Overton Park Conservancy Agrees to Mediation

The board of the Overton Park Conservancy has agreed to participate in a mediation process with the Memphis Zoo on the park greensward controversy.

The OPC board voted Wednesday, Jan. 20, to be part of the process. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland recommended the mediation during a meeting Tuesday with both sides of the controversy around zoo overflow parking.

“We encourage all park stakeholders to bring ideas to the table, so that together we can collaborate on the best future for the park and its visitors,” a statement from the conservancy said.

The Memphis Zoological Society board agreed to mediation Tuesday.

The zoo removed 27 trees from the greensward earlier this month to prepare for overflow parking when it opens the Zambezi River Hippo Camp exhibit in March. The zoo acted based on a legal opinion Memphis Mayor A C Wharton released on New Year’s Eve, his last day in office.

The conservancy, which disagrees with the legal opinion, complained about the removal of the trees. Both sides agreed to not take any further action for now.

A week the trees were cut, protestors with the group Get Off Our Lawn planted three new trees on the greensward, and the zoo board voted to authorize a lawsuit if necessary to enforce the legal opinion.

– Bill Dries

Starbucks, Hollywood Feed To Join Lakeland Center

The Lakeland shopping center anchored by gourmet grocery store Sprouts is getting an upgrade. The Country Bridge Shopping Center, located at the intersection of Highway 64 and Fletcher Trace Parkway, is getting extensive facade design, new tenants and additional LED lighting, signage and “landscaped islands,” according to a release.

Construction of a 4,000-square-foot freestanding outparcel also is planned. Starbucks has signed on as one of the two tenants for the new building, and Hollywood Feed will location in the larger strip.

The 64,221-square-foot retail shopping center is currently home to more than 10 national and local tenants.

The target completion date for the renovation is late summer 2016. Ci Design Inc. is serving as architect for the project.

– Madeline Faber

St. Agnes-St. Dominic Taps Thomas Hood as President

St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School has a new president.

Thomas Hood’s appointment begins July 1. Since 2008, he’s served as the head of school at MMI Preparatory School in Freeland, Pennsylvania, an independent, co-educational college-preparatory day school with 252 students.

His new appointment marks the culmination of a nationwide search that began in May and attracted candidates from around the country.

Founded in 1851, St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School currently has an enrollment of 850 students with boys from 2K to eighth grade and girls from 2K through grade 12. Classes are co-educational in early childhood and junior high and single gender in lower and upper schools.

– Andy Meek

Howell Marketing Goes To Remote Work Model

Howell Marketing Strategies LLC announced Wednesday, Jan. 20, it is selling its South Main real estate and going to a “remote work model” with part-time contractors.

The firm cited “Obamacare, the taxes and overhead associated with small businesses” as factors in “making it impossible for small businesses to be profitable,” in a press release.

“It’s become obvious that the small business owner cannot thrive in this political culture and I have decided to sell my real estate, eliminate property taxes and go to a consulting model to eliminate payroll taxes and insurance,” Howell said in a quote within the press release.

“I am announcing this because I feel others may be afraid of saying it but I say to them, go forward and work from your car if you have to.”

– Bill Dries

IMC Cos. Launching New Brand in 2016

Memphis-based IMC Cos., a national intermodal logistics provider, will launch a new brand, Ohio Intermodal Services, in 2016.

The offering will provide container drayage for clients in the Ohio Valley markets. OIS will be headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and led by Barry Bernard, who most recently held a leadership role at Intermodal Cartage Co., one of IMC’s Memphis-based brands.

– Madeline Faber

Indie Memphis Announces Results of Latest Festival

The Indie Memphis organization is heading into a new year with some wind at its back.

The festival announced this week that its most recent film festival, which spanned eight days last autumn, brought in nearly 10,000 filmgoers and hundreds of volunteers, and generated more than $250,000 in revenue. Indie Memphis said it also concluded the season with a surplus of $85,000.

The organization said those funds allowed for the establishment of a reserve fund and will enhance the year-round programs for 2016. Indie Memphis executive director Ryan Watt said the organization would use feedback from last year to continue to improve the festival experience.

– Andy Meek

Patrick Accounting Moving HQ to East Memphis

Patrick Accounting and Tax Services PLLC and Patrick Payroll LLC have purchased an East Memphis office building for their new headquarters.

The businesses will relocate from their 4,500-square-foot space at 9045 Forest Centre Drive to a 10,454-square-foot building at 1064 Oakhaven Road.

Patrick Real Estate LLC purchased the office building for $970,000, or $92.79 per square foot, on Dec. 22.

The relocation will occur after the tax season, said Matthew Patrick, managing member of Patrick Accounting and Tax Services PLLC and Patrick Payroll LLC.

“We are so excited about the new office as it allows both Patrick Accounting and Patrick Payroll to continue to grow for years to come,” he said.

Landon Williams and Kemp Conrad with Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors represented the buyers. Don Drinkard with CBRE Memphis represented the seller,RPK Investments LLC.

The Oakhaven Road office building was built in 1975 and last sold for $660,000 in 2009, according to the Shelby County Assessor of Property.

– Madeline Faber

Captain D’s Sells For $2 Million

A Captain D’s location in Southeast Memphis has sold for $2 million, according to a Jan. 13 warranty deed.

The Gulla Fadia trust sold the property to California-based Treja Holdings. According to the Shelby County Assessor of Property, the building at 4209 Hacks Cross Roadwas built in 2004 and measures 2,443 square feet. It was most recently appraised at $667,300.

According to the LoopNet listing, the Captain D’s has more than 10 years remaining on its lease.

– Madeline Faber

Hutchison Students Seeking Nonprofits for $5,000 Grant

Hutchison School’s student-led Philanthropic Literacy Board is accepting grant applications from Memphis-area nonprofits that empower local students to stay in school.

The board, comprised of 11 seniors from the class of 2016, spends time researching and analyzing areas of need in the Memphis community. Their research into the Shelby County Schools system showed the 2015 mean composite ACT score – on a scale where scores can range from 12 to 36 – was 16.9, and SCS’ 2015 graduation rate was 75 percent.

The girls’ grant theme, “Breaking the Cycle,” seeks to address the high dropout rate of Memphis-area students by funding programs that provide access to educational resources and foster students’ passion for education.

The board will award one or more grants, together totaling a maximum of $5,000, from their Community Service Endowment Fund to organizations offering strong after-school programs that may include extracurricular activities, tutoring and/or mentorship.

The Community Service Endowment Fund is built from proceeds made the previous year at Hutchison’s Beeline Bazaar, an annual student-run fair that features local artisans and purveyors of handmade goods.

The class of 2016 organized and ran the 2015 Beeline Bazaar during their junior year and will draw upon interest to make for the $5,000 grant or grants.

Nonprofits can access the application form at hutchisonschool.org/philanthropicliteracy, and all application materials are due by Feb. 29 at noon.

– Kate Simone

UTHSC Postdoctoral Fellow Researching Brain Proteins

Dr. Lynda Wilmott, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has received a $52,500 grant to explore proteins in the brain that play a key role in controlling the communication of nerve cells that are important for encoding and storing memories.

The grant from the Glenn/AFAR Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Translational Research on Aging will allow Wilmott to explore how changes in these proteins affect aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

Wilmott currently works in the laboratory of Dr. Catherine Kaczorowski, assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in the College of Medicine at UTHSC. Her research will clarify what role Kcnh3, a protein coding gene, plays in memory function, neuro responsiveness and communication between areas of the brain that are involved in memory.

The expectation of the study is that administering an antagonist drug will improve memory function, including neuron responsiveness and communication between brain areas.

– Andy Meek

College Of Optometry Taps Lewis Reich as President

After serving as interim president at Southern College of Optometry since March 2015, professor Lewis Reich is now the institution’s new president.

That’s a result of the college’s board tapping him for the job in a unanimous vote. Reich, the seventh president in the college’s 85-year history, joined the faculty in 2008 and served as executive vice president for academic affairs prior to being named interim president.

– Andy Meek

Triumph Bank Names Chief Banking Officer

Triumph Bank has tapped Britin “Brit” Boatright as executive vice president and chief banking officer.

He’ll also serve as chief lending officer, and his portfolio of responsibilities includes helping increase core deposits at the bank.

Boatright spent the last 14 years with FirstBank in Nashville, holding several leadership roles.

One of them was as commercial real estate division executive, where he managed the growth and development of the bank’s commercial real estate portfolio across Tennessee.

– Andy Meek

SCS Optional Applications Available Jan. 25

Parents enrolling their children in Shelby County Schools’ optional program for the 2016-2017 school year can begin picking up applications Monday, Jan. 25, at the school system’s Division of Optional Schools and Advanced Academics, 160 N. Hollywood St.

The bar-coded applications will be available starting at 6:30 a.m. Monday and will continue daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Thursday, Jan. 28.

The 6:30 a.m. start is an acknowledgement by the school system that some parents will camp outside the headquarters overnight, as they have in past years. That’s despite school officials’ attempts to discourage the practice as unnecessary.

“I want to reassure parents that lining up days in advance of the application process isn’t required for acceptance,” said Linda Sklar, director of optional schools and advanced academics. “We have a great system in place that ensures the integrity of the process and also provides parents with several convenient options for submitting applications.”

During the 2015 application process, 99.9 percent of qualified students whose parents turned in a bar-coded application were offered positions in an optional school of their choice.

The bar-coded applications must be turned in by 5 p.m. on Jan. 29 and can be submitted online, by mail or in person.The online option is only for current SCS students. There are 47 tuition-free optional schools in the Shelby County Schools system.

– Bill Dries

Exeter Property Group Transfers 13 Properties

Exeter Property Group has sold 13 Memphis industrial properties for a combined $143.3 million – all part of the massive deal in which Exeter sold its U.S. industrial portfolio for $3.2 billion.

The 58 million-square-foot portfolio, which includes 209 properties in 25 key distribution markets, was acquired by a joint venture of Henley Holding Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, one of the largest Canadian pension investment managers.

The Memphis properties and their sale prices are: 3955 Holmes Road ($26.5 million), 6005 Freeport Ave. ($20.2 million), 3399 E. Raines Road ($22.9 million), 3461 E. Raines Road ($14.5 million), 4550 Swinnea Road ($15 million), 4480 Swinnea Road ($14 million), 4550 Quality Drive ($8.5 million), 3630 E. Raines Road ($5.7 million),4289 Concorde Road ($4.9 million), 4403 Delp St. ($3.6 million), 4006 Air Park Street ($3.4 million), 4132 New Getwell Road ($3 million) and 4841 Cromwell Ave. ($1.1 million).

Exeter invested in the joint venture and will continue to manage all the properties.

– Madeline Faber

Walmart Foundation Seeks Tennessee Grant Applicants

The Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program is now accepting applications from Tennessee nonprofits with programs that focus on hunger relief, healthy eating or career opportunities. Grants through the program begin at $25,000 and can go up to $200,000.

Launched in 2008, employee-led State Advisory Councils work with the foundation to identify needs within each state, review grant requests from eligible 501(c)3 organizations and make funding recommendations.

“The Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program is another way we extend our mission to help people live better,” Walmart regional general manager Kate Mora said in a statement

“In addition to the thousands of community service hours our associates perform and the in-kind donations that are spread throughout the communities we serve, these State Giving grants allow us to help nonprofit organizations fulfill their mission and continue on their path of service.”

Grant submissions are only accepted online at walmartfoundation.org/stategiving, and the deadline is Jan. 29.

– Kate Simone

Methodist Hospice Residence Taps Director

Methodist Hospice has named Donna Lanier as director for Methodist Hospice Residence.

She has extensive health care experience with over 35 years working in public and private hospital settings.

Throughout her career she has focused on nursing and hospital administration and at Methodist Hospice will lead a team of nearly 70 associates and additional volunteers who provide care to hospice patients and their families in the 30-bed Methodist Hospice Residence.

Previously, Lanier worked for Delta Medical Center as chief nursing officer.

– Andy Meek

Memphis YMCA to Offer Blood Pressure Program

YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South will begin offering the Blood Pressure Self-Monitoring Program next month, making it one of 16 Y’s nationwide to provide the service.

The evidence-based program combines blood pressure self-monitoring, nutrition education and personalized support to help participants with hypertension lower their blood pressure.

The program is facilitated by Healthy Heart Ambassadors, appointed and trained by the Y, who will show participants how to use a blood pressure cuff, encourage self-monitoring and facilitate monthly nutrition education seminars.

The Memphis YMCA is seeking adults 18 and older who have been diagnosed with high blood pressure to take part. Participants must not have experienced a recent cardiac event, can’t have atrial fibrillation or other arrhythmias, and mustn’t be at risk for lymphedema.

The Blood Pressure Self-Monitoring Program will launch Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will be available at the Cordova Family YMCA, Fogelman Downtown YMCA, Millington Family YMCA and Nuber YMCA. It’s free for members and will cost a small fee for nonmembers.

For more information, contact Health Innovations YMCA program director Connie S. Binkowitz, at cbinkowitz@ymcamemphis.org.

– Kate Simone

Memphian Appointed To THDA board

Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Memphis-area homebuilder Kim Grant Brown as a member of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency board of directors.

Brown manages her own business and partners with her family’s residential construction company, Collierville-based Grant & Co.

Brown served as president of the West Tennessee Home Builders for 2014 as the first woman and the youngest person to do so.

– Madeline Faber

Roberts Elected to Baker Donelson Board

Kristine Roberts, a shareholder in the Memphis office of the Baker Donelson law firm, has been elected to the firm’s board of directors.

She was elected by Baker Donelson’s shareholders to a three-year term upon her completion of a one-year term, filling the remainder of Jennifer Keller’s term as she assumed the role of president and chief operating officer.

Roberts is chair of Baker Donelson’s Financial Services Litigation Group and is an experienced business and commercial litigator who’s handled trial and appellate cases in federal and state courts, as well as in private arbitrations.

Her focus is on banking and financial services litigation, and she also concentrates on securities claims, class actions and other complex litigation of a commercial nature.

She currently serves as co-chair of the mentoring committee for the firm’s women’s initiative and recently served for five years as Baker Donelson’s recruiting chair in Memphis.

– Andy Meek

‘We Sustain Shelby’ Rewards Environmental Actions

The Memphis-Shelby County Office of Sustainability is preparing to launch an initiative that encourages residents to take environmentally friendly steps.

The five-month We Sustain Shelby campaign, which begins Feb. 1, rewards participants for taking various actions to help them cut energy and water use, reduce waste and become better stewards of the environment. The office will issue two to four actions each week, ranging from easy to difficult – such as checking garbage for lesser-known recyclables, dining at a Project Green Fork restaurant or installing weather-stripping.

Participants will earn points for each completed action and their continued participation, and prizes will be awarded weekly throughout the campaign. In addition, participants will be entered into a drawing for a grand prize to be announced and awarded in July.

The options for residents to take action on their own or with a team are offered upon signing up at wesustainshelby.com. The site also provides information on why each recommended action is important, materials and instructions needed to complete it, estimated environmental impact and additional educational resources.

– Kate Simone

Belz Sells Linden Camilla Towers for $14.4M

An entity affiliated with Belz Enterprises has sold the Linden Camilla Towers in Midtown for $14.4 million.

The 11-story senior living apartments, located 256 S. Camilla St., are still under local ownership.

United Housing Partners-Wesley Camilla sold the affordable multifamily complex to Linden Camilla LLC, according to a Dec. 6 warranty deed.

The seller, an entity of local real estate giant Belz, had owned the property since it was developed by the Memphis Housing Authority in 1977.

The registered agent for the new owner is James Carmichael, owner of Silver Tree Residential.

Memphis-based Silver Tree manages more than 30 multifamily communities throughout the U.S. that are designated for Section 8 Rental Assistance.

Linden Camilla Towers contains 430 units across 303,952 square feet.

– Madeline Faber

Atlanta Architecture Firm Lands in Bartlett

GreenbergFarrow, an Atlanta-based architectural, engineering, planning and development-consulting firm, has landed in Memphis.

Its 14th U.S. office recently opened at 6520 Stage Road in Bartlett.

Marketing coordinator Shannon Dennis said that the firm located to Memphis to serve the current and expanding client base and complement the Atlanta headquarters.

One of GreenbergFarrow’s key clients is retailer Ikea, but Dennis said that the Swedish retailer’s upcoming Memphis-area store wasn’t the main reason for the move.

“GreenbergFarrow already had staff working with other clients in the Memphis area before the Ikea project began,” she said. “As our staff was located in a market without a physical office, we saw opening one there as a strategic location to further establish and expand our presence in the region, and to better serve our current and future clients.”

Current hires in the firm are from Memphis, and GreenbergFarrow is actively looking for additional local candidates.

– Madeline Faber

ARS Buys San Jose HVAC Company

Memphis-based American Residential Services has bought the assets of another HVAC services provider.

The acquisition of Atlas Trillo of San Jose, California, is the third acquisition in less than a week announced by ARS, a privately held company that provides heating, air conditioning and plumbing services.

ARS said last week that it bought the assets of Aspen Air Conditioning of Boca Raton, Florida, and Greenstar Home Services in Orange, California, and Las Vegas.

The Thursday, Jan. 14, announcement of the Atlas Trillo purchase doesn’t disclose a price.

Atlas’ president will continue to oversee its operations.

ARS already does plumbing in the Bay area. The purchase of Atlas adds residential and commercial HVAC to what the company offers in the market.

– Bill Dries

Local Engineering Firm Establishes CBU Scholarship

Logical Systems Inc., an international engineering firm based in Memphis, has established a scholarship fund at Christian Brothers University.

The targeted recipients are gifted minority students from the Memphis area who show financial need and plan to enroll in CBU’s engineering program.

LSI will fund two scholarships per year and will provide ongoing mentoring and support.

The amount will vary depending upon the income from the endowment.

– Madeline Faber

Flying Saucer Hosts Event At Cordova Location

Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Cordova is blowing out ten years’ worth of birthday candles by hosting a “Decade of Decadence” event Saturday, Jan. 23 at the restaurant, at 1400 N. Germantown Parkway.

The Cordova Saucer opened its doors in 2006, a move into a suburban location that represented a departure from typical Saucers. The restaurant, which boasts a 1,500-square-foot patio, has provided weekly entertainment and more than 150 craft beer options daily ever since.

The Decade of Decadence event will feature special tappings starting at 6 p.m. including Founders Brewing Company Project PAM, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery 120 Minute IPA and Goose Island Beer Co. Bourbon County Stout (2014 and 2015 vintages), to name a few. Entertainment will include live music from FreeWorld.

– Andy Meek

Lakeland Commission Approves Election Move

Lakeland city elections are moving to even-numbered years starting in 2018.

And the move approved by Lakeland commissioners Thursday, Jan. 14, would extend the current terms of office of the commissioners, school board members and Lakeland’s mayor by 14 months.

Lakeland mayor Wyatt Bunker proposed the move from the odd-number years election cycles, saying it would save the city money to hold city elections on the same ballot as state and federal general elections.

Bunker’s four-year term of office, set to end in 2017, is lengthened by 14 months because he is also a member of the Lakeland commission.

The move of election dates without a referendum is permitted under a Tennessee law that was amended in 2010.

– Bill Dries

Wet Willie’s Leadership Donates $35,000 to Komen

The leadership team at Wet Willie’s Management Corp. has made a donation of more than $35,000 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization.

In October of 2011, Wet Willie’s locations across the U.S. kicked-off the inaugural, month-long “Koozies for Boobies” fundraising campaign and has since made it an annual tradition to donate the proceeds to Susan G. Komen, the nation’s largest proponent of breast cancer awareness, research and prevention.

The latest donation from Wet Willie’s brings the grand total to more than $100,000 since 2011.

– Andy Meek

Simon to Award Grant to College-Bound Senior

Simon Youth Foundation, a national nonprofit that provides educational opportunities for at-risk high school students, wants to help a local graduating senior pay for college.

Any student who will be graduating in the class of 2016 and lives within 50 miles of a Simon property – including Wolfchase Galleria and Oak Court Mall – is eligible. Recipients will receive up to $1,500 to enroll in an accredited college, university, vocational or technical school.

Recipients will be selected by International Scholarship and Tuition Services Inc., a third-party administrator, based on a variety of criteria, including financial need, academic performance, leadership skills and participation in school and community activities.

Applicants who are the first in their family to pursue a post-secondary education also will be given close consideration.

– Kate Simone

Shaq Goodwin, Dedric Lawson Honored by AAC

Senior University of Memphis forward Shaq Goodwin was selected as American Athletic Conference Player of the Week, and freshman forward Dedric Lawson was named the league’s Rookie of the Week.

It’s the fifth time Lawson has been chosen AAC’s Rookie of the Week.

Goodwin averaged 17.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in victories last week over Temple University and the University of South Florida at FedExForum. Goodwin had a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds in the 67-65 win over Temple. Lawson posted double-doubles in each game, averaging 17 points and 12 rebounds. He made 13 of 15 free throws (87 percent) in the two games.

– Don Wade

School Voucher Proposal Clears Key House Panel

A proposal to provide state vouchers for parents to send their children to private schools in Tennessee has cleared a House committee where the measure has failed in recent years.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Bill Dunn of Knoxville cleared the House Finance Subcommittee on a voice vote on Wednesday.

Opponents of the measure complained that the vote was being held while Republican Rep. Curry Todd of Collierville, a longtime opponent of the measure, was absent to have surgery.

Dunn said the state costs of the proposal will be covered in Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's budget this year. House Democratic leader Craig Fitzhugh of Ripley warned of what he called the "devastating effect" of shifting funding out of public school funding to pay for the voucher program.

– The Associated Press

Study: Transportation Issues Cost $5.6B in Tenn.

A new study finds that traffic congestion and road deficiencies in Tennessee cost motorists in the state $5.6 billion a year.

The Washington-based transportation research group Trip conducted the study that calls for boosting investment in Tennessee roads, bridges and transit.

But Republican Gov. Bill Haslam announced last week that he won't propose legislation this session to boost the state's gas tax for the first time since 1989.

The report finds that the increasing congestion means drivers waste more time and fuel each year. According to the study 40 percent of major urban roads in the state are either in poor, mediocre or fair condition, and that one out of five bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete.

–The Associated Press