Dallas Business Journal articles from December 1996

Dallas Business Journal archives from December 1996

Loomis deal sparked by banks. (merger between Loomis Armored Inc. and Wells Fargo Armored Services)
December 6, 1996... In the armored-car business, bigger isn't just better - it's the only way DOWNTOWN - Ripples from rampant bank mergers turned to waves last week as Loomis Armored Inc. and Wells Fargo Armored Services said they were merging in a leveraged...

$16.8M project in Mesquite: Union Pacific starts work on 100-acre transportation center. (Union Pacific Railroad Co.)
December 6, 1996... MESQUITE - Union Pacific Railroad is starting a $16.8 million expansion of its transportation complex here. UP's $6 million facility, on 155 acres in the western portion of Mesquite, is one of the Metroplex's two major transportation, or...

CarrAmerica to close on Search Plaza. (CarrAmerica Realty Corp.'s acquisition of the seven-story building)
December 6, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Real estate firm CarrAmerica Realty Corp. of Washington, D.C., has embarked on a shopping spree of Metroplex real estate, bidding on Search Plaza and Quorum North in North Dallas and Cedar Maple Plaza in Uptown. CarrAmerica has...

Tropical storm brews for WDC; developer files for Chapter 11 to stall lease dispute in Hawaii. (WDC Venture)
December 6, 1996... DOWNTOWN - WDC Venture, owner and developer of a three-acre, two-story shopping center in Waikiki, Hawaii, has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas. Dallas-based WDC's filing is being described as a...

Great Train picking up steam as more stores shovel in cash. (Great Train Store Partners L.P.)
December 6, 1996... FAR NORTH DALLAS - An aggressive expansion campaign has put The Great Train Store Co. on the right track toward its second profitable year and a projected earnings increase. The Dallas-based company has opened 10 stores in the last four...

Kaiser management team still being formed by Gillespie. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Texas; southwest division president Bill Gillespie)
December 6, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Dr. Bill Gillespie's return to the Metroplex health care arena was relatively low key, but all eyes are focused on what he'll accomplish at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Texas. Although it is the longest-operating health...

Principal HMO checks out of the Metroplex. (Principal Health Care of Texas Inc.; health maintenance organization)
December 6, 1996... IRVING - Principal Health Care of Texas Inc. is discontinuing its fledgling Dallas-area health maintenance organization. The company chose not to devote the time and money necessary to weather the stormy local market, choosing to focus instead...

Consolidation for Columbia. (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.)
December 6, 1996... Growing Bedford facility will handle hospital billing, claims BEDFORD - Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. has taken hospital billing and claims functions out of the hospital, centralizing those operations and others in a growing office complex...

Arlington's Forum Value Mall starts holiday season hot.
December 6, 1996... ARLINGTON - Christmas came early for the Forum Value Mall, which after years of high vacancy and low traffic has had an unusually good holiday shopping start. "So far, the holidays have been better than expected. We've been really surprised,"...

SBA builds computer network to help women entrepreneurs. (Small Business Enterprises)
December 6, 1996... WASHINGTON - The U.S. Small Business Administration and the Clinton administration are giving women-owned businesses high-tech help with business plans and access to capital. SBA officials have been working for months to develop an online...

North Texas Healthcare Network evolving with market.
December 6, 1996... Former Dallas health exec returns to head the plan IRVING - North Texas Healthcare Network is reinventing itself as it begins its second decade of operation. The managed health care plan is retooling its roster of services and will step to...

Defense Dept. rethinks plan to consolidate. (contracts)
December 6, 1996... WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Defense is expected to significantly reduce its contract-consolidation plan, a scenario that until now has hurt hundreds of small businesses across the nation. Senior officials at the Defense Department...

Congress to blame for regulatory excess.(Opinion)
December 6, 1996... WASHINGTON - Without a doubt, over-regulation remains a big burden for small and midsize businesses. For firms with fewer than 20 workers, a Small Business Administration study found that the annual cost of red tape per worker is $5,532. By...

Skilled technology workers hard to find.
December 6, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - It used to be said that in the brave new world of the late 20th century, machines would ultimately replace people in their jobs. Robots and computers, it was thought, would do things faster, better and more efficiently than humans,...

Think etiquette to make most of voice-mail, e-mail messages.
December 6, 1996... Today's numerous technologies have given us more ways than ever to communicate and voice mail and e-mail are two of the most efficient communications tools available. Yet, they also seem to be two of the most inefficiently used forms of...

Internet connections can be nightmarish; patience, persistence key to overcoming headaches.
December 6, 1996... BATON ROUGE, La. - Getting connected to the Internet can be like a vacation on the Titanic: The promise of a remarkable trip can turn into the mightiest of disasters. The Internet's byways are strewn with horror stories recounting haywire...

Back to basics: training wheels for using the Internet.
December 6, 1996... BATON ROUGE, La. - No new technology has generated more buzz than the Internet. Daily, the number of people who connect to the Net is growing by immeasurable amounts. Yet, the whole Net thing turns out to be a bit confusing to most folks,...

If you build it (a Web page), will they come? (World Wide Web)
December 6, 1996... BATON ROUGE, La. - You have built a Web page, but they have not come. So now you're down on the prospects of the Internet, knocking it as the latest incarnation of the Edsel. You're not alone. Stories of failed home pages are increasingly...

Small-biz relief? (small business regulation)(Opinion)
December 6, 1996... It's a fool who goes to a dog to escape fleas. Similarly, it is the hopelessly naive who go to Congress, the greatest regulation machine in history, for solutions to over-regulation. Most of the shouting in Congress about reducing red tape...

Technology's doomsday is nearing.
December 6, 1996... You know what they say about revenge being a dish best served cold? Well, start chilling the china, because it's payback time for anyone who ever got clammy palms thinking about computers and how much raw change they represent. Computers,...

Don't expect serious reform on the tax front.
December 6, 1996... At Gov. George W. Bush's direction, a yearlong study pertaining to the school property tax burden is about to be completed. This study was prompted by the inequities stemming from the Robin Hood school financing plan. The Citizens Committee on...

Word-of-mouth drive car-buying service's growth. (Hettich's Peace of Mind Inc.)(Company Profile)
December 6, 1996... Beauty salons. From small-town America to upscale Dallas, salons are havens for gossip. Like most people, Rebecca Hettich is aware of that simple truth. And when she started her business last January, she couldn't think of a better place to...

Pick the right garbage service; don't throw money away.
December 6, 1996... Businesses everywhere generate a lot of trash. In fact, literally tons of it. Thanks to waste-disposal contractors who haul away our rubbish, we are not reminded of this on a daily basis. To find a disposal contractor, you should understand how...

Continued growth in forecast as Texas moves toward 2000.
December 6, 1996... Dallas is so integral to the state economy that we can't look at the city without also examining the what's in store for Texas over the next five years. The Lone Star State will continue to shine as one of the brightest in the nation through...

Home Depot picks Dallas; North Dallas site of 230,000-square-foot regional headquarters for home-work retailer.
December 13, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - In a move designed to build its presence in the Southwest, The Home Depot Inc. is creating a regional headquarters here, complete with a distribution center and retail outlet. The company signed a 20-year lease on a...

Can casino produce a flying ace? Texas entrepreneurs back new air service. (Casino Airlines Inc.)
December 13, 1996... Texas entrepreneurs back new air service LOVE FIELD - A handful of Texas businessmen are starting regional airline service between here and Shreveport, La. Beginning in mid-February, Casino Airlines Inc. is slated to start scheduled service...

Back in the driver's seat: shortage of drivers has truck companies bidding and bowing.(Industry Overview)
December 13, 1996... Shortage of drivers has truck companies bidding and bowing SOUTH DALLAS - Country-music star Merle Haggard sings, "it takes a special breed to be a truck drivin' man," and he claims, it's country music that keeps the truckers going. But a...

Search bids on Mississippi lender; auto-loan outfit looks for reverse as the road ahead goes to potholes.
December 13, 1996... Auto-loan outfit looks for reverse as the road ahead goes to potholes DOWNTOWN - In a move that could triple its size, Search Capital Group Inc. is bidding on Ridgeland, Miss.-based MS Financial. George Evans, chairman, president and CEO of...

Hotelier opinions mixed on plans for Southland Center. (HBE Corp.)
December 13, 1996... DOWNTOWN - Some say it will be good for Dallas, attracting convention-center business and boosting a healthy economy. Others claim it will throw an industry into chaos. As St. Louis-based HBE Corp. takes over management of the Southland Center...

Columbia's new air transport could affect CareFlight's costs. (Columbia Healthcare Corp.)
December 13, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - A new air-ambulance service based at Columbia Medical City Dallas Hospital has taken off, but the introduction of local competition to an industry in which costs already are sky-high is raising eyebrows. Nashville, Tenn.-based...

Comerica chiefs predict increased regional growth.(Interview)
December 13, 1996... As consolidation runs rampant in banking, merger rumors have churned from the mill for nearly every large interstate bank, including Detroit-based bank holding company Comerica (NYSE: CMA), which has one of Texas' largest banking franchises. Big...

Marketing firm threatens suit in case of copycat dentist's ad. (Cathey Associates Inc.)
December 13, 1996... BACHMAN LAKE - With their brilliant white smiles and rich adornment, the two models freeze in strikingly similar poses. Their faces stare out from the slick pages of D magazine, Texas Monthly and Dallas/Fort Worth's Life Style. The...

Sounds like sudsy success for Tropical Soap; couple sees growth, honors after buying Mexico plant.
December 13, 1996... Couple sees growth, honors after buying Mexico plant WEST DALLAS - At a small warehouse here, Lynne and Eddie Reyes spend some of their evenings unloading cases of imported bar soap from a truck and pouring liquid soap from 55-gallon drums into...

Office designers touting width, not height.(Construction and Design)
December 13, 1996... RICHARDSON - Cranes swing about in the Metroplex sky, hardhat crews bustle around construction sites, beams and concrete are placed and poured. Gleaming office buildings sprout from the ground. Is it the early 1980s or the mid-1990s? The scene...

Health care providers building for outpatient services.(Construction and Design)
December 13, 1996... EAST DALLAS - Health Environment Design, a Dallas architectural firm and a subsidiary of Baylor Health Enterprises Inc., is designing a prototype "outpatient" hospital for Baylor Health Care System that will serve patients who need only short...

By replacing chiefs, OpenConnect solves sales lag.(Growth Strategies: An Information Arsenal For Emerging Companies)
December 13, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - OpenConnect Systems Inc. has a pair of hot products that can save companies bundles of cash on managing information and computer systems. Its products have won awards, but not market share. The solution for OpenConnect was to...

First Texas the next Bok buy? (First Texas Bank; Bok Financial Corp.)
December 20, 1996... Singer Charlie Pride, other investors in First Texas entertain acquisition by Oklahomans NORTH DALLAS - Bok Financial Corp., parent of Bank of Oklahoma, has agreed to buy First Texas Bank for between $35 million and $40 million. The deal would...

Flextronics to close plant; growth, restructuring of California electronics company means loss of 149 jobs in Richardson. (Flextronics International Ltd.; Richardson, TX)
December 27, 1996... RICHARDSON - Flextronics International Ltd. of San Jose, Calif., will shutter its contract electronics manufacturing plant here Feb. 1, leaving as many as 149 employees jobless. Ironically, the closing comes at a time when the $45 billion...

Competition for loans means borrower's year.
December 27, 1996... DOWNTOWN - As Ernest King was closing on a $1.2 million government-backed loan for his company from The Money Store Investment Corp., several banks and finance companies called, trying to usurp the lender. King, president of mailing and...

Chip makers will expand despite dour local outlook.(Industry Overview)
December 27, 1996... RICHARDSON - The slumping prices that have slowed growth in the semiconductor industry's memory market will continue to bear down on the business in 1997. "The semiconductor industry is in tough shape for the next six months," said Angelos...

Health care's resolution: can't beat 'em? Join 'em.(Industry Overview)
December 27, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - The pulse of the health industry during 1997 won't miss a beat as 1996 fades away, according to local industry executives. The trend can be summed up by what Doug Hawthorne, CEO of Presbyterian Healthcare System, calls the...

DF&R suffering no ill effects from Apple South stock slide. (DF and Restaurants Inc.; Apple South Inc.)
December 27, 1996... BEDFORD - When DF&R Restaurants Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple South Inc. little more than a year ago, it was supposed to be a match of two strong entities. "It was a merger that was not done out of any weakness," said David...

Fund managers plan more conservative investments for '97.
December 27, 1996... UPTOWN - Real estate investments have been kind to Dallas money manager Susan Byrne this year, so kind that she plans to hold them as a hedge against what could be a tough stock market in 1997. With a 25.8% net return on investment for 1996 as...

Plenty of room for more rooms: hoteliers expect growth in development, occupancy.(Economic Forecast 1997)(Industry Overview)
December 27, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Area hoteliers found a gold mine in 1996. And before the industry's eventual downturn, they likely will tap into a gold rush in 1997. "For 1997 and up into 1998, the market should be good," said Arlie Taylor, a Dallas hotel...

Deregulation, wireless boom key telecom issues in '97.(Economic Forecast 1997)(Industry Overview)
December 27, 1996... One word best describes the telecommunications market as 1997 rolls into sight: aggressive. Analysts said in the Dallas-Fort Worth area two dynamics are feeding competition for telecom dollars: the introduction of new wireless players and...

Commerce Department adds more red tape for exporters.(Economic Forecast 1997)(Industry Overview)
December 27, 1996... IRVING - Metroplex freight forwarders are gearing up for stricter document restrictions from the U.S. Customs Service. The new export-document regulations, approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce in April, go into effect Jan. 1. Once in...

Moderate at best '97 growth expected for trucking firms.(Economic Forecast 1997)(Industry Overview)
December 27, 1996... SOUTH DALLAS - If the nation's economy remains strong in 1997, the new year should herald moderate growth for Metroplex trucking companies. "Our growth is dependent on the growth of the businesses we serve," said Michael Frame, vice president...

Cutting edge: LeatherTECH's new ideas win in old-line business. (LeatherTECH Inc.)(Growth Strategies)(Company Profile)
December 27, 1996... SOUTH DALLAS - Furniture-maker LeatherTECH Inc. competes in an old, labor-intensive industry that bears the hallmarks of manufacturing maturity: few technological changes and little innovation. So when founders Bob Duncan and Sanjay Chandra,...