Business Journal-Portland articles from October 1991

Business Journal-Portland archives from October 1991

Intel set to lay off 300 at Hillsboro plant. (waning sales and profits reduces production at Hillsboro OEM Products Division)
October 28, 1991... Feeling high-tech pinch, industry giant plans to cut local work force at least 7 percent Intel Corp. will soon eliminate between 300 and 350 positions in its Hillsboro OEM Products Division because of waning sales and profits. The division...

Rep. Brian accused of major role in huge Lincoln Center suit. (Tom Brian)
October 28, 1991... Tigard State Rep. Tom Brian is not out of the woods yet from his role in last year's disputed Lincoln Center sale, despite an out-of-court settlement clearing him in a multimillion-dollar civil suit. New allegations by Brian's colleague Marv...

AOI adds muscle to workers' comp fray. (Associated Oregon Industries offers group insurance for small employers in conjunction with SAIF Corp.) (Company Profile)
October 28, 1991... In an effort to bolster their own political and business clout and help small businesses, the state's largest workers' compensation insurer and a powerful business lobby are offering a new group insurance plan to serve small employers....

Trojan woes push PGE to rate request. (unexpected expenses incurred in shutting down Portland General Corp.'s Trojan nuclear power plant)
October 28, 1991... When it rains it pours, and right now Portland General Corp. is getting drenched. But the parent company of Portland General Electric Co.--the metro area's primary supplier of electric power--is looking for ratepayers to buy the beleaguered...

GTE tests message market to answering firms' chagrin. (GTE Northwest Inc.; independent answering services firms)
October 28, 1991... GTE Northwest Inc. intends to offer a wider range of telephone answering services in a move that has independent answering services crying foul over what they claim is unfair competition. Before the end of this year, GTE would like to provide...

Backers of Fox project aim to outsmart Wright Runstad. (Hillman Properties Northwest and Tom Moyer; Fox Theatre block; Wright Runstad & Co.)
October 28, 1991... Portland developer Hillman Properties Northwest and former movie baron Tom Moyer are entering the competition to build Portland's next downtown high-rise. Hillman and Moyer are finalizing plans for a 27-story office and retail building on...

In Focus makes profit but cancels deal with Compaq. (In Focus Systems Inc.; Compaq Computer Corp.)
October 28, 1991... In Focus Systems Inc. eked out a profit in the third quarter, but just barely. The company also reported that it has ended a relationship with Compaq Computer Corp. The maker of innovative computer displays earned $298,471, or 3 cents a...

Sequent, Mentor in tailspin, but eye 4th-quarter uptick. (losses and layoffs at Sequent Computer Systems Inc. and Mentor Graphics Corp.)
October 28, 1991... The meltdown of big-name high-tech companies continued last week with local companies announcing ever-larger losses and more painful layoffs. Sequent Computer Systems Inc. lost $14.6 million for the third quarter and announced it would lay...

ChiroNet snaps up Kaiser contract, close to Fortis deal. (Kaiser Permanente; chiropractic services)
October 28, 1991... ChiroNet, a small network of chiropractors, has one agreement signed and another in the works to provide services for two major health care providers. ChiroNet has signed a contract with Kaiser Permanente and has an agreement pending with a...

Grand old movie houses defy multiplexes, rise again. (Focus: Commercial Real Estate)
October 28, 1991... They're baaack! Remodels, classic movies and beer help bring single-screen theaters back from the dead AT THE NEWLY refurbished Aladdin Theatre, a worker pushes a floor sander over the wooden stage, which has mostly been unused since the...

Lingering threat of recession weighs down business. (national economic recovery and economic conditions in Portland)(The Monitor)
October 28, 1991... Portland has not been in recession, strictly speaking, but it has certainly felt the recession. It has yet to feel the recovery. The national economic recovery is in place. This is firmly believed by economists, and just as firmly disputed by...

Bellevue's SEACOR absorbing Portland's SRH Environmental. (SRH Environmental Management)
October 28, 1991... A Bellevue, Wash.-based engineering firm has expanded to Portland by absorbing SRH Environmental Management, a local firm that specializes in environmental work. Although negotiations are still under way, as many as 12 of SRH's 27...

Bank of Newport parent to open metro-area branch. (West Coast Bancorp)
October 28, 1991... A small bank holding company with ties to the Oregon coast hopes to open its first branch in the Portland area soon. West Coast Bancorp, the holding company overseeing the Bank of Newport in Newport, has received approval from state...

Cleanup work steers engineers to environmental market. (environmental rules and regulations contributes to growth of environmental engineering services)
October 28, 1991... Growth in the environmental engineering market hit a new high-water mark this year when the Port Development Commission was flooded with 21 proposals for a study of 42 east-side properties suspected of being contaminated by hazardous waste....

U S West and rival Nintendo pursue visions of videotext. (Nintendo of America Inc.)
October 28, 1991... As both U S West and Nintendo of America Inc. move in separate ways toward creating "electronic gateways" for accessing information via phone lines, the telephone may get more interesting. The question is, will people show interest? Will the...

U S West Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
October 28, 1991... U S West Inc. 7800 East Orchard Road, Englewood, Colo. 80111 U S West Inc. is a worldwide communications company specializing in telecommunications, data communications, marketing and financial services. TABULAR DATA OMITTED ...

Lori Bauman, Carey Critchlow and James Hensel. (Law)
October 28, 1991... Lori Bauman, Carey Critchlow and James Hensel became partners in the Portland office of Ater Wynne Hewitt Dodson & Skerritt. Bauman's practice emphasizes commercial litigation and environmental law; Critchlow's practice focuses on employment...

Scott Hernandez. (Environmental Services)
October 28, 1991... Marine chemist Scott Hernandez was elected president of Devine Marine Environmental Inc., a Portland-based company that specializes in marine spill response services.

Boise Cascade Corp. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Boise Cascade Corp., Boise, Idaho, reported a net loss of $14.3 million on sales of $1 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30. This compares to net earnings of $13.9 million on sales of $1.1 billion for the same period in 1990.

Oregon Metallurgical Corp. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Oregon Metallurgical Corp., Albany, Ore., reported a net loss of $1.3 million on sales of $12.3 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. This compares to net earnings of $2.3 million on sales of $23.9 million for the same period in 1990.

Precision Castparts Corp. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Precision Castparts Corp. of Portland reported net earnings of $9.1 million on sales of $143.8 million for the quarter ended Sept. 29. This compares to net earnings of $8 million on sales of $130 million for the same period in 1990.

Riverview Savings Bank. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Riverview Savings Bank, Camas, Wash., reported net earnings of $446,000 for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Timberline Software Corp. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Timberline Software Corp. of Beaverton reported a net loss of $113,000 on revenues of $2.8 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. This compares to a net loss of $96,000 on revenues of $2.8 million for the same period in 1990.

Washington Federal Savings and Loan Association. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Washington Federal Savings and Loan Association, Seattle, reported earnings of $19.3 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, and earnings of $69.3 million for the year ended Sept. 30. This compares to earnings of $16.1 million and $62.9 million...

Western Bank. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Western Bank of Coos Bay reported net earnings of $1.4 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. This compares to net earnings of $1.2 million for the same period in 1990.

Willamette Industries Inc. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Willamette Industries Inc. of Portland reported net earnings of $13.6 million on sales of $505 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. This compares to net earnings of $31.3 million on sales of $483.6 million for the same period in 1990.

Pittman & Brooks. (Sales & leases)
October 28, 1991... Pittman & Brooks bought a 3,600-square-foot office building at 15255 S.W. 72nd Ave. in Tigard from Lain & Cochran for $334,000. Andy Sotta of Grubb & Ellis Co. represented the buyer. John VanZonneveld of Macadam Forbes Inc. represented the...

Dennis and Ella Forbess. (Sales & leases)
October 28, 1991... Dennis and Ella Forbess of Vancouver, Wash., bought an eight-unit apartment building at 1424 N.E. 140th Ave. in Vancouver from Field Properties, a Washington partnership, for $249,100. Charles Kleier of Norris, Beggs & Simpson Realtors...

Morrison Bridge East Associates. (Sales & leases)
October 28, 1991... Morrison Bridge East Associates bought the Lock Box Mini Storage Building, 109 S.E. Alder St. in Portland, from Alder Street Investors Ltd. of Portland for $555,000. The six-story, 60,000-square-foot structure was built in 1900. Lee Van Domelen...

Alex G. Investments. (Sales & leases)
October 28, 1991... Alex G. Investments of Portland bought the 53-unit Brightwood Apartments, 1398 Cleveland St. in Woodburn, from Brightwood Oregon Ltd. of Portland for $1,250,000. Jack Estes of Norris & Stevens Realtors negotiated the deal.

Christenson Electric Inc. (Business notes)
October 28, 1991... The high-voltage division of Portland's Christenson Electric Inc. will reconstruct trolley wiring along a one-mile stretch of the Muni, the City of San Francisco's municipal railway system. The work is part of a rehabilitation project.

Northwest Landscape Industries. (Business notes)
October 28, 1991... Northwest Landscape Industries, a landscape maintenance and construction firm, was awarded a three-year contract for landscape management of the Nike headquarters in Beaverton.

Hahn and Associates Inc. (Business notes)
October 28, 1991... Hahn and Associates Inc. was awarded a two-year contract to perform environmental consulting services for Pacific Power & Light in seven Western states. Hahn was also awarded the contract for the third consecutive year to perform environmental...

Rex Recording. (Business notes)
October 28, 1991... Rex Recording has expanded its facilities and has worked for the following advertisers: G.I. Joe's, Hollywood Video, Burgerville, Portland General Electric, Oil Can Henry's, KOPB radio, Standard Insurance and the Heathman Hotel.

The McWilliams Group. (Business notes)
October 28, 1991... The McWilliams Group, an advertising agency with offices in Portland and Seattle, added the following Portland-area clients: Housewarmers Oil, a heating oil company; NW Protection Corp., a security patrol service; and Brice Investment Realty, a...

Aughenbaugh Design. (Business notes)
October 28, 1991... Aughenbaugh Design, a marketing communications firm, was selected to design a marketing identity package for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oregon.

Metro approves bold new blueprint for future growth. (Metropolitan Service District's Regional Urban Growth Goals and Objectives plan)(Focus: Commercial Real Estate)
October 28, 1991... RUGGO sounds like a carpet cleaner, but it actually tidies growth plans TWO DECADES AGO, the battle cry of local environmentalists was "Don't Californicate Oregon." Now there's a new call: "Let's not become another Seattle." But it's almost...

Western Star Inc. (Earnings & dividends)
October 28, 1991... Western Star Inc. of Lake Oswego reported net earnings of $56,000 on revenues of $1.1 million for the quarter ended July 31. This compares to net earnings of $12,000 on revenues of $686,000 for the same period in 1990.

Builders, businesses struggle to understand handicapped access. (implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act)(Focus: Commercial Real Estate)
October 28, 1991... Americans With Disabilities Act causes confusion over access rules DARREL ACKERMAN and his partner George McCart say that making their office accessible to the handicapped could set them back $700 or $800. Like many other firms these days,...

Tenants splurge on Class A downtown, but beg for scraps in suburbs. (tight suburban office leases)(Focus: Commercial Real Estate)
October 28, 1991... How tight is tight? Suburban space gasps for breath as vacancy shrinks SOME AREAS of the Portland suburbs have so little office space open, says Jan Boettcher of CB Commercial, "I think people are going to be working out of the back seats of...

Arthur Andersen absorbs Ernst & Young. (accounting firms; Portland office)
October 21, 1991... Ernst partners in Portland move to rival accounting firm, but will their clients follow? In a significant move among the big six accounting firms locally, Ernst & Young's Portland office is closing and joining the folds of Arthur Andersen &...

Recession cuts deep into wood products industry profits.
October 21, 1991... Weak demand for lumber and brutal price discounting that began more than a year ago for most grades of pulp and paper have pummeled the earnings of wood products companies. Of the 12 publicly traded wood products companies with significant...

Bright ideas light the way during gloomy times. (local businesses' creative efforts to save money in a tough economy)(Focus: Growing a Business in a Slow Economy)
October 21, 1991... Turn on that light bulb! Local businesses get creative in effort to save money, grow in tough times IN A MORIBUND economy, it's wise to heed the sober advice of industry experts. Put your balance sheets under an electron microscope, and...

NERCO cutting back 60 at headquarters. (minerals, oil and gas, and coal company; Portland, Oregon)
October 21, 1991... NERCO Inc. has announced it will lay off 60 of its headquarters staff members in Portland as part of a continuing restructuring process. The move comes on the heels of a similar layoff in June, and a physical consolidation of corporate staff...

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
October 21, 1991... Louisiana-Pacific Corp. 111 S.W. Fifth Ave., Portland, Ore. 97204 NYSE: LPX Louisiana-Pacific Corp. is one of the largest lumber producers in the world. The company was formed as a spin-off of Georgia-Pacific Corp. in 1973 and now operates...

Edward Hall. (Other)
October 21, 1991... Edward Hall was named chairman of the board of MCG N.W., which specializes in executive and director pay and benefits. Michael Swirnoff replaced Hall as chief executive officer, and Gary Hirschkron was named president.

Barnes Road MRI gets nod from state. (Portland's Barnes Road Imaging Center's state approval to operate a magnetic resonance imaging scanner)
October 21, 1991... After nearly a year of dispute, Portland's Barnes Road Imaging Center has received state approval to operate a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. The state Office of Health Policy ruled Oct. 15 that the center's MRI didn't require...

Hospice House. (Business notes)
October 21, 1991... Hospice House will reopen this month as Hopewell House, a joint project between Hospice House and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. The facility provides care for people with life-threatening illnesses.

Wake up! Chapter 11 is just the beginning of this business tale. (post-bankruptcy success of two Portland companies)(Focus: Growing a Business in a Slow Economy)
October 21, 1991... It is possible to survive, and even thrive, following a bankruptcy TOM PETERSON, CHEER UP! Norm Winningstad, don't sell that Ferrari just yet. There's hope for even the most cash-strapped or bankrupt companies. A paltry 5 percent of faltering...

Simeon Gannett Reed: pioneer transportation and mining businessman. (Columbia-Willamette Business Hall of Fame inductee)(Special Section: Columbia-Willamette Business Hall of Fame)
October 21, 1991... What made the Pacific Northwest inviting to a keen-minded New Englander with a strong work ethic and a sharp business sense? In the eyes of Simeon G. Reed, the West lay before him like an untapped vessel of fortune. Born in 1830 and raised...

John Palensky: BPA's salmon expert angles for answers in fish run controversy. (Bonneville Power Administration's director of Fish and Wildlife)
October 21, 1991... Pioneer tales brag of rivers so thick with salmon a man could cross the waters walking on their backs. Those were the days when fortune hunters stopped on the Oregon Trail not for gold but for the red flesh of fish; the days when the chinook...

Clackamas mall on block for $150 million. (JMB Inc. to sell Clackamas Town Center)
October 14, 1991... Pension fund wants premium price for center and has attracted two possible buyers Clackamas Town Center, one of Oregon's largest and most prestigious chunks of real estate, has been put on the market for about $150 million. JMB Inc. of...

Tek printer demand tops supply. (Tektronix Inc.'s Phaser III color printer)
October 14, 1991... Tektronix Inc. is currently unable to manufacture enough of its Phaser III color printer, which has become its most successful new product in recent history. Tek's Graphics Printing and Imaging Division in Wilsonville has been overwhelmed...

US West puts in call for less regulation. (Public Utility Commission to decide on proposed flexible telephone rate regulation)
October 14, 1991... Seventy percent of Oregon's telephone customers may be about to enter a brave, new regulatory world. US West, which has 840,000 Oregon customers, is currently awaiting what could be a precedent-setting Public Utility Commission (PUC)...

Portland gaining from shrinkage at First Interstate Bank. (selection of Portland as headquarter of First Interstate Bank's new Northwest regional operation)
October 14, 1991... While First Interstate Bancorp faces a 10 percent staff cut, its Oregon operation will actually gain a small number of employees in the regional reorganization now under way. The selection of Portland as the headquarters of First...

Sequent, Novell join for server computer. (Sequent Computer Systems Inc.)
October 14, 1991... Sequent Computer Systems Inc. will announce Oct. 14 that it is producing a new computer in partnership with Novell Inc. of Provo, Utah. Sequent, which has suffered a difficult 1991, hopes to diversify its market by producing a so-called...

Bottom-fisher Cray snags FPS with $3.25 million offer. (Cray Research Inc. plans to acquire FPS Computing)
October 14, 1991... Cray Research Inc., the world's dominant supercomputer maker, has emerged as the mysterious white knight to save sagging FPS Computing from liquidation. But the Minnesota company thus far is a decidedly tentative hero--and a somewhat miserly...

PACC set to market plans in southwest Washington. (PACC Health Plans Inc.)
October 14, 1991... PACC Health Plans is pushing into southwest Washington from its solid base of customers in Portland and the Willamette Valley area. The move is another phase in PACC's long-term expansion plans that began just more than a year ago, following...

Sleep monitoring firm awakens venture capital interest. (Sleep Physiology Services)
October 14, 1991... Venture capitalists have recently plowed some $1.8 million into a Portland business that diagnoses and treats sleep disorders for patients in their homes. The 3-year-old Sleep Physiology Services, a privately held company that also has...

American City plans to buy 26th business journal. (American City Business Journals Inc. to acquire Triangle Business)
October 14, 1991... American City Business Journals Inc., parent company of The Portland Business Journal, has reached an agreement in principle to acquire Triangle Business, a weekly newspaper serving the Research Triangle area in North Carolina. American...

Reebok International Ltd. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
October 14, 1991... 100 Technology Center Drive, Stoughton, Mass. 02072 NYSE: RBK Reebok International Ltd., a manufacturer of athletic footwear and dress shoes, produces the Reebok, Avia, Rockport and Boston Whaler brand names. Avia is a Portland company that...

Kaplan/McLaughlin/Diaz (KMD) Architects. (Business notes)
October 14, 1991... Kaplan/McLaughlin/Diaz (KMD) Architects was selected to transform a department store in Paris, France, into a 120,000-square-foot retail arcade with condominiums above.

Ateq seeks strength in union with rival or Japanese investor. (plans merger with either Etec Systems Inc. or Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries of Japan)
October 7, 1991... Ateq Corp. executives are negotiating to sell the company to their California archrival. According to sources close to the company, Etec Systems Inc. of Hayward, Calif., has offered to buy the struggling Ateq in a stock deal. Both companies...

Bromar Oregon. (Business notes)
October 7, 1991... Bromar Oregon selected Woodson & Neuroth Inc. to provide advertising, marketing and media placement for the Portland-based food broker and its product lines.

Pacific Grip & Lighting. (Business notes)
October 7, 1991... Pacific Grip & Lighting of Portland provided equipment and crew for "Frozen Assets," a feature film, and for commercials for Chevrolet, Ford and Sudafed.