A salute to moms: Shannon Kirkpatrick, tax managing director for KPMG’s Baton Rouge office, has been named one of 30 Working Mothers of the Year by Working Mother magazine. Kirkpatrick, who has three children ages 11 to 8, will be honored at the magazine’s 30th birthday party next month in New York along with the other winners, including First Lady Michelle Obama. “For me, being a working mom is not just about bringing home a paycheck to help provide a comfortable living for my family. It’s also about the personal satisfaction I get out of helping my clients navigate through a complex tax system … And it’s also about teaching my children by example,” Kirkpatrick told the magazine. “I am not harming my children by working outside the home, I am teaching them how to be successful in life by setting an example.” Read the profile of her here.
Will the last business to leave the mall, please turn out the lights? Retail tenants in shopping centers and malls vacated 8.7 million square feet in the first quarter, more than all the space that was emptied out in 2008, according to CNNMoney.com. Reis, a commercial real estate research firm, says mall vacancies rose 9.5% in the first quarter, the biggest single quarter increase since the company started tracking numbers in 1999. The increase in vacancies happened even though mall owners cut rents by a record 1.8% in the quarter. Analysts say retail vacancies will exceed historical levels through 2011 before stabilizing in mid-2012.
Last cluck: Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. says it will close a chicken processing plant in Dalton, Ga., which employs 280 people, within 60 days. It will consolidate the production at its plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. Pilgrim’s Pride in December filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is in the process of reorganizing. Foster Farms of California is in the in the process of buying the Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Farmerville, a deal brokered and sweetened by Louisiana economic development officials.
