Flagler Development Files Loans on Three CVS Stores

Affiliates of Coral Gables, Fla.-based commercial real estate firm Flagler have filed loans on three Memphis CVS properties – 2115 Union Ave. in Midtown, 3516 Highland St. in East Memphis and 786 N. Germantown Parkway in Cordova.

The three entities – FDG C41 TN Memphis Union LLC, FDG C41 TN Memphis Park LLC and FDG C41 Memphis Germantown LLC – each filed a deed of trust, security agreement, assignment of leases and rents and fixture filing July 11 through Wells Fargo Bank Northwest NA. They also filed memorandums of lease as landlord for their respective CVS properties.

FDG C41 TN Memphis Union LLC filed a $4.9 million loan on the CVS at 2115 Union Ave., a 14,208-square-foot store built in 2011 on 1.4 acres at the southwest corner of Union and Cooper. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2013 appraisal is $2.7 million.

FDG C41 TN Memphis Park LLC filed a $3.9 million loan on the CVS at 3516 S. Highland St. (also known as 3502 Park Ave.), a 13,259-square-foot store built in 2012 on 1.9 acres at the northeast corner of Highland and Park. The assessor’s 2013 appraisal is $2 million.

And FDG C41 Memphis Germantown LLC filed a $3.6 million loan on the CVS at 786 N. Germantown Parkway, a 13,146-square-foot CVS built in 2010 on 1.8 acres at the southeast corner of Germantown Parkway and Walnut Run Road. The assessor’s 2013 appraisal is $2.4 million.

Kolleen Cobb – executive vice president and general counsel for Flagler, a wholly owned subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries Inc. – signed all three trust deeds a vice president of each limited liability company.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Schools Food Services Adapts Plans for Growth

With fresher food in the Central Nutrition Services kitchen for the new school year, the head of the operation that will feed students in the consolidated school system says the operation is becoming more efficient.

And Nutrition Services Director Tony Geraci told school board members Tuesday, July 23, the central kitchen that supplies all schools in the consolidated system could easily supply food to private schools as a contracted and paid service.

Geraci described the facility as “wholly underutilized” with the ability to produce more using the same staff or paying for additional staff through contracts with other entities to supply them with meals.

– Bill Dries

Trustmark Reports Second-Quarter Earnings

Trustmark Corp. reported a second-quarter profit of $31.1 million, resulting in earnings per share of $0.46.

Nonperforming loans totaled $74.3 million and were down 10.8 percent from the prior quarter. Mortgage loan production during the second quarter was $424.3 million, up 8.2 percent from the prior quarter attributable in part to additional refinancing activity from the Home Affordable Refinance Program.

Trustmark president and CEO Gerard Host said the bank is well-positioned because of its dedicated associates, solid profitability and strong capital base.

– Andy Meek

Pilot Flying J Revises Class Action Settlement

The truck-stop company owned by Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has revised a class action settlement with trucking companies that were cheated out of fuel rebates.

The original settlement required Pilot Flying J to pay back all money owed with interest. But it only covered the period between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 15, 2013. The revised settlement covers overcharging that occurred as far back as Jan. 1, 2005.

The change answers one of the concerns raised by trucking companies that did not participate in the settlement negotiations. Those companies have criticized the terms and asked the federal courts to let them go forward with their own lawsuits.

A federal judge in Arkansas granted preliminary approval of the revised settlement on Wednesday.

– The Associated Press

Palin Email Hacker Released From Supervision

A Tennessee student convicted of hacking Republican Sarah Palin’s email in the 2008 election year has been released early from federal supervision.

David Kernell was supposed to be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office until November 2014 after being released from prison in 2011.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips freed Kernell, who is the son of longtime Democratic Memphis lawmaker Mike Kernell, from supervision this month.

The move came after Kernell’s attorney requested it and the U.S. Attorney’s office did not object.

Kernell’s attorney, Wade Davies, has contended that Kernell had no criminal intent and that guessing his way into the email account when the then-Alaska governor was John McCain’s running mate on the Republican presidential ticket was a prank.

– The Associated Press

US New-Home Sales Jump to Five-Year High

Americans snapped up new homes in June at the fastest pace in five years, a sign the housing recovery is strengthening.

Sales of newly built homes rose 8.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 497,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That’s the highest since May 2008 and up from an annual rate of 459,000 in May, which was revised lower.

While sales are still below the 700,000 pace consistent with healthy markets, they have risen 38 percent in the past 12 months. That’s the biggest annual gain since January 1992.

Home sales and prices have climbed since early last year, buoyed by solid hiring and low mortgage rates. Housing has helped drive economic growth this year at a time when other parts of the economy have languished, such as manufacturing and business investment.

New-home sales make up only a small part of the market. But they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three new jobs and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders.

Rising demand and a tight supply of available homes for sale have pushed up prices. The median price of a new home in June was $249,700, up 7.4 percent from a year ago.

The number of new homes available for sale at the end of June was 161,000. That’s only slightly higher than May’s level and 11 percent above year-ago levels. At the current sales pace, it would take only 3.9 months to exhaust the supply of new homes on the market – matching a nine-year low. A supply of six months is typical in healthy markets.

– The Associated Press

Outreach Blitz Underway for Arkansas Insurance Exchange

A $24 million marketing and outreach blitz underway in Arkansas will train hundreds of workers about how to sign up for the state’s insurance marketplace under the federal health care law and pay for ads at hundreds of gas pumps.

State insurance officials are trying to reach the roughly 500,000 people who are expected to sign up for insurance through the exchange, an online marketplace where the uninsured can purchase coverage, by the time open enrollment begins Oct. 1.

The biggest part of that effort will be the guides who will help the uninsured connect with the exchange. Arkansas has received more than $16.2 million from the federal government to contract with various organizations around the state that will employ the guides.

In addition to the guides, Arkansas officials are using federal funds to blanket the state with advertisements about the new exchange. Arkansas awarded a nearly $4.3 million contract for marketing the insurance exchange to Mangan Holcomb Partners earlier this year.

The contract calls for purchasing $2.6 million in advertising to promote the new exchange. Beyond television, radio and print, the contract also calls for placing gas pump advertising at 100 stations around Arkansas and placing 150 billboards promoting the exchange. The company also detailed plans to purchase advertising on Pandora online radio and to use social media.

– The Associated Press