Houston Business Journal articles from July 1996

Houston Business Journal archives from July 1996

Houston banks to swap headquarters.
July 5, 1996... Heritage, Southwest exchanging sites across street For more than two years, Southwest Bank of Texas has searched downtown, Green-way Plaza and elsewhere for a place to move its expanding headquarters office. But the answer to booming growth...

Staying solvent. (new anti-pollution product from Shell Chemical Co.)
July 5, 1996... Shell Chemical hits market with promising anti-pollution product Al Whitt has tried most substitutes for air polluting chemicals used in his business - but he says the environmentally friendly stuff just doesn't work very well. "If they...

A cut above. (custom tailor Nick Lopez)
July 5, 1996... Custom tailor Nick Lopez has suited up some of Houston's big-name athletes and top business leaders When Nick Lopez first opened his custom tailor shop in Houston, his business was confined to a closet-sized room hidden behind a Westheimer...

NGC Corp. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 5, 1996... NYSE NGL 13430 NORTHWEST FREEWAY, SUITE 1200, HOUSTON 77040 (713) 507-6400 NGC Corp. is a leading gatherer, processor, transporter and marketer of energy products and services in North America and the United Kingdom. Total shares of...

Golden touch. (Stodghill jewelry business)
July 5, 1996... The Stodghill family of creative craftsmen treats their jewelry customers like treasure and makes The Galaxie sparkle In the early 1970s, an elderly woman entered Dee Stodghill's West University-area jewelry store with a $3 necklace her husband...

Houston firm clashes with Austin utility in power play. (Power Clearinghouse)
July 12, 1996... Power Clearinghouse, a small Houston-based power marketer, is not waiting for the Texas Legislature to decide which electricity users can shop around for power. The company decided last week to test the legal status quo. One of Power...

WinStar joins parade to provide local phone service. (WinStar Communications Inc.; Houston, Texas)
July 12, 1996... A Virginia company has joined the growing list of telephone firms seeking to provide local service in Houston. WinStar Communications Inc. received approval in June from the state Public Utilities Commission to provide dial tones in the Houston...

Cellular company eyeing Houston for new 200-employee call center. (PrimeCo Personal Communications)
July 12, 1996... A newcomer to Houston's cellular phone market is considering opening a new customer call center here in a move that would create 200 new jobs over the next three years. PrimeCo Personal Communications, formerly PCS PrimeCo, has applied to the...

Unconventional banker. (Southwest Bank of Texas Chmn. Walter Johnson)
July 12, 1996... Walter Johnson has bucked prevailing trends to build Houston's biggest middle-market bank Conventional wisdom has never concerned Walter Johnson. When the veteran Houston banker left First Interstate Bank of Texas in 1989, the state and...

Jeri Booth bags big business game with sporting excursions all over the globe. (owner of Detail Co.)
July 12, 1996... A safari in Africa, an exploration expedition in Peru and even a life-threatening plane crash are all part of a day's work for Jeri Booth. As owner of The Detail Co., Booth spends her days arranging hunting and angling trips for prominent...

Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 12, 1996... NASDAQ SSSS 2707 NORTH LOOP WEST, HOUSTON 77251-1637 (713) 868-7700 Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc. is primarily engaged in the custom packaging of engine systems for the generation of electrical and mechanical power. Total shares of...

Ritzy retail center rising on Loop. (planned Uptown Park shopping center in Houston, Texas)
July 19, 1996... Uptown Park partners finalize plans for upscale project on prime tract After more than five years of shifting strategies, Giorgio Borlenghi is about to transform a trophy tract of West Loop land into a ritzy retail center. Borlenghi,...

Accidental hotspot: Shepherd Plaza crawls with clubs as new hangout for Houston's hip.
July 19, 1996... When Joe Caudill was looking to revamp one of Houston's oldest inner-city shopping centers, he never intended to transform the property into a hip hangout for the nightclub crowd. Shepherd Plaza became a hotspot almost by accident, says...

Healthy, wealthy and wise. (profile on El Paso Energy Corp. Chairman, President and CEO William A. Wise)
July 19, 1996... Bill Wise returns to Houston as head of a national gas powerhouse spawned by the mega-merger of El Paso Energy and Tenneco Energy. EL PASO - Bill Wise likes to while away an occasional evening in a particular Juarez bar. By his own admission,...

Huey's. (Houston, Texas)
July 19, 1996... Interstate 45 is sprouting its own little restaurant row between Airtex and Richey roads, with a decided emphasis on outposts of chains with a good-time feel. Joining the gauntlet of Pappasito's, Atchafalaya River Cafe and Joe's Crab Shack is a...

Lilbro partners help brides-to-be navigate through nuptials. (Lilbro Software Inc.)
July 19, 1996... Bryan Caplovitz thinks the only thing worse than planning a wedding is listening to friends complain about planning theirs. That's what drove him to create a user-friendly computer program to keep track of all the details of wedding planning....

Justice prevails: music maker settles suit with record giants. (Randal Jamail, president of Justice Records Inc.)
July 26, 1996... Eight months after filing suit against two giants of the recording industry, a Houston music producer has won a favorable settlement with a little help from his dad. Randall Jamail, the 39-year-old president of Houston-based Justice Records...

Two corporations moving headquarters to Allen Center complex. (Ferrell; Rushlake Hotels)
July 26, 1996... Energy company relocating from Greenspoint, hotel firm comes from Florida Two corporations are relocating their headquarters into Allen Center, just as potential buyers of the downtown skyscraper complex are being invited to kick the tires....

A counterpunching Boxer in real estate. (Boxer Property Management)(Company Profile)
July 26, 1996... Andrew Segal buys empty office buildings and fills them up. His low-rent strategy and zany promotions are making waves in the market. Andrew Segal's thoughts are simple, quick and precise - but his unconventional investment ideas are nothing...

CTI - branching out. (Competitive Technologies Inc.)(Focus on: Telecommunications)
July 26, 1996... When a company implements computer/telephony integration, it can know a lot about customers who call even before they say "hello." Through CTI, the phone number of the caller is identified and matched with a customer database. Then that call...

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 26, 1996... NYSE APC 17001 NORTHCHASE DRIVE, HOUSTON 77060 (713) 875-1101 Anadarko Petroleum Corp. is one of the world's largest independent exploration and production companies. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of March 1, 1996 ...