St. Louis Business Journal articles from December 1996

St. Louis Business Journal archives from December 1996

Do teachers abuse sick leave policy?
December 2, 1996... Some use it to take early retirement The retirement policy for St. Louis Public Schools is causing employees to misuse many months of accrued sick leave in the final years of their contracts, according to preliminary analyses by school...

Travel costs double for pension trustees.
December 2, 1996... Trustees of the St. Louis Public School Retirement System racked up $26,995 in travel expenses for the first 10 months of 1996 - more than double the $11,308 incurred for travel in all of 1995. The information was outlined in a letter obtained...

Cards to raise some box seat prices 19%. (St. Louis Cardinals)
December 2, 1996... With baseball player salaries escalating at a torrid pace, the Cardinals are raising ticket prices an average of more than 10 percent for next season. Fred Hanser, president of the team's ownership group, said Busch Stadium's 5,600 baseline...

Help wanted: small firms need high-tech workers.
December 2, 1996... Smaller St. Louis area technology companies are looking for dozens of employees to fill positions ranging from sales and marketing to training and software and systems engineering. Among the fast-growing technology companies looking to fill...

Ide marches to top legal position at Monsanto Co. (R. William Ide III)
December 2, 1996... Monsanto Co. has hired a new, high profile general counsel - R. William Ide III, a former president of the American Bar Association. Ide, 56, who is still in the process of shifting out of his law partnership in Atlanta, joined Monsanto Nov. 1....

Banks hike funds for loan losses as credit woes mount.
December 2, 1996... [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] An uptick in consumer credit problems has prompted several of the largest banks and thrifts in the St. Louis area to dramatically increase the amount of money they set aside for loans that go bad. The increased...

Kiel Partners deal for 25% of Vipers in-line hockey club.
December 2, 1996... The Kiel Center Partners are betting they can save the St. Louis Vipers. Under an agreement which goes into effect next year, the Kiel Partners will receive a 25 percent stake in the struggling in-line hockey team. In return, the Kiel Partners...

Riverside's bankruptcy shocks workers. (Riverside Electric Co.)
December 2, 1996... A St. Louis electrical contractor that increased its revenue by more than 50 percent during the past three years now faces creditors in bankruptcy court. After borrowing money from some employees in return for a small ownership stake in the...

Banks paying brokerages: A.G. Edwards says no deal. (A.G. Edwards and Sons Inc.)
December 2, 1996... A proposed change in Federal Reserve Board rules is leading to widespread speculation that securities brokerages such as A. G. Edwards & Sons Inc. are prime targets for takeovers by large commercial banks. But A.G. Edwards officials say the...

Per capita income $21,819 in Missouri; Illinois' $25,225.
December 2, 1996... Almost anyway you slice it, Missouri came in at the middle of the pack in a recent Business Journal study that compares per capita income on a state-by-state basis. Every man, woman and child in the Show-Me State earned an average of $21,819...

Friendship part of Lawrence Group's blueprint for success.(Company Profile)
December 2, 1996... Smith, Ohlemeyer, Doerner build $2 million design firm Business Activity: The Lawrence Group is an architecture and interior design firm that developed through the friendship of three architectural students into a firm that is expected to post...

Can we talk? TEC grows as support group for CEOs. (The Executive Committee)
December 2, 1996... For one full day each month, chief executive officers of small and large corporations get together to talk about things they might not talk to anyone else about. The chief executives belong to a group called TEC (The Executive Committee), an...

Big 12, Primerica make St. Louis a destination in December.
December 2, 1996... Who wants to go to St. Louis in December? This year, and we hope for many years to come, the answer seems to be - everybody. December is one of those months in the hospitality business that traditionally is hard for everyone who earns a living...

Private school endowments surging with stock market.
December 2, 1996... When it comes to building money for the future, Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School goes to the head of the class. The school's $41 million endowment is the largest of any private high school in the metro area, and some $15...

MICDS, Whitfield spend millions going high tech. (Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School)
December 2, 1996... Private schools are spending millions on technology to help prepare their students for the 21st century. Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School recently launched a five-year, $40 million campaign, including $5.1 million slated for...

McKendree College sees enrollment increase 62%.
December 2, 1996... McKendree College, in Lebanon, Ill., recently refinanced a $2.8 million debt that will save the school $170,000 over the next 15 years. The refinancing comes as the liberal arts school is experiencing a boom in enrollment marked this year by...

Second- and third-shift workers cry for child care.
December 2, 1996... Several local day care centers have extended their hours to include nights, giving more choices to parents who work odd hours. Parents who don't work the standard 9-to-5 shift have always had a hard time finding child care. While several local...

Education in St. Louis.
December 2, 1996... There is a tremendous amount of new construction going on in the middle of our town. It will significantly affect the future of the entire St. Louis community, and I believe it deserves more than just casual comment. First, a word about the...

Investors bailing out of TWA stock. (Trans World Airlines)
December 9, 1996... 2.3 million preferred shares on block Institutional shareholders that bought Trans World Airlines preferred stock in March now are looking to unload nearly 2.3 million of the 3.9 million shares outstanding. Analysts said the investors see...

Holiday Inn to get new look, new management: $8 million renovation planned.
December 9, 1996... The owners of the Holiday Inn Downtown-Riverfront last week sold off 50 percent of their ownership interest in the hotel to fund a massive renovation. The hotel, whose occupancy rate has trailed many of its competitors, will undergo a $8...

HMO profits take another hit. (health maintenance organizations)
December 9, 1996... Health-care premiums are expected to increase as much as 10 percent in 1997. That message comes from St. Louis managed care executives whose balance sheets took a beating through the first three quarters of 1996. A majority of the health...

McCarthy bet $500,000 on Mark Twain buyout. (Michael M. McCarthy, a director of Mark Twain Bancshares Inc.)
December 9, 1996... Michael M. McCarthy, a member of the Mark Twain Bancshares Inc. board of directors, bought nearly $500,000 in Mark Twain stock in the two-week period before the chief executive officers at Mark Twain and Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. began...

Deaconess asks $200 million; survey slams NationsBank. (Deaconess Incarnate World Health System)
December 9, 1996... HAMMERING OUT THE DEAL: Unity Health System and Deaconess Incarnate World Health System continue to talk about joining forces but are at least $60 million apart on a price tag, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Deaconess...

Electronic payments could save consumers $5.2 billion.
December 9, 1996... Credit cards have vanished. In their place you have just one card, embedded with a microchip, that carries cash value, acts as a credit or debit card, identifies you, bears your insurance policy and holds digitized pictures of your family. "An...

Kennedy, Thompson Coburn get MOSERS advisory fees. (Kennedy Capital Management)
December 9, 1996... Kennedy Capital Management took home $500,000 in fiscal 1996 from the Missouri State Employee Retirement System. The St. Louis asset management firm had the biggest fee of any outside firm that worked for the pension fund, commonly known as...

Hold the mayo: Ham on Rye serves up virtual sales trip. (Ham on Rye Technologies Inc.'s virtual reality products)
December 9, 1996... A spinoff from Edison Brothers Stores is sandwiching serious business between the fun of virtual reality and the excitement of interactive marketing. Ham on Rye Technologies Inc. is using its cutting-edge technology to offer businesses a way...

A-B looks to regional beers to counter specialty brewers. (Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.)
December 9, 1996... Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. is using a new weapon in its battle to keep up with an expanding craft beer industry. The brewing giant's Specialty Brewing Group is developing limited distribution beers aimed at specific geographic regions. The...

Drone, Obata.com guiding local firms' Web designs. (Drone & Mueller and Associates)
December 9, 1996... For the last year, since Rawlings Sporting Goods took its place on the Internet's World Wide Web, the company known for its Golden Glove baseball awards has fielded an average of 1,500 queries a week. Many of those who call or write hear back...

Garage sale nets $75 million for Cards ownership group. (St. Louis Cardinals)
December 9, 1996... A year after Fred Hanser, William DeWitt Jr. and Drew Baur assembled a group to purchase the St. Louis Cardinals, they have struck a deal to recoup half of their initial $150 million investment. Last week, Nashville-based Central Parking Corp....

PCS race is heating up; phones to cost $180-$600. (personal communications services)
December 9, 1996... Digital PCS is the buzzword among wireless communications companies in the St. Louis area. PCS, which stands for Personal Communications Services, provides wireless customers the option of switching from standard analog to digital service with...

Adamson snags Roosevelt, Northwest Plaza accounts. (Adamson Advertising Co.; Roosevelt Bank)
December 9, 1996... Within the last 30 days, between $1.5 million and $2 million in new advertising flowed into Adamson Advertising Co. The biggest chunk of work landed at the firm on Tuesday when Roosevelt Bank sent the Clayton agency its $1.5 million advertising...

Automated meters to help Union Electric go wireless.
December 9, 1996... By the turn of the century, "meter readers" will be a thing of the past in St. Louis. Union Electric Co. plans to have all of its 800,000 customers in the metropolitan area using automated meters by the first quarter of 1999. Beginning in...

St. Charles farmer sows $1 million in retail center. (farmer and retail estate executive Herbert Iffrig)
December 9, 1996... To Herbert Iffrig the farmer, property means raising cattle and growing soybeans, corn and wheat. But to Herbert Iffrig the real estate executive, property means luring tenants, maximizing occupancy rates and deciding on rent structures....

Botanical Garden's Web site fertile for plant researchers. (Missouri Botanical Garden)
December 9, 1996... The five institutions of St. Louis' tax-supported Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District are staking claims on the Internet with home pages and a wide-ranging research project. Currently, the St. Louis Science Center, the Missouri...

TBWA loses two accounts worth about $1.5 million. (TBWA Chiat/Day)
December 9, 1996... Two national advertisers, Penn Racquet Sports and !nterprise Networking Services, have pulled their business from TBWA Chiat/Day's St. Louis office in recent weeks - apparent fallout from a management shake-up at the agency. The defections,...

Pulitzer takes High-Ground to reach student audience. (Pulitzer Technologies' Web site)
December 9, 1996... Pulitzer Technologies, a division of Pulitzer Publishing Co., has built a multimedia newsroom for students to develop a new publication on the Internet. High-Ground, the company's Web site geared toward high school students, launched last...

Majority of uninsured are small-business workers.
December 9, 1996... WASHINGTON - The explosion of small businesses in recent years may also have created a very risky pool of entrepreneurs - those who have no health insurance. The rising cost of health care has resulted in almost 41 million Americans without...

Jefferson Memorial ousts Seek over hospital strategy. (Jefferson Memorial Hospital chief executive officer Bill Seek)
December 9, 1996... The board of directors of Jefferson Memorial Hospital fired Chief Executive Officer Bill Seek after board members and Seek could not come to terms on strengthening ties with a health system or managed care network. Seek left the hospital Nov....

Mercy Health Plans putting preferred stock on block.
December 9, 1996... Mercy Health Plans Inc. is offering two health networks in the St. Louis area a chance to buy an ownership stake in the plan. Both Unity Health Network of Southern Illinois and the St. Louis Health Care Network have options to invest in Mercy...

Defense agency moves to open contracts to small firms.
December 9, 1996... WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense is expected to significantly reduce consolidation of contracts, a scenario that until now has hurt hundreds of small businesses across the nation. Senior officials at the Defense Department issued a memo...

Lauer builds $5 million niche retrofitting retail. (Lauer Construction Co.)
December 9, 1996... Counts Lord & Taylor, Schnucks, Harrah's and FAO Schwarz as clients Business Activity: Lauer Construction Co. has carved out a niche in the crowded construction field, concentrating on retrofitting retail stores and taking on some unusual,...

Shutdowns, staff cuts push SBA loans down 35% in '96. (Small Business Administration)
December 9, 1996... Loan volume was off nearly 35 percent at the St. Louis Small Business Administration office during fiscal '96, but it still was one of the highest levels in history. One of the problems with comparing 1996 to the previous year is it followed a...

Talking trash: don't throw money away on collections.
December 9, 1996... Businesses everywhere generate a lot of trash. In fact, literally tons of it. Thanks to waste disposal contractors who haul away our rubbish, we are not reminded of this on a daily basis. To find a disposal contractor, you should understand how...

Small-business owners' votes based on issues, character.
December 9, 1996... WASHINGTON - Political experts continue to shed light on the '96 vote and what this means about where our national leaders should take the country. Soccer moms, Christian conservatives, single women, the elderly and other voter groups all seemed...

Leave a message and I'll be glad to return your call - not! (selling through the telephone)
December 9, 1996... "Press one if you'd like to leave a message. I'll be glad to return your call as soon as I can." Right. And Santa will bring you toys if you're a good little boy. "Press two if you're selling something I don't want." That's a lot closer to the...

The barber, baker, candlemaker help create community.(Column)
December 9, 1996... When most people move to new towns, they find houses and schools, and then, often based on the recommendations of coworkers, neighbors and new friends, they seek to establish relationships with essential professionals including physicians and...

Common sense at work.
December 9, 1996... I have been looking forward to reading about it for a long time. And this one is written in language that is easy to understand. A rare quality. I'm referring to the subject of "common sense." The official title of the book is "Making Common...

TWA loses $5.4 million by ending defense contract. (Trans World Airlines Inc.)
December 9, 1996... Trans World Airlines Inc. expects termination of a maintenance contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to cost it at least $5.4 million in the fourth quarter. TWA said it became apparent during the third quarter of 1996 that changes in...

The most dangerous place on earth. (Nuremberg, Germany)(Editorial)
December 9, 1996... NUREMBERG, Germany - Nuremberg, Germany, is now a pretty cheerful place. There's an up beat to the town - plenty of halls for a good German ale, "old town" Nuremberg with its spiraling figurined churches, this centuries-old hilltop castle, and...

Next spinoff? Energizer may be going, going, going. (Ralston Purina Co.; Eveready Battery Co.)
December 16, 1996... On the heels of Monsanto Co.'s decision to spin off its chemical division, another local giant may follow suit. Analysts who follow Ralston Purina Co. are speculating the company may sell or spin off its Eveready Battery Co. operations. The...

Pension trustees defend investment strategy. (St. Louis Board of Education)
December 16, 1996... St. Louis Board of Education members who serve as trustees for the school district's retirement system strenuously defended their stewardship of the $613.6 million fund at a recent meeting. "Firms lose money for us all the time. You would never...

Gateway Apparel shedding 39 stores, 6 in St. Louis area. (Gateway Apparel Inc.; Missouri)
December 16, 1996... Gateway Apparel Inc., the St. Louis-based regional operator of Fashion Gal shops and other discount fashion stores, is closing 39 stores in 13 states. Six of the stores are in the St. Louis area. The closings represent 30 percent of Gateway's...

Village Green snapped up for $12.3 million. (Village Green Apartments)
December 16, 1996... Lack of development keeping prices up The owners of St. Louis area apartment properties love to hear these three words: "No new construction." The absence of significant development puts a premium on what investors will pay for St. Louis...

Symphony, Humane Society target boomers' estate plans. (St. Louis Symphony; Humane Society of Missouri)
December 16, 1996... Few think of the Saint Louis Symphony as a competitor with the Humane Society of Missouri. But John Limbacher and Lori Overmyer know better. Within the last month Limbacher, director of development for the Symphony, and his staff began...

Players, Harrah's gamble $150,000 a month on signs. (Players International Inc.; Harrah's Entertainment Inc.)
December 16, 1996... The new kids on the block have the deepest pockets - and they're letting everybody know it. Three months away from opening their $286 million Riverport Casino Center in Maryland Heights, Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and Players International...

Esco plugs in profits with help from Hazeltine sale. (Esco Electronics Corp.)
December 16, 1996... Esco Electronics Corp.'s sale of its Hazeltine subsidiary helped reverse the flow of red ink on the company's fiscal 1996 balance sheet. The electronics manufacturer for the defense and commercial airline industries reported a profit of $26...

Law makes pension plans SIMPLE for small business. (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees)
December 16, 1996... For small businesses, giving employees a pension plan can be a pain. In August, Congress passed legislation that contained several provisions for simplifying employee pensions. Promoters of this reform say the Small Business Job Protection Act...

McAvey fires 3, brings in Boston aides. (St. Louis Development Corp. Executive Director Maureen McAvey)
December 16, 1996... Newly appointed St. Louis Development Corp. Executive Director Maureen McAvey is taking action to get her staff in order and push along several long-stalled projects. In recent weeks, McAvey, who assumed the post July 1, has brought in two...

Teamwork pays off for BJC with cost cuts of $95.3 million. (BJC Health System)
December 16, 1996... Dr. Bruce Lindsay never used to consider the price tag when ordering pacemakers and defibrillators for cardiology patients. But that was in the days before reimbursements from Medicare and managed care dropped, in some cases to levels below the...

SLU's Allied Health programs to unite in $12 million building. (St. Louis University's School of Allied Health Professions)
December 16, 1996... Construction is scheduled to begin early next year on a new building for St. Louis University's School of Allied Health Professions. St. Louis University has budgeted $12 million for the project, said Denise Taylor, director of design and...

Fischer's franchise makes signs of the times. (Sign-A-Rama)
December 16, 1996... EMERGING COMPANIES Sign-A-Rama 14560 Manchester Road No. 12 Winchester, Mo. 63011 Business Activity: "You might say I'm living the American dream," Steve Fischer said. "I'm self-employed, the whole family is working together, and we're...

SBA's Lew shows women a road map to start-up capital. (Small Business Administration official Ginger Lew)
December 16, 1996... Two speakers were in St. Louis within the past week hoping to help entrepreneurs deal with one of their major problems - raising capital. One of the speakers was Ginger Lew, deputy administrator and second in command at the U.S. Small Business...

Pulitzer Publishing Co. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 16, 1996... Michael E. Pulitzer Chairman, president and chief executive officer Pulitzer Publishing is a media company with diversified assets in newspaper operations and television and radio broadcasting. The company publishes two metropolitan newspapers,...

Trash to cash: Goldstein finds silver lining in city landfill. (Larry Goldstein of Riverside Waste Management LLC; St. Louis, MO)(includes related article)
December 23, 1996... Larry Goldstein came out smelling like a rose by striking a deal worth up to $10 million to run a dump on the city's north side. With a track record of running afoul of state environmental regulators and an acrimonious relationship with city...

Shapiro and Petrofsky share a slice of life; Pizzas of Eight rises out of bagel recipe. (founders Jerry Shapiro and Bob Petrofsky)(Small Business)(Company Profile)
December 23, 1996... Business Activity: Pizzas of Eight is an outgrowth of the highly successful Petrofsky Bakery, taking the original dough recipe for Petrofsky's bagels and using it in pizza. Pizzas of Eights are located in convenience stores, supermarkets,...

Monsanto sails from Maritz. (Monsanto Co.; Maritz Inc.)
December 30, 1996... $30 million travel business migrates to American Express Monsanto Co. is pulling $30 million of travel business from Maritz Inc. as the chemical and life sciences firm consolidates the business with American Express Travel Related Services....

Kiel Partners copying Cardinals playbook? (St. Louis Blues Pres. Mark Sauer; Kiel Center Partners)
December 30, 1996... Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. called on a guy named Mark to transform the St. Louis Cardinals into an attractive franchise for a potential buyer. Now it may be up to another Mark to do the same for the St. Louis Blues. The Dec. 19 hiring of...

Expansion into Oklahoma a consideration. (Mercantile Bancorporation Inc.)(Shop 'Til You Drop: Mercantile to Continue Buying Spree)
December 30, 1996... Mercantile Bancorporation Inc., coming off a $1 billion buying spree that saw Roosevelt Financial Group Inc. land under the Christmas tree, is not done with its shopping. Mercantile will become the largest financial institution in Missouri...

Stifel making up to $5 million on deal. (Stifel, Nicolaus and Company Inc.; Mercantile Bancorporation Inc.'s purchase of Roosevelt Financial Group Inc.)(Shop 'Til You Drop: Mercantile to Continue Buying Spree)
December 30, 1996... Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., which represented Roosevelt Financial Group Inc. in its merger with Mercantile Bancorporation, could be line for $2.5 million to $5 million for its work. St. Louis-based Stifel, along with Montgomery Securities of San...

Is a divided Monsanto a target for purchase. (Monsanto Co.)
December 30, 1996... Now that Monsanto Co. officially is splitting into a life science firm and commodity chemical business, the investment community is speculating another chemical company could step in and snatch up one of those pieces, most likely the chemical...

City helping Marketplace shop for potential grocery store tenant. (St. Louis Marketplace shopping center)
December 30, 1996... St. Louis Marketplace, the struggling shopping center developed in 1992 with $15 million of public improvements, once again is getting help from the city of St. Louis to secure a supermarket. But this time, a bailout for the nearly...

A-B bails on baseball but sticks with hockey. (Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc.)
December 30, 1996... Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. bailed out of the baseball business after telling the world it has a responsibility to its shareholders. So why is the beer company still pouring millions into the hockey business? As one of the biggest shareholders...

Medical Society head to target managed care disclosure. (St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society Pres. Charles Norland)
December 30, 1996... The incoming president of the St. Louis. Metropolitan Medical Society says he will push for legislation requiring greater financial disclosures from managed health-care companies. Dr. Charles Norland says a community-wide anti-smoking campaign...

Center for mentally ill to plug funding gap with $1 million drive. (Independence Center)
December 30, 1996... The Independence Center, an organization that serves the seriously and persistently mentally ill, is about to launch one of the most ambitious fund-raising campaigns in its history. The center hopes to raise $1 million to expand services in St....

Renaissance man takes firm to $2 million. (Renaissance Financial Pres. Gregory Keller)(Company Profile)
December 30, 1996... Greg Keller leads Equitable defectors Business Activity: About two and one-half years ago, Gregory Keller and 16 of his fellow workers at Equitable Life Assurance left behind the insurance they had made a career of to form their own firm....

Utility deregulation, taxes top legislative issues in '97. (Missouri and Illinois)
December 30, 1996... Business groups in Missouri and Illinois are expecting busy legislative sessions in 1997. In fact, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce said it expects the upcoming year to be as busy as 1995 - one of the most quarrelsome in the recent past. In...

Born to run. (6:20 Club; runner organization in St. Louis, Missouri)
December 30, 1996... 6.20 clubbers greet the day on their feet Every weekday at 6:20 a.m. The Colonel rounds up the troops. The mission: A 10-mile run. Twenty to 30 tired souls make their way through the cold morning air, often before the sun has risen, let...

Fitness centers put new spins on workouts.
December 30, 1996... Michael and Raye Katz and Julie Funke are trying to put a different spin on fitness routines. The trio is the force behind Spinning, a new health club that offers fitness classes that feature stationary bikes designed to simulate the feel of a...

D&K Wholesale Drug Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 30, 1996... J. Hord Armstrong III Chairman and chief executive officer D&K Wholesale Drug Inc. is a regional wholesale drug distributor. It supplies customers in 19 U.S. states in the Midwest and South with pharmaceuticals and related products. The company...

Civic self-deprecation. (economic development of St. Louis, Missouri)(Editorial)
December 30, 1996... As the new year unfolds, there is much hand wringing in St. Louis - some of it in these pages - about our strengths and weaknesses as a regional economic development engine. Before we can improve, however, we must know where we stand....

High Tech program gets student on track. (Ranken High Tech 2000 program for dropout prevention)
December 30, 1996... "When I was 13, I started to hang around gangs just to see what it was like," recalls Larry Mason, a mild, soft-spoken sophomore at Vashon High School. Later in that year, Larry and his family became the targets of a violent crime that took the...