How '06 will be remembered

Sunday, December 31, 2006

From staff reports

Huntsville Times

1. Intergraph, one of Huntsville's legacy publicly traded companies, went private this year. After 25 years of trading its stock on the Nasdaq, the software developer announced it would be sold to a private investment group for $1.3 billion.

The sale of Intergraph was selected as the top local business story of 2006, as voted on by Times editors and writers.

Intergraph CEO Halsey Wise said the sale will give the company "greater financial flexibility in a private market" and allow it to focus on serving its customers without the burden of regulations that govern publicly traded companies.

Under the terms of the deal, shareholders got $44 for each share of common stock held, and Intergraph became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cobalt Holding Co., a Delaware corporation owned by Hellman & Friedman LLC and Texas Pacific Group, San Francisco-based investment firms.

Shareholders approved the sale Nov. 21, and the transaction became final Nov. 30.

The rest of the top 10:

Verizon Wireless call center

2.In September, Verizon Wireless announced plans to build a $44 million, 152,000-square-foot Alabama headquarters and customer service center in Thornton Research Park in Huntsville.

The center is scheduled to be completed late next year and is expected to have about 1,300 employees by the end of 2008. The starting salary at the call center will be $26,000 a year. The company will become one of the community's top private-sector employers.

"There's no better sense of satisfaction than when a world-class company that has the ability to go virtually anywhere puts its stamp of approval on us," said Brian Hilson, president and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. "This is something that is going to have a big impact."

Parisian name to disappear

3.A familiar name in Alabama retailing will disappear in 2007. North Carolina-based Belk bought 38 Parisian stores from Saks for $285 million in August.

Belk, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., plans to rebrand the acquired stores in the third quarter of 2007. Parisian, one of Huntsville's few high-end department stores, has locations in Madison Square and Parkway Place. Belk has not announced plans for the local stores. Saks said it sold the stores to focus on its core luxury business.

Belk bought the Proffitt's and McRae's chains from Saks in 2005.

Banking business

4.It's been a year of change for the financial industry in Huntsville, with two major banks announcing merger plans, expansions at other institutions, and even a new name in the market.

In May, Regions Financial and AmSouth, both based in Birmingham, announced plans to merge and finalized the deal in November. The combined bank will keep the Regions name. AmSouth was required to sell 52 branches as part of the merger. RBC Ventura Bank, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada, is buying 39 AmSouth branches in Alabama, including five in the Huntsville area.

Also in November, Superior Bancorp completed its merger with Blountsville's Community Bancshares. Superior is planning to open several branches in the area. Birmingham-based ServisFirst Bank also opened an office in Huntsville.

First American Bank opened its new office in the Big Spring Summit. Other financial institutions opening new branches included Redstone Federal Credit Union and North Alabama Bank.

Embassy Suites

5.National hotel executive John Q. Hammons officially opened the 10-story Embassy Suites Convention Hotel in November. The $40 million Embassy Suites is a full-service hotel with 295 two-room suites and includes a spa. The downtown hotel opened about a decade after Hammons sued Hunts-ville for backing out of a deal for a Embassy Suites hotel.

Ruth's Chris Steak House, an upscale restaurant, opened on the first floor of the new hotel.

Terry's Pizza

6.A Huntsville institution, Terry's Pizza closed its three locations in Huntsville last summer after serving pizzas to area residents for 48 years. But this month, Terry's pizzas returned when Star Market bought the recipes from the family.

The purchase melds two of Huntsville's most beloved institutions: Star Market, one of Huntsville's oldest general grocery stores (founded in 1944), and Terry's Pizza, which closed following owner Lou Pejza's death last December.

"We are using the very same ingredients and vendors that Lou used, so the taste is exactly what Terry's customers are used to," said Darden Heritage, Star Market's owner. "I thought it would do well. It's putting together two Huntsville traditions."

Heritage said there isn't a sit-down restaurant serving Terry's pizzas at this point.

Hudson-Alpha breaks ground

7.After being announced in 2005, the Hudson-Alpha Institute for BioTechnology broke ground in Cummings Research Park in January. The institute is expected to have between 500 and 600 workers when it opens and expand to some 1,600 people working on the campus within 10 years.

In August, the center announced the hiring of Dr. Neil Lamb as director of educational outreach. The nonprofit institute will feature biotechnology research and space for housing for-profit companies expected to use the research to develop commercial biotechnology products.

The institute is being opened with $50 million from the state of Alabama and $80 million in private contributions.

TVA fuels Unit 1; Thrailkill joins board

8.The Tennessee Valley Authority is close to restarting the Unit 1 reactor at its Browns Ferry nuclear plant, with regulatory approval for the restart possible early in 2007.

TVA began fueling the Unit 1 reactor earlier this month. In January, the NRC is scheduled to send an independent operational readiness assessment team to Browns Ferry to determine if TVA and the plant's employees are ready to handle operations of three reactors at the plant.

TVA's push to restart Unit 1 is part of a five-year, $1.8 billion effort to revive a reactor that was mothballed in 1985 for safety reasons.

The utility successfully restarted Units 2 and 3 in the 1990s, after discontinuing those operations as well in the mid-1980s.

Meanwhile, Huntsville businessman Howard Thrailkill became the first Alabama member of TVA's board. Thrailkill, the retired president of Huntsville-based Adtran, was sworn in to the revamped board in April.

Toyota building new engines

9.Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, in Huntsville, doubled the size of its plant and added about 300 jobs as it started supplying engines for the 2007 Tundra full-size pickup.

Toyota opened a 2,000-acre site in San Antonio in November, where the Tundras are being built.

TMMA will supply three different engines to the Texas plant.

Toyota has about 800 workers in Huntsville. The plant will have the capacity to produce 400,000 engines per year.

UAH patent settlement

10.The University of Alabama in Huntsville will receive $25 million as part of a patent settlement with a former UAH professor and a California-based pharmaceutical company.

Dr. Milton Harris, a former UAH chemistry professor and the founder of Huntsville's Shearwater Polymers, and drug developer Nektar Pharmaceuticals, agreed to the settlement, which will pay UAH $15 million upfront and $1 million annually for 10 years.

The University of Alabama System sued in 2005, alleging Harris developed a number of patents while at UAH but failed to give the school ownership of the patents.

Harris worked at UAH from 1973 to 2000.



How '06 will be remembered Sunday, December 31, 2006 From staff reports Huntsville Times 1. Intergraph, one of Huntsville's legacy publicly traded companies, went private this year. After 25 years of trading its stock on the Nasdaq, the software developer announced it would be sold to a private investment group for $1.3 billion. The sale of Intergraph was selected as the top local business story of 2006, as voted on by Times editors and writers. Intergraph CEO Halsey Wise said the sale will give the company "greater financial flexibility in a private market" and allow it to focus on serving its customers without the burden of regulations that govern publicly traded companies. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders got $44 for each share of common stock held, and Intergraph became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cobalt Holding Co., a Delaware corporation owned by Hellman & Friedman LLC and Texas Pacific Group, San Francisco-based investment firms. Shareholders approved the sale Nov. 21, and the transaction became final Nov. 30. The rest of the top 10: Verizon Wireless call center 2.In September, Verizon Wireless announced plans to build a $44 million, 152,000-square-foot Alabama headquarters and customer service center in Thornton Research Park in Huntsville. The center is scheduled to be completed late next year and is expected to have about 1,300 employees by the end of 2008. The starting salary at the call center will be $26,000 a year. The company will become one of the community's top private-sector employers. "There's no better sense of satisfaction than when a world-class company that has the ability to go virtually anywhere puts its stamp of approval on us," said Brian Hilson, president and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. "This is something that is going to have a big impact." Parisian name to disappear 3.A familiar name in Alabama retailing will disappear in 2007. North Carolina-based Belk bought 38 Parisian stores from Saks for $285 million in August. Belk, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., plans to rebrand the acquired stores in the third quarter of 2007. Parisian, one of Huntsville's few high-end department stores, has locations in Madison Square and Parkway Place. Belk has not announced plans for the local stores. Saks said it sold the stores to focus on its core luxury business. Belk bought the Proffitt's and McRae's chains from Saks in 2005. Banking business 4.It's been a year of change for the financial industry in Huntsville, with two major banks announcing merger plans, expansions at other institutions, and even a new name in the market. In May, Regions Financial and AmSouth, both based in Birmingham, announced plans to merge and finalized the deal in November. The combined bank will keep the Regions name. AmSouth was required to sell 52 branches as part of the merger. RBC Ventura Bank, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada, is buying 39 AmSouth branches in Alabama, including five in the Huntsville area. Also in November, Superior Bancorp completed its merger with Blountsville's Community Bancshares. Superior is planning to open several branches in the area. Birmingham-based ServisFirst Bank also opened an office in Huntsville. First American Bank opened its new office in the Big Spring Summit. Other financial institutions opening new branches included Redstone Federal Credit Union and North Alabama Bank. Embassy Suites 5.National hotel executive John Q. Hammons officially opened the 10-story Embassy Suites Convention Hotel in November. The $40 million Embassy Suites is a full-service hotel with 295 two-room suites and includes a spa. The downtown hotel opened about a decade after Hammons sued Hunts-ville for backing out of a deal for a Embassy Suites hotel. Ruth's Chris Steak House, an upscale restaurant, opened on the first floor of the new hotel. Terry's Pizza 6.A Huntsville institution, Terry's Pizza closed its three locations in Huntsville last summer after serving pizzas to area residents for 48 years. But this month, Terry's pizzas returned when Star Market bought the recipes from the family. The purchase melds two of Huntsville's most beloved institutions: Star Market, one of Huntsville's oldest general grocery stores (founded in 1944), and Terry's Pizza, which closed following owner Lou Pejza's death last December. "We are using the very same ingredients and vendors that Lou used, so the taste is exactly what Terry's customers are used to," said Darden Heritage, Star Market's owner. "I thought it would do well. It's putting together two Huntsville traditions." Heritage said there isn't a sit-down restaurant serving Terry's pizzas at this point. Hudson-Alpha breaks ground 7.After being announced in 2005, the Hudson-Alpha Institute for BioTechnology broke ground in Cummings Research Park in January. The institute is expected to have between 500 and 600 workers when it opens and expand to some 1,600 people working on the campus within 10 years. In August, the center announced the hiring of Dr. Neil Lamb as director of educational outreach. The nonprofit institute will feature biotechnology research and space for housing for-profit companies expected to use the research to develop commercial biotechnology products. The institute is being opened with $50 million from the state of Alabama and $80 million in private contributions. TVA fuels Unit 1; Thrailkill joins board 8.The Tennessee Valley Authority is close to restarting the Unit 1 reactor at its Browns Ferry nuclear plant, with regulatory approval for the restart possible early in 2007. TVA began fueling the Unit 1 reactor earlier this month. In January, the NRC is scheduled to send an independent operational readiness assessment team to Browns Ferry to determine if TVA and the plant's employees are ready to handle operations of three reactors at the plant. TVA's push to restart Unit 1 is part of a five-year, $1.8 billion effort to revive a reactor that was mothballed in 1985 for safety reasons. The utility successfully restarted Units 2 and 3 in the 1990s, after discontinuing those operations as well in the mid-1980s. Meanwhile, Huntsville businessman Howard Thrailkill became the first Alabama member of TVA's board. Thrailkill, the retired president of Huntsville-based Adtran, was sworn in to the revamped board in April. Toyota building new engines 9.Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, in Huntsville, doubled the size of its plant and added about 300 jobs as it started supplying engines for the 2007 Tundra full-size pickup. Toyota opened a 2,000-acre site in San Antonio in November, where the Tundras are being built. TMMA will supply three different engines to the Texas plant. Toyota has about 800 workers in Huntsville. The plant will have the capacity to produce 400,000 engines per year. UAH patent settlement 10.The University of Alabama in Huntsville will receive $25 million as part of a patent settlement with a former UAH professor and a California-based pharmaceutical company. Dr. Milton Harris, a former UAH chemistry professor and the founder of Huntsville's Shearwater Polymers, and drug developer Nektar Pharmaceuticals, agreed to the settlement, which will pay UAH $15 million upfront and $1 million annually for 10 years. The University of Alabama System sued in 2005, alleging Harris developed a number of patents while at UAH but failed to give the school ownership of the patents. Harris worked at UAH from 1973 to 2000. © 2007 The Huntsville Times © 2007 al.com All Rights Reserved.