Business Journal-Portland articles from January 1995

Business Journal-Portland archives from January 1995

New retail wave at Jantzen Beach. (Jantzen Beach Center)
January 27, 1995... Half of Jantzen Beach Center could be demolished this summer after a projected sale of the laggard Portland mall to developer Mason Frank. In a Jan. 25 letter to mall shopkeepers, Jantzen Beach Center manager Jan LeRoy said Frank expects to...

Americold seeks refinancing plan to mollify debt holders. (Americold Corp.)
January 27, 1995... Facing $45 million in debt service payments due May 1, Portland's Americold Corp., the nation's largest operator of cold storage facilities, is holding confidential talks with debt holders about a refinancing plan to stave off technical...

PacifiCorp pushes for more flexible regulation.
January 27, 1995... Utility hopes for fewer lengthy rate cases in future At the request of PacifiCorp, the Oregon House Commerce Committee will soon introduce legislation to allow gas and electric utilities to adjust consumer rates without government review....

Fliers fret as Delta considers cutting direct service to N.Y. (Delta Air Lines Inc.)
January 27, 1995... "Don't do it," said Roger Krage as he stepped on a Delta Air Lines flight last week. "It's our only direct flight to New York; we need to keep it." The Portland lawyer reflected the sentiment of many passengers on Flight 460 upon hearing the...

Freightliner keeps rolling with booming sales, plant expansion. (Freightliner Corp.)
January 27, 1995... Freightliner Corp. joined the ranks of Oregon's corporate elite by closing 1994 with $4 billion in sales. "We've doubled the (sales) of our company in the last three years," said Debbie Nicholson, Freightliner spokeswoman. Employee counts...

Aluminum exec faces uncertainty. (Columbia Aluminum Corp. CEO Ken Peterson) (Interview)
January 27, 1995... Ken Peterson makes an unlikely captain of industry. The former Hermiston, Ore., attorney turned chief executive officer admits that he knew nothing about making aluminum when he started Columbia Aluminum Corp. eight years ago. Yet Peterson...

Thrustmaster throttles up $9 million IPO. (Thrustmaster Inc.; initial public offering)
January 13, 1995... Thrustmaster Inc., a maker of control devices for computer games, is floating a public stock offering to raise close to $9 million. The proposed offering consists of 1.2 million shares of stock offered at between $7.50 and $8 a share. That...

SEH in hunt for plant expansion. (SEH America Inc.)
January 13, 1995... SEH America Inc. may soon join the growing band of semiconductor companies that have launched major plant expansions. If the Vancouver company moves ahead with the expansion plans, it would follow in the footsteps of competitors Wacker...

Republicans take reforms back to school; business surprised by move, plans opposition.
January 13, 1995... Rural GOP leaders in control of the Oregon Legislature may seek to weaken or expel Oregon's landmark education reform law. Senate President Gordon Smith, a Pendleton Republican, said last week he wants to revisit the 1991 Katz Bill and make...

U S West re-engineering drive hits road bumps. (U S West Inc.)
January 13, 1995... U S West Communications Inc. has stepped back from part of the ambitious re-engineering program it unveiled in September 1993 to reshape the company. The Englewood, Colo.-based Baby Bell has scrapped the team approach - at least temporarily...

Smith's agenda adds rural flavor to GOP goals. (Oregon Senate President Gordon Smith; Republican Party) (Interview)
January 13, 1995... The traditional party of business may have seized the reins of the 1995 Legislature, but the cast of GOP leaders in Salem has a decidedly rural bent. How will Portland's business sector fare in a Legislature dominated by downstate and...

Secretive HP Intel chip team may move to Oregon.
January 13, 1995... Six months after technology heavyweights Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a joint venture to develop the next generation in microprocessor design, a group of engineers are toiling away in Silicon Valley but may soon move to Oregon....

Union organizing surges among state employees. (Oregon)(includes related article)
January 13, 1995... Unrepresented state workers are flocking to join unions in response to looming budget cuts and the passage of Ballot Measure 8. Organizing drives have begun at the state's three largest non-union agencies: the Judicial Department, Fish and...

Bay area health group brings buying power to Northwest. (California based-Bay Area Business Group on Health)
January 13, 1995... A California-based business coalition is recruiting Oregon companies that want to boost their health care savvy and buying power. The Bay Area Business Group on Health (BBGH), a San Francisco-based business coalition that played a major role...

Software firm sues Central Point for breach of contract. (Software Engineering Carmel; Central Point Software Inc.)
January 13, 1995... A tiny Israel-based software company has filed a $6.7 million lawsuit against Central Point Software, charging the Beaverton company with violating an exclusive marketing agreement. Software Engineering Carmel, a leading antivirus software...

Shaw-led trade group planning port, steel mill in Vietnam. (Portland, Oregon financier Ralph Shaw; Trade Interface Corp.)
January 13, 1995... A Seattle-based company closely tied to Portland financier Ralph Shaw is on the verge of sealing up a $100 million deal to build a steel mill and port facilities near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Company officials hope to close the deal and...

Wieden & Kennedy partner describes Microsoft challenge. (Dave Luhr; Wieden and Kennedy Inc.'s $100 million-plus global brand campaign for client Microsoft Corp.) (Interview)
January 13, 1995... Wieden & Kennedy, famous for Nike's advertising and the "Just Do It" slogan, has become a major player in national advertising. The agency, which started almost 13 years ago, is breaking away from athletic shoes and making headlines for the...

OSHA's obsessions trivialize true standards. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) (OSHA's Obsessions, part 3)
January 13, 1995... Ask Gary Adams, owner of La Bonne Bouchee, about last year's OSHA inspection of his pastry shop and you're apt to get an earful of expletives. Adams was cited for violating OSHA's "lockout" standard because the switches on his ovens weren't...

OSHA director responds. (Occupational Health and Safety Administration; Joseph Dear) (OSHA's Obsessions, part 3) (Interview)
January 13, 1995... Joseph Dear, 43, was named director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in November 1993. In a telephone interview, Dear outlined his view of OSHA's mandate and the changes he plans to make at the agency. The Business...

Normal rules don't apply in fledgling Eastern European market. (Export Manager) (Column)
January 13, 1995... The political and economic changes that have taken place in Eastern Europe recently are setting the stage for a basic and powerful new market trend. Although the countries of the region are at different stages of development, some...

Expediency, persistence go together. (The Company Doctor) (Column)
January 13, 1995... Phil Pearce is a gracious, 65-year-old Southern gentleman whose soft-spoken manner personifies both Southern hospitality and - when it comes to investment banking - self-made business excellence. He was a senior vice president and director at...

Christmas deal pleases Scott, provokes rivals. (Professional 100's sale to John L. Scott Inc.)
January 6, 1995... A state-appointed receiver calls his Dec. 26 sell-off of Professionals 100 a "Christmas miracle baby." But several local suitors complain the holiday weekend deal was a "fire sale" that occurred so fast they were shut out of the bidding....

Albina's capital idea. (Albina Community Bancorp)
January 6, 1995... Northeast bank wins neighborhood support, still seeking a lift from mainstream lenders The Albina Community Bancorp, a fledgling bank with aspirations to serve North and Northeast Portland, has raised nearly $1 million from foundations,...

Transfer tax issue may prove acid test for legislative mettle.
January 6, 1995... The Oregon Legislature may vote the first week of its upcoming session on whether to kill local real estate sales taxes, in what could be a barometer of the new body's tax policies. The 1993 Legislature OK'd a two-year moratorium on local...

Exaggerated fears fuel environmental anxiety. (Harmon Industries Inc.)(includes related article)
January 6, 1995... Even conscientious companies penalized Sometimes being a good corporate citizen just doesn't pay. In 1987, Harmon Industries, a Blue Springs, Mo.-based manufacturer of railroad signal equipment, learned its employees were dumping cleaning...

EPA: mandates without money.
January 6, 1995... Strapped for cash, Uncle Sam is digging deep into the pockets of local communities to pay for costly federal environmental projects. Popularly known as unfunded mandates, the regulatory initiatives are taking a huge bite out of local tax...

Managed care popularity fuels HMO growth. (health maintenance organization) (Industry Overview)
January 6, 1995... A 40 percent jump in members during 1994 puts total at 1.2 million Health maintenance organizations are flying into 1995 on a tail wind of dramatic growth. Fueling that growth has been the expansion of the state Medicaid program, HMOs...

Climbing interest rates dealt a blow to many stocks in '94.
January 6, 1995... Rising interest rates ruled the stock market in 1994. "Interest rates were up and that affects the way everybody does business and the way they look at different stocks," said Scott Conyers, a Portland money manager. "That's the story for...

Washington County providers emphasize prenatal care.
January 6, 1995... Several insurers, hospitals and a non-profit health group are trying to improve prenatal care for low-income women in Washington County. Healthy Start is heading the pilot outreach program designed to help pregnant women obtain medical care...

Big 5 to enter local sporting goods fray. (Big 5 Sporting Goods)
January 6, 1995... Big 5 Sporting Goods, a 170-store chain based in El Segundo, Calif., will soon play against G.I. Joe's, Sportmart Inc. and others in Portland's tumultuous sporting goods market. Officials with Big 5 say the company intends to establish three...

SEC charges failed music company execs with misconduct. (Securities and Exchange Commission; Brendon Marshall Inc.)
January 6, 1995... Two Portland businessmen who launched a failed music marketing company were charged last week with misconduct by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Marvin G. Pursinger and Machlene E. Soderquist, the owner and senior officer of Brendon...