Actual finance blog

A grocery store. Restaurants. A wine bar. Renovated apartments and office space. And a badly neglected movie theater restored into a new nonprofit independent film center.

Those were the ideas four developers pitched to a large and eager crowd of North Side residents at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh Monday night, on how they would redevelop the focal block of long dilapidated property on North Street in front of Allegheny Commons Park.

The developers — Lawrenceville-based Barron CRE; Spokane, Wash.-based Wells and Company, suburban Philadelphia-based Zukin Realty and locally-based Aaron Stubna — presented their plans for the block best known for the looming presence of the Garden Theater. The neighborhood movie theater was originally built in 1915, but has become an image of blight for decades thanks to its use as a pornographic movie house.

With the theater now long closed and the entire block under the ownership of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, a nonprofit organization called North Side Tomorrow is now leading the effort to choose a developer to take on the block of property.

“This is a good problem to have,” emphasized Kirk Burkley, board president for NorthSide Tomorrow. “We could be here today with (no developers). And we have five.”

The fifth developer, James Welker, was unable to attend Monday's meeting.

The first presentation by Bill Barron proposed tearing down the bulk of the auditorium for the Garden Theater, leaving a restored facade, as required by city historic standards, developing the theater’s front into a restaurant, freeing up space behind it for parking while redeveloping the rest of the surrounding buildings into 34 apartments.

Barron acknowledged up front that he expected the plan to be controversial, his plan calling for the URA to ensure the stability of some of the other long neglected property before taking them on as redevelopment projects. He expects to pursue the remaining four-story Bradberry and Mason Hall buildings as viable redevelopment projects, using the remaining space from eliminating the Garden Theater auditorium to provide dedicated parking for each of the apartment units.

Wells and Company has done many historic redevelopments in Downtown Spokane and have become familiar with Pittsburgh thanks in part to their relationship with Mike Edwards, CEO of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Edwards served in a similar role with Downtown Spokane’s business improvement district.

Wells proposed pursuing the development under the ownership of a separate nonprofit ownership entity, and then leasing the property for a 50-year term, enabling them to structure financing and development plans to better access historic tax credits and other forms of a assistance.

The company wants to restore the theater and make it available to local arts groups while doing historic rehabs to all the surrounding buildings. Their plan calls for developing as many as 100 apartment units on the site, a number predicated on whether or not the considerably damaged properties on the eastern edge of the block that runs up Federal Street are deemed too far gone to rehabilitate.

If not, Wells plans to develop four-story apartment building there with first-floor retail, a project estimated to cost $10.1 million. If the can be restored, the total project by Wells would call for between 50 and 70 apartments. Their total project cost estimate was between $15 million and $20 million.

Zukin Realty Company, which first became familiar with the Pittsburgh market after it bought the Forbes and Murray building occupied by Vivisimo in 2006 for $11.46 million, also proposed redeveloping only the facade and front portion of the Garden Theater building for a new 5,000 square foot grocery. Wayne Zukin, who has developed historic property in Philadelphia and West Chester, Pa., emphasized an approach based on establishing local independent retailers and restaurants and doing basic rehabilitations of all the buildings that are already in place in the Garden Theater block, adding between 35 and 40 apartments. He estimated his total development cost at between $8 million to $10 million.

Stubna, working with partner Bill Porko, only expressed interest in the theater itself, proposing to restore it into a independent film center that would be redeveloped with a companion wine bar and cafe.

While financing for any real estate development is difficult in the current economy, said Burkley, the North Side’s collaborating community organizations have established a strong package of public assistance for the project. That includes $4 million in new market tax credits raised by the North Side Community Development Fund, $2 million in state funding, and $1.5 million in tax increment financing.

Burkley said North Side Tomorrow plans to make a final selection of a developer this fall and break ground on construction in summer 2011.

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The Wichita City Council on Tuesday will vote on a contract extension with the company managing the new terminal project at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

The $574,000 extension would add six months to the city’s contract with Los-Angeles-based AECOM.

AECOM was originally hired in 2005 to provide program management services on the new terminal as part of a $4.55 million contract.

The city staff is recommending the council, acting as the governing body of the Wichita Airport Authority, approve the contract.

Progress has slowed on the estimated $150 million terminal job and the city currently is performing a full financial review of the project no fax pay day loan.

City Manager Robert Layton has said city staff are working to determine if the original design is still realistic in today’s economic climate.

He said the city’s evaluation of the project should be done within about 30 days.

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Stocks rallied Friday, finding momentum at the end of a choppy session ahead of the first wave of quarterly corporate results due out next week.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 59 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 8 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq (COMP) composite rose 21 points, or 1%.

All three major indexes drifted on both sides of unchanged during the session before finally turning higher in the last hour.

Investors returned from the Independence Day holiday this week in the mood to buy shares that had been battered in a two-month selloff. In the four sessions this week, the Dow gained 512 points, or 5.3%. The S&P 500 rose 5.4% and the Nasdaq was up 5%.

It was the best week in nearly a year for the market, with all three major gauges seeing their biggest results since the week ended July 17, 2009. in that week, the three majors all gained between 7% and 7.4%.

"The market has rebounded this week in anticipation of a fairly decent period of corporate earnings," said Tyler Vernon, chief investment officer at Biltmore Capital. "This will be a nice bounce, but long term, I think a lot of the concerns about the global economy are still there."

While there haven’t been many positives on the economic front, there’s been some optimism that companies will still be able to continue to make profits, even with the economic strain.

Analysts currently expect year-over-year growth of 27%, according to the latest figures from Thomson Reuters. Dow components Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and GE (GE, Fortune 500) are all due next week.

Google: The Internet behemoth renewed its license with the Chinese government to operate its site in that country, following a four-month battle over censorship.

A renewal had been in question due to tension between the company and China over the censorship of search results online payday loans. But Google’s decision last week to no longer automatically redirect users of Google’s China site to its uncensored Hong Kong site seemed to pave the way for the renewal.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) shares gained 2.4%.

On the move: Financials were among the big gainers Friday, with JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), US Bancorp (USB, Fortune 500) and Regions Financial (RF, Fortune 500) among the stocks lifting the KBW Bank (BKX) index by 2.4%.

Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), DuPont (DD, Fortune 500), Merck (MRK, Fortune 500) and Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) were among the Dow’s biggest gainers.

Market breadth was positive and volume was very light. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by almost four to one on volume of 880 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by three to one on volume of 1.61 billion shares.

Economy: Wholesale Inventories rose 0.5% in May after climbing 0.2% in April. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected inventories to rise 0.4%.

World markets: European markets gained, with Britain’s FTSE 100 rising 0.5%, Germany’s DAX advancing 0.5% and France’s CAC 40 climbing 0.5%.

Asian markets rallied after South Korea raised its benchmark interest rate, seen as an optimistic sign for the economy. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6% and the Shanghai Composite rose 2.5%.

Commodities: U.S. light crude oil for August delivery rose $1.01 to $76.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for August delivery gained $16.30 to $1,209.80 an ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.06% from 3.02% late Thursday. Debt prices and yields move in opposite directions. 

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University and public officials are beginning a study of transportation needs for the University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College.

The Travel Demand Management Study is jointly funded by the two universities, the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County and the Mid-Region Council of Governments. It aims to identify ways to increase transportation efficiency, reducing problems such as traffic congestion, parking issues, travel costs and related environmental impacts.

The MRCOG will hold the first public meeting on July 14 to inform people about the study and hear public comment on the issues, said Rio Metro Board Chair Isaac Benton in a news release.

“We must start by identifying the main transportation issues affecting these two institutions,” Benton said. “This meeting will be the first opportunity the public has to discuss what we need to start looking at. At the end of the study we will have recommendations on specific ways we can make travel to and from UNM and CNM more convenient, affordable, and compatible with nearby neighborhoods low rates payday advance.”

The study’s first phase will focus on a detailed evaluation of existing travel markets and projections for year 2015. That information will be used to identify potential solutions, which will then be analyzed in more detail in the study’s second phase, said MRCOG Interim Executive Director Dewey Cave.

“This initial public meeting focuses on the types of information and analysis that will be conducted as part of the first phase,” Cave said. “It also looks at how this effort will provide all stakeholders with a better understanding of the major factors influencing travel to and from this area.”

The meeting runs from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., and again from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at the UNM Student Union Building in Lobo Room A.

For more information, call the MRCOG at (505) 247-1750, or visit www.mrcog-nm.gov.

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Beacon Power Corp. said Tuesday it had reached a deal to sell up to $25 million worth of its shares to a Chicago-based investment fund over the next 26 months.

The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company, which develops energy-storage and management technologies, announced it had already sold 1.5 million shares, for $500,000, to Aspire Capital Fund, LLC.

Aspire has committed to buy another $24.5 million worth of common stock under the agreement, according to Beacon Power. The deal allows Beacon to direct Aspire to buy up to 400,000 Beacon shares on any given day at a purchase price of at least 34 cents per share, so long as the closing share price was above 25 cents. “Beacon Power will control the timing and amount of any sales of Beacon common stock to Aspire Capital and will always know the sale price before giving notice to Aspire Capital to buy any shares,” Beacon said in its announcement.

Beacon Power (Nasdaq: BCON) said proceeds from the sales of the common stock will be used for general corporate purposes and working capital.

The stock closed at 32 cents on Friday, and the company’s total market capitalization was $58 instant payday loan.5 million. The share price had lost more than half its value in the past year, falling from 87 cents a share on July 2, 2009.

In the first quarter of this year, the company booked a $5.5 million net loss and saw its cash position slip by 23 percent despite reporting advances for hiring and for the company’s so-called flywheel energy-storage systems.

Among those highlights was accelerated flywheel production for a planned 20 megawatt energy-frequency regulation facility in Stephentown, N.Y. That production was expected to result in 50 new jobs. In May, the company announced $2 million commitment from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to help fund the Stephentown plant.

Beacon also announced Tuesday that it had delivered the first power electronics and support systems to the Stephentown plant. The company said it expects to deliver 40 flywheels, the equivalent of 4 megawatts, in the third quarter of this year, and expects the plant to be operational by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

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First-time homebuyers will have until Sept. 30 to close on their purchases and land an $8,000 tax credit under a bill passed by the Senate late Wednesday.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill, which was overwhelmingly approved by the House on Tuesday. The deadline had been June 30.

The bill doesn’t help anyone currently shopping for a home. Buyers must have signed a contract by April 30 to qualify for the tax break. At issue is when the deal must be finalized.

Qualified existing homeowners also have until Sept. 30 to close on new homes and receive a tax credit of up to $6,500.

Congress has been trying to pass the extension for the last month, but it got caught up in Washington politics. Only when it was separated from a larger jobs bill did deficit-wary lawmakers sign off on it. The extension will lower the deficit by $9 million over a decade since it is offset by certain other provisions cashadvance.

An estimated 200,000 people have missed out on the tax credit because they wouldn’t have been able to close by the end of business Wednesday. Many are trying to take advantage of short sales, which are complicated deals to complete.

The Senate approved the stand-alone homebuyers tax credit shortly after a failed attempt to advance a bill that combined the credit with an unemployment benefits extension.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the chamber will take up the benefits bill again once a replacement for the late Senator Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., is named. Byrd, the longest serving member of Congress in history, died Monday at age 92. 

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Tesla Motors Inc. said late on Monday that its shares priced at $17, raising $226.1 million for the electric car maker.

The closely watched Palo Alto company's company's shares get their first test on the open market on Tuesday when they trade on NASDAQ with the TSLA symbol.

Tesla sold 13.3 million shares instead of the 11.1 million originally planned and exceeded its previous estimated range of between $14 and $16 a share.

The company plans to use the money to help it bridge its offerings from the flashy two-door $109,000 Roadster that was its first car to a $50,000 Model S sedan that it plans to make at the former New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont.

The company has yet to make a profit and doesn't expect to until after it begins selling the sedan in volume. It has lost $290.2 million since it was founded in 2003 no teletrack payday loan.

The IPO is expected to trigger a $50 million investment by Toyota Motor Corp., which previously ran the NUMMI plant in a 25-year partnership with General Motors Co. GM pulled out of the plant last summer and Toyota made its last Corolla there on April 1.

Tesla also has the backing of the U.S. government, with a $465 million loan.

In addition to the Toyota plan to buy shares, Tesla gave its underwriters the option to buy 1.995 million more shares under certain conditions. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is underwriting the IPO along with Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank Securities.

For more coverage of the Tesla-Toyota partnership, click here.

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Negotiations between the pilots of United and Continental Airlines and the airlines’ leadership have stalled as the pilots accuse management of being inflexible.

The pilots, who are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association International, say they have hit a wall in negotiating a transition agreement with the management of Chicago-based United and Houston-based Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL).

The two carriers announced plans to merge on May 3. The deal is slated to close in the fourth quarter.

“It is unbelievable that contract talks have stalled so early in the process and for such a basic item as a transition agreement,” said Capt. Jay Pierce, chairman of the Continental pilots unit of ALPA. “We are stalled because of management’s unwillingness to compromise on matters that have little financial impact.”

“We have heard the recent statements by Jeff Smisek, proclaiming the virtues of the upcoming merger, touting the benefits coming to labor because of the expected synergies and promising to work with labor in good faith to complete our contracts,” Pierce continued, in a written statement. “However, if this is an indication of management’s approach, I have serious doubts about how long it will be before any of the touted synergies can be achieved.”

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ST. LOUIS — With less than a week until the President Casino shuts its doors, the union representing workers there turned up the heat Monday over benefits for those who will lose their jobs.

About 25 casino workers gathered at a north St. Louis church to urge Pinnacle Entertainment to give retention or severance benefits to the more than 200 employees who still work at the soon-to-close riverboat casino. They say Pinnacle, when it agreed to close the President, told workers they would receive either severance or jobs at one of the company’s two other casinos. But the company later backed away from that offer.

It is a slap in the face, say employees, many of whom have worked at the riverboat since it opened in 1994.

"We just want to know what we’ve done wrong," said Pamela Perry, a cage cashier who was turned down for jobs at both Lumière Place and River City. "We want answers."

The issue has been a sore spot for months, with the union — Unite Here Local 74 — holding rallies and trying to gather local support, accusing Pinnacle of dumping its President employees. On June 3, a worker filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing Pinnacle of age discrimination for refusing to hire many President employees over age 40 at its other casinos. And the union has asked three area congressmen to investigate.

Pinnacle says it is not that simple. It says only 63 President employees have applied for jobs at Lumière or River City since December, and it has hired 20 since March. It held a job fair and training programs, but relatively few employees came, said Jack Godfrey, the company’s general counsel.

And in a statement Monday, Pinnacle said the union could have helped save jobs by being a stronger ally when the Missouri Gaming Commission was trying to close the casino early this year.

"We wish that Local 74 really had exhibited the same zest in keeping the property open that they are now displaying with an advertising and web campaigns against Pinnacle," Godfrey said in a statement.

The sharp words came as the two sides prepared to meet today for more talks on a severance package. It is just the first sit-down they have had in a month. With the President set to close Monday, time is running out. But Dave Morton, an organizer with the union, said Local 74 would keep pushing.

"This fight doesn’t end on June 28."

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Jacob Barker of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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Expedia Inc. said it plans to add 130 jobs to its Las Vegas office by the end of the month.

The Bellevue online travel agency (NASDAQ: EXPE) said the new jobs will be mostly travel agents and support staff for Egencia, the corporate travel arm of Expedia that services corporate travel accounts.

Here's Expedia's press release:

LAS VEGAS, June 18 /PRNewswire/ — Expedia, Inc., the world's largest online travel company, today announced they will add 130 new jobs to the online travel company's Las Vegas operations by month's end, bringing the local office total to 500 employees. Las Vegas is home to a number of operational functions serving a number of the company's travel brands, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Egencia. The company will host an open house in late June to celebrate the expansion and provide tours to several local elected officials and community leaders.

"Expedia has long been a partner of the Las Vegas travel and tourism industry, and we are pleased to be able to add jobs in this community," said Michael Reichartz, Las Vegas-based vice president of market management for Expedia. "This expansion means new jobs for 130 Nevadans and we are hopeful for further growth, which is always something to celebrate. We applaud Senator Reid for his leadership in passing the HIRE Act, which has assisted us with this expansion."

"Extending our service network into Las Vegas is a key part of our strategy and ability to support clients worldwide," said Noah Tratt, vice president, Egencia Americas. "Egencia has been pleased with the wealth of talent and experience in Nevada. We are looking forward to expanding our service center here and bringing jobs to the area."

Expedia officials said the company will benefit from incentives provided by the federal "Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act," which was designed to create or restore employment to previously unemployed individuals.

The new jobs, mostly travel agents and support staff, will serve Egencia operations, the corporate travel arm of Expedia that services corporate travel accounts for companies globally. Other operations at the Las Vegas office include telesales, customer support and additional functions. Expedia's Las Vegas office is located at 10190 Covington Cross Drive in Summerlin.

About Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. is the largest online travel company in the world, with an extensive brand portfolio that includes more than 90 localized Expedia.com®- and Hotels.com®-branded sites; leading U.S. discount travel site Hotwire®; leading agency hotel company Venere.com™; Egencia™, the world's fifth largest corporate travel management company; the world's largest travel community TripAdvisor® Media Network; destination activities provider ExpediaLocalExpert®; luxury travel specialist Classic Vacations®; and China's second largest booking site eLong™. The company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and provides advertisers vast opportunity to reach the most valuable audience of in-market travel consumers anywhere through TripAdvisor Media Network and Expedia Media Solutions. Expedia also powers bookings for some of the world's leading airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates through Expedia® Affiliate Network. (Nasdaq:EXPE)

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