Houston Business Journal articles from March 1999

Houston Business Journal archives from March 1999

State stings small software firm; Fuginet developer dumped after spending $2 million on database.(Texas' contract with The Productive Center)
March 5, 1999... Doing business with the state of Texas can be risky. Joyce Ronemous found that out the hard way. The owner of The Productivity Center, a small software applications company in Houston, spent nearly $2 million developing a database to...

Life of the parties: five businesses join forces in $40 million Stellar Event.(Stellar Event & Presentation Resources Inc.)
March 5, 1999... Five companies in the business of orchestrating special events have merged into a new enterprise that could turn Houston into the party capital of the United States. Stellar Event & Presentation Resources Inc. is comprised of companies...

Car dealers cluster in congested Astrodome area.(Houston Astrodome)
March 5, 1999... Land near the Astrodome and Six Flags Astroworld is quickly becoming a theme park of auto dealerships. Barnett Automotive Group and Allen Samuels Dodge are the latest dealers to steer towards the Astrodome, joining a cabal of others who...

Auto rates issue is among insurance legislative topics.(Focus: Insurance Report)(Texas Legislature)
March 5, 1999... The role the state will play in setting auto insurance rates is one of several insurance-related issues that have been put on the table for Texas legislators to consider during the 76th Legislature. The issues have been prompted by...

Del Frisco's name lost in Lone Star shoot-out.(lawsuit against Del Frisco's Steakhouse by Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon)
March 5, 1999... Resa Kelly and her family survived Mount St. Helens, but a federal lawsuit is proving to be a more explosive threat to her North Houston steakhouse. Almost 20 years ago, Kelly and her family narrowly escaped being buried alive by ashes...

TDI cuts benchmark rates for drivers and homeowners.(Focus: Insurance Report)(Texas Department of Insurance)
March 5, 1999... Reduced benchmark rates set by the Texas Department of Insurance are going into effect in several areas: * TAIPA rates, New benchmark rates for drivers covered through the state's assigned risk plan or Texas Automobile Insurance Plan...

Council postpones density vote as Perry Homes proposes study; analysis will gauge effects of capacity cap on inner-city markets.(Houston City Council)
March 5, 1999... With two members dissenting, Houston City Council Wednesday voted to delay for three weeks a final decision on density rules that could have a dramatic effect on revitalization of the inner city. Council Member Orlando Sanchez called for...

Nuclear plants contract with WCS to store waste at West Texas site; agreement with STP, Texas Utilities awaits approval of Legislature.(Waste Control Specialists; South Texas Project)
March 5, 1999... The South Texas Project and Texas Utilities signed a contract last month with Waste Control Specialists of Pasadena to dispose of low level radioactive waste at a site in West Texas. Waste Control's agreement with the STP and TU, which owns...

Critical illness insurance pays lump sum for specified ills.(Focus: Insurance Report)(PM Group Life Insurance Co.'s 'Living Options')
March 5, 1999... A new type of insurance that can help with non-medical expenses typically uncovered by standard insurance policies - critical illness coverage - is finding its way into the Houston market. Brenda Jennings of Houston, area sales...

Houston employers face big health care cost hikes in '99.(Focus: Insurance Report)
March 5, 1999... Houston employers, who in 1998 experienced an increase in health care costs of 2.4 percent to $4,155, need to get ready for a far bigger increase in costs this year. Houston's increase was below the U.S. average of 3.7 percent in 1998, but...

Eagle USA Airfreight Inc.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 5, 1999... Nasdaw EUSA 15350 Vickery Drive, Houston 77032-5546 (281) 618-3100 Eagle USA Airfreight Inc. provides a complete range of freight transportation and logistics management services to many of the world's premier companies. Total...

Hispanic banks go head to head.(Laredo National Bank and Banco Popular)(Industry Overview)
March 12, 1999... Laredo National, Banco Popular open rival branches in former restaurants Two large out-of-town Hispanic banks are competing for financial turf in the Spring Branch area. Both have transformed popular restaurants into financial facilities,...

Retail, condos will replace rice dryers.(Neartown land up for redevelopment)
March 12, 1999... Neartown tract also lures apartments The vacant Neartown land where the old American Rice dryers once towered has gone under contract to high-rise condominium and retail developers. The empty tract at the corner of Studemont and...

Goodbye BFI: Allied acquiring waste giant.(Browning-Ferris Inc. acquired by Allied Waste Industries Inc.)
March 12, 1999... $9.1 billion deal closes colorful chapter Browning-Ferris Industries Inc., the giant trash conglomerate that started with one garbage truck in Houston, is being acquired by a company one-third its size. The proposed purchase of BFI by...

Local magazine publisher sees big audience for music with Latin beat.(Tejano News publisher J.R. Ramos launches Latin Music Magazine)
March 12, 1999... When J.R. Ramos watched Grammy winner Ricky Martin bring down the house at the Grammy Awards last month, Ramos knew he was in the right business. "That made me so proud," Ramos says of the audience's riotous reaction to Martin's...

Asian bug affects importers as Chinese beetle threatens trees.(Department of Agriculture orders fumigation on China-originated cargo to ensure they are free of the Asian Longhorned Beetle)
March 12, 1999... Discovery of Asian Longhorned Beetle in Houston coincides with crackdown by USDA What's black and white and dreaded all over the United States importing community? The Asian Longhorned Beetle - a pesky insect with a devastating appetite...

Old warehouse sale signals inner-city market strength.
March 12, 1999... Industrial site was developed in 1920s for cotton storage Close to a million square feet of industrial space north of downtown has changed hands between two Houston firms. North American Warehouses Inc. sold the 42-acre industrial...

Football group relying on Reliant to sponsor bowl game in Houston.(Reliant Energy plans college football bowl game)
March 12, 1999... A group attempting to organize a college football bowl game in Houston has approached Reliant Energy, formerly Houston Industries Inc., to sponsor the game. If Reliant decides to put up the sponsorship money, the game will be called the Reliant...

A rare bird in air freight.(President Jim Crane of Eagle USA Airfreight Inc.)(Company Profile)
March 12, 1999... Jim Crane has followed an uncommon flight path to put Eagle USA in the cockpit of corporate America Somewhere in Houston there's a sad banker with a tale about the big one that got away. In 1987, Eagle USA Airfreight founder Jim Crane...

Swimming in business.(Southwest Seafood Distribution)(Company Profile)
March 12, 1999... Southwest Seafood Distribution's dramatic growth isn't just a fish story Since founding Southwest Seafood Distribution Co. three-and-a-half years ago, Douglas Vingoe and brothers Santos and Leonardo Turcios haven't had to look for a single...

Browning-Ferris Industries Inc.(For the Record)(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 12, 1999... NYSE BFI 757 N. Eldridge, Houston 77079 (281) 870-8100 Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. is one of the largest publicly held waste service companies in North America whose subsidiaries and affiliates provide collection, recycling and disposal...

Clinic deal connects rival hospitals: Methodist, St. Luke's team to buy Kelsey-Seybold five years after failed merger.(Methodist Health Care System; St. Luke's Episcopal Health System; Kelsey-Seybold Medical Group)
March 19, 1999... Methodist Health Care System and St. Luke's Episcopal Health System have joined in a uncommon partnership to buy Kelsey-Seybold Medical Group. The competing Texas Medical Center systems, which tried unsuccessfully to merge in 1994, have...

Capital on the cutting edge: surgical care company lands equity investment.(Physicians Surgical Care Inc. gets $43-million invesment from J.H. Whitney and Co.)
March 19, 1999... A two-year old Houston-based start-up company specializing in building and acquiring freestanding surgical centers has received a shot in the arm in the form of a $43 million equity and debt investment from Connecticut equity firm J.H. Whitney...

El Paso Energy-Sonat deal forms pipeline giant.
March 19, 1999... El Paso Energy Corp., joining in the recent flurry of mergers in the natural gas industry, has announced plans to buy Birmingham, Ala.-based Sonat Inc. in a stock swap valued at about $3.5 billion. The deal, which also includes the...

Downtown Hyatt hotel to swallow Sheraton.
March 19, 1999... Abandoned inn to be room for expansion Houston's biggest hotel is about to get bigger. Rushlake Hotels USA is moving forward with a plan to expand downtown's Hyatt Regency by linking it to the long-vacant Sheraton Hotel directly across...

South-of-the-border dining trend hot, hot, hot in town.
March 19, 1999... Authentic Mexican food, Fresh-Tex, Latin American cuisine and Brazilian-style steakhouses are hot, hot, hot for the city's 1999 food scene. While the categories for this year's trendsetters in food are broad, they are fused by some common...

Renovated 777 Post Oak building sold to Atlanta real estate company.(Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc.)
March 19, 1999... An overhauled West Loop building that has symbolized Houston's office market comeback has changed hands. Atlanta-based Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc. purchased 777 Post Oak from Songy Partners and Fortis Real Estate Advisors. Terms...

Enron's year-old water venture seeks flow of public capital in IPO proposal.(Azurix Corp.)
March 19, 1999... International energy player Enron Corp. is seeking to clone its pattern of success in the global water and waste-water industry by taking its Azurix Corp. subsidiary public. Created last year, Azurix has filed with the U.S. Securities and...

Metamor calls off $315.6 million merger with Chicago company.(Metamor Worldiwde Inc.; SPR Inc.)
March 19, 1999... Stock in Houston-based IT firm rallies on news of canceled combination Metamor Worldwide Inc.'s stock rebounded this week after the company nixed plans to merge with SPR Inc., a Chicago information technology services company. But...

Team spirits.(Spec's Warehouse of Wines, Spirits and Finer Foods)(Company Profile)
March 19, 1999... Lindy and John Rydman have put their own twist on Spec's growth formula John Rydman remembers the day when a tour bus full of wealthy Japanese tourists pulled up in front of Spec's Warehouse. In just 30 minutes, the passengers swarmed the...

Success in sushi.(Japon chain of Japanese restaurants)(Company Profile)
March 19, 1999... Even through tragedy, Kin Lui discovered ways to improve on his Japanese restaurant chain From a teenager who got his start washing dishes in a restaurant to becoming the owner of a string of successful Japanese restaurants, Kin Lui is...

Imperial Holly Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
March 19, 1999... AMEX IHK One Imperial square, 8016 Highway 90-A, Sugar Land 77478 (281) 491-9181 Imperial Holly Corp. is the largest, most geographically diverse and most balanced producer and marketer of refined sugar in the United States. In early...

County to overhaul Astrodomain.(Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. finalizing plans to revamp the Astrodomain complex)
March 26, 1999... New exhibition center will replace aging Astrohall in phased development plan The newly formed Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. is finalizing plans to revamp the Astrodomain complex. After tossing around ideas for months,...

Jocks jump from sports to food games.(former athletes find running a restaurant requires other abilities)
March 26, 1999... Former athletes find running a restaurant requires other abilities Earning nine Olympic gold medals is one thing. Running a restaurant is quite another sport altogether for track star Carl Lewis. "Sometimes I ask myself why I did this,"...

City caps debate on density.(Houston, Texas votes for capping urban density at 27 units per acre of land)
March 26, 1999... Council compromises to settle urban brawl The hotly contested issue of inner loop townhome development was resolved Wednesday, as City Council ultimately voted to cap urban density at 27 units per acre of land. The ordinance, known as...

Radio station ad rates reflect bias.(Hispanic format stations)
March 26, 1999... Tom Castro, chairman and president of Houston-based El Dorado Communications, says his radio stations are missing out on revenue because many advertisers insist on paying lower rates for time on his Hispanic-format stations than they pay on...

Creditors place Newstar Energy into Chapter 11 with court filing.
March 26, 1999... E&P company officials say reorganization plan already in the works A group of creditors have filed to force Houston-based Newstar Energy of Texas into bankruptcy. But the company says it has been in negotiations with its creditors for...

American Residential to become latest purchase of ServiceMaster.
March 26, 1999... Local HVAC company had faced cool market, management problems Long-suffering shareholders of American Residential Services rejoiced this week at news that the Houston-based heating, ventilation and air conditioning company will be acquired...

Compaq named in class-action suit filed in name of dead inventor.(Compaq Computer Corp.; Jerome Lemelson)
March 26, 1999... Lemelson foundation launches litigation against 88 companies WASHINGTON - Independent inventor Jerome Lemelson died two years ago, but he is still shaking up the boardrooms of corporate America. This time around, he's going after some of...

Making connections.(Garry McGuire plans to link Williams Communications Solutions with Southwestern Bell)
March 26, 1999... After integrating Williams Communications Systems, Garry McGuire plans an important link with Southwestern Belt Garry McGuire is trying to make a name for Williams Communications Solutions. The only problem is nobody seems to know the name....

Texas' raw employment growth during past decade tops states.
March 26, 1999... The West is best when measured in percentage of nonfarm job growth The 1990s - at least the first nine years of the decade - have been good to Texas and the West when it comes to job growth. Since the beginning of the decade, Texas has...

Sale of industrial site indicates market strength for inner city.(Houston, Texas)
March 26, 1999... Close to a million square feet of industrial space north of downtown has changed hands between two Houston firms. North American Warehouses Inc. sold the 42-acre industrial project at 2300 Quitman to Hartman Management, a commercial real...

IFMA survey shows facility managers' compensation up.(International Facility Management Association)
March 26, 1999... Survey underscores need for technology and specialized skills The average total compensation for facility managers jumped 18 percent in the last four years - from $58.800 to $69,407, according to the International Facility Management...