St. Louis Business Journal articles from December 1997

St. Louis Business Journal archives from December 1997

First Banks' big heist. (recruits employees from NationsBank Business Credit to start its asset-based loan unit)
December 1, 1997... Grabs three from NationsBank to start asset-based loan unit First Banks Inc. is launching an asset-based lending unit, and it's raiding the talent pool of NationsBank Business Credit for the start-up. Dennis Hirstein, Phillip Lykens and...

$40 million purchase by Lyndon. (ITT Lyndon Life Insurance Co. buys Acceleration Life Insurance Co.)
December 1, 1997... Lyndon Life Insurance Co., only five months after being sold by its scandal-plagued former parent, is getting ready to make an acquisition of its own. Chesterfield-based Lyndon, which sells small life insurance policies through consumer...

2000: the clock is ticking. (Mercantile Bancorporation and Trans World Airlines spending millions of dollars to correct millenium computer bug)
December 1, 1997... Merc, TWA spending tens of millions of dollars The costs are mounting for St. Louis companies that are making sure their computers and computer-Controlled systems will work at 12:01 a.m. on Jan 1, 2000. Mercantile Bancorporation Inc., the...

Fixing millenium bug pays off for SSE, Epic. (Systems Service Enterprises Inc.; Epic Consulting Group Ltd.)(2000: The Clock is Ticking)
December 1, 1997... Will your computers be able to bill your customers after Jan. 1, 2000? Will your supplier's computers be able to talk to yours? Will the power company be able to light your lights? Questions like these are driving many companies into the arms...

N.Y. firm making play for Contemporary Productions. (SFX Broadcasting Inc.)
December 1, 1997... Contemporary Productions Inc. - the concert and events promotions business started 30 years ago by hometown impresarios Steven Schankman and Irving Zuckerman - soon may have new owners. Talk is circulating in the entertainment industry that New...

If Shaw leaves Rams, one of his lieutenants could take his post. (John Shaw, president of St. Louis Rams)
December 1, 1997... Should John Shaw step aside as president of the Rams, vice presidents Bob Wallace and Jay Zygmunt would be first in line to take his place, according to team sources. In mid-November, Shaw said he was considering giving up his position to...

Frustrated Teleport ready to pull plug on service here. (Teleport Communications Group to halt plans of putting up telephone service in St. Louis, MO)
December 1, 1997... Teleport Communications Group may abandon its plans to provide local telephone service to businesses in St. Louis. The company, which has invested more than $20 million in the St. Louis region since establishing an office here in 1994, believes...

Sale to make Arkansas banker 3rd-largest Merc shareholder. (Ross Whipple, chairman of Horizon Bancorp Inc.; Mercantile Bancorporation Inc.)
December 1, 1997... Ross Whipple, chairman and chief executive officer of Arkansas-based Horizon Bancorp, will get Mercantile Bancorporation stock valued at more than $61 million as part of Mercantile's plan to buy Horizon. Whipple will control more than 1.2...

NationsBank's Bentele jumps to Magna's commercial unit. (senior vice-president Susan Bentele)
December 1, 1997... A Boatmen's Bank veteran and high-ranking local executive at NationsBank has jumped ship to Magna Group Inc., which continues to shore up its commercial lending forces. Susan Bentele is the latest NationsBank defector to be hired by Magna, the...

River Roads Mall owner shops for buyer. (St. Louis shopping center)
December 1, 1997... The out-of-town owners of the River Roads Mall are looking for a buyer to redevelop the nearly vacant and deteriorating 800,000-square-foot shopping center in Jennings, possibly as a residential or industrial site. Benderson Development Co. of...

Bridge in the market for acquisitions. (Bridge Information Systems set to buy Dow Jones Markets)
December 1, 1997... The venture capitalists who own Bridge Information Systems are reportedly in the market for a new acquisition: the on-line financial news division of Dow Jones. The Financial Times and New York Post have named Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe,...

Jefferson Memorial Hospital cuts 30 management jobs.
December 1, 1997... Jefferson Memorial Hospital has cut 30 management jobs based on the recommendation of a consultant hired to review the hospital's employee compensation package. Two-thirds of the employees whose positions have been eliminated have been offered...

Matlock, Directions in Design go with the flow. (Matlock Group)
December 1, 1997... The modern office, it seems, is finally catching up to the factory floor. Since the 1950s, time and motion studies have been applied to mass production, to the point where every tool bin and parts hopper is just where it needs to be so workers...

Robert Half, Kelly Services share in temp firm growth.
December 1, 1997... When Tama Emery joined Robert Half International here seven years ago, the temporary services firm had two divisions: Robert Half, its permanent placement business for financial people; and Accountemps, a similar operation specializing in...

Modern Business Interiors goes designer.
December 1, 1997... Modern Business Interiors is joining the ranks of office furniture dealers with interior design services. The company is now one of a number of office furniture firms in the St. Louis area that are competing with interior design firms for...

Peabody benefits in move to digital office equipment. (Peabody Coal Co.)
December 1, 1997... Small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike are looking to digital technology to save time, space and money. A 50-page-a-minute printer would cost a business about $75,000. A 50-page-a-minute copier would cost between $15,000 and $25,000....

Furniture Brands International Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 1, 1997... Richard B. Loynd Chairman and chief, executive officer Furniture Brands International Inc. is a major manufacturer of residential furniture under brand names Broyhill, Lane and Thomasville. It manufactures and distributes case goods, occasional...

Edison: job cuts in store. (Edison Brothers Stores Inc.)
December 8, 1997... Two months after celebrating their company's emergence from bankruptcy, Edison Brothers Stores employees have been told the party is over. Citing lower-than-projected sales, the St. Louis-based shoe and apparel retailer is taking aggressive...

Heimburger's downfall attributed to greed. (RightChoice Managed Care Inc. and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri's former CEO Roy Heimburger)
December 8, 1997... Former senior executives at RightChoice Managed Care, Inc. and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri say greed for money and desire for power and the respect of the St. Louis business community were behind the downfall of Roy Heimburger, the...

Trulaske finds partners. (Frank Trulaske; Primary Network, Contemporary Productions Inc. and Bruce Olson, president of Group One Capital Inc.)
December 8, 1997... Primary Network, Contemporary Productions Inc, and Bruce Olson, president of Group One Capital Inc,, are investors in Frank Trulaske's proposed 10,000-seat arena in St. Charles County, according to sources close to the project. Trulaske has...

HMO rates soar: 4-10% increase in '98. (health maintenance organizations)(Industry Overview)
December 8, 1997... St. Louis' managed care companies, trying to dig their way out from the losses of recent years, are socking area companies with sharp premium increases on 1998 contracts. Officials at the managed care companies said they are charging anywhere...

Customer service pressing item for New York Cleaners.(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business Activity: New York Cleaners, a family-owned business with three locations in East St. Louis, is competing in a crowded industry by stressing consumer service. The emphasis on pleasing customers includes posting an 800 number that...

Failure to close Mexico deal likely cost A-B official job. (retirement of Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. chief legal officer Ellis McCracken, Jr.; acquisition of Grupo Modelo S.A. de C.V.)
December 8, 1997... Lambright named replacement for McCracken The chief legal officer for Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., Ellis McCracken Jr., abruptly retired last month. He was last seen at work on Friday, Nov. 7, according to people familiar with the brewery....

Companion makes European-style hand-crafted breads. (Companion Baking Co.)(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: Companion Baking Co. in south St. Louis has brought back what many consider a lost art - baking hand-crafted European breads in a time-consuming manner in French stone hearth ovens. From its 14,000-square-foot bake house,...

$6.5 million apartments going up in Kirkwood. (Lindbergh Properties is building luxury apartment complex)
December 8, 1997... Lindbergh Properties is building a $6.5 million, 112-unit luxury apartment complex near Big Bend and Interstate 44 in Kirkwood. The first of the 12 buildings in the complex, to be called Kings Gate Apartments, will be available in about six...

Gashouse gang: environmental laws add fuel to Husky Corp's sales. (manufacturer of nozzles for gasoline pumps)(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: Next time you pump gasoline at a service station, look at the nozzle for the hose and see if there is a picture of a dog on the pump. If there is, then the equipment was made by Husky Corp., a family-owned company based in...

St. Louis Place sale could garner $30 million for Allstate Insurance.
December 8, 1997... Saint Louis Place, 200 N. Broadway, could be on the sale block when Allstate Insurance Co. completes a review of its 10 million-square-foot real estate portfolio. The 304,490-square-foot building, whose lead tenant is Fleishman-Hillard Inc.,...

Advanced Technology, OSL leads with waterless press. (Advanced Technology Printing Corp.; O'Neal, Sutton and Leveque)(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: The key word in Advanced Technology Printing Corp. is "advanced." A small company formed through a unique partnership, Advanced Technology is a waterless press printing firm that takes advantage of sharing a building, personnel...

Business groups make wish lists for legislative session. (Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the Missouri Merchants and Manufacturers Association)
December 8, 1997... With only a month remaining before the start of the 1998 legislative session, area business groups are preparing their agendas. Both the Missouri Merchants and Manufacturers Association (MMMA) and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce will be...

Jones Products buys fourth firm; sales near $5 million. (Jones Products International Inc.)(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: Dennis Matthew Jones Jr., owner of Jones Products International Inc., has learned his lessons well. The son of Dennis Jones Sr., founder and chairman of Jones Medical Industries, Matt Jones is following in his father's...

Murphy's law: no money for stadiums without vote. (Rep. Jim Murphy's bill prohibiting the use of public resources for sports facilities without a public vote first)
December 8, 1997... Should the public have a say in whether tax money is used for sports facilities? The owners of the St. Louis Cardinals don't think so, but the question may ultimately be decided by the Missouri state legislature when it convenes in January....

W.K. Woods Stationery marks 100 years downtown.(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business Activity: W.K. Woods Stationery Co., preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary, has survived by showing a willingness to change with the times. Located in downtown St. Louis since 1898, the family-owned W.K. Woods is the only...

Savala engineers ASTEC into $12.8 million company. (Ramon Savala, president and CEO)(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: If ASTEC Inc., a St. Louis-based engineering company, had been called in first, it's possible some airplane crashes in recent years could have been avoided. ASTEC is composed of four divisions but is best-known for its finite...

Sportsplay Equipment scores with basketball backboards.(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: Sportsplay Equipment Inc. manufactures fun. The company makes a variety of playground equipment for parks and schools at its north St. Louis plant. "Everything we do is institutional," said Tom Kearns, the company's...

Waterway Gas & Wash expands; opens in Denver.(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: Having kept cars clean in the state of Missouri for more than 27 years, Waterway Gas & Wash is looking for other areas to conquer, with Denver being its first target. A full-service car wash, gas station and convenience...

Modern Moving hauls in $1 million shipping pianos. (Modern Moving Systems)(Small-Business Successes)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Business activity: To many families, investment in a piano is their third biggest expense, behind a house and a car. Russ Vitt is taking advantage of people's desire to see that their baby grand is treated with the utmost care with his Modem...

Generations OB/GYN practice doesn't deliver. (Generations Health Care Inc. is disbanding)
December 8, 1997... Generations Health Care Inc., the largest obstetric/gynecological practice in the St. Louis area, is disbanding Dec. 31. The group practice was launched by 28 doctors in February 1995, to negotiate contracts with managed health-care companies....

Regulators question CCPlus' $150,000 payment to former CEO's wife. (Community CarePlus; James Sweat; Lois Hemminger-Sweat)
December 8, 1997... Community CarePlus, a health maintenance organization for Medicaid recipients, paid more than $150,000 to a company owned by the wife of the former chief executive officer, James Sweat, but state regulators said they could not determine what...

Competitors seek piece of PIE's business. (PIE Mutual Insurance Co.)
December 8, 1997... There's a shakeout going on in the local medical malpractice insurance market. The state's second-largest malpractice insurer, Ohio-based PIE Mutual Insurance Co., stopped writing and renewing policies last month after forming an alliance with...

Cutting Edge's high-tech lasers prove tough sell to investors in Midwest; revenue now doubling. (Cutting Edge Optronics Inc.)
December 8, 1997... Business Activity: Cutting Edge Optronics Inc. knows what it's like to start a business that is truly on "the cutting edge," particularly in St. Louis. A manufacturer of high-powered solid-state lasers and high-powered semi-conductor lasers...

Jones Medical Industries Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 8, 1997... Dennis M. Jones Chairman, president and chief executive officer Jones Medical Industries Inc. is a maker and marketer of critical-care pharmaceutical products sold to hospitals and a nutritional product line sold under the Bronson...

Mayor Harmon: "We must move swiftly'; schools, riverfront top agenda. (St. Louis, Missouri Mayor Clarence Harmon's business agenda)
December 15, 1997... A willingness to take over the public schools, a determination to revitalize downtown, perhaps re-engineer the riverfront, and to reorganize the city's development agencies top Mayor Clarence Harmon's business agenda. The mayor sounded...

Power shortage: Sears trims Emerson's tool contract. (Sears Roebuck & Co.; Emerson Electric Co.)
December 15, 1997... For decades, Emerson Electric Co. has supplied power tools to Sears Roebuck & Co. But Sears has drilled some holes in the long-standing arrangement as it has shifted manufacturing of some of its Craftsman brand power tools to other suppliers....

Stones provide satisfaction; fans pack Adam's Mark, Drury, Days Inn. (downtown businesses' gains from the Rolling Stones concert)
December 15, 1997... You can't always get what you want, but with the Rolling Stones bringing their "Bridges to Babylon" tour to the Trans World Dome Friday, downtown businesses are getting what they need. With 45,000 tickets sold by Wednesday and as many as 50,000...

Prudential center closing; 250 jobs cut. (Prudential Health Care)
December 15, 1997... Prudential Health Care will close its claims processing center in Chesterfield next year, costing the area about 250 jobs. Prudential's decision is a much bigger loss in potential new jobs: St. Louis missed the chance to be the site of a major...

Investing in union homes pays off for mutual fund. (Builders ProLoan Fund Inc.)(Trusts/Estate Planning/Investment Management)
December 15, 1997... Terry Nelson started his career building homes. Now Nelson, who is executive secretary and treasurer of the Carpenters' District Council of Greater St. Louis, is building the value of investments. Nelson is credited with providing the...

Laclede's Landing rebounds; occupancy hits 90 percent. (Laclede's Landing Redevelopment Corp.)
December 15, 1997... As city planners ponder how to attract small businesses to downtown St. Louis, Laclede's Landing appears to have put together a winning formula. Office occupancy in the historic riverfront district - buoyed by an influx of small businesses -...

Kennedy gets rave review on Web site for planners. (lawyer Dennis Kennedy; Estate Planning Links Web site)(Trusts/Estate Planning/Investment Management)
December 15, 1997... In the past, when an attorney needed advice, he or she would consult a colleague. That's not always the case anymore. Like virtually everyone else, attorneys are now turning to the Internet, which provides access to library collections, the...

Athena, local group show interest in fixing Marquette. (Athena Group; Marquette building)
December 15, 1997... A request for proposals issued by the St. Louis City Treasurer's Office to purchase and redevelop the 200,000-square foot Marquette Building in downtown St. Louis has generated strong interest from an out-of-town developer and a more tentative...

Tenet: SLU sale means $5 million to city, state. (Tenet Healthcare Corp.; Saint Louis University Hospital)
December 15, 1997... Tenet Healthcare Corp. said it would pay more than $5 million annually in state and local taxes on Saint Louis University Hospital and related assets, under Tenet's plan to purchase the hospital. The hospital, owned by Saint Louis University...

Crown Optical sets its sights on The Spectacle Shop.
December 15, 1997... Crown Optical has purchased the last remaining location of The Spectacle Shop, a retail optical operation that at one time had five stores in the St. Louis area. Crown bought the store, at 12486 Tesson Ferry Road, in early December from Tom...

Six groups to speak at SLU Hospital hearing: ACORN, Business Health Coalition differ on sale. (Saint Louis University Hospital)
December 15, 1997... The St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition will testify in support of the proposed sale of Saint Louis University Hospital to Tenet Healthcare Corp. at a hearing called by Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon. But the community group ACORN...

SBA, NationsBank meet to discuss falling loan volumes. (Small Business Administration)
December 15, 1997... A frank, open discussion between three representatives from NationsBank and Bob Andrews, director of the St. Louis District office of the Small Business Administration, has left those involved in the Dec. 5 meeting with somewhat different...

A clean business: Allied spins $3 million selling laundry equipment. (Allied Commercial Laundry Equipment Co.)(Small Business)
December 15, 1997... Business activity: Allied Commercial Laundry Equipment Co. is one of the Midwest's largest distributors of commercial laundry and dry cleaning equipment. Allied sells and leases large industrial and commercial laundry equipment to a variety of...

Jefferson Smurfit Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 15, 1997... Richard W. Graham President and chief executive officer Jefferson Smurfit Corp. is a manufacturer of paper, paperboard and packaging products made from recycled paper and forest products. Seven divisions produce products for leading...

Orthwein cuts A-B holdings. (Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. heir James Busch Orthwein)
December 22, 1997... Busch heir sells $40 million worth of brewery stock James Busch Orthwein, one of the largest individual shareholders at Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., picked up $40 million after selling 38 percent of his holdings in the world's biggest brewer....

Trust booms ... again. (St. Louis, Missouri's trust companies)
December 22, 1997... Merrill Lynch, UMB jump in The big business of providing trust services in St, Louis is getting even bigger. Merrill Lynch is moving forward with plans to open an administrative office here early next year for its trust operations, despite...

Why Marriott was chosen. (Marriott/Historic Restoration Inc.; hotel development in St. Louis, Missouri)
December 22, 1997... In the final analysis, the city's selection of the Marriott/Historic Restoration Inc. development team turned out be an easy decision, said Mike Jones, chief of staff for Mayor Clarence Harmon, and St. Louis Director of Development Maureen...

West Port hotels sell for $32 million. (Strategic Hotel Capital's acquisition of two Sheraton West Port Plaza hotels from Whitehall Properties)
December 22, 1997... The two Sheraton hotels at West Port Plaza sold for $32.5 million to a new hotel company, owned in part by Security Capital Group of Denver. Strategic Hotel Capital Inc., a privately held company formed in May, bought the properties from the...

First National hires Roosevelt vet to build bank's retail side. (First National Bank of St. Louis's new senior vice president for retail banking Terry Grzina, a Roosevelt Bank veteran)
December 22, 1997... First National Bank of St. Louis has hired Terry Grzina, a Roosevelt Bank veteran, to build First National's growing retail banking presence. Grzina was named senior vice president for retail banking at First National, effective Jan. 2. The...

Bonuses cut 78% or more for Rawlings' executives. (Rawlings Sporting Goods Co.)
December 22, 1997... Rawlings Sporting Goods Co. executives have had merrier Christmases. The company's top five executives all saw their bonuses cut at least 78 percent from 1996 to 1997, according to a recent proxy filing. Carl Shields, who was asked to resign as...

Heritage Place bought for $25.7 million. (Gateway Riverside Inc. buys shopping center in Creve Coeur, Missouri)
December 22, 1997... Heritage Place, a 250,000-square-foot shopping center in Creve Coeur anchored by Dietbergs, Marshalls, Office Depot and Old Navy, has been bought by Gateway Riverside Inc. Gateway, a client of The RREEF Funds, bought the property from the...

RightChoice: 6,355 new members equal $30 million charge. (RightChoice Managed Care Inc.)
December 22, 1997... Most managed care companies would be delighted to add more than 6,000 members in a matter of a few months, but for RightChoice Managed Care Inc., it's nothing but a headache. RightChoice picked up 6,355 new members via the Missouri Consolidated...

33 investors take a bite of Great American Barbecue. (stock offering)
December 22, 1997... Thirty-three investors plunked down $360,000 during the last two months in Great American Barbecue Co.'s stock offering, said Jim Mueller, president. The sale brings Great American Barbecue's total shareholders to 41, including actor John...

Pulitzer Publishing Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 22, 1997... 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,...

Home health taking a hit: new regulations will cut home care agencies by one-third.
December 29, 1997... New regulations will cut home care agencies by one-third Home may be where the heart is, but it will be tougher for home to be where some health-care services are provided, beginning Jan. 1. That's when many home health providers are expected...

Rainforest disputes bankruptcy. (The Rainforest Co.)
December 29, 1997... Seven creditors of the St. Louis-based Rainforest Co. - a maker of premium food and beauty products concocted from ingredients found in the world's rainforests - have taken their complaints of unpaid bills to U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The...

Ralcorp's glass ceiling broken by Windham. (Ralcorp Holdings' highly-paid executive Susan Windham)
December 29, 1997... Susan Widham doesn't know much about glass ceilings. Widham's success at running the BeechNut Nutrition unit of Ralcorp Holdings has vaulted her into the five highest-paid executives at Ralcorp, according to the company's recently filed proxy...

300 investors sue to recoup $6.6 million from Cencom. (Cencom Cable)
December 29, 1997... More than 300 investors are trying to recoup losses incurred when they invested $6.6 million in a locally managed cable television partnership in the late 1980s. A lawsuit filed earlier this month in Kansas City alleges that a Cencom...

Businesses must protect customers, workers from harm.
December 29, 1997... Even though Missouri law states that business owners generally do not have a duty to protect patrons from the criminal acts of third persons, owners who come under the law's two exceptions - special relationships and violent crimes - should take...

The Zipatoni Co. recruiting nationally, internationally.
December 29, 1997... Jim Holbrook, president of The Zipatoni Co., is working with advertising and marketing recruiters in in New York, Chicago and Springfield, Mo. In addition to a trio of headhunters, Holbrook said he is contacting the marketing agency's attorney...