Developer Files Loan on Thompson & Co. Space

Union-Main Holdings LLC has filed a $980,000 construction loan through Metropolitan Bank to redevelop the 17,120-square-foot space at 77 S. Main St., where Thompson & Co. advertising agency will relocate.

The property, whose alternate address is 85 Union Ave., is at the southwest corner of Main and Union and formerly housed Smooth Moves. The Center City Development Corp. last month awarded the longtime ad agency a $15,000 grant for improvements at the new space.

CCDC officials also approved a $200,000 development loan for Union-Main Holdings. The company’s chief manager, Tom Marsh, signed the bank deed.

Construction is slated to wrap in the fall with Thompson & Co. moving in Oct. 1.

The reuse is another positive development for the Downtown core, especially the Union-Main intersection, where an upscale grocery store called City Market will open on the ground floor of Radio Center Flats at 66 S. Main St.

For more on Thompson & Co.’s move and the redevelopment of its new space, see the April 28 issue of The Daily News, www.memphisdailynews.com.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Eric Smith

Fed Reserve’s Bullard Calls for Preserving Authority

In a speech to Tennessee bankers Wednesday, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis president James Bullard called for preserving the central bank’s authority amid a financial reform debate in Washington that could change how the Fed operates.

It’s a theme repeated often in recent public speeches by Bullard, whose Fed district includes Memphis.

“Allowing short-term politics to mix too closely with monetary policy leads to poor economic outcomes,” Bullard told bankers at the gathering in Nashville, according to a copy of his presentation. “This has occurred frequently in the developing world over the past 50 years.

“In the U.S., erosion of Fed independence could result in a 1970s-style period of volatility. The consequences for the U.S. and the global economy would be large. No one would be served well by this outcome.”

The day before Bullard gave his remarks, the U.S. Senate by a vote of 96-0 approved a measure requiring the government to conduct an audit of the Fed’s emergency lending programs the central bank executed in the wake of the recession.

More than 120 bankers from across Tennessee were in Nashville Wednesday for “A Day with the Commissioner” hosted by Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions Commissioner Greg Gonzales along with the St. Louis Fed and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

– Andy Meek

Methodist University, Berry Named Centers of Excellence

Cianna Medical Inc. has named Methodist University Hospital and Dr. Michael P. Berry of the Breast Clinic of Memphis Centers of Excellence in accelerated partial breast irradiation for their use of the SAVI applicator.

The SAVI applicator is used as part of breast conservation therapy. It delivers a form of radiation therapy called breast brachytherapy, which targets the tumor site from inside the breast.

Breast conservation therapy includes lumpectomy, the surgical removal of the cancerous tissue plus tissues immediately around the tumor followed by radiation.

To qualify for the Center of Excellence designation, physicians, medical physicists and clinical staff were required to complete a comprehensive training and education program to demonstrate their ability to deliver radiation therapy with SAVI.

Twenty facilities and surgeons in the Southeast were named Centers of Excellence.

Cianna Medical Inc. is a medical device company that manufactures and markets the SAVI breast brachytherapy applicator for the delivery of radiation after lumpectomy surgery.

– Taylor Shoptaw

House Passes Bill to Ban Fake Marijuana, Cocaine

The state House has approved a bill to make it illegal to produce or distribute in Tennessee any substance that mimics the effects of marijuana or cocaine.

The proposal sponsored by Democratic Rep. Ulysses Jones of Memphis passed on a 96-0 vote on Thursday. The Senate, which voted for its version on a 32-0 vote last month, would have to agree to minor changes made in the House before the bill could head for the governor’s signature.

A product known as K2 that is commonly sold as incense is a synthetic compound chemically similar to the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Users roll it up in joints or inhale it from pipes.

Though banned in most of Europe, K2’s key ingredients are not regulated on the federal level in the United States.

– The Associated Press

Mortgage Rates Drop to Lowest Level This Year

Mortgage rates fell this week to the lowest level of the year. The drop was caused by a high demand for U.S. government securities, which closely track mortgage rates, as investors fled risky European debt.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dipped to 4.93 percent this week from 5 percent a week earlier, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. It was the lowest level since mid-December, when rates averaged 4.81 percent.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, often tracking the interest rate paid on long-term Treasury bonds.

The average fixed rate dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent late last year, pushed down by a campaign by the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs for consumers. The program ended this spring, but rates have remained low, especially after fears that Greece’s government would default shook world markets.

The last time rates for 30-year fixed mortgages averaged less than 5 percent was the week of March 25, when they were 4.99 percent.

This week, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.3 percent, down from 4.36 percent last week.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.95 percent, down from 3.97 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 4.02 percent from 4.07 percent.

– The Associated Press

Camp Good Grief Accepting Applications

The Baptist Trinity Center for Good Grief is accepting applications for the 12th annual Camp Good Grief, July 26-28.

The camp will take place at the Pinecrest Conference and Retreat Center in LaGrange, Tenn.

Transportation, lunches and snacks will be provided for the daily activities from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Bereavement staff will work with children ages 6 to 12 who have lost a loved one in the last two years.

Applications are due May 28. For more information, call 767-6767.

– Tom Wilemon

Camp Set For Children With ADHD

A team of professional social workers, educators and medical personnel from The Boling Center at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center will staff a camp for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

The camp will be from June 27 to July 1 at St. Columba Episcopal Center at 4577 Billy Maher Road.

There are two programs: One for children ages 6 to 11 and another for those ages 12 and 13.

To learn more about the camp, visit www.uthsc.edu/bcdd or call Belinda Hardy at 448-6669 or email btate@uthsc.edu.

– Tom Wilemon