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Business & Industry eZ n Forsyth County News Thursday, March 18,2004 Business notes Steve D. Voshall ... has earned membership in the Million Dollar Roundtable (MDRT). the premier association of financial professionals, for the fourth consecu tive year. Voshall. CLU. ChFC. is president of Financial Benefit Group in Cumming. Achieving membership in g ' MDRT is a distin- M guishing career milestone, attained w fl only by those who have demonstrated exceptional profes w sional knowledge. « expertise and client Voshall service. Voshall also is a financial planner with ESI Financial Advisors, which is a Registered Investment Advisor. He is a Registered Representative with Equity Services Inc., a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), and a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU). He is a graduate of the University of Georgia w ith a bachelor's degree in business adminstration in risk management and insurance w ith a concentration in estate planning. Voshall is a member of the South Forsyth Rotary Club, board member of the Forsyth County United Way. and is a member of the the Atlanta Estate Planning Council Inc. Sugar Plum Cottage ... has opened in Cumming at 422 Pirkle Ferry Road, off exit 15 of Ga. 400. The new business offers a wide variety of children’s special occasion and casual clothing for boys up to size 7 and girls up to size 6x, as well as baby shower gifts, children’s room decor, nursery bedding, and person alized Mommy bracelets. Owners are Amy Bramblett and Melanie Harper. For more information, call (770) 889-8699. Jay L. Tinter ... of Cumming has been recog nized nationally by the American Angus Association for having three registered Angus cows included in the Association’s 2004 Pathfinder Report. Only 2.099 of the more than 34.000 American Angus Association members are represented in this year's report. The Pathfinder Program identifies superior Angusa cow based upon recorded performance traits that are economically important to efficient beef production, including early and regular calving and heavy weaning weights. Buckhead Brewery & Grill Inc. ... announces the purchase of its sixth location in Coastal Dunes Mall in Myrtle Beach. S.C. The company is known for its restaurants' distinctive post-and beam, log cabin architecture creating an Aspen Lodge atmosphere built from Wisconsin hardwood with rock fireplaces and antler fixtures. It currently operates four loca tions. including Cumming. Alpharetta, Stockbridge and Peachtree City. It is planning another Atlanta-area location by the end of this year, and has targeted sites in Nashville, Tenn., and Charlotte, N.C., for future locations. Applications now are being accepted ... for Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing Program loans. Deadline is May 14. The program, administered by USDA-Rural Development, is designed to increase the supply of moderately-priced housing in rural areas and to foster risk-sharing part nerships with public and private lenders. Funds may be used to build new housing, purchase and improve land needed for development. Complete program details are available in the Feb. 6 Federal Register. “Responses to the feb. 6 notice will be accepted until May 14, or after if all the funds haven’t been allocated," said Wayne Rogers, pro gram director of Multi-Family Housing for USDA-Rural Development. For more information, call (706) 546-2164. Better Business Bureau ... will present its annua) 888 e See NOTES, Page 2B Unemployment recovering slowly January 2004 had a slight increase from December, decrease from one year ago From staff reports Forsyth County’s unemployment rate increased slightly to 3.0 percent in January, up from 2.8 percent in December, the Georgia Department of Labor reported. However. January's rate was still a major decrease from the January' 2(X)3 rate of 4.0 percent. Forsyth County had a labor force of 63.515 in January, of which 61.620 were employed and 1.895 unem ployed. Fewer residents were in the labor force and employed in January com pared to December. Within the December labor force ot 65,316 were 63,505 employed and 1.811 unemployed. Rates for surrounding counties include: • Cherokee. 3.2 percent. A labor IOBf k*> zj L 4 1 Photo/Audra Perry Steel girders are erected for the framework of a small strip shopping center being built on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Cumming. Grading on the site began in January and the con crete pad was poured this week. KSL deal will have no impact on Lake Lanier Park By Alvin Peabody FCN Regional Staff BUFORD A Florida-based real estate investment trust has unveiled plans to pay $1,366 billion for 100 percent of the outstanding stock of KSL Recreation Corp. In addition, CNL Hospitality Properties Inc. will assume $794 mil lion in KSL's long-term debt. The transaction is set for comple tion in mid-April. KSL is a La Quinta, Calif.-based owner and operator of luxurious des tination resorts, including Lake Lanier Islands Resort in south Hall County. The CNL-KSL deal will have no impact at the 1,100-acre resort, said Ray Williams, president and chief executive officer of Lake Lanier Islands. “There will be no employee lay offs or cuts in services or activities," said Williams. "KSL will continue to manage the resort, just as it has done in the past,” force of 87,883 included 85,060 employed and 2,823 unemployed. • Dawson, 2.6 percent. A labor force of 11,394 included 11,094 employed and 3(X) unemployed. • Fulton, 4.9 percent. A labor force of 427,659 included 406,726 employed and 20.933 unemployed. However. Roswell recorded a 1.9 percent jobless rate and Alpharetta a 1.8 percent rate in a separate report on cities. Atlanta recorded a jobless rale of 6.7 percent. • Gwinnett. 3.8 percent. A labor force of 389,111 included 374.501 employed and 14,610 unemployed. Lawrenceville recorded a 5.1 per cent jobless rate and Snellville had a 3.7 percent rate. • Hall. 3.1 percent. A labor force of 79,461 included 76,964 employed and 2.497 unemployed. Gainesville recorded an unemploy- New shopping venue Lake Lanier Islands Resort Address: 6950 Holiday Road Opened:l974 Size: 1,100 acres Owner: State of Georgia Management: KSL Recreation Corp. Features: Hotels, confer ences, golf course, horseback riding, water park, lake houses and boat rentals. he said. Opened in 1974, the state-owned resort employs 260 area residents year-round and another 300 workers during tourism season. It has about 1.2 million annual visitors. “I was glad to know that the resort hasn’t been sold to an outside entity,” said Matthew Brandy, a fre quent resort patron. “The islands are an important asset to the state as well as the peo ple of this region." he said. In 1996. KSL entered a 50-year agreement with Georgia to operate 4 ment rate of 3.7 percent. The Athens metropolitan statistical area recorded the lowest rate among the state’s major metro areas at 2.7 percent. The Columbus area had the highest rate at 4.9 percent. The unemployment rate in the metro Atlanta area for January was 4.2 percent, a slight rise from 4.1 percent in December. During the same one month period, jobs in the metro Atlanta area declined by 31,600, or 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Georgia for January was 4.1 percent, a slight rise from 4.0 percent in December. During the same one month period, jobs in the state declined by 62.800, or 1.6 percent. "Much of the decline in jobs in January was due to seasonal factors that occur each year at this time," said State Labor Commissioner Michael the resort, including the beach and water park, the 216-room Emerald Pointe and Conference Center, an 18- hole golf course, boat rental opera tions and campgrounds. The state is guaranteed a $3.2 million annual rental fee and 3.5 per cent of revenues generated in excess of S2O million each year. A state appointed. nine-member Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority tracks revenues and approves capital expansion projects. "KSL has a good track record and we’re confident that such will be the case in the foreseeable future,” said Frank Turk, a 21-year authority board member. Over the years, the resort has become a major tourist and business attraction. Tourism is vital to Hall, which is anchored by the 28,000-acrc lake. The industry employs more than 8,000 people in the county, which ranked 1 Ith in the state in tourism dollars generated. CNL is an affiliate of CNL Thurmond. “For example, cutbacks in retail trade and other service-related industries following the holiday shop ping season accounted for nearly all of the job loss. "However, some of the job losses are permanent, such as those we con tinue to see among some of Georgia’s major companies,” Thurmond contin ued. “These losses not only affect workers whose jobs are being termi nated, but make it even harder for Georgians who have been out of work for months to find employment. “This weakness in the critical area of job creation continues to hamper our recovery. Job cuts scheduled for the near future, along with the thou sands of long-term unemployed, make it clear that a higher rate of job cre ation is needed to sustain a solid recovery.” First-time unemployment claims down from January From staff reports The Georgia Department of Labor has announced that 36,968 laid-off workers filed a first-time claim for unemployment insurance benefits in February, a decrease of 47 percent from January when 70.271 claims were filed. Initial claims are considered to be a leading economic indicator, because they measure newly laid-off workers. The decline was expected because the number of claims filed each year in February is significant ly lower than in January, when a large number of claims are filed because of layoffs following the holiday shopping season. For the last five years, the drop in claims from January to February has averaged nearly 50 percent. The number of claims filed in February is 6,360 fewer than those filed in February a year ago. “While we're encouraged by the decline in initial claims in February,” State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond said, "the fact remains that we still have about 178.000 unemployed workers in Georgia. We need to cre ate more jobs to help the long-term unemployed, as well as new entrants coming into the job market.” The seven metro areas of the state and their decreases in initial unemployment insurance claims from January to February are as fol lows: • Albany, dow n 479, or 50 per cent. from 951 to 472. • Athens, down 377, or 50 per cent. from 758 to 381. • Atlanta, down 8,104, or 34 per cent. from 24.004 to 15.900. • Augusta, down 791. or 38 per- See CLAIMS, Page 2B Financial Group Inc., which has over $9.5 billion in assets, representing 4.000 properties in 49 states and Canada. “This is certainly a good fit between CNL and KSL," said Helen Fincher, president of the Gainesville- Hall Convention & Visitors Bureau. The CVB’s budget is partly fund ed from lodging tax generated from the resort’s Emerald Pointe and Renaissance Pinclsle hotels. "It’s a good sign that shows that KSL will continue to be a healthy entity," said Fincher. CNL’s Chief Executive Officer Thomas Hutchison HI noted that KSL's properties are "renowned for their high levels of service in meet ing the needs of their guests. Th[e associates of KSL have been an essential ingredient in establishing this preeminent reputation and w<e look forward to a seamless transition with them." Alvin Peabody is a staff writer far The Times in Gainesville.