Judge orders restoration of more than $1.6 million to Sunkist Growers Inc. retirement plans

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that Sunkist Growers Inc. and fiduciaries for the company's retirement plans were required to restore $1,620,420 in losses to employee benefit plans under the terms of a consent judgment and order. The decision, entered in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, follows an investigation by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration that found that the citrus farming cooperative, based in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and the plans' fiduciaries mishandled employee retirement funds in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

"Retirement plan assets represent workers' hard-earned savings, not a source of operating funds that companies can choose to use as they see fit," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security Phyllis C. Borzi. "This is a case of plan fiduciaries failing in their legal and ethical duties to act solely in the interest of plan participants."

The department previously filed a lawsuit alleging that from January 2006 through April 2011, the defendants used retirement plan assets to improperly reimburse the company for expenses including salaries and benefits for employees and managers working in various departments at Sunkist Growers.

EBSA investigators also found that the company was reimbursed by the plans based on projected expenses determined at the beginning of the year rather than on the actual expenses incurred, and that no adjustments were made to repay the plans for the overpayments that were made.

The judgment permanently enjoins the fiduciaries from violating ERISA and requires the appointment of an independent fiduciary to review and approve any future services provided by

Sunkist Growers to the plans.

The case was litigated by the department's San Francisco Regional Office of the Solicitor.

For help with problems related to private sector retirement and health plans, employers and workers can reach EBSA's Los Angeles office at 626-229-1000 or toll-free at 866-444-3272. Additional information can be found at www.dol.gov/ebsa/.

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Case: Thomas E. Perez v. Sunkist Growers Inc., Sunkist Retirement Plan A, Sunkist Retirement Plan N, Retirement Plan for Hourly Employees of Products Group, Don Dames, Bill Chaney, Richard French, Russ Hanlin, Nazir Khan, Dick Neece, Charles Woltmann, Michael Wootton, the individual members of the Plan Board of Sunkist Retirement Plan, Cliff Brady, Barbara Ratchford, Charles Woltmann, Diane Johnson, Christine Hagemann, the individual members of the Administrative Committee to the Hourly Plan, and John McGovern, an individual.

Civil Action Number: CV 13-7116-PA (MRWx)

Source: Department of Labor

Mellon Bank Center to take hit in FMC move

In its search for a new headquarters, FMC Corp. looked in its back yard, across the river in New Jersey and down I-95 in Delaware.

It decided to stay in Philadelphia — crossing the Schuylkill River — and signed a 16-year, 253,000-square-foot lease to move into a building to be called FMC Tower at Cira Centre South. The company will occupy 10 floors at the new building and has an option to take another three floors.

Though the property sits in a Keystone Opportunity Zone, which gives FMC certain tax breaks on state and local taxes, the chemical company decided it will not take advantage of those benefits. Instead, it will take a $10 million incentive package from Pennsylvania after having reviewed similar offers from Delaware and New Jersey. The offer from the Garden State was “extremely competitive.”

Incentives typically compensate for high taxes and offset some costs of doing business.

In 2004 when FMC went looking for a new lease deal, it decided to remain at the Mellon Bank Center and took $1 million in state incentives. The company decided then not threaten to leave the city or try to hammer out a large incentive package, figuring then that Center City real estate market conditions were weak enough to hash out a sweet deal with its landlord.

This time it took a different tack.

The company started the search process about a year ago, knowing its lease at Mellon Bank Center was scheduled to expire in 2016, said Pierre R. Brondeau, president and chief executive of FMC.

While it considered other nearby states, “my heart has always been with Philadelphia and that is where I always wanted to be but we have shareholders to consider and we have to be fiscally responsible,” Brondeau said. “It was very important for us that a building is not only where you put people but also a way to shape who you want to be as a company, shape your culture and image.”

A new, modern building was what worked best for that goal, he said. The company also saw advantages to being closer to University City, where it plans to seek out opportunities to collaborate with Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania as well as draw recruits from the schools.

The company did consider staying put in Mellon Bank Center, where it occupies 250,000 square feet and employs 546 people. The move to Cira South will mean that Mellon Bank Center and the Central Business District take a hit. Mellon Bank totals 54 stories and 1.3 million square feet and is owned by CommonWealth REIT.

“It’s a great building and it served a great purpose for us,” Brondeau said. “It’s an older type of building and it would have been extremely expensive for us to retrofit it to the type of space we wanted.”

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal

Plans To Build Observation Tower At Camden Aquarium Announced

CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) – The Camden skyline is about to change — officials at the Adventure Aquarium have announced plans for a 300-foot tall observation tower.

The Skyview Tower will lift visitors 25 stories above the Adventure Aquarium for spectacular views of the riverfront, says Aquarium executive director Kevin Keppel:

“Camden City Hall is a little over 300 feet tall.  And the court building across the street is not 200 feet.  So if you have those as a frame of reference, you understand it’s actually going to be one of the tallest structures around.”

No public money is involved. The company that runs the aquarium is paying the $5-million cost.

Camden Mayor Dana Redd speaking at the project’s announcement at the aquarium. (Credit: Mike DeNardo)

The tower is being built by Tower Systems, LTD, a British startup. It is expected to attract 150,000 visitors a year.  Keppel says it’ll have a separate admission price from the Aquarium.

Construction is expected to begin next year with completion slated for the spring of 2015.

Source: CBS Philly

Brandywine to build 47-story FMC Tower in U City

As I suggested in a Sept. 9 Philadelphia Inquirer story, FMC Corp. has agreed to move its headquarters from 1745 Market St. in Center City into the new tower that Brandywine Realty Trust has been trying to build, NE corner of 30th and Walnut Sts. in University City, for the past 5 years. The $341 million FMC Tower will rise 47 stories -- 650 feet -- and include 575,000 sq ft of offices, 10,000 sq ft of retail -- plus 260 apartments. Adjoins a 2,000-space parking garage built by Brandywine that also serves IRS workers at Brandywine's former 30th St post office nearby.

FMC will move its headquarters staff -- currently 546 bosses and workers -- to the new tower by June 2016, spokesman Jim Fitzwater told me. FMC will lease 253,000 sq ft for 16 years; the University of Pennsylvania will rent another 100,000 sq ft on four floors for 20 years. 

Philadelphia beat competing sites in New Jersey and Delaware to keep the headquarters, sweetened by $10 million in Pennsylvania taxpayer incentives, including: $3 million in Pennsylvania First grants, $2 million in Pennsylvania Economic Growth Initiative money, and $5 million from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP). "It's in a Keystone Opportunity Incentive Zone, but we won't pursue those benefits," Fitzwater told me. Instead the company is opting for the up-front cash. Brandywine had arranged state and city 10-year Keystone zone tax breaks on the city's Use and Occupancy and real estate taxes and other levies at the site back in 2008, before a previous tenant proposal fell through. 

FMC is a specialty chemical company with global operations and clients. The company's products include pesticides, food and drug additives, pesticides, lithium, and soda ash for glass and detergent.

In my Sept. column, chief executive Pierre Brondeau, a Philadelphia resident and enthusiastic civic booster, said he was fielding offers from all three states, but preferred Philadelphia as a centrally-located city convenient to his workforce and air and land transportatoin. The company has plants in Newark, Del. and suburban Trenton.

In today's statement, Bondreau praised the location between the Penn and Drexel campuses close by the University City Science Center and said it would make it easier to recruit and keep workers. 

My colleague Inga Saffron points out the tall glass-walled tower, designed by Pelli Clark Pelli and Bower Lewis Thrower, will likely require a "cap" on the Amtrak train line and electric supply wires running alongside the site.

Source: Philly.com