FAST LANE - July 2000

NORTHERN KENTUCKY
Entrepreneurial Woman Wins National Honor

FOUR Kentucky women were nominated for the 2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards, presented in April by Working Woman magazine and Bank One. Deborah Dyer and Jacqueline Smith, founders of Central Kentucky Research Associates in Lexington, were nominated in the category of overcoming obstacles. Wanda Pennington, owner of Kingston Shell Mart in Berea, was nominated for general excellence. But Cathleen A. Matchinga, president and owner of ValAir Parking in Hebron, walked away with the national award for customer service. Her firm’s 50 employees handle parking and maintenance service at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport for people too busy to care for their own cars.

"The secret to great customer service is getting employees to feel they have a stake," she said in accepting her award. "You’ve got to give tangible, positive reinforcement."

"People love us because we do the little things," she says from her Hebron office. "The last thing you want to do is take care of your car on the weekend when you’re a business traveler. People always leave something behind in their car too. I’ve paid people’s bills for them that they left inside. One woman left behind her entire presentation, called me from the airport on the aircraft and we had them to her that afternoon."

"I don’t like it when people treat you like you’re invisible," she says. "There is a pervasive rudeness out there – they don’t see that the customer pays them ultimately. If I could just have my customers actually sign these guys’ paychecks."

Matchinga was her now-deceased husband’s CPA back in 1987, when he was the holder of the Thrifty Rent-a-Car franchise. After he became ill with lung cancer in 1989, she moved to northern Kentucky and took over the business, which she said was headed for bankruptcy. Since that time, the business has performed a complete turnaround.

"I feel that my parking lot is the best parking lot around," she says proudly. "It’s about what’s in our hearts and how we conduct ourselves. We never want to say, ‘no,’ we want to say ‘yes.’"

LOUISVILLE
Consultants Reveal Potential Sites for Ohio River Bridge

A consulting consortium has revealed eight recommended sites for one or more proposed Ohio River bridges intended to divert traffic away from the Kennedy Bridge and "Spaghetti Junction" in downtown Louisville.

The sites proposed by Community Transportation Solutions, Inc. include three near downtown and five in eastern Jefferson County near Prospect. The report concludes a $22 million study and culminates a 10-year local dialogue, suggesting that one or two bridges could be complete in 2025.

Although the report is merely the first step in a long approval process, it has already generated controversy with advocates and opponents of various potential sites pitted against each other. Many in the Prospect area want the bridge sites moved westward into downtown while many Indiana officials and residents favor the eastern routes. Residents of southern and western Jefferson County have expressed resentment that no location was even considered for their area.

Many advocates for a new bridge have stated that if only one is built, it should be in eastern Jefferson County to connect the terminal points of the Gene Snyder Expressway with I-265 in southern Indiana. That route would serve the burgeoning retail, industrial and residential centers along the Gene Snyder from Jeffersontown to Prospect.

One of the eight proposals is designed to allay fears of Prospect residents that a bridge would destroy their bucolic community by combining an Ohio River bridge with an access-route tunnel under U.S. 42 and the Harrod’s Creek area.

STATE
Paul Patton Goes Global to Lure Investors

GOV. Paul Patton began a whirlwind summer of world travel with a two-week trip to Japan, in part to push his home territory of Eastern Kentucky as a good place for Japanese business concerns to locate. In the Commonwealth, Japanese-owned firms own 104 manufacturing plants worth more than $7 billion and employ more than 33,000 people.

In addition to an upcoming trade conference with China, Patton will travel to Great Britain and Israel in July, with a potential trip to South America looming down the road. "I’m optimistic that we can get not just Japanese investment, but investment from around the world," he told the Associated Press.

LEXINGTON
Community Action Council Hosts Conference on Building Local Pride

"IN 1963, when I was three years old, my Mom enrolled me in Head Start," said Lexington developer and former NFL star Frank Minnifield, in accepting an award from area Community Action Council Director Jack Burch. "She would lead you to believe I was the first student to drop out before kindergarten – I loved Head Start so much, I didn’t want to go any further."

Instead, going further is what Minnifield has spent the rest of his life doing. It was also the focus of the CAC conference in late May. Professionals from dozens of organizations discussed new and proven ways to combat poverty through programs that promote self-sufficiency.

"I’m here to say thanks to the CAC when nobody else in the world cared about a young black kid in Davis Bottom," said Minnifield, describing the personal struggles he overcame. "When you make a change in your life, you have to cut out all the bad stuff. It’s like building a house. It’s best to tear down the old house to its foundation, because you want something you’ll be proud of. When everybody else was worried about whether I was black or white, the only thing that got me through was the foundation CAC helped me start with."

Breakout and panel sessions at the conference focused on fighting poverty through involvement, taking part in children’s education and case studies in community building from Lexington’s Winburn, West End and Irishtown neighborhoods.

LOUISVILLE
Unidial Becomes Lightyear with $67 Million Investment Helping Expansion

WITH a new name connoting "technology" and "energy," Unidial is now Lightyear. And with a new networking product, Lightyear hopes to continue the rapid growth that brought Unidial to almost $250 million in sales in just seven years.

The new system allows the Louisville telecommunications company to compress voice, data and Internet transmissions over a high-speed bandwidth and eliminates the need for multiple circuits. It will be marketed to medium-sized businesses, those spending $5,000 to $20,000 a month for telecommunications, and is designed to save them 35 percent of their transmission costs.

Deutsche Bank Firstar Corp. and VarTec Telecom are investing a total of $67 million in the network and related company expansion, according to a Lightyear announcement. The company will add 150 employees to its 400 locally as it expands into new markets with its network. The system already operates in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Newark, N.J., and will be available in Indianapolis, Louisville and Anaheim, Calif. by July. Lightyear offers its core long-distance access services in all 50 states.

LOUISVILLE
Vencor Fails to Meet Loan Condition As Second Extension Runs Out

BY once more failing to meet creditor conditions requiring it to stabilize its accounts receivable, bankrupt Vencor, Inc. may have run out of time to emerge from Chapter 11 as an operating company.

The nursing home and hospital company reported a 1999 fourth quarter loss of $586 million, bringing its total 1999 losses to $683 million, and below the minimum it had negotiated with a group of banks that are keeping Vencor afloat during its court-supervised reorganization. Vencor is now in its second two-month extension of its automatic four-month period permitting the company to prepare an acceptable plan for the U.S. bankruptcy judge in Delaware, where the company is incorporated. The judge had granted the second extension over objections of creditors, who have said they may press for liquidation.

Vencor’s troubles are also affecting its former subsidiary, Ventas, which leases all its hospital properties to Vencor and has had to take a $34 million charge to reflect unpaid rent from its only tenant. Despite this, Ventas still finished 1999 in the black because it receives $15 million a month from Vencor, $4 million less than the "guaranteed" minimum rent.

Key to the scenario will be the resolution of a federal government claim that Vencor owes $1.3 billion because of alleged Medicare overpayments. Another possibility is that courts could re-merge the assets of both Vencor and Ventas in order to repay corporate debts.

LOUISVILLE
Rescare Board Approves Buyout Offer from Geary and Colleagues

THE board of Rescare Inc., the only Louisville health-services company not experiencing severe financial troubles, has approved a management buyout offer that would yield $700 million for shareholders.

The offer, at $15.75 per share, has been tendered by a management group led by Chairman Ron Geary and supported by three national investment banks. The offer is $2.25 million less than one proposed three months age, but that offer was rescinded when one major investment partner withdrew, citing rising interest rates. Nevertheless, the $15.75-per-share price represents an 80 percent premium over Rescare’s closing stock price the day before the offer was approved by the board.

Geary joined Rescare in 1989 as president and CEO and helped lead it into public status. He and about 25 officers and managers will now lead Rescare back into private financing, with support from the Carlyle Group, of Washington, D.C.; Madison Dearborn Partners, of Chicago; and Bear Stearns Merchant Banking, of New York City.

LOUISVILLE
Safetran Considers Move to Kentucky if State Incentives Are Approved

SAFETRAN Systems Corp., a subsidiary of Invensys of Great Britain, may move its U.S. headquarters from Minneapolis to its manufacturing facility in Louisville’s Eastpoint Business Center, along with 160 jobs and a $6 million payroll.

According to an application the company has filed with the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, Safetran wants to expand its local plant with $1.4 million in state tax incentives. The company manufactures railroad-signaling devices in Louisville and Rancho Cucamonga, California, and will move its U.S. headquarters to one of those locations.

LOUISVILLE
Study Says Business Community Could Support NBA Franchise

LOUISVILLE has the economic capacity to support a National Basketball Association franchise – and build an NBA style arena – according to a feasibility study prepared for Greater Louisville, Inc. However, the Louisville metropolitan area population would be the smallest in the league and project success would be dependent on substantial corporate and political support.

Greater Louisville commissioned the report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers of Dallas because of the possibility that the NBA’s Houston Rockets may relocate to Louisville. The Rockets are negotiating with the city of Houston over a new facility and team officials recently visited Louisville for two days. Louisville’s Board of Aldermen hired local attorney J. Bruce Miller to represent them in preliminary negotiations; several aldermen have, in the past, promoted an NBA-style arena downtown. Both the scale and price of a proposed arena have changed since the concept was first proposed two years ago. The current estimate for the project is $220 million for a 20,000-seat facility.

Since NBA teams usually demand that their hometowns provide them with a playing and practice facility, the feasibility study assumed the local community would bear the entire cost. It concluded that Louisville is a "borderline Top 50 media market," but with a surprising concentration of business resources, ranking 24th among all U.S. cities in number of local companies with $10 million or more in sales and 11th in number of companies for each major-league professional team (assuming an NBA franchise). The analysis was prepared to determine if the community had 70 potential customers for luxury skyboxes (that would rent for $100,000 to $125,000 a year) and other sponsorship opportunities.

Steve Higdon, president and CEO of Greater Louisville Inc., hailed the study, saying an NBA franchise "would transform Louisville’s image overnight. It would tell the world that Louisville is a major league city, a community on the move."

Since the study’s release, some citizens and politicians have publicly balked at spending any taxpayer money for such a venture, citing it as an example of corporate welfare and questioning the sincerity of the Rockets’ search.

STATE
New Legislation Helps Small Businesses with Tax Relief

LEGISLATION providing $45.8 billion in tax relief to small business owners and family farmers passed the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. in late May. One major provision that kicks into effect next year is 100 percent deductibility for health insurance for the self-employed. Meanwhile, the current 55 percent top rate on estate taxes will fall to 50 percent by 2002, then all rates would go down by one percent per year in 2003 and 2004. In addition, the bill included retirement enhancements making it easier to roll over pension plans and allow persons over age 50 to make more contributions to retirement accounts.

STATE
Former U.S. Senator from Kentucky Now a Lobbyist for Delta Air Lines

FORMER U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford, former ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee’s aviation subcommittee and Senate Democratic Whip, recently registered as a lobbyist representing Delta Air Lines. Ford was a driving force in the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration’s reauthorization bill, which was signed by President Clinton in April. The bill was named the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century to honor the retired senator.

LOUISVILLE
PSCApproves PowerGen Acquisition of LG&E Energy Corp. and KU

THE Public Service Commission has approved the acquisition of LG&E Energy Corp. by the British utility, PowerGen plc. The action clears the way for the $3.2 billion cash offer, although final approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is still forthcoming. The PSC’s conditions for approval require PowerGen to agree in writing to keep its U.S. headquarters in Louisville for at least 10 years, to elect a U.S. citizen residing in LG&E’s service area to its board of directors, to continue its new subsidiary’s long-standing commitment to community – and economic-development programs and not to pass on any merger costs to the customers of LG&E’s two operating units – Louisville Gas & Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities.

In a follow-up announcement, PowerGen reported that Roger Hale, chairman and CEO of LG&E Energy, will keep that position and join PowerGen’s board. LG&E shareholders are projected to receive $24.85 a share in cash for their stock when the transaction is concluded, perhaps by the end of this year. That price represents a 40 percent premium over LG&E’s trading price, which had been depressed by the PSC’s previous ruling against LG&E’S proposed "performance-based ratemaking."

LOUISVILLE
Churchill Continues Expansion Plans, Eyes Stock Swap Deal with Arlington

CHURCHILL Downs, Inc., which owns the famed Louisville track plus five others, is negotiating to purchase Arlington International Racecourse in suburban Chicago.

The proposed $200 million deal with Duchossois Industries would add Arlington to the Churchill stable and make its current owner the largest single shareholder in the parent company, with a 25 percent stake. Arlington competes with Churchill Downs now for live racing events, horses, and jockeys, but participates in the nationwide simulcast pool shown at both tracks. Arlington’s live racing – from May 14 to Sept. 30 – offers one of the world’s richest races, the Arlington Million (now worth $2 million). The season currently overlaps Churchill’s Derby Week to Fourth of July season.

Arlington, which installed the world’s first all-electric tote board, had been closed for two years in response to competition from Illinois riverboats. Richgard Duchossois acquired the track in 1985 after it was severely damaged in a fire and spent lavishly to remodel and reopen it in 1989.

Churchill Downs, Inc. also owns Calder Race Track in Miami, Hollywood Park in California, and Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., as well as Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind. The company has a minority interest in Kentucky Downs in Franklin and owns the Sports Spectrum, the former Louisville Downs. Arlington opened off-track betting parlors in five Illinois cities after its two-year protest of the gambling boats.

STATE
Kentucky’s Top Engineers Recognized at Annual Meeting

AT the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers convention, Charlene R. Palmer, P.E., won the organization’s Distinguished Service Award, Randal S. Williamson, P.E., won the D.V. Terrell Award and Robert A. Amato, P.E., P.L.S., won the Young Engineer of the Year Award. Others won outstanding engineering achievement awards in their individual engineering discipline, including Kamyar C. Mahboub, P.E., winner of the Achievement in Education Award; Ben R. Edelen, P.E., P.L.S., winner of the Achievement in Surveying Award; William A. Bowie, P.E., P.L.S., winner of the Achievement in Government Award; David A. Lamb, P.E., winner of the Achievement in Mining Award; Gregory L. Brown, P.E., winner of the Achievement in Industry Award; and George W. Watkins, P.E., winner of the Achievement in Construction Award. Not present to receive the Achievement in Private Practice Award was Michael G. Bruce, P.E.

LOUISVILLE
Brown-Forman Spends $83 Million to Market Finlandia Brand Vodka

BROWN-FORMAN Corporation and Altia Group Ltd. have announced their worldwide alliance to market and sell Finlandia Vodka. The Finlandia trademark and marketing and distribution assets are to be owned by Finlandia Vodka Worldwide Ltd. (FVW), 55 percent of which will be owned by Altia and 45 percent by Brown-Forman. FVW will have worldwide marketing rights for Finlandia and will employ Brown-Forman as the brand’s distributor or representative in all markets other than Finland and the Nordic countries, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic and Poland.

Finlandia Vodka, with global sales of more than 1.6 million cases, is the fifth most-popular premium vodka in the world. In the U.S., it ranks fourth in the same category. Since Brown-Forman became Finlandia’s U.S. distributor in the late 1996, volume has increased approximately 20 percent per year. Brown-Forman spent $83 million on the deal.Business Briefs
A Compilation of Statewide Business and Economic News

STATE

• On the heels of last year’s $125 million aid package, Kentucky tobacco farmers are slated to receive $140 million of the $340 million in aid included in crop insurance legislation passed by the U.S. House and Senate in late May.
• Nashville-based HCA The Healthcare Company – formerly known as Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. – has agreed to pay the federal government $745 million to settle a billing fraud investigation, though that investigation is by no means over and the total could be substantially higher. HCA is the nation’s largest hospital chain (220) and operator of Samaritan Hospital in Lexington, Frankfort Regional Medical Center in Frankfort and Greenview Regional Hospital in Bowling Green. The company planned to take an after-tax charge of $498 million in the quarter ending June 30.
• In an effort to level the playing field for all racetracks, the General Assembly voted into law a gradual reduction of the excise tax rate paid by Churchill Downs and Keeneland on handle below a $1.2 million threshold. All other Kentucky tracks pay at a 1.5 percent rate, while the two bigger tracks have paid at 3.5 percent. That rate will go to 3.0, then 2.5 percent over the next two years. The legislation stipulates that the money go into track improvements and race purses. The legislature also eliminated the excise tax completely for the handle at the upcoming Breeder’s Cup at Churchill Nov. 4.
  
• Four eighth-grade students from the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers’ MATHCOUNTS program took ninth place as a team at the national competition in Washington, D.C.: Charley Seelbach from Lexington’s Winburn Middle School; Jennings Xu from Lexington Traditional Magnet School; Frank Guan from Louisville’s Meyzeek Middle School and Jeremy Zimmerman from Owensboro Middle School.
  

BOWLING GREEN

• Holley Performance Products will open a plant in Aberdeen, Miss., employing 500 people and consolidating operations from five existing plants in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.

CORYDON

• Peabody Group, through its subsidiary Highland Mining Co., will spend $20 million to $30 million to develop a new mine to access its Henderson County reserves. Production of four million tons a year is expected to begin in 2002. The new production will help Peabody meet its part of a $1 billion, eight-year contract to supply 42 million tons of coal to the Tennessee Valley Authority generating station near Nashville. Union miners have received a guarantee from the company that 67 percent of that TVA coal will come from Kentucky mines.

EASTERN KENTUCKY

• Mining concern Branham & Baker laid off about 230 employees from its four mines and support facilities in Pike County, citing market conditions. A recently-completed study by the Kentucky Geological Survey shows quickly-diminishing coal reserves, especially in eastern Kentucky.
• Municipal governments in Eastern Kentucky are competing for the "New Town" designation from the Kentucky Appalachian Commission’s Community Development Initiative (CDI). The CDI is a program created by Gov. Paul Patton to focus intense efforts on improving chosen communities rather than token efforts in many. Last year, Hindman in Knott County and Jenkins in Letcher County were named "New Towns." The communities received preferential treatment for state development grants totaling millions of dollars.

FALMOUTH

• The Pendleton County Industrial Development Authority has broken ground on a 43,000-s.f., $700,000 spec building designed to attract a manufacturer. The site is within the 75-acre Paul Patton Commerce Center.

FRANKFORT

• PlanGraphics, Inc., sub-contractor GRW Aerial Surveys, Inc. and the Governor’s Office of Technology’s Office of Geographic Information have been designated Honor Award Winners by the American Consulting Engineers Council in the 2000 Grand Engineering Excellence Awards Competition. "Kentucky is making a great deal of progress in the GIS arena. Being selected as a national award honor winner validates our efforts," said OGI Executive Director Susan Carson Lambert.

HICKMAN

• Precision casting company Bermag is putting the finishing touches on a 7,000-s.f. expansion, intended for heat-treatment of castings. Bermag also plans for the later installation of a machine shop in the structure.

LAWRENCEBURG

• In early May, 15,000 to 20,000 barrels of Wild Turkey bourbon and the six-story warehouse that contained them burned to the ground, causing a threat to the area’s water supply and one of the Kentucky River’s biggest fish kills ever. A similar fire burned nearly 100,000 barrels and seven warehouses in 1996 at Bardstown’s Heaven Hill distillery. New York-based Boulevard Distillers and Importers owns the Wild Turkey facility. State officials have not yet ruled out asking the company to compensate the Commonwealth for cleanup expenses and loss of wildlife.

LEXINGTON

• U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William S. Howard has approved a $37 million settlement for the bankruptcy of Advanced Technologies International, a Lexington-based company that specialized in removal and cleanup of petroleum underground storage tanks. The company and its affiliates filed for protection in February, 1999. Hundreds of creditors should begin receiving compensation as early as July, much of it coming from a state fund fed by the Kentucky gas tax.
• Cypress Semiconductor’s design technology center won preliminary approval for up to $925,000 in tax credits through the Kentucky Jobs Development Act. The money will be used to add 5,100 s.f. of work space and 25 new jobs paying an average salary of $65,000. Cypress presently employs 14 people at its facility in downtown’s Triangle Center.
• Geo-Environmental Consultants Inc., of Charlotte, N.C., merged with Shield Environmental Associates, Inc. of Lexington in April.
• University of Kentucky-affiliated Secat Inc., a research and consulting business dedicated to the aluminum industry, has been awarded two U.S. Department of Energy contracts totaling $3.5 million. The money will finance studies to increase efficiency in the fabrication of aluminum products. Kentucky has 81 aluminum plants employing 11,000 people for a total payroll of $542 million.
• On May 31, Foodtown Supermarkets of Kentucky Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection in Lexington. Foodtown is the parent of seven Slone’s Signature Markets in Lexington and Central Kentucky and of three Big Valu Discount Foods stores in Olive Hill, Grayson and Irvine. The grocer listed about $9.3 million in debts and $8.3 million in assets.
• Following a May 19 raid by more than 80 federal law enforcement officials, Kelco laid off 26 of its 73 employees. Kelco is a company that buys life insurance policies from terminally ill people. The raid resulted from a Justice Department probe of the "viatical industry." Computers and more than 60 boxes of files were confiscated from Kelco, one of several such businesses raided.
• Despite developers’ pleas, the Urban County Planning Commission approved by an 8-1 vote a new zoning change requiring at least 30 percent tree canopy coverage in new residential developments, and 10 to 20 percent coverage in commercial projects in an effort to sustain the "urban forest." According to city forester David Swenk, Fayette County is the second-least forested county in the state – primarily due to its tourist-attracting farms, not housing developments. Home builders worry that the affordability of homes in the Lexington area would only be worsened by the proposed change.
• Bear Stearns Co. has been ordered to pay $111.5 million to Calumet Farm owner Henryk de Kwiatkowski by a federal jury in New York, due to negligence and unauthorized trading.
• Dallas-based Probex Corporation has acquired Intercoastal Trading Co. of Lexington and Petroleum Products Inc. of Zanesville, Ohio. ITC was founded in 1999 by oil-recycling expert Keith Mills, formerly of Valvoline.
• Blue Chip Broadcasting has completed the acquisition of WBTF-FM from Clear Channel Communications. "It represents a valuable addition to the company’s growing base of stations in Kentucky and a very important expansion of Blue Chip’s presence in Lexington," said Ross Love, president and CEO of Blue Chip, which now owns 18 stations in six markets
• Lexel Imaging Systems, a subsidiary of Video Display Corporation, will acquire the Electro Optical division of Imaging and Sensing Technology in Horseheads, N.Y. Operations will be integrated into Lexel’s Lexington facility, where tubes are made for a wide range of military, industrial and medical applications.
• According to Employment Review magazine and BestJobsUSA.com, Lexington ranks as the 15th-best place in the country to live and work.

LOUISVILLE

• Add retail to the luster of high-tech and advertising currently engulfing Louisville. Until now, the closest Nordstrom’s to Kentucky was in Indianapolis, but the company has announced plans to construct two-story stores in Louisville and suburban Cincinnati, as well as Nashville. The Louisville store, at 140,000 square feet, is expected to open at Mall St. Matthews in fall, 2002, joining the lauded company’s 72 other stores in 23 states.
• Louisville International Airport is becoming more international – U.S. Customs Service offices are relocating from downtown to a space at the former Delta concourse. The 15-person staff will have the capacity to clear passengers on charter and corporate aircraft. Eventually, the Regional Airport Authority hopes to persuade the Department of Agriculture and The Immigration and Naturalization Service to relocate and establish a joint inspection station that would open up the airport for direct international commercial flights. Customs already has a station at the United Parcel Service Hub 2000 to process international cargo. About one to two percent of the passengers at Louisville International Airport are connecting to international flights.
• Grubb & Ellis Co., one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate firms, has entered into an affiliation with Grubb & Ellis/Commercial Kentucky, Inc., founded in 1973 as Scherer/ Casper and Associates. Grubb & Ellis has 34 affiliates in 36 U.S. markets, as well as a strategic alliance with Knight Frank, a property consulting firm with offices across Europe and Asia.
• Another "Springdale" mixed-use development is taking shape in eastern Jefferson County, on a 105-acre farm owned by Humana Chairman David Jones. Crown Partners of Birmingham, Ala., will build 316 luxury apartments in cooperation with Jones’ Main Street Realty. Fenley Real Estate has been allocated a 40-acre parcel for an office and hotel complex on the site. Bayer Properties, Inc. also of Birmingham, will develop a retail center on the parcel that fronts KY 22.
• eLinear, a subsidiary of Florida-based Kinetiks.com, has signed a letter of intent to acquire Louisville’s Genesys Development Corporation, an e-business service provider founded by Keith Norton and Brian Keinsley in 1995.
• Thomas Industries Inc. – manufacturer of compressors, vacuum pumps and pneumatic equipment and a partner in Genlyte Thomas Group LLC, the third largest lighting fixture manufacturer in North America – has opened two new sales and distribution facilities in Bassersdorf, Switzerland and Sydney, Australia. "A direct presence will further enhance Thomas’ ability to respond quickly to customer requirements in these strategic markets,’’ said Timothy C. Brown, chairman, president and CEO. Thomas currently sells products in more than 70 countries.
• Architect Bill Weyland – the designer and developer of the Hillerich & Bradsby manufacturing complex and the Louisville Slugger Museum – plans on converting the neighboring Snead Manufacturing Building into loft apartments and art studio space. The Louisville Glassworks Lofts will contain 72 rental units, a 3,400-square-foot rooftop terrace with a commanding view of downtown and the new home of Architectural Art, Inc. The studio will be operated by Weyland’s partner, glass artist Kenneth Von Roenn. The Snead was built in 1910 to house an iron forge and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. If approved, state credits would generate $970,000 in rebates in 10 years. The project also has received a commitment for another $1 million in low-interest loans from the City of Louisville.
• Service Net Inc., a marketer and administrator of equipment warranty and service contracts, has landed a contract with Creative Computers Inc., the country’s third-largest catalog seller of computer products. Service Net already works with giants PC Connection and MicroWarehouse, as well as offering its services to HVAC, electronics and outdoor power equipment companies.
• The Student Loan People (also known as the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corp.) have signed a major contract to service loans for Access Group, Inc., a non-profit company based in Delaware.
• In mid-June, Checkers Restaurants Inc. met its deadline for paying off the last of its senior notes, enabling itself to stay in business. Checkers Restaurants Inc. is the Florida-based parent company of Louisville’s Rally’s drive-through restaurant chain. The company retired its 9.85 percent senior notes with money from $40 million in credit extended to it from Textron Financial Corp. To help eliminate debt, the company has also sold 277 company-owned Rally’s and Checkers restaurants to franchisees over the last five months.
• On June 8, ARM Financial Group Inc., filed a Chapter 11 liquidation plan with bankruptcy court. Subject to bankruptcy court approval, the plan calls for liquidation of company assets and distribution of the proceeds to creditors and preferred shareholders, as well as cancelling all its outstanding common shares.
• Following a trend in American newspapers, The Courier-Journal has begun selling front-page advertising. The new space now available for advertisers consists of a one-inch-deep banner across the bottom of the page. According to an internal memo to employees from Courier-Journal President and Publisher Edward E. Manassah, the front-page advertising space will be sold on a long-term basis and at a considerable premium.

MURRAY

• The National Scouting Museum, founded in 1985, will close in November due to disappointing attendance. The Boy Scouts of America are searching for a more metropolitan setting for the museum, which is Murray’s largest tourist attraction.

NORTHERN KENTUCKY

• Comair Aviation has opened a new $8 million fixed-base operation that includes a 40,000-s.f. hangar, three private business centers, a conference facility and other amenities designed to support the company’s Jet Express charter service.
• Meritor WACDO Vehicle Control Systems has opened its new QS9000-certified production and distribution facility in Hebron.

PADUCAH

• According to The Paducah Sun, the Department of Energy wants United States Enrichment Corp. to use its high-performing pension fund to offer early retirement benefits (around $7 million) to many of the 621 people whose jobs will be cut at plants in Paducah and Portsmouth, Ohio. However, a company spokesman says the fund hasn’t enough money.

PIKEVILLE

• Citing weak prices in the coal market, Quaker Coal Company Inc., parent company to the Branham & Baker Coal Company, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. In late May, Branham & Baker announced it would lay off 230 employees in four of its Pike County mines.
• Construction of the L.J. Miller Co. factory has entered into its final phase. The facility will manufacture hardwood furniture in the Mossy Bottom Business Park. It will employ between 50 and 60 people initially, with a possible growth to 200 employees.

PINEVILLE

• First State Bancshares – with $170 million in assets at its Pineville and Middlesboro banks – is seeking to acquire LexBanc Corp. LexBanc is a thrift holding company that owns The Lexington Bank FSB and Town and Country Bank in Williamsburg, with $40 million in assets. The acquisition is pending approval from the Federal Reserve.

RADCLIFF

• Presnell Associates Inc., of Louisville, has become the consultant in the city of Radcliff’s 2010 Partnering Study. The study will identify ways that public services can be shared and coordinated among the Hardin County communities of Fort Knox, Radcliff, Vine Grove and West Point.

RICHMOND

• U.S. Army officials say its forthcoming $600 million nerve gas disposal plant will employ 700 people in its construction and 600 in its operation. Plans call for destroying the 523 tons of nerve gas stored at Blue Grass Army Depot by 2011.

TAYLOR COUNTY

• Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., a manufacturer of travel trailers, announced it will build a $4.8 million plant in Campbellsville’s industrial park. The plant is expected to create 142 jobs—a figure that could grow to 200 within two years. Fleetwood has preliminary approval for $3.4 million in tax credits.

VANCEBURG

• Coroplast Inc. has announced that it will locate a $15 million factory at the Black Oak Industrial Park. Coroplast, which will make corrugated plastic sheet used in sign and packaging manufacturing, is expected to initially hire at least 50 employees.

VERSAILLES

• The newly-formed Kentucky Chapter of the American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF) announced that it will host a dinner in honor of the AIWF founders at the Labrot & Graham Distillery on July 29. AIWF co-founder Julia Child is slated to attend the event, which is sponsored by Brown-Forman Corporation.

WESTERN KENTUCKY

• Work on a Duke Energy electric generation facility in Marshall County is expected to begin next June. Up to 300 jobs will be created by the facility’s construction.

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