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has appointed its first female athletics director in its 56-year history.

Kristan Pelletier is now the school’s director of athletics, after serving as its assistant director of athletics last year. She officially assumes her new duties on June 4.

HVCC is a two-year junior college with 16 varsity sports and more than 300 student-athletes.

Pelletier is credited with adding two new varsity sports: men’s cross country and women’s golf. Those teams will begin competing in the 2009-10 school year.

Pelletier, a Troy resident, was a financial analyst at

, a Saratoga Springs-based subsidiary of

, before coming to HVCC in July 2008. At that time, she was also an assistant women’s basketball coach at The College of St. Rose, in Albany.

Earlier in her career, Pelletier was director of women’s basketball operations at the University at Albany, and the head women’s basketball coach at

.

She has a bachelor’s and master’s from St. Rose. She is working on a doctorate in business administration.

The owner of a Main Street building that housed a controversial nightclub said he wants to convert the structure into an upscale condominium project.

Sean Spurlock, who owns the building located on Main Street near

, said he hopes to formally unveil plans for a mixed-use development that will be anchored by 10 or 12 condo units in the near future. Spurlock stressed the project’s plans are preliminary and far from complete.

“It is something we are working on,” Spurlock said.

No time frame has been set for when Spurlock will finalize his development plans.

Spurlock has talked about his tentative plans with the about funding packages and other aspects of the project. Spurlock is also talking with other development partners, but declined to identify those parties.

“Building condos there is something I intended to do when I first bought the building,” he said.

Spurlock bought the two-story, 23,000-square-foot building in 2004. The building, which dates back to the early 1940s, had been the longtime home of

, a local wholesaler and retailer of such products as towels and bedding.

For the past few years, the Grove nightclub operated out of the building. The nightclub was shut down by authorities after a series of complaints and reported incidents.

Spurlock said he envisions the condos running between 2,100-square-feet and 3,300-square-feet with costs beginning in the $300,000 range.

The complex will have enough parking for the condo residents.

A small portion of the Main Street side of the building may be used for retail or commercial purposes, Spurlock said.

No formal plans for the project have been submitted to Buffalo officials. That may be in the offing, Spurlock said.

“It’s on my immediate horizon, but it also depends on the market,” he said.

The bad news is that first-quarter venture investments in local biotechnology companies were down significantly. The good news is that the Bay State’s drop wasn’t nearly as severe as the industry’s national fallout.

In the first quarter, venture capitalists invested $576.8 million in private biotech companies in the United States, down some 47 percent from the $1.1 billion invested during the same period last year, according to the

.

But in Massachusetts the drop-off was less dramatic: Investment in the biotech industry for the first quarter was $268.2 million, down a more palatable 16 percent from the $318.6 million invested the first quarter of 2008, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

The three largest Massachusetts deals in the first quarter of this year were Waltham-based Proteon Therapeutics at $50 million, Woburn-based Biovex at $40 million and Littleton-based

at $33 million.

Several Massachusetts VC funds say they plan to keep the number of new, early-stage biotech deals steady, despite the downturn. But they say the pace of those deals has slowed.

“Certainly a crisis like this makes everyone more cautious,”

partner Bruce Booth said. Booth, along with other local venture capitalists, said deals are often taking months longer than they did a year ago. He also said he is busier now than this time last year because the venture firm recently closed on a new $283 million fund.

Booth and other local venture capitalists said one factor slowing the pace of deals is the need to carefully put together a solid group of investors to go in on the round. Funders want to make sure that if the availability of capital remains constrained for a long period, the other members of the group have deep enough pockets to fund subsequent rounds without adding new investors to the mix and diluting their ownership stakes.

In the past, VCs could ask portfolio companies to go out and find other sources of funding down the road, including government grants, disease foundation money and loans, among other things. But right now there is more pressure on those non-VC sources and less cash to go around.

Terry McGuire, managing general partner at

in Waltham, said there are two other factors affecting the pace of deals. First, he said, a tighter regulatory framework for new drug applications has prompted many VCs to consider other kinds of life sciences companies, including medical device and diagnostics developers.

Another factor in the slowdown, McGuire said, has to do with caution on the part of would-be entrepreneurs.

“In good times, someone who works at, say, Boston Scientific, might decide to go out on their own and start a company. But right now, those people are staying put.”

Noubar Afeyan, managing partner and CEO at

in Cambridge, says that his firm invests overwhelmingly in very early-stage firms, too, and is on track to close about the same number of deals as last year.

Still, Flagship has launched some 50 companies since its inception in 2000, and some of those portfolio companies are facing financial difficulties.

“The environment is arbitrarily harsh to companies that need money right now” regardless of the quality of the science or the management, Afeyan said. Companies that just got a fresh round of cash before the recession took hold in the fall are naturally faring best, he said.

Afeyan said that managing a mature portfolio of companies can suck time, energy and money away from early deal making, slowing the pace of those deals. He said that increasingly VCs are doing crisis management for those companies, from going out and finding alternative funding sources, to — in the worst case scenario — helping companies wind down their businesses and sell assets.

“Everyone is dealing with this. Any fund who says they aren’t must be either brand-new to the scene or just really lucky,” Afeyan said.

The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment awarded an $18.5 million contract to build a new airfield maintenance technical training complex at Lackland Air Force Base.

The complex will support the Inter-American Air Forces Academy at Lackland. The government will build a 74,000 square foot complex at Lackland that will house classrooms, aircraft operations and hangar maintenance training areas as well as administrative space. The project is slated for completion in the fall of 2010.

The Inter-American Air Forces Academy currently offers this training at Port San Antonio, the former Kelly Air Force Base. By relocating technical training from Port San Antonio to Lackland, Port San Antonio officials hope to reuse that space for additional commercial development opportunities.

The military is developing this complex as part of the 2005 San Antonio Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) construction program. In all, the government expects to spend more than $2 billion on BRAC-related construction.

The Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment selected Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based AMEC Earth & Environmental Inc. as the contractor. Construction will be coordinated out of the company’s San Antonio office. The Fort Worth District office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will provide construction management.

Single-family home sales fell 14.6 percent on a year-over-year basis in Massachusetts last month, although sales of bank-owned homes were up sharply, according to

.

Bank-owned property sales made up more than 11.3 percent of single-family home sales in February. Of the 1,825 Massachusetts homes sold in February, approximately 206 were bank-owned properties.

That number was up sharply in the two years since the housing market cratered, as there were 48 bank-owned homes sold in February 2007.

“Distressed property sales have become a bigger share of the market and will continue to be a factor going forward as lending institutions try to reduce their portfolio of real estate-owned property,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group, in a statement.

Single-family home sales during the first two months of the year were down 12.5 percent compared with the same span a year ago. The median selling price for a single-family home dropped 18.3 percent last month to $245,000, from $300,000 in February 2008. For the sixth straight month, the median price dropped below $300,000. February also was the sixth consecutive month that saw prices decline in the double digits, on a year-over-year percentage basis.

Meanwhile, Condo sales plunged to a 13-year low in February. There were 866 condos sold statewide in February, down 30 percent from 1,236 a year earlier. During the first two months of 2009, condo sales plummeted 29.5 percent to 1,672, from 2,372 a year earlier.

The median condo price declined 14 percent to $220,000 from $255,750 in February 2008. It was the lowest median condo price for February since 2003. The year-to-date median condo price is $216,875, or 16.6 percent lower than the $260,000 median price recorded for the first two months of 2008.

A group of California investors transferred the ownership and operation of Hilo Hattie to a Honolulu-based apparel manufacturer late last week, on the eve of a hearing to consider the bankrupt company’s sale to another Honolulu-based vendor.

The company’s sale to may be off the table after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris delayed ruling on the company’s bid to buy Hilo Hattie for $1 million.

The ownership transfer was announced on Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Honolulu, where Faris also continued until June 29 several motions, including one to appoint a trustee to take over management of the company. Faris also suspended Hilo Hattie’s ability to borrow money under a line of credit.

Maui Divers Jewelry had offered last month to buy Hilo Hattie and its seven stores for $1 million in cash, and to invest another $2 million in the business. Maui Divers’ attorney, Cuylar Shaw, told Faris that the offer was off the table if the judge did not approve the sale on Monday.

However, Maui Divers President and CEO Bob Taylor said through a spokeswoman Monday afternoon that the company would hold its offer open until the next hearing.

Hilo Hattie attorney James Wagner told the judge that Donald B.S. Kang, owner of

, acquired 100 percent of the company’s shares on Friday from

, which bought Hilo Hattie from founder Jim Romig last year before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Kang is also on the board of directors of

.

Hilo Hattie CEO Ted Nelson and President John Scott resigned from their positions on Friday and Kang has assumed the post of president of Hilo Hattie, Wagner told the court.

Royal Hawaiian Creations was listed as the second largest creditor, owed more than $798,000, when Hilo Hattie filed for Chapter 11 last Oct. 2. It is owed another $252,000 in an administrative claim, according to court documents.

Maui Divers was the largest creditor, owed $1.25 million, and Taylor was co-chairman of the committee of unsecured creditors until resigning in mid-May, prior to making the offer.

Royal Hawaiian Creations also resigned from the committee, which supported the sale of Hilo Hattie to Maui Divers.

Kang proposes to fund a line of credit for Hilo Hattie with $1 million in cash, and “will arrange for an infusion of $2 million in working capital” into Hilo Hattie upon its emergence from bankruptcy, according to a document filed on Monday before the hearing.

Kang said he plans to follow the plan of reorganization submitted by Hilo Hattie and its parent, Pomare, Ltd., last week, which calls for paying unsecured creditors about 5 cents on the dollar.

Wagner told the judge that the reorganization plan filed on June 15 “was a placeholder,” because the sale to Maui Divers had not been confirmed. He said he didn’t expect any change in the treatment of the company’s hundreds of creditors under Kang’s ownership.

The 46-year-old company, which claimed $23.5 million in debt in the Chapter 11 filing, has been losing money “at a clip of $500,000 per month,” Ted Pettit, attorney for the creditors’ committee, told the judge.

Pettit also said he was “very surprised” to learn of the stock transfer on Friday afternoon. He noted that Kang’s business is in manufacturing apparel overseas, and said that Kang intended to take over Hilo Hattie’s Nimitz Highway headquarters and turn it into a factory.

Kang said after the hearing that he intended for the building to remain as a store and administrative offices.

But the judge expressed concern that Maui Divers had not reached agreement with Hilo Hattie’s landlords, most of whom have given the company substantial rent relief, for its seven stores. Pettit said that some landlords were hesitant to negotiate until they knew for sure whether Maui Divers would be the new owner.

Faris also considered the transfer of stock to Kang as a second offer for Hilo Hattie, and noted that Kang proposed to pay back rents in full.

“It seems we have a second offer,” he said. “It may be a better offer.”

Nelson said that he had had discussions with Kang over the last several months and said Kang had “continuously offered to be as helpful” as he could.

Denver’s , a mainstay on the 16th Street Mall for more than seven years, closed Monday, making way for a new Irish-themed sports bar that will take over some of its street-level retail space at the Tabor Center.

The ESPN Zone, part of a nationwide chain of what used to be nine of the sports-themed bar and interactive game centers across the country, laid off roughly 100 employees, giving each a 60-day administrative leave package, according to a company statement.

Rick Allesandri, an ESPN vice president who oversees Zone operations, said in the statement that the restaurant could not survive the recession. This economic downturn has been marked nationally by reduced consumer spending on eating out and on entertainment activities.

“A decision like this is never easy. We recognize and appreciate the commitment and years of service of all of these employees,” Allesandri said. “Unfortunately, the current economic environment offered us no other choice.”

The ESPN Zone was a 23,000-square-foot meeting place for sports fanatics, with one room featuring more than a dozen large televisions tuned into contests of all kind and another full of video and sports games ranging from basketball to bowling.

None of the eight other ESPN Zone locations will be closed, as all “are meeting our expectations,” said Matt Kovacs, a spokesmen for the chain.

, which owns the Tabor Center, issued a statement saying it was “sorry to hear of their decision to discontinue their Denver operations.” But the closing of ESPN Zone “has created a new opportunity for us to bring new concepts to 16th Street,” it said.

One of those new concepts is The Tilted Kilt, a Celtic-themed restaurant and sports bar with 20 locations operating nationwide and another 10 planned. The chain, which is expected to open its Denver location this fall and to offer outdoor patio seating, has signed an 8,300-square-foot lease at Tabor Center, according to a news release.

The Tilted Kilt began in Las Vegas in 2003 and is noted for its servers dressed in knee-high socks, short plaid kilts and midriff-baring plaid halter tops. It will be one of a number of new tenants opening in the Tabor Center this year.

“These new additions to Tabor Center’s retail offering reflect our continuing efforts to enhance the services and amenities for the tenants, customers and visitors to the Tabor Center,” said Steve Budorick, executive vice president and partner at Callahan Capital Partners.

, a subsidiary of

, has established a branch office in Louisville and is seeking to fill more than 100 sales agent and sales management positions.

Interviews will be held Wednesday, May 27, at 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 6 p.m., at Holiday Inn Hurstbourne, 1325 S. Hurstbourne Parkway.

McKinney, Texas-based Liberty National said in a news release that the average commission for a Liberty National representative who stays with the company for at least 12 months is $61,675. The company also offers a 401 (k) program, as well as medical, disability, dental and group life insurance.

More information about the interviews can be found at www.libnat.com/lnlrecruiting, or by calling (502) 657-6371.

People interested in interviewing for a position can call the above phone number or send an e-mail to lnbranch659@gmail.com.

As of December 2008, Liberty National had 4.1 million policies in force, worth $44.7 billion. The company, which is licensed in 49 states, has more than 8,500 full-time employees at more than 170 offices.

Business interests, labor unions and Hispanic activists are launching a summer push for federal immigration reform — including legalization of some illegals already in the U.S.

The Reform Immigration for America effort melds amnesty reform with the ability of immigrants workers to unionize and pans workplace and other raids aimed at picking up those illegally in the U.S.

The , a Hispanic activist group, is part of the effort, which backs immigration reform pushed by President Barack Obama.

“For far too long, we have allowed a can’t-do minority to block progress and manipulate this issue to tear our country apart, but the urgency for reform is clear: economically, practically, and morally,” said NCLR president Janet Murguía. “Policies that call for SWAT-like teams to pluck people out of their beds in the middle of the night, lead to racial profiling, separate families, exploit workers, and ignore due process are shamefully un-American.”

Labor unions, including the

and , have joined the campaign as have businesses groups such as the National Immigration Forum. The NIF’s board includes executives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Restaurant Association, American Nursery & Landscape Association and United Food & Commercial Workers Union.

Liberal and Democratic advocacy groups, including the

, also are pushing the campaign. Congress could take up the issue this year.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said the agency will be more targeted in its immigration enforcement with a greater focus on employers that hire illegal immigrants, but not including workplace raids. Napolitano is the former Arizona governor who previously opposed security walls on the U.S.-Mexico border and floated the idea of allowing illegal immigrants to get state driver’s licenses.

Immigration reform failed to gain final passage during the Bush administration despite support from the former president, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and big business advocates.

Saul Ewing said Monday it has picked up the bulk of ’s Wilmington, Del., office.

The loss of the seven-lawyer group leaves Pittsburgh-based Buchanan with only one full-time partner in Wilmington and four lawyers total there, and gives Saul Ewing the largest Wilmington office of any full-service Philadelphia-based firm.

The group includes office head William Manning, who serves as outside general counsel to the University of Delaware and also represents Verizon Corp. and Dover Downs. The litigator was once chief of staff to former Delaware Gov. Pete DuPont.

The other two partners are Teresa Currier, who led bankruptcy efforts for Buchanan in Delaware, and real estate lawyer Richard Forsten.

The additions give Saul Ewing 19 lawyers in Wilmington, where bankruptcies have taken off during the economic downturn. A large percentage of companies from around the country file for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware.

But because Delaware only has about 2,000 lawyers and has a strong set of indigenous law firms, the Wilmington market has been a tough one to crack for outsiders, even neighboring Philadelphia firms. Among Philadelphia firms, Pepper Hamilton and Fox Rothschild have 17 lawyers, Drinker Biddle & Reath has 15 and Blank Rome has 13.

Saul Ewing said Manning will serve as co-managing partner of the office with current office managing partner and real estate lawyer Wendie Stabler.

Tiffany Rystrom, chair of the

, died Tuesday at her home in Sausalito following a battle with cancer. She was 66.

Rystrom was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the five-member PERB board in August 2007. She became chair in February 2009.

The board enforces collective bargaining laws that cover more than 2 million California public-sector employees. It also rules on challenges to decisions issued by PERB’s general counsel and administrative law judges.

“Tiffany Rystrom capped a distinguished career by channeling her passion for the law into public service,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement following her death. “She raised the bar on quality, integrity and consistency with the law.”

Rystrom entered the legal field after six years in advertising and marketing. She started in 1977 as judicial clerk in the California Court of Appeal. She went on to become deputy district attorney in Marin County before moving to the Office of the California Attorney General and into private practice.

She is survived by her long-time partner, California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet.

Local auto dealers affected by the canceled dealer agreements of Chrysler and GM are considering making the switch to used car sales.

Tony Wilkerson, executive director of the

, said his organization has begun to lend assistance to dealers lost in the bankruptcy shuffle.

“Our national organization has already sent letters to them to let them know about our organization and I plan to do the same thing for our state,” Wilkerson said. “They were in the used car business anyway – but if you’re stuck like many of them are, the overhead costs for a used car dealership is nothing compared to a franchise.”

However, the expansion of the local used car market comes as prices are increasing and the availability of late-model used cars is pinched, he said.

But according to Morgan Murphy, president of motorpool.com, the initial increase in prices should be looked at as merely a short-term hurdle.

“At first glance, that would strike the community as bad but in the long run, it’s good for resale values,” Murphy said.

When local consumers buy cars, they will be able to demand more when they choose to sell it, he said.

In fact, the higher resale values might actually revive American car dealers in the area.

“American manufacturing has been similar and just as good as Japanese and Korean manufacturing, but the problem has been re-sale value and initial prices,” Murphy said.

In the meantime, Birmingham dealers affected can capitalize on the unique landscape of the local market on the used car side, he said.

Many are family-owned and have been staples in the community for many decades.

They are also encouraged by the fact that local used car sales have seen an uptick amid the recession as buyers are more inclined to look for a bargain as a means to spend less.

“Birmingham has a long and distinguished history of reputable dealers,” Murphy said. “Don Drennen has been in business since 1908. That’s 101 years of serving our community, so there’s a culture around businesses like that.”

Their long-standing history could make local buyers more inclined to buy used cars from them, he said.

Ward Drennen, president of Don Drennen Buick Chrysler and Jeep, said after learning that his dealer agreement had been canceled with Chrysler, expanding his used car sales seemed like a real possibility.

“We are going to expand our used car departments drastically,” said Drennen, who was left with more than $2 million in Chrysler parts and merchandise. “We want to offer a great value to people who can’t afford a new car.”

Although he hasn’t stopped looking into becoming a franchisee for other automotive manufacturers, he is open to the idea of making the switch to stay in business.

“It is possible that we could become a used car superstore,” said Drennen, who also learned that GM will seek to cancel the dealership agreement he has for his Buick dealership. “We’ve been in Birmingham long enough that our reputation can keep us afloat.”

The D.C. area is one of the 20 strongest metro areas for economic performance during the recession, according to a report released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution.

The report ranked the 100 largest U.S. metro areas based on employment, unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan product, housing prices and foreclosure rates in the first quarter.

D.C. ranked No. 13, while San Antonio, Texas, placed No. 1 and Detroit came in last at No. 100.

“All metropolitan areas are feeling the effects of this recession, but the distress is not shared equally,” said Alan Berube, research director of the metropolitan policy program at the D.C. institute and co-author of the report. “While some areas of the country have experienced only a shallow downturn, and may be emerging from the recession already, people living in metro areas that are now performing weakest economically should prepare themselves for a long recovery period.”

At the first quarter’s end, only 10 of the 100 metro areas were starting to show signs of recovery, said the report, and said McAllen, Texas was the only place that saw growth in employment and output. Output increased in just a handful of metro areas, including D.C.; Seattle; Austin, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Va..

The report also pointed out that metro areas with concentrations of jobs in certain sectors have resulted in fewer dramatic job losses.

The Rankings: San Antonio, Texas

Austin, Texas

McAllen, Texas

Baton Rouge, La.

Tulsa, Okla.

Omaha, Neb.

El Paso, Texas

Wichita, Kan.

Washington, D.C.

Albuquerque, N.M.

Virginia Beach, Va.

Harrisburg, Pa.

Pittsburgh, Pa.

New Haven, Conn.

Rochester, N.Y.

LLC of Boulder plans to expand into other markets, with help from a recently obtained capital infusion, the company said Wednesday.

Founded and headed by Matt Kolb, Pedal to Properties is a residential real estate firm that gives clients the option of looking at homes by bicycle. The company maintains a fleet of 50 Electra Cruiser bikes.

Kolb has sold a 50 percent stake in the company for an undisclosed sum to attorney Tim Majors, who specializes in taking regional retail businesses national. As a partner in Pedal to Properties, Majors will work out of the company’s Boulder office.

Majors, who’s originally from Perth, Australia, approached Kolb about investing in the real estate firm after looking at Boulder properties by bicycle.

“We certainly plan to incorporate [Tim’s] national and international branding expertise to expand Pedal to Properties in other markets,” Kolb said in a statement.

Pedal to Properties plans to look at opening branch offices in other, unspecified U.S. markets. In May, the company launched a licensee designation for brokers interested in using the Boulder business’ operational formula in their markets.

The Colorado company already is working to expand quickly in its hometown by adding more space and agents in downtown Boulder.

“I believe Pedal to Properties is in a perfect position to meet the evolving social and demographic changes going on in the United States with homebuyers,” Majors said in a statement.

WEST HOMESTEAD -- will close its West Homestead office and lay off 80 people, effective Dec. 31.

Laidlaw, which picks up and delivers handicapped and elderly passengers to various predetermined destinations, said that the cuts were made because the company lost a long-term subcontract from Downtown-based

Access, which is the primary contractor for Port Authority Transit of Allegheny County, parcels the driving work out in chunks by neighborhood to area providers each year.

The part of the contract that Laidlaw lost included the Mon Valley.

Judi McNeil, a spokeswoman for PAT, said the county could save $500,000 a year by splitting the work among three local carriers -- S&S Taxi Co. in McKeesport, PRN Paratransit in East Pittsburgh and Star Paratransit in the South Side.

Laidlaw, she said, still handles the bulk of the contract -- about 43 percent. About 860,000 seniors and handicapped persons ride with Laidlaw each year.

Ms. McNeil said most workers who lost jobs at Laidlaw would probably be hired by other local companies that have parts of the Access contract.

Laidlaw, which is based in Burlington, Canada, operates transit and school bus units. The transit group will take the hit.

More than a quarter of the division's 300 transit workers will be laid off.

The school bus division shuttles handicapped children to and from class. Employment in both divisions currently totals about 400 at five locations in the region and reaches 80,000 companywide.

MONACA -- Pittsburghers typically may think of heaps of coal or steel when they think about heavily laden barges moving down the rivers.

But these days, it could be salt weighing down those barges.

The Colona Terminal, located along the Ohio River, will become the northeast distribution center for

's salt division.

Morton expects to move about 5,000 tons of salt through Pittsburgh in the first year growing to as much as 20,000 tons a year within the next five years, according to Jeff Ankrom, manager of the terminal.

About 44.5 million tons of cargo flows through the Pittsburgh port network each year.

Morton, which has sales of $418 million a year in its salt division alone, had previously based its northeast distribution in Cincinnati. The move to Monaca will save Morton ground transportation costs, Mr. Ankrom said, because the region is closer to salt production sites.

Winning the Morton business was a coup for the Port of Pittsburgh Commission, which built a new 5,000-square-foot warehouse building at the terminal in an effort to attract new river business.

Morton fit the bill and is just the kind of company that area ports have been looking for.

This summer, the port in Leetsdale -- also on the Ohio River, but not technically part of the Pittsburgh network -- began a $5 million expansion that will create 66,000 square feet of "clean" storage space.

Leetsdale officials are currently in the process of trying to attract paper and food companies to fill that space.

(STBTC) has been awarded a $1 million grant from the state of Texas to establish the .

This plan of making the statewide cord blood bank has become a reality as a result of several years worth of efforts by legislatiors, health care professionals and STBTC.

"Umbilical cord blood has the potential to save lives and give patients a second chance," says state Rep. Elizabeth Ames Jones. "It has been a privilege to work with so many fine people to bring the Texas Cord Blood Bank to San Antonio."

The umbilical cord blood is unique as it is readily available. Blood from the umbilical cord is collected, tested and stored. The expected date to begin storing umbilical cord blood is in the second quarter of 2004 because a great deal of equipment still needs to be implimented.

"This is a program that the medical community has long sought because it will provide a blood component that has the potential to save lives," says Norman D. Kalmin, president/CEO and medical director of STBTC.

As the program progresses, it is going to depend on the private sector for funding support.

"For every dollar the private sector donates to the Texas Cord Blood Bank, the state will match with a dollar -- up to $3.5 million," says Mary Beth Fisk, vice president of development and tissue services.

Additional funding has already been provided by St. Luke's Lutheran Health Ministries.

has filed suit against and its subsidiaries, accusing the retailer of patent infringement and the misappropriation and theft of trade secrets.

Excentus is a North Texas company that partnered with years ago to create a technology-based program that retailers can use to reward customers with discount fuel as part of their loyalty programs.

In the suit, filed June 17 in federal district court in Abilene, Irving-based Excentus accuses Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway Inc. and its subsidiaries, which include

, Blackhawk Marketing LLC and Randalls/

, of using confidential information that was discovered when Safeway was attempting to acquire Excentus and patents owned by Auto-Gas Systems Inc. to create Safeway's own PowerPump Rewards program.

Excentus is seeking injunctive relief and damages, asserting in its suit that Safeway and its subsidiaries infringed on four Excentus patents by launching a similarly designed fuel awards program. This occurred after the deal to acquire Excentus and the Auto-Gas System patents fell through, the suit said.

"We have made significant investments over the last 10 years to develop our world-class technology, services and expertise and acquire the related trademarks and patents, all of which are valuable components of the fuelperks! program and assets of our company," said Dickson Perry, president and CEO of Excentus. "When faced with situations like this one with Safeway, we are prepared to take the necessary steps to assure our assets and interests are protected."

The Dallas Business Journal was not immediately able to reach a Safeway spokesperson for comment.

One of America's wealthiest people, an award-winning Arizona architect and a New York designer specializing in luxury hotels worldwide are uniting on a Scottsdale project.

Not just any project.

This one is a hangar.

Of course, as this lineup would suggest, not just any hangar.

This one is being built for Bennett Dorrance III at .

Dorrance, whose family founded the Campbell Soup Co. in the 1880s, lives in Paradise Valley. The architect is Swaback Partners, whose founder Vernon Swaback was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright. And the interior designer is Adam Tihany, considered a pre-eminent international designer whose work is found in several world capitals.

The ultramodern design of the executive hangar includes titanium, glass and concrete. It will have space for eight private aircraft and 30 vintage cars, and it will be topped by a 180-foot-long titanium sculpture resembling a streamlined paper airplane.

The 93,370-square-foot Airmore hangar complex, which will have space for administrative offices and maintenance facilities, is on six acres near the corner of 78th Way and 83rd Place on the east side of the runway.

Dorrance, who made the latest Forbes magazine ranking as one of the richest men in America (No. 207 with estimated worth of $1.4 billion), could not be reached for comment. He is a partner in DMB Associates, a dominant real estate and diversified investment company in the Valley.

Swaback's design is on file with the city of Scottsdale. In a Feb. 5 letter to city planner Alan Ward, Swaback said the Airmore proposal "is an integrated, two-building complex inspired by the spirit of aviation itself."

When called for comment, Swaback would only say, "It is a fascinating project."

Tihany, of Adam D. Tihany International, has designed luxury restaurants and hotels, including work at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. His work is found from New York to Chicago, Mexico City, Paris, London, Jerusalem, Budapest and Hong Kong.

Dorrance's proposal was approved by the Scottsdale development review board March 22. Ward said construction could start later this year.

A condo developer has pledged $16,000 to help the annual Trail of Lights event, which faces financial challenges as the city tightens its budget.

“With budget constraints being faced universally, it is important we all chip in and help when and where we can,” Richard Berns, principal of Berns Commercial Properties, the developer of the Arbors at Riverside, said in a letter to Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department. “I realize the amount is a far stretch from the deficit” the department is “faced with, but my hope is that more of my fellow Austinites are responding in a similar fashion.”

The Trail of lights, an annual December event in Zilker Park that stretches over one mile and includes brightly-lit holiday-themed scenes, may be scaled back or canceled this year due to budget constrictions. The Parks and Recreation Department has been asked to trim $1.4 million from its 2009-2010 budget.

The Arbors at Riverside, which is located off Riverside Drive, has pledged a donation of $500 from the sale of each of the project’s 32 condominium units.

The project will have its grand opening this weekend. Prices start at $165,900 for the 1,300-square feet.

It's official. The economic conditions in St. Louis -- everything from retail sales, to real estate, to banking, to manufacturing -- are declining, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

"What this means more specifically is on the retail side, general retailers and auto dealers are reporting to us that they have weaker sales, and also manufacturing seems to be reduced," said Howard Wall, an economist at the St. Louis Fed and an author of the report.

Eighty percent of general retailers and 83 percent of St. Louis auto dealers said sales were down in January and early February, compared with the same period in 2007.

"They're right," said Dave Sinclair of the

. "I am on the attack like crazy, with increased advertising, promotion and everything." Those efforts have paid off for him, he said, with sales up the last four months. He sold 141 vehicles in February, up from 120 a year earlier. "But that's the toughest 141 I ever got in my life."

"I'm not canceling orders, but I'm adjusting orders," said Christopher Thau, owner of

, a home decor and gift shop in Kirkwood. "I'm not ordering anything new, but I'm reordering anything that's selling," such as body care products and books on regional travel, but not international travel. "My freight costs alone are up 48 percent."

Martha Uhlhorn, owner of La Bonne Bouchee, a wholesale bakery, and

, a prepared food and catering business with three local retail stores, said the combination of the weakening economy and Highway 40 construction have contributed to a slow first quarter.

At , in particular, Uhlhorn is contending with soaring commodities prices. "My cost of flour has doubled, plus a dime, per bag since January," she said. That jump pushed Uhlhorn to implement a price increase April 1, and her bakery has already lost a couple of customers as a result, she said.

Bethany Budde, owner of

in Lafayette Square, closed the gourmet food market attached to her restaurant last month because of slow sales. "We used to be SqWires Restaurant and Market. Now we're just SqWires." Sales are also off at the restaurant. "People are spending money on lunches, but they're not going out to dinner, which is more expensive," she said.

The report is the Fed's first isolating economic conditions in the St. Louis area, as opposed to the entire Eighth Federal Reserve District, which is headquartered in St. Louis but also includes Arkansas and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. Called the Burgundy Book for its cover color, it will be updated quarterly.

"Business people and community leaders have been asking for more detailed information on the local St. Louis market," said Charles Henderson, a St. Louis Fed spokesman.

The manufacturing sector also slowed in recent months, with layoffs in auto assembly and auto parts, the report said, notably at the Chrysler plant in Fenton.

January home sales dropped 12 percent compared with January 2007, and total building permits fell 44 percent in the St. Louis metro area, the report said. But the commercial real estate market is faring better.

"The real estate market has these two sides to it, and they seem to be moving in opposite directions," Wall said. "Residential real estate markets continue to soften; they've been softening for a while. But commercial markets seem to be strong, as they have been for some time."

"There is a contraction, but that has some to do with overbuilding," said Bruce Mills, chairman and chief executive of

, which develops condominiums and apartments. "People got in the home building industry who never should have, and people did developments downtown who never should have."

"It probably doesn't help that two-thirds of the economy is driven by the consumer when housing prices are falling," said Ken Crawford, a portfolio manager at

in Clayton. "They are feeling less well-off."

The banking and finance sector "deteriorated slightly," the report said. "The bankers that we spoke to tell us that banking conditions are weaker in the sense that there is reduced loan demand, but they still seem to be doing OK," Wall said.

"My sense in talking to other bankers is that everyone is somewhat pessimistic, but not terribly so," said Rick Bagy, president of

Bank of St. Louis. He cited a lack of real estate development as a reason for that pessimism. "There are no new subdivisions being built."

And the Fed's reduction of the prime rate from 8.25 percent to 5.25 percent since September will put further pressure on banks' net interest margins. "You can't reduce the cost of your deposits fast enough," Bagy said. "CDs are locked in."

For example, Bagy said, First National's average certificate of deposit is 15 months. "So every month, one-fifteenth of them are being repriced, but it will take us more than a year to catch up with the drop in rates," he said.

At in St. Louis, which finances IT equipment that manufacturers ship to end users, the downturn is a mixed bag. "If a customer is cutting back on equipment, we don't get the opportunity to lease it to them," said Ken Steinback, chairman and chief executive. "But in a credit crunch, people are looking for credit, and that's our business. And we're not regulated, so I may be willing to extend credit when others won't."