San Francisco Business Times articles from February 2001

San Francisco Business Times archives from February 2001

Richmond Ford plant faces overhaul.
February 23, 2001... Already stretched, Forest City seeks to trim $100M project Facing a price tag of nearly $1 billion for two huge projects in San Francisco and Oakland, Forest City is looking to cut costs or increase revenues at its third major Bay Area...

Inktomi heeds call of wireless.
February 23, 2001... Pioneering Internet company heads for technology's new frontier When Inktomi emerged in 1996 as an academic startup from a gritty Berkeley neighborhood, it was flirting with greatness, but had yet to score a first date. Its core...

Moving out: S.F. telecom disconnects.
February 23, 2001... Genesys Telecommunications laboratories Inc. is nearing a deal to move its headquarters from San Francisco to South San Francisco, taking 300 jobs with it. Genesys, a maker of software that identifies and routes calls, emails and web...

Dud deal puts static between DSL firms.
February 23, 2001... A failed transaction between DSLnetworks and broadband carrier Covad Communications has turned former allies into rivals and fueled a dispute over whether Covad can legally sell service to DSLnetworks' customers directly. San...

Jockeying for position.
February 23, 2001... Joe Boxer, licensee will again attempt to settle disputed $3 million claim Joe Boxer has resumed settlement talks with New York licensee Van Mar Inc. to end a bruising legal battle that has given the San Francisco company a financial...

Kaiser takes 2 tech deals, feels better.
February 23, 2001... Kaiser Permanente has signed two deals to bring the digital revolution closer to its doctors' offices, one for handheld ultrasound scanners and the other for filmless image archiving. A two-year, $2 million deal with Seattle-based...

Another Bay Area bank aims to hit paydirt with 'payday' loans.
February 23, 2001... Westamerica Bancorp. will launch its fifth payday loan center as part of a 7-month-old pilot program using the high-fee service to buffet against thinning margins. Westamerica in March will open a Money Outlet branch in American Canyon,...

Collector gets DiMaggio's attorney to play ball.
February 23, 2001... Favorite San Francisco son Joe DiMaggio may be gone, but his estate of 11,000 signed collectibles lives on. It's now in the hands of Ralph Perulo. The retired New York businessman didn't have to deal with the devil to get it, but no...

Rise & Fall.
February 23, 2001... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers * Van Johnson It's probably fair to say Sutter Health Systems and Blue Cross saw the light after they felt the heat. Locked in a battle over rates, a sudden spirit of...

Quokka leaps takeover hurdle with $77M in credit.
February 23, 2001... Quokka Sports has renegotiated its $77 million credit line, sources familiar with the company said, to stave off a takeover by creditors, which include GE Capital, Deutsche Bank and DirecTV. The agreement calls for Quokka to return some...

Hambrecht director to lead technology charge.
February 23, 2001... Bob Hambrecht, managing director of equity capital markets at San Francisco-based WR Hambrecht & Co. and son of founder and CEO William Hambrecht, has been named chairman of the Internet Technology Coalition, a San Francisco technology...

Oakland retail gets new look.
February 23, 2001... Oakland, which has long known, it is sadly out of fashion when it comes to retail services, has hired consultants to help dress up both downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. Keyser Marsten Associates and the Fandel Retail Group have...

Corrections & Amplifications.
February 23, 2001... A Feb. 9-15 article titled "Banks with focus on Asians post huge growth in deposits" incorrectly gave the year of a Cheskin Research study. That study was completed in 1997.

B&T expansion aids ailing hospitals.
February 23, 2001... Brown & Toland's expansion may mean a new life for St. Mary's and St. Luke's Hospitals in San Francisco. The 1,600-doctor independent practice association, which covers 260,000 patients in San Francisco, will include the two...

TRI-BT merger discussions break off for good.
February 23, 2001... Sporadic merger discussions between San Francisco-based TRI Commercial Real Estate Inc. and San Jose-based BT Commercial Real Estate broke off for good on Feb. 12, TRI president Edward Welch said. "We couldn't come to terms," Welch said....

Summit Global Partners to launch in San Francisco.
February 23, 2001... Insurer Summit Global Partners Inc. is expanding into California with former Aon Risk Services Chairman Russell Sands leading the charge. Well-respected in insurance circles, Sands will launch Summit Global Insurance Services in San...

Executive Profile: OMAR BENJAMIN.
February 23, 2001... RESUME Name: Omar Benjamin. Title: Director of commercial real estate. Company: Port of Oakland. The port has jurisdiction over more than 1,000 acres of land within city limits and acts as a turnkey real estate company for that...

Union Square package carries $20 million price tag.
February 23, 2001... A local investment group is selling a historic Union Square mansion and two other buildings near the shopping district in a transaction that could fetch more than $20 million. The properties, which are being listed by Whitney Cressman...

Port casts net for developers to tackle massive mixed-use project.
February 23, 2001... The Port of Oakland set development plans in motion March 1 for its last large parcel of downtown land, hoping to transform bleak blocks along the bay into a high-density, mixed-use project of up to 2.5 million square feet. Port director...

BT Commercial keeps snapping up top brokers.
February 23, 2001... BT Commercial Real Estate has hired yet more brokers away from competing firms. Last year it snatched Frank Fudem and John Chamberlain a way from Colliers International. And a few weeks ago the company snagged Gary Willard, one of CB...

WHAT FREE RENT?
February 23, 2001... Despite reports of widespread free rent, real estate experts say it's still rare. Michael Pitre, who manages Julien J. Studley's San Francisco office, said he hasn't seen free rent on any recent deals. "I think it's a sporadic...

HITTING THE MARK.
February 23, 2001... San Ramon's Sunset. Development Co. announced it has hit the million-square-foot mark for 2000 at the mammoth Bishop Ranch 3 complex. Some Fortune 1000 tenants that have signed at the campus include: Lucent Technologies, with 50,000...

SOMA NOT DEAD, OWNER SAYS.
February 23, 2001... Developer Greg Flynn has hired CAC Group to market 600 Townsend, an 82,000-square-foot office building. The building's current tenants, Sapient and campsix, are moving out. Flynn said he's offering signage and market rents in the mid- to...

SAN MATEO BUILDING FILLS UP.
February 23, 2001... BT Commercial has signed two leases for 101 Ellsworth, an 86,000-square-foot building under construction in downtown San Mateo. Garnett Capital has signed a 10-year lease for floors five and six, or 20,000 square feet, and Merrill Lynch...

NORTHPOINT RUNS IN NEW DIRECTION.
February 23, 2001... Oh where, oh where has NorthPoint Communications gone? The troubled telecommunications company had big, public plans to consolidate its space and move everything -- and everybody -- from San Francisco to Emeryville, or, more specifically,...

Catellus Development Corp.
February 23, 2001... * Catellus Development Corp.'s latest report says two Mission Bay sales are pending for a condominium site and a biotech building for $23.4 million.

Grubb & Ellis.
February 23, 2001... * Grubb & Ellis is selling several small properties. Courtney Wing and Charlie Beck are listing 1023 Market. St., a three-story 6,750-square-foot office and retail building. The asking price is $1.5 million. David Mitchell is selling. 1234...

Boston investment bank opens shop in S.F.
February 23, 2001... Out-of-state investment banks are setting up shop in the Bay Area to target the small-growth niche left open as major banks have acquired many San Francisco investment banking firms in recent years. Boutique investment banks back East now...

Inside Traders.
February 23, 2001... Inside Traders Donald Fisher Chairman Gap Inc A look at selling of shares by Bay Area executives...

Safeway Select branches rolling out in Sacramento, San Jose.
February 23, 2001... Safeway Select Bank, which debuted inside Safeway grocery stores in Sacramento and San Jose last fall, is rolling out branches in two more stores and preparing to launch an automated teller machine network in Northern California. The...

VCs search through Internet rubble to find gems.
February 23, 2001... San Francisco venture capitalist Ann Winblad says her industry is racing back to the future as it focuses on fundamentals, proven business models and partnerships. The moves mean that entrepreneurs face a higher bar in getting initial...

Short-term prognosis for e-health stocks is grim.
February 23, 2001... Medical residents quickly learn the sometimes cruel language of acronyms doctors use to describe their patients and their conditions. A patient with a lot of problems ready to overwhelm a doctor is a GOMER (Get Out of My Emergency Room), an...

New wallscapes paint a pretty revenue picture.
February 23, 2001... David Wallach, 62, president of San Francisco Outdoor TV, is the proud owner of what he hopes will be the next great thing in outdoor or so-called "out of home" advertising -- a massive, television-style billboard. Wallach has developed...

AD BIZ ROUNDUP.
February 23, 2001... Wine maker Clos du Bois named San Rafael ad shop Duncan/Channon its agency of record. The $6 million account win came after a review of 20 agencies in the Bay Area San Francisco-based digital marketing company, Lot 21, won the "Hottest...

A's Giambi signs -- with Pepsi.
February 23, 2001... Jason Giambi -- American League MYP, Oakland A's first baseman, champion of the blue-collar set and all-around nice guy by all accounts -- has inked a contract. But it's not necessarily the one utmost in the minds of A's fans. Giambi...

SCHWAB CUTS DON'T HIT SPORTS.
February 23, 2001... For all the hand-wringing about a market-induced downturn at Charles Schwab Corp., there's one area left virtually unscathed: sports sponsorships. That's in large part because Schwab's golf and ski deals are aimed at bringing money...

A'S-GIANTS THAW? AD IT UP.
February 23, 2001... Just because relations between the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants have improved doesn't mean some good-natured ribbing is out of line -- right? Still feeling the sting of being shunned for Pacific Bell Park's opening last year, the...

Fraud suit against CHW to include St. Mary's.
February 23, 2001... The U.S. Department of Justice said it has joined an expanded lawsuit that accuses San Francisco-based hospital chain Catholic Healthcare West of cheating the government by allegedly falsifying Medicare cost reports. The suit, initially...

EXELIXIS NABS CHIRON, LIGAND SCIENTISTS.
February 23, 2001... The family table at South San Francisco-based Exelixis will have to set four new places. The company has added four qualified scientists to its staff, taking top talent from big-name companies like Emeryville-based Chiron and San...

Pan Pacific hotel seeks final OK.
February 23, 2001... The view from the trendy Hotel Triton windows may soon be somewhat obstructed as Pan Pacific Ocean Hotel Inc. gets ready to build a 10-story, 91-room hotel right across the street next to the Chinatown arch. The developers are expected...

ROBERT MONDAVI'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE.
February 23, 2001... Robert Mondavi is now tipping back the vino with Mickey Mouse. The Napa Valley vintner's Golden Vine Winery recently opened as part of Disney's California Adventure theme park, a new 55-acre attraction in Anaheim celebrating the Golden...

WINE NEWS AROUND THE REGION.
February 23, 2001... * World Wine Market, a Bay Area-British partnership bringing together about 350 vintners and 4,000 wine buyers, will debut April 30 at the Concourse Exhibition Center and feature domestic names like Forman Wine Group Pavilion,...

Divas rise despite dot-com demise.
February 23, 2001... At the end of the Internet boom, numbers of women in tech remain modest but growing Carly Fiorina, Dawn Lepore. Judy Estrin. Females leading technological change are scant, elevating the ones who play ball in the big leagues to near...

Controversial Napster spins more than tunes.
February 23, 2001... Redwood City-based Napster attempted to put a positive spin on a week of bad news when it announced on Wednesday that, while it had not come to an agreement with any additional record companies, it had been presenting them with a $1 billion...

ONE MAN'S WOES.
February 23, 2001... It seems that the market doesn't close a door without also opening a window. As the dot-com demise continues to slash the market-caps and employee rosters of young technology companies, other businesses are actually benefiting from the...

THE NUMBERS PLEASE.
February 23, 2001... Investors may be shunning all things Internet, but consumers are still logging on in spades. In fact, according to a recent Merrill Lynch survey, U.S. online users increased 3.7 million from 81.1 million in December to 84.8 million in...

CEO Guy Gecht leads EFI in bringing color to printing.
February 23, 2001... Foster City-based Electronics for Imaging develops and manufactures products that allow copiers, printers and digital presses to be shared across businesses, whether over local area networks or the Internet at large. In the latest quarter,...

EDA firms prosper from chip-making companies' bad luck.
February 23, 2001... The sound of semiconductor companies in peril is sweet music to the EDA software sector. EDA, or electronic design automation, is not a huge market, but building the software that chip manufacturers use to design and test the chips is an...

Despite opposition, Bush remains ally of estate tax repeal.
February 23, 2001... President Bush remains "deeply committed" to repealing the estate tax, his press secretary says, despite what the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives' director John Dilulio Jr. says. Dilulio told The New York...

Connection potential.
February 23, 2001... Concord computer cable company uncoils and plugs into growth opportunities Ben Hunter, the president of Concord-based Cables Unlimited, found out the hard way a few years ago that you can't be the boss and be everyone's friend at the...

Entrepreneur Profile: AARON MARCUS.
February 23, 2001... RESUME Name: Aaron Marcus Title: President, principal designer. Company: Aaron Marcus and Associates, in Emeryville, with an office in New York City. 2000 revenue: $2.2 million. Number of employees: 28. Year...

Bay Area People.
February 23, 2001... ENGINEERING Burlingame-based Lem Construction Inc. (LCI), a minority-owned, design-build general contractor, hired John Elwood as vice president of business development. Elwood was formerly a project executive with DPR Construction Inc.,...

Online marketing firm MyPoints points in new direction for CEO.
February 23, 2001... Beleaguered MyPoints.com, a San Francisco-based provider of online direct marketing services, this week announced the appointment of John Fullmer as chairman and CEO. The 55-year-old Fullmer, who has 30 years of experience in direct...

Companies making themselves at home in Fremont.
February 23, 2001... Fremont is losing its image as a bedroom community of Silicon Valley, drawing increasing numbers of companies with its lower rents, newer buildings and proximity to workers. Commercial rents in Fremont, which lies just north of the...

Sutter-Blue Cross treatment can't cure side effects.
February 23, 2001... Sutter Health and Blue Cross have closed their wound. Hiding the scar may prove more difficult. Nearly two months after they permitted the disruption of health care to thousands of Bay Area patients by allowing a contract to expire...

Drug busts, friendship go hand in paw.
February 23, 2001... Like any good manager, San Francisco police officer Kevin O'Malley has an eye for talent. So, five years ago, when one job candidate in a field of 10 distinguished himself by leaping off the floor at the start of an interview, O'Malley...

Transportation plan update plays for high stakes.
February 23, 2001... If traffic issues are high on your agenda, take note: 2001 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for transportation in the Bay Area. In January, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) kicked off a yearlong effort to update the...

Road to new international trade policies fraught with peril.
February 23, 2001... As George W. Bush's administration takes the stage, international trade policy presents both immediate opportunities and formidable challenges. Many of those policy issues will have a direct impact on the prosperity of both the Bay Area...

BLUE CROSS, SUTTER RESOLVE DISPUTE.
February 23, 2001... After sending about 30,000 members scrambling to new doctors when contract negotiations deadlocked at the end of last year, Sutter Health Care and Blue Cross of California settled on a two-year agreement for Sutter to provide health care...

CLINTON AS ORACLE?
February 23, 2001... Rumors abounded that former President Bill Clinton would be offered a seat on the board of directors of Redwood Shores software giant Oracle Corp. But Oracle officials countered that no such discussions have occurred. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison...

NAPSTER CHANGES TUNE.
February 23, 2001... Internet music swapping service Napster said it will pay the big music labels a billion dollars if they'll drop their lawsuits against it. The money would be paid over a five-year period after the Redwood City-based company starts charging...

INTEL MAKES CUTS.
February 23, 2001... Intel Corp. said it will undertake a series of spending cuts designed to shore up profits in a slumping market for microchips and save "hundreds of millions of dollars." While not imposing a total hiring freeze, the Santa Clara-based company...

VENTURE FUND RAISING DOUBLES.
February 23, 2001... The year 2000 saw the greatest amount of money in history committed to venture capital, according to VentureOne, a San Francisco-based provider of venture capital information and services. Limited partners contributed a record-breaking $69.1...

E-TOWN SHUTS DOWN.
February 23, 2001... E-Town, a San Francisco-based consumer electronics review web site, shut its doors, idling 90 employees. The company recently voted to hold a union election, a first among Internet firms. Assets of the company were transferred to Best Buy...

ALLADVANTAGE.COM PUT ON BLOCK.
February 23, 2001... Defunct AllAdvantage.com said it will sell itself off on the Internet. The Hayward-based firm, which at one time was paying its "customers" to surf the web in hopes of tracking their activities and selling that information to advertisers,...

XENOGEN PULLS IPO PLANS.
February 23, 2001... Xenogen Corp., an Alameda-based biotechnology firm, postponed its planned $56 million initial public offering. The company, which has been on the IPO market schedule for the past three weeks, is expected to soon file an amended prospectus...

REALTORS TAKE ON BANKERS.
February 23, 2001... Proposed regulations permitting banks to enter the real estate brokerage and property management business drew protest from leaders in the state's real estate industry. California Association of Realtors President Gary Thomas, President-Elect...

HEWLETT-PACKARD THUMPED.
February 23, 2001... Growth at Hewlett-Packard Co. slowed to a crawl and profits swooned in its first fiscal quarter. The Palo Alto-based computer giant reported a 2 percent rise in sales and a 59 percent drop in net income, while warning of meager revenue growth...

S.F. TO PAY FOR SEX CHANGES.
February 23, 2001... The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Mayor Willie Brown are expected to OK a change to the city's health plan to include coverage of sex changes. "This is very much a civil rights issue," Supervisor Mark Leno told the San Francisco...

COLDWELL BANKER INKS BUY.
February 23, 2001... San Ramon-based Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage acquired Fred Sands City Properties of San Francisco. Fred Sands had an estimated $300 million in sales in 2000. Coldwell Banker CEO Main Pinel called the agency "a good fit" that builds...

BLUELIGHT.COM BRINGS A THIRD OF SALES.
February 23, 2001... BlueLight.com CEO Mark Goldstein said the e-tailer would generate about a third of Kmart's sales by 2005 by inspiring web surfers to go to its stores. BlueLight.com, in which Kmart has a 60 percent stake, gets a percentage of the sales it...

WEBVAN FOUNDER RESIGNS.
February 23, 2001... Louis Borders, who founded Foster City-based Webvan Group five years ago, resigned from the company's board for personal reasons. In separate news, the struggling Internet-based grocery said it will leave the Dallas market in an effort to...

DREYER'S EARNINGS MELT.
February 23, 2001... Oakland-based ice cream maker Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc. missed its fourth quarter earning estimates, driving its stock down 14 percent. Chairman and CEO T. Gary Rogers blamed the bankruptcy filing of Grand Union Co., a northwest...

BAY VIEW CEO STEPS DOWN.
February 23, 2001... Bay View Capital Corp. President and CEO Edward Sondker will retire, the company said, after the San Mateo-based bank reported a fourth-quarter loss of $92.5 million, or $2.83 per share. The parent company of 57-branch Bay View Bank lost...

CROWN BOOKS SHUTTERS STORES.
February 23, 2001... Crown Books will shut three Bay Area stores and close 28 nationwide as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition it filed. Stores in Dublin, Los Gatos and Walnut Creek will be closed.

UC PRESIDENT OPPOSES SAT SCORES.
February 23, 2001... University of California President Richard Atkinson proposed scrapping SAT scores as an admission consideration for incoming freshmen. Atkinson, 71, said the test doesn't do a good job of measuring aptitude for college.

WILSON SONSINI OPENS MORE OFFICES.
February 23, 2001... Palo Alto-based law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati said it opened new offices in New York City and Salt Lake City.

DAVIS: STATE SHOULD BUY POWER LINES.
February 23, 2001... Gov. Gray Davis unveiled the framework of a recovery plan for California's investor-owned utilities. It would have the state buy their power lines and target revenue to help pay the utilities' debts. "We have begun serious negotiations with...

CHEVRON GETS OUT OF E-OIL.
February 23, 2001... Chevron Products Co. said it shut down its Silicon Valley Oil Co. online marketplace. Launched last June by the San Francisco-based oil giant, SVOC facilitated spot-market sales of fuels to commercial and industrial customers via the Internet...

EVOLVE CUTS STAFF.
February 23, 2001... Evolve, an Emeryville-based company that sells e-business software, said it will cut its staff by 10 percent and make other changes to try to reach profitability earlier.

ELECTRICITY DEREGULATION SUPPORTED.
February 23, 2001... Most consumers in the state favor competition and choice among residential electric utility service providers, according to a special report by J.D. Power and Associates. While more than one-half of Californians do not thoroughly understand...

ARCADE PLANET, MCDONALD'S PLAY.
February 23, 2001... Livermore-based Arcade Planet Inc. struck a deal to design a video game system featuring kiosks that will become available in McDonald's Corp. restaurants. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

AGILENT SELLS SAN JOSE LAND.
February 23, 2001... Palo Alto-based Agilent Technologies Inc. sold a 40-acre parcel in San Jose to BEA Systems Inc. for about $270 million, or $6,750,000 per acre. The parcel, one of the last large chunks of vacant land on the north side of the city, was said to...

SYBASE ACQUIRES NEON.
February 23, 2001... Emeryville-based e-business software provider Sybase said it plans to acquire Denver-based New Era of Networks Inc. in a stock-for-stock transaction worth approximately $373 million. New Era develops products that allow disparate business...