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Barney Butter builds brand
Three years after making her first batch of almond butter in her kitchen, Jennifer Barney's business is stocking shelves in nearly 400 stores and moving into its own Fresno facility.
When Barney started her commercial operation, her Barney Butter was made by contractors who used the same processing equipment for peanut products.
Demand from parents of children with peanut allergies inspired Barney to lease a 17,000-square-foot space in southwest Fresno and buy her own equipment, with the help of an undisclosed group of investors.
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Lodgian Provides Update on Maturing Mortgage Debt
Lodgian, Inc. (NYSE Alternext US: LGN), one of the nation's largest independent hotel owners and operators, today announced that the company has obtained extensions on $71.6 million of its mortgage indebtedness previously scheduled to mature on July 1, 2009, and remains in negotiations on extension of $45.7 million of mortgage debt which matured on July 1, 2009. The mortgage indebtedness, which was originated in June 2004 by Merrill Lynch and securitized in the collateralized mortgage-backed securities market, has been divided into three pools of indebtedness referred to by the company as the Merrill Lynch Fixed Rate Pools #1, #3 and #4. (The company repaid the Merrill Lynch Fixed Rate Pool #2 in 2007.) In summary, the company has reached agreements with the special servicers of this mortgage indebtedness to provide the following:
-- An extension of the maturity date of the Merrill Lynch Fixed Rate Pool
#1 to July 1, 2010; and
-- An extension of the maturity date of the Merrill
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Former patio furniture store started out as church
Question: Was the former Sun and Shade business at Abby Street and Grant Avenue in Fresno once a church? It looks like it.
-- Lisa Goodell, Fresno
Answer: The Sun and Shade patio furniture company once occupied the former Westminster Presbyterian Church at 1728 Grant Ave.
A congregation was formed in 1874 as Cumberland Presbyterian Church and met for five years. The congregation disbanded but formed again in 1888.
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Embassy Suites Buffalo Opens Doors and Features New One-Room Suite Concept
Today, Embassy Suites Hotels announces the highly-anticipated opening of the Embassy Suites - Buffalo. Located in Buffalo's Central Business District, the new sustainable architectural attraction also boasts the innovative one-room suite concept designed to pack more room into a smaller space for today's cost-conscious traveler and hotel developer. The hotel is the brand's first property in Buffalo, NY.
The 182-suite hotel is in the heart of the Chippewa Entertainment District and is close to the Theatre District and Light Rail train stop. The contemporary, upscale property will share the fifteen-story building space with The Residences at Avant, commercial office space and restaurants and covers an entire city block. The hotel will occupy the first seven floors in the mixed-use vertical community.
The hotel is owned by UniQuest Delaware, LLC and managed by Brookwood Hospitality. The building was designed by Steiglitz Snyder Architecture to transform an obsolete former Federal Building into a magnificently
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Lodgian Provides Further Update on Remaining Maturing Mortgage Debt
Lodgian, Inc. (NYSE Alternext US: LGN), one of the nation's largest independent hotel owners and operators, today announced that the company has obtained an extension of the maturity date for the Merrill Lynch Fixed Rate Pool #3 ("Pool #3"). As of July 1, 2009, the principal amount of Pool #3 was $45.7 million. The company and the special servicer for Pool #3 have entered into an extension agreement to extend the maturity date of this indebtedness until August 1, 2009. Given the extension of the maturity date, the company is not in default of the original loan. The company paid no extension fee in connection with this short-term extension. The 30-day extension is intended to provide the parties an opportunity to reach an agreement on a longer-term maturity extension.
The company and the special servicer are currently negotiating a longer-term maturity extension for Pool #3; however, the company can provide no assurances that the parties will reach such an agreement. In the event that the company is
The Sky Room at the Fresno Downtown Holiday Inn reopened to banquets Tuesday, with the nearby Fresno County Office of Education holding the first breakfast meeting in the ninth-floor ballroom in six years.
Today, the Fresno Advertising Federation will bring about 100 members to a lunch meeting. President Casey Lamonski said the group shuffled its monthly meeting schedule so it could be one of the first groups to gather in the refurbished Sky Room, which offers a scenic view of the city's emerging downtown skyline.
Lamonski said the group wanted to reintroduce the Sky Room to its older members and show it off to younger members who never have been there.
The lofty Sky Room went vacant when the hotel, before it was sold and renovated as a Holiday Inn, went through a bad patch and closed after bills went unpaid.
"We understand the historic significance of the Sky Room," general manager Robert Van Orden said. "The reopening is an exciting accomplishment."
The Sky Room is only allowing banquets until a minor problem with the dance floor is repaired. A section of the floor is raised slightly and needs to be fixed before the public is allowed in, Van Orden said. He did not give a date when repairs would be complete.
Then, the Sky Room again will become one of the Valley's highest, and -- this time -- most upscale, bars. It also will provide a dessert and hors d'oeuvre menu.
The hotel also has two restaurants -- Cafe 1055 and Downtown Sports Bar.
Constructed in 1972 as a Hilton, the hotel that is now Holiday Inn went through ownership and name changes before coming to an inglorious end as a Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in November 2002.
The then-owners lost their franchise, were delinquent on hundreds of thousands of dollars of utility bills and owed employees money.
Sam Chang of the McSam Hotel Group spent $6.5 million rebuilding the hotel as Holiday Inn.
Chang bought it because the city's core is short of hotel space.
The renovation adds 200 hotel rooms to the epicenter of the city's convention activity.
The hotel opened during the slow summer season, but is accumulating more bookings every month, Van Orden said, declining to disclose figures. Most conventions already had finalized their 2008 plans, so the general manager is looking ahead to next year.
"We're booking a lot for '09, but the rest of this year looks a little soft," he said.
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