Houston Business Journal articles from April 1997

Houston Business Journal archives from April 1997

Builder launches big development; Trendmaker breaks new ground with Grand Lakes community. (Trendmaker Development Co.)
April 4, 1997... Houston-based Trendmaker Development Co. is about to break ground on a unique 1,253-acre master-planned development that eventually will include more than 3,400 homes in Fort Bend County. Grand Lakes, a community of cul-de-sacs located south of...

Energy fuels rise of foreign banks. (foreign bank agency loans in Houston, Texas)
April 4, 1997... No local skyscrapers bear the names of ABN-AMRO or Banque Paribas, and no advertisements heralding their names grace freeway billboards. But these foreign banks and their overseas counterparts have developed a fast-growing presence in local...

Painting the town Redstone. (David Solomon, President of The Redstone Group)(Profile)(Company Profile)
April 4, 1997... Dealmaker David Solomon has forged a diverse $100 million investment company with help from a wealthy mentor David Solomon first met real estate mogul Richard Rainwater at a business meeting in 1981. A day after their chance encounter in Fort...

Unhappy Metro members question spending priorities. (Metropolitan Transit Authority)(Transportation)
April 4, 1997... The small cities near Houston regard the Metropolitan Transit Authority with widely differing degrees of enthusiasm. Humble Mayor Wilson Archer would like to know why his city, north of town, hasn't gotten more for the $65 million Humble has...

Inventor's idea: Smart Cart Electric Guideway System.(Transportation)
April 4, 1997... My idea for helping solve Houston's transportation problem is the Smart Cart Electric Guideway System, for which a patent is pending. It's a system to transport both gasoline and electrically powered vehicles that initially could be installed...

Corporate Care: laying the groundwork for growth. (carpet installation firm)(Growth Strategies)
April 4, 1997... When Mark Strum and his friend Michael Bono arrived at Intercontinental Airport in Houston for the first time, a cab driver offered to shut off the meter and show the two around. "In New York, a cabby usually drives around the block 10 extra...

Horse sense; Irish hunter horses are trader's newest commodity. (Jim McGinty, Houston commodities trader and cross-breeder of Irish hunter horses)(Small Business Monthly)
April 4, 1997... Jim McGinty's honeymoon trip to Ireland in 1990 turned a hobby into a business. The Houston commodities trader, long an admirer of the Irish hunter horse, brought back with him a Registered Irish Draught stallion and two mares, plus frozen...

Public outcry kills state real estate tax. (Texas House Select Committee on Revenue and Public Education omits portion of House Bill 4 that would impose tax on commercial rents)
April 18, 1997... Texas House removes proposal from package in response to grassroots revolt Small-business owner Bryan Burnett is breathing a sigh of relief this week after a portion of a bill that would have imposed a tax on commercial rents was thrown out in...

TCB brings ad account back home. (Texas Commerce Bank)
April 18, 1997... McCann's local office wins bank's advertising business Texas Commerce Bank recently brought the biggest piece of its advertising account home to Houston, ending its relationship of more than nine years with Dallas-based DDB Needham....

Assisted living. (International Senior Services to develop assisted living facilities in Sugar Land, TX)
April 18, 1997... New player to build collection of housing centers for seniors International Senior Services will break ground next month on a $6 million assisted living facility in Sugar Land for senior citizens who want to remain as independent as possible....

Transwestern plans huge office complex. (Transwestern Property Co.) (West Houston, TX)
April 18, 1997... Transwestern Property Co. is considering purchasing and demolishing the J. Ray McDermott Inc. building in West Houston to make way for a huge new office building complex, according to real estate sources. Transwestern, which last year moved its...

Bank programs for women target fledging entrepreneurs.(Quarterly Banking & Finance Report)
April 18, 1997... When Houston businesswoman Darleane Pace went to banks looking for a small-business loan, she came up empty-handed. The reason loan officers were reluctant to finance her business, she says, was because it was something unusual: a gift shop...

Banks add new verse to old song: 'Getting to know you.'(Quarterly Banking & Finance Report)
April 18, 1997... The good old days when the local banker knew everyone on a first-name basis are gone. Now most banks and their customer bases have grown far too big for those kinds of intimate relationships. And thanks to ATMs, direct deposit, debit cards and...

Home builder Weekley buys tract for headquarters building. (construction co. David Weekley Homes)
April 18, 1997... A tract now occupied by pet boarding kennels will soon become the site of a new headquarters building for David Weekley Homes. The $400 million Houston-based home construction company last week closed on the purchase of a six-acre tract on...

Life after Loewen. (Loewen Group, Earthman Funeral Directors and Cemeteries new parent company)
April 18, 1997... Backed by a new parent company, Bill Earthman is trying to consolidate the fragmented Texas funeral industry without burying the Earthman family tradition. When Bill Earthman took the helm of Earthman Funeral Directors and Cemeteries a little...

ATMs and on-line banking replacing branches, tellers. (automated teller machines)(Quarterly Banking & Finance Report)(Directory)
April 18, 1997... Imagine pulling up to a convenience store in your 2005-model Mercedes to use the automated teller machine, withdrawing maybe a dozen sawbucks for a little weekend revelry. The machine says there is no cash left in the electronic till. But you...

Physician prescribes total health plan for Houston.
April 18, 1997... Health care is undergoing a transformation today. It is being examined and reshaped to better meet changing demands. Therefore, this is the perfect time to redefine "health" for our community and institute a plan of action to enhance the health...

Outsourcing benefits start-up companies seeking investors.(Quarterly Banking & Finance Report)(Directory)
April 18, 1997... Set costs will help in developing an accurate business plan Outsourcing - transferring day-to-day management of certain support functions to outside companies - offers a variety of benefits related to capital expenditures, risk management and...

Cierra Solutions. (computer consulting co.)(Growth Strategies)
April 18, 1997... Demand for computer networking options at smaller companies driving firm's growth Franklin Cantrell III and Stuart Smith fell into revamping the computer system at their former employer, but afterward the two jumped into an emerging market by...

Trucking firm may sell to former management; Central Freight Lines hurt by deregulation.
April 25, 1997... A little more than two years ago, Central Freight Lines Inc. was a giant, reigning as the largest general freight trucking company in the state. At its peak, the $100 million corporation alone hauled more than half of the intrastate freight in...

Telecom company settles accusations of 'slamming.' (Total World Telecommunications Inc.)
April 25, 1997... Houston-based Total World Telecommunications Inc. has spent millions of dollars to settle lawsuits or avoid legal action in six states that have accused the firm's agents of switching customers' long-distance service without their permission....

Unravelling roll-up: consolidation play in roofing products turns sour over executive salary dispute.
April 25, 1997... A year ago, the management of Houston-based Striker Industries Inc. was planning a consolidation play with two other manufacturers of roofing materials to create one of the world's largest companies in the roofing business. Today, it's battling...

Last of the hellfighters. (Joe Bowden, Sr.: oilwell firefighter)
April 25, 1997... Joe Bowden Sr. is a legendary oilwell firefighter without the legend. In an industry known for its big names and even bigger egos, the quiet, soft-spoken Bowden has always been overshadowed by his colorful contemporaries - Red Adair, Boots...

Databases keep business coming for Rob Kimmons, P.I.
April 25, 1997... With the help of more than 1,000 computer databases, ex-cop Rob Kimmons continues to bring in the clients and crack the cases more than a decade after opening his own private investigation firm. Kimmons, owner of The Information Bank of Texas,...

On-line plans save contractors time and money.
April 25, 1997... It used to be that the plan room at the Association of General Contractors was a busy place. All week long during business hours, contractors and tradesmen came in to pore over blueprints of construction jobs out for bids. They would check out...

Residential lot prices increasing, apartment market may benefit.
April 25, 1997... A dwindling inventory of developed residential lots in the Houston area could mean the beginning of a seller's market when it comes to the city's starter home market and prove a boon to the multifamily market. While the announcements of new...

Tax-deferred exchange a boon to real estate investors.
April 25, 1997... Tax deferred 1031 exchange is an investment strategy that should be considered by anyone who owns investment real estate. A tax-deferred exchange is simply a method by which a property owner trades one property for another without having to pay...