Methodist Buys UCI Building In Memphis Medical District

Methodist Healthcare Memphis Hospitals has purchased a 69,280-square-foot building in the Medical District for $3.1 million, according to a Dec. 5 warranty deed.

In the sale, Methodist purchased the Class B office building from the Urban Child Institute, a local nonprofit that moved into a fourth-floor suite in Crosstown Concourse.

Gary Shorb, UCI’s executive director who previously served as CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, signed the deed of sale on behalf of UCI.

Built in 1975 and sitting on 2.3 acres near the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Neely Street, the property was appraised for $5.3 million this year by the Shelby County Assessor.

– Patrick Lantrip

Crosstown Concourse Makes Prestigious AR Awards List

Crosstown Concourse has made a shortlist of 15 outstanding adaptive reuse projects from across the world and is the only U.S. project on the list chosen by panel of judges from The Architectural Review.

The 15 projects chosen for the AR New into Old awards were selected by esteemed British architects Michael and Patty Hopkins; Lyndon Neri, co-founder of Neri & Hu; and Timothy Brittain-Catlin, deputy chairman of the Twentieth Century Society.

The Architectural Review has long touted creative reuse projects, and the subject has created significant new interest because of the carbon implications of retrofitting rather than replacing structures.

The new AR award celebrates the successful adaptation of original architecture to contemporary functions as well as the varied remodeling strategies.

Crosstown Concourse is the mixed-use, urban village created inside the 1.5 million-square-foot former Sears Crosstown in Memphis that has residences, medical/health tenants, traditional retail, arts and education uses. It was designed by Memphis-based Looney Ricks Kiss Architects and included collaboration with many Memphis leaders and agencies.

The winning project, along with any highly commended projects and finalists, will be announced and published in The Architectural Review’s December/January issue at the end of the year.

– Daily News staff

Sedgwick Acquiring London-Based Claims Firm

Memphis-based Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc. has made an acquisition that expands the company’s international footprint.

The company has signed an agreement to acquire London-based loss adjuster and claims management firm Cunningham Lindsey, which helps businesses, insurance companies, brokers and policyholders around the world. The company employs 6,000 people in 600 offices across 60 countries.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

The Cunningham Lindsey group will complement the services provided by Sedgwick and its subsidiary, Vericlaim. Cunningham Lindsey provides services addressing all aspects of the risk management life cycle, including pre- and post-loss, specialties in loss adjusting, third-party claims administration, global account management, forensic engineering, and restoration and repair consulting, among others.

The acquisition also enhances Sedgwick’s status as the leading global provider of innovative risk and benefit solutions. When the transaction closes, Sedgwick CMS will employ more than 20,000.

The transaction is still subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

– Andy Meek

Bredesen Joins Senate Race To Succeed Bob Corker

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the last Democrat to win a statewide election in Tennessee, touted his problem-fixing credentials on Thursday, Dec. 7, in announcing his bid to succeed Republican Bob Corker in the U.S. Senate.

Bredesen was a successful health care entrepreneur before winning election to two terms each as Nashville mayor and Tennessee governor.

He won every county in the state during his second run for governor in 2006, even after cutting thousands of adults from the state’s Medicaid program to help stem exploding costs.

“I have the right kind of experience and the actual track record that it will take to start working across party lines to fix the mess in Washington and bring common sense back to our government,” Bredesen said in a video on his campaign website.

Democrats are hopeful that Bredesen can again buck the Republican trend in Tennessee, a state that famously denied favorite son Al Gore the presidency in 2000 by voting for Republican George W. Bush.

Bredesen won the Nashville mayor’s job in 1991, defeating incumbent Bill Boner. He narrowly won the 2002 governor’s race to succeed Republican Gov. Don Sundquist.

Once in office, Bredesen stemmed the escalating costs of TennCare by cutting 170,000 adults from the program and reducing benefits to thousands more.

While those cuts didn’t hurt Bredesen’s re-election bid – he ended up carrying all 95 counties – they did become an issue when he was under consideration to become former President Barack Obama’s secretary of health and human services in 2011.

That job ended up going to then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

Bredesen said in the video that his time as governor was marked by having to cope with “out of control” costs at TennCare and then with the meltdown of the Great Recession.

“With a lot of hard choices, we managed our way through all of that,” he said. “We didn’t just get through it, we prospered.”

Bredesen noted that Tennessee achieved top bond ratings while bringing in major investments to Tennessee. They included Volkswagen’s decision to build its first U.S. plant in decades in Chattanooga and Nissan moving its North American headquarters to the Nashville area.

– The Associated Press

Moody’s Assigns A1 Rating To Rhodes College Bonds

Rhodes College has received good news regarding its bond ratings.

Moody’s Investors Service recently announced its assignment of an A1 rating to the college’s proposed approximately $33 million Educational Facilities Revenue Refunding Bonds Series 2017.

The bonds will be issued through The Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board of Shelby County. They will have a final maturity in 2040.

The college’s fiscal outlook also is stable, according to Moody’s, a leading provider of credit ratings, research and risk analysis.

“I am very pleased the ratings agencies recognized the financial strength of Rhodes,” Marjorie Hass, president of the college, said in a release. “We will continue to build on that foundation of strength as we plan for the future.”

Rhodes also received an A+ rating from Standard and Poor’s, another top credit-ratings firm.

– Daily News staff