Former Hutton Toyota Sells for $1.8M

The former Chuck Hutton Toyota dealership at 1710 E. Brooks Road has sold for $1.8 million to Brooks Realty Partners, whose general partner, Richard “Dick” Sweebe, owns Mid-America International Trucks Inc. That company has a truck dealership at 1750 E. Brooks Road, next door to the Chuck Hutton property.

The 34,058-square-foot auto dealership was built in 1987 and sits on 4.56 acres at the northeast corner of East Brooks and Millbranch roads in Whitehaven. The Shelby County Assessor of Property’s 2009 appraisal is $1.6 million.

Brooks Realty Partners financed the purchase with a $1.9 million loan through First Tennessee Bank NA. The transaction also included an assignment of leases, rents and profits by Brooks Realty to First Tennessee.

A call to Sweebe for comment on his plans for the acquired property was not immediately returned.

Sweebe’s company, Mid-America International Trucks, is part of Diamond Companies Inc. The company has two Memphis locations, the one on East Brooks Road and another on South Third Street.

Thomas Hutton Jr. signed the special warranty deed as vice president of Chuck Hutton Co., whose Toyota dealership recently moved to 4601 Hutton Way, near Interstate 55 and East Shelby Drive.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

Design Review to Discuss Downtown Art Projects

Items that will be discussed today at the regular meeting of the Center City Commission Design Review Board include a proposal to display artwork on Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division light poles along South Main Street and G.E. Patterson Avenue in the South Main Historic Arts District.

The board also will discuss an artistic mural proposed for the eastern wall of the vacant office building at 195 Madison Ave. that stands next to AutoZone Park’s left field. The Rhodes College Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts (CODA) last year began soliciting ideas from the public about subjects and images with which to adorn the building.

The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. at the CCC, 114 N. Main St.

AutoZone’s Q2 Profit Up 9 Percent

AutoZone Inc. on Tuesday reported its second-quarter profit jumped 9 percent, boosted by strong demand for its parts and supplies as more customers chose to fix and maintain the vehicles they have rather than buy new ones.

The results soundly beat Wall Street expectations. AutoZone shares gained $11.63, or 8.4 percent, to $151.74 in midday trading, after soaring to a new 52-week high of $157.49 in early trading and passing their previous peak of $148.50 set on Feb. 23.

Bill Rhodes, the company’s chairman, president and chief executive, said lower gas prices during the quarter, along with the aging of the U.S. fleet as more customers put off purchases of new vehicles, helped lead to a second-quarter domestic same-store sales increase of 6 percent.

The company also got a boost from a 4.3 percent increase in commercial sales, he said.

“We feel our business may be benefiting from the general slowdown in the economy,” Rhodes said in a conference call with analysts and investors. “We think a greater number of people may be focusing on maintaining their vehicles given today’s economy.”

For the quarter ended Feb. 14, the Memphis-based company earned $115.9 million, or $2.03 per share, compared with $106.7 million, or $1.67 per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Sales rose 8 percent to $1.45 billion from $1.34 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a more modest profit of $1.85 per share on $1.38 billion in sales.

Rhodes said that while AutoZone doesn’t release profit or sales guidances, company officials are “very optimistic” about AutoZone’s financial results for the rest of the fiscal year, citing the company’s resilient business model.

Rhodes said AutoZone will continue to focus on hiring and training employees, refining its product assortment, increasing the effectiveness of its hub store system and commercial sales growth.

Pending Home Sales Fall 7.7 Percent in January

The number of homebuyers who agreed to purchase an existing home sank to a new low in January as economic woes turned them away from the staggering housing market, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

The group’s seasonally adjusted index of pending sales contracts fell 7.7 percent to 80.4 in January from a downwardly revised December reading of 87.1.

January’s reading was far worse than the 85.1 economists expected, according to Thomson Reuters, and came in below the previous record low of 83.1 in November.

“It really does all come back to the job market,” said Mike Weiss, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research, in a research note. “The latest evidence suggests we’re seeing little relief on that front. Jobless claims are rising sharply and layoff announcements are coming fast and furious.”

The index, which started in 2001, tracks signed contracts to buy previously owned homes. Typically there is a one- to two-month lag between a contract and a done deal, so the index is a barometer for future home sales.

The stumbling housing market took a steep dive after last fall’s dramatic stock market declines. Though sales bounced in December, they fell more than 5 percent in January, diminishing hopes that the worst of the housing recession was over. And Tuesday’s report appeared to confirm that.

FedEx Among Most Admired Companies

FedEx Corp. has been ranked among the top 10 most admired companies, according to a survey published in Fortune magazine.

FedEx tied for seventh with Southwest Airlines on the list. Fortune magazine also recognized FedEx as being first in eight of nine transportation industry category rankings. The categories are innovations, people management, use of corporate assets, quality management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products/services and global competitiveness.

This is the first year the magazine consolidated the United States and World’s Most Admired lists. A total of 689 companies from 28 countries were surveyed.

Bredesen Releases Administration Package

Another run at eliminating a special tax exemption for family owned rental properties is among 97 bills that form Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen’s legislative package this year.

The Democratic governor’s effort to eliminate what he calls a tax loophole for affluent investors was thwarted by a bipartisan coalition in the General Assembly last session.

Bredesen has said it’s unfair for family owned, non-corporate entities to be shielded from corporate taxes while similar businesses controlled by unrelated investors are required to pay them.

But House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada, of Franklin, said his party still opposes any change to the tax break known by its acronym of FONCEs.

“It’s a tax increase in a year where the economy is shrinking,” he said. “This is not the time to increase taxes a few, or many. There may be a time to study it, but let’s not do it in a year where we’re entering a deep recession.”

The Tennessee chapter of National Federation of Independent Business, which lobbied against closing the loophole last year, will remain neutral this time around, said state Director Jim Brown.

Brown said the group opposed the measure last year because it was introduced late in the session and there wasn’t enough time to investigate its merits.

The current law allows the state’s about 2,700 FONCEs to avoid paying about $45 million in corporate taxes each year.

The governor has introduced a measure to require courts to check whether anyone charged with a violent felony holds a state-issued permit to carry a loaded handgun. If so, the Safety Department would have to suspend the permit until the case is adjudicated.

The administration package also includes a bill described as regulating coal mining “with the primary goal to protect the state’s rivers and streams.” The bill filed with the Legislature does not yet say what regulations the governor is seeking.

Another Bredesen bill would require all state Judicial Selection Commission meetings to be open to the public. But that measure could become moot if a Republican-led effort allows the panel to expire this year, moving the state toward publicly elected appellate judges.

Pickwick Pines Homeowners File Complaint in Miss.

The Pickwick Pines Association of Homeowners has filed a complaint with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection over membership and license fees. The complaint formally requests an investigation.

In the complaint, they noted that fees of $500 per year in 2003 have now increased to $1,800 a year. The homeowners recently learned that these fees could increase to $3,000, according to the complaint.

The resort area on Mississippi 350 near Pickwick Lake is a popular weekend getaway for Memphians.