Krystal Investment Leads to Local Sale-Leaseback

The Krystal Co. has sold three Shelby County Krystal fast-food properties for about $3.1 million in a sale-leaseback deal, part of a $14.2 million investment by Raleigh, N.C.-based Triangle Capital Corp. An entity named CFKRY LLC bought the Krystal at 2663 Mt. Moriah Road for $1.2 million, the one at 4395 Elvis Presley Blvd. for $1.1 million and the one at 4431 Summer Ave. for $849,563.

The Krystal on Mount Moriah is about 2,400 square feet, built in 1975 on 0.7 acres on the south side of the road west of Fox Plaza Drive. The Shelby County Assessor’s 2011 appraisal was $360,000. The Elvis Presley Boulevard building is 2,180 square feet, built in 1968 on 0.9 acres on the west side of the boulevard south of Mosby Road; its 2011 appraisal is $389,000. And the Summer Avenue building is 2,505 square feet, built in 1972 on 0.7 acres at the southwest corner of Summer and Sandridge Street; its appraisal is $413,700.

All three are being leased back to The Krystal Co. for 17 1/2 years, with the option to extend the leases for as many as 20 more years.

In conjunction with the purchase/leaseback deals, CFKRY filed trust deeds for each property – part of an aggregate principal of $42 million through Wells Fargo Bank, according to loan documents filed with the Shelby County Register’s office. For the three local properties, the total principal for state tax recording purposes is $1.9 million.

Triangle provides financing solutions for lower-middle-market companies nationwide, according to the company. Triangle’s investments generally range between $5 million and $20 million in companies with annual revenues between $20 million and $200 million.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Raymond James Completes Morgan Keegan Acquisition

St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Financial has completed its acquisition of Memphis-based Morgan Keegan.

The deal, for which Raymond James paid total consideration of about $1.2 billion, creates one of the country’s largest full-service wealth management and capital markets firms not based on Wall Street.

Morgan Keegan Private Client Group offices will be known as Raymond James-Morgan Keegan, a broker-dealer subsidiary of Raymond James.

Raymond James previously announced that Morgan Keegan’s top 12 executives agreed to join Raymond James. Also, 98 percent of Morgan Keegan financial advisers presented with retention incentive offers have said they intend to remain with the combined companies.

– Andy Meek

Memphis Ranks Third for Most Hiring in 2011

Memphis has been ranked third for most hiring in 2011 among the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S., according to a Gallup Job Creation Index released late last week.

Memphis employers increased hiring by 38 percent last year. Other metro areas to report the most hiring include San Antonio and Houston.

In 2011, the Greater Memphis Chamber Economic Development Team – including Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, the city of Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development – secured over $1.1 billion in new capital investment commitments and the commitment of 3,700 new jobs in the city and county.

Greater Memphis Chamber President and CEO John W. Moore said in a statement that his team is working on a pipeline of more than 30 projects. Ted Townsend, regional director of Greater Memphis for the state Department of Economic & Community Development, attributed Memphis’ recent positive rankings to Gov. Bill Haslam and ECD commissioner Bill Hagerty, who have been rebuilding the program and enhancing the incentives to relocating and existing companies.

In a separate poll last week, The Brookings Institute ranked the Memphis MSA third in the U.S. for job growth during fourth quarter 2011.

– Sarah Baker

Renasant Elects New Senior VP

Alan Scrimager has been elected senior vice president and commercial relationship officer for Renasant Bank in the bank’s West Tennessee region.

Scrimager will be responsible for building relationships with Renasant clients and managing a commercial loan and deposit portfolio.

Scrimager attended the University of Memphis, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He also has a master’s of business administration in management from Union University, and he attended the Barrett School of Banking at Christian Brothers University.

– Andy Meek

Diversity Memphis Names Humanitarian Honorees

Diversity Memphis has announced the five individuals to be honored at its seventh annual Humanitarian Awards.

They are Bob Bernstein, Dr. Manoj Jain, Modeane Thompson, David Waters and David Wedaman.

Bernstein is currently director of senior outreach services for Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.

Jain is the medical director of quality improvement at Tennessee’s Quality Improvement Association and a consultant in infectious disease at both BMHCC and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.

Thompson is a founding member of the Memphis Panel of American Women.

Waters is religion editor and columnist for The Commercial Appeal.

Wedaman is president and CEO of ReTrans Inc., a transportation and logistics management company.

The dinner, to be held May 17, honors individuals in the community who serve as examples of personal integrity and community leadership and who reflect the dynamic goals of the organization.

– Taylor Shoptaw

Botanic Garden Hosts Month-Long Earth Day

For the second year, Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry Road, will host environmentally themed programs throughout April in celebration of Earth Day April 22.

Educational stations placed throughout the 1-mile path through the Garden will give visitors opportunities to learn about where their drinking water come from, how electricity is generated in Memphis and what endangered species live in the area. The self-guided activity is free with admission.

Annual events such as the Spring Plant Sale, Kids Only Yard Sale and Family Egg Hunt will feature green themes, while April’s monthly Brown Bag Lunch Lectures, Caterpillar Club preschool programs, and wine tastings will focus on sustainable living. New events such as Afternoon Green Hours, Earth Carnival in My Big Backyard and activity workshops will encourage visitors to make smarter choices to lessen their carbon footprints.

– Aisling Maki

Construction Spending Fell 1.1 Percent in February

U.S. builders trimmed activity for a second straight month in February, pushing construction spending down by the largest amount in seven months. There was widespread weakness with spending on home building, office construction and government projects all dropping.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that construction spending fell 1.1 percent in February after a drop of 0.8 percent in January which was revised down from an initial estimate of a decline of 0.1 percent.

With the back-to-back declines, construction spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $808.9 billion in February, just 6.1 percent above a low hit in March 2011 and about one-third lower than the high hit during the housing boom.

The construction weakness over the past two months underscored that the nation’s construction industry is still struggling to emerge from the 2007-2009 recession, a decline that was triggered by a collapse in housing following an unsustainable boom in that sector.

Housing construction was unchanged in February at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $246.5 billion after a small 0.1 percent dip in January. The weakness last month came from a 1.5 percent drop in construction of single-family homes which offset a 2 percent rise in apartment construction.

Spending on non-residential construction projects dropped 1.6 percent following a 2.3 percent decline in January. The February decline reflected weakness in office construction, hotels and malls.

– The Associated Press