St. Louis Business Journal articles from May 1996

St. Louis Business Journal archives from May 1996

What will play at the Opera House? Kiel Partners seeks bids from national developers. (Kiel Opera House; Kiel Center Partners L.P.)
May 6, 1996... Kiel Center Partners has sent out a request for proposals for the renovation and operation of the long-shuttered Kiel Opera House, the 1934 landmark shut down in 1992 during construction of the new Kiel Center. The request for proposals has...

TWA to bring 200 jobs here. (Trans World Airlines Inc.)
May 6, 1996... Trans World Airlines Inc. is planning to relocate its operations control center from New York to St. Louis. The move would bring about 200 employees to the airline's training center near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The relocation...

Mahoney reeling in big catches for Burns Pauli. (Bob Mahoney, chairman and CEO of Burns Pauli Mahoney Co.)
May 6, 1996... Bob Mahoney is brokering a plan to lure 20 top producers away from other firms. Mahoney, chairman and chief executive of Bums Pauli Mahoney Co., is a relative newcomer to the local brokerage scene. Since taking control of the firm eight months...

Grisham's departure was 'discussed for some time.' (Richard Grisham, former president of Unity Health System.)
May 6, 1996... Richard Grisham, who turned around the fortunes of St. Anthony's Medical Center, lasted a year in the corporate ranks at the hospital's new owner. Grisham helped create Unity Health System, the merger of St. Anthony's Medical Center, St....

Capital Tickets replaces Tickets Now at Kiel Center.
May 6, 1996... Starting July 1, Kiel Center events will be sold through Capital Tickets, the newly formed automated ticketing agency of Contemporary Group. Kiel Center is breaking ranks with Tickets Now, which has handled the account since Kiel Center opened...

American Pathology to open $1.5 million regional lab. (American Pathology Resources)
May 6, 1996... A Nashville, Tenn., pathology firm plans to invest $1.5 million in a regional center to analyze tissue samples that would create up to 150 new jobs in St. Louis. The center would become the third regional processing lab owned and operated by...

Creditors blast Edison Brothers; company fires off angry retort. (Edison Brothers Stores Inc.)
May 13, 1996... Company fires off angry retort Recent documents submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware indicate there is distrust between Edison Brothers Stores Inc., which filed for bankruptcy Nov. 3, 1995, and its small...

Hayes, Curl in line for top job at Boatmen's. (president Samuel B. Hayes III; vice chairman Gregory L. Curl; Boatmen's Bancshares Inc.)
May 13, 1996... There is growing speculation among analysts and investors about who will succeed Andrew B. Craig III after he retires as chairman and chief executive officer of Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. Many analysts believe that Samuel B. Hayes III, Boatmen's...

Florida group buys key chunk of downtown turf. (Barchester Corp.)
May 13, 1996... In the downtown St. Louis Central Business District, there's a large piece of coal just waiting to turn into a diamond piece of real estate. The coal is a 6.4-acre tract of land that lies underneath a solid mass of asphalt, concrete, parking...

Brooks Fiber executives clean up on stock options. (Brooks Fiber Properties Inc.)
May 13, 1996... Executives of Brooks Fiber Properties are ringing up big paper gains on stock options. Brooks Fiber went public May 3 with a stock offering of 7.6 million shares of common stock at $27 a share. As of the close of the stock market Tuesday, the...

Voyageur banks on strength of Missouri, Illinois stocks.
May 13, 1996... The financial strength of Missouri and Illinois companies has caught the eye of the Voyageur Funds, a Minneapolis-based investment manager. Voyageur is offering two new investment products, which consist exclusively of common stocks issued by...

Milnot looks outside as canned milk market sours; new president faces challenge of rising costs of products.
May 13, 1996... New president faces challenge of rising costs of products Robert Pizzuti, Milnot Co.'s new president and chief executive officer, is looking for acquisitions, possibly outside his industry. Milnot owns the Milnot evaporated milk brand and...

Unions win round against President Casino. (Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Local 74)
May 13, 1996... The Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Local 74 won the latest round in its fight against The President Casino involving charges of unfair labor practices. The National Labor Relations Board concluded a hearing Wednesday where it found...

400 doctors form for-profit Gateway Physician Network.
May 13, 1996... The 400 doctors in the not-for-profit Christian Hospital Physician Group have formed a for-profit organization, Gateway Physician Network Inc. The new group will raise capital by issuing stock to its physician members and outside investors,...

Department to probe nursing home child labor violations.
May 13, 1996... The U.S. Department of Labor will take a closer look at nursing homes in the St. Louis area to determine if they are complying with child labor laws. The planned investigation was sparked by the recent fine levied against Integrated Health...

Ashcroft's worker flexibility bill splits business, labor. (Sen. John Ashcroft)
May 13, 1996... Michael Orem, the president of Cimmaron Electric in Lee's Summit, would like to allow his 25 employees more flexibility in their schedules. Like most construction business, the work done by Orem's small electrical contracting is seasonal. Some...

Aetna shopping West Port Plaza: insurer seeks to recover $75 Million investment. (Aetna Life Insurance Co.)
May 20, 1996... Aetna Life Insurance Co. is putting a premium on selling West Port Plaza. In an effort to recover at least $75 million it has invested in the project, the Hartford, Conn., insurer is preparing to sell the sprawling office, retail and hotel...

Competition heats up for vein centers. (market grows for treatment of varicose veins)
May 20, 1996... The St. Louis market for the treatment of varicose veins is growing. An investment group led by Dr. William Goldstein recently opened a 5,000-square-foot retail-styled clinic that will cater to the treatment of troublesome veins and provide...

Sight & Sound lands $4 million in venture funds. (Sight and Sound Distributors)
May 20, 1996... Sight & Sound Distributors has raised $4 million for expansion from a group of venture capital firms, including $1.33 million from Clayton-based Capital For Business. Privately held Sight & Sound is among the nation's four largest wholesalers...

Radio could tune in $100 million: Election, Olympics ads to give revenues a boost.
May 20, 1996... Some radio executives are predicting St. Louis stations will hit $100 million in combined revenue this year. Market leader KMOX Radio and others believe the presidential election and Olympics this year will push that golden ring within reach....

Centre plans include high-tech, interactive entertainment complex. (St. Louis Centre to undergo renovations)
May 20, 1996... Herbert Simon, who this summer becomes co-chairman of the largest real estate group in North America, the Simon DeBartolo Group, came to town Wednesday to discuss the future of his foundering shopping mall, St. Louis Centre. At a closed-door...

Zam's liquidating; creditors to get 5 cents on the dollar. (Zam's Inc.)
May 20, 1996... Bankruptcy has been no party for Zam's Inc.'s creditors. The party superstore has just $360,000 to pay off 325 unsecured creditors owed nearly $7 million, according to documents filed recently in United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern...

Goldman Sachs group pushes aside others for Chromalloy Plaza. (Goldman Sachs Co. to buy Downtown Clayton's Chromalloy Plaza)
May 20, 1996... Downtown Clayton's Chromalloy Plaza is taking a circuitous route to new ownership. Bidding for the 18-story building at 120 S. Central Ave. started last July when a partnership led by Trammell Crow Co. talked about paying $12 million for the...

Bakewell plans $20 million office project in Des Peres: 5 deals in works total $32.4 million. (Bakewell Corp.)
May 20, 1996... 5 deals in works total $32.4 million Bakewell Corp. is making moves in St. Charles, Des Peres, Fenton and south St. Louis County. On the verge of a real estate development boomlet, the Clayton-based commercial real estate company has five...

Kiel Center fails to file return, will pay penalty. (Kiel Center Partners)
May 20, 1996... Kiel Center Partners will pay the city of St. Louis between $43,000 and $60,000 in penalties for not filing a 1995 personal property tax return on the Kiel Center. The amount is still uncertain because the penalty is calculated as a percentage...

Metro East tourist spending up 30.3%. (Southwestern Illinois collects $15.3 million in tourism taxes)
May 20, 1996... Expenditures by tourists increased 30.3 percent in southwestern Illinois from 1991 to 1994, according to a recent study by the Southwestern Illinois Tourism and Convention Bureau. The increase was from $296.7 million to $386.6 million over the...

Jefferson shareholders pass resolution to sell or merge. (Jefferson Savings Bancorp Inc.)
May 20, 1996... The hotel meeting room was warm, due to a malfunctioning air conditioner, and the tempers even hotter, as shareholders of Jefferson Savings Bancorp Inc. gathered for their annual meeting Wednesday. "I hope this is not an indication that the...

Siboney turns to education software after Cuban lesson. (Siboney Corp.)
May 20, 1996... Siboney Corp. is a step closer to getting a return on its former Cuban oil exploration rights, but the real gusher is in the company's educational software business. Tim Tegeler, chairman and chief executive of Siboney, says the former sleepy...

Soho CyberJunction serves Internet access with coffee. (Internet cafe opens on South Grand)
May 20, 1996... St. Louis' first Internet cafe went online this month with the opening of Soho CyberJunction on South Grand. Tom Freeman, a former computer consultant, teamed up with partners Craig Akers, Wes Alexander and John Hufker to the tune of $100,000...

SHARE, Wellness combine cancer support services. (SHARE Inc., The Wellness Community of Greater St. Louis)
May 20, 1996... SHARE Inc., a not-for-profit breast cancer support organization established 15 years ago, has dissolved its corporation, and transferred some of its programs to The Wellness Community of Greater St. Louis, a broader-based cancer support group....

Local politicians cool to Medical Savings Accounts. (impact of health insurance reforms)
May 20, 1996... Medical Savings Accounts, the top health-care priority at last year's White House Conference on Small Business, face an uncertain future as Congress wrangles over health insurance reform. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., chairman of the Senate's...

D'Arcy awaits call on more SBC ads. (D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles; SBC Communications Inc.)
May 27, 1996... Simmons Durham could be disconnected SBC Communications Inc. - the former Southwestern Bell Corp. - is consolidating its $45.5 million in annual advertising at fewer outside agencies. That potentially could heap new accounts on D'Arcy Masius...

A blockbuster: video battles on the way. (competition among video store chains)
May 27, 1996... Video Update, Hollywood Video taking on the giant Video Update Inc. and Hollywood Video, two rapidly growing national video store chains, are entering the St. Louis market. The companies are planning to compete head-on with Blockbuster, which...

Development bill hands Missouri tool to compete. (economic development bill passed in 1996)
May 27, 1996... When Toyota Motor Corp. announced in late November it would build a $700 million plant, employing at least 1,300 workers, in Evansville, Ind., all Joe Driskill could do was watch enviously from the sidelines. Now, Driskill, director of the...

Making dough: Weber serves up $3 million in pizza, hot dogs. (David Weber, founder of First Federal Frank & Crust Co.)(Company Profile)
May 27, 1996... First Federal Frank & Crust Co. Flamers Hot Diggity Dog Saint Louis Galleria and Crestwood Plaza Business Activity: First Federal Frank & Crust Co. is a St. Louis restaurant that introduced New York pizza by the slice to the metropolitan area...

Zeigler Coal Holding Co. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 27, 1996... Chand B. Vyas President and chief executive officer Zeigler Coal Holding is among the largest coal producers in the nation, mining mainly low-sulfur coal. The company has three business groups: coal operations, non-mining operations and...