San Francisco Business Times articles from August 1997

San Francisco Business Times archives from August 1997

Catellus set to turn oil refinery into houses. (Catellus Development Corp.)
August 1, 1997... Developer close to inking deal on 220-acre Hercules site Catellus Development Corp. is close to reaching an agreement to develop a 220-acre housing and commercial center on the site of an outdated refinery in Hercules. The details of the...

MCI's buzzing. (MCI Communications Corp.'s market share in California)
August 1, 1997... Rival challenges Pacific Bell for business clients MCI Communications is emerging as Pacific Bell's biggest challenger to its crumbling monopoly on local telephone service. MCI, pulling ahead of rivals AT&T and Sprint, won several large...

Four Seasons checks into S.F. with new hotel. (Four Seasons Hotels Inc.; San Francisco)
August 1, 1997... Luxury hotel operator Four Seasons Hotels Inc. is returning to San Francisco as part of the $275 million Yerba Buena Tower project recently approved for a prime vacant site on Market Street. The Toronto-based hotel company has agreed to operate...

Office buyer adds gravy. (Walnut Creek's Pacific Plaza)
August 1, 1997... Pacific Plaza bid up, bagged for $43M Buoyed by a flurry of buyer interest, Walnut Creek's Pacific Plaza is expected to fetch $43 million just two months after going on the selling block. The sale price exceeds its $40 million asking price...

State tells Kaiser to hold its babies. (California; Kaiser Permanente)
August 1, 1997... Kaiser Permanente's plan to transfer thousands of East Bay maternity patients to Berkeley's Alta Bates Medical Center has run into a roadblock at the state Department of Corporations. Kaiser expected to begin moving patients from its...

Law in cyberspace: 'Net biz sizzles on peninsula. (Internet)
August 1, 1997... Cyberspace is the hottest legal address these days, and its coordinates are close to a slightly shabby intersection in Palo Alto. "There are probably 2,500 lawyers within a mile of the corner of Page Mill Road and El Camino in Palo Alto, and...

San Francisco developer makes $10M assault on Battery. (Martin Group; real estate development)
August 1, 1997... A San Francisco developer plans to overhaul the former Bank of California computer data center near San Francisco's Jackson Square. The Martin Group on July 31 paid approximately $10 million for the vacant three-story budding at 640 Battery...

Probation is hard time for employers.
August 1, 1997... For years, newly hired employees have considered probation an unnecessary evil. Now employers are starting to see things the same way - but for different reasons. When people stayed with the same company for 20 years, probation seemed like a...

Apple turnover. (Logistix's reliance on Apple Computer Inc.)
August 1, 1997... Logistix grows as reliance on troubled computer firm falls A propitiously timed diversification program has helped contract manufacturer Logistix sidestep the turbulent fortunes of its former No. 1 customer, Apple Computer. The Fremont-based...

PacBell's Internet unit puts another leader online. (Steven Hubbard; Pacific Bell Internet Services)
August 1, 1997... Pacific Bell has brought in a Pacific Telesis veteran to lead its busy Internet division, the third person to head the troubled department in nine months. Steven Hubbard, who spent 11 years at Pacific Telesis Group, most recently as vice...

S.F. firms have change of heart on East Bay expansion. (San Francisco law firms)
August 1, 1997... While San Francisco law firms scramble to open and expand their offices in Silicon Valley, many are closing or scaling back the East Bay operations they opened in the booming 1980s. To accommodate its dwindling ranks, San Francisco's McCutchen...

Salary's the hook, action's the sinker to catch top law grads.
August 1, 1997... Hot market puts junior lawyers in demand Desperate to bolster their junior attorney ranks, Bay Area law firms are opening up their checkbooks to attract top law school graduates. Bay Area legal powerhouses like Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich &...

Mylex bets on new product to end slump. (Mylex Corp.)
August 1, 1997... Following five consecutive quarters of decline, Fremont's Mylex Corp. is restructuring its sales force and betting on a new product category to revive its slumping fortunes. In recent months, the once high-flying maker of networking products...

Court plays peacemaker in fleets' troubled waters. (Red & White Fleet; San Francisco Superior Court)
August 1, 1997... San Francisco's Red & White Fleet is seeing red over rumors that it's out of business. The San Francisco Superior Court issued a temporary restraining order July 18 against Red & White's competitor, Blue & Gold Fleet, forcing it to stop...

Debit card protection in works.
August 1, 1997... Banks and legislators are moving to shore up protections for users of debit cards, battered by a wave of negative and often erroneous publicity. Newly introduced federal legislation would equalize consumer protection from both credit and debit...

Wilson Sonsini at heart of peninsula's high-tech growth. (Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati; San Francisco Bay Area)
August 1, 1997... The high-tech balloon, bolstered by extremely favorable economic winds, continues to lift the fortunes of many of the region's top law firms. The Bay Area's 25 largest law firms have added about 200 local attorneys since last June, after...

Digital TV delayed by antenna protests.
August 1, 1997... A group of San Francisco homeowners is delaying the installation of a digital television antenna, threatening a federal deadline to make digital TV available in the Bay Area by October 1998. At a public hearing last week, homeowners voiced...

Texas-Pacific among bidders for Barney's. (Texas-Pacific Group; Barney's Inc.)
August 1, 1997... San Francisco's Texas-Pacific Group is a leading contender in the auction to sell off bankrupt clothier Barney's Inc. The upscale retailer has been in a high-profile Chapter 11 bankruptcy case since January 1996 and, after highly contentious...

Say adios to the strip mall, open an urban business and save on taxes.
August 1, 1997... There is a widespread belief that small business may be the last hope for bringing economic vibrancy and opportunity to our nation's urban areas. It's agreed something must be done, but how to do it remains the source of wide disagreement....

Tiny vodka distillery sues Pepsi and wins since it wasn't the real thing. (PepsiCo Inc.)
August 1, 1997... Why would a shopping mall developer from Florida launch an expensive legal battle against PepsiCo on behalf of the oldest vodka distillery in Moscow? Frank Pesce, a feisty Boca Raton entrepreneur, says he did it because he couldn't bear to see...

Boston investor snaps up prime S.F. property. (Beacon Properties Inc to buy land in San Francisco's financial district)
August 8, 1997... A weedy patch of downtown San Francisco dirt with a platinum price tag is being acquired by a Boston-based real estate investment trust. Beacon Properties Inc. has agreed to pay $10.8 million for the corner parcel of vacant land in the heart of...

$75m fund targets community banks: bankers Anthony Frank, Richard Decker make first buy. (Belvedere Capital Partners)
August 8, 1997... A $75 million investment fund led by former Postmaster General Anthony Frank and ex-Westamerica Corp. CEO Richard Decker has made its first move toward building a stable of California community banks. San Francisco-based Belvedere Capital...

Truce in workers' comp price wars may push rates up.
August 8, 1997... Employers who have enjoyed lower workers' compensation insurance premiums in the wake of reforms in the early 1990s can expect to see premiums rising again. Several insurers have been pricing workers' comp insurance significantly lower to...

High lawsuit costs make D&O premium hike likely. (directors and officers liability insurance)(Insurance & Employee Benefits)
August 8, 1997... Companies that have enjoyed dramatic declines in the cost of liability insurance for directors and officers (D&O) in the past few years are likely in for a shock. After several years in which the robust economy and booming market in initial...

Insurers see opportunity to phase out price control.
August 8, 1997... Turning a problem into an opportunity, some insurance industry players are hoping today's low-premium climate can bolster the case for deregulating insurance pricing. The availability of most kinds of insurance in recent years has increased...

Brown & Toland poised for expansion with buyout. (Brown & Toland Medical Group acquires California Pacific Medical Center's stake in California Pacific Management Services Organization)
August 8, 1997... Brown & Toland Medical Group has bought out California Pacific Medical Center's interest in their jointly-owned HMO contracting arm, giving the powerful medical group a platform for its expansion plans statewide and beyond. The 1,250-doctor...

Acquisitions speed broker's expansion. (USI Insurance Services Corp)(Insurance & Employee Benefits)
August 8, 1997... San Francisco-based USI Insurance Services Corp.'s aggressive acquisition strategy has transformed the three-year-old company into the seventh-largest U.S. insurance broker. Last month's ranking by Business Insurance magazine was based on...

Saks attacks Bay Area retail.
August 15, 1997... Plans 5 new stores to dominate high-end fashion Seeking to blitz its slow-moving rivals in the high-end fashion business, retailer Saks Fifth Avenue is rolling out plans to open five Bay Area stores in the next three years. Saks has...

Improving its health. (Blue Shield of California)
August 15, 1997... Blue Shield writes new prescription in its bid for growth: Technology A suddenly bullish Blue Shield of California is pouring $20 million into high-tech projects this year to help secure a spot in the state HMO industry's top tier. The San...

Big land deal on Peninsula.
August 15, 1997... Real estate developer Opus Southwest Corp. will acquire the largest undeveloped tract of commercial property in San Mateo County - the 74.5-acre Sierra Point project in Brisbane. A purchase price was not disclosed, but seller Metropolitan Life...

Revamped Asyst ready for industry spending spree.
August 15, 1997... Capping a successful turnaround effort, Asyst Technologies Inc. is positioning itself to benefit as semiconductor companies prepare to spend massively on next-generation equipment. Over the last 18 months, the Fremont-based manufacturer of...

Virtual rides and risks.
August 15, 1997... Tetsuo, Sega team up on virtual entertainment San Francisco's Tetsuo Group has teamed with Sega Gaming Technology of Las Vegas to roll out Sonic City, an international chain of 32 virtual reality centers, over the next five years. The...

L.A. law firms snags top talent from S.F. rival.
August 15, 1997... Los Angeles-based legal giant Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has lured tWO leading corporate partners from a rival San Francisco law firm as part of a campaign to enlarge its Bay Area footprint. William Hudson and Douglas Smith, previously with...

Dealmakers cool heels as vacation season heats up.(Workforce 2000)
August 15, 1997... When late summer rolls around, companies may still be open for business - but not exactly business as usual. "You see slowdowns, because most people are taking off in July and August," said Bob Burnett, a San Francisco-based consultant at the...

Emeryville hotel developers target business travellers.
August 15, 1997... Hoping to cash in on the East Bay's growing appetite for hotels aimed at business travelers, two local developers are moving ahead with plans for inns in Emeryville. Orient and Western Corp., a Berkeley-based real estate development company,...

It's tough to keep a (trade) secret in Silicon Valley.(Workforce 2000)
August 15, 1997... When a dozen key software engineers left Informix Software to join arch-rival Oracle Corp. last January, then-Informix CEO Phillip White wasn't about to take the desertion lying down. White slapped Oracle with a lawsuit alleging theft' of trade...

San Jose comes out on top for Bay Area job growth.
August 15, 1997... San Francisco was the largest Bay Area job market between 1994 and 1996, but San Jose came out on top for job growth, according to a Business Times research report. The San Jose labor market, which covers Santa Clara County, increased 9.9...

Suite deals: pro teams bet on lure of luxury. (luxury suite market saturation)
August 22, 1997... Luxury boxes are money-makers for teams, but how many can businesses support? With three out of seven professional sports teams in the Bay Area expanding into new or bigger stadiums over the next few years, team marketers face stiff...

Sun Microsystems rises again in the East Bay: computer company amassing land in Newark. (California)
August 29, 1997... Sun is shining on Newark. Sun Microsystems Inc., the Mountain View-based computer networking behemoth, is believed to be negotiating for its second major land acquisition in the city in less than three months. As with the previous purchase,...

Europe calling: German, French telecom companies plug into Bay Area. (San Francisco, California)
August 29, 1997... European telecommunications giants Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom are setting up think tanks and forging high-tech alliances in the Bay Area. By October, Deutsche's Advanced Solutions group will have brought a dozen engineers on board at...

Kaiser makes pair of strategic moves: business unit CEO picked. (appointment of Cal James as CEO of Permanente Co.)
August 29, 1997... Kaiser Permanente has quietly selected a chief executive for its new doctors-group business arm, the Permanente Co., which links 9,400 physicians nationwide. Cal James, a senior health-care consultant at the San Francisco outpost of APM Inc.,...

Developers home in on Peninsula. (real estate development in Redwood City, CA)
August 29, 1997... Shea Homes and Irvine Apartment Communities are preparing to sprout houses in downtown Redwood City, where there's an abundance of shops but a meager complement of housing. Together, the developers plan to build more than 500 townhouses,...

Retaining employees is a class act.
August 29, 1997... In the Bay Area's competitive recruitment market, employers are using education in the office as a hook to hang onto good workers. Companies, particularly those who mine Generation X for new hires, are souping up employee training programs with...

Printing money. (merger of printers George Lithograph and Abbey Press Inc)
August 29, 1997... Firms merge to create Bay Area's largest printer Wedding bells have rung for George and Abbey, begetting the region's largest printing house. The area's third largest printer, Brisbane-based George Lithograph, bought the $10 million Abbey...

Good Guys plugs in new design. (The Good Guys Inc.)
August 29, 1997... Battered by an electronics industry price war, The Good Guys Inc. is going on the offensive with a radical redesign of its stores. The Brisbane-based electronics retailer will gut nine of its 76 stores over the next 15 months as part of an...

Ladbroke plays legal ace in Albany card room shuffle. (Ladbroke Racing California)
August 29, 1997... Gambling giant Ladbroke is dealing a hand to the state's highest court in hopes of gaining approve to build a card room at Golden Gate Fields in Albany. Ladbroke Racing California will ask the California Supreme Court to clear the way for the...

'Farm team' builds roster for big league investors.
August 29, 1997... Venture Strategy Group, a San Francisco-based venture capital startup, is capping a successful first year by bringing a third partner on board and expanding its capital base. The firm is expected to raise $25 million to help finance a dozen...

Microsoft seeks Silicon Valley home for WebTV. (WebTV Networks Inc.)
August 29, 1997... It looks like Microsoft Corp. will soon increase its presence in Silicon Valley. The Redmond, Wash.-based behemoth is scouring the area for 200,000 square feet of space on behalf of one of its new subsidiaries, Palo Alto-based WebTV Networks...

Some say no to venture cap money. (SkillSet Software Inc.)
August 29, 1997... Securing venture capital is the dream of many entrepreneurs. But for Daniel White and Don Darrah, founders of Pleasanton-based SkillSet Software Inc., independence was more appealing than a venture pot of gold. Before launching SkillSet four...

Financial giants swallowing up investment bankers.
August 29, 1997... Investment bankers, who spend their days advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, have become the M&A targets this year. At least five of the firms on this years List of the 25 largest Bay Area investment banking firms (see list on page...