Memphis Tigers Golfer a Nicklaus Award Semifinalist

University of Memphis golfer Lars van Meijel has been named one of 30 semifinalists for the Jack Nicklaus Award presented by Barbasol.

Division I finalists for the award will be named on May 25. Five Nicklaus Award recipients will be announced June 2 with the honor presented by Jack Nicklaus at a ceremony during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

In addition to receiving the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award, the five recipients will compete in the Barbasol Shootout for an exemption to play in the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship on July 14-17, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National in Opelika, Ala.

van Meijel, a junior, leads the Tigers in scoring average, at 71.4 strokes per round, including a low round of 65. He has finished inside of the Top 20 seven times in eight matches this year. He was the individual medalist at the Pinetree Intercollegiate hosted by Kennesaw State University, and he has finished seventh or better six times. He also has 10 rounds in the 60s during the season.

He was recently named to the European Team for the Palmer Cup Team.

– Don Wade

Chief Administrative Clerk Sandra Truitt Retires

Chief Administrative Clerk Sandra Truitt retired April 29 after keeping track of hundreds of thousands of case files and serving under four different district attorneys for 39 years.

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich called Truitt “an incredible public servant.”

“She has performed one of the most critical and thankless jobs with a level of professionalism and integrity that all should try to achieve,” Weirich said in a release. “While she rarely had contact with the victims, she performed her job as if the victims were in her office with her. We, as an office, and a community, are forever indebted to her.”

Truitt was hired in 1977 by District Attorney General Hugh Stanton as a records analyst who reviewed the criminal histories of defendants to determine if they were eligible to be prosecuted as major violators. She also worked under District Attorney Generals John Pierotti and Bill Gibbons.

For a time Truitt worked as a criminal investigator in the DA’s office, carrying a gun and a badge and seeing some memorable sights.

“I went out when we raided the strip joints and shut them all down,” she said, referring to an event that led the evening news for weeks. “My job was to get the females dressed, check their purses and get them out of the locker room. It was not pretty in there.”

Shortly before Pierotti took office in 1990, Truitt was placed in charge of the file room and the thousands of criminal case files stored there.

“Nobody wanted the job so they asked me if I wanted to do it,” she recalled. “They said if I would just do it a little while, then I could go back to doing major violators if I didn’t like it. I just learned on the job and we created new systems as the volume of cases grew. As they changed, I just had to change with it.”

Truitt said she plans to spend time with her husband, Bryan, and her sister in Oakland, a nephew in Lakeland, a niece in Nashville and other relatives from here to Texas. And complete a quilt begun by her late mother.

Dolly Jaco will succeed Truitt as head of the file room.

– Bill Dries

Centennial Commons Preparing for Burlington Coat Factory

Burlington Coat Factory is moving from its 6480 Winchester Road location to the Centennial Commons shopping center at 7761 Winchester Road.

Gordman’s was the most recent tenant in the space it will occupy.

In relation to the relocation, Linkous Construction recently filed a $2.3 million building permit for “interior and exterior renovation” at the 40,000-square-foot Centennial Commons location.

Lightman Realty owns the shopping center development.

– Madeline Faber

Hickory Hill Warehouses Sell for $27 Million

Two industrial buildings in the Midway Distribution Center in Hickory Hill have sold for a combined price of $27 million.

The larger Building C warehouse went for $19.7 million. In an April 20 warranty deed, LBP Midway C LLC sold the property to Exeter 4550 S. Mendenhall LLC.

The 460,000-square-foot warehouse at 4550 S. Mendenhall Road was built in 1999. Its 2015 appraisal was $13 million.

LBP Midway B LLC, a related entity of LBP Midway C LLC, also sold Building B at 4580 S. Mendenhall Road. 

Exeter 4580 S. Mendenhall LLC, a related entity of 4550 S. Mendenhall LLC, purchased the warehouse for $7.2 million. The property bears 168,000 square feet and was built in 1997. Its 2015 appraisal was $5 million.

– Madeline Faber

City Pulls Permit to Build on Walter J. Simmons Site

The city of Memphis Property Maintenance Department is moving from the Overton Park area to near Memphis International Airport.

Property Maintenance recently filed a $1.5 million building permit for a new building at 3720 Knight Arnold Road, at the site of the former Walter J. Simmons public housing complex at Lamar Avenue and Knight Arnold in Southeast Memphis.

Property Maintenance will be the first department to make the move, with a slew of Memphis’ operations and engineering departments following suit, said Antonio Adams, director of the Division of General Services.

Eventually, several departments will move to the 33-acre site, including Fleet Maintenance, Park Operations, Sign Shop and Traffic Markings, Fire Apparatus and Maintenance, Traffic Signals Maintenance, Construction Inspection and Material Testing Lab.

Consolidating the departments will free up valuable space across the city, namely the southeast corner of Overton Park that currently houses Property Maintenance. The Memphis Zoo has eyed the lot for additional parking, and it has also been under consideration as the future home of a William Eggleston museum.

Adams said construction at the Knight Arnold location will begin mid- to late July and continue for 18 months.

– Madeline Faber