The Business Journal-Milwaukee articles from August 1999

The Business Journal-Milwaukee archives from August 1999

Wehr Steel site to be seized, land developed.
August 27, 1999... The city of West Allis and village of West Milwaukee are moving forward with plans to condemn the Wehr Steel Corp. property so they can develop the 32-acre site into an industrial park. For several years, West Allis and West Milwaukee...

Quad to hire 300 in West Allis.(Quad/Graphics Inc.)
August 27, 1999... Quad/Graphics Inc. has acquired a 9-acre parcel next to its West Allis production plant, where the company is planning another $9 million expansion that will create 300 more jobs. Claire Ho, spokeswoman for the Pewaukee-based printing...

Mandel plans Brookfield housing.(Mandel Group Inc.)
August 27, 1999... The Mandel Group Inc., Milwaukee, plans to build a $27 million complex of more than 200 multifamily units in Brookfield. Called Norhardt Crossing, the development is in the middle of a revitalized downtown. The apartment and...

At Dana Investment, value is in the eye of the beholder.(Dana Investment Advisors)(Company Profile)
August 27, 1999... It sounds like a paradox - value investors who own computer technology giants Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. But Joseph Veranth and other money managers at Dana Investment Advisors Inc., Brookfield, say there is...

Golden Books plant owner renegotiates loans.
August 27, 1999... The company buying the Golden Books Family Entertainment Inc. printing plant in Sturtevant has renegotiated about $4 million in government loans that enticed the troubled children's book publisher to build the plant. Artech Capital is...

Hotel planned for Greenfield.
August 27, 1999... A 90-room hotel is being planned for the northeast corner of Highway 100 and Edgerton Avenue on the western edge of Greenfield. A Country Inn & Suites by Carlson will be built at that location if the Greenfield City Council approves the...

Boucher Group to buy Schwister Ford dealership.
August 27, 1999... A local Ford dealer whose symbol is a Model T spinning atop its Menomonee Falls location is being overtaken by a superpowered dealership chain making another acquisition. The Boucher Group Inc., West Allis, has incorporated Gordie Boucher...

For state bank investors, a summer of discontent.(share prices of Wisconsin-based banks plummet)(Industry Overview)
August 27, 1999... When investors in Wisconsin banks look at their summer returns and see red, some analysts believe they should blame Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. Wisconsin's banks generally posted good second-quarter results, but few have...

Case, farm equipment makers sue over South Dakota law.(South Dakota Dealer Protection Act)
August 27, 1999... Case Corp. and three of its competitors are trying to overturn a new South Dakota law that makes it harder for farm-equipment manufacturers to clump underperforming dealers. Case, its rivals Deere & Co., Agco Corp. and New Holland NV,...

Briggs near completion of sale of West Allis foundry.(Briggs & Stratton)
August 27, 1999... Briggs & Stratton Corp. is in the final stages of negotiating the sale of ifs West Allis foundry, about a month after workers there ratified a new labor contract with the buyer, Metal Technologies International. Doubts about the sale...

Up from the ashes once again.(Phoenix Engineered Products Inc.)(Company Profile)
August 27, 1999... Phoenix Engineered Products must constantly reinvent itself Like most small businesses, Phoenix Engineered Products Inc. has to worry about competition in its industry. An additional challenge, less common, is that the products Phoenix...

Mandel Group plans 3rd Ward development.
August 20, 1999... Mandel Group Inc. is committed to expanding its residential housing base in downtown Milwaukee by building a development in the 3rd Ward. Preliminary work is underway to determine the size, scope and location of the project, said Dick...

Fired employee to pursue Universal Foods.(Susan Taylor)
August 20, 1999... When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declined to pursue Susan Taylor's discrimination complaint against Universal Foods Corp., she was befuddled by the agency's explanation. Taylor had charged that the Milwaukee company passed...

Firstar falls short of goal for moving deposits put of Iowa.
August 20, 1999... Regulators won't receive official deposit totals for Iowa banks until September, but sources close to Firstar Corp. said the Milwaukee bank holding company missed its goal of transferring $970 million to its banks in other states. Bank...

A publicly held Blue Cross will grow through product 'branding.'.(Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin)(Transcript)
August 20, 1999... Thomas Hefty, president, chief executive officer and chairman of Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin, spoke Aug. 13 to Milwaukee-area business leaders attending The Business Journal's Power Breakfast event. In his remarks, Hefty...

Firstar to pare its board to 18 directors from 31.
August 20, 1999... Firstar Corp. will narrow its board to 18 directors from 31 after it completes its acquisition of Mercantile Bancorp. Inc. in late September. The Milwaukee bank holding company will have 45 directors to choose from - 31 at Firstar and 14...

Wells Fargo's job cuts miss Wisconsin offices.
August 20, 1999... Wells Fargo & Co. is eliminating 4,000 jobs because of its merger with Norwest Corp., but the San Francisco bank's Wisconsin branches are struggling to fill vacancies. With no overlap in Wisconsin and a growing record-keeping business...

Manufacturers stoke earnings, pad profit margins, in second quarter.(1999)
August 20, 1999... Double-digit profit gains once again were the norm for the Milwaukee area's biggest public companies in the second quarter. If many companies coasted last year as the economy cooled off, they stepped on the gas in the second quarter....

Getting it right: Specialty Printing Service survived startup missteps to thrive, grow.(Small Business Strategies)
August 20, 1999... What started out wrong has gone right for Specialty Printing Service. Kurtis Boos and David Dec acknowledge making several questionable decisions when starting their commercial printing business - including starting it at all. "We...

Kubenik plays key role in West Milwaukee's revival.(Small Business Strategies)(H. Kubenik Mechanical owner Donald Kubenik)
August 20, 1999... As a teenager peddling papers on Milwaukee's near west side in the 1950s, Donald Kubenik had no idea that one day he would help revive that community as an adult. Now owner of H. Kubenik Mechanical, a mechanical contracting company that...

Web of ideas: Carlos de la Huerga forms Telaric to foster high-tech start-up firms.
August 20, 1999... Steve Bomba understands Victor Kiam's logic, and that's good news for Carlos de la Huerga. Like Kiam, who liked Remington shavers so much he bought the company, Bomba believes if you see something that appeals to your business acumen,...

Driving a new route: new MagneTek exec searches Web for buzz on recent tumult.(Focus on Manufacturing)(president and general manager Dean Hoffmann)
August 20, 1999... Dean Hoffmann is taking a new route to management by walking around - management by Web surfing. Hoffmann, the new president and general manager of the New Berlin-based drives division of MagneTek Inc., often visits Web site chat rooms...

Manufacturers throttle back on capital spending.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 13, 1999... Grinding to a halt The Milwaukee area's largest manufacturers spent slightly more on machinery last year than in 1997. The biggest spenders: Company Amount % Change Harley-Davidson Inc. ...

Physicians Plus HMO contracts with Aurora, Advanced Health Network.(Physicians Plus Insurance Corp.; Aurora Health Care)
August 13, 1999... Starting Jan. 1, Physicians Plus HMO members will be able to use Aurora Health Care doctors and hospitals for the first time. Milwaukee-based Aurora said Aug. 11 that it has agreed to provide health care services to members of Physicians...

Hospitals' bad debt on the rise.
August 13, 1999... Among Milwaukee County general acute-care hospitals, bad debt rose and charity care held steady last year, reflecting major changes in public policies governing medical care for the poor. The data, taken from reports the hospitals filed...

Y2K fears prompt bank withdrawals.
August 13, 1999... Financial institutions are used to closing accounts because a customer is moving or wants the services available at a competitor, but recently, fears about the Y2K bug are being blamed as the culprit. The state Department of Financial...

Will Miller return to sports-themed advertising roots?(Miller Brewing Co.)
August 13, 1999... Marketing executives say Milwaukee-based brewer may be moving back to more conventional spots Miller Brewing Co. is re-evaluating its advertising strategy after releasing the ad agencies for Miller Lite and Miller Genuine Draft last...

Creation of new mutual funds slows, as new investment wanes.
August 13, 1999... The number of new mutual funds opened to investors by Wisconsin mutual fund families has slowed dramatically from a year ago, as the industry reaches saturation and cash from investors slows. Eleven funds made their debut in the first...

Allmerica Financial to exit health insurance.
August 13, 1999... Company's group health and life operation provided coverage to West Bend-area businesses The Massachusetts-based insurance company that provides health coverage to West Bend-area businesses in The Business Benefit Alliance is getting out...

Skyway Airlines adds Moline flights, first of five new markets.
August 13, 1999... It's getting easier for air travelers in the Upper Midwest to take Midwest Express Airlines, thanks to a series of planned expansions within the Milwaukee-based airline's feeder system. Skyway Airlines, the Midwest Express Connection, is...

Weighed down by FCB acquisition, Anchor still buoys analysts.(FCB Financial Corp.; Anchor Bancorp.)
August 13, 1999... Unfazed by an abysmal second quarter, banking analysts are high on Anchor BanCorp, Madison. Most believe the bank holding company, whose stock has lost about a third of its value since January, can be turned around by the management team...

Journal Communications' earnings rise 12.5 percent.
August 13, 1999... Journal Communications Inc. said second-quarter earnings rose 12.5 percent, as gains by its telecommunications business were undercut by weak performances from its two largest divisions - newspapers and broadcasting. The parent company...

Searing heat will make WEPCO earnings sizzle.(Wisconsin Electric Power Co)
August 6, 1999... Wisconsin Electric Power Co. is on track to post record third-quarter financial results, thanks to sustained high temperatures in July throughout southeastern Wisconsin and power plants that were humming along without mechanical failures. ...

Waukesha Memorial rides a growth cycle.(Waukesha Memorial Hospital)
August 6, 1999... Earnings at Waukesha Memorial Hospital leaped 22 percent last year, to $26.5 million, pushing the suburban hospital's bottom line close to that of St. Luke's Medical Center and Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee's largest acute-care hospitals. ...

West Milwaukee plans $55 million in development.
August 6, 1999... There's nothing wrong with 61 acres of desolate, contaminated land that $55 million in new development can't cure. West Milwaukee, a village beleaguered by abandoned industrial property, is on the verge of just such a revival. A...

Temporary space to keep casino's flame burning.(Potawatomi Bingo and Casino)
August 6, 1999... Hoping to compensate for revenue lost during construction of its expansion, the Potawatomi Bingo & Casino plans to add another 400 slot machines and 1,000 bingo seats in temporary space. The Forest County Potawatomi Nation expects to...

Master Lock to close distribution center.
August 6, 1999... Master Lock Co. plans to end product distribution services in Milwaukee, eliminating about 40 jobs. Separately, Master Lock has signed a licensing agreement to allow its brand name to be used to market a new personal computer and Internet...

M&I Data subsidiary Origins lets firms open Internet banks,.
August 6, 1999... M&I Data Services, Brown Deer, has created a subsidiary that will offer all the products and services necessary for companies or organizations to open a bank on the Internet. The new division, called Origins, packages all the services of...

High-tech overhaul.(Hatch Staffing Services spells success through efficient technology management)
August 6, 1999... Careful research, planning required before upgrading company technology Susan Hatch began her company's technology upgrade with four objectives in mind, but the most important was to make sure she wouldn't have to do it again soon. ...

Light bulb syndrome.(managing Alpha Dot Net Corp)
August 6, 1999... Internet service provider alpha dot net saw business potential earlier than most When Karl Vollbrecht and Tim Chase started alpha dot net in 1994, the Internet wasn't yet a household word. Today, Milwaukee's alpha dot net, one of the...

Jurassic spark.(profile on Kristine Krause, vice president of fossil operations, Wisconsin Electric Power Co)
August 6, 1999... Krause keeps hands on WEPCO's fossil operations Wise guys look at Kristine Krause's title, vice president of fossil operations, and wonder why a female paleontologist is one of the top five highest-paid executives at the state's largest...

The long harm of the law.(practicing legal services in Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
August 6, 1999... Disillusioned lawyers seek careers outside law firms As an attorney for Milwaukee's largest law firm, Gregg Hagopian regularly worked 13 to 14 hours a day. While he managed to get used to such a laborious schedule, the time away from home...