Dallas Business Journal articles from June 1998

Dallas Business Journal archives from June 1998

Crescent bets on casinos. (Crescent Real Estate Equities Inc. acquires Station Casinos Inc.)
June 26, 1998... Fort Worth REIT rolls for big returns on Vegas' non-tourist gamblers FORT WORTH Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. is taking a gamble on the gaming industry in a merger valued at $1.75 billion. Crescent (NYSE: CEI), a real estate investment...

TI postpones $1.6 billion plant. (Texas Instruments delays operations at its new Dallas semiconductor plant)(includes related article on firm's sale of its memory-chip business)
June 26, 1998... FAR NORTH DALLAS - Citing a slowdown in sales of the specialized computer chips on which it has bet its future, Texas Instruments has postponed equipping and launching a $1.6 billion factory on its Dallas campus. Originally slated to begin...

Comerica Texas aims for high-tech. (Comerica Bank-Texas to open new unit for high technology firms)
June 26, 1998... DOWNTOWN - Dallas-based Come fica Bank-Texas is opening a unit to attract venture-backed, high-tech growth companies as new clients for conventional banking products. The unit will be based in Austin, but also will focus on the Dallas-Fort...

Overhead Door plans facility at Austin Ranch, sources say.
June 26, 1998... FAR NORTH DALLAS - Overhead Door Corp., a Dallas-based maker of garage doors, plans to become the first tenant at Austin Ranch with a 500,000-square-foot build-to-suit facility, industry insiders say. The new facility will accommodate an...

Baylor using new technology to improve emergency rooms. (Baylor University Health Care System)
June 26, 1998... OLD EAST DALLAS - With a healthy assist from new technology, Baylor University Health Care System has beefed up its emergency department. The expansion and redesign is billed as a new model for emergency care, allowing physicians to examine...

CMC planning $120 million development in Lewisville. (CMC Commercial Realty Group Inc.)
June 26, 1998... LEWISVILLE - CMC Commercial Realty Group Inc. plans to convert 78 acres at the southwest corner of State Highway 121 and Denton Tap Road in Lewisville into a masterplanned development called High-point Oaks. Plans call for a...

Kiddie Kandids to open first of five photo studios in D-FW. (Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area)
June 26, 1998... GRAPEVINE - Kiddie Kandids is shooting into Texas with plans for at least five retail stores in the Metroplex. Kiddie Kandids is a photography studio that specializes in portraits of children ages 5 and under. The first 1,500-squarefoot store...

Brian Barents. (chief executive officer of Galaxy Aerospace Corp.)
June 26, 1998... Galaxy chief prepares for another corporate takeoff From Cessna to Learjet to the new Galaxy Aerospace, Barents has combined a love of aviation with sharp sales and marketing skills. ALLIANCE AIRPORT - If you want to see a grown man squirm,...

Ibertech plans to move from Hurst to Bedford.
June 26, 1998... Company's rapid growth and potential new markets prompt need for a bigger facility BEDFORD - Hurst will soon be saying "Aloha" to Ibertech Inc. The company, whose Aloha point-of-sale software is used in restaurants and elsewhere in the...

McKinney 'town center' unveiled: Tower Group plans two hotels, offices, retail space across from luxury homes.
June 19, 1998... McKINNEY - Dallas developer Tower Group Inc. says it will transform a 51-acre field in McKinney into a $65 million commercial center and a community of luxury homes. The commercial development, to be called Eldorado Town Center, will include...

Cigna, Texas True Choice land health business of UT. (University of Texas)
June 19, 1998... NORTH DALLAS - A new venture between Cigna HealthCare and Texas True Choice has landed its first business, becoming the preferred health plan for The University of Texas system. That system, with its nearly 70,000 employees and dependents, is...

Lucent consolidates customer groups at new Coppell office. (Lucent Technologies Inc., Coppell, Texas)
June 19, 1998... COPPELL Lucent Technologies Inc. is consolidating seven business units spread among six office buildings in the Metroplex to a single "signature" location under construction in Coppell. More than 450 Lucent (NYSE: LU) employees in the firm's...

Macfarlan project in Irving to be 650,000 square feet. (Macfarlan Realty Partners LLC)
June 19, 1998... LAS COLINAS - Macfarlan Realty Partners has purchased 13 acres in Las Colinas to develop a four-building, 650,000-square-foot office complex. Macfarlan plans to break ground in the third quarter on the speculative project, the largest new...

Six Flags improvements in the works. (Six Flags Over Texas to improve theme parks)
June 19, 1998... SEC files show plans to spend $11 million at Arlington, Georgia parks ARLINGTON - The new owners of Six Flags Over Texas have promised to step up the thrills at the nation's first regional theme park. But this time, it's not just marketing...

Developers cancel plans for offices, apartments in Frisco. (Texas)
June 19, 1998... FRISCO - Two developers have canceled multimillion-dollar projects near a long-proposed regional mall here -just as mall officials said they were close to signing three anchor tenants. Iowa-based General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE: GGP)...

Silvermans battle big boys consolidation in diagnostics. (Dr. Norman Silverman and wife Carole)
June 19, 1998... PLANO - After opening three diagnostic imaging centers in as many years, Dr. Norman Silverman and his wife, Carole, agree: It's never been boring. That's because diagnostic medicine, like other industries, is now dominated by large, growing...

Continental's Bethune takes on AA, D/FW board: CEO says subsidiary's service to Cleveland from Love Field will 'give consumers a choice'. (Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune; American Airlines Inc; Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board)
June 19, 1998... CEO says subsidiary's service to Cleveland from Love Field will 'give consumers a choice' NORTH DALLAS - If the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board doesn't like the fact Continental Express will fly long-haul interstate commercial...

Mobil building in Farmers Branch. (Mobil Corp. to build office in Texas)
June 12, 1998... Oil giant to consolidate technology operations at suburban office campus DOWNTOWN - Mobil Corp., a fixture of central Dallas for more than eight decades, plans to build a 440,000-square-foot office facility in Farmers Branch to house its...

N.M. hotel firm to buy Stoneleigh, Radisson. (New Mexico-based American Property Management Inc. to purchase Stoneleigh Hotel and Radisson Central Dallas)
June 12, 1998... UPTOWN - American Property Management Inc. is bulldozing its way into the Metroplex market by snapping up four local hotels and an office building - including the historic Stoneleigh Hotel. The Albuquerque, N.M.-based hotel management and...

New Again plans to repeat success - again and again. (office furniture remanufacturer to acquire several companies)
June 12, 1998... DALLAS - Privately held New Again by Contract Network, an 11-year-old remanufacturer of office furniture, has embarked on a plan to replicate its success in other markets across the country. The Dallas-based company intends to acquire at...

Patent protection. (TopsyTail Co.'s patent)
June 12, 1998... A cautionary tale from the woman who dreamed up the TopsyTail hair device DOWNTOWN - Dallas inventor Tomima Edmark can remember the exact moment when she began her three-year, million-dollar battle to defend Patent No. 5,036,870 - known...

Metromedia will sell, lease back restaurant properties. (Metromedia Restaurant Group Inc.)
June 12, 1998... PARK CENTRAL - The Dallas-based owner of the Bennigan's and Steak & Ale restaurant chains says it's close to signing a $190 million refinancing deal to free up capital that has been tied up in real estate for almost a decade. "This deal...

Colonial enters Texas market with FirstBank buy. (Colonial BancGroup Inc. to acquire Dallas, TX, bank)
June 12, 1998... Alabama known purchasing smaller community banks; has 228 locations throughout United States FAR NORTH DALLAS - An $8.2 billion Alabama bank is establishing a beachhead in Dallas, with plans to expand its empire throughout Texas by capturing...

UPS Logistics blows off Miami to make Dallas its Latin base. (UPS Worldwide Logistics relocates to Dallas, TX)
June 12, 1998... IRVING - UPS Worldwide Logistics is abandoning Miami as its gateway to Latin America and moving its headquarters for that region to Dallas, where it wants up to 500,000 square feet of warehouse and office space. As part of the Latin America...

Legend to put up $14 million facility at Love. (Legend Airlines to build passenger terminal at Dallas Love Field, TX)
June 12, 1998... Airline's McArtor discloses tag line and logo; says startup may soon finish raising $40 million LOVE FIELD - Construction will begin this month on start-up Legend Airlines' passenger terminal at Dallas Love Field. The first phase of the...

OpTel planning IPO to expand telecom services. (OpTel Inc.'s initial public offering)
June 12, 1998... Company to raise up to $100 million for acquisitions and to purchase communications systems for its network STEMMONS CORRIDOR - OpTel Inc., the largest provider of telecommunications and cable TV to multitenant dwellings, plans to raise a...

Allegiance builds new facility as part of consolidation effort. (Allegiance Corp.'s distribution center in Grand Prairie, TX)
June 12, 1998... GRAND PRAIRIE - Allegiance Corp. has completed an $11 million distribution center here, part of a companywide consolidation and automation project. The company, previously a unit of Baxter International Inc., is a leading manufacturer and...

Garland nabs mammoth project. (Exel Logistics Americas to erect distribution center in Garland, Texas)
June 5, 1998... Exel facility for Fortune 500 firm will be biggest in city since 1960s GARLAND - Exel Logistics Americas, one of the world's largest third-party logistics providers, is putting up a 420,000-square-foot distribution center here for a Fortune...

Law panel probing Big Six firms. (Texas Supreme Court investigating Arthur Andersen LLP and Deloitte & Touche LLP)
June 5, 1998... Attorneys ask if accountants are practicing law without authorization DOWNTOWN - Dallas members of a Texas Supreme Court committee are investigating whether accounting firms Arthur Andersen L.L.P. and Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. are illegally...

Fast-growing EXE moving to Mary Kay's old complex. (EXE Technologies Inc; Mary Kay Holding Corp)
June 5, 1998... STEMMONS CORRIDOR - EXE Technologies Inc. is moving its world headquarters to the former Mary Kay complex, where it may eventually build a larger corporate campus. With a total of 200,000 square feet under lease, the two buildings once...

Monterey forsakes Silicon Valley for Richardson. (Monterey Networks Inc; Richardson, Texas)
June 5, 1998... RICHARDSON - Backed by more than $10 million in financing from early-stage investors in firms like Compaq Computer and America Online, a Silicon Valley maker of telecommunications equipment has set up shop in the Metroplex. Monterey Networks...

American Silicon to close Garland plant, lay off 76. (American Silicon Products; Garland, Texas)
June 5, 1998... GARLAND - A global glut of manufactured semiconductor chips used in personal computers and telecommunications devices has forced American Silicon Products of Providence, R.I., to close its Garland plant and lay off 76 employees. "The...

Casino Slots adds retail location in Grapevine. (Grapevine, Texas)
June 5, 1998... Casino paraphernalia company hopes to hit jackpot selling slot machines, other items WEST DALLAS - A Dallas-based retailer of casino paraphernalia has taken a gamble on an aggressive expansion - despite the fact that much of its merchandise...

Commercial Technologies eyes move with new product rollout.
June 5, 1998... RICHARDSON - This week figures to be exciting for Commercial Technologies Corp. And the California company may bring some excitement to the Metroplex in the near future. To jump on what it believes will be heady demand for technology it is...

Pioneer puts feelers out in Las Colinas for space. (Pioneer Natural Resources Co; Las Colinas, Texas)
June 5, 1998... 'Project Cobra' search is on for 120,000 square feet to consolidate, relocate petroleum firm LAS COLINAS - One of the largest independent petroleum exploration and production firms in the United States is scouring Las Colinas for a new home....

Carriers in bidding contest over Pocket cell licenses. (telecommunications carriers; Pocket Communications)
June 5, 1998... GREATER DALLAS AREA - Four bidders, including two major telecommunications carriers, are vying for licenses owned by a bankrupt company to provide wireless phone service in Dallas and other markets nationwide. Pocket Communications, a small...

Pull back the covers for extended-stay chain. (The Crown Group's expansion plan)
June 5, 1998... The Crown Group targets secondary markets in Southeastern cities for new Home Stay Lodges IRVING - The Crown Group is squeezing into the crowded market for extended-stay hotels with a low-end hospitality chain. The Irving-based diversified...