EMJ Files Permit For Arlington Facility

Earle M. Jorgensen Co., a Lynwood, Calif.-based metal supply and distribution company, has filed a $7 million permit with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement to build a 72,000-square-foot distribution center in Arlington.

The company will build the facility on 11 acres at 3167 Cypress Ridge Drive near the interchange of U.S. 64 and Tenn. 385 (soon to be I-269) in the Eastridge Business Park.

EMJ district manager Steve Bosway said the company will finalize its construction and architecture contract this week. The contractor, yet to be named, will begin work as quickly as possible with completion slated for the fall and move-in scheduled for October.

“Logistically, it’s a good location so we can service our customers in a four-state area – meaning Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and into Alabama,” Bosway said.

EMJ, whose Memphis roots date back to the early 1990s, now operates at 2076 Whitten Road. The move will give the company room to more than double its current space and also help with the recent consolidation of its Little Rock office.

Bosway estimated construction costs at $4 million plus money for new equipment and inventory.

EMJ employs 22 people in the Memphis office. The move won’t mean more jobs right away, but Bosway said the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., tends to grow after opening a new locale.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Eric Smith

Rout Named CEO Of BankTennessee

BankTennessee co-founder and former Shelby County Mayor Jim Rout is the new president and CEO of the Collierville-based bank.

R. Todd Vanderpool is moving from the position of BankTennessee CEO to being president and CEO of the bank’s holding company, BankTennessee Bancshares. Vanderpool also will be the bank’s chief credit officer.

Rout was one of the co-founders of the bank in 1992 and has been a member of the board of directors for the past 10 years.

– Andy Meek

FedEx Names COO For Print Unit

FedEx Corp. named a Sprint Nextel Corp. executive as chief operating officer of its FedEx Office division formerly known as Kinko’s.

FedEx said Tuesday that Kim Dixon would join the company as executive vice president and COO on June 1. She spent 14 years at Sprint Nextel, most recently as senior vice president of consumer sales.

Dixon will oversee global retail operations and planning, real estate and other functions at the Office division, the successor to the Kinko’s copy chain that FedEx bought in 2004.

FedEx Office has more than 1,900 locations and sells copying, printing, signs and other products.

– The Associated Press

Gift to FCBE to Fund U of M Real Estate Chair

The Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis on Wednesday will announce a “major gift that will fund an important new initiative” at the school.

“The initiative involves a new program in sustainable real estate and an endowed chair of excellence for that program,” according to a release. “Focusing on this area makes sense, as, among other things, real estate accounts for 33 percent of energy consumption and 33 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.”

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr., U of M president Shirley Raines, local businessman and longtime FCBE supporter Robert Fogelman, U of M provost Ralph Faudree and FCBE dean Rajiv Grover will be on hand to make the announcement.

The event will be held at the FCBD Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Look for more on this development in a coming issue of The Daily News.

– Eric Smith

Highland Capital to Manage Nashville Bond Funds

Highland Capital Management Corp., a unit of First Horizon National Corp., is acting on behalf of Nashville’s Metro Convention Center Authority to manage funds generated from a recent bond offering for Nashville’s coming new convention center.

Highland is an investment advisory firm with $1.5 billion in assets under management. Memphis-based First Horizon is the parent company of First Tennessee Bank.

– Andy Meek

Memphis Gas Prices Up 2.9 Cents

Average retail gasoline prices have risen 2.9 cents per gallon in the past week in Memphis, averaging $2.77 per gallon, according to MemphisGasPrices.com.

In that time, the national average has increased 2.1 cents per gallon and averages $2.93 per gallon.

In Memphis, gas prices are 63.7 cents per gallon higher than they were a year ago and are 1.1 cents per gallon higher than a month ago.

The national average has increased 6.8 cents per gallon during the past month and is 72.1 cents per gallon higher than one year ago.

– Taylor Shoptaw

Former CEO to Speak At UTHSC Commencement

Dr. Harry Jacobson, the former chief executive officer of Vanderbilt Health System, will deliver the commencement address for 700 health care professionals who will be graduating from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center on May 28.

His speech is titled “Health Care Is a Team Sport.” The ceremony will be at 1:30 p.m. at FedExForum.

Under his leadership, Vanderbilt Medical Center quadrupled its annual research funding to more than $400 million.

The spring graduates include 178 from the College of Allied Health Sciences, 73 from the College of Dentistry, 43 from the College of Graduate Health Sciences, 143 from the College of Medicine, 36 from the College of Nursing, 175 from the College of Pharmacy and 52 from the College of Social Work.

– Tom Wilemon

Metro Median Home Prices See Increase in Q1

Home prices rose in nearly 60 percent of U.S. cities in the first quarter of this year, as the housing market started to stabilize thanks to billions of dollars in federal spending.

The National Association of Realtors says the median sales price for previously occupied homes rose in 91 of 152 metropolitan areas tracked in the January-March quarter versus a year ago. There were double-digit price increases in 29 cities.

That’s a sharp improvement from the fourth quarter of last year, when prices rose in about 40 percent of cities. The national median price was $166,100, or 0.7 percent below the first quarter of last year.

Sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties made up 36 percent of all sales in the first quarter.

– The Associated Press