Gov. Phil Bredesen and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber announced on Thursday the global auto supplier’s 131,000-square foot project in Bedford County.

A spokeswoman for the Michigan-based supplier of automotive chassis and suspension parts referred questions to Tennessee officials.

A statement says SMW supplies parts for companies such as Nissan and Volkswagen.

Applications for production jobs will be accepted immediately at the Tennessee Career Center in Shelbyville. Production is scheduled to start this fall.

Source: Charlotte Business Journal

Whirlpool executives said Wednesday the project is part of the Benton Harbor, Mich., company’s commitment to manufacturing in the U.S.

The company will close a 100-year-old plant in Cleveland as part of the upgrade.

Construction is scheduled to start later this year, with a projected cost of $120 million.

The plant is expected to start production of built-in cooking appliances in early 2012.

Whirlpool currently has more than 2,000 employees in its Cleveland-based operations.

The existing factory should be empty by mid-2013 and Whirlpool will likely attempt to sell it.

Source: WATE.com

Production of the yet-to-be-seen VW is to start early next year at the $1 billion plant near Interstate 75.

VW Chattanooga spokesman Scott Wilson said Monday that Cathy Allen, 38, of Chattanooga, has been recognized as the 1,000th employee hired.

Hiring at the plant will continue into 2011.

Production jobs start at $14.50 an hour and in three years increase to $19.50 an hour.

Source: WATE.com

The decades old supports beneath the street got some much needed repair. Utilities also got an upgrade and the city widened the sidewalks for a more pedestrian friendly feel.

All the upgrades have been tough on residents and business owners who had to deal with a lot of dust and noise.

Everyone 6 News spoke with said they are happy with the changes. “Before they redid the street. this side of town felt rundown, kind of neglected, so it’s nice to be revitalized,” said Sean Christman, who’s lived on the 100 block since 2007.

Those who own businesses on this part of Gay Street have seen some positive signs.

Daniel Monday, chief marketing officer for Slamdot, a web design company at 108 Gay Street, says walk-in business has been picking up.

“We’ve already seen it in the last couple of weeks it has been open. A lot of people calling who have come out on the weekends and saw our signs and the called back and scheduled an appointment, so we are very excited about what’s going on so far and what’s to come,” Monday said.

To help celebrate the opening of the 100 block, business owners are planning a big event on October 1.

“They are going to be closing the street from Jackson all the way to Summit Hill,” said Elaine Frank, a web designer with Slamdot. “There is going to be live music. There is going to be a live rock band. There is going to be some dances.”

Everyone who spoke to 6 News said this is a good time to own a business or live in this part of downtown.

“We are more accessible, like when there is family visiting, or going to your car or off loading groceries it is a lot easier,” Christman said.

“The infrastructure of the entire street has been rebuilt, so it’s a lot more sound now, you can feel safe walking down here knowing the infrastructure is up to date,” Monday added.

“I think it looks great,” said Frank. “I think it really ties us in with the rest of downtown.”

However, the construction wasn’t good for everyone. Nama Sushi Bar is moving from the block due partially to the construction.

Source: WATE.com

Bredesen said at a news conference on Wednesday that the program will be administered by Pathway Lending, a community development financial institution that provides loans to businesses lacking access to traditional financing options throughout Tennessee.

Businesses may apply online on the Pathway Lending website with first round applications due by November 1, 2010.

To be eligible for a loan, a business must have a complete third-party energy audit, assessment, or vendor proposal with detailed project energy savings.

Gov. Bredesen said the company will offer below-market rate loans, financing up to 100 percent of improvements aimed at reducing energy consumption, lowering overall costs and improving profitability.

The loans can be repaid with the energy costs savings derived from each project.

Source: WATE.com

HQ features skateboards and skateboarding accessories including clothing and body jewelry.

Active Pets offers pets including iguanas, birds, fish, dogs and rodents, along with pet supplies

Bee Wicked Candles has a variety of locally made candles, gifts, accessories, lamps, oils and diffusers. Shoppers can also make their own candles.

“Bee Wicked is a tenant that has a retail outlet in Morristown, and decided to move into the Knoxville market so it’s a good opportunity for local and regional retailers to really come in and be prosperous,” said area mall manager Tim Hill.

Education Station features a variety of products for teachers to stock up their classrooms.

The mall still has plenty of empty store fronts and for lease signs, but shoppers hope the mall is getting on the right track.

“I came here around Christmas time. It was almost like going to a ghost town. It was strange because so many stores were closed. But actually it is improving and it is great to see it improving because I would hate to see just one mall in Knoxville,” said one shopper, Cheri Baker.

Knoxville Center Mall management says shoppers had been asking for a pet store, but others are looking for better clothing stores.

“Mainly the clothing stores, Banana Republic, Aeropostale things like that mainly. Your clothing stores will bring people back,” said shopper Sherri Long.

Mall management says they expect to announce more new additions in the next few months.

Source: WATE.com

The Nashville-based company said it purchased the property for about $3 million from Two Rivers Baptist Church. The land also is across the road from Gaylord corporate headquarters and Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.

According to WSMV-TV, CEO Colin Reed said it’s undetermined how the land will be utilized but quelled rumors about construction of a new theme park.

Source: WATE.com

GM said Thursday that it made $1.3 billion from April through June, its second straight quarter in the black and a complete reversal from last year, when it was forced into bankruptcy and the U.S. government took a majority stake.

CEO Ed Whitacre said he would leave his post Sept. 1. He said the GM board knew all along that he would do so after the company returned to health, and industry analysts said it was an important step leading up to the stock sale.

Whitacre, who will stay on as chairman through the end of this year, will be replaced as CEO by Daniel Akerson, a 61-year-old former telecommunications executive who sits on the GM board.

While executives would not discuss the stock sale Thursday, GM is expected to file its initial paperwork with federal regulators as early as Friday.

“Things look good. There’s a foundation in place, a good foundation,” said Whitacre, who was drafted out of his first retirement by the government to fix the troubled GM. “I believe we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.”

Last year, GM lost nearly $13 billion in the second quarter alone. In the first six months of this year, GM made $2.2 billion as cost cuts took full effect, sales in China grew and people paid more for GM’s revamped vehicles in the U.S.

For example, GM’s crossovers, which are similar to SUVs but built on car undercarriages, are fetching $3,000 more this year than last. Crossovers such as the Chevrolet Equinox and Buick Enclave have sold well, and the company has high hopes later this year for the Chevy Cruze, its first decent compact, and the Volt, a $41,000 rechargeable electric car.

The federal government got a 61 percent stake in GM in exchange for $43 billion in aid to keep it alive. It could sell some or all of that when GM makes its public stock offering, perhaps as early as November.

GM must first reveal to the Securities and Exchange Commission how many shares it intends to sell on the open market and at what price. The government would then tell GM how much of its stake it will sell, and GM would disclose that in another filing.

If GM’s shares sell for too little, the government and other stakeholders are less likely to get their money back and GM is less likely to raise money to pay off debt.

The environment for new stock offerings is less than welcoming. Six initial public offerings have been postponed since June 1, in part out of fear that they wouldn’t fetch a high enough share price, said Matt Therian, an analyst with Renaissance Capital, a Greenwich, Conn., firm specializing in public stock offering research.

GM, however, may have enough cache to overcome the sluggish economy, Therian said.

“The IPO market can be a case-by-case basis,” he said. “I think in many ways GM is going to be a unique story.”

Scott Sweet, owner of IPO research firm IPO Boutique, said the Obama administration may be pressuring GM to sell prematurely to influence the November congressional elections and make the government’s controversial investment look smart. Whitacre and the government have both said GM is in charge of the timing of the IPO.

Akerson will be GM’s fourth CEO in 18 months. Like Whitacre, a former CEO of AT&T, Akerson worked in top executive positions at major telecommunications companies. He held top posts at MCI and Nextel.

Both have been described as hard-charging executives who demand results. Whitacre, 68, who was known within GM for his disdain for PowerPoint presentations and his surprise visits to factories, said Akerson shares his vision for the company.

Whitacre didn’t directly address a question about whether executives with automotive experience were considered for the job. But he said Akerson has learned the auto business in his year on the board.

“Dan has been involved every step of the way,” Whitacre said. “He knows this business from a board perspective and also from personal conversations.”

Akerson will stay on with The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, until he starts as GM CEO next month.

Bob Lutz, a former GM vice chairman who retired earlier this year, said in an e-mail that Akerson doesn’t need auto experience to run GM because it has a solid management team. But he does need to listen to that team, Lutz said

“He’s very strong, very opinionated, not always right, and needs to work on listening skills,” Lutz said. “If he can bring himself to trust his now-outstanding senior executive group and lead rather than direct, I think he’ll do an outstanding job.”

GM still faces problems. Its U.S. sales rose 14 percent in the first six months of this year, lagging behind the average industry increase of 17 percent. It spends more on car buyer incentives than any other automaker, according to Edmunds.com.

GM has also relied heavily on sales to rental car companies, governments and corporations, which are less lucrative than sales to individual customers.

GM’s return to profitability and impending stock sale are milestones in the restructuring of the beleaguered American auto industry. The administration rushed to its aid last year, after the 2008 bailouts of major banks.

Ford Motor Co., which never needed government help, made $2.6 billion in the second quarter, its fifth straight quarterly profit. Chrysler Group LLC, which got $15.5 billion in federal aid, narrowed its second-quarter loss to $172 million.

GM’s profits, coming at a tough time for overall car sales in the U.S., are proof Whitacre has put the company on solid footing, said David Cole, the chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Cole said Whitacre was smart enough to leave in place things that were working – product development, which has produced some hot-sellers, and manufacturing, which has grown more efficient – while he streamlined GM’s bloated management.

GM is now using 93 percent of its North American factory capacity, compared with 39 percent in the second quarter of last year as it idled factories while in bankruptcy protection.

“I think he’ll be remembered as a short-term but effective leader,” Cole said.

Source: WATE.com

July revenues totaled $833.6 million or $22.5 million more than the state budgeted.

Revenues reported in July were collected in June, which closed the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

The July growth rate in sales taxes was 5.94 percent.

The fiscal year had a negative 2.25 percent growth in the category for an undercollection of $225.7 million.

Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz says the rise in sales and corporate taxes point to an economic recovery in Tennessee.

Source: WATE.com

Outdoor Rafting Adventures in Hartford is reported big numbers of people whitewater rafting.

“On a slow week 300 to 400 a day, on a busy day it is 400 to 500 a day,” said Chris Shealy, a trip leader at Outdoor Rafting Adventures.

Shealy says this is the busiest he has seen the company in the six years he has been there.

He says the hot weather has helped bring in more rafters. The oil spill in the Gulf has also helped.

“People aren’t going down to Florida because of things going on down there,” said Shealy. “They are spending their vacations up here with us.”

The numbers are on a record-setting trend.

Last year at this time 104,994 people had rafted the Pigeon River. So far this year, 117,250 have rafted. That is an increase of more than 12,000.

Someone who is really happy with the high numbers is Cocke County Clerk Janice Butler. The county gets a two dollar tax for everyone who goes rafting.

“Any additional money would help to keep the tax rate down, especially since the rockslide.” said Butler. “We lost so much money, and it hurt the economy, hurt the local businesses, so when we have more rafters they have more people eating and staying over, buying gas. So it’s a win-win situation all the way around.”

Butler says right now the county has received more than $24,000 in additional revenue. She expects this years total number of rafters to be at least 15,000 to 16,000 higher than 2009.

“I hope it stays nice and busy like it is,” said Shealy.

There are 12 rafting companies in Cocke County. They are all regulated by the county.

The rafting season usually goes to the end of October.

Source: WATE.com