Cordova Self-Storage Facility Sells for $2.6 Million

Salt Lake City-based Extra Space Properties Two LLC has bought a self-storage facility at 2855 Houston Levee Road from Georgia-based JF Storage Holdings LLC for $2.6 million. No financing deed was filed with the Shelby County Register of Deeds at the time of sale.

The 72,626-square-foot, two-story facility was built in 2006. It sits on 3.7 acres on the west side of Houston Levee Road. The seller, JF Storage Holding, bought the building in 2007 for $4.6 million.

The Shelby County Assessor of Properties’ 2010 appraisal was $2.7 million.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Kate Simone

Pinnacle Announces First-Quarter Expenses

Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced Tuesday the regional air carrier would take a $5.8 million hit when it reports its first quarter earnings next week.

The result will be a fully diluted loss per share of between 15 cents and 20 cents. Without the special items, Pinnacle expected to report diluted earnings or loss per share of 1 cent to 4 cents for the first three months of the year.

The items include non-recurring costs from its new collective bargaining agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association. The agreement included a one-time payment to the union to reimburse it for professional fees. The special items also include the severance and consulting costs paid Phil Trenary when he resigned as Pinnacle’s CEO in March. Trenary is to be paid a consulting fee of $1.7 million for two years of consulting.

The other costs, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, were “severance-related costs” that are part of a plan to take Pinnacle from three subsidiaries to two – one for turbo-prop aircraft and the other for jets.

Pinnacle has three subsidiaries: Pinnacle Airlines Inc., Mesaba Airlines Inc. and Colgan Airlines Inc.

– Bill Dries

Memphis Architecture Firms Recognized for Excellence

The Memphis chapter of the American Institute of Architects honored the city’s top firms for their contributions to excellence in design during the annual Celebration of Architecture Gala April 16 at Ballet Memphis, 7950 Trinity Road.

The Honor of Award of Excellence in the Renovation/Restoration/Rehabilitation Category was presented to archimania for the Memphis Chapter of The Recording Academy, 493 S. Main St. It was the highest honor of the evening.

“This renovation, while modest, celebrates the fact much can be accomplished on a very tight budget,” read the jury comments. “The jury thought the space itself to be a metaphor for jazz improvisation and recognizes that this surely must have been a labor of love by the architects.”

Five Merit Awards were honored, including LRK Inc.’s Jacksonville, Fla., Design Firm (Interiors Category) and Court Square Annex (New Construction Category), Haizlip Studio PLLC and Fisher and Arnold Inc. for the University of Memphis’ University Center (Interiors Category), Hnedak Bobo Group for its Metro 67 Madison Apartments (Renovation/Restoration/Rehabilitation Category), and TRO Jung|Brannen Inc. for the Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Women’s Pavilion (New Construction Category).

Finally, two Citation Awards were bestowed to archimania for its 52 South Front building (Unbuilt Category) and Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects for the Overton Park Levitt Shell Pavilion (Renovation/Restoration/Rehabilitation Category).

The 2011 Design Awards jury was made up of Boston architects Maurice N. Finegold, David Dixon, Nancy Ludwig, Anthony Piermarini and Jeff Stein.

– Sarah Baker

Boyle Investment Named State Conservation Leader

Boyle Investment Co. received Land Conservationist of the Year at the 46th Annual Tennessee Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Awards April 19 in Nashville.

The honor is in recognition of the firm’s recent donation of a critical 290-acre tract of land that includes more than one mile of river frontage to the Wolf River Conservancy. The site – which features incredibly beautiful landscapes, including a largely intact old-growth forest, numerous wetlands and cypress-lined, old-river courses – will be opened as a public natural area.

Nominations came from the federation’s membership and the general public. In the past, TWF has presented the awards to volunteers, wildlife educators, state employees and key legislators, to name a few.

“These awards recognize those individuals and organizations that have made truly meaningful contributions to conservation in Tennessee and to TWF,” TWF CEO Michael Butler said in a statement. “The great work of our past winners lives on today, and the current generation is building upon those successes.”

– Sarah Baker

Evolve Bank Gets New Board Member

Memphis native John Pitts Jr. has joined the board of directors of Evolve Bank & Trust.

Pitts brings vast experience to the bank, having begun his career in commercial real estate in 1989 as a sales executive for Ladd’s Commercial Real Estate Investors. He then went into the same role at First Union Properties.

In 1993, Pitts served as executive vice president of National Bank of Commerce Capital Markets Group and specialized in institutional fixed income sales. In 2005, when NBC was acquired by SunTrust Bank, he remained as a director of SunTrust’s Capital Markets Group.

In 2007, he joined Raymond James and Associates, where he now serves as senior vice president in the institutional fixed income sales division.

– Andy Meek

Mediation Continues in Schools Case

The different sides in the schools consolidation case have already had at least one session with a mediator appointed by U.S. District Court Judge Hardy Mays. And they have another session scheduled for Thursday at an undisclosed location.

Word of the mediation session came in a note posted in the Memphis federal court electronic case file. None of the parties in the lawsuit would comment to reporters after a brief conference in chambers Monday morning with Mays,

“Parties participated in mediation; no settlement reached; further mediation scheduled (for Thursday),” reads the note posted hours later

The note also says a May 3 hearing still remains on the schedule for Mays to either grant the parties more time or hold a hearing on a request for an injunction to stop the Shelby County Commission from appointing a countywide school board. The beginning of a hearing on that matter could signal an end to the attempt to settle the case out of court.

Mays appointed retired Tennessee Criminal Appeals Court Judge Joe G. Riley as mediator last week.

– Bill Dries

Donations Needed for Downtown Pantry

First Church at 204 N. Second St. in Downtown Memphis is in urgent need of donations from the community to serve clients through its Carpenter’s Table Food Pantry.

The turbulent economic climate has left many agencies with dwindling financial resources and empty shelves as more families seek assistance.

Since its inception last year, First Church’s Carpenter’s Table Food Pantry has welcomed pre-screened clients at the front door of Poplar and Second each Saturday to shop for groceries, infant items, and hygiene and cleaning supplies.

The food pantry serves families that qualify as working poor, those who have employment but do not earn enough money to adequately feed their families, striving to be an encouraging force to keep citizens in the work force.

To qualify, clients must live in one of five ZIP codes surrounding First Church and be referred to the program by nonprofit organizations or neighboring churches. Once accepted into the program, clients schedule a Saturday morning appointment to collect needed items and may schedule up to three visits.

Donations needed include baby formula, diapers, canned foods, dry beans and rice, crackers, toilet paper and household cleaning items, which may be delivered Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monetary donations are also welcome and can be made online at www.firstchurchmemphis.org.

– Aisling Maki