Vera Bradley Inc. on Friday announced plans to create a Roanoke design center in the building that formerly housed Baekgaard Ltd., the shuttered company that was founded by Peer Baekgaard, the late husband of Vera Bradley co-founder Barbara Baekgaard.
The Fort Wayne company’s 70-member design team will move into 12420 Silverado Road, which is 39,200-square-feet of space leased from a company owned by Barbara Baekgaard. Renovation is set to being in mid-May with completion by mid-August.
Vera Bradley operations also occupy four other buildings in Allen County.
The maker of quilted cotton handbags, luggage and accessories employs more than 1,500, including 800 in northeast Indiana. Vera Bradley has hired more than 220 in the area in the past year, according to the company’s human resources vice president.
Regency Park under new owner
A Fort Wayne apartment community has a new owner after a foreclosure.
Regency Park, a 226-unit residence at 1604 Reed Road, is now the property of White Oak Partners of Columbus, Ohio. The complex was marketed for $5.9 million, but final terms of the transaction that closed at the end of March were not released.
Indianapolis investment adviser Tikijian Associates, which issued a statement Friday on the ownership change, assisted in closing the deal.
White Oak’s real estate partners have acquired, developed or managed more than 200,000 multifamily units throughout the nation. Regency Park is the company’s first Indiana purchase. White Oak plans a moderate exterior rehab and a comprehensive interior update of the property.
Pfizer: Patient died in oral drug study
Pfizer Inc. confirmed that one patient who was taking its drug candidate tofacitinib, a pill designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis, died during a recent clinical trial and said the death was connected to the drug.
The world’s largest drugmaker said the patient died of respiratory failure. Three other patients who were treated with tofacitinib during the study died as well, but those deaths were not determined to be drug-related. Two of those deaths occurred several weeks after the patients stopped taking tofacitinib. Tofacitinib, formerly called tasocitinib, is being tested as a treatment for moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.
Treasury investment gains $1.7 billion
The Treasury Department says that an investment program set up during the financial crisis to buy toxic assets from banks is showing a $1.7 billion gain.
The department has committed $22.1 billion in taxpayer funds to the Public-Private Investment Program, which was created in March 2009. That money has been used to set up funds that have invested in mortgage-backed securities and other financial assets. The goal is to take those assets off the books of large banks that were facing huge losses from bad real estate investments during the housing bubble.
Borders’ bonus plan gets nod from judge
A lawyer for bookseller Borders Group Inc. says a judge has approved paying executives up to $6.6 million in bonuses as the company works to reorganize under bankruptcy court protection.
The Office of the U.S. Trustee objected to an earlier request to pay about $8 million in bonuses.
