Memphis company makes major buy of Wendy's restaurants on Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast

Memphis-based Carlisle Corp. has expanded its Wendy’s restaurant holdings to an all-time high by acquiring 46 stores on the Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast.

Carlisle’s Wendelta unit closed Monday on a purchase of restaurants in Mobile, Pensacola and Panama City areas, pushing its portfolio to 151 Wendy’s locations.

The stores were purchased from Pensacola-based Wendco Group, owned by Wendy’s Hall of Fame member Roger Webb and his wife, Raisa.

The transaction represents a significant expansion of Carlisle’s Wendy’s business. The previous peak for Wendy's was 134 stores.

Wendelta has slowly been growing the Wendy’s portfolio in the South and Mid-South since dropping to 77 stores with a sale of North Carolina holdings in 2014.

Carlisle chief executive officer Chance Carlisle said the company has been refocusing Wendy’s business on the historical heart of its service area.

The company, founded by the late Gene Carlisle, is involved in restaurant franchises, hospitality and real estate development, including the planned One Beale project in Downtown Memphis.

The acquisition makes Carlisle roughly the fifth- or sixth-largest Wendy’s franchise operator in the U.S., with restaurants also in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

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Carlisle said the Wendco Group's stores were attractive because its service area is contiguous to Carlisle holdings in Mississippi.

Carlisle said he liked the fact that the newly acquired Wendy's serve Memphis' most popular vacation spots.

The deal pushed Carlisle’s Wendelta employment to just over 5,700 from about 4,500.

Carlisle’s founder championed Downtown revitalization starting in the 1970s and began planning One Beale, an ambitious redevelopment overlooking the riverfront at the foot of Beale, about 15 years ago.

Five years ago, the company stepped up efforts Downtown, becoming controlling partner in a $30 million conversion of the shuttered, historic Hotel Chisca into Chisca on Main apartments and restaurants. Gene Carlisle died three years ago.

The latest iteration of One Beale includes an $111 million first phase with a seven-story, 201-room, four-star hotel; a six-story luxury apartment building; commercial redevelopment of historic Ellis Machine Shops; plus parking structure and assorted office, retail, restaurant and meeting spaces.

Prime space at the southwest corner of Beale and Wagner is reserved for an office tower in a future phase. It could cost $60 million to $100 million and consist of 20- to 30-stories and 200,000 to 400,000 square foot of premium office space. Carlisle has been in conversations with potential anchor tenants.

Reach reporter Wayne Risher at (901) 529-2874 or wayne.risher@commercialappeal.com.