Georgia Company Files Loans on Auto Dealerships

Duluth, Ga.-based JWE ACE LLC has filed loans for $9.5 million and $1.3 million, respectively, for the auto dealerships at 3060 N. Germantown Road in Bartlett and 1831 Getwell Road in Memphis.

The company filed both loans Oct. 5 through Bank of America NA.

JWE ACE opened the Infiniti of Memphis dealership at 3060 N. Germantown Road last year.

The property contains a 30,717-square-foot building on 9.8 acres along the east side of Germantown Road, just north of U.S. 64 in the Wolfchase area. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2012 appraisal is $5.4 million.

Built in 1990, the 24,383-square-foot Wynn Automotive dealership at 1831 Getwell Road sits on 6.3 acres at the intersection of Getwell and Interstate 240. The assessor’s 2012 appraisal is $2.3 million.

That Getwell site was formerly Infiniti of Memphis before the owner bought the Wolfchase land and built the new dealership.

Anna C. Ellis signed the trust deeds as chief manager of JWE ACE.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

LeMoyne-Owen Gets $1 Million Gift

The estate of a 1940 graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College is donating $1 million to the college’s annual fund, college officials announced Friday, Oct. 19.

It is the largest single donation in the 150-year-history of the city’s only historically black college.

The gift from the estate of Wylodine Taylor Patton is the second since her death in 2009. Her estate donated $500,000 to the college in 2010.

Patton set up a revocable trust in which the college is to receive 75 percent of her estate. The $1 million contribution comes from the recent sale of real estate she owned in the San Francisco area.

The LeMoyne-Owen College annual fund bridges the gap between the cost of business for the college of just more than 1,000 students and revenue from the tuition students pay. The goal is to keep tuition rates stable.

– Bill Dries

Bar Foundation Adds Glankler Brown Attorney

Glankler Brown PLLC attorney David Blaylock has been named a Fellow of the Memphis Bar Foundation.

The foundation, established in 1982, is the philanthropic arm of the Memphis Bar Association.

Blaylock concentrates his practice in the areas of creditors’ rights, bankruptcy and insolvency, secured creditor representation and general commercial law. He has participated as a speaker in seminars relating to bankruptcy and commercial law, and has won many industry plaudits including being named a Mid-South SuperLawyer and among the “Best 101 Lawyers in Tennessee” as ranked by the publication BusinessTN.

– Andy Meek

St. George's Recognized by National Partnership

St. George’s Independent School is featured in the October newsletter of the National Partnership for Educational Access.

The organization itself partners with St. George’s faculty, staff and parents on a goal of better opportunities for education that targets underserved students across the country.

The school is noted in the nationally distributed newsletter for its expansion into urban areas, especially the opening of the school’s Memphis campus in 2001.

– Bill Dries

Belew Joins The Crump Firm

Health care architect Ashley Belew has joined The Crump Firm Inc.

She brings eight years of experience specializing in health care architecture after graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design.

Belew’s background of projects include physician office buildings, hospital renovations, senior living, diagnostic imaging, medical laboratories, rehabilitation facilities and sleep centers.

She is a 2009 graduate of the local Nexus Leadership program and is registered with the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.

– Sarah Baker

US Home Sales Dip 1.7 Percent

U.S. sales of previously occupied homes fell in September after hitting a two-year high in August, in part because there were fewer homes available for sale.

The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales dipped 1.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.75 million. That’s down from a rate of 4.83 million in August, which was the highest in more than two years.

Sales are still up 11 percent from a year earlier. They remain below the more than 5.5 million that economists consider consistent with a healthy market.

Still, the housing market is recovering after a six-year slump. Economists expect sales will rebound in October, noting that mortgage applications have picked up after falling in August.

Sales have improved from last year, helped by record-low mortgage rates and steady gains in home prices in most metro areas. Home prices are more stable because there are fewer foreclosures and a low supply of homes has some markets more competitive.

The inventory of homes for sale fell in September to 2.32 million. It would take 5.9 months to exhaust the supply at the current sales pace, the lowest sales-to-inventory ratio since March 2006.

Economists noted that rising prices could spur more homeowners to put their homes on the market, which could fuel more sales.

Sales rose slightly in the South last month, compared to August. They fell in all other regions. In the past year, sales have risen at a healthy pace in the Northeast, South and Midwest. They have risen only slightly in the West, where inventories are particularly tight.

The market is still being constrained by tougher lending standards. Many would-be buyers, particularly first-time buyers, are having difficulty qualifying for a mortgage or can’t afford the larger down payments that many lenders want.

A low supply of previously occupied homes has also given a boost to the new-home market.

Builders broke ground on homes and apartments at the fastest pace in more than four years last month.

– The Associated Press

Nissan to Add Shift, 800 Jobs at Tennessee Plant

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. announced Friday it will add a third shift at a vehicle assembly plant in Tennessee, adding more than 800 jobs.

Gov. Bill Haslam made the jobs announcement at an economic development conference. Haslam said it’s the first time the plant will operate on three shifts.

Friday’s announcement brings the total new jobs added at the plant to more than 2,000 since the middle of last year. About 5,600 people currently work at the plant that first began production in 1983.

“Our investment in creating hundreds of new jobs demonstrates Nissan’s long-time commitment to our employees, Smyrna, and the state of Tennessee,” said Nissan Americas Vice Chairman Bill Krueger.

The Smyrna plant makes Nissan’s most popular car, the midsize Altima sedan, among other models. Production of the all-electric Leaf is set to begin at the plant in December, while assembly of the Rogue is set to come to Smyrna next year. That will mark the first time the small SUV is made in the United States.

Nissan’s American headquarters are located in Franklin, just outside Nashville. The company also recently announced an expansion of its engine plant in Decherd, Tenn., that also makes motors for the Altima. Nissan also has a U.S. plant in Canton, Miss.

The Nissan announcement is the latest positive news for the automotive sector in Tennessee. General Motors announced in August that it will add 500 jobs to make its new Ecotek at its Spring Hill plant, which is also slated to begin assembling the Chevrolet Equinox crossover and two other midsize models that have not yet been named.

Meanwhile, German automaker Volkswagen AG announced in July it would boost production at its Chattanooga plant by 30,000 cars next year with the help of about 1,000 new workers added this year.

– The Associated Press