Chrysler shut down 789 dealers in June amid lagging sales. General Motors Corp. also told 2,000 dealers it plans to revoke their franchise agreements by October. But Congress objected and passed a law in December allowing GM and Chrysler dealers to appeal those decisions. That process is under way.
— ASSOCIATED PRESS
Manager named for trade center
David Osborn has been named general manager of the Nashville Medical Trade Center, which a Dallas-based company plans to open here in 2013. The appointment comes nearly six months after Osborn joined Market Center Management Co. as a senior adviser to oversee strategic development of the project.
Before that, Osborn was founding executive director of the Health Care Solutions Group, a think tank formed through a partnership of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Nashville Health Care Council.
The Metro Council recently approved funding for a new $585 million convention hall, clearing the way for re-use of the Nashville Convention Center downtown. A planned 2-million-square-foot medical trade center on the longtime convention center site could include up to 1,200 permanent showrooms for health-care product makers, distributors, and others; plus, it would have temporary trade-show space and conference rooms, developer Market Center Management has said.
— GETAHN WARD
Hart to celebrate century mark
Nashville-based Hart Freeland Roberts architects and engineers will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year.
Architect Russell Hart founded the company in 1910 after the completion of Nashville's Hermitage Hotel. The permanent reconstruction of the Parthenon in Centennial Park is another structure designed by Hart in years past. Today, the company employs a staff of 75.
— RANDY MCCLAIN
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