CVS Closes On Cordova Land

CVS has closed on the 1.8-acre parcel of land on Germantown Parkway in Cordova where it will build its next area pharmacy. Terms of the deal weren’t immediately available.

The Daily News first reported in June that Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS, the retail division of CVS Caremark, would buy the land from Gill Properties and bring a retail store to the site of the former Memphis Area Home Builders Association headquarters at 776 N. Germantown Parkway.

The company planned to buy half of the 3.6-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Germantown and Walnut Run Road for its store, whose address will be 786 N. Germantown Parkway.

“This sale to the CVS agent represents the culmination of almost two years of negotiation with this national tenant,” said Gill Properties president Ray Gill, who will be responsible for razing the existing 17,000-square-foot structure and widening the right-turn lane on Germantown.

Gill told The Daily News in June he was “thrilled” to complete the sale, which had been in the works for months.

CVS’s regional developer, Redd Realty Services Inc., an affiliate of A.M. Redd Jr. Inc., earlier this year filed a $501,000 permit with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement to build the store.

CVS plans to build a 13,225-square-foot, 24-hour, drive-through pharmacy, which is set to open in early 2011, according to a release distributed Wednesday morning by Gill.

Gill bought the property in December for $1.8 million, with financing provided by Rick Wood and Jon Van Hoozer of Financial Federal Savings Bank.

The former MAHBA headquarters is a 16,873-square-foot building completed in 1985. The organization sold the building to Gill because it wanted to downsize. With CVS buying half of the land, Gill plans to develop the other half.

– Eric Smith

Trust One Taps New CEO; Metropolitan Adds Equity

Memphis-based Trust One Bank, part of Synovus Financial Corp., has tapped a Georgia banker and Memphis native as its new president and CEO.

Terence Lewis succeeds William “Bill” Nigh in the top spot. Nigh a few weeks ago was named president and CEO of The Bank of Nashville, a division of Synovus, as well as regional CEO for Synovus banking divisions in Nashville, Chattanooga and Memphis.

“Terence’s 20 years of experience as a banker in the metro-Atlanta market and his extensive management and lending skills make him the ideal choice to lead our Memphis team,” said Kessel Stelling, Synovus president, chief operating officer and acting CEO.

In other banking news, Mississippi-based Metropolitan Bank, which has a co-headquarters in Memphis, has added lots of new capital to its balance sheet.

Metropolitan BancGroup Inc. and its banking subsidiary, Metropolitan Bank, have announced the completion of an equity raise that yielded almost $11 million for the bank.

Metropolitan, which has assets of about $450 million, is operating ahead of its profitability projections for the 28-month-old private client and commercial bank. And it says the new capital will make the bank even stronger. The bank expects its capital ratios at the end of the month to rise – to total capital levels of 12 percent, Tier 1 capital of 11 percent and Risk-Based Capital of 15.6 percent.

– Andy Meek

Bass Pro Founder Sees Vital Partnership with DU

Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris said this week he hopes Ducks Unlimited will be a partner with his company in the planning of attractions for The Pyramid.

Bass Pro Shops has signed a lease with the city of Memphis to put a store and other attractions in The Pyramid. It took more than four years to reach the agreement during which some civic leaders expressed their doubts.

At Ducks Unlimited for the unveiling of a special duck stamp cachet, Morris said he’s ready to begin making plans.

“We’re excited. It’s time to get on with it,” he said. “One of our main daydreams for inside the big huge building is to celebrate the whole Delta and the flyway and partner with Ducks Unlimited … to showcase water fowl and the eco-systems of this region.”

Bass Pro Shops president and CEO Jim Hagale has said the store’s theme will focus on the flyway ecosystem. And new renderings of The Pyramid’s interior feature a recreation of a cypress swamp on the ground level of the structure with walkways and retail spaces over the swamp as well as a waterfall.

Hagale has also said Morris will be personally involved in the planning of the Memphis store.

“It’s kind of a challenging building,” Morris said “I think we’re excited that we can really invigorate that grand old building.”

Before any of that starts, the city begins landlord improvements that will include a seismic retrofit and removing the seating bowl from the building’s original incarnation as a 20,000-seat arena.

– Bill Dries

Whistleblower Lawsuits Focus of Chamber Event

The Greater Memphis Chamber’s Small Business Council will host a legal presentation on whistleblower lawsuits at an Aug. 3 breakfast featuring Jeff Weintraub, managing partner of Weintraub Stock PC.

Weintraub’s talk is titled “Fired For Complaining! Whistle Blower Law Suits: The Plaintiff Bar’s Most Dangerous Challenge to Employers.”

The breakfast is will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Lichterman Nature Center, 5992 Quince Road.

This event is free for chamber members, but space is limited so RSVP by Friday. To sign up or for more information, contact Kim Harden at 526-0431 or kimh@weintraubstock.com.

– Eric Smith

Bromberg Headlines Folk Conference

Folk musician David Bromberg will be the featured keynote speaker for the 2011 International Folk Alliance Conference on February 16 in Memphis.

In addition to his solo career, Bromberg has played as a session musician for artists like Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Ringo Starr and Willie Nelson. In 2002, he moved to Delaware to establish David Bromberg Fine Violins, an instrument retail and repair shop.

Conference registration is now open for the Folk Alliance Conference, which will be held Feb. 16-20 at the Downtown Memphis Marriott. For more information, contact Alexandra Felgar at 522-1170 or alex@folk.org.

– Andy Meek

Early Registration Ending for MBGH Conference

Early registration ends Saturday for the Memphis Business Group on Health’s annual conference.

The theme for the Sept. 9 conference is “Tackling the Elephant in the Room: Healthcare Benefit Cost Management Tools & Solutions.”

For more information, contact the MBGH at 767-9585 or e-mail Janis Slivinski at JSlivinski@MemphisBusinessGroup.org.

– Tom Wilemon