St. Louis Business Journal articles from February 1999

St. Louis Business Journal archives from February 1999

Core expects $300,000 boost from Ogilvy & Mather deal.(advertising contract)
February 22, 1999... Core, a 3-year-old advertising firm that has garnered national attention for its creative commercials, struck a deal to work with Madison Avenue giant Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. The arrangement will link Core with Ogilvy's clients for 10...

$900,000 raised for private school in city.(City Academy, north St. Louis)
February 22, 1999... Five months after announcing plans to open a private elementary school in north St. Louis, backers have attracted more than $900,000 in donations, hired a principal and pulled together an 18-member board. The proposed City Academy is at...

Unity, SLU Hospital win cardiology contracts from VA.(Unity Health, HMO; Saint Louis University Hospital)
February 22, 1999... Each could see up to 200 referrals a year from VA Heartland The regional office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is outsourcing some of its cardiology services to Saint Louis University Hospital and Unity Health. Under...

Breckenridge Material pours resources into concrete forms.
February 22, 1999... Energy-saving, insulated concrete forms in home construction are making inroads in other parts of the country but have been slow to catch on in St. Louis. So Gil McKean, president of Breckenridge Material Co., one of the region's larger...

HBE, Christner respond to changes in health projects.(Hospital Building & Equipment Co.)
February 22, 1999... After a dip in business in health-care projects in 1997, HBE Corp., the nation's largest planner, designer and builder of health-care facilities, is back on the growth track. The St. Louis-based firm's Hospital Building & Equipment Co....

Starlight Roof party kicks off reopening of the Chase.(Chase Hotel)
February 22, 1999... With 225 construction workers on site every day since November, the old Chase Hotel slowly has been restored to its former glory. The project's developers say the building officially will open next month, but when the Starlight Roof hosts...

$13 million East St. Louis hotel to be ready for 2000.(Casino Queen)
February 22, 1999... If all goes as planned, the Casino Queen in East St. Louis will be complemented by a new hotel just in time for a millennium celebration. "That is our goal," General Manager Craig Travers said, although reservations for the hotel won't be...

Cissell Mueller handles clients from start to finish.(construction company)
February 22, 1999... Expects growth from adding interior design unit Two of the hottest areas for new construction and commercial real estate are St. Charles County and the Chesterfield Valley. And if you are a businessman looking to become part of those...

Horner & Shifrin blazing new paths for firehouses.(Central County Fire and Rescue District)
February 22, 1999... The newly formed Central County Fire and Rescue District is giving its firehouses face-lifts with the help of Horner & Shifrin Inc., an engineering, architectural and planning firm. The district, which resulted from a merger between the...

Sverdrup structures stretch from recreation to hospitals.(Sverdrup Corp.)(Company Profile)
February 22, 1999... Sverdrup Corp. has been in the thick of a building boom in recreational centers. St. Peters and Webster Groves started the surge with municipal projects completed a few years ago. The St. Louis-based general contractor is part of at...

Partnerships with colleges aimed at filling labor pool.(St. Louis Community College-Forest Park; St. Louis Carpenters' Joint Apprenticeship; University of Missouri-Rolla; St. Louis City)
February 22, 1999... With employers scrambling to find qualified workers, two schools have initiated programs they hope will bolster the skilled labor pool in the St. Louis area. In January, St. Louis Community College-Forest Park announced a partnership...

Minors attract major money.(minor league baseball club Gateway Grizzlies gets investments)
February 15, 1999... Sauget leads $ 800,000 bet in Grizzlies The Gateway Grizzlies, the new Metro East minor-league baseball team set to begin play in June 2000, has attracted a group of high-profile investors, several of whom already own a chunk of the rival...

Office Depot looks at Centre.(office equipment and supplies retailer to open store at St. Louis Centre in Missouri)
February 15, 1999... Seeks 25,000 square feet in downtown mall Office Depot is negotiating a deal to open a 25,000-square-foot store in St. Louis Centre, the downtown mall anchored by Famous-Barr and Dillard's clearance center. Industry sources said the...

Edison Brothers building to be up for sale - again.(One Financial Plaza)
February 15, 1999... Downtown building could go for $30 million The owner of the former Edison Building at 501 N. Broadway plans to put the property on the market during the first half of this year. The 434,136-square-foot building, now called One...

Airline consolidation would hurt fliers, GAO study says.(General Accounting Office)
February 15, 1999... WASHINGTON - Airfares are important to Robert Johnson, a New York businessman who makes at least 30 trips a year up and down the East Coast. "We are constantly searching for ways to trim costs, and travel is what we look at first," said...

Glantz keeps eye on design as home building booms.(architectural firm Glantz and Associates)
February 15, 1999... Business activity: Glantz & Associates, a residential architectural firm, is riding the wave of home building in the St. Louis area. With most of the major home builders in the metropolitan area as clients, Glantz's revenue has increased...

MasterCard, Earthgrains find new worker rewards.(Management Consulting)(credit card company and baked products manufacturer)
February 15, 1999... High-performing companies better align their reward plans with business strategies When Jerry McElhatton, president of the MasterCard Global Technologies and Operations Center in St. Louis, sees an outstanding achievement by one of the...

Beta Group's 'information economics' lure Fortune 500.(Management Consulting)(information technology consulting firm)
February 15, 1999... Tom Bugnitz and his four-person consulting firm in St. Louis have made an impact on the consulting industry across the United States, and installed their methods in a growing number of large firms. The company, called The Beta Group,...

Aon facilitates testing for automaker.(Management Consulting)(Aon Consulting Worldwide Inc. screens job candidates through various tests)
February 15, 1999... More companies screening job candidates by using barrage of tests With labor scarce, many employers nowadays say they are culling workers from an underclass of less-educated, less-trained applicants they would have turned up their noses...

TelCon assists Charter with telecom strategy.(Management Consulting)(telecommunications technology consulting firm helps cable-television firm Charter Communications)
February 15, 1999... Even before Judge Harold Greene set about busting up Ma Bell's stranglehold on American telecommunications in 1982, TelCon Associates was helping companies make smart decisions about using the telephone to do business. There have been...

Allied Healthcare Products Inc.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 15, 1999... Uma Aggarwal President and chief executive officer Allied Healthcare Products Inc. is a manufacturer of medical gas equipment, respiratory care products, emergency medical equipment and home health-care products. The company reported a...

Cards go to bat for stadium.(St. Louis Cardinals' proposal for new stadium)
February 8, 1999... The St. Louis Cardinals have begun a pitch to replace 33-year-old Busch Stadium with a modern facility that would be financed with public funds. In an unprecedented move, owners of the team made public its financial history and...

BJC jets by Boeing as largest employer; mergers push health-care system growth.(BJC Health System)
February 8, 1999... BJC Health System now has more people on its payroll than any other employer in St. Louis. The health-care system ranks No. l on the St. Louis Business Journal's list of the area's largest employers. marking the first time in decades...

Six top executives leave Monsanto.
February 8, 1999... Monsanto Co.'s most recent round of downsizing is reaching high into the ranks of Chief Executive Robert Shapiro's cabinet. Six of the 25 corporate executives listed in the company's most recent annual report have submitted their...

Bank plaza for sale; building could fetch $90 million.(NationsBank Plaza)
February 8, 1999... NationsBank Plaza is on the sale block and expected to bring up to $90 million. The 750,000-square-foot building, at 800 Market St., is owned by a partnership made up of NationsBank, IBM and the Equitable Life Assurance Society of...

Jaudes muscles in on $1 million-a-year business.(Mike Jaudes' Fitness Edge)
February 8, 1999... Business activity: Mike Jaudes spent so much time working out while he was growing up that his father, Ron, was driven to ask Mike: "What are you going to do with your life, work out and eat?" That's exactly what the 35-year-old...

Office Max teams with IBM as PC profits remain elusive.(Technology and Communications)
February 8, 1999... As prices on personal computers continue to fall and direct marketers multiply, retailers in St. Louis and nationwide are scrambling for ways t.o make money in a highly competitive market. In an effort to stem its losses, OfficeMax said...

Commerce Bank offering access to WebTurboTax.(Technology and Communications)
February 8, 1999... Commerce Bank announced Jan. 29 an agreement with Intuit to offer WebTurboTax to its customers through its Web site (www.commercebank.com). This will allow easy access to Intuit's Web-based version of its popular TurboTax personal tax...

Birch, McLeod, Winstar lure customers from Bell.(Technology and Communications)(Birch Telecom, McLeod USA, WinStar Communications Inc.; Southwestern Bell)
February 8, 1999... "100% of our customers fired Southwestern Bell." That could be the slogan for any telecommunications company new to the St. Louis market, but Birch Telecom came up with it first. The advertising campaign indicates that, after decades...

Bell's high-speed Internet access turns lightning fast.(Technology and Telecommunications)(Southwestern Bell)
February 8, 1999... Southwestern Bell is rolling out its ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) - a new service for Internet users that will change current concepts of Internet access speed. Competition to provide affordable high-speed Internet access...

Bridge's $50 million plan.(Bridge Information Systems Inc.'s campus expansion)
February 1, 1999... Bridge Information Systems Inc. is snapping up real estate in Creve Coeur as it prepares for a campus expansion estimated to cost more than $50 million. Over the past few months, Bridge has paid $15.2 million for five buildings totaling...

Goodman, buddies bid for Blues.(actor John Goodman; St. Louis Blues)
February 1, 1999... Several investors in KTRS-AM, including actor John Goodman and three of his college buddies, are putting together a bid for the troubled St. Louis Blues and Kiel Center. Also venturing onto the ice as an investor is Paul Lorenzini,...

Labor pains hit MFR, Gross.(MFR Tire Services Inc.; Gross Chandelier Co.)
February 1, 1999... Sandra Christie is having trouble finding qualified employees for Fact Finders inc., a market research firm in Maryland Heights. The problem? Christie, president of Fact Finders, can't find enough workers with good reading and math...

Cardinals' ticket sales sail past 2 million mark.(St. Louis Cardinals)
February 1, 1999... It may be winter, but Mark McGwire fans are racing for the chance to see him slam more homers this season, sending Cardinals ticket sales to a record. The Cardinals already have sold 2.035 million tickets, the earliest date in the team's...

Buxton & Skinner Printing bought by Mail-Well Inc.
February 1, 1999... Mail-Well Inc., a printing industry giant that bought Color Art Inc. last year, is buying Buxton & Skinner Printing Co. The deal would combine two of the 10 largest printing businesses in St. Louis. Color Art had 1997 revenue of $79...

Solon Gershman becomes franchise of Prudential.(Prudential Real Estate)
February 1, 1999... Solon Gershman Inc. is now a piece of the Rock. The Clayton-based real estate firm has entered a five-year franchise agreement that will allow it to offer a wider variety of commercial real estate services. Gershman paid an...

Great American Barbecue beefs up with $1.75 million.
February 1, 1999... Investors have poured $1.75 million into Great American Barbecue Co. to help expand sales of its hickory-smoked ribs and pulled pork to Texas and the Southeast. Great American founder Jim Mueller said roughly 30 percent of the company's...

Metrix computes $5 million in sales; Robbins wires historic building for firm's growth.(founder Joe Robbins)
February 1, 1999... Business Activity: A company that is at the forefront of the technology industry has taken a step back in time to move into the city of St. Louis, bringing its high-tech operation to a 110-year-old building. Metrix Computers Inc....

Emerson Electric Co.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 1, 1999... Charles Knight Chairman and chief executive officer Emerson Electric Co. is a global manufacturer of a broad range of electronic, electrical and related products and systems for the industrial, commercial and consumer markets. The company...