A new downtown eating option is expected to open in coming weeks as work on Oksak Sushi Bar and Grill is wrapped up by owner Alex Han.
The restaurant will be on the ground floor of the old Kress dime store at 115 W. Tyler St., where building owner Dante Hahn has remodeled the upstairs space into loft apartments.
Hahn said Han, who owns Matsu Japanese Steak House and Sushi Bar on Texas 31 about a half mile north of Interstate 20, will have a full kitchen and bar area in Oksak. Hahn said Han plans an Asian bistro-type atmosphere rather than the hibachi grill setting such as Matsu.
Han was not available for comment late last week.
Hahn, who is also renovating the two-story portion of the former Texas Furniture Store location across Tyler Street into upstairs loft space, said he hopes the new downtown eating destination helps create some synergy in enhancing nightlife and activity downtown.
Moving safety forward
The Safety Council of East Texas is on track to relocate from its longtime home at 440 N. Eastman Road to a new home south of Interstate 20 in coming months, said Tim J. Cox, who is with the organization.
The council promotes safety in the workplace and provides a variety of training and testing for member companies, said Cox, who is also president of Longview's Cox Construction.
Groundbreaking for the new facility on a 2-acre tract of property owned by Eastman Chemical Co. is slated for April 22. The site is near the Eastman's nature trail, east of the Blue Bell Creameries distribution site at 3800 S. Eastman Road.
Eastman CEO gets raise
J. Brian Ferguson, a former Pine Tree Independent School District board member when he worked in Longview, appears to be doing fine in his position as chairman and chief executive officer of Kingsport, Tenn.-based Eastman Chemical Co.
According to an Associated Press report this past week, Ferguson saw his total compensation rise 6 percent to $7.9 million in 2007 compared with a year earlier. That detail came from a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ferguson, who worked at the Longview Eastman facility from 1977 until 1989, received a base salary of about $1.1 million, $1.5 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, and $205,359 in "other" compensation, according to AP. That figure included $68,051 for use of corporate aircraft, a $109,077 company contribution to a retirement plan and other compensation for liability insurance, a home security allowance and a tax reimbursement.
The chemical and plastics maker also said he was awarded stock and options which were valued at $5 million on the days they were granted.
Ferguson was named Eastman's chairman and CEO Jan. 1, 2002. His roots with the company and its predecessor, Eastman Kodak, go back more than 30 years when he was fresh out of college armed with a chemical engineering degree from Arizona State University and took a job at what was then Kodak's Longview facility.
Mike Elswick is the business editor of the Longview News-Journal. He can be reached at (903) 237-7737 or at: melswick@longview-news.com.
