St. Francis tops list of business stories from 2015

Dec. 29--On the business front in 2015, the Columbus area saw one of its major hospitals pushed to the brink financially and the local military installation lose soldiers amid dramatic budget cuts.

The city's oldest law firm closed its doors, an insurance firm opened the doors of its new complex, and a regional bank continued to rebuild itself into a profitable future.

Local tourism had a banner year, while a global credit-card processor hit a major milestone, a longtime car dealer sold his business, and a gardens attraction made tough decisions. There also were a pair of legal rulings involving a retirement community and a medical facility.

Here are the top business stories of the year:

St. Francis Hospital audited and acquired

We start with the biggest story, that of St. Francis Hospital seeking one buyer after another amid an accounting blunder in which it could not account for $30 million following a major expansion.

The financial fallout led to a federal audit, the results disclosed in September, in which the Manchester Expressway hospital was ordered to repay $21.4 million connected to the financing of its $252 million expansion. The government also ordered St. Francis, its management and board of trustees to make critical changes in the way

it does business.

Relief came in October with the nonprofit hospital announcing it had found a publicly traded firm, Tennessee-based LifePoint Health, to acquire it and settle its crushing debt. Employees also breathed a sigh of relief amid the uncertainty. The acquisition is expected to close soon.

Fort Benning loses combat brigade and 2,300 troops

Uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Army's budget cuts and the impact of them on Fort Benning finally turned to reality this year, and it wasn't good. The military post learned that it was losing the 3rd Brigade Armored Combat Team at Kelley Hill, or about 3,400 soldiers.

Through attrition and other decisions by the Army, including the activation of a 1,050-troop combat task force, that number was whittled down to about 2,300 soldiers. Still, the lost military personnel amounts to $150 million in annual salaries, which will certainly ripple throughout the business community as fewer homes are bought, vehicles are purchased, and sales are made at retailers and restaurants.

Despite compromise on overall federal budgets pushing any mandated cuts called sequestration past the upcoming presidential and congressional elections in 2016, local officials feel a future Base Realignment and Closure round is a distinct likelihood. That's why the city and its chamber are lobbying hard to let the world know Fort Benning would be a great place to host another military mission and more soldiers.

Law firm Hatcher, Stubbs ends 143-year run

It's not every day that one of the oldest businesses in Columbus decides to shut its doors. But that's what happened in September when the 143-year-old law firm Hatcher, Stubbs, Land, Hollis & Rothschild LLP confirmed it would be no more by the end of December.

Not that the attorneys were expected to enter the unemployment line. Seven of the company's 13 partners were joining Hall Booth Smith PC, a regional law firm with locations across the Southeast. Hall Booth Smith also would be moving into the former offices of Hatcher Stubbs.

Four other partners were joining the Columbus firm of Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford PC. Two other real-estate attorneys were evaluating opportunities in Columbus and Atlanta.

BlueCross Blue Shield moves into posh complex

It also was in September that BlueCross BlueShield of Georgia moved into its sleek, new 235,000-square-foot office complex at 6087 Technology Parkway, tucked just inside Muscogee Technology Park in the Midland area of Columbus.

The health insurer's roughly 1,500 employees relocated from their old office on Warm Springs Road -- a place the company had called home since 1958.

The importance of the move to a new site in Columbus wasn't lost on city and community leaders gathered for a ribbon cutting event. A firm that could have gone anywhere else, if it so chose, decided to stay where it has long been, with eventual plans to increase its work force here to the new building's capacity of 2,000 staffers.

Synovus puts financial hard times behind it

Once on the financial ropes, regional bank Synovus Financial Corp. continued to put its troubles far into the proverbial rearview mirror. In October, the parent company of Columbus Bank and Trust reported a profit of nearly $168 million through the first nine months of this year.

That's a far cry from the three-year string of losses posted by the Columbus-based firm coming out of the Great Recession. Synovus Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kessell Stelling can even mention the possibility of acquiring another bank rather than being the routine target of merger and acquisition speculation.

The company is in good enough financial condition that it confirmed in August a signed lease to occupy about 100,000 square feet of a new office building being built near the new Atlanta Braves ballpark in Cobb County by late 2017. Synovus said the move is part of its effort to consolidate facilities and save money, although the leased space obviously won't come cheap.

City hits tourism home run, 1.8 million visitors

It wasn't that long ago that Columbus was just topping the 1 million visitation mark. But in fiscal year 2015 the city climbed from 1.7 million visitors to more than 1.8 million for the first time.

That's the equivalent of a tourism home run, with those people coming to Columbus perhaps staying in hotels, but likely eating in restaurants, shopping in stores and taking in the various sights and activities -- the latest being the Chattahoochee River whitewater course.

Those visiting the city for tourism, business meetings, conferences, reunions and military graduations spent a collective $340 million, according to numbers from the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau. That inflow of cash contributed to 4,477 jobs with a payroll of more than $119 million, nearly $27,000 per position.

TSYS reaches milestone of 1 billion cards

Having been in business more than three decades, the global credit-card and payments processor TSYS has racked up its share of milestones. In May, the firm's card and statement production facility in north Columbus marked yet another major feat -- 1 billion credit and debit cards manufactured since 1993.

The North Center, as it is called, is a phenomenon of sorts. The 256,000-square-foot building and another 85,000-square-foot structure are on 40 acres. The facility mailed nearly 187 million pieces in 2014, including new plastic cards, billing statements and card offers. That equates to more than 15.5 million pieces each month, making the facility one of the highest-volume mail operations in the Southeast.

Carl Gregory dealerships bought by AutoNation

It was in August that longtime car dealer Carl Gregory reached an agreement to sell Carl Gregory Enterprises to AutoNation Inc., a national vehicle retailer.

The sale, with the amount not disclosed, closed later in the year, but it was big news in that Gregory was the last of the large dealerships owned by a Columbus-area resident. Bill Heard, Jay Stelzenmuller and Richard Stephens no longer own dealerships.

The deal included Gregory's 13 stores in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Locally, he operated the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Honda Hyundai and Volkswagen brands off north Veterans Parkway. He also had a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep dealership on Victory Drive.

Legal cases involving Spring Harbor, Amos Cancer Center

There were two legal cases involving the retirement facility called Spring Harbor and the John B. Amos Cancer Center.

One of the long-running legal disputes came to a climax in April when Superior Court Judge Arthur Smith ruled the Columbus Medical Center Hospital Authority did not have to pay property taxes on Spring Harbor of Green Island Hills, the River Road retirement community that opened in 2004.

The retirement complex includes 160 apartment homes and 36 two- and three-bedroom villas.

Since it opened, the city has sent more than $7 million in property tax bills to the authority, which in 2007 filed suit to establish Spring Harbor's tax-exempt status. The case lingered until both sides filed for summary judgment in 2012.

Then, in September, another notable civil case came to an end with Columbus Regional Healthcare System and Dr. Andrew Pippas agreeing to settle whistleblower claims that they incorrectly billed government insurers and violated the False Claims Act.

Columbus Regional agreed to pay $26 million, with the amount possibly totaling $35 million over five years. Pippas, the John B. Amos Cancer Center medical director, agreed to pay $425,000 in funds to settle claims against him.

Richard Barker, the former top administrator of the John B. Amos Cancer Center, filed the allegations under the Federal False Claims Act in May 2012 in U.S. District Court. Barker filed a second, similar suit in December 2014, accusing Columbus Regional of overpaying Pippas.

Callaway closes Sibley Center, Mr. Cason's garden

It has undergone a number of financial and operational moves in recent years, but one such decision last fall struck a nerve with those who have enjoyed visiting nearby Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga.

Struggling with declining visitation, the tourist destination's new top executive, William "Bill" Doyle III, closed suddenly the John A. Sibley Horticultural Center and Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden, both among the oldest attractions in the gardens, which was founded in 1952.

Doyle said the grounds around the nature preserve's butterfly center were being "enhanced" and that Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden plot may be transformed into a golf course clubhouse and possibly a hotel.

The current moves at Callaway Gardens come amid a backdrop of financial problems that pushed it to the brink of insolvency about five years ago. About 7,000 of the gardens' 13,000 acres were sold to put it on stable ground and to slash its debt to manageable levels.

Ledger-Enquirer staff writers Chuck Williams and Tim Chitwood contributed to this list of top business stories.

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