St. Louis Business Journal articles from April 1999

St. Louis Business Journal archives from April 1999

Duke's $84 million projects.(Duke Realty Investments Inc.)
April 5, 1999... Duke Realty Investments Inc. has about $84 million worth of construction planned for two separate developments in Maryland Heights. As Duke gets ready to break ground on four buildings worth about $24 million at West Port Center, it is...

Competition cutting into banks' profits.
April 5, 1999... Fierce competition among financial institutions in the St. Louis area is taking its toll on profit. One-third, or nine out of 28, of the largest privately held banks and thrifts in the St. Louis area saw their income drop in 1998 compared...

Copy USA out of business; three St. Louis stores close.
April 5, 1999... Copy USA Inc., a Dallas-based chain with stores in St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago, has gone out of business. The three St. Louis stores closed March 23, about a week after the area's estimated 25 employees were told the company was...

Suburban Journals roll with Kupper Parker for ad work.(Suburban Journals of St. Louis Inc.'s advertising contract with Kupper Parker Communications)
April 5, 1999... The Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis Inc. has inked an advertising deal with Kupper Parker Communications, an agency that less than a year ago was developing work for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It will be the first time in more than...

Mercantile's derivatives division makes first deal.(Mercantile Bancorporation)
April 5, 1999... Mercantile Bancorporation has gotten into the interest-rate management business. The bank's new derivatives division closed its first deal March 23 - converting a local company's $30 million floating-rate loan to a fixed-rate loan, said...

St. Louis bucks trend of small-business bankruptcy.
April 5, 1999... St. Louis bankruptcy lawyers are questioning results of a national study on small business bankruptcies - a study that shows a number of those owners with companies who seek bankruptcy protection bounce back to start new businesses. Among...

Flying high: Thunder Aviation expects $4 million in revenue.
April 5, 1999... Moskoff and company take firm to new heights Business activity: Thunder Aviation, a company that offers charter flights, maintenance/repair services and flight instruction, is off to a flying start. Founded in June 1997, Thunder...

Johnson, Crow find luxury home market moving west; builders lament lack of land in St. Louis County.(Real Estate)(Johnson Development; Ed Crow Homes)
April 5, 1999... Lack of available land is forcing home builders into markets - both geographic and economic - where they haven't been before. After years of building $1 million-plus homes in Frontenac, Ladue and Town & Country, Johnson Development is...

Saur has high expectations for two loft developments.(Real Estate)(Conrad Properties' Pres. Bob Saur)
April 5, 1999... Conrad Properties' Bob Saur sees a future in lofts. The developer of The Residence, the first luxury high-rise built in the St. Louis area in more than 35 years when it was completed two years ago, is now betting that loft housing, with...

Ameren Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 5, 1999... Charles W. Mueller Chairman, president and chief executive officer Ameren Corp. is a public utility holding company. Through its subsidiaries. the company provides electric and gas services to customers in Missouri and Illinois. The company...

Williams to add 270 tech jobs.(Williams Communications Inc.)
April 12, 1999... Williams Communications Inc. plans to add up to 270 workers to its St. Louis operations when it opens offices in Earth City this fall. The company, which now has about 180 employees in two offices here, is negotiating a lease for the former...

Refugees revitalize city neighborhoods.(includes related articles on magazine editor Dijana Groth and loan officer Bruno Mruckovski)(Bosnian enclave in St. Louis, Missouri)
April 12, 1999... Bosnian enclave second largest in U.S. In blue jeans and baggy sweater with his shoulder-length hair pulled back in a ponytail, Alem Boric could be mistaken for a graduate student or latter-day hippie. But in actuality, the 28-year-old is a...

Credit unions merge.(Alliance Credit Union takes over Teamsters Credit Union)
April 12, 1999... Alliance takes over troubled Teamsters Alliance Credit Union has taken over the assets and members of Teamsters Credit Union after a March 1 merger. Teamsters Credit Union, which served Teamsters and their families, lost $129,000 in...

HMOs' profits, premiums jump.(health maintenance organizations)(Industry Overview)
April 12, 1999... While the financial picture for area managed-care companies brightened last year after steep premium hikes, many still are asking for double-digit increases in premiums. Tom Hudson, an independent insurance broker, said few of the small to...

Allegiant's Hayes sees compensation triple in '98.(Allegiant Bancorp. President Shaun Hayes)
April 12, 1999... Shaun Hayes, president and chief executive officer of Allegiant Bancorp, nearly tripled his compensation in 1998 after receiving a one-time cash award for boosting the book value of the company's stock. Hayes' 1998 total compensation was...

Novelly breaking ground on $35 million building.(real estate developer Tony Novelly)
April 12, 1999... One of the last developers to announce an office project in Clayton will be the first to begin construction. A limited liability company headed by Apex Oil Co. Chief Executive Tony Novelly has awarded R.G. Brinkmann Construction Co. the...

Outsourcing Solutions gets financing to beef up work.(purchasor of charged-off credit card debt)
April 12, 1999... Outsourcing Solutions Inc. will buy even more uncollected Visa and MasterCard debt from banks, Chief Executive Tim Beffa said. The 3-year-old Earth City company set up $100 million in "off-balance-sheet financing" that will allow the firm...

Missouri above national average, Illinois below on ATM charges.(automated teller charges)(Industry Overview)
April 12, 1999... WASHINGTON - The charges Missouri banks impose on noncustomers who use their automated teller machines are slightly higher than the national average, according to a survey by a national consumer and environmental watchdog group. The survey...

Carpet One now plushier, buys Lees residential brand.(floor covering company)
April 12, 1999... Carpet One is piling up another floorcovering brand. The owner of the eight Advance Carpet stores here and a franchiser for nearly 1,300 carpeting outlets purchased rights to the Lees residential carpet business from Burlington Industries...

Edward Jones execs' pay soars; Stifel salaries flat.(Jones Financial Cos., Stifel Financial Corp.)
April 12, 1999... While executive compensation at Jones Financial Cos. swelled in 1998, pay for top executives at Stifel Financial Corp. failed to keep pace. The increase in total compensation for six top executives at Jones Financial - the parent company...

Lund joins St. Louis Cosmetic Surgery.(Dr. Herluf Lund Jr.)(Company Profile)
April 12, 1999... Two plastic surgery practices here have merged amid what physicians and consultants said is growing consolidation in the medical specialty. Dr. Herluf Lund Jr., who spent eight years in his own private practice, joined St. Louis Cosmetic...

Brennans' healthy business.(Pat and John Brennan of Brennan Staffing)(Company Profile)
April 12, 1999... One emerging area: placing foreign doctors Placement firm's prescription for growth: placing medical temps Business activity: Family-owned Brennan Staffing has established a niche in the crowded and growing temporary and permanent...

NutraSweet may be sold.(Monsanto Co.'s NutraSweet and Kelco operations may be sold)(Company Profile)
April 19, 1999... Analysts say Monsanto Co.'s NutraSweet and Kelco operations may be the next businesses headed for the sale block as part of the company's massive overhaul. The speculation comes on the six-month anniversary of Monsanto and American Home...

Von Rohr banks on friendships.(banker Jerry Van Rohr of Reliance Bancshares Inc.)(Company Profile)
April 19, 1999... Banker Jerry Von Rohr got a lot more than a suntan during a 1992 vacation on the British Virgin Islands. Two of Von Rohr's fellow travelers - Gary Parker, president of Center Oil Co., and Ralph Casazzone, a Connecticut oil broker who does...

$6 million in the pipes.(venture capital firm VenVest Inc. aims to be a consolidator in the residential plumbing repair business)(Company Profile)
April 19, 1999... Abrams, Young launch venture capital firm Two entrepreneurs who made millions by buying and taking public air-conditioning and heating firms now want to duplicate that success - this time with plumbing companies. Jim Abrams and John...

Shelton, Foy take page out of Amazon's book.(Matthew Foy and Michael Shelton launch online bookstore AlphaCraze.com Corp.)(Company Profile)
April 19, 1999... Talk about chutzpah. St. Louisans Michael Shelton and Matthew Foy - both in their mid-20s - have launched an online bookstore they think can go head-to-head with the likes of you-know-who. Shelton and Foy, friends since junior high and...

Union Financial Group plans $25 million IPO.(initial public offering)
April 19, 1999... Union Financial Group plans a $25 million initial public offering in late 2000 or early 2001. The privately held bank, which has operated only in the Metro East, is counting on a fast-paced expansion in Missouri to boost its efforts to...

Brown's March sales prompt hike in earnings estimate.(Brown Group)
April 19, 1999... Changes at Brown Group are prompting one analyst to boost earnings estimates for the St. Louis footwear company. Steven Richter, an analyst with Tucker Anthony in Boston, is upping his expectations based on strong same-store sales gains at...

Graybar Electric wins part of $25 million IBM contract.(power-supply equipment)
April 19, 1999... Graybar Electric Co. has landed a contract to distribute $25 million to $30 million a year in power-supply equipment made by Paris-based Schneider Electric to IBM. Graybar sells electronics gear ranging from lamps to computer switches....

$62 million price tag put on plan for Gateway Mall.
April 19, 1999... Downtown's Gateway Mall from the river to 22nd Street is in line for a $62 million makeover, if recommendations by Downtown Now consultants are acted upon by the city. The plan, unveiled at an April 12 meeting of the St. Louis Development...

Central West End incubator targets African-Americans.(Bob Wood's business incubator at Euclid Avenue building)
April 19, 1999... Bob Wood hopes to lure African-American entrepreneurs to the Central West End with a business incubator in his building at Euclid and Delmar avenues. A private incubator is one of the uses he and his partner, developer Pete Rothschild, are...

Denver firm buys Monsanto's WellBridge.(Club Sports International)(Company Profile)
April 19, 1999... New owner plans third center here A Denver health club company has purchased Monsanto Co.'s interest in WellBridge by SSM in St. Louis and four other Monsanto-owned WellBridge centers in Boston. People familiar with the purchase by...

Y2K vaccination to cost SSM $17 million, Tenet $70 million.(year 2000 transition problem)(Industry Overview)
April 19, 1999... An array of workers, armed with millions of dollars, is attacking the Y2K problem at St. Louis health-care systems. SSM Health Care, which began its Y2K planning in 1996, has five people working full time on the effort and hundreds of...