St. Louis Business Journal articles from December 1998

St. Louis Business Journal archives from December 1998

Merc leads hotel financing: steps in as top lender for convention hotel after GMAC backs out.(General Motors Acceptance Corp.)
December 7, 1998... St. Louis' largest headquarters bank has come to the rescue of the proposed downtown convention hotel complex. Mercantile Bank of St. Louis is stepping in as lead lender on the roughly $192 million project, after the original lender...

Retailers sacked by Rams.(poor performance of the St. Louis Rams affecting retailers of team merchandise)
December 7, 1998... The Rams' poor performance on the field is clobbering retailers. who are slashing prices on team merchandise as the season draws to a close. Some retailers literally are running for cover, such as August "Gus" Torregrossa, owner of Gus's...

Online banking: Trotter's group seeks $40 million.(Frank Trotter)
December 7, 1998... Former Mark Twain Bancshares executive Frank Trotter is leading an effort to raise $40 million to launch CustomerOne Direct Inc., an Internet bank. The bank would be only the fourth in the United States to offer banking services on the...

Hotel development 'suite' music to Chesterfield area.
December 7, 1998... Holiday Inn, Marriott pursue corporate clients A surge in corporate relocations and employee training is making the Chesterfield area a hotbed of development for suite hotels. A Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites is planned for the south side...

Group Health leads pack with $2.9 million in profit.(Group Health Plan Inc.)
December 7, 1998... Health maintenance organizations in St. Louis finally have staunched the bleeding of the past few years. Most turned a profit in the first three quarters of the year, and even the unprofitable cut their losses. Health Partners of the...

Rain or shine, the Springers' Flower Depot has blossomed.(Phil and Jill Springer)
December 7, 1998... Business Activity: Prospective small business owners trying to find out what problems they might encounter during their first years in business, can learn some lessons from Phil and Jill Springer. The Springers, who have owned the Flower...

Kohlbry has $10 million target for Grant Cooper.(Enterprise)(Cynthia Kohlbry; Grant Cooper & Associates)
December 7, 1998... Business Activity: The woman behind Grant Cooper & Associates is Cynthia Kohlbry. Kohlbry bought the executive search firm in April 1997 after she left Boatmen's Bank when it was acquired by NationsBank. Grant Cooper focuses on finding...

The big catch: Chris LaRocca reels in winner with two Crazy Fish restaurants.(Enterprise)
December 7, 1998... Business Activity: It might not have seemed the best time to start a business. Chris LaRocca had four small children, the oldest of whom was 7. It took him nearly two years to get the funding he needed and about as long to Find the location he...

Ultradata Systems Inc.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 7, 1998... Monte Ross President and chief executive officer Ultradata Systems Inc. is a manufacturer of handheld information devices, especially travel products, using its proprietary data compression technology. The company reported a profit of...

BJC project jumps $75 million.(construction project of BJC Health System at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University Medical Center)
December 14, 1998... BJC Health System's massive construction project at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University Medical Center is coming under the scrutiny of state regulators as the cost hits $300 million - 33 percent higher than original projections....

At home on the range.(bison business of Skip Sayers based in Potosi, Missouri)
December 14, 1998... Sayers builds $5.5 million bison business On the crest of the hill, where pasture meets the woods. six massive, shaggy-headed buffalo stand their ground. Below them, a herd of 30 more grazes silently. With nothing more than bison, pasture...

Johnson moving to Pauli.(transfer of Alan Johnson from the Gallop, Johnson and Neuman law firm to the investment banking and research firm, Pauli and Co. Inc.)
December 14, 1998... Alan Johnson, one of the founding partners of Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, is expected to reduce his role at the law firm he helped launch 22 years ago and join the investment banking and research firm Pauli & Company Inc. as its full-time...

Garden area to get 100 homes.(real estate development of the Missouri Botanical Garden and its four surrounding neighborhoods)
December 14, 1998... Leaders from the Missouri Botanical Garden and four neighborhoods that surround its 73 acres are taking destiny into their own hands, with ambitious plans to improve the area. A redevelopment plan, slated for public review after the first...

$20 million helps WinStar build local phone service.(local telephone service of WinStar Communications Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri)
December 14, 1998... WinStar Communications Inc. is investing about $20 million in St. Louis as it prepares to launch its version of local telephone service. WinStar, based in Falls Church, Va., plans to offer service to businesses beginning in the second...

Edward Jones to double offices in Britain to 100.(expansion of the Edward Jones brokerage firm in UK)
December 14, 1998... The British are finding the Edward Jones brokerage firm is just their cup of tea. Since the firm received authorization March 30 to open in Britain, its launch there has been so successful that the British Consulate in Chicago issued a...

Bankers Trust drops 401(k) accounts; Brizendine leaving. (suspension of 401.(k) plans in Bankers Trust Corp.'s St. Louis, Missouri office; resignation of managing director, Lyle Brizendine)
December 14, 1998... Slightly over a year after opening, big changes are in store for Bankers Trust Corp.'s St. Louis office. People familiar with Bankers Trust said the local office would stop administering 401(k) plans and other defined contribution plans as...

Baseball free agents get $65 million in salary hike.(transfer of baseball players, Scott Radinsky and Eric Davis, to St. Louis Cardinals)
December 14, 1998... Two new Cards receive raises of at least 60% The St. Louis Cardinals are among nine major-league teams that accounted for 75 percent of the pay raises during the peak of professional baseball's winter shopping spree. The first 30...

Future brightens for Gross Chandelier.(manufacturer of decorative commercial lighting)(Company Profile)
December 14, 1998... Business activity: Gross Chandelier has been in St. Louis since 1908 and has gone through periodic ups and downs commonly associated with a family business. But the manufacturer of decorative commercial lighting seems to be headed in the...

TIAA-CREF Trust off to fast start, projects $400 million.(operations of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association in St. Louis, Missouri)
December 14, 1998... A lot of familiar faces populate the offices of TIAA-CREF Trust Co.'s headquarters in downtown St. Louis. Joseph Gazzoli, president of the trust company, has hired at least six former co-workers from the former Boatmen's Trust Co. to run...

Commerce Bancshares Inc.(proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 14, 1998... David W, Kemper Chairman, president and chief executive officer Commerce Bancshares Inc. is a bank holding company with banks in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. With assets of $10.3 billion, Commerce reported a profit of $132.7 million, or...

Mosby slashes 200 jobs.(medical and health sciences publisher Mosby Year-Book Inc.)
December 21, 1998... Harcourt General, the new owner of Mosby, is axing 200 jobs at the medical and health sciences publisher to cut costs. The job reductions, which amount to 20 percent of Mosby's St. Louis work force of 1,000, are mainly in editorial and...

Union Bank invading Missouri.(Union Financial Group Ltd. to establish Union Bank NA in Clayton, St. Louis, Missouri)
December 21, 1998... Union Financial Group Ltd. plans to spend nearly $8 million to launch its first banking operations on the Missouri side of the St. Louis area. The privately held Swansea, Ill.-based company, which changed its name from Union Illinois Co....

A.G. Edwards doubles trust.(A.G. Edwards Trust Co. to expand by 50,000 square feet)
December 21, 1998... A surge in wealthy clients is prompting A.G. Edwards Trust Co. to double the size of its operations. The sister company of the A.G. Edwards & Sons brokerage firm is expanding by 50,000 square feet. A.G. Edwards Trust, an 11-year-old...

Country clubs spruce up; private golf clubs feel public pressure.(St. Louis, Missouri golf clubs)
December 21, 1998... The explosion of new, high-end, public golf courses has private country clubs pumping money into their facilities in an effort to retain and attract members. Some private clubs, such as Norwood Hills Country Club, which has lost a few...

GHP scraps Riverport deal; opts for Earth City location.(Group Health Plan drops transfer to Riverport Business Center)
December 21, 1998... Group Health Plan has backed out of a deal to relocate its corporate offices to Riverport Business Center, opting instead to move to Corporate Woods II in Earth City. The Riverport deal fell through after a large customer of Coventry...

Smaller banks jump on cash management bandwagon.(cash management services offer money-making potential for banks)
December 21, 1998... Cash management services have become a cash cow for banks. Major financial institutions, such as Mercantile Bancorporation and NationsBank, as well as smaller players, such as Lemay Bank & Trust Co., are finding that helping businesses...

Retailers put Christmas sales before papal items.(St. Louis, Missouri)
December 21, 1998... At Sportsprint, McGwire takes back pew to pope With Christmas season in high gear, some companies selling licensed merchandise for Pope John Paul II's January visit say they are getting the cold shoulder from busy retailers. "It's not...

Doris returns to Lutheran Medical as chief executive.(Doug Doris; Luthern Medical Center)
December 21, 1998... Tenet firms up local management team; Doris holds 2 posts The former chief operating officer at Lutheran Medical Center is back on home turf. But this time, Doug Doris is running the hospital. Doris was named chief executive at...

Blue Cross bears brunt of state reviews.(Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri)
December 21, 1998... Since last August, when Missouri got the legal power to force managed health-care companies to pay disputed claims; the Missouri Department of Insurance has issued five such orders - four of them against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri...

Nies/Artcraft hits $30 million goal ahead of schedule.(Nies/Artcraft Printing Cos.)(Company Profile)
December 21, 1998... Business activity: Nies/Artcraft Printing Cos. has jumped on the digital bandwagon. The company is equipped with a state-of-the-art digital network supported by bundled ISDN (integrated services digital network) lines, which transmit...

D&K Healthcare Resources Inc.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 21, 1998... J. Hord Armstrong III Chairman, chief executive officer and treasurer D&K Healthcare Resources is a regional wholesale drug distributor. The company reported a profit of $3.3 million, or 90 cents a share, on sales of $612.4 million for...

Kroenke invests $54 million.(Kroenke Group's purchase of apartment complexes in St. Charles and Fairview Heights, Missouri)
December 28, 1998... The Kroenke Group is adding to its St. Louis apartment portfolio with the purchase of apartment complexes in St. Charles and Fairview Heights for $54.7 million. Stan Kroenke, head of Columbia, Mo.-based Kroenke Group, and partner Jim...

Call centers dial up $1 billion impact.(St. Louis, Missouri)
December 28, 1998... Companies nationwide are racing to open call centers in St. Louis, where more than 45 centers in the area handle upward of 120 million calls per year. Announcements of new call centers locating here are arriving on a regular basis with the...

Plans for papal visit a mystery to businesses.
December 28, 1998... Many downtown businesses say they're lost trying to prepare for Pope John Paul II's visit because city officials have been lean on details. The city hasn't announced street closings or security measures for the visit, which is expected to...

Source racks up fourth recent acquisition.(Source Information Management Co.)
December 28, 1998... The Source Information Management Co. is aiming to become the master of the checkout counter with a series of acquisitions including four in the past five weeks. Source's latest move: it agreed Dec. 15 to buy New York-based Brand...

GE Capital, NationsBank to offer lessons for area small businesses.
December 28, 1998... GE Capital Corp. is setting up a "campus" of its Small Business College in the St. Louis area. Next spring, GE Capital will begin offering courses to qualified small businesses at GE Capital Small Business Finance Corp.'s headquarters at...

Gimpelson continues stand against managed care.(Dr. Richard Gimpelson)
December 28, 1998... New medical society president also focuses on wellness initiatives Dr. Richard Gimpelson, incoming president of the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society, will take up where his predecessor is leaving off in speaking out against managed...

Offer for Blue Cross low; investors think they can get $18-$24 a share.(Kansas City Blue Cross and Blue Shield)
December 28, 1998... Kansas City Blue Cross and Blue Shield's recent offer to buy RightChoice Managed Care Inc. is unrealistically low, to judge by the reaction of RightChoice owners and analysts who follow the company. Kansas City Blue Cross' chief executive,...

For Leftons, business is fun and games.(Lefton Promotions)
December 28, 1998... Business activity: If you ask Jeff Lefton when he started in business, he would tell you it was in 1969 - when he started performing his magic acts at age 12. That really was the genesis for his business, Lefton Promotions. Incorporated in...

Region seeks to build on 1998 successes.(Economic Development)(St. Louis, Missouri area)
December 28, 1998... The St. Louis area took major steps this year toward expanding Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and is inching closer to building a convention hotel downtown. Building on such regional successes in 1999 will be critical to keeping...

370 corridor drives boom in St. Charles.(Economic Development)
December 28, 1998... Businesses from Coca-Cola to Western Union are leading a building boom in St. Charles city that, counting everything from recently completed buildings to planned space, will add 1 million square feet of industrial space. Nadine Boon,...

Power plant, business park propel Madison County.(Economic Development)(impact of industrial development on southwestern Illinois)
December 28, 1998... As developers rapidly fill locations west of St. Louis, nearby areas in Illinois such as Madison County expect to lure more and more businesses with wide-open spaces and proximity to St. Louis. "Southwestern Illinois is the future of St....

Retail, hotel developments stimulate St. Clair County.(Economic Development)
December 28, 1998... In Southwestern Illinois, Madison County might be getting the bulk of industrial development, but it's St. Clair County that is reaping the benefits of commercial development. Over the past year, St. Clair County has seen the construction...