Business Journal-Portland articles from May 1996

Business Journal-Portland archives from May 1996

Smoke and ballot measures: will tobacco money finance alternative-provider campaign? (proposal for tobacco companies to subsidize ballot measure for alternative health care reforms)
May 3, 1996... In a bizarre twist of Oregon's crazy-quilt initiative process, cigarette companies may subsidize a ballot measure that would force health plans to embrace naturopaths, chiropractors and other providers now shut out of insurance programs. "We...

Mental health contract goes to Providence. (Providence Portland Medical Center)
May 3, 1996... Multnomah County officials are negotiating a controversial $5.5 million deal that would create a mental health crisis triage center at Providence Portland Medical Center. But a potential legal challenge by a nonprofit competitor who had the...

Wilcox pushes for big development near North Plains. (Glen and Lorraine Wilcox)
May 3, 1996... Lorraine Wilcox, who lost her real estate license in a late-'80s investment scandal involving the state pension fund, has resurfaced along with her husband to propose a major development outside North Plains' urban growth boundary. Glen and...

Avia buyer has ties to Taiwan conglomerate. (Avia Group International Inc.)(Margaret Oung)
May 3, 1996... The new bosses of Avia Group International Inc. have family ties to a Taiwanese trade and textile empire and a professional heritage in elite running shoes. Margaret Oung is chairwoman of American Sporting Goods, the Irvine, Calif., footwear...

Developers squaring off over Albertson's project.
May 3, 1996... The race to build West Linn's next grocery store pits a savvy retail developer against one of the town's major housing developers. Albertson's Inc. and shopping center veteran Peter Powell spent $2.3 million in mid-April to buy 7.6 acres at...

Wells Fargo adding 800 to 1,000 new jobs in Beaverton. (Wells Fargo and Co.; Beaverton, Oregon)
May 3, 1996... The cloud of doubt that recently hovered over the former First Interstate Bank loan center in Beaverton has evaporated, with Wells Fargo & Co. announcing plans to add 800 to 1,000 new jobs there. At the start of the year the 1,100 Beaverton...

PGE settles suit with Westinghouse over faulty steam generators at Trojan plant. (Portland General Electric; Westinghouse Electric Corp.)
May 3, 1996... Portland General Electric has reached an out-of-court settlement of its three-year-old lawsuit against Westinghouse Electric Corp. over alleged faulty steam generators at the Trojan nuclear power plant. "By putting this matter behind us, we can...

Tadema remains target of suits after pair of bankruptcies. (businessman Clifford Tadema)
May 3, 1996... Vancouver businessman Clifford Tadema has three groups of attorneys trying to squeeze millions of dollars out of his troubled Churchill Companies Inc. Tadema has approached scores of investors and entrepreneurs since 1988 when he founded Key...

Tourism fuels widespread economic rebound on coast. (Oregon Coast)
May 3, 1996... Only two years ago business prospects on the Oregon Coast seemed dim as a radio with a blown tube. The traditional engines that drove the coastal economy - logging, sawmills, paper products and fishing - had by any measure run out of steam...

Developer sues attorneys after tussle with Freddies. (Tony Musolino)
May 3, 1996... After hauling Fred Meyer Inc. into court in 1994 and launching a furious legal battle, a California real estate developer faces nearly $1.5 million in unpaid bills and is suing his former attorneys for professional negligence. Tony Musolino...

Plucky survivors retool fishing, timber industries.
May 3, 1996... The bay fronts of Astoria and Newport, once home to rowdy honkytonks and thousand-boat armadas that sailed for the inshore salmon, have succumbed to up-scale restaurants and espresso bars. The rugged slopes of the Siuslaw National Forest no...

Sleep Country aims to catch local competitors napping. (Sleep Country USA)
May 3, 1996... SEATTLE - Sleep Country USA is springing into the Portland market this month with four mattress outlets, the first prong of a seven-store blitzkrieg attack on the region. The move marks the company's first solo venture outside the Puget Sound...

Tax Court to consider landmark Portland 'goodwill' case.
May 3, 1996... WASHINGTON D.C. - Two Portland brothers who have paid nearly $379,000 in back taxes and interest over the recent sale of their business, now want Uncle Sam to give the money back. Sprando Investments Inc. filed a petition in April asking the...

Regent Assisted Living gets cash for new developments.
May 3, 1996... Regent Assisted Living Inc. has completed financing arrangements for $27.5 million to develop four new assisted living communities. Health Care Property Investors Inc., a health care real estate investment trust, will provide $15.3 million in...

Wall St. funds Hill campaign; New York buyout firms round up $6,450 for incumbent Treasurer. (fund-raising campaign for John Hill)
May 10, 1996... Executives from a KKR-style corporate buyout firm are soliciting business with the Oregon state pension fund after bundling $4,700 in checks for Treasurer Jim Hill's re-election campaign. Hill's recent campaign finance report shows 12 different...

Architects need space planning of their own. (surplus of construction projects)
May 10, 1996... When Fletcher Farr Ayotte moved to a 10,000-square-foot floor in the Mohawk Building two years ago it left 25 percent of it unused. But that's changing. Fletcher Farr now has 18 more people on staff, an increase of 60 percent, according to...

Macheezmo chain stays on lean diet. (marketing campaign of Macheezmo Mouse Restaurants Inc.)(Company Profile)
May 10, 1996... Growing competition and fickle consumers who eat lean one day and fat the next have Macheezmo Mouse Restaurants Inc. looking for ways to boost lagging sales. Portland-based Macheezmo Mouse swallowed another serving of poor numbers in its third...

Asahi affiliates joining boom in Silicon Forest. (AGPR Inc. and AG Electronic Materials Inc.)
May 10, 1996... The next wave is starting to hit. Two affiliates of Asahi Glass Company Ltd. - AGPR Inc. and AG Electronic Materials Inc. - are coming to the Silicon Forest. They will be joined by the U.S. subsidiary of Tokai Carbon Company Ltd. on adjoining...

Internet projects occupy quarter of Intel workers. (Intel Corp.)
May 10, 1996... Intel Corp. is using its Oregon campus to get inside the Internet. About 2,000 of Intel's 8,000 Oregon employees are directly involved in developing or modifying products to take advantage of the Internet. Fully half the company's Oregon work...

Tile maker pieces market together; Pratt and Larsen shifts away from pottery to artistic tiles.(Industry Overview)
May 10, 1996... When the giftware and pottery market that thrived in the earthy 1970s simply cracked in the early 1980s, Michael Pratt and Reta Larsen didn't just glaze over. The Portland couple, who began their careers as potters, transferred their knowledge...

Spieker project keeps Kruse Way cruising. (Spieker Properties)
May 10, 1996... Spieker Properties has acquired rights to a chunk of prime Kruse Way land and plans to start building a large office building there this summer, said Senior Vice President Jim Eddy. Spieker, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, will...

PacifiCorp bids on Aussie power plant, British press reports. (PacifiCorp teams up with Britain's National Power to bid on the Hazelwood power station in Victoria)
May 10, 1996... PacifiCorp is teaming up with the United Kingdom's largest electricity producer to bid for an Australian power plant, according to a London newspaper. The Sunday Telegraph reported May 5 that Portland-based PacifiCorp is making a bid for the...

U S West Direct folds LocalTouch phone directory. (U S West Direct yellow pages)
May 10, 1996... U S West Direct will discontinue its LocalTouch community directories in Seattle and Portland by the end of June. Its 27 neighborhood directories will be integrated into the U S West Direct yellow pages, said Nichele Lomack, public relations...

The digital library: intranets turn Internet inside out. (Sequent Computer Systems manages organizational information flow via intranet deployment)
May 10, 1996... "DATA JUNKYARD!" That's what Sequent Computer Systems' Michael Lee Squires calls the mishmash of computer systems most corporations have patched together to store and dispense information. "Sequent has always had a lot of on-line systems,"...

Evergreen bringing huge cargo ships to Port; but is Columbia channel deep enough to handle them? (Evergreen America Corp. to dock at Port of Portland)
May 10, 1996... Evergreen America Corp. will soon bring its huge new container ships - the largest ships of their kind to travel up the Columbia River - to the Port of Portland. Officials with Evergreen say that by the end of June its massive "Class U"...

Investors plan to buy Pier 33 Marina from Port of Portland. (Hayden Island Yacht Club)
May 10, 1996... Private investors affiliated with the Hayden Island Yacht Club plan to buy the Pier 33 Marina near the airport on Northeast Marine Drive at 33rd Avenue. Pier 33 Marina is now owned by the Port of Portland, and Port commissioners recently...

It's incredible! Tandy chain due retail tinkering. (Tandy Corp. Incredible Universe)
May 17, 1996... The Incredible Universe may be shrinking. With increasing amounts of money getting sucked into a black hole, the never-profitable Incredible Universe chain is rethinking its strategy. Rather than charging ahead with more stores, the company is...

Sapient lands funding for Web health guide. (Sapient Health Network; World Wide Web)
May 17, 1996... Two former Creative Multimedia executives have secured $1 million in venture financing and loans to bring customized on-line health information to individuals worldwide. Jim Kean and Bill Kelly plan to launch the Sapient Health Network on the...

Old industrial site may get new life. (developer Rick Holt plans to develop site in Portland, Oregon)
May 17, 1996... Developer plans 500-plus housing units When most people look down from the bluffs at North Portland's former Riedel yard, they see a decaying industrial site. When developer Rick Holt surveys the riverfront property, he sees the modern-day...

Lincoln Center buyer signs Norris Beggs as manager. (O'Connor Group; Norris, Beggs and Simpson)
May 17, 1996... The O'Connor Group plans to buy the prestigious Lincoln Center office complex this month and Norris Beggs & Simpson will manage it for them. The pending deal will be the largest real estate transaction in Portland since the same center changed...

Scappoose airport pitted against gravel operation. (Oregon; Lone Star Northwest)
May 17, 1996... Is Scappoose's future under the ground or in the air? That's the talk of the small town near Sauvie Island, which is debating Lone Star Northwest's bid to develop a sprawling gravel mine next to its long-humming Santosh mine in Scappoose....

Creative Multimedia gets in tune with Web. (plans to launch CD-ROM reference guide on music)
May 17, 1996... Creative Multimedia is jumping into commerce on the Internet with the help of a California music CD business and industry trade publication Billboard Magazine. Following its usual formula of licensing content from name-brand providers,...

Acquisition opens avenue of growth for Electro Scientific. (Electro Scientific Industries Inc.)
May 17, 1996... Buying AISI establishes foothold in machine vision The acquisition this week of a Michigan company creates a firm foothold in the machine vision industry for Portland's Electro Scientific Industries Inc. while creating a niche with healthy room...

Freightliner to offer support for Mercedes-Benz group. (Freightliner Corp.; Daimler Benz AG)
May 17, 1996... Freightliner Corp., which recently expanded operations into firetrucks and school bus chassis, also is gearing up to assist its sister company Mercedes-Benz AG with a new product development group in Portland. Freightliner, which had earlier...

Precision Castparts aims for a billion; aerospace supplier wants to diversify. (Precision Castparts Corp.)
May 24, 1996... Precision Castparts Corp. President Bill McCormick intends to make the metals manufacturer a $1 billion business by the turn of the century - nearly double its current size. McCormick is laying bets on a revival in the aerospace industry,...

ADC Kentrox pushing into new markets. (innovative telecommunications equipment to spur further growth for telecommunications company)
May 24, 1996... The rapid growth of corporate computer networks and the Internet has helped boost sales more than fivefold in five years for telecommunications equipment maker ADC Kentrox. Now the Portland-based company is focusing on new technologies that could...

CheckFree Corp. plans call center with 150 new jobs. (technical assistance for electronic funds transfer)
May 24, 1996... CheckFree Corp., an Ohio-based provider of electronic services for transferring money, plans to establish a customer call center in Portland that will employ up to 150. The call center will provide customer and technical support for clients...

Oil tank cleanup company Pemco folds.
May 24, 1996... One of Portland's largest underground oil tank cleanup companies is going belly up. Pemco, an 18-year-old company that once employed 200 people, is liquidating its holdings and going out of business, said Woody Verkamp, a workout specialist...

Undaunted challenge: whether researching mental health or canoeing in Alaska, Mary Durham likes to test herself.
May 24, 1996... Mary Durham is all about pushing her limits. As an accomplished scientists and author, she can talk about financial and intellectual challenges in one breath and in the next relive the fear she felt watching lions walk by her tent in the...

Benchmade founder sharpens skills: Les de Asis comes back from bankruptcy to enjoy success. (Benchmade Knife Co. Inc.)
May 24, 1996... Just as tempering steel makes a knife blade stronger, the bankruptcy of Les de Asis' California knife-making business in the mid-1980s tempered his business skills. Now he's rebounded in Oregon in the 1990s with a company that boasts $12...

Hewlett-Packard Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 24, 1996... Hewlett-Packard Co. designs, manufactures and services electronic products and systems for measurement and computation. The company's product line includes PCs, workstations, laser printers, medical equipment and test equipment for...

Columbia hopes Korean climate spells hot sales. (Columbia Sportswear Co. exports its outerwear to Korea)
May 31, 1996... Columbia Sportswear is counting on bone-chilling South Korean winters to fuel demand for its parkas, sportswear and boots as the company opens 16 retail outlets to serve the 10.7 million residents of Seoul by the end of next year. "There's...

Claremont Technology readies $59 million IPO. (Claremont Technology Group Inc. to sell stocks at $19 as initial public offering)
May 31, 1996... Claremont Technology Group Inc. is floating a $59 million initial public offering. The Beaverton-based provider of large-scale, customized computer software is offering 3,105,000 shares of stock at $19 a share, including a 405,000-share...

Burger King empire for sale. (Joseph Angel to sell Restaurant Management Northwest, Burger King Corp's franchise operating company)
May 31, 1996... Joseph Angel's empire of Burger King outlets and other restaurants is on the auction block and a deal is in the works to sell the businesses valued at more than $28 million, including the real estate. Angel said he has signed a confidentiality...

New Pacific One Bank seeks acquisitions to beef itself up.
May 31, 1996... Fledgling Pacific One Bank will take flight on June 1, led by a Hawaiian owner, a Northwestern work force and a chief executive who calls both regions home. Consisting of assets and branches left over from the merger of U.S. Bancorp and West...

Coming soon to Act III: a housing project. (Act III Theatres to put up 95 units of housing beside planned theater expansion project)
May 31, 1996... A proposal by Act III Theatres to develop a large cinema complex in Southeast Portland contains a startling coming attraction: accompanying housing. The theater chain, headquartered in Portland, wants to replace its Rose Moyer 10-screen...

Winmar clears DEQ hurdles on Airport Way. (Winmar Pacific Inc. protects itself from environmental liability with consent from the Department of Environmental Quality)
May 31, 1996... Winmar Pacific Inc. enhanced its ability to develop or sell 400 acres of prime Airport Way industrial land through a negotiated agreement with environmental regulators. Winmar Pacific, a development arm of Safeco Insurance, obtained a consent...

The dark side of franchising: when relations with a franchisor break down, some franchisees form gripe groups, others file suit. (includes related article on warning signals in franchising)(Focus on Small Business)
May 31, 1996... When relations with a franchisor break down, some franchisees form gripe groups, others file suit When Patrick McCartney opened his first Subway Sandwiches restaurant in Oregon 11 years ago, he was a local sandwich pioneer for what's now the...