Cypress Realty Holdings Buys Millington Perkins

Cypress Realty Holdings Co. II LLC has paid $1.3 million for the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery at 8472 New Wilkinsville Road in Millington in a special warranty deed.

The locally owned company, whose principals Price Ford and Joe Jarratt also run Ford Jarratt Realty & Development Co., bought the property from a quartet of sellers each with varying percentages of ownership.

The sellers (with their ownership stake in parentheses) were: 2536 Colfax LLC (37 percent interest), Neptune I LLC (37 percent), Ronald Dachis and Toni S. Dachis (14.5 percent) and Bird of Prey Three LLC (11.5 percent).

The collection of sellers, which lists a Plano, Texas, address, bought the restaurant in 2002 for $1.4 million.

Built in 2002, the 4,540-square-foot restaurant sits on 1.16 acres at the intersection of Wilkinsville Road at U.S. 51 as an outparcel of a Lowe’s Home Improvement store. An alternative address for the restaurant is 8472 U.S. 51.

The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2010 appraisal of the restaurant, one of six Perkins locales in the Memphis metropolitan area, was $1.2 million.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Ceremony Will Commence Memphis-Mexico Flight

Delta Air Lines Inc. and the Greater Memphis Chamber will hold an inaugural Mexico City flight ceremony Saturday at Memphis International Airport.

Speakers include Arnold Perl, chair of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority; mayors A C Wharton Jr. and Mark Luttrell; Andres Chao, Mexican Consul General; Charles Blatteis, attorney with Burch, Porter & Johnson PLLC; and Ernie Taylor, Delta’s field director of airport operations at Memphis.

The new weekly Mexico City flight will operate on Saturdays beginning Jan. 8, with 124-seat Airbus A319 aircraft. Delta operates one of its seven U.S. hubs at Memphis International and is the dominant carrier here, accounting for 209 of the 246 average daily scheduled flights during November, the most recent statistics available.

The event, held from 7:30 – 8:15 a.m. at the west end of the Terminal B ticketing lobby, will include Hispanic radio stations and a mariachi band.

– Sarah Baker

Wharton and Luttrell Revamp Programs as Crime Rate Drops

There were 93 homicides in the city of Memphis in 2010, the lowest murder rate in 30 years.

And Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. is attributing the drop to more citizens reporting crimes overall to Memphis police. Wharton was careful in talking about the drop in the most violent of crimes and the drop in the city’s overall crime rate for 2010 to emphasize that his administration is not declaring an end to crime problems.

“We’ve got to do more on the supply end of this – meaning our youngsters, our juveniles,” Wharton said. “That’s what feeds it. If we stop it there, they won’t graduate from Juvenile Court to Criminal Court.”

Wharton said he will also continue to work on “more constructive ways of correcting them when they get on the wrong side of the road.”

The approach will also include a consolidation of the city’s “Second Chance” program with similar re-entry programs in Shelby County government for adult offenders as they prepare to end their jail terms and re-enter society.

“It’s more of an organizational thing than anything else,” said Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell. “The city of Memphis applied for federal grants for the rehabilitation programs which involved work at the Shelby County Corrections Center. “There’s going to be very little operationally that’s going to change other than the oversight and management of it.”

Luttrell said the primary goal of the program is to get felons a job as they are about to complete their sentences and that has proven difficult in the current economy.

– Bill Dries

Memphis Film Companies Plan Trio of Releases

Two Memphis-based companies launched this week have big plans starting with making a trio of films in the city.

MVP3 Entertainment Group and JND Films were formed by talent agent Marie Pizano and producer, writer and director Nicholas Celozzi.

MVP3 is a multi media entertainment company founded by Pizano. She is president and Pizano is vice president of JND Films, which is a film and television production company.

Pizano and Celozzi are currently working together on a documentary about Chicago mobster Sam Giancana.

One of the three film projects mentioned with the launch of the two Memphis companies is scheduled to be filmed in Memphis and Nashville, according to Pizano. Pizano said in a written statement that she hopes to film the other two in Memphis.

MVP3 is also working with The Wolper Organizaton on a pilot for a reality show and has plans for other reality shows geared toward women ages 40 and older.

– Bill Dries

Dollar General to Open 625 Stores, Add 6K Jobs

Discount-store operator Dollar General Corp. said Monday it plans to open 625 new stores and hire more than 6,000 workers in 2011.

The company said Monday the store openings will be in 35 states it currently operates in as well as in three new states: Connecticut, Nevada and New Hampshire. It also plans to remodel or relocate 550 stores.

Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., currently operates 9,200 stores and employs 88,000 staffers. The company has a couple of dozen stores in the Memphis area.

Its stores have gained market share from competitors such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., as consumers count pennies because of high unemployment and the uncertain economy.

In December Dollar General said its third-quarter net income rose 69 percent, helped by cost cuts and higher revenue, and the company raised its full-year guidance. Its revenue rose 10 percent to $3.22 billion.

– The Associated Press

Construction Spending Rises for Third Straight Month

Builders began work on more homes and the government boosted its investment in federal construction projects in November, marking a third straight monthly increase in construction activity after a dismal summer.

Construction spending increased 0.4 percent in November, the Commerce Department said Monday. Still, building activity is only 2.3 percent higher than in August, when it had fallen to the lowest level in a decade.

The industry has struggled since 2006 when the housing market went bust and helped trigger the worst recession since the 1930s. It also cut into demand for commercial projects such as office buildings and shopping centers.

Total spending increased to $810.2 billion in November at a seasonally adjusted annual rate.

The strength in November came from a 0.7 percent rise in private residential construction, which increased to $235.7 billion at an annual rate. That marked the third straight gain.

Spending on private nonresidential projects dropped for a second straight month. It fell 0.1 percent to an annual rate of $256.1 billion. The weakness reflected widespread spending declines on offices, hotels and shopping centers.

Builders have had trouble obtaining financing for projects since the recession. Banks have tightened credit standards in response to rising default rates.

Spending for government projects rose 0.7 percent to an annual rate of $318.5 billion. State and local government building dipped 0.1 percent. The one bright spot was federal projects, which jumped 8.2 percent to $35.5 billion – a record level.

– The Associated Press

Mississippi EPA Sues Railroad for $34 Million

South Mississippi Electric Power Association has sued Norfolk Southern Railway Co. for $34 million, claiming the railroad uses a monopoly over coal delivery to inflate costs.

SMEPA said Norfolk is the only company that delivers coal from Appalachia to the utility’s plant in Purvis, Miss.

The power company says the railroad has used that control over shipments since 1978 to negotiate 60-80 percent price increases when their contracts come up for renewal.

SMEPA filed the lawsuit Dec. 29 in federal court in Mississippi, though documents related to the case are sealed.

Rudy Husband, a Norfolk spokesman, said the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation

– The Associated Press