Purposeful pads

Formerly known as the Governor's House at the northwest corner of Lady Street and Main Street, the Rodeway Inn is under development by Columbia's Ben Arnold as an apartment building. Currently a 101- room hotel, the building could become 54 one- bedroom and studio apartments. If all goes according to Arnold's plan, the project could be under way in another six months. It's a gamble

PokerTek Inc. is about to sell 686,090 common shares of stock for $500,000, and company chairman Lyle Berman plans to buy almost half the shares. A sale of 565,000 shares has already gone to ICP Electronics Inc. of Taiwan for $480,250, or 85 cents a share. Matthew, N.C.- based PokerTek (NASDAQ: PTEK) is a software development company that produces electronic tables for card players, reducing labor cost and accelerating play among poker players. For the past 52 weeks, the price of a share of PokerTek stock has run between 57 cents and $4.34.

Stressful cities

Forbes.com studied the country's 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas for stress factors such as unemployment, cost of living, median home price drops from the first quarter in 2008 to the first quarter in 2009, population density, and percentage of days overcast. The most stressful city in the country is Chicago. Los Angeles is second, and New York City is third in stress. Out of the 40, Charlotte is No. 22, and Atlanta is No. 25. The least stressful is Austin, Texas. Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston are not among the country's 40 largest metropolitan areas.

Golfing for good

The Capital City Club, a private business club and part of the ClubCorp family, recently announced it will participate in the 2009 ClubCorp Charity Classic, the world's largest golf and dining event. More than 140 of ClubCorp's golf and country clubs and business and sports clubs around the country will open their courses and dining rooms to an estimated 25,000 members, guests, and patrons for tournaments, dining events, and social gatherings. The club invites the public to attend an Olympiad Reception and golf tournament at Cobblestone Park on September 25 and 28, respectively, to raise money for Special Olympics of South Carolina, Muscular Dystrophy Association and ClubCorp's Employee Partners Care Foundation. To participate, visit the ClubCorp Charity Classic Web site at www.clubcorpcharityclassic. com or call the club at 256.2000.

Trouble in North Charleston

Capmark Financial Group, the major investor in the Noisette Co.'s redevelopment of the former Navy Yard in North Charleston, lost $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2009, and Capmark recently suggested it was considering bankruptcy. Capmark Finance Inc., Capmark's real estate division, in June filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Noisette's $23.8 million loan. Noisette is developing a 340- acre sustainable community of homes and businesses on the former base's north end. All told as of June 30, Capmark had $3.2 billion in loans held for sale and $7.6 billion in loans held for investment, according to the Charleston Regional Business Journal .

BMW in the Upstate

In 1994, the first BMWs rolled off the assembly line near Greer, S.C. The plant had 600 employees and covered about 1 million square feet. Now with 5,000 employees and 4 million square feet, the plant is marking its 15th anniversary with its 1,500,000th BMW automobile, which was made in the Spartanburg County plant during the first week of September. When the current $750 million expansion is completed, the plant's annual production will reach about 200,000 vehicles. BMW is about to overtake Lexus as the world's top- selling luxury brand, probably by the end of the year.

Duke slows down

Duke Energy Carolinas is expected to delay construction for up to three years at its proposed Lee Nuclear Station near Gaffney, S.C. The new startup date for generating power appears to be 2021. So far, Duke has failed to find a construction partner for the $11 billion plant. Growth in demand for power is slowing while costs are rising. On another front, Duke announced it has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North American companies in the electric utility sector for the fourth consecutive year.

Krispy Kreme's new store and new numbers

On Wednesday, September 9, Krispy Kreme opened a new doughnut factory on Sunset Blvd. in Lexington, its second factory in the Midlands. The other is at the corner of 12th Street and Knox Abbott Dr. in Cayce. For the second quarter in 2009, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. reported a net loss of $157,000, far less than the net loss of $1.9 million during the same period last year.