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Roadies swarmed the parking lots and sidewalks. Black-draped fencing lined the roads, helping to close off a two-block span of Sidney Street on Pittsburgh’s South Side. And tents, stages and a buzz of activity have turned the SouthSide Works into a two-day compound of popular culture as American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Live Nation play host to the first New American Music Union.

The festival of concerts sold out its 10,000 tickets for the two-day event scheduled to start Friday at 5 p.m. and culminate with headliners The Raconteurs and Bob Dylan and his band Saturday night. The event is expected to draw well more than 10,000 with a second stage on which 15 college acts will perform for free, said Jani Strand, the vice president for public relations for American Eagle Outfitters.

"The good news is because we¹ve partnered with Live Nation we are really pleased with the level of planning that went into this," said Strand.

Strand didn’t offer a total cost for putting on the event.

Given the featured acts also include performers the Roots, the Black Keys and Gnarls Barkley, among others, Strand said she believed the New American Union Festival may draw more people to the SouthSide Works this weekend than the 50,000 people who came to the South Side in June for the Tour of Pennsylvania bicycle race.

Along with the music, the festival will include a variety of food tents, a free bicycle valet, an Aerie Freshen up Lounge, where visitors can cool off and get sun screen and lotion, cell phone-charging stationary bicycles.

While parking is at premium, Strand said American Eagle will offer a free shuttle to the Mellon Arena for parking there as well.

Strand said American Eagle hopes the festival will help the fashion retailer further cater to its prime shopping demographic of 15 to 25 year-olds."Because music is such an important part of our customers’ lives, we wanted to create something that would both interact with them and inspire them," she said.

American Eagle will stream video footage of the concert on its Web site, www.ae.com, starting on Aug. 12. How well the event goes will help the company decide whether it plans to host future events, Strand added.

Roberta Weissburg, who owns Roberta Weissburg Leathers at the SouthSide Works, was impressed with how American Eagle has put the event together.

"I think it¹s a wonderful exciting opportunity. I’m sure there will be some chaos and some patience required for parking and finding everything,,"she said. "They were extremely well-organized in their presentation. It seems like they’ve thought about just about everything."

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. has received two federal grants worth more than $4.5 million to continue development on two vaccines.

The Rockville-based biotech was awarded the grants by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one being a three-year allotment for its botulinum vaccine program and the other a five-year allotment for its next-generation anthrax treatment vaccine.

The latter, a blend of a compound and Emergent’s federally approved BioThrax anthrax vaccine, has been tested in early human clinical trials. The grant funding will provide for further animal testing, as well as manufacturing capabilities for alternative formulations fo the vaccine.

“These are both important countermeasures that address critical biopreparedness requirements of the U.S. government,” said Daniel Abdun-Nabi, president and chief operating officer of Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE: EBS). “We believe that, with continued government support, we will be able to successfully advance these product candidates towards commercialization.”

Emergent recently announced $16 million in funding from Rockville-based nonprofit Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation and the U.K.-based charity Wellcome Trust for a new joint venture the local company formed with the University of Oxford to develop a tuberculosis vaccine.

Cappellino Towne Buick Saab Hummer has acquired the Pontiac GMC franchise in a transaction that brings most of GM's best-known brands together under one roof.

The purchase, for an undisclosed price, involves the Pontiac and GMC businesses from James Culligan, but not the Volvo franchise, which Culligan retained.

The dealerships involved are both in Clarence — Cappellino's at 5411 Transit Road and Culligan's at 8129 Main St.

The Pontiac and GMC sales and service operation will be merged next week into Cappellino's Transit Road location.

President Steve Cappellino said the acquisition gives him more new GM brands — Cappellino Buick Pontiac GMC and Cappellino Hummer Saab — at one location than any other area dealer.

"This was a purchase, yes, but more than that it had to do with GM's consolidation of brands to create one channel for Buick, Pontiac and GMC," he said.

In buying the two nameplates, Cappellino said he acquired a $4 million to $5 million inventory of about 200 new cars and trucks.

In 2007 revenue, the Cappellino and Culligan figures total an estimated $115 million to $120 million. The figure includes Cappellino's Niagara Nissan in Lockport.

About 40 Culligan managers, sales people and certified technicians will relocate to Cappellino's Transit Road site, where the expanded workforce will exceed 100.

The Culligan acquisition is Cappellino's fourth in less than seven years. The family of dealerships added Hummer of Buffalo in 2001, Niagara Nissan on South Transit Road in Lockport in 2003 and Saab in 2006.

The original Towne Buick, established in Buffalo by Cappellino's father, Frank, in 1969, moved from its first location at Delaware and Hertel avenues to the current site 18 years ago.

A brother of Steve, Gary Cappellino, is vice president of the business.

Culligan Pontiac GMC traces its roots to 1932 when Cas Culligan founded Culligan Motors as a Pontiac dealership.

His nephew, Jim Culligan, later assumed ownership and operated the business as Jim Culligan Pontiac GMC Volvo.

Culligan, who was a Pontiac dealer for 40 years and a Volvo dealer since 1982, said he is not retiring and plans to continue operating the Volvo dealership at its present location. The business has 40 employees.

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US Airways Group Inc. no longer will offer snacks on its domestic flights, starting June 1.

The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline says the cost-cutting measure stems from rising fuel costs.

In addition to charging travelers for checking a second bag and for premium seating in coach, US Airways is evaluating other fees for services.

US Airways (NYSE: LCC) operates 3,800 flights a day to more than 230 destinations in the Americas and Europe. It is the No. 10 carrier at Honolulu International Airport, carrying more than 472,000 passengers to or from the region in 2007.

Sacramento Business Journal

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The master plan for Honolulu's Ward Centers could include up to 4,300 residential units along with retail and commercial space.

General Growth Properties presented its final 20-year master plan for the 60-acre property in Kakaako to the Hawaii Community Development Authority on Wednesday. The developer unveiled its preliminary plan for the Ward properties back in February, saying it wanted to develop the area into a leafy urban neighborhood of homes, shops and restaurants.

The final 136-page plan gives a more detailed description of General Growth's vision for a live-work-play neighborhood with green space and public plazas. The state agency has 200 days to review the proposal.

The residential component would include housing for mixed-income levels, with some 800 units reserved for families with moderate income of 140 percent above the median for Honolulu.

Several high-rise towers are planned, which could be residential or commercial depending on the market, said Jan Yokota, General Growth's vice president of development for the Hawaii region.

The number of residential units is the maximum that would be built; the actual number would change according to market conditions, she said. If the HCDA approves the plan, construction on the first phase could start as soon as 2010, she said.

"If the market conditions are right then we would start designing the first phase, which would take a couple of years, then build out the first phase, which would take two to three years," she said.

The first phase would include part of a large central plaza, along with some retail and residential units. The location for the first phase would very likely be the site of the Ward Farmer's Market and the warehouses behind it.

The plan calls for an eventual mauka-makai corridor that would open up views to Kewalo Basin. The old structures on the land can be replaced with public parks to create new views for the new residential towers, Yokota said.

"Ward today is a mixture of older buildings that occupy land that could better serve the community as a new urban neighborhood with open spaces and plazas," she said. "The residential towers will be designed to enhance views of the mountains and sea while also creating new open spaces where people can enjoy the outdoor environment."

Auahi Street would be redeveloped into a leafy, tree-lined pedestrian-friendly boulevard lined with shops, restaurants, entertainment and homes. The plan also calls for a minimum of 9,600 parking spaces, but Yokota said feedback the company has received during community meetings indicates people are warming to the idea of living in an urban neighborhood where a car may not be necessary.

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Hospitals and HMOs in Colorado enjoyed healthy profits in 2006 and the first half of 2007, according to a report that studies managed care trends and issues in the state.

According to the Colorado Managed Care Review 2007, released Friday by Minnesota-based health care analyst Allan Baumgarten, hospitals in the Denver area reported a net income of $475 million in 2006 — or 9 percent of net patient revenues.

Meanwhile, Colorado HMOs posted a net income of $171.9 million — a profit margin on underwriting revenues of 4.6 percent. Net income for HMOs in 2005 was $73.6 million, or 2.1 percent of underwriting revenues.

Among local hospitals, HealthOne-HCA reported profits of $283.7 million in 2006 or 14.1 percent of net patient revenue. Metro Denver's largest health system, HealthOne-HCA owns and operates seven hospitals in the area,

Two nonprofit health systems serving the area, Centura Health and Exempla Healthcare, also fared well in 2006.

Centura, which operates Saint Anthony Central in Denver and five others in the metro area, reported net income of $55 million — or 6.2 percent of net patient revenues.

Exempla, which manages Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver as well as medical centers in Wheat Ridge and Lafayette, collected net revenues of $60.2 million or 7.4 percent of net patient revenues.

The survey showed that HMOs in the state posted record profits in 2006 and the first half of 2007, despite declining enrollment.

Among local HMOs, Kaiser Permanente reported the largest revenues in the state with $1.8 billion in 2006 and a net income of $49 million.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield's HMO Colorado posted $221.6 million in revenue with a net income of $16.4 million.

Enrollment in all Colorado HMOs fell to 972,908 in 2006 — down 5.6 percent from the previous year. Baumgarten blames the downward enrollment trend on more employers dropping coverage as health coverage becomes more expensive.

Baumgarten attributed the increased profitability among the insurers to a consolidation within the industry because fewer insurance companies in the market gives insurers the upper hand in negotiating favorable charges with hospitals.

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Bluegreen Corp. said it has completed a private offering and sale of $60 million of timeshare loan-back securities.

The Boca Raton-based resorts and communities firm said the amount of the receivables sold totaled $68.6 million, including $61.4 million of loans in aggregate principal of timeshare loans that were previously transferred under an existing timeshare loans purchase facility with Branch Banking & Trust Company and $7.2 million of timeshare loans owned by Bluegreen immediately prior to the transaction. BB&T Capital Markets was the initial purchaser.

Bluegreen (NYSE: BXG) said proceeds from the term securitization were used to repay $51 million of the $60.6 million outstanding under the BB&T Trust purchase facility, deposit initial amounts in a required cash reserve account, pay certain transaction fees and expenses and provide net cash proceeds of $5.8 million to Bluegreen, which will be used for general corporate purposes and debt service.

The company also said it has renewed the BB&T purchase facility, extending the facility to May 2010 and expanding the facility amount to a cumulative purchase price of $150 million on a revolving basis, pursuant to the terms of the facility and subject to certain conditions precedent.

The original facility, signed in June 2006, allowed for transfers of notes receivable for a cumulative purchase price of up to $137.5 million, on a revolving basis, through May 2008.

Bluegreen also said it has repaid in full its $55 million, 10.5 percent Senior Secured Notes plus all accrued interest, immediately prior to the maturity of the notes on April 1, 2008.

Shares were unchanged at $7 in morning trading. The 52-week high was $12.82 on May 15. The 52-week low was $5.93 on March 14.

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During a hastily called news conference Saturday Cessna Aircraft Co. President and CEO Jack Pelton announced the company's newest business jet, the Columbus, will be built in Wichita.

Pelton says the company will spend $780 million on the development of the airplane, including the construction of a new assembly plant.

The Kansas Legislature approved $33 million in bonds to help secure the plant.

"The Kansas Legislature's quick response to this project has cemented our decision, and Cessna is proud to call Kansas home for the Citation Columbus," Pelton said, in a release. "With their quick action, the House and Senate leadership have shown the world that Kansas will compete for aviation jobs."

Cessna is a subsidiary of the Textron Co. (NYSE:TXT).

Cessna says more than 1,000 jobs will be created with the assembly of the airplane, with an annual payroll of $74 million.

"From the beginning, Cessna was clear that they wanted to build this in Kansas," said Kansas House Speaker Melvin Neufeld. "We knew we had tough competition from other states, but we also had the home court advantage. Our message is clear too - we want these companies and these jobs in Kansas."

The Cessna Columbus has a range of 4,000 miles, a top speed of 562 mph and seating for eight passengers.

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