Dallas Business Journal articles from May 1996

Dallas Business Journal archives from May 1996

Hotel talks alive; city hopes Prudential will invest in 1,000-room facility. (Dallas, Texas; Prudential Securities Inc.)
May 3, 1996... DOWNTOWN - The city's dream of a convention-center hotel, crushed months ago by the weight of the project's price tag, again is alive and kicking. City officials will meet this month with executives of Prudential Securities Inc. in New York to...

Yogen Fruz likes flavor of N. Texas; Canadian yogurt chain will move to Carrollton. (Carrollton, Texas)
May 3, 1996... CARROLLTON - Yogen Fruz is bringing its frozen yogurt from the chill of Canada to the heat of Texas. The company, once based in Toronto, is preparing to move all of its United States holdings here by July. Yogen Fruz bought Brice Foods, I Can't...

Relics of '80s, charter jets soar again.
May 3, 1996... This time, though, most flights are for business, not pleasure trips to Aspen LOVE FIELD - A surging economy is pushing local aircraft charter companies into a steady climb. The charter business boomed with the oil-and-gas, real estate and...

Small businesses, meet the Wells computer. (Wells Fargo Bank)
May 3, 1996... It's sitting in Phoenix, and it calls the shots on your micro-loan apps DOWNTOWN - Wells Fargo Bank is moving into Texas and that means good and bad news for small-business borrowers. The bad news is that applications for loans of less than...

Automated credit: best get used to it. (more Texas banks use computers to screen loan applications)
May 3, 1996... Wells Fargo isn't the only bank using automated credit scoring. NationsBank Texas uses computers as an initial screen for micro-loans, said Deborah Cannon, an executive vice president and director of business banking at NationsBank. Cannon said...

PRG hits the road for money to continue acquisition binge. (Physicians Resource Group Inc.)
May 3, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Physicians Resource Group Inc., the country's largest eye care physician management company, is continuing its acquisition binge. Emmett Moore, president and chief executive of Dallas-based PRG, is currently on a two-week road...

Law firm trims costs by cutting partners' compensation. (Fanning, Harper and Martinson)
May 3, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Squeezed by a drop in profits, management at Fanning, Harper and Martinson P.C. has revamped its revenue-sharing plan for seven attorneys. Insurance-defense practices are trying to increase profit margins in reaction to...

Kaiser Permanente names president. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.; William Gillespie)
May 3, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Kaiser Permanente, the third-largest health maintenance organization the Metroplex, has named Dr. William Gillespie president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Texas. Gillespie, a 14-year veteran with Kaiser Permanente,...

Banks turn up volume as their margins fade. (loans)
May 3, 1996... DALLAS - Banks countered falling margins in 1995 by boosting loan volume 15%, making Texas the Loan Star State among industrial states. Even as it gets tougher to make money in lending, Texas banks added roughly $4.7 billion to their collective...

Rise in doctor charges indicates HMOs aren't catching on. (health maintenance organizations)
May 3, 1996... DALLAS - Physician charges in the Metroplex rose faster than inflation during the first three months of 1996, according to an industry research firm. The report, published by Ackley Financial Group in Dallas, sends a warning to buyers of...

Agencies duke it out over transient accounts. (advertising agencies in Dallas, Texas)
May 3, 1996... DALLAS - Many local advertising agencies continued to see steady growth in 1995, propelled mostly by clients who have expanded their advertising efforts, Dallas Business Journal research shows. Those that experienced significant growth in...

Teachers frees up office space in Williams Square: move scuttles sublease plans by TIG Holdings. (Dallas, Texas; Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association)
May 3, 1996... IRVING - Sublease arrangements that would have moved a division of both GTE Corp. and NationsBank Corp. into Las Colinas' Williams Square building were scuttled last week by the building's owner, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association. At...

Tarrant bank tries to break interloper's curse in Dallas. (Tarrant County, Texas-based Overton Bank and Trust N.A.)
May 3, 1996... DOWNTOWN - From its Tarrant County base, Overton Bank & Trust is striking right at the heart of Dallas with plans for a branch and business bank near the Crescent Building. Overton Bank President David Tapp confirmed that his bank is opening a...

Club peddles Franklin: Dallas golf/resort giant hopes for speedy sale of $875 million savings bank in Austin. (ClubCorp International plans to sell Franklin Federal Bancorp.)
May 10, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Club Corporation International plans to sell its Austin-based thrift, Franklin Federal Bancorp, to focus its money and attention on the company's core businesses of golf courses, resorts and private clubs. Franklin's board has...

Aggressive Compass sets course for Tarrant. (Compass Banks of Texas Inc. plans to expand presence in Tarrant County)
May 10, 1996... Bank chief McMahen seeking 'critical mass' in Fort Worth FORT WORTH - Compass Bank of Texas has been ravenously gobbling up independent banks around the state since 1987, and Fort Worth may be its next feeding ground. In an interview with...

Parkland blasts Medicaid plan; Anderson says Dallas hospital might join in suit against state. (Parkland Memorial Hospital Pres. and CEO Ron Anderson; Texas)
May 10, 1996... DALLAS - Parkland Memorial Hospital may join a Fort Worth hospital in suing the state over a program that requires Medicaid recipients to use selected health maintenance organizations. At stake is nearly $17 billion in Medicaid dollars that...

MEPC eyes 80 acres in Coppell. (MEPC American Properties Inc.; Texas)
May 10, 1996... COPPELL - MEPC American Inc. is close to buying almost 80 acres in the Freeport North Industrial Park. MEPC regional vice president Ab Atkins said the development firm, a Dallas subsidiary of Britain's MEPC plc, is betting that changes in...

Acquisition sends Inwood Bank into competitive east Dallas. (Inwood National Bank acquires Commercial National Bank)
May 10, 1996... EAST DALLAS - Inwood National Bank has agreed to buy Commercial National Bank for $5.3 million, moving the Park Cities institution into the competitive East Dallas banking market. With the agreement, Inwood becomes the second bank in six months...

Columbia goes with Central to count its ambulance runs. (Columbia Health Network of North Texas awards multimillion dollar contract for ambulance services to Central Ambulance)
May 10, 1996... DALLAS - The city's largest private ambulance firm has won a multimillion dollar contract with Columbia Health Network of North Texas. Central Ambulance will handle all transportation needs for Columbia. The ambulance company was hired in...

Columbia chooses Poteet for its CEO spot in Texas unit. (Columbia Hospital Corp.'s North Texas division; Bill Poteet)
May 10, 1996... DALLAS - Bill Poteet, a native of Fort Worth and former chairman of the Texas Hospital Association, has been named president and chief executive of Columbia Hospital Corp.'s North Texas division. Poteet is charged with tying together Columbia's...

Minorities make slow gains in law firms.
May 10, 1996... Eight years after graduating from law school at Southern Methodist University, Dallas attorney Wilson Chu became a partner at a large Metroplex law firm. Eight years is not unusual to reach partner status, but Chu is of Chinese descent, and...

Expanding firm may pick Dallas. (law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart starts operations in Texas)
May 10, 1996... Houston was tapped last week, and Dallas might be the next destination for a national boutique law firm that is in an aggressive expansion mode into the Southwest. Last week, a nine-lawyer group from the Houston home office of Hutcheson &...

1995 billings put Publicis on top of PR companies listing. (Publicis Public Relations; public relations firms)
May 10, 1996... DALLAS - The largest public relations firms in the Metroplex didn't offer too many surprises this year in a Dallas Business Journal ranking of 1995 billings. Publicis Public Relations was propelled to the No. 1 spot with $29 million in local...

Perot woos Mitsubishi. (Ross Perot Jr.; Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc.'s lease transaction)
May 17, 1996... American sales division of Japanese auto giant working on lease at Alliance ALLIANCE - Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc. soon will ink a deal for 200,000 square feet of industrial space in Ross Perot Jr.'s Alliance Gateway development,...

Irvin's clothing startup shuts down. (Dallas Cowboy player Michael Irvin)
May 17, 1996... Masterpeace Ragz had disappointing retail run SKILLMAN - As if the storm of bad press unleashed on Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin weren't enough, the Pro Bowl wide receiver is taking his lumps in the business arena as well. Masterpeace Ragz, a...

Duncanville company is the world's corndog king. (Automated Food Systems Inc.)
May 17, 1996... Equipment-maker AFS to double its plant space DUNCANVILLE - Corndog futures are up. Automated Food Systems Inc., which makes manual and automated corndog fryers capable of making up to 12,000 corndogs an hour, is moving to make room for...

Insurers line up for Medicaid.
May 17, 1996... At stake: $250 million if Dallas gets launch DALLAS - Big managed-care providers, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Texas and PCA Health Plans of Texas, are getting ready to compete for a chunk of $250 million in expected Medicaid business in...

Huge initial public offering planned in 'dead' industry. (paper firm American Pad and Paper Co.)
May 17, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - A paper company has filed for an initial public offering large enough to make even the trendiest technology firm take notice. American Pad and Paper Co. is planning a $287 million public debut, attracting the interest of some of...

IBM settles on Valwood building for 1,000-worker support center. (International Business Machines Corp.)
May 17, 1996... FARMERS BRANCH - IBM Corp. has selected the former Horchow warehouse in Valwood industrial park as the site for a new call center that could employ more than 1,000 workers, sources close to the deal said this week. The deal was scheduled to be...

PCA, Blue Cross say they'll help public hospitals. (PCA Health Plans of Texas Inc.; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas)
May 17, 1996... Parkland, JPS should continue to get Medicaid funds, providers say FORT WORTH - At least two managed care providers slated to share in $167 million in Medicaid dollars in Tarrant County in 1997 say they want to keep some of that money channeled...

Hotel outfit sees opportunities in Mexico. (American General Hospitality)
May 17, 1996... LOVE FIELD - American General Hospitality, the nation's largest independent hotel-management company, is taking a Tex-Mex approach to business. The Dallas-based company has joined with some Mexican entrepreneurs to form General de Hoteles, a...

Credit union woos Fidelity workers to its member list. (Resource One Federal Credit Union; Fidelity Investments)
May 17, 1996... EAST DALLAS - Resource One Federal Credit Union has struck a deal with Fidelity Investments to add the firm's 2,500 local employees to its membership rolls, a move that marks the union's aggressive drive to gain market share. Fidelity is the...

FootAction going for gold during Olympics. (FootAction USA)
May 17, 1996... STEMMONS SOUTH - FootAction USA will join world athletes in chasing gold this summer in Atlanta. But FootAction's targeted gold is profit. The Dallas-based athletic goods and apparel retailer is teaming up with marketing giant Nike to open a...

Jury: Rauscher not responsible for bank's loss. (Rauscher Pierce Refsnes)
May 17, 1996... UPTOWN - A jury has cleared Dallas investment house Rauscher Pierce Refsnes of any responsibility in the investment losses suffered by one of its clients, Bank of the Southwest, but the Dallas bank plans to appeal the decision. The Dallas bank...

UV Color to employ 174 workers at its new printing plant. (UV Color South L.P.)
May 17, 1996... FARMERS BRANCH - UV Color South L.P. is preparing to open a plastics printing plant that is expected to employ 174 workers within five years. Executives at UV Color, a subsidiary of Roseville, Minn.-based UV Color Inc., said the plant will help...

Berry to head health group. (election of Phil Berry Jr. as president of Texas Medical Association)
May 17, 1996... Dr. Phil Berry Jr., a key player in creating Careflite Air Ambulance in Dallas in 1979, has been named president-elect of the Texas Medical Association. The Texas Medical Association is an affiliate of the American Medical Association, but not...

Invisible plumbers scour eateries' drains. (oil and grease-digesting bacteria)
May 17, 1996... IRVING - Brian Miller is building a business selling bacteria to restaurants. Sounds like selling ice to Eskimos, but it's not quite so tough a sale. The bacteria in question digest grease and oil, one of the primary causes of drain clogs in...

Oil and gas leading Mexican economy out of doldrums.
May 17, 1996... EAST DALLAS - Geological Supply Co. Inc. is seeing signs of recovery in the Mexican economy. Jim Stephens, owner, president and general manager of the Dallas company, said his company has already equalled last year's sales to Mexico. If sales...

New York company to open call center at the Infomart. (Computer Generated Solutions Inc.)
May 17, 1996... OAK LAWN - The call-management division of a growing computer-integration company has set up shop at the InfoMart. Computer Generated Solutions Inc. (CGS), a privately held company based in New York, has put its call-management division in...

Law groups banding together to promote minority employment. (Dallas Consortium for Minority Hiring)
May 17, 1996... DALLAS - Blue-chip law firms here are making a more concerted approach in hiring minorities. Credit one local group in assisting in the effort. The Dallas Consortium for Minority Hiring is comprised of some of the city's biggest law...

Network company running rings around 45 U.S. cities. (MFS Global Network Services)
May 17, 1996... IRVING - MFS Global Network Services wants to lay a ring of glass around this suburb. MFS Global, a company wholly owned by MFS Communications Company Inc., has applied for a franchise for a fiber-optic telecommunications loop. City officials...

40-mile fiber-optic phone loop under construction in Metroplex. (Metro Access Networks Inc.)
May 17, 1996... ARLINGTON - Metro Access Networks Inc. is shelling out $5 million to expand its fiber-optic network and to offer its customers local phone service. Metro, which provides private-line service and long-distance access to businesses, also wants...

Pearle rebuilds with focus on managed care contracts. (Pearle Vision Inc.)
May 17, 1996... DALLAS - With the managed-care market burgeoning, Pearle Vision Inc., the second largest eye-care retailer in the world, is gearing up for a managed-care war among eye care retailers. "We have seen an explosion in business in managed care,"...

Allstate plans major new building for its Irving campus. (The Allstate Corp.; Irving, TX)
May 17, 1996... IRVING - Insurance giant The Allstate Corp. is planning to a build 125,000-square-foot office building at its Irving campus. When completed, the building will house up to 500 employees of the company's regional office and claims division,...

Irvin's appeal looks benched. (commercial appeal of Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin)
May 17, 1996... Even if he's acquitted on felony charges of cocaine possession, it will take mountains of good public relations for Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys to gain a fraction of the market value he once had, some experts believe. From football...

Leadership takes time to figure out.(Column)
May 17, 1996... A few weeks ago, I silently celebrated my fifth anniversary as a manager. For me, the occasion was a time to reflect on where I had been, how I was doing and where I was headed, as much as was possible, in any case, between the deadlines and...

'Misty' isn't real, but sexual harassment is.(Column)
May 17, 1996... Ever had a fantasy work with? You know the one. You're working late. She appears in the doorway of your office - young, nubile, blouse unbuttoned, no shoes, and an evil glint in her eye. She closes and locks the door, and whispers, "I've...

Friends pool resources, open Texas Blues Cafe.
May 17, 1996... LAKEWOOD - The story of how Tom Loughborough came to own Texas Blues Cafe would not make a very convincing blues song. No cheatin', lyin', two-timin' or doin' anybody wrong. Just a love of the music, a noteworthy opportunity and a sufficient...

Paper may grow on trees, but not money to pay for it.(Column)
May 17, 1996... In the past 18 months, paper costs have nearly doubled. Today, with a healthy economy and greater overseas demand, almost all types of paper are in short supply. The effects are noticeable everywhere. Publications have raised prices;...

Holding firm's revenue growth tops the list. (Avery Communications, Inc.; Fast Tech 50 list of fastest-growing companies in the Metroplex)
May 17, 1996... When the telecommunication industry reforms was approved by Congress earlier this year, everyone - from media moguls to industry experts - immediately began speculating on how the legislation would affect the industry's major players and their...

Technology companies are preparing for growth rebound.
May 17, 1996... While many young, small businesses would fawn over 7% growth, Irving-based Duracom Computer Systems President Tom Dodson isn't inclined to uncork any Dom Perignon in his office. Dodson was dismayed that his Irving-based computer hardware...

Companies race to keep up with huge growth momentum. (multimedia industry)
May 17, 1996... Something stronger than entrepreneurial spirit helped fuel the fiery growth at Irving-based Multimedia Learning Inc. Call it sheer desperation. The company, which makes multimedia customized-training programs, had to scramble to keep up with...

Easy funding in the genes. (Genescreen Inc.'s stock market performance)(Venture Deals Jump In The First Quarter.)
May 24, 1996... Genescreen proves again biotech's market clout WEST DALLAS - Some companies have to go to great lengths for venture capital cash, but Genescreen Inc. didn't have to go too far to get its most recent round of financing. Genescreen, a...

Dallas job growth leading Texas; ranks no.5 in the U.S.
May 24, 1996... DALLAS - Texas metropolitan areas were strong job producers in the first quarter of 1996, and Dallas led the way. Five of the Lone Star State's largest cities are among the nation's biggest job creators, according to a survey by Dallas-based...

GrandMet ends long debate by putting Pearle up for sale. (Pearle Vision Inc., Grand Metropolitan PLC)
May 24, 1996... STEMMONS SOUTH - Pearle Vision Inc., the world's second largest eye-care retailer, is for sale - finally. Pearle's parent company, Grand Metropolitan PLC in London, apparently has caved into mounting investor pressure to divest the...

Executivess sell off Networth, start up NetSpeed in Austin. (NetSpeed Inc., Networth Inc.)
May 24, 1996... AUSTIN - Two of Dallas' most successful technology executives have started a company called NetSpeed Inc. in Austin. John McHale and Paul Zito, former chief executive and chief financial officer, respectively, of Irving-based Networth Inc.,...

Success found Erapmus, but so did growing pains.
May 24, 1996... OAK LAWN - It's only taken three years to put Erapmus on the map. The startup already is hitting the $10 million mark in annual revenue. It has grown from two employees to 65, and counts on its roster 125 clients. Erapmus, which develops...

H&H, prominent printer, closes doors. (H&H Advertising/Printing)
May 31, 1996... Rising costs, tech race hurt 60-employee firm FORT WORTH - H&H Advertising/Printing, the fourth-largest commercial printing company in Fort Worth and the 17th-largest in the Metroplex, has shut down. Harold Hammond, president of the company,...

Iomega stock keeps zipping along. (IOMEGA Corp.)
May 31, 1996... Perhaps some of you have seen the headlines in business newspapers and magazines: The stock of the formerly small computer peripheral hardware manufacturer, Iomega, has gone utterly berserk, through the stratosphere. This is what happens to a...

Chip production is booming in 'Silicon Valley of North Texas.'
May 31, 1996... Silicon Valley's chip manufacturing is pretty much built out, and while Austin, Boise, Phoenix and Portland all are doing well, and Richmond just scored big with the new $1.5 billion Motorola and Siemens computer-chip plant, the semicondutor...