Houston Business Journal articles from April 1998

Houston Business Journal archives from April 1998

Investor buys tract as mall plan stalls: Beeson mum on plans for Katy land. (Beeson Properties owner John Beeson confirms contract to purchase Katy-area in Houston, Texas)
April 3, 1998... Beeson mum on plans for Katy land A Houston investor is bidding to buy a prime battlefield in the raging Katy mall wars. John Beeson has contracted to purchase a 280-acre site on the Grand Parkway south of Interstate 10 from the estate of R....

Hospital veterans back in business: group forms new company, leases old medical facility. (HealthPlus Corp)
April 3, 1998... Group forms new company, leases old medical facility The former owners of the Mid America group of hospitals in Houston have started a new company and have leased a run-down north Houston hospital with plans to renovate the facility....

Name game: AmGen bowls for dollars in Music City. (American General Corp to sponsor Nashville, Tennessee's Music City Bowl)
April 3, 1998... American General Corp. may be going bowling in Bud Adams' new backyard. The Houston-based financial services giant is close to completing a deal to sponsor Nashville's Music City Bowl, which eventually will be played in the Tennessee Oilers...

Zonagen target of multiple lawsuits: class action cases question impotency product statements. (investors Zonagen Inc for misrepresentation of impotence drug Vasomax and vaccine-enhancing drug ImmuMax)
April 3, 1998... Class action cases question impotency product statements More than a dozen class action investor lawsuits have been filed in the last month against Zonagen Inc., the biotech company in The Woodlands that specializes in male impotence. The...

Second time around: Rod canion's Insource Technology is venturing beyond Houston once more. (Insource Technology Group to open office in New York City, New York)
April 3, 1998... Rod Canion's Insource Technology is venturing beyond Houston once more Insource Technology Group will open an office outside of Houston this summer when it sets up shop in New York City. But this isn't the first time Rod Canion - co-founder...

The full treatment - business and pleasure. (increasing popularity of Houston's day spas as business expense among women executives)
April 3, 1998... Forget court side seats at the NCAA finals in San Antonio for you and your favorite business client. An afternoon at one of Houston's hottest day spas is the shmooze of choice for some local female executives. Sharing the day spa experience -...

NCI Building Systems will double in size with acquisition: planned merger will make local firm No. 2 in country. (NCI Building Systems Inc to acquire Metal Building Components Inc)
April 3, 1998... Planned merger will make local firm No. 2 in country Two Houston-based companies are being welded together in a $550 million deal to create the second largest builder of metal buildings in the country. NCI Building Systems Inc. will acquire...

Interfin slates ritzy retail, luxury high-rise for prime Uptown land. (Interfin Corp plans to construction of residential luxury high-rise Villa d' este and retail center Uptown Park projects)
April 3, 1998... Construction will start this month on Uptown Park, Villa d'Este After more than four years of sitting on a trophy tract of land, Interfin Corp. is going forward with two major real estate projects in The Galleria/Uptown area. Houston-based...

Title characters: at 77, Stewart Morris collects elaborate horse-drawn coaches, raises millions for charity, and still puts in a 50-hour week. Do does his older brother, Carloss. (Stewart Information Services Corp's Chmn and CEO Carloss Morris, and Pres and CEO Stewart Morris)
April 3, 1998... Stewart and Carloss Morris were only 10 years old when they began working for the family business, Stewart Title Guaranty. In 1930, Stewart made a whopping $5 a week as a "go-fer" before progressing to posting land titles in the record books....

Buyers compete for Greenspoint Mall. (investor Bob Yari's acquisition of the Greenspoint Mall in Houston, Texas)
April 10, 1998... LA investor jumps in with offer as deal with Dallas firm comes apart A Dallas company's bid to buy Greenspoint Mall unraveled last week, and investor Bob Yari pounced on the opportunity. The Los Angeles businessman has contracted to buy his...

Back in the public eye. (Harry Neer's Rockport Healthcare Group Inc)
April 10, 1998... Former Hermann Hospital figure launches new managed care firm A new managed care company is being launched by a seasoned health care professional whose career in Houston has been marked by conquests and controversy. Harry Neer, CEO of...

Legal woes hit public rice firm. (American Rice Inc)
April 10, 1998... A financial squeeze for American Rice Legal troubles have put American Rice Inc. in hot water with lenders, and some analysts say management changes may be the company's only recipe for recovery. The Houston-based public company, one of the...

Top brass ousted as new chairman shakes up News Today's direction. (Bob Watson)
April 10, 1998... Online publication fires publisher, six others in business reorganization Seven top staffers at Houston News Today, Houston's Web-based "newspaper," have been fired in the last two weeks. The layoffs come as the new leadership of parent...

Metamor purchase continues its shift to information technology. (Metamor Worldwide Inc)
April 10, 1998... Houston-based Corestaff Inc. might have changed its name to Metamor Worldwide Inc. this year. But the company's appetite for acquiring fast-growing companies hasn't change. Metamor Worldwide announced this week it has signed a letter of intent...

King of the castle. (Jack Castle Jr, Chairman and CEO of Castle Dental Centers Inc)
April 10, 1998... Jack Castle Jr. has hit a public nerve by taking a different approach to dental care The man in charge of the largest dental group in Texas has never had a cavity in his life. Jack Castle Jr., chairman and CEO of Castle Dental Centers Inc.,...

Friedman Industries Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 10, 1998... AMEX FRD 4001 Homestead Road, Houston 77028 (713) 672-9433 Friedman Industries Inc. is in the steel processing and distribution business. [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] Performance record (000s...

Fee squeeze takes toll on travel agents. (includes related article on Airline Reporting Corp.'s accreditation program for corporate travel departments)
April 17, 1998... Many charging customers for first time After 13 years in the travel business, Eric Stevens is calling it quits. He became so fed up with losing money because of changes in the travel industry that he decided to sell his travel agency. Other...

Swift takes legal action over report. (Swift Energy Co.)
April 17, 1998... Company questions source of negative study and story Swift Energy Co. has taken legal steps in Dallas that could escalate into litigation against short-sellers of the company's stock. Swift's legal action came in response to a slide in the...

A fresh scoop of Purity. (reopening of Purity Ice Cream Plant in Galveston, TX)
April 17, 1998... Galveston partners bid to revive oldest ice cream plant in Texas Move over Blue Bell, the state's oldest ice cream plant is about to be back in business. A pair of Galveston entrepreneurs are planning to thaw out operations at the 109-old...

NationsBank, Bank of America merger will create Texas giant. (NationsBank Corp.; BankAmerica Corp.)
April 17, 1998... The proposed merger of NationsBank Corp. and BankAmerica Corp. announced this week will create not only a national giant but also a Texas banking powerhouse, with 27 percent of the state's assets. Combined, NationsBank of Texas and Bank of...

Pennzoil plans spin-off of refined motor oil, Jiffy Lube divisions. (Pennzoil Co.)
April 17, 1998... Just three weeks before the management of Pennzoil Co. prepared to face some tough shareholder questions at its annual meeting, Pennzoil made a major move that lifted its stock by 4.8 percent. Now Pennzoil, which owns one of the most widely...

Technology driving market for office equipment leasing.
April 17, 1998... Evolving technology in office equipment - even more than Houston's rebounding economy - is playing a big role in today's growing demand for equipment leasing, say local leasing companies. Furniture may be a better tax write-off for companies,...

From banking to blowouts. (Boots & Coots/IWC Chmn Larry Ramming)
April 17, 1998... Larry Ramming may be new to the oil well firefighting business, but he can take the heat Larry Ramming is chairman of Houston's Boots & Coots/IWC, a company whose name is synonymous with oil patch firefighting, but he watched his first well...

Uncontained growth. (Worldwide Container Services Inc.)(Company Profile)
April 17, 1998... Worldwide Container survived Continental Airlines' bankruptcy only to reach new heights Worldwide Container Services Inc. nearly went broke the year after it first made the Houston 100 list of the fastest-growing small businesses. But since...

Concrete crunch slows building boom. (shortage in construction materials adversely affects building construction)
April 24, 1998... Contractors feel impact of short supplies, rising prices and project delays A shortage of concrete threatens to put the skids on Houston's current construction boom. Concrete supplies have slowly tightened over the past six months, but the...

Historic hotel finds a buyer. (Wyndham Warwick hotel in Houston, TX)
April 24, 1998... Arizona company close to acquiring Wyndham Warwick An Arizona company on a shopping spree for deluxe properties is about to buy Houston's historic Wyndham Warwick hotel. Scottsdale-based Park Plaza International plans to spend millions of...

A change of titles. (Lawyers Title Co was sold to Burr Buckalew and Allen Shindler)
April 24, 1998... Longtime owner of Lawyers Title passes on legacy with sale of firm When Lawyers Title Co. changed hands in March, the transfer of ownership was more than just a business deal for both the buyer and, the seller. For P. B. "Buck" Eckels, owner...

Medicare cuts claim home care casualties. (home health care providers are adversely affected by changes in Medicare payment processes)
April 24, 1998... Association files suit against government Changes in Medicare payment processes could prove to be the death knell for many home health dare agencies. An organization representing home health care providers has filed a class-action lawsuit...

Off the drawing board: big hospitals expand in new health centers.
April 24, 1998... It's a quiet Sunday evening in the emergency room at Methodist - Sugar Land, Methodist's newest addition, a towering monolith strategically located on the Southwest Freeway between First Colony Mall and First Colony. Everything is topnotch in...

Pension fund pushes for change at Stewart & Stevenson. (Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc)
April 24, 1998... Investor pressure comes as company pursues $1.4 billion federal contract The nation's largest public pension fund is setting a date to meet with officials of Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc. to demand changes in the way the local company...

Management change follows slow growth at biotech firm. (Energy BioSystems Corp)
April 24, 1998... After seven years, $55 million in losses and no product on the market yet, Energy BioSystems Corp. of The Woodlands has undergone a management shake-up of sorts. The company's board of directors has elected William E. Nasser as chairman, CEO...

Tinkering with the internal machinery. (Southline Equipment Co.)
April 24, 1998... Gradual changes lift Southline back to its former glory Frank Fabrie, president of Southline Equipment Co., says his job would be easy if his employees and customers could always communicate in a timely and appropriate manner, "They just...