Accent renamed to EMJ Special Projects
Accent Construction Services has changed its name to EMJ Special Projects.
EMJ Special Projects will continue to operate as a separate member of the EMJ Corp. family, led by Senior Vice President Chas Torrence.
Employees, clients, subcontractors and other partners will continue to receive the same day-to-day experience and interact with the same operations team.
Founded in 2007, EMJ Special Projects is a specialized business unit that focuses on short-term, specialty projects and programmatic work. The name Special Projects was chosen to convey the wide-ranging capabilities of the team. The focus is not solely small, single tenant retail, but rather unique and innovative work of all sizes in a variety of sectors, according to the company.
Fairfield East Ridge sells for $6.5 million
A decade after building the the Fairfield Inn and Suites in East Ridge, the original investors in the 79-room hotel have sold the property to a New York investment group.
But 3H Hotels will continue to manage the facility at 1453 Mack Smith Road.
The new owners, organized as Adar Eastridge LLC, bought the hotel on May 1 for $6.5 million, according to property filings with the Hamilton County Register of Deeds. The 50,508-square-foot Fairfield Inn includes a swimming pool, 24-hour business center and snack bar. The hotel was built in 2007, but was recently renovated and no immediate plans for changes at the hotel are planned as a result of its sale, Desai said.
The new owners have agreed to keep 3H Group as the hotel manager. Hiren Desai, CEO of the 3H Group, said the investors have bought a couple of 3H hotels. But the Chattanooga-based hotel operator continues to own most of its hotel properties.
Desai founded 3H in 2000 and has grown the company to more than 20 hotels in six states.
TVA distributors to add more solar
The Tennessee Valley Authority said Monday it is awarding contracts with EPB, North Georgia Electric Membership Corp., Volunteer Energy Cooperative and four other distributors for another 10 megawatts of solar power generation.
The seven local power companies will be aided by TVA, which will buy the solar-generated power through TVA's Distributed Solar Solutions pilot program. The electricity generated from the solar panels will be sufficient to power more than 900 average homes.
Tammy Bramlett, TVA's director of Business Development and Renewables, said 13 local power companies applied to participate with solar projects ranging from 50 kilowatts to two megawatts.
Those chosen for the program include EPB in Chattanooga, which already built a $1.7 million solar farm next to its distribution center along North Holtzclaw Avenue last year.
TVA has contracted or installed around 400 megawatts of solar capacity in its generation portfolio, and currently has more than 1,200 megawatts of wind and over 50 megawatts of biomass.
Buffett faults United, but airline traffic up
Warren Buffett said Monday that United Airlines bungled the case of the passenger dragged off a plane last month, and he criticized the CEO's handling of the incident.
Buffett also said airplanes "may become like cattle cars," but that's because a significant number of passengers will put up with crowding in exchange for cheaper fares.
Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is United's largest shareholder and has large stakes in other big U.S. airlines, said the recent spotlight on poor customer service in the airline industry doesn't change his investment strategy.
After the market closed Monday, United reported that passenger traffic in April rose 7.4 percent, compared with a year ago. That beat Delta's 1.6 percent gain but fell short of Southwest's 8.4 percent increase.
Target tests new way to restock households
Target is testing a program that lets customers order household essentials like laundry detergent, paper towels and peanut butter and have them delivered to their homes the next day.
The service, being tested with employees for now, is similar to Amazon Pantry, and comes as Target is trying to enhance its online services to better compete with Wal-Mart and online leader Amazon.
Bumble Bee Foods admits price fixing
Tuna-canning company Bumble Bee Foods has agreed to pay a $25 million fine after pleading guilty to conspiring with competitors to fix prices, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.
The San Diego-based company will also cooperate with an ongoing antitrust investigation into the packaged seafood industry, the federal agency said.
The fine will increase to $81.5 million if the company is sold.
The criminal charge reflects broader concerns about competition within the industry.
Federal civil litigation in California has alleged price-fixing collusion by Bumble Bee and its competitors.
The Justice Department said in December that Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea, a rival company, were abandoning a planned merger after the department raised concerns that the transaction would harm competition.