Dallas Business Journal articles from March 1996

Dallas Business Journal archives from March 1996

Crow to wire, Hilton in wings: acreage in Richardson's Telecom Corridor may get office tower or new hotel. (Trammell Crow Co.; Hilton Corp.; Richardson, Texas)
March 29, 1996... An ultimatum this week from land owners could kill Trammell Crow Co.'s plan to build a 350,000-square-foot Telecom Corridor office building. Trammell Crow's failure to act on its option to buy the 10-acre site in Richardson would clear the...

IKON blitzes office-tech niche in Big D: company plans to hire 300 new workers locally. (IKON Office Solutions; Dallas, Texas)
March 29, 1996... Office-technology powerhouse IKON Office Solutions has created a regional center in Dallas and will hire 300 employees in the next 12 to 18 months. IKON, formerly known as Alco Office Products, is a subsidiary of Alco Standard Corp. (NYSE:...

Dieste: rookie ad agency on a tear. (Dieste and Partners)
March 29, 1996... Surging Hispanic market attracts big-name clients It was the proverbial plan on a napkin. In place three months, that scribbled strategy has won start-up advertising agency Dieste & Partners $17 million in billings to hawk products such as...

New York research company moving its headquarters here. (Lawfinders Associates L.L.C.)
March 29, 1996... New York legal-research firm Lawfinders Associates L.L.C. is moving to Dallas. The 12-year-old company, of Melville, N.Y., will relocate here in May or June, said Robert Scott, the company's chief executive. The move is part of an aggressive...

Centex building sets cranes swiveling near Downtown. (Dallas, Texas)(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... Of all the things it is, The Centex Building at International Center in Dallas isn't a speculative development. But the Centex Building and its planned Phase II, the Jones Day Building, are notable new developments in a Dallas submarket that...

AMC Grand created mecca at Stemmons Crossing. (movie theaters)(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... Just three years ago, motorists zoomed past a mass of mostly vacant land where Stemmons Freeway, Northwest Highway and Walton Walker Freeway converge. Now, they are peeling off that stretch of road at what amounts to Addison-cum-Hollywood....

Penney's lease brings new life to Valley View Center. (J.C. Penney Company Inc.)(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... In 1990, Bloomingdale's officially closed its Valley View Center store. Since then, the empty space has been a large hole in the midst of this bustling, highly visible shopping center, which is located at the intersection of LBJ Freeway and...

Civic-minded contractors made Vogel project happen. (Vogel Alcove)(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... Very few things in life happen easily. The renovation of the Vogel Alcove's new home just might be one of them. The Alcove, which houses young children whose families live in homeless shelters and other facilities, badly needed more space....

Renaissance Tower sale bodes well for Downtown. (Dallas, Texas office building)(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... In one of the most talked about deals of 1995, Cushman Realty's Jack Minter and David Steinwedell brokered the sale of Downtown's Renaissance Tower to Trizec Properties for $105 million. Prudential, which had held the building since it bought...

BNSF's increased size led to expansion of facilities. (Burlington Northern Santa Fe Inc.'s land purchase)(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... Burlington Northern Santa Fe Inc.'s purchase of 160 acres adjacent to its Alliance intermodal facility almost was preordained, according to the parties involved. The transaction, announced only a few months after the Burlington Northern...

Alliance announced mall for multifaceted Circle T. (Alliance Development Co.; Circle T Ranch)(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... The folks at Alliance plugged in another component in their multifaceted development with the announcement of plans for a regional mall at Circle T Ranch in Westlake. The mall - a joint venture between Circle T owner Alliance and...

PepsiCo's relocation netted a big win for Metroplex.(Best Real Estate Deals of 1995)
March 29, 1996... Project Starfire. The name brings to mind an action-adventure movie complete with all kinds of special effects, techno-gadgets and victory at the end. While Project Starfire wasn't a blockbuster movie, it did have a major victory at the...

Superstore chain launched. (Communication Expo Inc.)
March 8, 1996... Ex-CompUSA chief Nathan Morton among founders of Communication Expo Former CompUSA executives are among entrepreneurs launching a chain of specialty superstores this year, starting with a Metroplex outlet. Dallas-based Communication Expo...

Jayhawk going back for $30 million more. (Jayhawk Acceptance Corp.)
March 8, 1996... Automobile-loan financier revs secondary stock sale Less than a year after going public, local automobile financier Jayhawk Acceptance Corp. plans to file a secondary stock offering valued at $30 million. Jayhawk, which went to Wall Street...

Weekly paper 'The Met' to be sold.
March 8, 1996... Washburne out, Goss in; Stagen expected to stay The publisher of alternative weekly The Met is about to seal a deal that will put the newspaper's ownership in the hands of Randall Goss, a Dallas insurance executive, insiders said. The Met...

Bluebonnet documents show how thrift will sell branches. (Bluebonnet Savings Bank F.S.B.)
March 8, 1996... Bluebonnet Savings Bank has parcelled its 21 Texas retail branches into four regions for sale as the thrift moves further from retail banking. In a document circulated to possible buyers, executives at Dallas-based Bluebonnet stated they...

Deceiving appearances: director dumps his stock but says firm poised for turnaround. (Amtech Corp. director Robert Gintel)
March 8, 1996... The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission keeps a watchful eye for illegal insider trading, but Amtech Corp. director Robert Gintel likely will not see regulators sniffing around his office. Not after selling 102,000 shares in Amtech in...

Dallas company profits from cost-cutting measures. (Hotel Clearing Corp.)
March 8, 1996... Hotel Clearing Corp. helps agents recoup commissions from hotels and airlines When the airlines capped the commissions paid to travel agents a year ago, it sent many into a tail spin. But one company has been able to profit from the bad...

AT&T primes work force for local phone service demand.
March 8, 1996... Banking on its Texas-sized reputation and the state's population, AT&T Corp. is putting manpower behind its quest to provide local telephone service here. The company will announce soon that Russell Morgan is AT&T president for Texas and is...

Surety ignites its growth with $8.9 million offering. (Surety Capital Corp.)
March 8, 1996... With $8.9 million from a secondary stock offering, Hurst-based Surety Capital Corp. will fund a pair of acquisitions and fuel its race to more than double its growth within two years. Surety sold 2.4 million shares at about $3.75 a share. The...

Offer for catering firm too good to pass. (Thorn and Associates)
March 8, 1996... Bank One Corp. sacked its leasing office in Dallas about four years ago and with its passing went Mark Hill's job. Tired of the insecurity that comes with working for someone else, Hill and his wife, Flo, thought about buying a business to...

FSI hunts northern 'burbs for division home. (FSI International Inc.)
March 1, 1996... Minnesota firm has offers from Allen and Richardson FSI International Inc., a Chaska, Minn. semiconductor equipment maker, is weighing its land options in Allen and Richardson for a new 120,000-to-150,000-square-foot facility. FSI's board...

Red Bird Mall to get $18 million face-lift. (includes related article on the promotion of retail development in South Dallas County)
March 1, 1996... Food court, bigger Dillard's part of DeBartolo strategy The stepchild of Metroplex shopping malls, Red Bird Mall, this week is launching an $18 million renovation and expansion as it struggles to improve its reputation and win back the favor...

Luther King launches fund for independent area banks. (Luther King Capital Management)
March 1, 1996... No-load, small-fee mutual attracts $30 million so far For small, independent banks in Texas, it is getting tougher to keep step with the major out-of-state banks that dominate here, especially when it comes to technological products and...

Dallas development firm finding success in Wal-Mart's wake. (Shafer Property Co.)
March 1, 1996... Dallas retail developer Steve Shafer said his recent success started in October 1994 with an option to buy a little acreage near Sam's Wholesale Club in Addison. Shafer, the 46-year-old president of Dallas-based Shafer Property Co., said he...

Trammell Crow back in Austin with Stonelake 6 project.
March 1, 1996... Trammell Crow is returning to the Austin development scene after a seven-year hiatus, with three major industrial projects this year, including a new 150-acre park. Andy Pastor, Trammell Crow's Austin partner in charge of development, said...

Methodist losing CEO, not attitude. (Methodist Hospitals)
March 1, 1996... David Hitt, the longtime president and chief executive of Methodist Hospitals of Dallas, is retiring. But don't expect a change in the hospital system's standalone attitude. Hitt said he wants to step down at the end of the year, but may wait...

Search Capital debt-for-equity swap wins wide support. (Search Capital Group Inc.)
March 1, 1996... But dissidents file suit to get full payment instead Search Capital Group Inc. has convinced most of its noteholders to trade their notes for stock and relieve the beleaguered automobile financier of its debt burden. But a petition for a...

Employees lash out in wake of Charter Graphic closure. (Charter Graphic Service Inc.)
March 1, 1996... Suit alleges printer owes for medical claims, 401k A prominent Dallas printing business that shut its doors earlier this year also shut the door on financial obligations to its ex-employees, a lawsuit filed last week contends. Eighty of...

PageMart chief zeroes in on next tech wave. (PageMart Inc. Pres., Chmn. and CEO John Beletic)
March 1, 1996... PCS next obsession for exec in search of 'fun' John Beletic has seen the future, and it is fun. For Beletic, the president, chairman and CEO of Dallas-based PageMart Inc., fun is having built the company into the nation's fifth-largest...