Dallas Business Journal articles from January 1998

Dallas Business Journal archives from January 1998

Preston Center tower brings $36.5 million. (hotel construction)
January 9, 1998... New owners to explore feasibility of putting a luxury hotel on the property PRESTON CENTER - L&B Real Estate Counsel of Dallas has acquired the 16-story, 8333 Douglas office tower in prestigious Preston Center for about $36.5 million - and the...

Uniglobe going straight to jail. (Uniglobe Travel International)
January 9, 1998... Inmate travel agents won't have access to clients' creditcard information CLARKSVILLE - A new trend in the travel business is coming soon to the Red River County Jail here: Inmates working as travel agents. If all goes as planned, some 30...

Manufacturers edgy about '98 slowdown, 'Asian flu' bug. (manufacturing industry)
January 9, 1998... CARROLLTON - As general manager of Vinylex Corp., Tom Edgman doesn't like to talk about a possible slowdown in manufacturing. But the thought definitely has been on his mind. The 55-year-old, Carrollton-based company, which has annual sales of...

InterCuenta service lures immigrants to Wells Fargo. (InterCuenta Express; WellsFargo & Co.)
January 9, 1998... DOWNTOWN - Super-regional bank Wells Fargo & Co. is introducing a service that offers immigrant Mexican workers a cheap, dependable method for transmitting money directly to relatives back home. Beyond being profitable in its own right,...

Sale of cardiovascular unit viewed as positive for Quest. (Atrion Corp. acquisition of Quest Medical Inc. product lines)
January 9, 1998... ALLEN - A year of speculation has ended with a move by Arab, Ala.-based Atrion Corp. to acquire a main product line of Quest Medical Inc. Allen-based Quest (Nasdaq: QMED) manufactures a variety of health care products used primarily in heart...

Minor's Landscape planning to grow like a weed. (Minor's Landscape Services Inc.)
January 9, 1998... With two recent acquisitions under its belt, company aims to 'dominate' Dallas-Fort Worth FORT WORTH - Minor's Landscape Services Inc. is growing - and not just grass and shrubs. The Fort Worth-based landscape management and contracting firm...

Fidelity may be paying more for a bank it bought in 1995. (Fidelity Banks N.A.)
January 9, 1998... UNIVERSITY PARK - Fidelity Bank N.A. may have to pay an additional $333,000 for a bank it purchased in 1995, following a new ruling from a federal judge. Alabama-based super-regional Compass Bancshares (Nasdaq: CBBS) said it anticipates the...

U.S. Microtel aims to triple sales with 'rugged' computer. (U.S. Microtel Inc.)
January 9, 1998... RICHARDSON - Consider the typical computer: It can process lots of commands quickly. And, as chips get even faster and more efficient, the computers they power do, too. This is only true, of course, if the system sits in a dry,...

Legend Airlines to fly DC-9s; two key executives also hired. (Legend Airlines Inc.)
January 9, 1998... LOVE FIELD - Start-up Legend Airlines Inc. will use DC-9s to fly out of Love Field and this week announced it has hired two additional executives. Legend President and CEO T. Allan McArtor said the flurry of activity is not in response to news...

British seeking to sell more products to D-FW importers. (United Kingdom companies entering Dallas, Texas)
January 9, 1998... STEMMONS CORRIDOR - The British are coming, again. In contrast to their last invasion more than two decades ago - which brought us the Beatles and other rock stars - the current foray is all business. United Kingdom companies in 1998 hope to...

Local production company tackles minority health. (Ethnic Health Network)
January 9, 1998... ARLINGTON - An Arlington-based production company has teamed with a Dallas-reared physician to launch a new medical news syndication aimed at improving minority health. The Ethnic Health Network will begin airing Jan. 19 in a handful of...

Pundits plead for prudence in planning. (Metroplex commercial real estate market)
January 9, 1998... NORTH DALLAS - While the Metroplex's commercial real estate market continues to bum strong across all sectors, the smart money will be watching the supply/demand stopwatch very carefully in 1998. That's the bottom line from the 1998 forecast...

Firm blends disciplines, fuels growth. (Telecom Resourcess Inc.)
January 9, 1998... STEMMONS CORRIDOR - Think of Telecom Resources Inc. as the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of telecommunications. The three-year-old Dallas company has combined two very different things - telecom and databases - to form a fast-growing firm with big...

Designers, clients need to speak same language.
January 9, 1998... TURTLE CREEK - You say to-MAYT-oh, the architect says ta-MAH-toe, but you can hardly call the whole thing off - you can't do business without an office. It's a story at least as old as the first commissioned commercial artist - left-brained...

Refurbished furniture just like new for many companies.
January 9, 1998... NORTHEAST DALLAS - Once upon a time, many folks went out of their way to avoid admitting that they purchased "used" items. These days, however, people aren't shy about purchasing a pre-owned vehicle or shopping at thrift stores for clothes or...

Executive suite industry comes of age in Metroplex.
January 9, 1998... PLANO - The signs are spiked outside office buildings across the Metroplex: "Executive suites available." Experts say that the executive suite industry is maturing in Dallas, and there are signs that demand may soon overtake supply. More...

Personal preference drives the Mac vs. PC decision. (Macintosh)
January 9, 1998... As we become even more dependent on technology, one nagging question haunts all computer shoppers: Macintosh or PC? The answer to this age-old technological question is drawn along lines of personal preference. But what do you really know...

Battling noise pollution.
January 9, 1998... Sound masking can help improve worker productivity PLANO - Two co-workers discuss plans for the weekend. Another talks on her speaker phone to a client. The inkjet printer whirs and the keyboards click. It's enough noise to make many...

Paving the way for ergonomics legislation.
January 9, 1998... Businesses in Texas are going to have to pay more attention to ergonomics in the near future, as mandates appear to be on the way. California has become the first state in the nation to enforce an ergonomics policy for the workplace. The...

Merged firms shed employees; new owners quietly strip 150 local jobs from Dallas financial companies. (Everen Capital Corp.; Principal Financial Securities Inc.; Rauscher Pierce Refsnes Inc.)
January 23, 1998... DOWNTOWN - Chicago-based Everen Capital Corp. (NYSE: EVR) has quietly stripped at least 100 jobs from the Dallas office of newly acquired Principal Financial Securities Inc., sources within the firm said. Meanwhile another bastion of the local...

Oasis Car Wash chain prepares to grow through public offering.
January 23, 1998... ADDISON - Oasis Car Wash Inc., one of the few car-wash chains in the United States, plans to offer shares to the public this spring or summer and grow by consolidating properties in the fragmented carwash industry. If it does, Oasis would be...

A Gathering of Developers: new publishing house aims to shake up computer game industry.
January 23, 1998... GREATER DALLAS AREA - In an attempt to gain more control over their products and to make more money, five high-profile computer game makers have banded together to form what may be the first game publishing house in the Metroplex. Based in...

Argent adds huge industrial building at Frankford. (Argent Property Co.)
January 23, 1998... CARROLLTON - Argent Property Co. of Dallas is building what it says is the largest speculative industrial building in Dallas history - a 709,000-square-foot facility that will be the linchpin of its new industrial park. The park is Frankford...

MCI division will take space in last suburban glass tower. (MCI Systemhouse Inc.)
January 23, 1998... STEMMONS CORRIDOR - MCI Systemhouse Inc. is close to signing a lease for about 95,000 square feet of office space at Woodview Office Tower - filling one of the last glass towers outside the central business district. The site will serve as an...

New printing plant will create 150 jobs. (Trend Offset)
January 23, 1998... CARROLLTON - Los Alamitos, Calif.-based Trend Offset, one of the nation's biggest privately held printers, will open its first printing plant outside California in the Metroplex. Company officials say the expansion will mean up to 150 new jobs...

SEC sues Dain Rauscher for 1992 muni bond transaction. (municipal bonds)
January 23, 1998... KNOX-HENDERSON - In the first case of its kind, a federal lawsuit accuses the Dallas office of investment firm Dain Rauscher Corp. of abusing "yield burning" techniques to pad its profits by $707,000 in a 1992 Arizona bond deal. The case marks...

Mesquite eyes medical firms for vacant Columbia property.
January 23, 1998... MESQUITE - The Columbia hospital once planned for here may be history, but local demand for health care is real and growing, right along with the city's effort to recruit health-related businesses. Strong population growth, combined with...

Vencor to expand presence with two new local projects.
January 23, 1998... EAST DALLAS - Long-term health care provider Vencor Inc. is moving through the Metroplex on an expansion swing. The Louisville, Ky.-based company plans to open a hospital-within-a-hospital unit March 15 at Doctors Hospital in East Dallas....

AmeriComp approaches $1M mark; company carves out a niche servicing customers' laser printers. (AmeriComp Imaging Systems)
January 23, 1998... FAR NORTH DALLAS - Most companies don't give a second thought to their ability to print documents until something goes wrong. Dallas-based AmeriComp Imaging Systems has turned a toner-filled piece of plastic into a growing business. With...