Chattanooga-Hamilton County planners endorse Lee Highway store

A planned new 10,000-square-foot retail store took its first steps toward reality Monday by earning initial approval from the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning commission for rezoning.

If the plans pass a vote by the City Council, the dry goods retail store would be built at 7345 Lee Highway.

The site plan for the unspecified store includes 44 parking spaces.

Melissa Ballard represented the rezoning applicant, a Huntsville, Ala., development group called The Broadway Group, during the meeting. She said there is no timeline for the project yet, which is in the early stages.

Sysco to buy US Foods

Houston-based Sysco announced Monday it is buying privately held US Foods for about $3.5 billion in cash and stock.

When the deal closes, Sysco expects the addition of US Foods to boost its annual sales by about 46 percent to around $65 billion. Sysco shares rose almost 10 percent Monday and hit their highest point in decades.

Sysco President and CEO Bill DeLaney said that the two companies have highly complementary core strengths including large product portfolios.

In 2007, a pair of equity firm, KKR and CD&R, acquired the Rosemont, Ill.-based US Foods for $7.2 billion from Royal Ahold NV, which once owned the Red Food Stores chain in Chattanooga.