Update to last week’s story that Circuit City was exiting the Atlanta market: The consumer electronics retailer has now declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Circuit City Roseville MN, originally uploaded by djcn0te.

From the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

Circuit City announced plans Monday to close 155 stores, including all 16 of the electronics retailer’s metro Atlanta locations.

The company will also close stores in Macon, Warner Robins and Athens. The store locator on the Circuit City Web site now lists only three stores within 100 miles of Atlanta — Rome, Columbus and Chattanooga, Tenn.

The company said in a news release that the 155 stores that will be closed “are under performing or are no longer a strategic fit for the company.”

According to a statement posted on the Web site, stores pegged for closing will not open on Tuesday, and store closing sales will begin on Wednesday.

“The company expects the sales to be completed no later than calendar year end,” the statement said.

The press release blamed the decision to downsize the chain on several factors, including “waning consumer confidence and a significantly weakened retail environment” that the company said has negatively impacted sales.

Waning consumer confidence, certainly, but probably more appropriately, waning consumer ability. That is, the great majority of consumers no longer have the available credit to purchase high-ticket items such as the wide-screen televisions that the retailer is known for selling. And with the downturn in the economy looking like its going to be more protracted than originally feared, consumers are tightening their belts and holding off on discretionary purchases - to the detriment of Circuit City.

broken television television, originally uploaded by a boy named Harvey.

From the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

The popped housing bubble and crushed credit market have pushed record numbers of North Georgia businesses into bankruptcy court this year.

Chapter 11 filings are up between 50 percent and 70 percent over all of last year, depending on how they’re counted.

They’re also up significantly from any of the past 20 years — and there are almost 10 weeks left in 2008.

As of Friday, 283 companies and their affiliates had filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in Georgia’s Northern District, which has offices in Atlanta, Gainesville, Newnan and Rome.

Jeffrey Kelley, head of the bankruptcy practice at the Troutman Sanders law firm, said the surge is the biggest he remembers.

“This is higher than I’ve seen, and I’ve been doing this since 1975,” Kelley said.

Not surprisingly, most of the swell in business bankruptcies is tied to the downturn in the real estate market, with homebuilders and contractors making up a large percentage of new filings. As the real industry continues to languish, the number of additional bankruptcy filings will undoubtedly increase.

Closed. No business., originally uploaded by Faye Pekas.

Alpharetta-based Alpha Bank and Trust was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance on Friday, and the FDIC was named as receiver of the failed bank.

Minnesota-based Stearns Bank is assuming all insured deposits under a purchase and assumption agreement.

It is the 16th bank failure of the year, and is directly tied to Alpha’s construction and land development loan portfolio.

Padlocks, originally uploaded by Rune T.

Atlanta topped Forbes magazine’s 2008 list of best cities for singles. In the eight years of the survey, it is the first time Atlanta has been ranked first.

Following Atlanta were San Francisco, Dallas, Minneapolis and Washington DC.

What makes Atlanta attractive to singles? Job growth, a relatively high number of other singles, and a thriving nightlife.

Sabroso Mexican Restaurant, originally uploaded by DrJimiGlide.

From Yahoo:

Capital Bank Corporation (Nasdaq: CBKN - News), headquartered in Raleigh, NC and the parent company of Capital Bank, today announced that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the four Fayetteville area offices of Omni National Bank in a cash transaction. Omni National Bank is the banking subsidiary of Omni Financial Services, Inc., a bank holding company headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

As a result of this transaction, Capital Bank will assume deposits currently totaling approximately $105 million and will purchase approximately $50 million in selected loan balances. In addition, Capital Bank will acquire the real estate assets and fixed capital equipment associated with the four branches. Upon completion of the transaction, the Fayetteville branches will operate as full service Capital Bank branch offices.

Omni is desperately trying to shore up its capital reserves as it is coming under increasing pressure in today’s rocky banking climate.

Cash Paid Out No Sale, originally uploaded by Thomas Hawk.

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Bank of America Plaza might one day be home to a five-star hotel, according to the commercial real estate company that owns the iconic Midtown skyscraper.

At Thursday morning’s Midtown Alliance meeting at Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta, BentleyForbes Group Inc. President and CEO David Cobb said he wanted to put all rumors to rest and confirmed the commercial real estate company was exploring the possibility of converting the first 15 floors of Bank of America Plaza into a five-star hotel.

Cobb also said BentleyForbes is in discussions with architects and some “high-end flags.” While he didn’t say who talks involved, high-end flags would include hoteliers such as Ritz-Carlton, and InterContinental and Four Seasons.

Atlanta now has four “five-diamond” hotels: Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, Ritz Carlton Downtown Atlanta, Four Seasons and InterContinental Atlanta Buckhead.

Bank of America Plaza is the tallest building in Atlanta and the Southeast standing at 1,023 feet.

In an interview with Atlanta Business Chronicle Sept. 16, Cobb said the top priority was getting Bank of America Plaza back up to at least 95 percent occupancy.

Since BentleyForbes bought the tower in 2006 for what was a record $436 million, vacancy has risen from about 1 percent to nearly 14 percent. At the same time, landing new tenants isn’t getting any easier.

Midtown is seeing a lot of new and renovated hotel space: with the W hotel in downtown, and a second in colony square, and the Palomar on West Peachtree, Midtown may be glutted with hotel rooms. Still, another five-diamond hotel would be quite a coup for the Atlanta neighborhood.

luggage, originally uploaded by Digiart2001.

From the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

Local authorities said Monday they charged 12 men with an elaborate mortgage fraud scheme in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood and seized more than $200,000 of assets.

In indictments filed last week, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard Jr. accused the men of buying and selling nine homes using false appraisals that were more than double the homes’ actual value. Seven of the houses were in the 30310 zip code in the West End, where 26 homes were put up for foreclosure auction in late June.

McFall said his work is not finished: there are “thousands” of homes in the Atlanta area that are tied to mortgage fraud.

Zip code 30310 leads the nation in mortgage fraud.

fixation, originally uploaded by r84butch.

From the Macon Telegraph:

The president and CEO of Macon-based Security Bank has resigned, the bank announced Wednesday.

No reason was given for Averett “Rett” Walker’s resignation, and a message left at Walker’s home was not returned.

Walker, 55, who was the bank’s president for 12 years, also resigned his position as director of Security Bank Corp. and its affiliate, Security Bank of Bibb County.

Tony Collins, Security executive vice president and regional executive of Atlanta, has assumed the position of president/CEO on an interim basis, Senior Vice President Lorraine Miller said.

While the bank has faced challenges this year in the residential real estate market, just as many other banks, Walker’s resignation “was not event-driven in that there is something different in the organization today than there was yesterday or a week ago,” Miller said Wednesday. “I can also say this is not something that was at the request of regulators.”

The bank, which has several locations in north-Atlanta has found itself on many most-threatened lists of late after big bets in commercial and residential real estate failed to pay off as expected.

Resign I, originally uploaded by SoZeSoZe.