On a day when temperatures will soar to a sweltering 96 degrees, imagine cold sweet treats from two Highlands merchants, here . . .
. . . and here:
Month: June 2016
Kindred has reached a deal with lenders handing the hospital and nursing home giant more flexibility over entering into joint ventures, plus provides an additional $200 million in credit.
At least, that’s what we think today’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission means, because we haven’t slogged through the full 13,000-word filing; the 8-K material events notice was filed an hour ago.
A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 4:24 p.m.
KINDRED‘s just-announced 52-bed rehab hospital planned for southern California will be built by a private investment company, which will then lease it to the joint venture run by Kindred and local partner Palomar Health. Expected to open in 2019, the facility will be built on Palomar’s existing 56-acre campus in Escondido in San Diego County, 103 miles south of Los Angeles. Kindred didn’t detail the construction cost in its late-afternoon announcement yesterday. Escondido has just 149,000 residents, but the county ‘s total population is 3.1 million.
Palomar wants to relocate its existing inpatient rehabilitation program run by Kindred since 2000 at an older Palomar building in downtown Escondido. Palomar’s campus already includes an 11-story, 740,000-square-foot hospital opened in 2012; it has 288 private single-patient rooms, 44 emergency and trauma rooms, and 11 operating rooms (San Diego Union-Tribune). The new facility will be Kindred’s 20th rehab hospital nationwide. The Louisville company also has 95 transitional-care hospitals and 90 nursing centers. Palomar was launched in 1933 by two women — a nurse and a dietician — who used their own money to buy an egg and poultry plant downtown and converted it into a 13-bed hospital.
In Louisville, meanwhile, Kindred is planning a four-story, 114-room nursing home near the Old Brownsboro Crossing development at Chamberlain Lane. That follows the company’s disclosure two weeks ago that it’s closing its nursing and rehabilitation center near Bashford Manor, with 110 residents and 153 employees (Courier-Journal).
TACO BELL rival Chipotle’s once high-flying shares fell again, closing at $390.31 moments ago, the second consecutive day near three-year lows after a bearish Deutsche Bank report Monday. The stock’s weakness is the latest sign the Mexican food chain is still recovering from a devastating E. Coli outbreak last year; shares had reached an all-time high of $748 last August.
Analyst Brett Levy said Chipotle’s profit margin potential is now highly uncertain as sales continue to decline, and some customers “may be lost for good.” The analyst cut his price target to $340 (KDVR). The Denver-based chain was felled by two E. coli outbreaks starting in late October, forcing the company to shutter all its stores for a day to retrain employees. Chipotle shares have plunged 39% since the first outbreak emerged vs. a 17% gain by Taco Bell parent Yum. The CDC declared the outbreak over in February (CNBC). More about Yum.
AMAZON: A new report may have settled a long-standing question: How many different products does Amazon sell? Answer: 12.2 million on its own. Throw in marketplace sellers, and the number soars to nearly 354 million — enough to supply one different gift to each of the U.S.’s 319 million residents. Both figures exclude books, media, wine, and services, according to the 360pi study (Chain Store Age).
Kansas City, Kan., has emerged as a likely location for one of Amazon’s newest distribution centers, sparking speculation same-day delivery service won’t be far behind; it’s already available in Louisville and 26 other markets. The retailer is already working on a 822,104-square-foot center 37 miles southwest of Kansas City in Egerton, and plans to begin staffing there early next month for the busy third-quarter shipping season (Kansas City Business Journal). Amazon has two centers in the Louisville area with 6,000 employees, and another three elsewhere in Kentucky.
In other news, urban life blog Broken Sidewalk has new drawings of the recently announced six-story, 128-room Cambria Hotel proposed for the former Connection nightclub site on the corner of Market Street and Floyd Street in NuLu.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks opened higher as traders eyed the end of a two-day Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting at 2 p.m. (Google Finance).
Personal finance site GO Banking Rates released a study this week on median rental costs for one-bedroom apartments across the country. The study also included the apartments’ average square footage and monthly utility costs. The median for all 50 cities was $1,234.43 — meaning half were higher, and half lower.
Ranking the 50 cities from least expensive to most, No. 1 Wichita, Kan., was the cheapest: $470.
Louisville ranked No. 13, at $750 a month. (That’s close the the median $713 from the authoritative Census Bureau.)
And the most expensive — hang on to your wallet! — was San Francisco, at a whopping $3,600 a month.
Just two other cities in the region made the list: No. 9 Indianapolis: $732, and No. 35 Nashville, $1,395.
Town & Country magazine has the full list of all 50.
Although Louisville didn’t offer the cheapest one-bedrooms, it did score at the top in two other measures. Apartments were the biggest, averaging 806.62 square feet vs. the average 678 for all those surveyed.
And the city ranked No. 1 in pet-friendly landlords; 51% of rental apartments allow pets. That was nearly double the 26% average.
Photo, top: The Grove at Lyndon apartments at 776 Sunset Drive has one-bedrooms starting at $665, according to Apartments.com. Check out these other listings.
Photo, below: San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, looking northwest to the city in the distance.
A news summary, focused on 10 big employers; updated 7:42 p.m.
KINDRED: The Louisville-based hospital and nursing giant said it would build the new hospital in a joint venture with Palomar Health in Escondido, a city in north San Diego County. Palomar is the most comprehensive health care delivery system in the northern part of the county.
Kindred said it will own a slight majority of the joint venture and will manage the hospital’s day-to-day operations. It will be built on the campus of Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. Subject to several regulatory and other approvals, Kindred said it expects the hospital to open by the third quarter of 2019 (press release). Kindred shares closed at $11.18, up 1%. More about Kindred.
YUM said UBS restaurant industry analyst Keith Siegner had been named vice president for investor relations and corporate strategy, effective July 11. Siegner, 41, will report to David Gibbs, CFO since April.
He arrives at Yum at a critical time. The fast-food giant is preparing to spin off its China business by the end of October, and Siegner will have a key role in leading strategy for that, in addition to managing relationships with Wall Street analysts.
Yum didn’t say who he replaced. However, Steve Schmitt’s LinkedIn profile says he’s held the job since February 2013.
He was at UBS three years, as executive director over securities research for restaurant companies including Yum. Before that, he worked at Credit Suisse 12 years covering environmental services and specialty chemicals before assuming lead coverage of the restaurant sector, in 2007 (press release). Yum shares closed at $82.49, unchanged. More about Yum.
The tour’s eight films are being screened at the new Speed Museum Cinema.
Each year, Sundance receives more than 8,000 short film submissions, selecting 60 to 80 to screen during the January festival, with eight picked for the tour traveling to more than 50 cities nationwide. This is one of very few theatrical releases of short films in America. Recommended for audiences over 13 due to thematic elements.
Tickets: $7 for members, $9 for non-members. Buy tickets here. Here’s the lineup: Continue reading “At the Speed this weekend: Sundance Festival short film tour; here’s the program”
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