St. Louis Business Journal articles from February 1997

St. Louis Business Journal archives from February 1997

'Sullying my reputation.' (Bill Maritz sells his shares at Boatmen's Banchsares)
February 3, 1997... Bill Maritz sells Boatmen's stock Bill Maritz, who said he's grown weary of the controversy surrounding his purchase of Boatmen's Bancshares stock last summer, has sold the shares and turned over the profit to NationsBank Corp. Maritz was a...

Hot seats: Cardinals ticket sales up 6%. (St. Louis Cardinals)
February 3, 1997... Despite an increase in ticket prices, Cardinals season ticket holders are stepping up to the plate. With spring training less than two weeks away, the club is on pace to top 18,000 season ticket holders, a jump of nearly 1,000, or 6 percent,...

The trial. (mock jury trial services offered by Ask America and Superior Surveys of St. Louis)(Professional Services: Law and Accounting)
February 3, 1997... Bryan Cave, Armstrong Teasdale pay $15,000 a day to hold mock jury trials When attorney Dennis McCubbin came across a case that was unlike anything he had ever seen, he turned to Trish Dunn and Carol McGill. Through their two companies, Ask...

Wolfson and Davis gain independence from Truman. (Andrew Wolfson and Donald Davis resign as board of directors from Truman Bank)
February 3, 1997... Four members of the 11-member board of directors of Truman Bank resigned in less than one week, amid controversy over bank growth. Two of the former Truman Bank board members, Don Davis, president and general partner of Gateway Mortgage, and...

Stone Hill, Hermannhof plant seeds for growth. (Stone Hill Winery, Hermannhoff Winery)
February 3, 1997... The hills of Hermann, Mo., which have provided the fertile ground to grow grapes for wine for 150 years, are about to be called upon to turn out more grapes and wine than they have produced since Prohibition. Stone Hill Winery, the largest in...

Wallace, Interim Legal riding temp lawyer wave. (Wallace Law Registry, Interim Legal Personnel)(Professional Services: Law and Accounting)
February 3, 1997... When Lisa Collins Werner left law practice in 1993, she rolled out what was an uncommon employment service for St. Louis at the time: temporary jobs for lawyers and paralegals. Back then hot small Clayton firm was one of only a few competitors...

New York Cleaners presses service.(Company Profile)
February 3, 1997... McIntoshes connect with customers using 800 number 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...

Reinsurance Group of America Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 3, 1997... A. Greig Woodring President and chief executive officer Reinsurance Group of America Inc., through its operating subsidiaries, offers life reinsurance throughout North America, accident and health reinsurance, and international life and...

$28 million for Promenade site. (new shopping center in St. Louis, Missouri)
February 10, 1997... Sansone pays 3 times market value to buy Brentwood homes By all accounts, Brentwood's Evans Place neighborhood was on a slippery slope of decline. The $30,000 and $40,000 homes there were losing value and many of the residents were elderly....

Helga Designs, Liberty Printing cash in on riverboat gambling.
February 10, 1997... For companies like Helga Designs Inc., casinos have turned out to be a perfect fit. In 1991, when riverboat casinos started popping up on area riverbanks, Helga Designs' owner, Helga James, felt the time was right to take a chance. For the...

Ebling decks the walls with $500 investment. (Deck the Walls owner Mark Ebling)(Small Business)
February 10, 1997... PICTURE THIS: Once the youngest franchisee, he now tops national chain Business Activity: A stroll into the Deck the Walls store at the Saint Louis Galleria will tell those who haven't been in a Deck the Walls for some time that things have...

Maverick Tube Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 10, 1997... Gregg M. Elsenberg Chairman, president and chief executive officer The Maverick Tube Corp. manufactures welded steel tubular products primarily for consumption in the United States and Canada. The company also produces line pipe for handling...

Ralston checks out offers. (Ralston Purina Co.)
February 24, 1997... Ralston Purina Co.'s status as a free agent is in full swing as several states bid for the corporation's 2,000 headquarters jobs. Fielding proposals for Ralston is Ted Martin, co-chairman of Colliers Turley Martin, one of St. Louis' largest...

O'Brien: FBI investigating pension fund. (St. Louis Public School Retirement System former investment counselor Albert O'Brien)
February 24, 1997... Albert O'Brien, former investment counselor for the St. Louis Public School Retirement System, told the St. Louis Business Journal that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has met with him seeking information concerning the pension system's...

Real estate deals sink Heimburger. (RightCHOICE Managed Care former Chmn. and CEO Roy Heimburger)
February 24, 1997... Midnight call puts O'Rourke in charge of Blue Cross plans The repercussions from soured real estate transactions ultimately cost Roy Heimburger the top spot at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri. On Feb. 18, Blue Cross' two separate...

Wilson makes pitch for minor league baseball team. (St. Louis Blues announcer Ken Wilson)
February 24, 1997... Longtime St. Louis Blues play-by-play announcer Ken Wilson is leading the charge to bring minor league baseball to St. Louis. "We've got the land, we've almost got the team, now we just need the corporate community to step forward," Wilson...

Vantage doubles OfficeMax space in $600,000 renovation. (Vantage Construction Co.; OfficeMax Inc.)
February 24, 1997... Vantage Construction Co. pulled off a tricky assignment for client OfficeMax Inc. recently. Vantage, a general contractor specializing in retail and industrial projects, doubled the space of the Gentry Square OfficeMax store in Crestwood to...

As big boys muscle in, Wydown Market closes. (St. Louis, Missouri supermarket)
February 24, 1997... One family business will make way for another when Wydown Market closes its doors after 23 years in business. Edward and Mary Scherl owned and operated the market, on Wydown Boulevard just east of Hanley Road, until Edward died March 14, 1995....

Looped. (construction projects in University City Loop, Missouri)
February 24, 1997... From Tuscany to Tivoli: preserving the flavor of business in U. City The future identity of the University City Loop faces change as more name-brand retailers consider the four-block entertainment and business district as a place to sell their...

First Banks and Enterbank offerings oversubscribed. (First Banks Inc.; Enterbank Holdings Inc.)
February 24, 1997... The public markets have been very good to First Banks Inc. and Enterbank Holdings Inc. First Banks raised $86,250,000 in just one week through the sale of trust preferred securities, 25 percent more than it expected to raise, said Joe Stieven,...

Booker, STV conductors for $21 million MetroLink job. (Booker Associates Inc.; STV Inc.; Illinois MetroLink expansion project)
February 24, 1997... A joint venture of STV Inc. and Booker Associates Inc. will serve as program management consultant for the final design of the Illinois MetroLink expansion, expected to begin service by September 2001. Fees for the STV/Booker team, which...

Brinkmann, Bell Electrical build on Schnuck's growth. (R.G. Brinkman Co; Bell Electrical Contractors Inc.; Schnuck Markets Inc.)
February 24, 1997... Schnuck Markets Inc., the biggest grocery chain and one of the biggest privately held companies in St. Louis, has been on a building spree in the past several years spending $35 million on construction of new stores. Since 1990, Schnuck has...

Computers, migration force $500 million in school work. (school construction projects in St. Louis, Missouri)
February 24, 1997... A computer in every classroom? That technology concept is fueling renovation projects throughout area schools. In addition, a population shift out of the St. Louis and St. Louis County metro neighborhoods is creating a school building boom...

McCarthy puts Enterprise in fast lane on $18 million job. (Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co.)
February 24, 1997... Faster than expected growth in the rental car business has McCarthy putting the pedal to the metal on an $18 million corporate office building for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The five-story, 180,000-square-foot facility, under construction at...

Retail rumors: May after Dayton Hudson; Dillard's being pursued. (May Department Stores Co.; Dayton Hudson Corp.; Dillard Department Stores Inc.)
February 24, 1997... Speculation is mounting that major changes are in store for three national retailers: May Department Stores Co., the department store division of Dayton Hudson Corp. and Dillard Department Stores. In recent weeks, talk has heated up that St....

4,200 manufacturing jobs lost here in 1 year. (St. Louis, Missouri)
February 24, 1997... St. Louis lost 2 percent of its manufacturing base - or 4,200 jobs - from October 1995 to October 1996, according to a recent Business Journal study. The St. Louis metropolitan area ranked 79th out of the 100 largest cities in terms of changes...

Boland takes care of BJC, connects with Brooks Fiber. (Boland Associates; BJC Health System; Brooks Fiber Properties Inc.)
February 24, 1997... Boland Associates is designing its way through many of the area's biggest construction projects. Mercantile is banking on the architectural firm for the renovation of its new headquarters in Clayton, while BJC Health System is counting on the...

Analyst: Belden's profit expected to jump 21% in '97. (Belden Inc.)
February 24, 1997... Locally based Belden Inc. paid $70 million in cash and assumed $4 million of debt in January to buy the Alpha Wire Division of New Jersey-based Alpha Wire Corp. Belden was interested in Alpha primarily for its well-known name in the industry...

Alberici pumped for Science Center's $2 million dome. (J.S. Alberici Construction Company Inc.; St. Louis Science Center)
February 24, 1997... Once the foundation was laid and the vinyl "tent" was in place, it took only 40 minutes for workers from J.S. Alberici Construction Co. to inflate the Exploradome at the St. Louis Science Center. The 41,000-square-foot structure, which opened...

The Barths find cashless system pays off. (Access Control Technology founders Lyn and Millie Barth)(Company Profile)
February 24, 1997... Access Control's debit card system reads $2 million in revenue Business Activity: Lyn Barth and Access Control Technologies were actually a little ahead of their time, but now that the rest of the world is catching on, the St. Louis-based...

Abraham's bill would curb mandates for private sector. (Sen. Spencer Abraham's Mandates Information Act of 1997)
February 24, 1997... WASHINGTON - Small businesses could see some relief from costs levied by mandates and regulations if initiatives designed to limit and spell out those costs are enacted. For some business owners, the costs imposed by government regulation...

Emerson Electric Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 24, 1997... Charles Knight Chairman, president and chief executive officer Emerson Electric Co. is engaged in the design, manufacture and sale of a broad range of electrical, electromechanical and electronic products and systems in the commercial and...

Pension board orders inquiry into second investment. (St. Louis Public School Retirement System)
February 24, 1997... The St. Louis Public School Retirement System has commissioned its independent auditors and legal counsel to investigate Composite Holdings Inc. and principal Robert Coleman. The decision follows allegations in recent weeks that Coleman...

Should a regional board operate Lambert? (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport)
February 24, 1997... A group of Missouri state legislators has introduced a bill to turn control of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport over to a regional governing board. Here are arguments advanced by Sen. Steve Ehlmann, R-St. Charles, one of the sponsors of...