The Chattanoogan hotel, a AAA Four Diamond-rated upscale property, has been honored with two of the highest awards given in the meetings industry. The hotel was awarded the prestigious 2009 Best of the South Award from Meetings Media as well as the 2009 Pinnacle Award from Successful Meetings. There are only three hotels in Tennessee that received the Best of the South Award, as determined by readers of Meetings South magazine. The Pinnacle award was presented to just two properties in Tennessee this year. Readers of Successful Meetings magazine choose the winners of Pinnacle awards.

“We are extremely proud to receive these two very prestigious awards,” said Tom Cupo, general manager of The Chattanoogan. “This recognition honors our outstanding staff and the services we provide our clients to ensure that they have the most productive meeting experience possible.”

The Best of the South award is presented annually to select Southern hotels, which are determined by meeting planners to be the very best in the industry. The 2009 Best of the South Awards recognized 55 hotels in 14 states, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. Meeting planners rate hotels by quality of meeting space; guest rooms; guest services and amenities; efficiency and helpfulness of staff; food and beverage service; availability of technical equipment; recreational facilities and activities as well as overall value and customer experience. Each September, Meetings South publishes results of the evaluations.

The Pinnacle Award is given each year to a select group of hotel properties within the U.S. who excel as a meeting destination. Award recipients are those properties that have consistently performed in an outstanding manner throughout the year servicing and supporting meetings. Successful Meetings readers judge four categories: accommodations, amenities, meeting facilities and services and food and beverage.

The Chattanoogan is a 210,000-square-foot, five-storey hotel with 198 guest rooms and suites, along with three restaurants, a day spa and a 25,000-square-foot conference center. The conference center offers comprehensive meeting planning and audiovisual support services. Twenty rooms are available with five general session rooms that can accommodate 25 to 100 guests. A Chattanoogan features a 16-seat circular boardroom with a flat data screen, 12 breakout rooms, an amphitheater with seating for 88 and a 7,500-square-foot ballroom.

Just two hours from Atlanta, Nashville, Knoxville, Huntsville, Ala., and Birmingham, Ala., the Chattanoogan is within walking distance of The Tennessee Aquarium and numerous shops, galleries, retail stores and restaurants.

The Chattanoogan is managed by Benchmark Hospitality International. Benchmark manages various resorts, conference centers, hotels and Personal Luxury Hotelsª throughout the world.

Source: East Tennessee Business Journal

Innovation Valley Inc, a regional economic development campaign in the Knoxville-Oak Ridge area, was recognized by Governor Phil Bredesen and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development for having the best economic development website in the state. The announcement was made on September 14 at the 56th Annual Governor’s Conference on Economic and Community Development in Nashville.

“Governor Bredesen’s recognition of Innovation Valley, Inc.’s website is a great sign that the organization is continuing to do everything needed to attract business to our area,” said Knoxville Chamber Vice President of Economic Development Doug Lawyer. “The Tombras Group developed an easy to navigate website that highlights the best this region has to offer.”

The website, www.knoxvilleoakridge.com, was redesigned by The Tombras Group this year and features the key information site selection consultants (the real estate professionals that help companies search for locations) are looking for. The site also highlights the many assets of the Innovation Valley including technology and research resources.

Source: Knoxville Chamber

Christmas is right around the corner so Shadrack Watersports and RV’s Christmas Wonderland are spreading a lot of holiday cheer.

It’s the largest show of its kind in the country, a drive-through experience featuring hundreds of thousands of led lights synchronized and dancing to classic Christmas tunes.

“We decided to expand this year because Knoxville was such a big hit last year and we couldn’t get all of the traffic through it,” explains General Manager Josh Glover.

The new show means more employees on the payroll and no layoffs, even during a sluggish year of water sport sales.

“We have been able to add a whole new crew and keep everyone working all winter long,” Glover says.

The first Sevierville location has cars lined up ready to get into the Christmas spirit. “We have had quite a bit of attendance here,” Glover says.

The show isn’t just attracting people at its location, but also across the way at nearby businesses.

The Huddle House has seen a lot more green since Christmas Wonderland lit up. “It has really impacted our store, with the economy the way it is we really need it,” says employee Valerie Sanders.

She also says other business owners have told her they’re profiting, too. “I am so very happy to see it,” she says.

The show is spreading much more Christmas cheer than organizers could have ever planned for. That’s just one more reason to experience it for yourself.

The Sevierville location is located right off exit 407 on I-40. The Smokies Stadium donated the space to use.

Christmas Wonderland is open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.

During the week, each car is $10 and on weekends $15.

The Knoxville location is set to open for the season this Thursday. A portion of the profits is donated to area charities including Second Harvest Food Bank.

Source: WATE

The Tennessee Department of Revenue is holding free bimonthly tax workshops for new businesses in Nashville, Knoxville, Johnson City, Memphis and Chattanooga.

Tax specialists will provide information about business tax, sales and use tax, unemployment tax and tax enforcement procedures.

The workshops are designed to help those dealing with business-related taxes for the first time. They take place in Nashville, Chattanooga, Johnson City, Knoxville and Memphis.

Those interested in registering should contact the Revenue Department.

The schedule is:

Nashville: Nov. 24, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the department’s Murfreesboro Road office, located at 1321 Murfreesboro Road, Eighth Floor.

Knoxville: Nov. 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the department’s Knoxville regional office, located at 531 Henley Street, suite 606.

Johnson City: Nov. 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at the department’s Johnson City regional office, located at 204 High Point Drive.

Memphis: Nov. 12, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Renaissance Business Center, located at 555 Beale Street. The workshop will be held in the Memphis Training Room.

Chattanooga: Nov. 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at the department’s Chattanooga regional office, located at 540 McCallie Avenue. The workshop will be held in conference room 607.

Source: WATE

Downtown Knoxville’s come a long way in the past five years.

The number of residents has nearly doubled to 2,000 and new businesses are opening almost every week.

But it still has a long way to go before it’s the vibrant community, the Central Business Improvement District (CBID) wants it to be.

“Can we have a 24 hour ‘live, work, play’ environment where you don’t have to use your car?” asks Patrick Hunt. He thinks we can.

Hunt is the chair of CBID, the non-profit organization behind the revitalization of downtown.

CBID has just drawn up a strategic draft plan for taking Knoxville to the next level.

The key is retail. “Retail that helps make your daily life easier, whether that is picking up dry cleaning or picking up a new cell phone battery,” Hunt says.

The plan calls for actively recruiting 25 new non-restaurant retailers by the end of 2012.

Those retailers will be a healthy mix of shops with names you’ll recognize and others you won’t.

“I think that mix has to include unique boutique types of stores that are unique to Knoxville and are locally grown and locally owned,” Hunts says. “But at the same time, we need credit tenants that have the depth of financial resources to be there for the long haul.”

Downtown will also have lifestyle stores that make things more convenient so you never have to get in your car to get what you need.

That may include a downtown grocery store.

“There is a model we want to be proactive in identifying and attracting, a model that is a hybrid market, cafe, and provision store that might include a lot of prepared foods,” Hunt says.

Until now, CBID’s been reactive in its approach letting new businesses come to it. Now it’s going to be proactive doing research to recruit the right retail.

The goal is for the retail to fit the so-called sweet spot appealing to those who live, work and play in downtown Knoxville.

Developer David Dewhirst, of Dewhirst Properties, says hitting this spot is crucial to a project’s success downtown.

“Because these are mixed use spaces, we have to have retail, residential and commercial together at the same time. Figuring out that puzzle can be difficult and I think CBID can be very helpful,” Dewhirst says.

So far, the organization’s plan seems to be on the right track with downtowners.

“It would be convenient if there was a grocery store downtown or a pharmacy where I could do not expensive grocery shopping, just pick up those extra items that I didn’t have time to get,” says downtown employee Loring Strickland.

“As a person who is on these streets almost every day, I would things like more retail maybe. We got great retails shops here, great restaurants but we could use more,” says another downtown employee, Travis Venable.

CBID is also aiming to pinpoint catalyst projects like the Mast General Store on Gay Street that will spark continuous growth.

Plus, part of CBID’s plan is recruiting businesses to fill its office space and more residents.

The organization also wants to create a downtown business incubator to provide small affordable commercial space and support services for emerging businesses.

CBID hopes to approve the plan in the next two months and begin putting money behind it in January.

Downtown’s unique, historic buildings are costly and time-consuming to renovate which makes it tough to attract new businesses. CBID hopes its proactive recruiting of tenants, will encourage developers to start renovation projects.

Some of downtown’s strengths are also its weaknesses.

The growth has caused property values to rise 22 percent in the past year, which makes it tougher to attract new businesses, especially in the weak economy.

Source: WATE

A Union County factory is opening up again after falling victim to the slumping economy.

Arctel, Inc. in Maynardville went idle in February.

The company makes mirrors, ceiling medallions and lighting accessories, items not in high demand as builders and businesses cut costs.

Chris Woods is happy to be working again after being without a job for almost a year.

“I came very close to losing my house. I was four months behind on my payments six months ago. Now I am one month behind on my payments which is a drastic improvement,” Woods said.

He’s back at the same plant working for the same boss who was forced to lay him off.

“We were totally in the dark as to what was going on. He said lay everybody off including yourself so we were all pretty well devastated,” Rick Collins said.

Collins spent 38 years making polyurethane decor items at the manufacturing plant, which opened in 1968.

When the plant closed, he was financially stable but many of his former employees weren’t. So Collins decided to buy the plant and reopen it himself.

“When you work with people and see them having financial difficulties like losing their homes, it puts the onus on you to help people,” Collins said.

Chances are, you’ve seen the work from this plant. The mirrors are in a lot of hotels and their ceiling medallions are in a lot of higher end homes.

When the construction industry was hit by the recession, so was Arctel,, then called Permalife. Sales plummeted 40 percent nationwide and the plant closed.

Now, Collins hopes when demand picks up he can get more people back to work. “Our goal is within six months to have 25 people employed.”

Collins hopes to have 100 people employed eventually. He says he aims to employ as many of his people as he can.

“I know Rick didn’t have to do it. He did it to help everybody else out and that’s a good thing. He is a good man,” Woods said.

At one time, the factory employed 157 people.

Union County’s unemployment is at 10 percent and about half of those employed commute outside the county to work.

Union County Mayor Larry Lay said saving Arctel will really help the local economy. “It’s very important to Union County to get any type of business. It replaces the jobs that we lost here.”

Arctel’s ceiling medallions and trim are in the S&W Grand Cafe in downtown Knoxville.

Source: WATE

With the help of a new Knoxville Tennessee Career Center program, about 22 workers laid off from Sea Ray Boats, Alcoa Inc. and other employers are reinventing themselves for careers in green jobs.

The center, at 1600 University Ave., has been hosting job fairs for the newly certified environmental technicians and has one planned 10 a.m.-noon Nov. 17. Companies have been invited to give presentations and meet with the job candidates, said Patrick Wade, career specialist in charge of the center’s effort.

“Generally, we will be holding these every Tuesday,” he said.

Two companies participated at a job fair last month. Emily Hatfield, career center manager, said she hopes for a better response as word of the program gets out.

“We will continue holding job fairs until we find jobs for this group of graduates,” she said.

Then, other training sessions might be offered, she said.

“This is a pilot program,” Hatfield said. “Depending on how well this goes, we may offer another class, probably in February.”

The program came about after she and Wade discussed the need to prepare displaced workers for green jobs, but found there was no place to get all the different training and certifications needed at once, Hatfield said. Certification for mold and asbestos abatement is done through the state and for hazardous waste operations through the federal government. Plus, courses tend to be expensive and out of reach of people who are out of work.

So, the center arranged with the International Chemical Workers Union Council, which has a nationally recognized HAZMAT training program, to offer the program locally.

The ICWUC held a five-week program that offered 40 hours in Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER), 30 hours in Occupational Health and Safety Administration construction, four days in mold remediation, 16 hours in lead-based paint remediation, four days in asbestos remediation and one day in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other first aid skills.

 Full Story Here: knoxnews.com

EVANSTON, Ill., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ — /Manufacturers’ News, Inc./ –
Industrial employment in Tennessee fell 12.6% over the past twenty-four months according to the 2010 Tennessee Manufacturers Register, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. MNI reports Tennessee lost 56,647 manufacturing jobs over the past two years, with 15,110 jobs lost between September 2007 and September 2008 and 41,537 industrial jobs from 2008 to September of this year.

Manufacturers’ News reports Tennessee is now home to 7,711 manufacturers employing 403,030 workers, compared to a high of 547,494 industrial workers recorded by MNI in 2001. Manufacturing jobs have declined steadily in the state since 2001, dropping 144,464 jobs or 26.4%. The loss of nearly 41,537 manufacturing jobs over the past year marks the sharpest decline MNI has ever reported in the twelve years it has been tracking the state’s industry.

“As with the entire nation, the recession continues to hit Tennessee’s core sectors, while the faltering housing market has affected industries such as wood products, furniture and building products,” says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912.

Full Article Here: www.reuters.com

This month’s Green Report in the Greater Knoxville Business Journal focused on financing issues related to large solar installations. But FLS Energy, an Asheville company that’s recently set up shop in Tennessee, sells photovoltaic systems and has a particular emphasis on solar water heating systems. The company offers financing as well. FLS Energy has 38 employees.

Here’s an email interview with Evelyn Winther, who operates the company’s Knoxville office.Tell me about FLS Energy.

FLS Energy is a solar energy generation company. We design, finance, and install commercial solar hot water (thermal) and solar electric (photovoltaic or PV) systems. FLS Energy’s mission is to make solar mainstream. We are committed to the highest standards of craftsmanship, customer satisfaction, and service warranty. And we are NABCEP certified (NABCEP stands for the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners).

I am a UT Knoxville Ecology graduate and the E TN Business Development Representative for FLS Energy – my focus is on how solar technology can help address energy issues cost-effectively. Our team include engineers, system designers, ISO 14000 auditors, energy planners, master electricians, and general contractors. We’re also partnering with local energy service companies, which help businesses reduce their energy usage through efficiency upgrades.

What type of projects do you target?

Commercial-scale solar projects.

Why was Knoxvillle an attractive market?
Knoxville is a Solar City, and there is a lot of support from municipal and State Energy Office leadership for solar projects. Governor Bredeson’s Volunteer State Solar Initiative is creating many opportunities for growth in the industry, and TVA’s Generation Partners Program also makes projects financially viable for local customers.

Do you have any local projects currently in the works?
We have announced large scale solar thermal projects at the Knoxville Airport Hilton and the Oak Ridge Double Tree hotel. Construction on these projects will begin later this fall. We have a number of other projects in negotiation.

Any installations currently underway?
Yes, the Kingsport Center for Higher Education 30 Kilowatt (kW) project was recently completed as part of the center’s energy efficient building design (LEED building).

Who are your customers?
Anyone that uses lots of hot water. Hotels, restaurants, dormitories, car washes, and hospitals are examples of companies that can improve the bottom line significantly with solar hot water. Office buildings are good candidates for solar electric applications.

I understand that you are offering financing for solar installations. Tell me how that works.
FLS Energy has a Solar Energy Purchase Agreement (SEPA) model whereby clients can offset a large percentage of solar project start-up costs. FLS Energy owns, operates, maintains, and insures the system for a ten-year period. During the SEPA term, the client saves money on energy costs and overhead for the facility.

Who qualifies?

The SEPA arrangement is for any PV project sized at 5 kW or higher, or for thermal systems of 500 gallons or more per day. This program is especially helpful for entities like non-profits and municipalities, which would not qualify for other incentives – like commercial grants through the state, or federal tax credits. But it is also good for companies that want to reduce the upfront cost of solar projects.

Who provides the financial backing for your financing offering?
FLS Energy has investor partners who provide the upfront financing.

Has it been difficult to get financing given the condition of the market?
Financing earlier in the heart of the recession was very challenging. However, this has been a strong year for solar already, and hopefully improvements in the general market will continue.

Anything available for residential customers?

Not currently through my company. However, there may be future opportunities through solar co-ops, etc.

What response are you getting from potential customers? Is there a lot of interest?

The business case for solar is so strong in Tennessee that interest has been very high. I have been busy explaining this program to a lot of folks – a great year for solar but not for sleep if you are a solar rep.!

Source: BizPlanet

A Swedish furniture manufacturing company plans to employ up to 150 East Tennesseans in its new 95,000 square foot plant in Dandridge.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday morning for BJS North America Inc., where tables, headboards and other furniture products will be made for the Swedish furniture company IKEA.

The factory has been up and running for the past two months.

So far, about 30 people have been hired, with another 120 jobs still up for grabs. The company plans to fill the positions over the next three years.

“We have all sorts of jobs available, from production to painting,” said Executive Vice President Dale Dennis.

The company will hire and then train, so a lot of experience is not necessary.

Starting pay is between $8.00 to $10.00 an hour.

Those interested in employment can apply in person at 1000 Industrial Park Road in Dandridge.

Though the plan is to hire 150 employees at this point, company officials say they could hire even more in the future.

In an economy where people are losing jobs every day, Jefferson County officials say the project is a win-win for everyone.

“This is huge. It is just a great day for Jefferson County,” said Chamber of Commerce President Don Cason.

Source: WATE