Fresh Loaf

UPDATE: This article has been expanded with additional reporting.

Little has changed about the Clermont Hotel — or its time-capsule strip club — since Atlanta real estate mogul Jeff Notrica took over the Ponce de Leon Avenue landmark six years ago.

Just as he promised when he bought the 85-year-old building, Notrica resisted the typical developer’s temptation to chop it up into condos or turn it into modern apartments. Downstairs, the storied Clermont Lounge was left untouched and remains its gloriously seedy self.

But it may be that the hands-off approach Notrica, 44, has taken with the Clermont and many of his other properties — a land baron’s acquisitiveness tempered by a collector’s appreciation for each new bauble — has simultaneously helped bring his intown real estate empire crashing down.

Unless a deal is struck between Notrica’s Inman Park Properties and New York-based lender Fairway Capital — or unless a deep-pocketed buyer steps forward — the Clermont Hotel and its lounge will be auctioned off on the courthouse steps July 2.

If that happens, it will be only the latest, if largest, in a long series of foreclosures suffered by Inman Park Properties over the past three months. The company’s apparent meltdown has involved some of the most recognizable and beloved buildings in East Atlanta, Little Five Points, Poncey-Highland and Midtown — causing many residents of those same neighborhoods to cheer the company’s downfall.

(more…)

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No one loves “free” money more than state and local governments. And Georgia’s are no exception.

Anticipation surrounding  President-elect Barack Obama’s $500-billion proposal to re-invest in the nation’s infrastructure continues to build, and cities, counties and states are already starting to drool.

In Georgia, the state DOT has already outlined $3.4 billion worth of road, bridge and rail projects — including more than $1 billion for cash-strapped MARTA.

After the jump, read about some of the projects Peach State lawmakers hope the incoming president will deem worthy of the taxpayer coin. We’ll have more on Atlanta’s potential projects later, as well as some interesting thoughts from one Democratic insider who says we — or more like some of our elected officials — may have already shot ourselves in the foot when it comes to trying to kiss Obama’s ring. (If you’d like to know what’s on the wish lists of 427 U.S. mayors, including six in Georgia, visit this PDF.)

(more…)

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The New York Times had a piece this weekend examining how Savannah is faring during the economic downturn. Cargo shipping in the city — the fifth-largest along the East Coast — has flattened. Jobs have been cut at the ports while facility expansion has been ordered to go ahead. And then there’s this:

While [Georgia Ports Authority executive director Doug Marchand] and many others await an upturn, Savannah’s economy deteriorates. The unemployment rate in the three-county metropolitan area has jumped to 5.7 percent from 3.9 percent a year earlier. Analysts attribute the jump to hiring freezes and a lot of little job cuts.

With home sales down 24 percent, the local Coldwell Banker has watched its army of real estate brokers, the largest in the city, dwindle to 180 from 240 last year. “They just went into other businesses or stopped working altogether,” said Connie F. Ray, chief executive of the Coldwell operation here, adding that through last year brokers had been averaging $40,000 to $50,000 annually in commissions.

Manufacturers still have a big presence here, employing 15 percent of greater Savannah’s 171,000 workers, but factory employment is shrinking. Georgia-Pacific, for example, which makes paper towels, napkins and toilet paper at a mill here, no longer hires dozens of contract workers. They had been used as a flexible work force, a supplement to the 1,200 regular employees, to step up production during demand surges, now nonexistent.

Not all of Savannah is hurting, the article says — five hotels are under construction and Fort Stewart’s expanding. Luxury jetmaker Gulfstream is headquartered in the city; a company spokesperson says a long list of backorders will keep its workers busy for at least the next three years.

And there’s another sign of hope:

“When I go by a Red Lobster inn on the south side on a Friday night,” [John C. Helmken II of Savannah Bancorp] says, “there are people lined up waiting to be seated.”

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Batten down the hatches! All hands on deck! Hoist up the John B. sail!

Coast Guard News says the ports at Savannah and Brunswick are now at Condition Zulu.

I repeat, the ports of Savannah and Brunswick are now at Condition Zulu.

This apparently means both ports are closed to inbound traffic until the worst of Tropical Storm Hanna passes.

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RNC: Fred Thompson, Joseph Lieberman and a not-too-close President Bush regaled John McCain during the first full day of convention festivities in St. Paul Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ron Paul held his own convention outside Minneapolis Tuesday, rallying his troops behind his libertarian conservatism.

SAVANNAH: May need to evacuate for Hannah, which is expected to be a Category 1 hurricane when it makes landfall Friday. Some scrambling for flood insurance find out it’s too late.

ROTARY CUB: The newborn panda at Zoo Atlanta is back out of the incubator and with its mother, Lun Lun.

TYING UP JUICE ENDS: Coca-Cola is hoping to capitalize on its recent Beijing marketing blitz by making a bid for China’s largest juice company, which would be its second-largest acquisition ever.

DECORUM, BUT NO QUORUM: The new, relatively uncontroversial Clayton school board has just three members, two short of a quorum, but has 45 days to appoint additional members.

UGA: Falls to No. 2 in both major polls despite winning Saturday, as USC’s rout of Virginia leapfrogs the Trojans to the top spot.

CHIPPER JONES: Atlanta third baseman’s quest for the NL batting title is the only silver lining left on the Braves’ dismal season.

CHENEY: The vice president will speak Sept. 19 in North Georgia at the opening-day ceremony for the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Chickamauga.

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Why am I not surprised that Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ response last week to a whiste-blower’s testimony about February’s deadly Savannah sugar plant fire was to harangue the whistle-blower?

Not surprised either that Chambliss received a $1,000 campaign contribution from the Imperial Sugar Co., which ran the plant so unsafely that OSHA lobbed an $8.8 million fine at the company. All told, Georgia’s senior senator has received $21,500 from the sugar industry in 2007-8 to fund his re-election campaign.

Thirteen employees died in the fire, which was caused by combustible sugar dust. Graham H. Graham, who was Imperial’s vice president of operations for all of 90 days before the fire, testified that he tried to get Imperial to clean up the plant, but: “I was told that my passion was extreme and I had to temper it.” (more…)

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OIL SPILL: Covers 100 miles of the Mississippi River.

NORTHERN LIGHTS: Explained.

SUPER GRAND BUFFET: The Duluth restaurant’s 15 out of 100 on its health rating calls into question its super grandness.

PORT REFORM: Savannah overtook Charleston as the top Southeastern port in 2006 and has since widened the gap, but Chucktown’s catching back up.

ETOWAH INDIAN MOUNDS: Will be recovered with natural flora, replacing the grasses that have adapted to the area since European settlers moved in.

CAROL COUCH: Says Georgia, Alabama and Florida should go ahead and split the bill for a study on water management in the tristate area, rather than waiting for Congress to pick it up.

BOOKINGS KILL BOOKS: Lil Kim and Foxy Brown are in trouble with their publisher after their incarcerations kept them from writing books they had already been paid advances for.

HELLA PAD: Atlanta’s first helipad opens downtown.

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