Houston Business Journal articles from October 1997

Houston Business Journal archives from October 1997

Lenders rush for home equity gold: bringing visions of second mortgage mania, financiers flock to Houston.
October 3, 1997... Bringing visions of second mortgage mania, financiers flock to Houston Hopeful lenders counting on Texas voters to approve home equity loans in November are flocking into the local market to be ready. Two lenders that already have a presence...

Ritz-Carlton ponders site downtown for new hotel. (Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.)
October 3, 1997... When Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. pulled out of its contract with the owners of its Houston flagship earlier this summer, it made public its intent to find a new home in Houston. And now, just two months after the dropping its Galleria-area...

Cellular phone service has an international ring to it. (Houston Cellular offers extended coverage outside North America)
October 3, 1997... Soon wireless service customers can be home on the range, even when they jet to popular international destinations. Cellular phone companies are racing to provide customers who travel to other countries all the calling advantages they have at...

New product gives smaller companies on-ramp to WWW. (WebRamp uses special analog router to provide Internet access for small and medium-sized companies that cannot afford Integrated Services Digital Network)
October 3, 1997... The Kachler Corp. had a problem common to many of Houston's small and medium-sized businesses: Its 18 employees needed Internet access for research and e-mail, but the insurance brokerage firm couldn't justify the cost of Integrated Services...

Mobil gets mobile: oil company plans move to The Woodlands. (Mobil Corp.)
October 3, 1997... Relocation comes three months after purchase by Crescent Real Estate About 450 employees of Mobil Corp. will soon be working in The Woodlands, a move that will mark the first major corporate relocation coup for Crescent Real Estate Equities,...

Expanding Compass will purchase $64-million West University Bank. (Compass Bancshares Inc.)
October 3, 1997... West University Bank and its holding company, First University Corp., have agreed to be acquired by Compass Bancshares Inc. in a stock-for-stock transaction. West University Bank Chairman Bradley Bracewell, also its majority shareholder, says...

With plans to double its drilling activity, United Meridian boosts capital spending.
October 3, 1997... United Meridian Corp., acting on a host of drilling and acquisition opportunities, upped its capital budget for the second time this year. The Houston-based independent oil and gas company boosted capital spending $59 million to $359 million...

New day trading office carries Momentum into Tyler market. (Momentum Securities Management Co.; Tyler, Texas)
October 3, 1997... Momentum Securities Management Co. has acquired a Nasdaq Stock Market day trading office in Tyler which it says solidifies its position as the largest electronic day trading firm in the South. Formerly part of the Houston-based Block Trading...

All-in-one office machines make color more affordable. (color printing, scanning and copying with monochrome faxing in one desktop machine)
October 3, 1997... Several major office technology producers are hitting Houston shelves with upgraded color all-in-one machines. Three industry leaders are finally bringing color printing, scanning and copying with monochrome faxing to the all-in-one desktop...

Head 'em up, roll 'em out. (venture capital firm Notre Capital Ventures)(Company Profile)
October 3, 1997... In the industry consolidation game, Steve Harter has changed the rules Steve Harter sat in a hot tub at the Houstonian Hotel Club & Spa recently, explaining how his venture capital firm works. A man who said he was in real estate listened...

Bull no. 6 for Notre Capital? (venture capital firm)
October 3, 1997... Guided by local venture firm, HomeUSA files bid to consolidate fragmented mobile home industry The manufactured homes industry is the latest target of a roll-up consolidation by Houston-based Notre Capital Ventures and its co-founder, Steve...

Enron Oil & Gas Co. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
October 3, 1997... NYSE EOG 1400 Smith St., Houston 77002 (713) 853-6161 Enron Oil & Gas Co. is one of the largest independent oil and gas companies in the United States. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of March 11, 1996 159,976,840 Stock price as...

Thinking outside the box: Redi Packaging has returned to its roots in Texas.(Growth Strategies)
October 3, 1997... Redi Packaging has returned to its roots in Texas Nearly a decade ago, Irvin "Bubba" Levy, owner of Redi Packaging, decided his management of the local corrugated box company wasn't going too well. "I was hiring, firing and rehiring people -...

Programs boost small business funding opportunities.(Small Business Monthly)
October 3, 1997... The Corporation for Economic Development of Harris County Inc. has leveraged a total of over $2 million into $12 million in total loan funds to small businesses, creating over 600 new jobs in Harris County in the past 10 years. Now, CEDHC is...

Emu enterprises. (entrepreneurs Gayle Mauzey and Deborah Ahysen formed company Emu Now which sells various emu products)(Small Business Monthly)
October 3, 1997... Many investors who flocked to the high-dollar emu market searching for a golden egg crashed and burned a couple of years ago, but two enterprising entrepreneurs are among the few emu breeders who have managed to find a gem of a business among the...

Shareholders sue after seismic shake-up; investors say Input/Output failed to reveal sliding sales and warn of technology delays. (Input/Output Inc.)
October 10, 1997... Not long ago, Input/Output Inc. was the darling of the seismic equipment manufacturing industry. Its stock rose twentyfold in about five years, buoyed by ever-increasing sales data the company reported and promises of commercializing a new...

Former Input/Output officers seek to take Japanese firm public. (Input/Output Inc.; OYO Geospace Corp.)(Shareholders Sue after Seismic Shake-up)
October 10, 1997... Two former top executives of Input/Output Inc. who resigned suddenly from that company, have taken identical positions with a potential competitor and plan to take it public. OYO Geospace Corp., a local subsidiary of Japan-based OYO Corp.,...

Ballroom chancing: slew of stand-alone banquet facilities hopes to cut in on hotel party business. (Houston, TX restaurant industry)
October 10, 1997... With more corporations in a party mood, some prominent restaurateurs and caterers are building lavish banquet halls and ballrooms to keep the soirees swinging. From the Vincent Mandola family to Tomas Romero, it seems everyone wants to cash in...

Legal services firm plans public consolidation play. (US Legal Support Inc.)
October 10, 1997... A Houston court reporting firm that has acquired 14 legal services companies since January will go public and use the proceeds to acquire four more similar companies. US Legal Support Inc. was formed in January by Richard O. Looney, also the...

Houston getting a healthy dose of talk on the airwaves; dental oncologist hosts call-in show on hot topics related to health care. (Dr. Keith Robinson)(Health Care Quarterly)
October 10, 1997... Dental oncologist hosts call-in show on hot topics related to health care A dental oncologist with a knack for turning medical jargon into everyday English is bringing health care topics people want to talk about to Houston airwaves. Dr....

Weslayan Plaza shopping center sells to San Francisco investors. (AMB Institutional Realty Advisors Inc.)
October 10, 1997... San Francisco-based AMB Institutional Realty Advisors Inc. continued its Houston buying spree this week, nabbing another high-end shopping center for an investment client. In one of the bigger shopping center deals this year, the real estate...

Union Pacific Resources offers all-cash deal in its campaign to acquire Pennzoil. (Union Pacific Resources Group Inc.; Pennzoil Co.)
October 10, 1997... Union Pacific Resources Group Inc. has sweetened its offer for Pennzoil Co. to an all-cash deal. The new proposal revises Union Pacific's previous offer made on June 23 to acquire Pennzoil in two stages - $84 a share cash for the first 50.1...

Atlanta firm buys Autumn hills centers, plans move to Houston. (Highland Health Services Inc.; Autumn Hills Convalescent Centers Inc.)
October 10, 1997... Officials of local nursing home firm once tried for murder in patient deaths An Atlanta nursing home company last month acquired Houston-based Autumn Hills Convalescent Centers Inc., just days before its former owner died. Highland Health...

Mauled by competition, grocer Food Lion retreats from Texas. (Food Lion Inc.; H-E-B Grocery Co.)
October 10, 1997... Food Lion may have roared into the Houston market five years ago, but it was the quietly aggressive San Antonio-based H-E-B Grocery Co. that helped to chase the supermarket chain out of town. Bad timing and bad publicity also have played a part...

Franchise features products for women's health needs. (The Women's Health Boutique)(Health Care Quarterly)
October 10, 1997... A franchise retailing concept that's new to Houston is targeting women who are in the market for products to help them cope with the side effects of cancer treatments and other health problems. In a specialty retail boutique setting, The...

Home infusion agencies fill a growing health care niche; giving drugs intravenously outside hospital cuts costs, adds convenience.(Health Care Quarterly)
October 10, 1997... Giving drugs intravenously outside hospital cuts costs, adds convenience The health care industry continues to shift its focus from inpatient to outpatient and home-based therapies, influenced by managed care's emphasis on cost. Typical...

Patrick's progress: one-time wacky TV personality turns 'social entrepreneur.' (TV sportscaster Dan Patrick)
October 10, 1997... Dan Patrick came to Houston 20 years ago as just another TV sportscaster. But during the wild-and-woolly "Luv ya Blue" days of the late 1970s and go-go 1980s, he made a name for himself with zany on-air antics - painting himself blue and doing...

HMOs shifting marketing emphasis to end consumer. (health maintenance organizations)(Health Care Quarterly)(Directory)
October 10, 1997... Envision "Health Plan: The Movie." Saundra Wiley, vice president in force sales and service for NYLCare Health Plans of the Gulf Coast Inc. compares the nation's health care scene to the plot of a first-run movie: "It's making millions of...

An information arsenal for emerging companies: pushing petals to the mettle. (Plants 'N Petals)(Growth Strategies)(Company Profile)
October 10, 1997... Abraham Hakakian's friends and family thought he was a fool for dropping out of school halfway through his master's program to sell flowers. But the 23-year-old Iranian immigrant was burned out on school and the cold winters of Southfield,...

Weingarten Realty Investors. (Proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
October 10, 1997... NYSE WRI 2600 Citadel Plaza Drivem Suite 300, Houston 77008 (713) 866-6000 Weingarten Realty Investors is an equity-based real estate investment trust. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of March 10, 1997 ...

Houston Jewelry.(Awards for Quality Program Guide)
October 10, 1997... HOUSTON AWARD FOR QUALITY Category: Small Retail Houston Jewelry has been a leading retailer for over 44 years. A family-owned store, it first opened in 1953 in less than 2,000 square feet above the old Baker's Shoe Store on Main at Rusk....

Protherm, Inc. (large service category)(Awards for Quality Program Guide)
October 10, 1997... HOUSTON AWARD FOR QUALITY Category: Large Service Protherm, Inc., is a certified woman-owned maintenance oriented asbestos and lead abatement, scaffolding and fire-proofing, infrared inspection contractor currently performing long-term...

Texan Ford, Inc.(Award for Quality Program)
October 10, 1997... HOUSTON AWARD FOR QUALITY Category: Automobile Dealership Founded in 1986 by A.G. Gracely, Texan Ford is now the 93 largest individual dealership in the United States, and the 8th largest retailer of Ford vehicles. Gracely founded the...

Microsoft rolls out Houston Sidewalk.
October 17, 1997... Competitors question impact of on-line service After months of preparation, Microsoft Corp. has launched its long-awaited Houston version of Sidewalk this week. But now that Houston Sidewalk is finally here, potential competitors and...

Asian banking rivalry arises in west Houston. (American First National Bank)
October 17, 1997... Former Texas First group forms new bank The former chief executive officer and four ex-directors of an Asian niche bank plan to open a new competing institution blocks away from their previous place of financial business in the heart of west...

Columbia cancels plan for another new hospital. (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. delays construction of pediatric hospital in Houston, TX)
October 17, 1997... New deal arranged with Texas Children's In a move that shocked many in the local health care community, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. pulled the plug this week on a new pediatric hospital the company planned to build near the Texas Medical...

Haik buys prime tract in Energy Corridor. (Mac Haik Enterprises)
October 17, 1997... Builder eyes plans for office building, hotel Mac Haik Enterprises has purchased 21 acres off of Interstate 10 and will likely use the site to build a hotel or office building - or both. Haik, a local auto dealer and former Houston Oiler,...

No. 1 Block Trading leads electronic trading explosion.(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... #1 Company: Block Trading Inc. Product/service: Stock brokerage services Date founded: 1993 Employees (1996): 55 Sales growth (1994-96): 7,900 percent Five years ago Chris Block and Jeff Burke chucked their day jobs as retail brokers at the...

Tyler management shakeup: Wilkinson out, Waters in as Dallas firm makes acquisitions. (Tyler Corp.)
October 17, 1997... Just as Tyler Corp. was planning a move to Houston, it has lost a president and picked up a new chairman, who isn't sure where the company will locate. Browning-Ferris Industries founder and former chief executive Lou Waters was elected...

Local investment firm backs buyout of packaging firm by executive team. (Callier Interests; Hi-Port Inc.)
October 17, 1997... A management-led buyout of Hi-Port Inc. has brought ownership of the company back into local hands. Company executives teamed up with Callier Interests, a private Houston-based investment firm, to purchase the company from a Connecticut...

Baker Hughes alumni launch IPO of hazardous waste products firm. (Denali Inc.)
October 17, 1997... Seven former executives of Baker Hughes Inc. are going public with a company that manufactures storage tanks for hazardous fluids. Denali Inc. has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise as much as $25 million in an...

Managed health care provider network focuses on quality. (Business Health Companies Inc.)(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... #2 Company: Business Health Companies Inc. Product/service: Health care provider network Date founded: 1994 Employees (1996): 9 Sales growth (1994-96): 1,168 percent Broad access and personal choice in managed health care did not...

Business, artistic skills prove unbreakable combination. (Smithereen's Inc.)(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... #3 Company: Smithereens Inc. Product/service: Hand-painted glassware and accessories Date founded: 1993 Employees (1996): 28 Sales growth (1994-96): 1137 percent Smithereens Inc.'s hand-painted glassware started out more as a...

Community banks fuel another round of industry consolidation. (Houston, TX)(Industry Overview)
October 17, 1997... Bank mergers and acquisitions are a lot like marriages, says a Houston banking consultant. And there are a whole lot of "marriages" taking place around town these days. But it's not romance that is driving these mergers. It's profitability....

Rock on a roll. (Doug Rock, chief executive officer of Smith International Inc.)
October 17, 1997... Doug Rock has seen it all as CEO of Smith International, from boom to bust and back Doug Rock doesn't act like the chief executive officer of a $1.2 billion oil service company. The head of Smith International Inc. drinks Diet Big Reds for...

Focus on sales staff makes Beta Technology a winner.(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Company: Beta Technology Inc. Product/service: industrial and institutional maintenance products Date founded: 1994 Employees (1996): 19 Sales growth (1994-96): 939 percent With careful planning and a lot of determination, Leigh Meyers was...

Alaskan companies give warm reception to Aurora. (Aurora Gas Inc.)(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Company: Aurora Gas Inc. Product/service: Natural gas Date founded: 1994 Employees (1996): 4 It's a cold business in Alaska, but somebody's got to break the ice. That's what Steven R. Severy and G. Scott Pfoff did with their natural gas...

Recovery Contractors bulldozes into demolition spotlight.(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Company: Recovery Contractors Inc. Product/service: Demolition and dismantling Date founded: 1992 Employees (1996): 10 Sales growth (1994-96): 861 percent It's not formal education, but skills learned through years on the job that have made...

Facing the financing factor. (Advantage Finance Corp.)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Advantage Finance filling MetroBank's accounts receivable niche An old, but not always highly regarded, method of financing for small, growing businesses is reaping rewards for Advantage Finance Corp., MetroBank of Houston and clients of the...

Engineers find lucrative niche in natural gas service. (Advanced Control Engineering Services)(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Company: Advanced Control Engineering Services Product/service: Engineering consulting Date founded: 1993 Employees (1996): 20 Sales growth (1994-96): 843 percent. With a combined experience of almost 50 years in the natural gas industry, the...

Family sewing up business with embroidery enterprise. (Network Embroidery Inc.)(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Company: Network Embroidery Inc. Product/service: Embroidery Date founded: 1993 Employees {1996): 14 Sales growth (1994-97): 836 percent Four years ago Lily Clark's entire family - three sons, one daughter and a son-in-law - sat around the...

Chauffeur service hitches ride on stronger economy. (Greater Houston Livery Service)(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Company: Greater Houston Livery Service Product/service: Chauffeured transportation Date founded: 1994 Employees (1996): 27 Sales growth (1994-96): 669 percent If you want a job done right, do it yourself. Greater Houston Livery Service, a...

Two young entrepreneurs turning PVC into currency. (Compound Manufacturing Distribution Inc.)(Houston's 100 Fastest-Growing Small Businesses)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... Company: Compound Manufacturing Distribution Inc. Product/service: Reprocessors of plastic resins and compounds Date founded: 1994 Employees (1996): 40 Sale growth (1994-96): 605 percent Two Generation Xers are living the American dream....

Paracelsus Healthcare Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
October 17, 1997... NYSE PLS 515 W. Greens Road, Suite 800, Houston 77067 (281) 774-5100 Paracelsus Healthcare Corp., either directly or through its subsidiaries, owns and operates acute care and related healthcare businesses in selected markets. Total...

Mortgage bankers join consolidation. (Stockton, Leudemann French/Jackson and West to merge with Northland Financial Co.; Washington Mortgage Financial Group Inc. to acquire Robert C. Wilson Co.)
October 24, 1997... Stockton Leudemann, Robert C. Wilson Co. plan mergers with separate firms Consolidating real estate firms and taking them public is no doubt in vogue, and two of the city's largest commercial mortgage banking firms will likely be the next to...

Big Ball bounces into new hands. (Big Ball Sports Inc. acquired by Signal Apparel Company Inc.)
October 24, 1997... Trendy T-shirt maker sells out to Tennessee apparel company A Tennessee company has reached an agreement to acquire Big Ball Sports Inc., a T-shirt company that was rated last year as the fastest-growing privately held business in Houston. The...

Lender takes over Mall of Mainland. (Mainland Holding Co.)
October 24, 1997... Ownership changes in lieu of foreclosure A subsidiary of Chase Manhattan Bank has taken control of The Mall of the Mainland and installed a new management company, heading off a possible foreclosure on the maws $61 million note. The...

MacGregor will join Kelsey-Seybold. (MacGregor Medical Assn. to be acquired by Kelsey-Seybold Clinic's parent company MedPartners Inc.)
October 24, 1997... Houston-based MacGregor Medical Association is selling its assets to the parent company of Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in a deal that will link the two former competitors. As part of the transaction, MacGregor physicians also are signing long-term...

Lenders gear up for vote on home equity lending in Texas.(Focus on: Banking and Finance Report)
October 24, 1997... In the battle over home equity lending, opponents of the loans seem like the last men left in the Alamo moments before its defeat. On Nov. 4, voters will get the chance to approve or disapprove a law that would allow homeowners to borrow...

Combined oil and gas exploration companies Xplor IPO possibilities. (Xplor Energy Inc.; initial public offering)
October 24, 1997... A pair of small oil and gas exploration companies based in Houston and The Woodlands has joined forces and will seek to raise up to $57.5 million in an initial public offering. Araxas Energy Corp., founded in 1988 by W. E. Rowsey, and South...

Longtime hold-out Harrisburg Bank will merge with San Antonio's Frost. (Texas; Frost National Bank)
October 24, 1997... Harrisburg Bank, Houston's second oldest remaining community bank, has been sold to Frost National Bank in a $55 million stock deal. The sale price was 2.2 times the bank's book value and 18 times its annual earnings of about $3 million, says...

Wulfe plans $50 million redevelopment of Gulfgate Shopping City. (Wulfe and Co.)
October 24, 1997... If the new developers of Gulfgate Shopping City are successful, the 41-year-old mall will soon be transformed from a half-empty eyesore into a contemporary hotspot for shopping. The likelihood that that will happen is great, say real estate...

The mayor's $1-a-year man. (Assistant to the Mayor of Houston and Inner-City Revitalization Michael Stevens; Texas)
October 24, 1997... After two years in his public post, Michael Stevens has become a central figure in downtown redevelopment efforts One night in the early 1970s, Michael Stevens walked alone to his car in a downtown parking lot after a meeting with some bankers....

Pontchartrain's Louisiana Kitchen: irregular Cajun down on the bayou. (restaurant)
October 24, 1997... Eclectic regional cooking is the order of the day at Pontchartrain's Louisiana Kitchen, which has replaced the Atchafalaya River Cafe next to the Marriott Courtyard on the North Loop. The staff will tell you the ownership changed along with the...

Inner Loop residential market perks up. (Houston, TX's housing market)(Residential Real Estate)
October 24, 1997... Recent home sales numbers in urban neighborhoods don't come close to overtaking those for First Colony or The Woodlands, but interest in close-in neighborhoods is reinvigorating Houston's Inner Loop housing market. Houston's housing market has...

Apache Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
October 24, 1997... NYSE, Chicago APA One Post Oak Central, 2000 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 100, Houston 77056-4400 (713) 296-6000 Apache Corp. is one of the nation's top independent oil and gas exploration and production companies. Total shares of common...

Special delivery. (Overnight Solutions Inc. founder Kit Comby)(Growth Strategies)
October 24, 1997... Overnight Solutions riding Argentina's oil boom to growth When Kit Comby found a less expensive way to provide overnight delivery service, he quit his job as a driver for Airborne Express and started his own company, Overnight Solutions Inc.,...

Houston lures bevy of energy firms; companies come from all over country to be in the center of action.
October 31, 1997... When Gordon Wright tried to make deals or hire new people for CMS Nomeco, a Michigan oil and gas company, he realized he was at a disadvantage. Wright and his colleagues would have to drive a couple of hours to the nearest major airport and...

Day traders reap profits going down, coming up.(WOW! What a Wild Record Ride of the Dow)
October 31, 1997... As the stock market went to extremes this week, causing havoc for investors, two Houston electronic day trading firms were ' its from both the the lows. Day traders at Block Trading and Momentum Securities Management Co. set records Monday and...

Fickle stock market gives new IPOs fits and starts. (initial public offerings)(WOW! What a Wild Record Ride of the Dow)
October 31, 1997... Companies in the midst of staging initial public offerings had cause to pause on Monday. But by midweek it looked like "all systems are go," says local IPO expert Scott Fordham. "Monday was a shock, but Tuesday the market recovered and it...

Local energy stocks lead early plunge, recover fast.(WOW! What a Wild Record Ride of the Dow)
October 31, 1997... Energy stocks plummeted along with the rest of the market early in the week. But they bounced back more quickly as investors realized that there was little relationship between the stock price gyrations and the solid fundamentals of the energy...

Which comes first - residential or retailers? Both have joined the race downtown as Houston's urban pioneers.(Focus on: Commercial Real Estate)
October 31, 1997... If you build it Downtown, they will come. But build what? Which had to come first, residents with full pockets or retailers to help them unload? For years now, Houstonians have been barraged with a steady stream of headlines and news flashes...

Mall melee: Town & Country opposes Neiman Marcus move; retailer sets sights up the road to Memorial City. (Town & Country Mall; Memorial City Mall)
October 31, 1997... Neiman Marcus plans to pack its designer bags and leave Town & Country Mall for new digs less than a mile down Interstate 10 in Memorial City Mall. But the Dallas-based retailer may not be able to depart without a fight. "They won't be able...

Owen Healthcare closing down 200-employee Meditrol division.
October 31, 1997... The parent company of Houston-based Owen Healthcare Inc. is shutting down its Meditrol division leaving a total of 200 local employees out of work. Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health Inc., which acquired Owen late last year, decided to merge...

California company buys portfolio of 20 Houston properties. (Koll Bren Realty Advisers)
October 31, 1997... Koll returns to local market with real estate purchases in FM 1960 area Koll Bren Realty Advisers of Newport Beach, Calif., has decided to take a bigger piece of the Houston real estate pie - a 1.6 million-square-foot slice. Since it was...

Lofty aspirations for downtown. (Houston, TX)(Focus on: Commercial Real Estate)
October 31, 1997... UNDER CONSTRUCTION HERMANN LOFTS 204 Travis Renovation of the Hermann Estate Building in the Downtown historic district is expected to be finished by the new year. The loft-style condominiums are available for sale only, and range from...

PM Realty Group acquires Chicago investment boutique. (Chicago, IL-based National Equity Advisers)
October 31, 1997... PM Realty Group this week acquired Chicago-based National Equity Advisers, a boutique firm that specializes in acquisitions, dispositions and consulting. For Houston-based PM Realty, the acquisition further expands the company's investment...

Construction payroll dollars stimulate Texas economy.(Focus on: Commercial Real Estate)
October 31, 1997... Industry watchers caution that construction boom can't last forever When CPA Phil Fox looks out his 12th-story office window in Greenway Plaza, he can see the clear evidence of Houston's new commercial construction boom. On one side of his...

Serving with style: Gigi Huang has achieved high-profile status as a fashionable restaurateur and charitable socialite.(Profile)
October 31, 1997... When Gigi Huang was growing up, her father stressed the importance of adapting to the American way of life. But if James Huang worried his oldest child would have trouble fitting in, he soon learned how unfounded those concerns would be. At...

Looking back at The Rice: 17-story skyscraper is born. (Rice Hotel in Houston, TX)(Focus on: Commercial Real Estate)
October 31, 1997... Rumors flew throughout the city in 1912 concerning the demolition of the Rice Hotel and the ensuing construction of a 17-story replacement. There must be some mistake. You can't stack bricks that high. A booklet published by the hotel...

All in the family: vending machine network has made the Parisi clan entrepreneurs of the edible. (Five Star Food Services Inc.)(Growth Strategies)(Company Profile)
October 31, 1997... Five Star Food Services Inc. is building an empire - 25 cents at a time. The Stafford-based company owns and operates vending machines that dispense drinks, snacks and freshly prepared food. Since it was formed in 1979 by the Parisi family,...

Camco International Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
October 31, 1997... NYSE CAM 7030 Ardmore, Houston 77054 (713) 747-4000 Camco International Inc. is a leading worldwide oil field equipment and service company. Total shares of common stock outstanding as of March 24, 1997 24,060,452...