DRAMATIC MELTDOWN SYNONYM FREE
So what do all those loft-dwellers do with their free time? Plenty.
The average sale price for a downtown condo was more than $225 a square foot in 2008, and downtown Knoxville even saw some million-dollar condo deals. With lofts and condos seemingly popping up in every other downtown building, the number of residential units rose from around 535 in 2000 to 1,051 in 2008 - and they didn't come cheap.
have since turned their attention to Sevier County, where a massive work-in-progress called Dumplin Creek has been buffeted by the economic slowdown.ĭreams of a planetarium and a criminal-justice complex were shot down, but even without a new home for criminal offenders downtown Knoxville managed to thrive during the last decade. While the project's build-out continues, Turley & Co. The work of a local team that included John Turley, Jim Nixon and Kerry Sprouse, Turkey Creek got early commitments from Goody's and Walmart, and has been attracting new tenants ever since. Was there really enough demand for a giant shopping center west of Lovell Road? You better believe it.Ī development plan that began taking shape in the mid-'90s came to fruition at the beginning of the decade, with the birth of the Turkey Creek shopping center. The result was a legal free-for-all in which a shareholder vote was postponed at the last minute and former Vice President Dan Quayle swooped in to check out the company on behalf of a possible private equity buyer, before Clayton shareholders finally approved the deal with Berkshire.Įven after the merger was certified, Clayton Homes shareholders didn't get their cash until Tennessee courts rebuffed a fraud claim by the Denver Area Meat Cutters and Employers Pension Plan, which settled for a $5 million payout to resolve its beef. But while Clayton founder Jim Clayton and his team jumped at the invitation to join Buffett's family of companies, some shareholders thought the Oracle of Omaha - renowned as a "value investor" - was trying to scoop up their company on the cheap. In 2003, Clayton Homes, of Maryville, got a $1.7 billion offer from Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company run by famed investor Warren Buffett. The deal of the decade was a legal soap opera starring one of Knoxville's richest man, the world's second-richest man, a famous Quayle and a bevy of Rocky Mountain butchers. For the second time in less than a year, Goody's filed for bankruptcy protection in January of 2009 and eventually liquidated its stores. In 2006, though, the company was sold to a pair of New York firms for more than $327 million, a move that came shortly before the Great Recession hammered the retail industry. With a history that could be traced to an Athens, Tenn., store founded by Mike Goodfriend, the company's headquarters was moved to Knoxville in 1990 and it eventually grew to more than 350 retail stores. That's why the collapse of Goody's was such a huge blow for the local business community. In Knoxville, though, the company employed hundreds of corporate workers, was the source of millions of dollars for local charities and provided recognition as the home of a major player in the retailing industry. The preservation of life as we know it did have a downside for UT fans: one day later, the continued existence of broadcast television allowed a national audience to watch the Vols lose to Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.įor shoppers across the South, "Goody's" was a synonym for discount clothing. Spurred by the threat of an electronic cataclysm that could wipe out the global power grid, vaporize checking and savings accounts and restore the horse-and-buggy to its rightful place in American garages, businesses scrambled to protect their computer networks and consumers were urged to stock up on flashlights, prescription drugs and nonelectric can openers.Īs the world watched in breathless anticipation, the clock struck midnight and ? nothing happened. "99" - would be hopelessly flummoxed when the calendar turned to "00" at the dawn of the new century.
The following list of the decade's blockbuster business stories is presented in no particular order, but it does reflect an enduring fact: While it may seem to move in predictable patterns, business - like life - has a way of surprising us.Īs the new century approached, technology gurus warned that computers accustomed to recognizing each passing year with a two-digit numeral - i.e. Risky bets that came up aces and big ideas that fizzled. In between, East Tennessee's business community provided plot twists galore during the 2000s: White knights, fallen heroes and corporate collapses. The decade began with doomsday fears that failed to materialize and ended with an economic meltdown that no one saw coming.
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