change the rules for county employees who “bank” county leave with the intent of cashing some of it in near the end of their tenure. But Ford probably has a bone to pick with his human resources director in what amounts to the last week of his administration.

The new Shelby County Commission and county mayor take office Sept. 1 with an oath of office ceremony at 10 a.m. at The Cannon Center. The resolution approved by the Commission earlier this month would have created a new policy for the leave and put a new cap on its use.

Ford vetoed the resolution near the end of Monday’s County Commission meeting. Only five commissioners voted for a veto override, three short of the two-thirds majority to override. Ford again denounced the resolution, saying it would take away benefits guaranteed to county employees.

Commissioner Steve Mulroy ultimately voted against overriding Ford’s veto. But Mulroy said he backed the principle behind Commissioner Mike Carpenter’s resolution. And he said figures he got from the county human resources department show abuse of the practice of “banking” leave isn’t a problem among county employees just starting out, but does become a problem as such benefits increase after the 25-year mark.

He said Carpenter had done a “great service” in trying to change a “system in need of some reform.”

Ford said Human Resources Director Mike Lewis shouldn’t have given Mulroy the figures. Carpenter said he got the same information from Lewis months earlier, before Ford became interim mayor.

– Bill Dries

Legacy Wealth Management Honored by Industry Mags

Memphis-based Legacy Wealth Management has scooped up a couple of recent distinctions – being named to Wealth Manager magazine’s 2010 Top Wealth Managers list and winning a prominent ranking according to Financial Advisor magazine.

The Wealth Manager magazine ranking lists clients based on assets under management. Legacy’s average assets under management per client is about $1.2 million.

Legacy ranked 117 out of 456 registered investment advisers in the nation, based on total assets last year, according to Financial Advisor magazine. Legacy, which employs 24 wealth management professionals and has been in business almost three decades, reported about $660 million in total assets last year.

– Andy Meek

UTHSC Seeks Donations For Pakistan Flooding Victims

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center will host a donation event for Pakistani flooding victims from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday in the General Education Building, 8 S. Dunlap St.

Cash donations and checks will be accepted. Checks should be made out to the Red Cross with the words “Pakistan Relief” on the note line. Funds will be delivered to the Red Cross by the end of the business day.

– Tom Wilemon

Plant Expansion Brings Jobs to Water Valley, Miss.

BorgWarner Drivetrain Systems, a global power train supplier, has announced it is expanding its Water Valley operations. The expansion will create about 120 new jobs by the end of 2012.

The facility now employs 300 workers, but some of the new positions will be filled by current employees as the plant phases out some of its older product lines.

BorgTrain will introduce a new generation of transmission controls, which is expected to add two new production lines.

The Mississippi Development Authority helped facilitate the expansion through the Job Protection Grant Program and workforce training. The Tennessee Valley Authority also provided support.

BorgWarner Inc. is based in Auburn Hills, Mich. The company’s customers include large automakers and John Deere.

– Tom Wilemon

Kraft Foods Launches Campaign to Fight Hunger

Kraft Foods has kicked off its Huddle to Fight Hunger campaign with the goal of providing 20 million meals to Feeding America.

The company has coordinated a campaign that uses newspaper and magazine ads, the cinema, consumer incentives, social and mobile activities and the celebrity of Memphis chefs Pat and Gina Neely, sports journalist Erin Andrews and Joe Montana.

Potential participants can visit huddletofighthunger.com to learn more. Kraft will donate one meal to the local Feeding America food bank for each person that joins the “Huddle” on the site.

Participants can redeem coupons made available online and in newspapers nationwide on Sept. 26 and Kraft will donate a meal to Feeding America, a hunger relief agency that has a network of more than 200 food banks and 61,000 agency partners.

– Taylor Shoptaw