St. Louis Business Journal articles from January 1997

St. Louis Business Journal archives from January 1997

Riverport for sale? (St. Louis, Missouri's office park)
January 6, 1997... Sverdrup Corp. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. are asking St. Louis commercial real estate firms to help them form a strategic plan for Riverport. The firms, which own the Maryland Heights office park and 235 acres of undeveloped ground, are...

Mayflower to dock in St. Louis: 550 jobs coming from Indianapolis. (Mayflower Transit Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri)
January 6, 1997... 550 jobs coming from Indianapolis UniGroup Inc. is expected to bring as many as 550 new jobs to its Fenton headquarters from its Mayflower Transit operations in suburban Indianapolis. UniGroup, which also owns United Van Lines, is being...

Symphony hits high note: $12 million campaign puts orchestra in black. (St. Louis Symphony Orchestra)
January 6, 1997... For the first time in many years, the financial outlook for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra sounds good. A $12 million campaign launched a year ago with a $2 million pledge from local philanthropist E. Desmond Lee met its Dec. 31 deadline....

McColl scales new heights with Boatmen's buy. (Nationsbank Corp. Chairman/CEO Hugh McColl Jr.'s acquisition of Boatmen's Bancshares Inc.)
January 6, 1997... Hugh McColl Jr., the man that 17,000 employees at Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. soon will be calling "boss," is used to being at the top. After all, McColl, chairman and chief executive officer of NationsBank Corp., climbed the tallest mountain in...

TWA seeks $87 million in concessions from unions. (Trans World Airlines Inc.)(includes related article on flight attendants' rejection of concessions deal)
January 6, 1997... Trans World Airlines Inc. is looking to employees once again to bail it out of financial turbulence. According to an interoffice memo from Don Monteath, TWA's senior vice president of operations, to board member Bill Compton, the airline could...

City to appeal ruling returning $70 million in taxes to businesses. (St. Louis, Missouri)
January 6, 1997... Despite a recent court ruling, the fight to refund $70 million in tax payments to hundreds of Missouri businesses is not over. The city of St. Louis will appeal the Dec. 17 ruling by Cole County Circuit Judge Thomas Brown, said Ed Hanlon,...

60 Minutes' Wallace grills Monsanto over sweetener. (Monsanto Co.'s artificial sweetener discussed on television program)
January 6, 1997... A Dec. 29 segment on CBS's 60 Minutes questioning the safety of the sweetener aspartame has left a sour taste in the mouths of Monsanto executives. The chemical and life sciences company was the focus of a 20-minute segment on 60 Minutes which...

BlueChoice sale could trigger $42 million payment. (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri; RightCHOICE Managed Care Inc.)
January 6, 1997... Being Blue comes with a price. Blue Cross and Blue Shields across the country face increasing competition from large managed health care entities. To compete, the Blues have formed alliances with each other, sought outside capital and, in one...

Trio puts together $11.5 million in store fixtures. (Triad Manufacturing Co.)(Small Business)(Company Profile)
January 6, 1997... EMERGING COMPANIES Triad Mfg. Inc. 1366 Kingsland Ave. Pagedale, Mo. 63133 Business Activity: Triad Mfg. Co. custom makes high-end metal and wood store fixtures for companies throughout the United States and in Europe. The company has three...

Everyone's trying to make a sale at business fairs. (how to maximize trade show benefits)(Small Business)(Column)
January 6, 1997... A business fair is the ultimate in sales power - a sales prospecting, relationship building, lead generating, networking event. You should be there from the second it opens on the first day, until they throw you out on the last evening. Here's...

CEO celebrates 10 years of accomplishments. (Civic Entrepreneurs Organization)
January 6, 1997... It all began with Miss Universe (the Miss Universe Pageant, that is). Ten-plus years ago the Civic Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO), a not-for-profit organization, was created by some local visionaries with the charge of identifying and promoting...

Fox, Lay top donors of soft money. (contributions to Democratic and Republican Parties by Harbor Group Chairman and CEO Sam Fox and Antonia Investments CEO Henry Lay)
January 13, 1997... When it comes to political support, Sam Fox and Henry Lay pitch pennies with the big boys. Fox and Lay led local donors of soft money to political parties last year. Both were donors to the Republican Party - Fox to the tune of $225,000 and...

Eastward Ho for Perkinson to Bridgeton: 128 acres to be bought for $10 million. (Perkinson Realty Group)
January 13, 1997... Perkinson Realty Group is close to cinching a $10 million deal to expand Earth City industrial development eastward to Bridgeton. The real estate developer plans to acquire 128 acres of land from West Lake Quarry & Material Co. by the end of...

Bissinger's grows sweet on expansion; after 70 years here, candy maker opens in other cities. (Karl Bissinger's French Confections)
January 13, 1997... For the first time in its 70-year history, Karl Bissinger's French Confections is opening retail stores outside the St. Louis area. But Ken Kellerhals, president of Bissinger's, wants to expand the company's business just the way it makes its...

Experts see sunny skies for Boeing after merger. (Boeing Co.'s merger with McDonnell Dougals Corp.)
January 13, 1997... By the year 2001, the pending merger of The Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. will have proved an historic moment that forever' changed the world of aerospace, and the world itself. Much already has been written about near-term...

IRS flags Clinton's racing deductions, seeks $4 million. (Grey Eagle Distributors Inc. owner Jerry Clinton's auto racing promotions)
January 13, 1997... WASHINGTON - Jerry Clinton, the owner of Grey Eagle Distributors Inc., and other owners of the St. Louis County beer distributorship, potentially face a bigger tax bill from Uncle Sam. That comes after an Internal Revenue Service audit - one...

Race overshadows finances at pension board meeting. (St. Louis Public School Retirement System's Board of Education)
January 13, 1997... In an emotionally charged special session, members of the St. Louis Board of Education addressed concerns about recent actions taken by trustees of the St. Louis Public School Retirement System. The retirement system, a $614 million pension...

Bremen starts expansion, buying National Equity. (Bremen Bancorp Inc.; National Equity Inc.)
January 13, 1997... Bremen Bancorp Inc. plans to buy National Equity Inc., a mortgage broker based in St. Charles, for $577,000. The move is a first step toward expansion for Bremen, a 129-year-old, one-bank holding company in north St. Louis, said William Giese,...

Husch merges with Springfield firm. (Husch and Eppenberger; Springfield, MO-based Farrington and Curtis)
January 13, 1997... Husch & Eppenberger is taking over one of Springfield, Mo.'s oldest law firms. Farrington & Curtis, a nine-lawyer firm in southeast Missouri, joined with Husch as of Jan. 1 and has changed its name to Husch & Eppenberger. That brings Husch's...

A-B could open microbrewery at Busch Gardens. (Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc.)
January 13, 1997... Anheuser-Busch Cos., which closed its small Tampa brewery a year ago, is considering using part of the 17-acre site next to its Busch Gardens theme park for a micro-brewery. The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported the plans in December....

Sterling Direct buying 40-person division of Talx. (Talx Inc.)
January 13, 1997... Sterling Direct, a direct mail firm in Earth City, is buying the document service operations of Talx Inc., a high-tech communications business here. The purchase, estimated at $1 million to $2 million, will shift roughly 40 Talx employees to...

Lamperts, Zimrings pay $9 million for office building. (Morrie and Shirley Zimrings and Jack and Nancy Lamperts; Forty Corporate Center in St. Louis, MO)
January 13, 1997... The former owner bought the building in May 1994 for $8.3 million, or $95.30 per square foot. A local group of investors recently set a benchmark price for St. Louis office buildings when they paid nearly $116 per square foot for Town and...

Low job growth rank masks area's low unemployment. (St. Louis, MO)
January 13, 1997... St. Louis ranked in the bottom quarter of a recent study on job growth, but one local labor analyst said the story behind the numbers is a little brighter. The St. Louis area, which includes Metro East, had an increase in its private sector...

Quest in quest of partners after spinoff from Corning. (Quest Diagnostics Inc.; Corning Clinical Laboratories)
January 13, 1997... Quest Diagnostics Inc., the second-largest clinical laboratory in the St. Louis area, wants to partner with health systems and other organizations to reduce costs and improve medical care. The new emphasis comes in the wake of the company's...

Midwest Wholesale brewing $2 million in revenue. (Midwest Wholesale Refreshment Service)(Small Business)(Company Profile)
January 13, 1997... Coffee supplier also looking for new acquisition in '97 Midwest Wholesale Refreshment Service bills itself as a "one-stop shop" for the break service industry, offering more than 300 items from coffee, cappuccino and latte to filtered water to...

Bond's issues: health coverage, home office deduction. (Missouri Senator Christopher Bond)(Small Business)
January 13, 1997... Tax relief for home-based businesses; easier access to capital for women-owned businesses and expanding health-care coverage are among the priorities for Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond in the 105th Congress. The senior Missouri senator, who is...

Art Museum, Arena deal good for both. (expansion of St. Louis Art Museum and development of St. Louis Arena)(Editorial)
January 13, 1997... The late Friday afternoon conference call from Mayor Freeman Bosley to business leaders Sam Fox and Dick Liddy was the beginning of the time "when you could smell the close" in the agreement on the expansion of the St. Louis Art Museum and future...

Babcock charts course for cable industry. (Charter Communications co-founder Barry Babcock)(Interview)
January 13, 1997... The following is an excerpt from a Q&A with Barry Babcock co-founder of Charter Communications, on the challenges and opportunities ahead for Charter and the cable industry, which appeared in the Dec. 11 issue of Broadcasting & Cable....

Who's moving up ... and out; Darnell, Shell, Jensen in top positions. (David Darnell, Owen G. Shell, Richard Jensen; NationsBank Corp.)
January 20, 1997... Thom Sharp, look out. There are two new "Boatmen's Guys" in town. David Darnell, president of NationsBank-Midwest, and Owen G. "Bob" Shell, president of the Asset Management Group of NationsBank Corp., are NationsBank veterans who have moved...

Bielke jumps ship to head Union Bank of Illinois. (Dennis Bielke)(Who's Moving up ... and out)
January 20, 1997... Union Bank of Illinois, an $80 million bank based in Swansea, is the first in what's likely to be a wave of community banks capitalizing on merger mania. Union Bank has hired Dennis Bielke, who was Boatmen's Bancshares Inc.'s top man in Metro...

Ritter: Blues not for sale. (Clark Enterprises head Jerry Ritter; St. Louis Blues)
January 20, 1997... If there's anyone who could quietly broker the sale of a professional sports franchise, it's Jerry Ritter. But the man who engineered the $150 million sale of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team for Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. insists he's not...

Behlmann driving deal to unload car business? (Behlmann Automotive Holdings)
January 20, 1997... The Behlmann family, whose name has been a fixture in north St. Louis County for 40 years, is considering selling its car dealerships. Industry sources said the Behlmanns, who own five dealerships under the name Behlmann Automotive Holdings,...

SelecTown narrows field for relocating companies. (St. Louis, MO-based Internet site)(Special Section: Cyberspace: Changing the Face of Business)
January 20, 1997... Economic development directors who want to distinguish their communities from AnyTown USA now have a St. Louis-based Internet site to woo corporate relocators. The Web site SelecTown (www.selectown.com) features a national community and...

Here's a switch: a CEO passes on bonus hike; Zoltek's Rumy declines $125,000 increase. (Zoltek Companies Inc.; Zsolt Rumy)
January 20, 1997... Zsolt Rumy, the entrepreneurial chief executive of Zoltek Cos. Inc., could have taken another $125,000 in bonus last year. Instead, Rumy, 54, asked the carbon fiber company to pay him a lower bonus: $100,000, when he was eligible for $225,000....

Insider information to blame for 99% of computer hacking.(Special Section: Cyberspace: Changing the Face of Business)
January 20, 1997... Between hackers, viruses and human error, companies are realizing the increasing need to protect the information they store and transmit with their computers. A recent survey jointly conducted by Ernst & Young and Information Week magazine...

Wildrick: Venture on verge of making a turnaround. (Venture Stores Inc.)
January 20, 1997... Despite a run of bad news in recent days, Venture Stores Inc.'s top gun said he's optimistic about the company's future. Robert Wildrick, Venture's chairman and chief executive officer, dismissed persistent rumors of pending bankruptcy and said...

Economic pulse: FDIC's Institution Directory can give indication of bank's health. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(Special Section: Cyberspace: Changing the Face of Business)
January 20, 1997... With the unveiling of a new service from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the financial records of banks and thrifts are no more than a few keystrokes away. The "Institution Directory," accessible through the FDIC's home page on the...

Roosevelt adjustments may hasten offers for Mercantile. (Roosevelt Financial Group Inc.; Mercantile Bancorporation Inc.)
January 20, 1997... A strategic investment move by Roosevelt Financial Group Inc. is expected to pay big dividends for Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. Financial analysts and banking industry insiders say the decision by Roosevelt to sell its entire portfolio of...

Wave, Sullivan see rising tide for corporate intranets. (Wave Technologies International Inc.; G.A. Sullivan)(Special Section: Cyberspace: Changing the Face of Business)
January 20, 1997... Companies looking for ways to distribute information to employees quickly and efficiently are increasingly turning to intranets. The corporate world has spent millions of dollars and many years trying to connect incompatible systems into a...

Pulitzer caught in middle of Scripps family feud. (Pulitzer Community Newspapers Inc.)
January 20, 1997... Straight from the pages of a Shakespearean tragedy, Pulitzer Publishing Co. is in the middle of a family squabble over the sale of the Scripps newspaper empire. Barry H. Scripps, the 51-year-old son of newspaper patriarch Edward W. Scripps and...

For on-line investment information, ask EDGAR. (SEC's Electronic Data Gathering and Analysis Retrieval system)(includes tips on investment information on Internet)(Special Section: Cyberspace: Changing the Face of Business)
January 20, 1997... Access to information plays a significant role in the success of investments. Thanks to the Internet, individual investors now have more information than ever before at their fingertips. Investors can always phone their brokers to request a...

Laclede Gas profit jumps to $33 million.
January 20, 1997... Laclede Gas Co. is making more money in nontraditional niches. Colder-than-normal weather, new emerging markets, and appliance repair and service jobs helped the company improve performance. Nontraditional marketing accounted for $3.1 million...

Ralston, Monsanto, Mac among eye-catching sites. (Ralston Purina Co., Monsanto Co., McDonnell Douglas Co.; Internet sites)(Special Section: Cyberspace: Changing the Face of Business)
January 20, 1997... So your company has launched its Internet site on the World Wide Web. But if the site still looks like a brochure distributed at the last convention, don't expect potential customers to come flocking. That's the opinion of people living and...

Curtain falls on state film officer's job at key time. (St. Louis Film Office head Kate Arnold-Schuck)
January 20, 1997... Less than a month after the head of the St. Louis Film Office resigned under fire, the state film office is in turmoil. Longtime state film manager Kate Arnold-Schuck was fired from her job before the first of the year by the Department of...

Laser Vision executives see pay hikes of more than 50% when stock soars. (Laser Vision Centers Inc.)
January 20, 1997... Laser Vision Centers Inc.'s four top executives saw their combined salaries and bonuses increase about 53 percent last year. While the company reported a loss of $8.8 million, its stock price jumped about 67 percent during its fiscal year ended...

Software Architects builds on revenue of $1.8 million.(Small Business)(Company Profile)
January 20, 1997... Information systems consultant looks to double size '97 Business Activity: In an industry where fast, easy growth is possible. Scott and Diane Schlotz have decided on a slow. steady growth for Software Architects Inc., a company that provides...

Talent trying to ease tax burden on home businesses. (Representative Jim Talent)
January 20, 1997... Rep. Jim Talent, R-St. Louis County, the new chairman of the Small Business Committee in the U.S. House, promises to be an aggressive advocate for small business. "I'm really excited a bout his," Talent said of his appointment to head the...

Hopkins Goldenberg firm has role in Prudential lawsuit drama. (Prudential Insurance Co.)
January 20, 1997... A high-profile class-action lawsuit against Prudential Insurance Co. has been making national headlines - no doubt in part for what could be a $1.9 billion settlement. Lesser known is the role a 10-attorney law firm in Granite City, Hopkins...

Criticism, continued.(Common Sense Communications)
January 20, 1997... This is a continuation of our series on criticism. One thing to which we called attention: We should try to avoid criticizing in anger or loss of temper when seeking a change in attitude, cooperation or a different way of doing things. We must...

Merger fallout: 42 branches to close. (closure of 42 bank branches in St. Louis, Missouri)
January 27, 1997... 12 Boatmen's, 30 others to be trimmed The recent spate of bank mergers will lead to at least 42 bank branches in the St. Louis area closing their doors over the next several months. One dozen of the shuttered bank buildings would be former...