During that time, savings grew 7 percent. Lending grew 3.7 percent, and assets increased 6.5 percent between January and June.

First mortgage real estate loans grew by 10.1 percent from January through June 2008, according to Michael E. Fryzel, chairman of the administration.

Credit unions reported a loan-to-share ratio of 81 percent. All major loan categories grew from January to June, with the exception of declines in new automobile and other unsecured loans and lines of credit.

The first six months of first mortgage real estate loans represent $198.1 billion. The administration reported other types of real estate loans grew 1.7 percent to $92.8 billion.

According to the report:

• Used automobile loans increased 3.3 percent to $92 billion
• Unsecured credit card loans grew 1.5 percent to $30.6 billion
• All other loans and lines of credit grew to $25.6 billion.

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Atlanta-based Post Properties (NYSE: PPS) did not disclose the buyer. However, according to letters sent to Post Oglethorpe residents, the buyer is Memphis, Tenn.-based Mid-America Apartments LP, a unit of Mid-America Apartment Communities. The community has been renamed Sanctuary at Oglethorpe.

Post said it expects to gain $23 million from the sale of the property, which has 250 units and was built in 1994.

Post also reported it closed two five-year mortgage loans with Fannie Mae to refinance existing debt secured by mortgages on its Post Biltmore community in Atlanta and its Post Massachusetts Avenue community in Washington, D.C. Each community is held in an unconsolidated joint venture, in which Post holds a 35 percent interest.

The Post Biltmore mortgage loan has a principal amount of about $29.3 million, requires fixed interest-only payments at 5.83 percent and matures on Sept. 1, 2013.

The Post Massachusetts Avenue mortgage loan has a principal amount of about $50.5 million, requires fixed interest-only payments at 5.82 percent and matures on Sept. 1, 2013.

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Sparkplug Inc. said Monday it has hired Ruley, who was fired from Hawaiian Telcom in February. The telephone company had posted more than $300 million in losses under Ruley, who was brought on board in 2005 when The Carlyle Group bought Verizon Hawaii.

Sparkplug says it provides high-speed Internet service across Illinois, Tennessee, Iowa, Arizona and Nevada for business, education and government customers.

Ruley will be based at the company's Scottsdale, Ariz. office.

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HTA Chairman Kelvin Bloom told PBN that the HTA hopes to resolve the issue “as quickly as possible. Certain decisions were made in executive session, but there is a process that must be followed.”

The HTA board held a seven-hour meeting last Tuesday at the Hawaii Convention Center, most of it behind closed doors, to evaluate Johnson’s employment following a state audit that revealed he used his office computer to view adult-oriented material.

Details about the e-mails have not been forthcoming, but Johnson has admitted he made “a stupid mistake.”

After Tuesday’s meeting, Bloom was asked by reporters whether the board took a vote on Johnson’s fate. He said he could not comment.

When asked at that time if the board would be scheduling another meeting soon, Bloom said, “We may not need to take a vote.”

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Chicago-based Centro, an online media buying company that connects media agencies and newspapers, will likely announce the purchase Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

McClatchy executives confirmed discussions – and being close to a deal – several weeks ago, but said negotiations stalled. Company officials were not available for comment late Wednesday.

The Sacramento-based company – publisher of The Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and 28 other daily newspapers – acquired Real Cities as part of its Knight Ridder Inc. purchase in June 2006. Knight Ridder, formerly the nation’s second-largest newspaper chain, created the Real Cities Network several years ago and reports 44 million monthly unique visitors per month, according to PaidContent.org, which first issued the report late Wednesday.

Cash-strapped McClatchy continues to cut costs – recently detailing the elimination of 10 percent of its work force – and looks to increase revenue.

Shares of McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) inched up 1 cent to $3.90 in trading Wednesday, much lower than its one-year peak of $24.05.

Staff writer Melanie Turner contributed to this report.

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Pending sales, however, increased slightly.

Closed home sales for the month were down more than 8 percent, to 4,160 from July 2007, when there were 4,522 closed home sales. For the month of July, the number of pending sales rose to 4,462, up from 4,202 a year ago.

The median sales price for a home sold in the metro slipped 10.7 percent in July to $208,000, down from $233,000 one year ago.

In July, there were 8,608 new listings, down from 9.379 during the same month last year.

The report was issued by both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Area Associations of Realtors, which combined represent over 9,000 members.

cwyant@bizjournals.com | (612) 288-2108

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“Aaron has decided to go in a different direction as far as an agent,” said Sullivan, managing director of Octagon Football. “While I am disappointed with his decision, I wish him the best.”

Sullivan had represented Rodgers since he was drafted in the ‘05 NFL Draft. The termination was first reported by Web site profootballtalk.com, citing unidentified sources.

There is speculation in the industry that Rodgers will sign with agent Tom Condon of CAA or agent David Dunn of Athletes First, but a CAA source said that agency has had no contact with the quarterback.

SportsBusiness Journal is a sister publication to The Business Journal.

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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."

tschooley@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3826

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Brothers Tim and Tom Gavin are not only former co-workers and current tech CEOs, but they have used their family ties to build two financial services software businesses by encouragement and a fair amount of ribbing.

“If you ask our mother, she likes Eze better,” said older brother Tom, CEO of South Boston’s Eze Castle Software.

Eze Castle is working as a big brother for Tim’s young financial research management software company, Boston’s Code:Red Inc., providing a bit of capital and a lot of relationships in the handshake-heavy financial services field. But the two say their businesses are more than just linked by blood and money.

“We obviously try to keep work and personal stuff separate, but the beauty of it is our businesses are highly complementary,” Tom said.

Tim was the first Gavin of the six boys and two girls to be employed at Eze or Code:Red. He was referred to Eze founder Sean McLaughlin by a sister who was middle-school friends with Sean’s sister.

Tim was the third Eze employee in 1996 and eventually brought on Tom who “was laboring in the salt mines of consulting.”

Together, the two helped take the company developing software for traders and investment banks from its early startup phase to having a sizable presence in the financial services world with about 120 employees. (Tom and Tim joke that much of that growth came from Gavin and McLaughlin relations.)

But by the time 2004 rolled around, Tim ­— then an executive vice president working on strategic initiatives ­— was ready to break out on his own.

“I basically was with Eze from the beginning and I said I really wanted to do the same thing on my own,” he said. “But it was difficult to leave.”

He and another former Eze executive, Dwight Wyatt, who happened to have come to the company through Tom, started up their own financial services software shop. But the ties were not completely broken, as Eze provided an undisclosed amount of cash to the venture.

“The amount of money Eze put in was more for the relationship than for the funding,” Tim said. “As a startup there weren’t clients that were ready to jump on board. But when you’re trying to go off to a client and say, ‘Hey, we have a big brother behind us with Eze Castle,’ that makes them comfortable.”

Tom and Tim find a way to work with each other that attempts to transcend the business partnership. The two companies are liberal with their employees’ career tracks, allowing talent to flow back and forth depending on an individual’s interests and talents. They also share sales leads, even advocating for the other business in their sales pitches.

While Tim would not say what the future is for the 19-person company­­ — Eze aligned with Bank of New York in 2006 and now employs about 350 people­ — he hope’s to model big brother’s success.

Jackie Noblett can be reached at jnoblett@bizjournals.com.

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The grant will be implemented by the West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board’s Leadership, Education and Economic Development team, which includes representatives from 27 Kentucky and Tennessee organizations.

The organization is focused on the growth of the region’s energy, advanced manufacturing and health care sectors.

The project encompasses the Kentucky counties of Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, Muhlenberg, Todd and Trigg, plus the Tennessee county of Montgomery.

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