Maines Paper & Food Service Seeks $2.5 Million Permit

More new construction is planned at the Maines Paper & Food Service cold-storage facility in Arlington.

A $2.5 million building permit application has been filed with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement for the facility at 11420 Gulf Stream Road, listing the scope of work as “mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection.”

The 56,780-square-foot Class A facility, which is owned by W D Arlington LLC, was built in 1998 and is situated on 6.1 acres at the northeast corner of Gulf Stream Road and Tenn. 385.

The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2014 appraisal of the site is $2.2 million.

The $2.5 million February permit application follows a $3 million permit application in December.

One of the largest independent foodservice distributors in the U.S., Conklin, N.Y.-based Maines generates an annual revenue approaching $4 billion and distributes to single-unit and regional chain restaurants, educational and health care institutions, convenience stores and other outlets spanning 36 states, according to the company’s website.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Amos Maki

Seven Memphis-Area RadioShacks to Close

Seven RadioShack stores in the Memphis area are among the 1,784 retail sites the company plans to close, according to court documents related to its bankruptcy filing last week.

The Shelby County stores to close between Feb. 17 and March 31, according to the list, are in Wolfchase Galleria, 2760 N. Germantown Parkway; Trinity Commons, 714 Germantown Parkway; the Collierville store, 694 W. Poplar Ave.; Whitehaven Plaza, 4082 Elvis Presley Blvd.; Bartlett Towne Center, 6045 Stage Road; and Polo Shops, 7464 Winchester Road. The store in Holiday Plaza Mall in West Memphis is also slated to close.

Memphis-area stores spared from the list of closures include the Midtown store, 1625 Poplar Ave.; Eastgate Shopping Center, 5066 Park Ave.; 8412 U.S. 51 in Millington; 8110 Camp Creek Road in Olive Branch; and 35 W. Goodman Road in Southaven.

The century-old consumer electronics chain has a deal with Sprint Corp. for spring to buy the leases on the RadioShack stores that remain after the three waves of closings between Feb. 17 and March 31.

– Bill Dries

Tigers Sports Properties Names New General Manager

Learfield Sports has appointed Lucas Kraut general manager for its locally based Tiger Sports Properties entity, the exclusive multimedia rights holder for University of Memphis Athletics.

The U of M is one of the nearly 100 collegiate properties represented by Learfield Sports.

Kraut has been involved in the collegiate sports marketing and sponsorship arena for nearly 10 years, most recently serving four years as general manager for Blue Hens IMG Marketing at the University of Delaware. Prior to that, he was general manager for Elon ISP Sports Network located on the campus of the North Carolina University, and he worked with CSTV Online in the role of manager, University Relations-West.

Kraut’s career in college sports marketing started with his alma mater, Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he was director of ticket sales and operations for the athletics department.

At Tiger Sports Properties, Kraut will lead all aspects of the long-term rights relationship between Learfield Sports and Memphis Athletics, which includes signage, sponsorships, corporate hospitality, event marketing, play-by-play radio, television and radio coaches’ shows, and official athletic website advertising.

– Don Wade

Inferno Announces Several Employee Promotions

The advertising, marketing, design and PR firm inferno had made a round of promotions.

Colleen Radish has been promoted to account supervisor, Ryan Knoll and Liza Routh have been promoted to account managers, and Jennifer Rodrigues has been promoted to account executive.

Collectively, Radish, Knoll and Routh have more than 20 years of combined service at inferno, and the agency said it plans to leverage the group’s skill sets to ensure that “our processes and approach to account service meet the needs of our clients.”

– Andy Meek

Metropolitan Bank Announces Positive 2014 Results

For 2014, Metropolitan Bank’s parent company has reported earnings of about $5.2 million, up 34 percent year over year.

The company also is preparing to celebrate its seventh anniversary, with assets at year-end of $933 million. Total deposits were up 18 percent to $786 million, and the bank reported net loan growth of 15 percent.

In Metropolitan’s Memphis market, the bank is also continuing to show rapid balance sheet growth, with $367 million in loans and $524 million in deposits as of the end of 2014 representing 17 percent and 15 percent year-over-year growth, respectively.

Metropolitan’s Memphis market CEO Phillip May said the bank has grown into the sixth largest depositor in the city of Memphis, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

– Andy Meek

County Commission Approves Kings Pointe Development

On Monday, Feb. 9, Shelby County Commissioners approved a planned development at Riverdale Road and Kings Crown Drive as the King’s Pointe planned development.

The plan is to build 220 units of townhouses and multi-family apartments with a clubhouse and other amenities.

The development by Sal Krown Investments LLC has drawn some opposition in the area.

The commission’s vote follows a decision by the Memphis City Council at its Feb. 3 meeting to delay its vote on the planned development for a month.

In other action Monday, commissioner Steve Basar withdrew his resolution requiring Shelby County Schools to have a facilities study done by the county at the school system’s expense.

Basar withdrew the resolution citing the school system’s movement toward its own facilities study.

– Bill Dries

Corker Decides Against 2016 Presidential Bid

Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee says he has no plans to run for president.

The former Chattanooga mayor tells WPLN-FM that he is “very challenged” by his role as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, which he assumed after Republicans took over control of the Senate this year.

Corker said in August that he hadn’t ruled out pursuing a presidential bid because he was waiting for a consensus candidate to emerge. He told WPLN on Monday he now thinks the Republican field is “shaping up in a good way.”

Just 11 percent of those surveyed in a recent by Middle Tennessee State University poll said Corker should run for president, while 41 percent said he should not.

Corker was first elected to the Senate in 2006.

– Associated Press

US Job Openings Rise to 14-Year High

The number of available jobs posted by U.S. employers rose in December to the highest level in 14 years, a sign recent strong job gains will likely continue.

Employers also filled more jobs and more employees quit, two additional signs of an improving labor market.

Job openings rose 3.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted 5 million, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That is the most since January 2001.

Total hires also increased 1.9 percent to 5.1 million, the most in more than seven years.

The number of quits rose 2.1 percent to 2.7 million. More quits are a sign of confidence in the labor market, because people typically quit when they have another job lined up, usually at higher pay, or are optimistic that they can find a new position.

More openings are usually followed by greater hiring. Businesses appear increasingly confident that the economy will continue to improve and are seeking more staff to meet stronger demand.

The strong job gains encouraged many Americans to start looking for work. More than 700,000 people began looking for work in January, the most in six years. Not all found jobs, lifting the number of unemployed and pushing the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent from 5.6 percent.

– Associated Press