Business Journal-Portland articles from March 2000

Business Journal-Portland archives from March 2000

Public market plan floated.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... STROM, SHELLY A proposal to build a public market in Portland's core is gaining momentum among the business community Already a group led by Ron Paul, an aide to Commissioner Charlie Hales, has secured $50,000 from the Portland...

Thomason in driver's seat on Asbury IPO?(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The Berwin, Pa.-based conglomerate that owns the Thomason Auto Group is planning an initial public offering that could eventually prove a financial windfall to Scott Thomason. Thomason, as a key manager for Asbury Automotive Group, would...

SEI's vision becoming reality in N. Portland.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Tony Hopson, co-founder and president of Self Enhancement Inc., is explaining how SEI fills the roles of teacher, mentor and parent. To do so, he borrows jargon from SEI's charges. "Put it this way: Our kids would say it's about keeping...

Searching for winning hand, GST will shuffle cards again.(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... By paring six vice presidents and its chief financial officer, GST Telecommunications Inc. has reshuffled the deck again in hopes of coming up with a winning strategic hand. Dealing the cards is Tom Malone, interim chief executive and...

Finding a niche and filling it leads to fancier Burgervilles.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Trade show worker Dennis Miller sat munching a sausage, egg and Tillamook cheese bagel, oblivious to the stream of drivers pulling past Burgerville's drive-up window onto Martin Luther King Boulevard. Since the Northeast Portland...

New Seahawks stadium to get OSM plates.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Work begins anew now that the Kingdome has been flattened, destroyed in an implosion that leveled the 24-year old stadium to a 30-foot high rubble pile. Portland-based Oregon Steel Mills is getting in on a little of the business to build...

An urban miracle: the secret garden of John Lee.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... I know deserve isn't supposed to have anything to do with it. But John Lee deserves your support. I met John Lee the other day at his workplace in North Portland. The folks from Portland Community College wanted to show me around the...

Nike Inc.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * Nike Inc., Beaverton, and Champs Sports of Bradenton, Fla., are teaming up on a giant baseball card to promote Nike products and Champs' sports retail stores. They combined forces to commission a 36-by-50-inch Kodamotion baseball card...

Wieden & Kennedy.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * Scout Electromedia has hired Portland's Wieden & Kennedy to design a $25 million advertising and marketing campaign for its wireless product called MODO. The campaign will launch this June, at the same time that the San Francisco-based...

CyberSight.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * CyberSight, a Portland internet professional services firm, completed a $9.4 million private placement led by Griffiths McBurney & Partners Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc. and RBC Dominion Securities. The investment enables CyberSight to...

Port of Portland.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * Flight operations at two of the Port of Portland's general aviation airports saw double-digit increases during February. Takeoffs and landings at the Troutdale airport in February totaled 4,275, a 34 percent increase over figures for the...

KinderCare Learning Centers.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * Portland's KinderCare Learning Centers will expand beyond early child care and education when it opens its Lakemont Academy in Bellevue, Wash. Lakemont, designed to serve ages 3 years through 12 years in an alternative to traditional...

IndieDVD.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * IndieDVD, a Portland-based group of independent filmmakers who collect movies, animation and video for DVD distribution, has acquired the rights to produce digital video disc versions of several short independent films for retail sale. The...

InFocus.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * InFocus, the Wilsonville maker of data/video projection equipment, scored twice in a recent product evaluation competition. Two InFocus products, the LP330 and LP770 projectors, received Mobility Awards from Mobile Insights, a professional...

WebCriteria Inc.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * WebCriteria Inc., the Portland developer of Max, the industry's first behavior-based intelligent browsing agent, has launched new research on user interaction with internet web sites. The month-long study includes 60 participants and is...

Oregon State University.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * Integral Systems Inc., Lanham, Md., announced a subcontract under which Oregon State University will purchase the first of Integral's new TNX/4 satellite ground terminal systems. The state-of-the-art system will include a high-precision...

CORRECTIONS.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * The contract between Will Vinton Studios and the Fox Broadcasting Network for the production of "The PJs" has not been cancelled as reported in a story in last week's paper. Rather, Fox has not yet renewed it for a third season. * The...

Architects to study Civic, east-side sites for MLB.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Proponents of Major League Baseball in Portland have hired a site selection firm to determine, among other things, where a stadium would best fit. One site that's gaining a lot of play among Portland's sports business types: the...

Exec exodus, sales decline buffet Gardenburger.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Even though Gardenburger Inc. beefed up compensation and bonus packages for its executives last fall, two of its officers have jumped ship. Analysts say the exodus suggests that, contrary to earlier speculation, the company doesn't have a...

New OGI prof is top researcher in a unique field.(Oregon Graduate Institute)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The Oregon Graduate Institute has named Marwan Jabri, a premier researcher in the neuromorphic engineering world, as the first occupant of the Gordon and Betty Moore Chair for Electrical and Computer Engineering. Gordon Moore is the...

Study says Tribe's fans are best; Portland 43rd.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The Cleveland Indians have sold out 373 consecutive games since Jacobs Field opened four years ago. They have just 50,000 single-game tickets available for the 2000 season. The team has long since stopped taking names for its season-ticket...

Djangos.com hits right notes with buying spree.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Djangos.com's clicks-and-mortar strategy is coming into focus with the purchase of a Chicago-based used-music chain and plans for at least three more acquisitions in the next few months. The long-beloved local purveyor of new and used...

Rising oil prices hit transportation industry hard.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Puget Sound transportation companies are imposing surcharges and conserving precious fuel to counteract oil prices that have soared to the highest levels in nine years. At the USF Reddaway Truck Line terminal in Kent, supervisors...

Pioneer Square sold as part of nationwide buy.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... For the second time in less than two years, Coconut Grove's Cocowalk retail entertainment complex in Miami. has sold, this time as part of a nationwide buy by a Chicago investment company of nearly the entire portfolio of City Center Retail...

Poll: Health-care access outscores HMO reform.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A new poll commissioned by the Democratic Leadership Council found that only 7 percent of voters think giving patients the right to sue HMOs is the most important health care issue that government should address. Insuring everyone is the...

Heater recall isn't short-circuiting Cadet.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The second time around, a federal recall is a lot smoother. Weeks into its second recall, Cadet Manufacturing Co. is not only surviving, officials say, but the future looks bright as well. The company has managed to fill the thousands of...

OSHA's ergonomics regs may wind up in court.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., did not need a lobbyist to convince him that OSHA's proposed ergonomics regulation would hurt small businesses. "As a small manufacturer myself, I can understand the problems and costs small manufacturers...

Kokes leaves Cole & Weber, joins Jeanie Coates.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A Cole & Weber executive is leaving the advertising and public relations agency this week to become a partner at The Coates Agency. Steve Kokes, formerly vice president at Cole & Weber's Portland offices, joins the Old Town firm April 1...

Washington pols continue 'deep' debate.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... In order for a $200 million Columbia River channel-deepening project to move forward, several funding pieces must fit into place. One piece, to be contributed by Washington state, has been in limbo after voters gutted what was to be the...

ECash raising bankroll for online payment bid.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A Bothell company hopes soon to announce several major partnerships with national banks that will help establish its eCash technology as a standard payment method on the Web. The company eCash Technologies Inc., last year bought the...

Community banks still negotiating a merger.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Despite a recent vote by Northern Bank of Commerce shareholders rejecting a merger with Cowlitz Bancorporation, the two community banks may yet unite. Officials said the banks are continuing to negotiate terms for a possible new deal....

eVineyard.com hires agency Rosen/Brown Direct for help.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... eVineyard.com, an online retail wine store, has hired Rosen/Brown Direct to help make the Portland company the first stop for shoppers when they want wine. The Portland advertising and direct response agency is using e-mail, direct mail,...

Turning a new e-page in book publishing.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Chris MacAskill, CEO of online bookstore Fatbrain.com Inc., thought he had a strong hold on the market for medium-length electronic books--until he picked up The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. That's when he learned New...

Gert Boyle.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Gert Boyle Organization: Columbia Sportswear Title: Chairwoman What we do: We sell outerwear. Founded in 1938 in Portland, we are a global leader in design, manufacturing, marketing and...

Bypassing the middleman.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... eFusion takes its internet product directly to consumers EFusion has a new business model that puts the company in the position of competing with some of its former customers. Just shy of four years old, eFusion made a splash in late...

Vancouver's downtown plan isn't without its challenges.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... More than 115 years after it was built, the two-story brick building that once housed the old Frontier nightclub is on its way down. The Main Street building is one of downtown Vancouver's oldest structures. Workers recently stripped the...

FLIR's Q4 announcement causes litigation frenzy.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Executives at FLIR Systems Inc. must be afraid to answer the phone these days for fear of finding that yet another law firm has joined in the class-action frenzy. I would. At last count, 10 law firms have joined in the fray Some...

MERIX'S REBOUND CONTINUES.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Merix Corp.'s resurrection seems to be continuing. The Forest Grove printed circuit board maker reported unforeseen third-quarter numbers and the financial community seems to be treating the company with some guarded enthusiasm. ...

MAIN MAN FOR CENTERSPAN.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... It's time for Frank Hausmann, formerly president and chief executive officer of CenterSpan Communications Inc., which used to be ThrustMaster Inc., to get some new business cards. Now, he's got all three of the top titles--president,...

IT'S NOW CALLED SWIFTVIEW.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Northern Development Group has decided to change its name from something that sounds like a real estate firm to something that sounds much more high-tech, SwiftView Inc. SwiftView makes software for electronic publishing and document...

Employees' online shopping for benefits is coming soon.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Salu founder Dave Sanders is within weeks of launching My Health Bank, an online health-services company that would help employee's shop for healthcare benefits rather than pick a plan offered by their employer. Sanders, who will be...

HMOS STILL ON TOP, POLL SAYS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... At its recent "Health Plans: A View From 2000" seminar, William Mercer polled its audience and found that 24 percent will increase the amount employees pay to its medical plans this year; 16 percent said they'd increase co-pays and...

REGENT NOT BLEEDING AS MUCH.(Regent Assisted Living )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Regent Assisted Living has recently reappeared on the radar screen after a long absence. The Portland-based developer of assisted-living communities has three projects under way: a 127-bed assisted-living community in Mesa, Ariz., a...

ANTI-FORMULARY COALITION EXPANDS.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The Coalition for Responsible Treatment, a critic of Gov. John Kitzhaber's plan to establish a statewide drug formulary, is gaining more support from unions, advocates for the disabled and seniors. The coalition, launched a year ago with...

Correction.
March 31, 2000... We stuck a hyphen in the web address for Tuality Healthcare CEO Richard Stenson's new book on managed care. The address is DoctorsandManagedCare.com.

SKB will broaden its investor base with latest purchase.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... It was just months ago--in October, to be exact--when a pair of real estate veterans pioneered a new real estate consulting firm in P-town. Linda Lucas and George Bean previously worked for Capital Consultants in the Portland and San...

DEALS PASSING IN THE NIGHT.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Response to the inaugural "Deals of the Week" segment might be described as lukewarm (at best). So lukewarm, in fact, that it could be canceled faster than a Fox sitcom. But as my editor Dan Cook constantly reiterates, "Always serve the...

Top publicly held company employers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Top publicly held company employers Ranked by number of full- and part-time employees Rank last Number of Rank year Companies employees 1...

Top private company employers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Top private company employers Ranked by number of full- and part-time employees Rank last Number of Rank year Companies ...

Ashland Library expansion fits the city's values.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... In the early 1900s, the Andrew Carnegie Foundation sprinkled hundreds of public libraries across the American landscape. One of those libraries landed in downtown Ashland, and Sera Architects was recently handed the task of designing a...

Sustainable by design.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Sera Architecture is boldly going where few firms dare to travel by trying to become the Northwest's leading sustainable design firm. Last week's implosion of Seattle's Kingdome was a move that could make Roman architects whirl in their...

Full-service PR firms are becoming critical these days.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... As a retired ad agency practitioner, I maintain an allegiance to the profession. The value of advertising as a marketing weapon remains clear. Even in today's rampant online marketing activity, the dot-coms have found to their dismay...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... ARCHITECTURE BOORA Architects Inc. promoted Sallie Martinson, Ric Battaglia, Janet Bebb, Katy de Ville, Michael Gregg, Christopher Purdy and Thomas Robbins to associates of the firm. Matrix Development/Legend Homes hired Robert Alan...

SEI: A true Portland original.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Portland natives may not realize it, but they tend to marginalize the minority communities here. The African-American community is the most frequently dismissed as essentially irrelevant. We constantly hear that "there aren't many blacks in...

Understanding can't be imposed.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Whether the issue is protecting rainforests, stopping air pollution or helping endangered species, scientists and policy-makers agree that the key to public understanding is public education. Without a thorough understanding of the problems...

Northwest positioned to lead clean-energy revolution.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A clean-energy revolution is breaking out just in time to cool down the world's overheating climate, and Northwest businesses are positioned to lead. The transition from climate-disrupting fossil fuels to solar energy wind power and...

First word[ldots].(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Welcome to the third annual Oregon Bioscience & Medical Technology Directory. This project, produced by The Business Journal in cooperation with the Oregon Bioscience Association, represents the continuation of campaign to develop a strong...

Biosphere[ldots].(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Progress in bioscience seems to be a matter of "one step forward, two steps back." During 1999 there have been large strides forward in describing the human genome, significant advances in understanding major diseases, and the approval of an...

A Bioscience & Medical Technology Primer.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Bioscience began nearly 10,000 years ago when agriculture replaced hunting and gathering. People began producing wine, beer and bread by using and manipulating natural processes. Herds of livestock were improved with primitive animal...

Bioscience & Medical Technology Initiatives In Oregon.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... OBJECTIVES Implement the Bioscience & Medical Technology Development Strategy for Oregon, which was developed in 1999 by the Oregon Bioscience & Medical Technology Alliance, a group of business, academic and government leaders. The...

Charting Bioscience & Medical Technology.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Charting Bioscience & Medical Technology Geoqraphic Distribution of the Bioscience Industry Portland, Vancouver Metro Area 81 2,285 Albany, Corvallis, Salem 10 180 Eugene 10...

Genomic advances bring bioscience back to life.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Investors are again betting on the industry's promise After years in the doldrums, the bioscience industry is showings strong signs of life. The Nasdaq Biotech Index for 1999 more than doubled the mark of the previous year, outperforming...

Top 25 bioscience and medical technology companies.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Top 25 bioscience and medical technology companies Ranked by number of employees Rank last Number of Rank year Name/address/telephone employees...

Discoveries pump up Oregon health care industry.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... But the business is still dogged by financial and legal issues Look for Oregon to be the site of more landmark achievements in medicine this year. NASA's space shuttle went skyward in 1999 with artificial blood vessels made at Oregon...

Winners & Losers.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Sustainability Researchers from Portland State University unleashed results of a state wide poll last week that demonstrate strong public support for sustainable business practices. The announcement was celebrated by three Oregon firms...

SLAPSHOTS.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Port critic brush off Penalty box The most recent issue of Portside--Port of Portland's lavishly produced quarterly-glosses over citicism against one of its biggest development proposals, West Hayden Island. A group of natural...

Big deal for River District.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Centennial Mill, a rustic icon of River District industry and commerce, is about to be retired. In an $8 million deal expected to close this July, the Portland Development Commission will purchase the Northwest Front Avenue mill from...

Nurse's best friend: temp agency owner.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 24, 2000... Frustrated by an already tight labor market, long-term care administrators say temporary hiring agencies are capitalizing on the shortage to charge exorbitant wages. The temp agencies, which hire anywhere from 100 to 500 nurses each,...

Ports' collaboration could save W Hayden.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... West Hayden island is prime land for conservation, say critics of a $150 million Port of Portland plan to develop 827 acres of West Hayden Island. And a solution may be just a stone's throw away. The fat sandbar in the Columbia River,...

At last, Sunset Corridor joins the regional real estate boom.
March 24, 2000... Thanks to the likes of Intel and a legion of high-tech upstarts, the Sunset Corridor--a stretch of suburbia spanning Highway 26 from Beaverton to Hillsboro--is often referred to as the Silicon Forest. Although this "forest" has a notable...

KATU, KOIN newscast ratings dip, while KGW up 18 percent.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 24, 2000... The ratings of KATU's evening newscasts have dropped more than 20 percent in the last year, according to the latest Nielsen ratings. The 5 p.m. newscast, anchored by husband-wife team Cathy Marshall and John Marler, saw the most...

Vinton Studios take a hit as 'PJs' canceled.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Will Vinton Studios laid off 15 staff members this week as its trio of animated television shows, including "The PJs" on the Fox Network, were placed on hiatus by the major TV networks. Another pilot project, the 3-D animated series...

The Numbers Game.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... The Numbers Game WHO'S THE THIRSTIEST OF US ALL? EMPTY-NESTERS Carbonated Refrigerated Noncarb, Bottled beverages Coffee juices...

Insider Trading.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 24, 2000... Insider Trading The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives John Sonneborn Vice president RadySis Corp. Shares to sell: 5,000...

Remember, a price is paid for all this roundball fun.
March 24, 2000... For those of us who love basketball, there is nothing quite like March Madness. On the men's side of it, it's the chance to see 63 college games over three weeks. Wow, what a feast! It's also a unique opportunity to see how the popularity...

Umpqua acts quickly to get 'financial' status.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... * Umpqua Holdings Corp., Roseburg, became one of the first U.S. bank holding companies to be classified as a "financial" holding company. Under the GrammLeach-Bliley Act, approved by Congress and signed by President Clinton late last year, a...

Parr Lumber Co.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Portland-based Parr Lumber Co., one of the largest building materials centers in the U.S., has purchased an Albany lumberyard from Copeland Lumber Yards Inc. The newly acquired yard will continue operation while some capital improvements are...

Bank of America.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Bank of America was named the Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. In 1998, Bank of America contributed over $91 million and over three million volunteer hours to a wide variety of causes,...

Concentrex Inc.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Concentrex Inc., Portland, has promoted Lois M. Roberts to executive vice President, sales, marketing and customer services. Roberts will oversee Concentrex's sales effort, its marketing activities, customer service and support divisions, and...

Fletcher's Fine Foods Ltd.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Fletcher's Fine Foods Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., intends to take a special restructuring charge of $6.8 million ($4.2 million after taxes) in its fourth quarter. The charge relates to a number of strategic initiatives being implemented by the...

Gottschalks Inc.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Retailer Gottschalks Inc. said it would open a 45,000-square-foot department store in Grants Pass Shopping Center. CEO Jim Famalette said the Grants Pass location, the regional chain's second Oregon store, will open in late August. He also...

AVI BioPharma.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... In three separate sessions, scientists from AVI BioPharma, Portland, will present studies that demonstrate the safety of the company's third-generation antisense compounds, NEUGENES. The scientists, led by Patrick L. Iversen, Ph.D., AVIs...

CORRECTIONS.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Portland restaurateur Bruce Carey's new restaurant will open in June in the renovated Wieden and Kennedy building at Northwest 13th Avenue and Everett Street, not Northwest 13th and Glisan, as reported in a story printed in the March 17, 2000...

The Oregonian targets Hillsboro, Vancouver.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... The Oregonian's neighbors are moving into a larger, more prominent place. Readers in one of the fastest-growing regions of greater Portland, Washington County, will find a new weekly section tucked into Thursday's paper covering their...