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ML Managers LLC has taken possession of the Hotel Monroe in downtown Phoenix and Ten Wine Lofts in Scottsdale, both busted projects that the now defunct Grace Communities had partially developed.

The announcement was made Friday by Mark Winkleman, chief operating officer of ML Managers, the firm created to administer commercial real estate loans made by Mortgages Ltd. That company was forced into Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy after its sole shareholder, Scott Coles, committed suicide in June 2008.

Mortgages Ltd. had been one of the largest lenders in the state for construction and land acquisition loans since the mid-2000s.

Winkleman said Ten Wine Lofts, a luxury condominium project near Scottsdale and Osborn roads in Old Town Scottsdale, is being aggressively marketed by Mark Forrester, a partner at Hendricks & Partners.

“It’s about 95 percent finished. Pretty darn close,” Winkleman said.

The Hotel Monroe historic redevelopment project was barely off the ground when the economy tanked in late 2008. Interiors of the property at the southeast corner of Central and Monroe avenues in downtown Phoenix had been stripped in preparation for new construction of a boutique hotel and have remained untouched but exposed to the elements for about two years. Winkleman said that property will be put on the market shortly.

Another property acquired by Grace Communities via a Mortgages Ltd. loan also has been repossessed: A 9.7 acre vacant parcel near Highland Avenue and Scottsdale Road, north of Scottsdale Fashion Square. Winkleman said that property also will go on the market soon.

In all, Grace Communities borrowed about $121 million from Mortgages Ltd. Grace Communities has not been a viable company for several months, according to information provided in May by Ryan Zeleznak, one of its principals.

In addition to acquiring the properties through foreclosure sales, Winkleman said he negotiated settlements with Zeleznak, his father Don Zeleznak and Jonathon Vento, the three partners in Grace Communities. Specifics of those settlements are confidential, Winkleman said.

ML Partners has been busy in recent weeks. The company also repossessed Los Arcos Crossing, a former Bashas’ anchored strip mall east of Scottsdale and McDowell roads. The borrower on that property was Phoenix-based PDG America, which had planned to build a mixed-use development that would complement the nearby SkySong ASU Innovation Center.

The Los Arcos project never got off the ground, but Winkleman expects strong interest in the property given that the city of Scottsdale plans more significant redevelopment in the area.

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3 Men Movers Inc. has created a new mobile container division called MOVITS aimed at both businesses and homeowners.

The Houston-based moving company said it will specialize in offering full-service portable storage units. The storage receptacles can either remain on a client’s property or 3 Men Movers can pick them up and relocate them.

The storage units are waterproof and have a steel frame and panels.

The move was a logical one for 3 Men Movers, according to Mitch Gonzalez, the company’s director of marketing and sales.

3 Men Movers owns and operates a self-storage facility in southwest Houston with climate controlled units, a security system and digitally-controlled access gates.

"We recognize that convenience is an extremely important factor when considering storage for a residence or business," said Gonzalez. "Many of our clients prefer the flexibility of organizing and packing their storage receptacle on their own schedule."

With this move, 3 Men Movers is competing with established companies such as PODS Enterprises Inc.

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LaBarge Inc. said Tuesday it received a $4.9 million contract from United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., to continue making complex wiring harnesses for the Atlas V rocket.

Production on the new contract is taking place in Berryville, Ark., and is expected to continue through late 2013.

For the past 17 years, LaBarge has made wiring harnesses and select hardware assemblies for the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which take satellites into orbit.

ULA's Atlas, along with the Delta IV and Delta II, provides launch services for Air Force, NASA and National Reconnaissance Office missions payday loans. NASA recently awarded ULA a $6.7 million contract to develop an early detection system as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program for human space flight.

St. Louis-based LaBarge Inc. (Amex: LB), led by CEO and President Craig LaBarge, manufactures electronics for various industries. The company has operations in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.

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Just hours into its public debut, the highly anticipated, glowingly reviewed, social media aggregating iPad application called Flipboard crashed.

The new app promises to create a "personal magazine" by bringing in content from Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. But when a sea of eager downloaders tried to log into their various social media accounts on Tuesday, the requests overwhelmed Flipboard’s servers.

Users encountered error messages that said, "Due to overwhelming interest we are currently limiting the rate at which we are accepting new Facebook and Twitter connections." Flipboard urged users to follow its Twitter account, @flipboard, for updates on the status of the server delays, saying, "We promise it will be worth the wait."

Flipboard’s solution is still pending. As it works to add more server capacity, the company is set to debut a new version of its software that will create a wait list for users trying to connect to their Twitter and Facebook accounts. When the app is ready for users to sign in, it will send them e-mails notifying them that they’re next in line.

Though Flipboard encouraged patience, Twitter users sounded off on their frustrations installment payday loans.

"Has Flipboards 15 mins of fame come and gone? The backlash begins!" said one Twitter user.

Many blamed tech blogger Robert Scoble for creating too much hype about Flipboard. He posted nearly 30 tweets on Wednesday about the new iPad app.

"24 hours later, where is @Scobleizer after destroying the launch for @flipboard? Too much hype too soon. I hope @flipboard can recover," tweeted another user.

It’s not the first time that incredible demand has overwhelmed an app or website.

Twitter famously displays its "Fail Whale" several times a month, as it is routinely over capacity. The company said Wednesday that it is building a new data center in Salt Lake City that it will move into later this year.

Apple’s Store app crashed last month on the day it launched, as iPhone 3GS users bombarded it with requests to buy a new iPhone 4.

And users looking for information online about Michael Jackson’s death last summer caused a host of websites — including mighty Google — to crash or slow down to a crawl. 

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DunnhumbyUSA has promoted Chief Operating Officer Stuart Aitken to CEO, the company said Tuesday.

Aitken joined Dunnhumby in August 2009, replacing Simon Hay, who returned to the company’s parent corporation in London. He had previously been chief marketing officer for arts and craft retailer Michaels Stores Inc.

During Aitken’s tenure, Dunnhumby opened an office in New York, expanded its partnership with Macy’s Inc. and in partnership with Dunnhumby Canada, signed Canadian Tire as a client.

“Stuart’s keen sense of what matters most to customers is helping us strengthen our connection with our loyal shoppers,” said Don Becker, executive vice president for Kroger Co paydayloans. Cincinnati-based Kroger (NYSE: KR) is a part-owner of Dunnhumby USA and its largest client.

DunnhumbyUSA, headquartered downtown, has more than 350 employees and 2009 revenue of $190 million. The company is in the process of adding more than 150 new employees to its U.S. operations.

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For more than two decades, Ashwin Patel has been bringing Indian and Pakistani grains and spices — as well as the latest Bollywood movies — to St. Louis through Seema Enterprises, his grocery business.

Patel can often be found behind the cash register at the store, at 10635 Page Avenue. He knows most of his customers by name, some of whom come from as far away as Columbia, Mo., and Carbondale, Ill., to stock up on groceries every month.

Inside his stores, customers can find a couple of dozen types of rice — parboiled, kerala, ponni, Basmati and so on. It’s also one of the only places St. Louisans can find gongura and methi leaves, lychee and green mango juices, Indian-style frozen hot pockets, henna, toothpaste made with neem herbs, and shelves full of teas from the region.

Patel immigrated to the United States from India in 1978. In 1985, he and his wife, Raksha, took over Seema Enterprises after the store’s former owner passed away.
The Page store, which first opened in 1977, was one of the first Indian groceries in the Midwest, according to Patel.

In 1991, he expanded to a second location to Manchester Road, wanting to be closer to the nearby Hindu temple and the growing South Asian population moving into west St. Louis County.

In the last two years, he’s nearly doubled the size of both stores so he has more space to display the ever-expanding variety of South Asian frozen and dried goods that are increasingly available.

Over the years, Patel has also helped fill a void in the community by sponsoring movie screenings and musical performances by some of Bollywood’s biggest musical stars including the likes of Asha Bhosle, Sonu Nigam and Jagjit Singh, to name a few.

How has your business changed in the last 25 years?

It’s a big change. In that time, there were not that many things available, just rice, flour, dals (lentils). We didn’t have frozen food and ready-to-eat meals then, which are becoming much more popular with this new generation. … At that time, there were only one or two kinds of rice: long-grain or jasmine. Basmati was hard to get back then (and it was so expensive and hence, less popular.) Now we sell almost 25 different kinds of rice. Tamil people eat a different kind of rice. Telugu people use a different rice. …

With the popularity of Indian cooking, are more of your customers non-South Asians? Or is your core business still South Asians?

We have non-South Asian people — they are at least 15 percent of our customers. They mostly come here looking for spices and rice.

A lot of the non-South Asians are becoming vegetarian. So they come to Indian grocery stores to see what they can cook. … And these days, more people are becoming samosa-lovers.

You sponsor a lot of movie screenings of Bollywood movies in area theaters. When did you start that and why?

We started doing that in 1994 … I love Indian movies. When I was growing up in India, I used to watch the first day, first showing of new movies. When we came here, we were out of touch with Indian movies for 15 to 20 years. … Then distributors started to bring the movies to the big cities in 1993-94. So we tried it. … Bollywood has become so popular …

Movie rentals used to be a big part of your business, too, right? Do you still do that?

At one point, movie rentals were 25 percent of the business. But we discontinued that about seven months ago.

Nobody rents anymore. The Internet is bringing more mischief with the piracy thing. … We were paying more money to the distributors and less people were renting them or going to the theaters. Nowadays, many people have Indian satellite channels. About 75 percent of South Asian households have a satellite TV. And they can watch 24 hours of shows and news in their own native languages. …

We also used to sell audio CDs, too. But nobody buys it anymore. They just download it.

Are you worried about the future of your business as the first generation of South Asian immigrants ages and there are more second and third generation South Asians?

The kids who are born here, they are not going to be coming here as much. … I think it might survive but in a different way.

With them, items like Indian hot pockets and naan pizza are really popular. It won’t be the same, but we’ll be OK for at least 10 to 15 years. … But it’s going to be changing.

The kids who were born here, they still have roots. But the newer generation, we don’t know. My son likes Indian food. But the next generation?

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The Denver City Council late Monday unanimously adopted the city's first new zoning code in more than 50 years.

The council bill that will place the new zoning code into law, passed 13-0, next goes to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper for action. If Hickenlooper signs the bill, as expected, it will be published by the city clerk and take effect.

During a public hearing several hours long before the p.m. vote, several speakers as well as council members expressed mixed feelings about the new code, saying it's not perfect and will need tweaking over time.

Inconsistencies in code policies and practices will be addressed, said David Roberts, the city's chief services officer.

"It will always be changing," District 4 Councilwoman Peggy Lehman said of the new code.

But speakers and council members also said the new form- and context-based code is a needed improvement over the outdated, 54-year-old existing code, and will sustain Denver's future growth.

"Calling the new code form-based doesn't do it justice," Denver developer Mickey Zeppelin of Zeppelin Development Co., said at the hearing. "It's really a value-based code, reflecting the values of the community."

Council President Jeanne Robb, District 10, called the new code an affirmation of Denver neighborhoods and, while it may not necessarily be simpler than the existing code, it is more organized and an example of the public process, which is "what makes our city great."

Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz, District 2, said she still has problems with how downzoning is handled in the new code, and the loss of property value it could cause, but allowed many of her concerns that the updated code would hinder development were resolved over the last six months.

Other worries expressed about the revamped code at the council hearing ranged from concerns about upzoning, how the South Platte River will be protected and accessory dwelling units to making sure property owners get the sunlight and building heights they want.

City planning department staffers ― including planning chief Peter Park as well as planners Tina Axelrad and Tyler Gibbs ― answered questions from council members and private-sector speakers. Park said his department will present a report to the council, evaluating the new code's performance, after its first six months of use.

Monday's meeting was held at City Council Chambers at the Denver City & County Building, 1437 Bannock St.

The council, city planning and development department, and a public/private group called the Zoning Code Task Force have spearheaded the creation the new zoning code for more than five years. Updating the code is part of city growth plans, including the Comprehensive Plan of 2002 and Blueprint Denver in 2002.

The main idea behind the new code is to better manage Denver's future growth, through form- and context-based zoning. Creators of the new code also have worked to make it more user friendly than the old one, and hope it will help stimulate economic recovery by encouraging development.

Over the years, the current code has become a patchwork of incongruous zoning regulations and it's outdated, according to real estate experts and the city.

Authors of the new code initially hoped council members would vote on the new code by the end of 2009, and then in February of this year, and then in April.

Votes have been delayed to provide more time for public comment about the code and changes to it based on some of that comment.

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Based locally and working internationally, McCarthy Building Cos. and Alberici Corp. got through the recession’s first year on their deep backlogs of commercial construction contracts.

But now St. Louis’ Big Two of general contracting expect leaner times ahead as they cope with the worst economic downturn in decades.

Commercial construction is a lagging economic indicator, meaning that recessions hurt general contractors later than most companies during tough economic times. Thus general contractors are among the last to recover when the economy improves.

"Once owners start to build something, it’s very rare that they stop a project," said Greg Kozicz, Alberici’s chief executive.

As a result, Alberici had a "very significant backlog" of work for 2006, 2007 and early 2008 even as the economy cooled, and company revenue grew steadily, reaching $1.3 billion in 2008. Completion of some projects and a smaller backlog of new jobs will mean a slight revenue drop this year, Kozicz said.

"And we think ‘11 will be softer than ‘10," he said.

Alberici currently has about a year’s worth of jobs in the works, down from 18 months in more normal times.

"When the economy was roaring along at its peak, we were closer to two years," Kozicz said.

Whether commercial construction is in rebound mode is unclear, he added. The U.S. market is unique because of public stimulus spending, said Kozicz, adding that for the first time in Alberici’s 90-year history, government work makes up a "disproportionate" share of the company’s business.

"On the surface, the numbers look like recovery," he said. "But look at the mix of work and you get a question mark. The government just can’t spend money indefinitely."

By far the region’s largest construction company is McCarthy, which had more than $3.1 billion in revenue last year. Even though that amount was down $380 million from 2008, the company had its highest gross margin ever in 2009, said Derek Glanvill, McCarthy’s president and chief operating officer.

"We still had a lot of good work in the pipeline," he said best payday advance. "The bad years are yet to come. If we could stay flat over the rest of 2010, ‘11 and ‘12, that might be a good thing. That would be favorable not only for McCarthy but for the entire industry."

With projects in more than a dozen "core markets" spread across 40 states, McCarthy’s U.S. business has benefited from a recession-produced 30 percent plunge in the cost of construction, Glanvill said.

"The second thing is that the pent-up demand is starting to come slowly, with more aggressive owners starting to build," he said.

Absent "creative financing," hotel and office construction remains slow although public university construction is "steady" despite the budget stresses felt by many states, Glanville said.

"There are some bright spots but they’re few and far between and not in our traditional market of major cities," he said.

To help deal with the lean times, McCarthy is venturing into smaller cities and bidding on jobs that it would have passed on in better economic times.

"Before, if there were four projects, maybe we’d get two," Glanvill said. "Now, if there are 10 out there, maybe you swallow hard and go after eight and maybe, if you’re lucky, get one."

Len Toenjes, president of the Associated General Contractors of St. Louis, said most construction companies of all sizes are struggling to get over the recession.

A few big projects — such as the St. Louis Art Museum expansion, the Mississippi River bridge — are helping spur a slow turnaround, Toenjes said. Regardless, some area construction companies are looking for work farther from home.

"We’re going to see more of a national footprint in our construction industry," he said. "Now that we’ve learned to work out of town, I think there’s going to be more of a tendency to follow a type of work or a client regionally or across the country."

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Gasoline prices in Florida are expected to drop again this week as crude oil prices continue their downward trend for the third straight week amid concerns that Europe’s financial crisis will worsen, AAA said.

Crude oil closed Friday at $70.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In the past few weeks, the European crisis has pushed the value of the euro down 12 percent against the dollar and is one of the major factors that has caused the price of crude to decrease. At the same time, U.S. stockpiles of crude grew for the 15th week, AAA said.

“The possibility that Europe’s financial problems will slow global demand at a time when U.S. demand is already slow to rise has investors worried,” said Jessica Brady, manager of AAA public relations no credit check payday loans. “The lack of demand can be seen in the constant increase in U.S. stockpiles of crude that are now well above 362 million barrels.

“Lower retail gasoline prices are always welcomed by consumers, and they can expect to see just that as retail prices drop again this week.”

The national average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $2.80, while Florida’s average is $2.79, bothof which reflect a seven-cent decrease from last week.

In Orlando, a gallon of self-serve regular averages $2.70, down 9 cents from a week ago.

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Just before 3 p.m. ET Thursday, shares of Procter & Gamble appeared to have fallen 37%, helping trigger a massive 900-point sell-off in the Dow Jones industrial average.

The huge drop in P&G’s stock - reportedly from more than $60 to less than $40 - is widely believed to have been a trading glitch.

Several other stocks had huge drops in their price at that time as well, including Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Accenture (ACN), 3M (MMM, Fortune 500) and Oxford Industries (OXM).

At around 2:45 p.m. ET, P&G’s (PG, Fortune 500) stock had fallen 10% to $56 on the New York Stock Exchange, triggering a "circuit breaker." At that point, the NYSE slowed the trading of the stock for less than a minute. During that short time, other stock exchanges were allowed to trade P&G’s stock price on their own, instead of getting the price from NYSE.

According to Procter & Gamble and the NYSE, the Nasdaq stock exchange may have misprinted a quote of $39.37 a share. It is also possible that the electronic trades actually occurred, but they were made in error.

Late on Thursday Nasdaq said it had no technology or system issues associated with the trading that occurred between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. ET.

But the exchange said that because it coordinates with other US Exchanges, "all trades executed between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. ET greater than or less than 60%" of the stock price as of 2:40 p.m. ET or immediately prior to that time will be cancelled.

Procter & Gamble is a Dow component, and the reported 37% drop in P&G’s stock contributed 172 points to thedrop in the Dow.

"The market was down 400 points before we went into a slowdown," Lawrence Leibowitz, NYSE’s chief executive, told CNN. "A lot of the movement when the market went down 1,000 points was due to stocks trading at strange prices low fee pay day loans. Then it went all the way back up to where we started."

Leibowitz said that stocks are very thinly traded in such situations, which can lead to wild volatility.

That’s exactly what happened with Procter & Gamble and a handful of other stocks.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) traded down 22% to $199.25 before recovering.

Accenture (ACN) fell from $40.13 at 2:45 p.m. all the way to just 1 cent before quickly rising back to $39.57.

Oxford Industries (OXM) also tanked to $1.34 before soaring back to $19.51 a minute later.

3M (MMM, Fortune 500), a Dow component, momentarily fell $18.61. That 21.5% drop in 3M’s stock alone represented a 143-point decline in the Dow.

"I don’t know if it was a faulty trade," said Leibowitz. "We may find out that those trades were erroneous. A lot of times, those trades will get cancelled later on."

Procter & Gamble confirmed that the drop in its stock price was on the electronically traded Nasdaq exchange.

"Today’s low trade was $56," said Jennifer Chelune, spokeswoman for P&G in an e-mailed statement. "Any trade reported below that would have been on the Nasdaq and we’re looking into whether those were errors."

The SEC and CFTC said they "are working closely with the other financial regulators, as well as the exchanges, to review the unusual trading activity that took place briefly this afternoon. We are also working with the exchanges to take appropriate steps to protect investors pursuant to market rules."

The regulators said they will make their findings public along with recommendations for appropriate action.  

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