Houston Business Journal articles from November 1998

Houston Business Journal archives from November 1998

New Seagull chief seeks to double company's size.(Seagull Energy CEO James Hackett)
November 6, 1998... Hackett draws no salary as he scouts for acquisitions, mergers or alliances After a little more than a month in office, new Seagull Energy CEO James Hackett says he wants to double the size of the company in the next two or three years by...

Clan of the Cavewear.(casual line of T-shirts, golf shirts, caps and boxers introduced by three stockbrokers)
November 6, 1998... Stockbrokers jump from trading pit to tar pit with macho line of clothing A trio of Houston-area stockbrokers are taking a foray from the finance world into the fashion industry with a line of men's clothing they've designed. Randy...

Hospital district lands back in the red.(Harris County Hospital District)
November 6, 1998... Board member quits as HCHD projects shortfall of more than $16 million The troubled Harris County Hospital District says a nursing shortage and high pharmaceutical costs will force it to exceed its budget before the end of its fiscal year....

BMC acquisition binge continues with $900 million California deal.(BMC Software Inc. to buy Boole and Babbage)
November 6, 1998... Boole & Babbage adds nearly 1000 employees to local software maker BMC Software Inc. will buy the country's oldest publicly-traded independent software vendor in the systems management industry in a stock transaction valued at $900...

Laredo warehouse/distributor averts Maxwell House coffee crisis; Continental Texas Inc. takes over bean storage operation in Houston.
November 6, 1998... Around Maxwell House, Roberto Casso is being called a coffee hero. But millions of Maxwell House Coffee drinkers will probably never know how Casso's company - Laredo-based Continental Texas Inc. - kept their "good-to-the-last-drop" supply...

Nabors Industries covets Pool with $486 million merger bid.(Pool Energy Services Co.)
November 6, 1998... Nabors Industries continued on its merger and acquisition path this week, making a $486 million unsolicited stock and cash offer for Pool Energy Services Co. In a clear bid to widen its focus from contract drilling services to the workover...

Bay Colony development adds 30 acres of freeway frontage land.(Todd and Sherman Land Development)
November 6, 1998... A year after Todd and Sherman Land Development managed to untangle 900 acres of League City land from the court system, the firm has added another 30 acres to Bay Colony, the master-planned development. Last week the firm picked up a...

Pizza preferences: closer-in folks have farther-out tastes.
November 6, 1998... Pepperoni pizza still has plenty of fans. But, increasingly, more exotic versions of the time-tested standby are slicing into the $22 billion pizza market. Locale of a restaurant's clientele seems to be the determining factor. California...

Mustang heads for court in dispute over IRS tax ruling.(Mustang Tractor and Equipment Co.)
November 6, 1998... Mustang Tractor & Equipment Co., one of the nation's largest Caterpillar dealerships, is taking a $4 million tax dispute to federal court in Washington D.C. Last month, Houston-based Mustang filed a petition in U.S. Tax Court seeking to...

He's retail. He's industrial.(Ed Page and Mike Boyd establish real estate firm Boyd, Page and Associates)(Company Profile)
November 6, 1998... Ed Page and Mike Boyd have blended their talents in a double-dip approach to the real estate market Mike Boyd and Ed Page pack a formidable one-two punch in the Houston real estate market. As head of retail operations for Boyd, Page &...

Jewel out of the rough; unique product line and savvy marketing helped Blanche Fine Jewelry thrive after ivory embargo.(Company Profile)
November 6, 1998... Blanche Abramson had spent nearly a decade building a successful ivory jewelry operation. Her company, Ivory Connection, went from a small operation that covered the dining room table in her Meyerland-area home in 1978 to a retail shop with...

NL Industries Inc.(proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
November 6, 1998... NYSE NL 16825 Northchase Drive, Suite 1200, Houston 77060 (281) 423-3300 NL Industries Inc. is the world's fourth largest producer of titanium dioxide pigments. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of March 18, 1998 ...

Convention hotel back to square one: proposed land deal would return project to original site.(hotel to be constructed by Crescent Real Estate Equities Co and Wayne Duddlesten in Houston, Texas)
November 13, 1998... Proposed land deal would return project to original site Houston's downtown convention center hotel is apparently on the move again, heading back to its original location. And that's put the long delayed project on hold once more. ...

Zapata investors sue over Internet; class-action suits claim company inflated plans to build cyber-empire.(Zapata Corp)
November 13, 1998... Investors across the country have filed more than a dozen class-action lawsuits against Houston-based Zapata Corp. alleging the fish oil producer's plans to build an Internet empire were fishy from beginning to end. The lawsuits, filed in...

Profiting like it's 1999: local clubs, hotels and restaurants scramble to cash in on Y2K bash.(Houston, Texas, businesses preparing for celebrations of the coming of Year 2000)
November 13, 1998... On the morning of Nov. 3, when many people were out voting, three customers popped in for coffee at the Tasca Kitchen & Wine Bar downtown and asked owner Rasheed Refaey about reserving tables at the trendy tapas eatery for New Year's Eve 1999....

Residential living rebounds in Museum District.(Houston, Texas)
November 13, 1998... Pair of upscale projects replacing old hospital, apartments The Museum District is getting two residential developments as interest in inner-city living flows into the area closest to Rice University and the Texas Medical Center. ...

McNair football group mulls relocation option.(possibility of Buffalo Bills relocating to Houston, Texas, through Robert McNair's Houston NFL Holdings Inc)
November 13, 1998... Buffalo team emerges as leading candidate if bid for franchise fails The team that once handed the Houston Oilers their most crashing defeat could end up as Houston's new National Football League team, depending on whether the city wins a...

Founding CEO of Coach hits the road.(Richard Kristinik steps down as chairman and CEO of Coach USA Inc)
November 13, 1998... Richard Kristinik says Coach USA Inc. has achieved its goals sooner than expected and has announced plans to step down as Chairman and CEO. The local tour bus and transportation company announced last week that CFO Larry King, 41, will take...

Upscale retail project will replace Greenway Plaza office buildings; Greenway & Co. sign tenants for three-acre shopping center.(retail complex to be constructed in Houston, Texas)
November 13, 1998... A Houston-based developer will demolish four office buildings and modernize an adjacent property on the southeast corner of Richmond at Weslayan to make way for an upscale retail complex. Greenberg & Co., a 22-year-old local realty...

Randalls Westchase real estate sold to Fairfield for apartments.(Fairfield Residential purchases Randalls Properties Inc's office/warehouse facility to be turned into apartments)
November 13, 1998... Developer will lease warehouse/office space back to grocery chain Dallas-based Fairfield Residential has purchased a 200,000-square-foot office/warehouse facility and surrounding 29 acres from Randalls Properties Inc. Fairfield...

The fountainhead of hospitality: Cuban-born Burt Cabanas has made Benchmark Hospitality a major player in the conference center and resort industry.
November 13, 1998... In more ways than not, the biography of Burt Cabanas reads like a familiar business success story. A young boy arrives in America from a foreign country and eventually creates a multimillion-dollar corporation through determination and hard...

The business of pleasure: Bruce Grossman struck out on his own to pamper patrons at The Sanctuary.(founder of upscale day spa and salon in Houston, Texas)
November 13, 1998... As a hairstylist starting out in the early 1980s, Bruce Grossman couldn't have picked a worse time to launch his career. The novice stylist saw newly-found clients who had made the exodus to Houston during the boom, begin to bail during the...

Visionaries made Texas Avenue a hotel hub in the roaring '20s.(Houston, Texas, hotel industry)
November 13, 1998... The decade of the 1920s was a time of unparalleled growth for Houston. As the population increased dramatically, so did the number of travelers to the city. One sign of this expansive growth was the appearance of new downtown hotels. Texas...

Parking rates soar as spaces vanish: drivers paying heftier prices as downtown comes back.(parking spaces in Houston, Texas)
November 20, 1998... Demand for downtown parking is going through the roof. Parking was still in ample supply for employees and theatergoers only two years ago, but office early birds and entertainment-bound night owls are now paying the price of a downtown...

Merger plan would create monopoly in lots, garages.(Parking Rates Soar as Spaces Vanish)(merger of Central Parking Corp. and Allright Holdings)
November 20, 1998... A proposed merger between the nation's two largest parking conglomerates could give a Tennessee company control of 65 percent to 70 percent of all downtown Houston parking operations, from surface lots to parking garages. Last month,...

Parent putting Kelsey-Seybold clinic on block.(MedPartners Inc.)
November 20, 1998... Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, the largest multi-specialty physicians group in Houston, has been put up for sale by its Alabama parent company. Birmingham-based MedPartners Inc. announced last week that the company will divest its physician...

Sugar Land airport set for takeoff in return to commercial skies.(Sugar Land, Texas)
November 20, 1998... City receives state funding to study air service needs The City of Sugar Land is mapping out a major new flight plan for Sugar Land Municipal Airport. The city has been granted state funding for an assessment study on expanding air...

Wedge joins parade with plans for downtown tower.(Wedge Properties Corp.)
November 20, 1998... Developers scramble for lead tenants in race to break ground Another contender has joined the race to build the first downtown skyscraper since the economic bust. Wedge Properties Corp. has stepped forward with plans to build a...

Offshore construction firms shine in struggling oil service sector.(Cal Drive International Inc. and Oceaneering International Inc.)
November 20, 1998... Cal Dive, Oceaneering report strong quarter despite depressed oil prices The news coming out of the oil service industry is mostly negative, with an estimated 10,000 layoffs expected before the end of the year. The employee cutbacks,...

Compaq Computer breaks tradition by moving into direct sales market.
November 20, 1998... Company expands outside reseller network with Prosignia product line Compaq Computer Corp. is making an effort to keep up with the way competitors are doing business by launching an aggressive program to sell products directly to...

Super marketer.(Kroger Pres Bob Zincke)
November 20, 1998... Grocery guru Bob Zincke has stamped the Kroger Signature on neighborhoods all over town to make it the top chain in Houston As Bob Zincke strolls through the newly opened Kroger Signature store in the tony neighborhood of River Oaks, he is...

Office fixture.(Tejas Office Products)
November 20, 1998... Tejas Office Products competes against big-box chains by staying close to customers The pads, pens, paper clips and other assorted office supplies that Lupe "Champ" Fraga sells to customers have landed in some far out places. Fraga's...

Nuevo Energy Co.(Proxy Excerpts Report)(Company Profile)
November 20, 1998... 1331 Lamar, Suite 1650, Houston 77010-3039 (713) 652-0706 Nuevo Energy Co. is the largest independent producer of oil and gas in California. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of April 6, 1998 19,751,554 Stock...

Spending cuts alarm oil service industry: major producers likely to slash capital budgets in 1999, say analysts.
November 27, 1998... The worst may be yet to come for oil service companies already staggered by depressed prices and uncertainty in the oil and gas industry. Experts say capital spending by U.S. oil companies - which drives activity at service firms - will...

Creating against the grain: 'green' builder makes hay with permaculture conference center constructed out of straw.(The Blackwood Building Group)
November 27, 1998... Cath Conlon left a career in psychotherapy for one in environment-friendly construction, reasoning that if she could not heal people emotionally she could at least heal them physically. The Blackwood Land Institute is the culmination of...

Lenders scrap plan to seek changes in home equity law.(housing lenders in Texas)
November 27, 1998... AUSTIN - Lenders have settled on one wish for the 1999 Texas Legislature when it comes to fixing the state's home equity law. Amazingly, that wish is: "Do nothing." "That fairly well sums up what I'm hearing," says Leslie Pettijohn, the...

Sisters of Charity bid farewell to former name, Houston HQ.(Sisters of Charity Health Care System)
November 27, 1998... The Sisters of Charity Health Care System is moving its headquarters from Houston to Dallas as part of a merger with a San Antonio health care system. In addition, when the proposed alliance with the Incarnate Word Health System in San...

Bankruptcy bombshell: new study could drastically alter reform fight.(bankruptcy laws)
November 27, 1998... WASHINGTON - For more than two years, the banking and credit card industries incessantly lobbied Congress to change the nation's bankruptcy laws. The 105th Congress almost granted the financial services industry its wish when a bankruptcy...

Vastar Resources Inc.(proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)(Illustration)
November 27, 1998... NYSE VRI 15375 Memorial Drive, Houston 77079 (281) 584-6000 Vastar Resources Inc. is a preeminent independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of March 23, 1998...

Documenting performance now may help in the future.(employee performance)
November 27, 1998... Proper documentation of employment performance is an important tool for employers in both effectively managing employees and preventing claims. Texas is still an employment-at-will state. With respect to private employers, unless there is...

Criminal background checks on job applicants easy to get.
November 27, 1998... A law recently passed by the Texas Legislature has made it easier to obtain criminal record information about job applicants and employees, but an employer should still exercise caution in this area, according to Aaron Haecker, legal counsel to...

Natural selection: Fains move health food to new heights with A Moveable Feast.(John and Suzanne Fain)
November 27, 1998... For close to 30 years, A Moveable Feast has been a fixture in the Montrose neighborhood it inhabits. First, as a juice bar and health food store in a small storefront. Now, as a two-locale health food store and restaurant serving up...