Houston Business Journal articles from February 1999

Houston Business Journal archives from February 1999

Splitting hams: court to hear clear-cut case over spiral slicing.(case of Logan Farms Honey Glazed Hams against Sara Lee Corp. and The Honeybaked Ham Co.)
February 5, 1999... Local entrepreneur James "Pink" Logan has a multimillion-dollar bone to pick with food product giants Sara Lee Corp. and The Honeybaked Ham Co. In a two-year-old lawsuit set to go before a Louisiana jury this June, the founder of Logan...

One down, how many more skyscrapers to go? Enron move stirs up downtown development plans.
February 5, 1999... Enron Corp.'s decision to construct a 40-story downtown office tower has skyline watchers wondering what's next. Enron is pairing with Hines to build the first skyscraper since the real estate bust catty-comer from the company's building at...

Ongoing problems take toll on American Residential Services; stock price suffers as management fight flares.
February 5, 1999... Stock price suffers as management fight flares American Residential Services is getting deeper into hot water. The Houston-based consolidator in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning industry has been beset by a series of problems...

Moniker change to Reliant Energy ends an era for Houston Industries.
February 5, 1999... Houston lost another landmark company name this week. But it wasn't because of merger or buyout. Houston Industries Inc., which owns utility Houston Lighting & Power, has changed its name to Reliant Energy. The name change marks the...

Compaq's hard driver: Mike Winkler thrives on meeting new challenges as head of PC products at Compaq Computer Corp.
February 5, 1999... Mike Winkler forfeits two weeks of vacation every year because he doesn't have time to take it. He works nights and weekends just to keep abreast of all the changes in his chosen field, which is experiencing such constant and rapid changes...

ACR Group Inc.(Proxy reports excerpt)(Company Profile)
February 5, 1999... Nasdaq ACRG 3200 Wilcrest Drive, Suite 440, Houston 77042-6019 (713) 780-8532 ACR Group Inc. acquires and operates businesses engaged in the wholesale distribution of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment...

Freeport makes pitch for spaceport.(possibility of Lockheed Martin Corp. constructing a spaceport near the city of Freeport, Texas)
February 12, 1999... Lockheed Martin project could face environmental hurdles Brazoria County is trying to convince Lockheed Martin Corp. to build a spaceport on a site near the city of Freeport for launching commercial satellites. If the county's effort...

Old building gets second owner in six months: redevelopment risk too high, sellers say.(Commerce Building in Houston, Texas)
February 12, 1999... Investors appear to be playing hot potato with downtown's Commerce Building. Only six months after a group of local investors purchased the 1929 structure, the building in the heart of the Central Business District at 914 Main has changed...

Realtor roulette: residential firms keep on consolidating.
February 12, 1999... Morgan Personette and Elaine Allen latest to combine forces in merger trend Consolidation continues in the residential real estate industry. The latest Houston firms to join forces are Morgan Personette Properties, which specializes in...

Houston losing public company as BrightStar goes to California.(BrightStar Information Technology Group Inc.)
February 12, 1999... Houston is losing one of its newest public companies as BrightStar Information Technology Group Inc. hits the road for sunny California. By the end of February, the computer systems integration company will move to Pleasanton, Calif.,...

Second helping: C. James Stewart II has come out of retirement to guide Stewart & Stevenson out of the public company's greatest turmoil in 97 years.
February 12, 1999... C. James Stewart II, chairman of Stewart & Stevenson, realizes that his company is at a critical crossroad. The 73-year-old executive has returned from retirement to retake control of the business founded by his grandfather and J.R....

High tech room service.(Telman Technology Partners Inc. provides advice on hotels' telecommunication systems)
February 12, 1999... Daniel Prosser's Telman has given hotel clients a technological wake-up call Most hotel managers treat their telecommunications systems like the plumbing or the electricity, just another utility that must be maintained and serviced. But...

New Texas 100 Stock Index tracks state's big employers.
February 12, 1999... A major change has been made in the stock index that is used as an economic indicator by the Texas comptroller's office. The new Texas 100 Stock Index tracks the price of the shares of the 100 publicly-traded companies in the state that...

Enron ignites spark in coals of smoldering energy market.
February 12, 1999... As many local companies reel from bleak oil prices, Houston and its commodity-challenged energy industry can point Wall Street to Enron, which has capitalized on its leading edge in energy trading from gas to electricity. Displaying...

Houston energy companies lag behind in boardroom diversity.
February 12, 1999... Energy companies and Houston-based companies lag behind their national counterparts in reflecting the diverse, global marketplace in their boardrooms, according to two reports on the board practices of major public companies released today by...

Houston companies attract $7.4 billion in 4th quarter.(initial public offerings)
February 12, 1999... Houston companies attracted a record $7.4 billion on 43 deals in the fourth quarter of 1998, nearly double the $3.7 raised in 59 deals during the same period of 1997, according to an analysis by Charles P. Young Co. Four Houston-area...

'Best Companies to Work for' include three based in Houston.
February 12, 1999... Sixty-six of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" are public companies and three of them are based in Houston, according to an analysis by Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Hewitt Associates, a human resource consulting firm - Continental...

BJ Services Co.(proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 12, 1999... NYSE BJS 5500 N.W. Central Drive, P.O. Box 4442, Houston 77210-4442 BJ Services Co. is in the business of providing cementing, stimulation and coiled tubing services worldwide. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of...

Cola wars bubble in Houston schools.(soda companies compete for the right to be the exclusive vendor of choice in the Houston Independent School District)
February 19, 1999... Soda pop kings compete for lucrative contracts as one case goes to court The cola clashes are foaming in Houston-area schools. Soda giants Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Dr Pepper are competing for lucrative contracts to become the exclusive vendors...

Village visionary.(developer Terry Ward to build $60 million HealthCare Village)
February 19, 1999... Developer blends health care and retail in new concept Local developer Terry Ward will make the Houston suburbs the test market for a unique concept that melds health care services with the latest retail strategies. Ward, president of...

Four Oaks could face hard sell.(Uptown Houston high-rise development Four Oaks Place)
February 19, 1999... Multiple owners cloud bid process A portion of Four Oaks Place is on the block, but real estate sources say completing the sale of the Uptown office complex could get tricky. Between 55 percent and 60 percent of the high-rise...

City sells street in 'half-price' deal.(Houston City Council sells land to Luel Partnership Ltd.)
February 19, 1999... Houston City Council has approved the sale of a prime strip of land at half the appraised value to a major retail developer. Luel Partnership Ltd. will pay about $373,000 for a section of Meyer Park Boulevard. Luel is building a Wal-Mart...

Development leaves legacy in city's changing market.(Commercial Real Estate - Legacy Awards)(Houston, Texas)
February 19, 1999... Consistent themes in today's Houston real estate market are development and revitalization, with much of it being financed by public investors or Wall Street financial partners. Houston saw more development and revitalization in 1998 than...

CityView apartment project will revitalize Greenspoint.(Archon Group's development in Houston, Texas)(Commercial Real Estate - Legacy Awards)
February 19, 1999... THE GOAL IS TO IMPACT THE APPEARANCE, PERCEPTIONS AND ECONOMY OF THE WHOLE AREA. THE DEAL Purchase and renovation of 24 apartment complexes (5,143 units) in the Greenspoint area, north of the Sam Houston Parkway between Interstate 45...

RV Centers on the road to consolidation IPO.(initial public offering for a consolidator of recreational vehicle dealerships)
February 19, 1999... Roll-up veteran Trier seeks to meld 25 dealerships in $46 million offering Consolidator Clayton Trier and a Houston investment bank have set out to roll up in an industry they believe is uniquely well-suited to consolidation: recreational...

Andrau Airport tract sale leads to new development.(Commercial Real Estate - Legacy Awards)(Houston, Texas)
February 19, 1999... IT'S THE LARGEST CONTIGUOUS LAND PURCHASE WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS IN 50 YEARS. THE DEAL Camden Property Trust's sale of 500 acres of the 696-acre Andrau Airport tract to Sunrise Colony Co., which plans to develop the parcel as an...

Going for the gold: an international bribery scandal hasn't lessened auto dealer George DeMontrond's Olympic fever.(Houston 2012 Foundation)
February 19, 1999... George DeMontrond admits he didn't completely know what he was getting into last July when he took the job of leading Houston's effort to bring the Olympic Games to town. "I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work," says the long-time...

Unusual InSite.(InSite Realty of Houston, Texas)(Company Profile)
February 19, 1999... Specialized realty firm has evolved into a full-service operation Five years ago a handful of brokers from Trammell Crow Co. decided to exercise their entrepreneurial instincts by going out on their own. And from the beginning, founding...

Fort Bend Holding Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 19, 1999... Nasdaq FBHC 3400 Avenue H, Rosenberg 77471 (281) Fort Bend Holding Corp., through its wholly owned subsidiary, Fort Bend Federal Savings and Loan Association of Rosenberg, is principally engaged in the business of attracting retail...

Housing density debate rages at City Hall.(Houston, TX)
February 26, 1999... Townhome builders, homeowners spar over proposed capacity cap The City's Planning Commission has proposed capping inner-city density at 30 units per acre, sparking a fierce debate with urban dwellers and builders alike. At City Council...

Shifting club scene spurns Shepherd Plaza: center's hot spots cool as fickle crowds clamor to downtown locales.(Houston, TX)
February 26, 1999... Amazon 2050 has become the latest casualty in the city's once dominant nightclub den - Shepherd Plaza - and now the strip center's owners are trying a new direction away from the club scene. An exodus of the capricious club crowd to...

Merger rumors center on El Paso, Southern: Atlanta-based utility mulls combination with Houston natural gas company.(El Paso Energy Corp; Southern Co)
February 26, 1999... Rumors heated up this week that Atlanta-based Southern Co., an electric utility, is eyeing Houston-based El Paso Energy Corp., a natural gas pipeline and energy trading company, for a possible acquisition or takeover. Industry trade...

Jury award fells Striker stock price.(Striker Industries Inc)
February 26, 1999... Two years after a failed bid to consolidate its industry, Houston-based Striker Industries has lost a major court battle, and the once-lofty stock of the roofing products company has now hit the floor. Earlier this month, a Harris County...

Public company finds new voice in medical transcription business.(Applied Voice Recognition Inc)
February 26, 1999... Applied Voice Recognition Inc. has taken on a new name and stock ticker symbol to reflect the company's new focus on Internet services for physicians, primarily in the medical transcription arena. The company began doing business as...

Telscape International will build long-distance network in Mexico.
February 26, 1999... Houston-based Telscape International Inc. is spending $35 million to $40 million to build a fiber optic network in Mexico so the company can begin offering long-distance service by the end of the year. The telecommunications firm, which had...

Developers pick The Woodlands for pair of major office projects: Hewitt Associates creating campus, Anadarko constructing tower.(Houston, TX)
February 26, 1999... The Woodlands has snagged a pair of prodigious tenants who plan to construct more than two million square feet of office space in the flourishing borough north of Houston. Hewitt Associates is moving forward with a massive 1.3...

Independently owned shop acquired by Mail-Well.(Hill Graphics Inc)
February 26, 1999... Independent owners Bill and Bobbie Hill of Hill Graphics Inc. (also known as Champagne Fine Printing) recently sold their operations to Colorado-based Mail-Well Inc. Hill Graphics/Champagne Fine Printing, which will operate as a subsidiary...

Houston is test for downtown graphics center.(DQ2 Exhibit Bank)
February 26, 1999... New facility includes large library of DQ2 software An extensive library of graphics software and printing services available on a walk-in basis is making it easier for Houston lawyers and other business people to take care of their design...

Plastic card business starts small but plans to make it big.(DPM Industries)
February 26, 1999... Two paths have merged to lead David R Money of DPM Industries into the plastic card personalization and fulfillment business - making the kind of identification cards commonly used by insurance companies, financial institutions and other...

Quanex Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
February 26, 1999... NYSE NX 1900 West Loop South, Suite 1500, Houston 77027 (713) 961-4600 Quanex Corp. manufactures value-added engineered steel bars, aluminum flat-rolled products, and engineered, formed-metal products. Total shares of common stock...