Dallas Business Journal articles from July 1996

Dallas Business Journal archives from July 1996

Talk of tax riles Texas truckers.
July 26, 1996... AUSTIN - Texas truckers be hit with new taxes, higher registration fees and stricter weight limits if a proposal being kicked around a state Senate interim committee becomes law next session. The proposed law is designed in part to pay for...

Prestonwood fight rages; golf pro battles Vance Miller Sr. for control of course. (Alan Niederlitz)
July 26, 1996... PLANO - A battle in state court has golf pro Alan Niederlitz fighting members of the Miller real estate family for ownership of swanky Prestonwood Country Club. The dispute stems from an assault in 1992 by Vance Miller Jr. against...

Technology, health care grow through grinding changes; tech cup always seems half full.
July 26, 1996... Technology might be unique among market segments in its ability to create buckets of opportunity out of virtually any broad business change. Doubts about this ability likely will be put to rest over the next six months. On the calendar for...

Physicians scramble to boost value of practices.(Technology, Health Care Grow Through Grinding Changes)
July 26, 1996... Market consolidation and price pressures continue to push the Metroplex health care market. In response, physicians are seeking venues to leverage the values of their practices to potential health care bill-payers - employers and insurers....

Doin' the Downtown shuffle. (law firms in Dallas, Texas, move to larger offices)
July 26, 1996... As small law firms bolt, the big boys have added huge chunks of space DOWNTOWN - Squeezed by their larger neighbors and pressed by their own needs to expand, several of downtown Dallas' smaller law firms have pulled up stakes and moved to...

Box Energy prepares trust for potential layoff victims. (Box Energy Corp.)
July 26, 1996... Insiders fear new board would gut company, oust president Thomas Box UNIVERSITY PARK - Box Energy Corp. has prepared a golden parachute for its employees, providing $3.7 million in severance funds should a pending change of control at the...

Start-up chamber touts Argentine trade. (Argentine-American Chamber of Commerce)
July 26, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - When Dallas businessmen Henry Dahl, Cristian Gandolfo and Alberto Iannariello sit in a room together, they can claim a total of more than 120 years of experience doing business in Argentina. "We are truly insiders," said Dahl,...

Uneven performances, but fans still show. (Major League Soccer club Dallas Burn)
July 26, 1996... With the addition of the Dallas Burn, a pioneer club in Major League Soccer, the Metroplex is now home to six professional sports teams. Questions abound as to whether there are enough fans to go around, particularly for the three summer...

Bankers signing more loans to increase the bottom line.
July 26, 1996... Metroplex banks are enjoying loan growth that's nearly twice the rate of the rest of the state, but lending volumes are lagging well behind last year. Consider that the first quarter of this year saw 1.6% loan growth in the Metroplex,...

Brokers high on midyear industry figures. (real estate brokers)
July 26, 1996... With 1996 half spent, Metroplex commercial real estate brokers said they're on track to do as well or better than they did in 1995. The net gain in office leases continues to rise, and industrial-space leases are flattening but steady. The...

Clients hold key to Bellinger's fast start. (Bellinger, DeWolf and Sullivan L.L.P.)
July 26, 1996... It wasn't your typical staff meeting. Instead, the gathering of employees at Bellinger, DeWolf & Sullivan L.L.P. resembled a modest, white-collar pep rally orchestrated by three lawyers thirsting to put a business into motion. John...

Developer buys 1,500 acres: Cedar Hill firm planning companion project for its Lake Granbury residential development. (Properties of the Southwest)
July 19, 1996... GRANBURY - Properties of the Southwest has bought about 1,500 acres on the west shore of Lake Granbury. The company reportedly paid between $14,000 and $15,000 an acre to close the deal, which more than doubled the Cedar Hill development...

Metroplex firms net $3 billion from second-quarter offerings. (metropolitan Houston, Texas)
July 19, 1996... HOUSTON - Investment capital poured into the Metroplex last quarter as area companies raised $2 billion from new stock offerings and another $1 billion from secondary offerings. Metroplex companies far outpaced Houston firms in raising funds...

Early bird: voyagers owner overcame issue of youth. (Voyagers, The Travel Store, president Jeremy Fernandes)(Growth Strategies)
July 19, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - At 25, Jeremy Fernandes is doing what most people hope to do by 50: succeeding in the marketplace with his own business. In 1993, he took a small travel bookstore and transformed it into Voyagers. The Travel Store, a...

Prescription calls for pain: Eckerd Corp., Walgreen Co. drawing up aggressive strategies to knock each other out.
July 12, 1996... Eckerd Corp. plans to close at least 18 Eckerd Drugs stores and open another 20 larger outlets throughout Texas. Eckerd executives said they are reacting to changing consumer tastes, changes in the health care industry and stiff competition....

Region sees 'healthy' lease jump. (Dallas's office space leasing)
July 12, 1996... Downtown - Leasing activity continued at a frantic pace through the first half of 1996, and rents continued to rise, according to Jamison Research Inc. After accounting for new vacancies, an additional 1.8 million square feet of office space...

The thrill is gone: Beal looks beyond RTC loans. (Beal Bank)
July 12, 1996... FAR NORTH DALLAS - After making a fortune resolving troubled loans bought from other financial institutions, Beal Bank is rolling the dice on risky but profitable lending in Mexico. Beal Bank, based here, is the most profitable bank in Texas....

Norwest to acquire Franklin Federal from ClubCorp. (Norwest Corp.; Franklin Federal Bancorp; ClubCorp International)
July 12, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - ClubCorp International has agreed to sell its Austin-based thrift, Franklin Federal Bancorp, to Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp. for about $90 million. Sources close to the bidding say Norwest won the match, beating out...

Two microbrew vendors vie for mail-order drinkers. (America on Tap's Eric Newlan and The North American Beer Odyssey's Paul Myhill)
July 12, 1996... STEMMONS SOUTH - Metroplex microbrew lovers soon will have two vendors vying for their favor. Beer-of-the-Month clubs America on Tap and The North American Beer Odyssey will go head-to-head in Dallas by the end of the summer. America on...

Biased buyout: Neuhaus stores have new owner - an insider. (Neuhaus Chocolate Shop & Cafe's store manager Seymour Hoffman purchases three Neuhaus stores)
July 12, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Seymour Hoffman saw an opportunity and seized it. For the past nine years. Hoffman has been managing the Neuhaus Chocolate Shop & Care at Royal Oaks Shopping Center on Preston Road. But recently, owner Mervyn Sacher decided it...

Fermenting an alcohol revolution. (marketing a wine-making kit)
July 5, 1996... CARROLLTON - Two local entrepreneurs are trying to turn wine into windfall. Chris Brown and Brad Stribling are marketing Mortarari's Home Wine Making Kit, a concept similar to the popular beer kits that began showing up about three years...

Game firm cranks up its engine. (Utopia Technologies INc.)
July 5, 1996... PLANO - There are two currencies in the realm of software - speed and realism - and many in the industry think a small game maker here is sitting on a fortune. Utopia Technologies Inc. (www.utopiatech.com) has developed a program, called an...

Father-son team hunts heads for sport. (Frank and Robert Beaudine of Eastman and Beaudine Inc.)
July 5, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - In sports, them are the headhunters you want to meet and those you'd be better off giving the slip. Quarterbacks in the National Football League, for example, would be well advised to avoid certain linebackers who relish the...

Waymark starts intranet to snag info. (Waymark Technologies Inc.)(Growth Strategies)
July 5, 1996... ALLEN - With six-figure income and a notebook computer, Mark Jones figured he was set. Jones, owner of telecommunications management company Waymark Technologies Inc., said he believed having his notebook at his side would allow him to do...