Dallas Business Journal articles from February 1998

Dallas Business Journal archives from February 1998

Revolutionizing two-way radio. (ComSpace Corp's Dynamic Channel Multicarrier Architecture technology)
February 27, 1998... Sevin Rosen, other investors bet $8.5 million on Irving firm's technology IRVING - An Irving company has developed a product that could revolutionize the two-way radio business when it hits the market in 1999. ComSpace Corp. says its...

Southland launching new 7-Eleven financial centers. (Southland Corp)
February 27, 1998... Project tests automated money services KNOX-HENDERSON - The 70-year-old Dallas conglomerate that popularized 24-hour shopping convenience (as well s the Slurpee, the Micro-Hot sandwich and the 44-ounce Super Big Gulp) is taking the last few...

Embassy wins Grapevine deal. (John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc's planned Embassy Suites hotel in Grapevine Mills, Texas)
February 27, 1998... GRAPEVINE - John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc, has landed the much-coveted rights to build a 330-suite hotel connected to the Bass Pro Outdoor World store at Grapevine Mills. The Embassy Suites hotel is the first local project for the Springfield,...

FlashNet prepares to boost its Internet service coverage. (FlashNet Communications)
February 27, 1998... FORT WORTH - FlashNet Communications, one of the biggest Metroplex-based Internet service providers, is planning a nationwide expansion of its coverage area. The company's service is currently available to about 30% of the U.S. population in...

Union Pacific and Hicks Muse top January M&As. (Jan 1998 mergers and acquisitions in Dallas, TX)
February 27, 1998... DOWNTOWN - Fort Worth-based Union Pacific Resource Group's $2.55 billion offer to buy a Canadian oil company was January's largest merger or acquisition deal involving a Metroplex firm, according to an exclusive report. Union Pacific (NYSE:...

Hospital seeks new name, identity in the community. (Tri-City Hospital in Dallas County, TX)
February 27, 1998... PLEASANT GROVE - Tri-City Hospital, which welcomed Dallas County's first baby of the year, is hoping 1998 is the year of its rebirth as well. Like any new baby, it needs a name. So, the facility is offering a $1,000 cash prize to the...

Wireless firm seeks protection in wake of lawsuit over loan. (General Wireless Inc)
February 27, 1998... NORTH DALLAS - General Wireless Inc. has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the wake of a lawsuit by a creditor, documents show. Last year, the Dallas company put 14 of its units - each of which had a license to provide wireless phone...

SEC, Kinlaw Securities trial begins - after four years.
February 27, 1998... DOWNTOWN - After more than four years of legal briefs, depositions and investigation, the trial between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Kinlaw Security Corp. has gotten underway in a federal courtroom in Dallas. Testimony started...

RIG acquires Jamison Research, expands real estate market coverage. (Realty Information Group)
February 27, 1998... FAR NORTH DALLAS - Realty Information Group of Bethesda, Md., is acquiring Jamison Research Inc., whose Metroplex clients include the Fults Cos. and Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. Realty Information Group is the nation's largest provider...

Financial health. (Specialty Hospitals of America Inc)
February 27, 1998... Dallas firm finds ways to stay profitable as federal regulations keep changing FAR NORTH DALLAS - Just three years ago, Ty Richardson walked through a dark building, jotting down notes on a clipboard: Fix the caved-in roof. Reconnect...

Karrington moving into Dallas: national leader in assisted living picks high-profile spot on LBJ Freeway. (Karrington Health Inc. to start construction on $7 million assisted-living center in Dallas, Texas)
February 20, 1998... NORTH DALLAS - A national player in the assisted-living industry is making its move into Texas, building the first of as many as six senior living facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Karrington Health Inc. (Nasdaq: KARR) will start...

Search battles creditor in subprime lending debacle. (Search Financial Services Inc. and Fleet Bank N.A. attorneys to meet in a Dallas, Texas court regarding $62.5 million debt of Search subsidiary MS Financial Inc)
February 20, 1998... DOWNTOWN - Struggling Dallas-based Search Financial Services Inc. is fighting an attempt by creditor Fleet Bank N.A. to collect on $62.5 million due from a Search subsidiary, subprime auto lender MS Financial Inc. Search Financial (Nasdaq:...

Deal positions CapRock for fiber-optic expansion. (CapRock Communications Corp to spend at least $80 million for Texas fiber-optic network expansion)
February 20, 1998... FAR NORTH DALLAS - Preparing for an onslaught of demand for data communications over telephone lines, CapRock Communications Corp. plans to spend at least $80 million expanding its Texas fiber-optic network. When completed by late 1999 or...

Publicis scouring the market for new office, room to grow. (Publicis Public Relations Inc and sister advertising firm Publicis/Bloom plan to move to bigger space in North Dallas, Texas)
February 20, 1998... TURTLE CREEK - Publicis Public Relations Inc. and sister advertising firm Publicis/Bloom are shopping both downtown and North Dallas for about 80,000 square feet of prime office real estate. Currently based at The Reverchon Plaza at Turtle...

Houston firm bids for troubled laser tag company. (Entertainment Technologies and Programs Inc offers to buy Dallas, Texas-based Q Entertainment Inc's assets after it has filed for liquidation)
February 20, 1998... WEST END - A Houston-based entertainment company has submitted a bid to buy the assets of Q-Entertainment Inc. and its subsidiaries a month after the Dallas corporation filed for Chapter 7 liquidation under the U.S. Bankruptcy code....

Home health agency spins off adult day care center. (home health agency Preferred Visiting Nurses Home Care owners Valerie Gilbreath's and Lori Dobyns' new Partners in Care Adult Day Center)
February 20, 1998... MESQUITE - A local home health agency has spawned a related business, an adult day care center, which its owners plan to expand across the Metroplex. Registered nurses Valerie Gilbreath and Lori Dobyns opened Preferred Visiting Nurses Home...

Mortgage masters: duo uses savvy with feds to grow firm. (Dallas, Texas-based Malone Mortgage Co. founder and Pres. Bernard 'Bud' Malone and former client Michael Levitt)
February 20, 1998... PRESTON CENTER - Dallas-based Malone Mortgage Co. couldn't have been born at a worse time in Dallas' real estate history. It was 1989. The local real estate market was spiraling down the toilet. Founder and President Bernard "Bud" Malone...

Word is out about Export Working Capital Program. (Small Business Administration's Export Working Capital Program reduce risk of lending to U.S. exporters)
February 20, 1998... EAST DALLAS - During the last five years, GeoSupply Co. Inc. has exported about $15 million in oil-production equipment to Mexico- Colombia, India and Indonesia. But without loan guarantees for working capital from the Small Business...

Metroplex outdistances Texas cities in VC deals. (Dallas, Texas gets $344.1 million year-end total for 1997 in local venture capital deals)
February 20, 1998... DOWNTOWN - Fourth quarter 1997 set a single-quarter record for investments of venture capital in the Metroplex, according to an exclusive survey, and the year-end total beat 1996 by 37%. Venture capitalists placed a total of $125.7 million...

Blood banks vying for donors: Carter BloodCare mounts TV campaign to stave off Red Cross.
February 13, 1998... Carter BloodCare mounts TV campaign to stave off Red Cross BEDFORD - Leaders at Carter BloodCare are mounting a half-million-dollar battle to defend their donor base. The blood bank, formed from the Jan. 1 merger between Fort Worth's...

Publisher takes on Ralph Lauren. (Polo Ralph Lauren vs. Polo magazine case)
February 13, 1998... NORTH DALLAS - The trademark battle between Polo magazine and Polo Ralph Lauren screeched to a halt this week when a Houston court delayed its ruling on Whether the Dallas magazine must temporarily cease publication. At issue is Polo Ralph...

Computer City reserves space on Stemmons; Tandy spinoff's move will bring 600 jobs.
February 13, 1998... Tandy spinoff's move will bring 600 jobs STEMMONS CORRIDOR - A Fort Worth firm on the verge of spinning off from Tandy Corp. has leased a three-story office building on Stemmons Freeway in a move that will bring about 600 jobs to Dallas....

Family firm combating check fraud. (Security Center Inc.)
February 13, 1998... NORTHEAST DALLAS - Who steals more from banks each year: armed robbers or check-fraud artists? If you answered "armed robbers," you are wrong - by about $1.25 billion. Thanks to desktop publishing and the Information Age, it's easier than...

Trio forms group to carve niche in media investing. (William Steding, Spence Kendrick and Frank Wood to launch The Darwin Group L.L.C.)
February 13, 1998... UPTOWN - Three longtime radio magnates have joined forces to launch what they hope will be a $100 million media investment firm in Dallas. William Steding, Spence Kendrick and Frank Wood are slated to officially launch The Darwin Group L.L.C....

Company plots takeover of jail phones from AT&T, MCI. (Talton Holdings Inc.)
February 13, 1998... GRAND PRAIRIE - With $159 million in acquisitions since its December 1996 birth, Talton Holdings Inc. has quietly become the biggest independent company in an unusual but fast-growing industry: providing phones to inmates. Prisoners in more...

Source Services agrees to $375 million merger.
February 13, 1998... NORTH DALLAS - Source Services Corp. has agreed to a $375 million merger with a Florida firm that will create one of the biggest temporary staffing agencies of professional and skilled workers nationwide. The stock-for-stock deal with Tampa,...

Cinemark denies charges in El Paso theater lawsuit. (Cinemark USA Inc.)
February 13, 1998... NORTHEAST DALLAS - A lawsuit filed against Cinemark USA Inc. is headed for trial in El Paso, and an attorney for the plaintiffs in that case has filed a similar suit against Act III Cinemas in Austin. Dallas-based Cinemark has denied...

Play money: game guys paying up for productivity.(Growth Strategies)
February 13, 1998... LEWISVILLE - Mark Randel and Brett Combs were overworked. underappreciated drones who felt there must be a better way to make and sell computer games. So, like most entrepreneurs, the pair of computer nerds struck out on their own to form...

Banding together: physicians find strength in numbers.(Health Care Quarterly)
February 13, 1998... BEDFORD - In the beginning, Dr. Michael A. Jutras was a primary care physician in private practice, like many of his peers. But over the years, he's followed an industrywide trend that starts with a loosely organized independent practice and...

Witkoff eyes downtown towers. (Witkoff Group L.L.C.)
February 6, 1998... New York investor putting Craig Hall's two office buildings under contract DOWNTOWN - A New York real estate investment company headed by "boomer baron" Steven Witkoff reportedly plans to buy two downtown Dallas office towers in a deal worth...

DCURD taxes reportedly push up rent rates at Millenium. (Dallas County Utility and Reclamation District; Millenium Center)(Las Colinas, Texas)
February 6, 1998... LAS COLINAS - Rents at one of the Urban Center's largest multitenant office building, will increase next month by about $1.25 per square foot - the first tangible impact of the decision by Las Colinas Land L.P. to break its tax-limitation...

Soda Shop, B&B may spur renewal. (Soda Shoppe and Guesthouse)(Forth Worth, Texas)
February 6, 1998... FORT WORTH - Comedian Jerry Van Dyke is dishing out more than belly laughs with his plans for an old-fashioned soda shop and bed and breakfast in southern Fort Worth. Jerry Van Dyke's Soda Shoppe & Guesthouse will officially open in a...

Hillwood reported buying residential land in Houston. (Hillwood Development Corp.)
February 6, 1998... HOUSTON - The Fort Worth development firm owned by Ross Perot Jr. has contracted to purchase as many as 1,000 acres belonging to former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier for residential development here, according to sources close to the deal. The...

Seniors' project offers luxury housing. (senior citizens; Lincoln Park, Texas)
February 6, 1998... CARUTH HAVEN - Construction has begun on luxury housing for senior citizens within the upscale Lincoln Park development, just south of NorthPark Center. The 99-unit gem, called Caruth Haven Court, will provide both retirement and...

Allegiance builds cash base to fund push to new markets. (Allegiance Telecom Inc.)
February 6, 1998... STEMMONS CORRIDOR - Allegiance Telecom Inc. is piling up cash to finance its campaign to provide telecommunications services throughout the country. The Dallas company recently raised $250 million in high-yield debt and is working on an...

MainBank planning merger with bank in Ennis. (MainBank merges with First National Bank of Ennis; Ennis, Texas)
February 6, 1998... New $172 million Oak Cliff-based bank aims to mix retail focus with small-business lending OAK CLIFF - State-chartered MainBank has agreed to merge with a bank half its size - First National Bank of Ennis - to create a new $172 million...

NEC will launch new commercial telephone system. (NEC America Inc.)
February 6, 1998... IRVING - NEC America Inc. will introduce Monday a new version of a business telephone system that it says will give customers the ability to mix-and-match voice and data in any way they want. The system, dubbed the NEAX2400 IMX, will let...

Macfarlan buys buildings, plots Las Colinas projects. (MacFarlan Realty Partners L.L.C)(Las Colinas, Texas)
February 6, 1998... TURTLE CREEK - Investment firm Macfarlan Realty Partners L.L.C. has been on a Metroplexwide buying and building spree - racking up a North Dallas office tower, a plot of land for a second Las Colinas building and two other sites. Macfarlan...

Kaiser joins competition with new medicare plans. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Texas)
February 6, 1998... Product targets seniors with single-site visits, no monthly premiums or deductibles NORTH DALLAS - Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Texas is joining the race to provide a health maintenance organization for the Medicare set. Kaiser, one of...