Philadelphia Business Journal articles from June 1993

Philadelphia Business Journal archives from June 1993

Philadelphia picks up $649G hotel tab. (Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel's loan payments)
June 28, 1993... Philadelphia's largest hotel -- the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel, owned by one of the nation's biggest real estate companies -- has not been making its loan payments. That means City Hall was forced, once again, to pick up the tab. The...

Convention center may spawn 6,000 new jobs. (Pennsylvania Convention Center)
June 28, 1993... Behind the glitz of this week's grand opening of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the hope of new jobs glistens in the eyes of young men hired as waiters parading along a Center City street in starched tuxedo shirts and bow ties....

HealthPASS problems blamed on doctors, mothers, others. (Pennsylvania's health care program for the poor)
June 28, 1993... A federal watchdog agency has questioned the quality of medical care provided under a program to serve the poor, but lays the blame for many of the problems with Pennsylvania's HealthPASS program on doctors, mothers and poor parental...

National Penn is analyzing expansion possibilities. (National Penn Bancshares Inc.)
June 28, 1993... Berks County-based-National Penn Bancshares Inc., the holding company of the National Bank of Boyertown, is exploring Philadelphia's far suburbs for expansion following its agreement to acquire the foundering Chestnut Hill National Bank. "We...

Hahnemann says heart facility will offer lower-priced care. (Hahnemann University's Heart Hospital)
June 28, 1993... After 18 months of planning, renovating and rearranging, Hahnemann University Hospital has opened a new hospital not far from its Broad and Vine streets facility. Actually, the new 200-bed Heart Hospital at Hahnemann University is inside the...

Will Atlantic City's airport expansion increase flights? (Regional Report: South Jersey)
June 28, 1993... Today, South Jersey transportation officials hate to admit, no airline runs scheduled flights between Atlantic City and Newark. Beginning July 9, Continental Airlines will run four flights a day. Today, passengers have to walk onto the...

Overseas investment is waning, but area still lands foreign firms. (foreign companies in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) (Regional Report: South Jersey)
June 28, 1993... Although large-scale foreign direct investment has dropped to levels not seen since the last recession of the mid-1980s, the Delaware Valley has had its Philadelphia accent changed for good by the cross-pollination that has occurred with...

Employers try to cut the number of lone commuters. (New Jersey Dept. of Transportation traffic reduction plan) (Regional Report: South Jersey)
June 28, 1993... Large employers in New Jersey must play traffic cop over the next three years and find ways to reduce the number of employees who drive to work alone. The Employer Trip Reduction program, an outgrowth of the 1990 federal Clean Air Act,...

Rocking Horse changes image after quick financial turnaround. (Rocking Horse Child Care Centers of America Inc.) (Regional Report: South Jersey) (Company Profile)
June 28, 1993... Two years ago, Rocking Horse Child Care Centers of America Inc. wasn't sure if it was going forward or backward. Now, with a new chairman, a new name and a new focus, the Cherry Hill-based company is moving onto solid ground. Shareholders at...

Duke Power seeks customers for Camden coal plant. (Duke Power Co.) (Regional Report: South Jersey)
June 28, 1993... Duke Power Corp. is trying to sell 480 megawatts of electric power that would be produced by a new plant proposed for the Camden riverfront. "The problem right now is in securing customers for the power Duke will be generating," said Tom...

Nursing home operator jockeys to purchase Garden State Park. (Cherry Hill Convalescent Center Chmn. and Pres. R. Steven Scherfel) (Regional Report: South Jersey)
June 28, 1993... Only by adding a hotel, a dog track, theater, night club, convention hall and other amenities can Garden State Park become profitable once again, said the Cherry Hill businessman who wants to buy the facility for $54 million. His plan would...

Duo is barnstorming for fun and profit. (Barnstorming Adventures owners Tom Harnish and Kate Lister)
June 21, 1993... Several hundred feet above the treetops and fields of Chester County, Tom Harnish, a.k.a. "Tailspin Tommy," taunts gravity. Sensing his passengers are up for more thrills, he banks his 1929 Travel Air open-cockpit biplane hard to the left,...

Port carriers: big get bigger, small find spot. (smaller carriers find niche markets as large lines grow)
June 21, 1993... In March, a New Jersey maritime firm whetted the appetite of Philadelphia-area importers and exporters by starting up a small but regularly scheduled containership service to northern Europe. The Delaware Valley was ripe for a carrier who...

Lancaster hospital after Phila. patients. (Lancaster General Hospital)
June 21, 1993... Lancaster is a popular vacation spot for people wanting to get a taste of the Amish Country. Now, a Lancaster medical center is hoping its lower fees can lure people from Philadelphia to make the trip if they need open-heart surgery. "We've...

Utilities rarely find the weather too hot or too cold for their taste.
June 21, 1993... Here's wishing you a miserable summer. Lots of stifling heat, where you hide indoors, and turn on your air conditioner. A scorcher, where suburbanites panic about their lawns, and rush to turn on their sprinklers. Because a couple of...

Some advertisers cashing in on lucrative gay market.
June 21, 1993... You can't always think straight, especially in advertising. Mainstream America, after years of ignoring a potential $394 billion to $514 billion homosexual and lesbian market, is slowly pitching products and services to the lucrative and...

Is the boss worth it? (U.S. Healthcare Inc. CEO Leonard Abramson) (The Fortunate 100)
June 21, 1993... U.S. Healthcare's Abramson made more than any other CEO in 1992 Life at the top has its advantages. Just ask Leonard Abramson. The 60-year-old former pharmacist, who built U.S. Healthcare Inc. into a $2 billion company and the region's...

Accounting rule would force firms to reduce earnings. (Financial Accounting Standards Board rules value of stock options as cost) (The Fortunate 100)
June 21, 1993... A success story like Advanta Corp.s' -- the Horsham-based credit-card issuer that has climbed from the basement to the top floor of financial stocks in six years -- might not be possible under a new rule proposed by the Financial Accounting...

Highest-paid CEOs of the 100 largest Philadelphia-area public companies. (tabular data only)(includes related article) (The Fortunate 100)
June 21, 1993... How local CEOs were ranked and how to interpret these lists This is the second year the Philadelphia Business Journal has teamed up with Godwins Inc. of Conshohocken to evaluate the compensation paid to chief executive officers. Edward W....

With its good reputation intact, Jefferson struggles like others. (Thomas Jefferson University Hospital)
June 14, 1993... Last year, the hospital saw a major chunk of state funding wiped out. This year, reimbursement rates for medical assistance patients -- almost one-fourth of the hospital's patient population -- are being sliced. Admissions dropped and net...

Venture fund to invest in firms owned, operated by minorities. (Minority Venture Partners) (Women & Minority Business)
June 14, 1993... Some minority-owned and operated manufacturing firms in eastern Pennsylvania will get a financial boost from a new venture capital firm looking to invest in exactly these types of enterprises. Initiated by the Casey administration, Minority...

As dockworker buyout neared, union threatened suit. (International Longshoremen's Assn. to sue stevedore Tom Holt)
June 14, 1993... Port management and labor were close to a historic decision to offer buyouts to 354 dockworkers last week when the idea was set aside for an episode of labor relations more typical of the Philadelphia piers. The International Longshoremen's...

Wall Street Deli taking a bite out of the Philly market. (Company Profile)
June 14, 1993... What's in a name? Marketing. The Wall Street Deli, which recently entered the Philadelphia marketplace, has a menu that features sandwiches named for New York's five boroughs, but its corporate headquarters is in Memphis, Tenn., and the company...

Cost of false security alarms prompts fees and fines.
June 14, 1993... The proliferation of low-cost security systems has cast some doubt on their usefulness as burglar alarms, indicate recent studies by three Temple University faculty members. Up to 98 percent of activated alarms are false, their studies...

Women-owned firms make gains, still face hurdles. (Women & Minority Business)
June 14, 1993... More Americans collect paychecks from women-owned businesses than from all the companies in the Fortune 500 combined. Yet women business owners say they still face real obstacles to success, a situation that the National Association of Women...

County officials again consider buying open space near Exton. (Chester County, Pennsylvania; Church Farm School may sell large tract along Route 30)
June 14, 1993... The task of acquiring land for a large public park in eastern Chester County has taken on the elaborate appearance of an 18th-century courtship. There are delicate, behind-the-scenes talks. Go-betweens, neutral parties who ferry messages....

Computer network forges a link to match firms with contractors. (Fountain's Minority Business Network)(includes related article) (Women & Minority Business)
June 14, 1993... Wanted: 50-person design firm seeks minority woman-owned architecture firm for work and profit. Morris Fountain Jr. is a matchmaker. His job is a form of computer dating. But his clients aren't the lonely or the divorced. Fountain's...

In male-dominated courier field Diamond is notable exception. (Diamond Courier Service) (Women & Minority Business)
June 14, 1993... Three years ago, having just lost her job, Claudia Post launched Diamond Courier Service, the first woman-owned courier company in Philadelphia. Today, Post's company competes against the same-day delivery service that fired her. Being fired...

Krass brothers tragedy sends 'chill through a whole area.' (murder of Stacy and Russell Krass in Frankford, Philadelphia)
June 7, 1993... In Frankford, along the avenue where Stacy and Russell Krass died, tears and anger kindle a community's determination to fulfill the brothers' legacy as battlers in an ever-present fight against crime. It's more than a week after the...

City seeks to borrow $1.9 billion. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
June 7, 1993... The Rendell administration is preparing to convince Wall Street that Philadelphia and several related agencies are financially stronger -- good enough to borrow and refinance more than $1.9 billion in loans. The centerpiece is a $1.1 billion...

Blue Cross tactic may get review. (Independence Blue Cross)
June 7, 1993... The legality of controversial negotiating tactics Independence Blue Cross has employed this year with its group customers may soon be tested in court. Bucks County's Centennial School District has hired a Philadelphia law firm to file a suit...

More than 600 jobs in Phila. will be gone by the fall.
June 7, 1993... This is the summer of more big employers leaving Philadelphia. Insurer American Integrity Corp. is being acquired by an Illinois firm. By July 20, the local headquarters will be closed and all of the 129 office jobs will disappear. Paper...

Tyco's success rises and falls on kids' whims. (Tyco Toys Inc.)
June 7, 1993... NEW YORK -- Childhood whims can make or break a toy company. Take Tyco Toys' doll line for Ariel, Disney's The Little Mermaid. Girls cried for Party Ariel, Royal Princess Ariel and Singing Ariel. Then came Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Poor...

Pa. move could boost housing costs by 40 percent. (revisions in Pennsylvania's Prevailing Wage Act of 1961)
June 7, 1993... A bit of regulatory "housekeeping" by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry could raise housing costs statewide by as much as 30 to 40 percent, critics say. Led by irate home builders, a coalition of business leaders and local...

U.S. Bioscience is planning to introduce two drugs. (Ethyol; Neutrexin)
June 7, 1993... U.S. Bioscience's goal is a simple one: worldwide use of its products for cancer treatment, said Dr. Philip Schein, chairman and chief executive officer, during his address at the company's annual meeting on May 27 at the Union League of...

Controversial Philip Morris literacy grant ending.
June 7, 1993... Puff on this. A controversial three-year, $1.5 million grant by tobacco giant Philip Morris Companies Inc. to the Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on Literacy ends this month. The food and cigarette conglomerate decided not to renew the...

After tax law changes, credit squeeze, Solms is back. (Steve Solms, founder of Historic Landmarks for Living Inc.)(includes related article) (Special Section: Executive Living)
June 7, 1993... Historic Landmarks founder is now in the condo business It's 1983, and Steve Solms, whose company, Historic Landmarks for Living, has made millions of dollars rehabbing old warehouses into yuppie apartments in downtown Philadelphia, presides...

It's a tough market for the most expensive houses. (Special Section: Executive Living) (Industry Overview)
June 7, 1993... If you want to know how the expensive housing market -- properties priced at $1 million or more -- is doing, just take a look at the day's newspaper headlines. Upbeat economic news could stir up a whole bunch of million-dollar-plus buyers,...