University Cabanas Sell for $2.1 Million

The 488-unit University Cabana Apartment complex at 2059 Vollintine Ave. in North Memphis has sold for $2.1 million.

University Gardens Manor LLC, which lists a Northridge, Calif., address, bought the 379,976-square-foot multifamily property in a May 20 special warranty deed from LBUBS 2002-C4 Cabana Circle LLC.

The seller is an affiliate of Miami-based loan servicer LNR Partners LLC, which acquired the complex last year for $2.9 million after the previous owner went into default.

University Cabana, a Class C complex built in 1965, sits on 26 acres at 2059 Vollintine Ave., north of Vollintine Avenue and east of University Street in Vollentine Park subdivision. It uses the address 2059 N. Cabana Circle. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2013 appraisal is $3.7 million.

In conjunction with the purchase, University Gardens Manor filed a $1 million loan through Archetype Credit Opportunities Funding I LP. Michael Chung signed the trust deed as president of the buying entity.

The property’s financial woes began after the previous owner, University Apartment Associates LLC, defaulted on 2002 loan for $7 million through UBS Warburg Real Estate Investments Inc., according to the notice.

That loan was transferred three times, most recently in December 2011 to LNR’s LBUBS affiliate, which owned the property for about a year before this sale.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

New Clothing Stores Open in Cooper-Young

Three new clothing stores are opening simultaneously in the Cooper-Young neighborhood: Addison, Wish and Langford Market.

A grand opening ceremony was scheduled for Saturday, June 1.

Langford Market, at 2155 Central Ave., offers “carefully chosen, classically feminine clothing, accessories and gifts.” Wish, at 2157 Central Ave., describes itself as providing “whimsical and eclectic looks” for “style-savvy, price-conscious shoppers.” And Addison, at 2153 Central Ave., provides a wide range of clothing and artisan handmade jewelry to “mature and sophisticated” shoppers.

– Andy Meek

Beale’s ‘Silky’ Sullivan Dies After Sudden Illness

Thomas “Silky” Sullivan, whose bars in Overton Square and on Beale Street were a part of Memphis nightlife for 40 years, died Friday, May 31, after a sudden illness.

Sullivan was proprietor and front man of Silky Sullivan’s in Overton Square during the 1970s and into the 1980s. It was there that Sullivan prominently displayed his Irish heritage as well as his gift for blarney and a potent drink served in a plastic pale called the “Diver.”

Sullivan was among the founders of Midtown’s annual pub crawl, a tradition he kept alive in later years on St. Patrick’s Day with what he called an “Irish armada” or car caravan that escorted passengers from bar to bar after picking up dignitaries from Irish towns and cities at Memphis International Airport.

At the height of the pub crawl in the 1980s, when it drew large crowds, Sullivan courted controversy when he vowed to release a small pig in Midtown and award a prize to the person who caught it. The plan was quickly dropped when city officials intervened.

With a place in the ruins of the old Gallina Building at Beale and Third streets, Sullivan opened a Pat O’Brien’s-styled piano bar in the entertainment district. To distinguish it from the original Overton Square bar, which remained open for a time, he called the Beale Street location Silky O’Sullivans. He also departed from the confines of New Orleans atmosphere with a courtyard that featured several goats. From time to time, he used the goats to “predict” the outcome of Memphis Grizzlies basketball games. The goats, in every case, predicted a Grizzlies victory.

– Bill Dries

ArtsMemphis Honored with National Book Award

Wild Abundance Publishing, the publishing division of ArtsMemphis, was awarded a silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards for its most recent book, “A Million Wings.”

The collection of essays and photographs features a dozen private duck clubs along the Mississippi Flyway in a coffee table-sized book format.

The award was presented Wednesday, May 29, during the Independent Publisher Book Awards banquet in New York. More than 5,200 publications were nominated for national IPPY Awards.

“A Million Wings” author Susan Schadt, who also is president and CEO of ArtsMemphis, says the publishing arm of the nonprofit organization helps fund “our city’s wonderful and ever-growing arts community.”

– Jennifer Johnson Backer

Evolve Adds Specialty Coffee to its Customer Service

Evolve Bank & Trust has added a new product to its list of offerings for customers – coffee.

The bank has partnered with J. Brooks Coffee Roasters, a local company with a top-notch roast master. “We started this partnership,” the bank tells shareholders in its latest update letter, “because everything about Evolve – our people, our products, our branches – is about the experience. We will be serving the coffee in our local branches and making it available to our offices nationwide.”

The idea has been brewing, no pun intended, for a few years. The bank explains more on a dedicated website for the initiative, www.getevolved.com/coffee, saying that if there’s one thing bankers know besides finances, it’s coffee.

“For most of us, we’ve spent our entire careers drinking cups of mediocre office coffee while we knew something better was out there,” the bank writes on the website. “Then it hit us, why couldn’t that ‘better’ be brought inside?”

In other Evolve news, the bank’s first quarter income before taxes was nearly $1.3 million, up 163.8 percent from the same period in 2012. The bank also increased loan loss reserve by 86.2 percent.

– Andy Meek

US Consumer Confidence Hits Six-Year High

A measure of U.S. consumer confidence jumped to its highest level in almost six years in May, lifted by rising home prices and record stock market gains. Greater confidence could help revive spending in coming months.

The University of Michigan said Friday, May 31, that its consumer sentiment index rose to 84.5 in May, up from 76.4 in April and the highest since July 2007.

A better job market contributed to the rise in consumer optimism. And for the first time in five years, more consumers said their finances had improved rather than worsened.

Households with income above $80,000 reported the biggest gain in confidence. That’s likely due to the disproportionate benefit upper-income households receive from stock price gains. But confidence improved for all groups.

Consumers cut back on spending in April for the first time in nearly a year, the Commerce Department said Friday. Some of the decline reflected lower gas prices. Adjusting for inflation, spending ticked up 0.1 percent, the smallest gain in six months.

Flat income in April also likely restrained spending.

Still, rising consumer confidence could signal more spending in the months ahead. And the surge in home prices and stock values may make consumers feel wealthier and encourage more spending.

– The Associated Press

Trustees Say Medicare Exhausted in 2026

The government said Friday that Medicare’s giant hospital trust will not be exhausted until 2026, two years later than projected last year, while the date that Social Security will exhaust its trust fund remained unchanged at 2033.

The latest projections were included in the annual report of trustees of the trust funds. The new report warned that despite the small improvement in Medicare, both it and Social Security face significant funding challenges as the giant baby boom generation continues to retire. Currently, 58 million Americans are receiving Social Security benefits.

The reasons given for the improved financial outlook for Medicare were an overall slowdown in health care spending, particularly on skilled nursing care, as well as lower projected costs for popular insurance plans available within the Medicare program.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, the chairman of the trustees, said President Barack Obama is committed to working with Congress to put both programs on a stronger footing.

– The Associated Press