Dallas Business Journal articles from November 1999

Dallas Business Journal archives from November 1999

Fleming Cos. taps Metroplex.
November 26, 1999... Wholesale food distributor bringing up to 575 jobs to new facility in Lewisville LEWISVILLE -- Fleming Cos. Inc., the country's second-largest wholesale food distributor, will move its executive staff to Lewisville and establish a...

Huge power center underscores retail explosion in Frisco.
November 26, 1999... FRISCO -- By next fall, Frisco residents will be at ground zero in a nearly unprecedented explosion of retail growth. Almost 3 million square feet of retail is now under development in Frisco, the bulk of it scheduled to open next year....

Crisis of care.
November 26, 1999... Managed care is saying 'no' to more behavioral-health patients in D-FW. As a result, experts say, hospital emergency admissions are going up -- and the quality of heading down FORT WORTH -- At first, Amy Thompson thought her son Bryan had...

Work's end may spur interest in Expressway market.
November 26, 1999... CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY -- No one would blame John Hoctor if he was pessimistic about leasing on North Central Expressway. Hoctor, the leasing agent for Campbell Centre, negotiated for more than a year with Baylor Health Care System, only to...

CentrePort adds on to portfolio.
November 26, 1999... Koll to develop two industrial buildings at Fort Worth business park FORT WORTH -- CentrePort will break ground next year on two new industrial buildings in what eventually will become a 2 million-square-foot portfolio, a CentrePort...

Formal affairs.
November 26, 1999... EULESS -- Formal Specialists Ltd. of Houston plans to acquire Al's Formal Wear Inc., a Euless-based chain that includes 42 Al's Formal Wear stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico. The deal is expected to close Dec. 5. ...

Setting the pace.
November 26, 1999... FORT WORTH -- The Texas Motor Speedway will award more than $250,000 in grants to charities in the Metroplex in conjunction with its annual tree-lighting ceremony Dec. 1 at The Speedway Club. The Speedway Children's Charities will present...

Doubletake.
November 26, 1999... NORTH DALLAS -- The Doubletree Hotel Campbell Centre is greeting the new year with a new look. A recently completed $3.2 million face-lift of the 302-room hotel aims for a cozy feel as the hotel repositions itself as an upscale boutique...

Lots of locks.
November 26, 1999... LAS COLINAS -- Former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jay Novacek has served several years as a spokesman for Austin-based Sports Clips Inc. But now he's also an owner. Novacek is a franchise owner of the new Las Colinas Sports Clips, the latest...

Home for the holidays.
November 26, 1999... IRVING -- After a two-year stint at Grubb & Ellis Co., Steve Mays returned to Baker Commercial Realty in Irving on Nov. 15. Mays said he returned to Baker because he wanted to focus on Las Colinas and land brokerage. Mays has a long...

Windsor founders scout for buyout or merger prospects.
November 26, 1999... Companies with special financing needs will be a prime target RICHARDSON -- A pair of local entrepreneurs are on a buyout hunt. A. DeWayne Davis, 50, and Andrew P. Davis, 26, recently formed Richardson-based Windsor Acquisition Corp.,...

Developer envisions homes on 32-acre plot of Hurst farmland.
November 26, 1999... HURST -- A Hurst homebuilder hopes to scoop up a plot of farmland for what might become one of this city's last residential subdivisions. Derek DeGuire, president and owner of Hurst-based DeGuire Homes and Woodvale Development Inc., said...

Blue Cross to shut down HealthCare Benefits.
November 26, 1999... Richardson company's 125 employees to be displaced by April 2001 RICHARDSON -- The 125 employees at HealthCare Benefits Inc. may be feeling the blues as parent company Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas closes down the subsidiary's...

Manufacturers more savvy about e-business.
November 26, 1999... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Murray Gerber runs a small plastic parts manufacturing company in Middletown, Conn. He didn't think he was engaged in e-commerce until he started answering questions on a National Association of Manufacturers' survey. ...

AccuBanc staff to lose jobs when headquarters closes.
November 26, 1999... NORTH DALLAS -- AccuBanc Mortgage Corp., one of the nation's top-25 originators of home loans, is shutting down what remains of its Dallas headquarters, Ninety-six employees will lose their jobs, with the first layoffs set to begin Dec. 31....

Texas Cancer, OnCare may dissolve partnership.
November 26, 1999... Groups couldn't cut costs by consolidating ARLINGTON -- OnCare Inc. is in preliminary discussions to sell Arlington-based Texas Cancer Care M.D. Anderson Physicians Network back to the physicians it purchased the network from in 1996. ...

Hiltop Inn gets new name, but Olympus lawsuit still pending.
November 26, 1999... EAST DALLAS -- A hotel is again operating in the Hiltop Inn site at North Central Expressway and Mockingbird Lane, this time under the name Hotel Sante Fe. The outfit offers reduced rates for extended stays and has garnerd a strong...

Dallas' Holigan offers home-building franchises.
November 26, 1999... National program is first of its kind, experts say FAR NORTH DALLAS -- Dallas-based homebuilder Michael Holigan has launched a first-of-its-kin nationwide home-building franchise program. Clearwater, Fla.-based Arthur Rutenberg Homes...

Holiday Inn owner banks on Frisco's growing population.
November 26, 1999... FRISCO -- When Pardeep Sharma decided to open Frisco's first hotel, the massive retail developments planned for the city's southern sector hadn't been announced. But he knew that the Metroplex was building north, and that Legacy Park in...

Collins buys North Hills Mall.
November 26, 1999... NORTH RLCHLAND HILLS -- Burk Collins & Co. Inc. of Hurst just inked a deal on Nov. 19 to purchase the North Hills Mall in North Richland Hills and spend an estimated $100 million on expansions and renovations. Collins teamed with RSM...

Hotel Reservations Network to launch IPO.
November 26, 1999... Online hotel booking company to raise up to $75 million NORTH DALLAS -- A subsidiary of Barry Diller's USA Networks that sells discounted hotel rooms is planning to take its act to Wall Street. Dallas-based Hotel Reservations Network...

"Last week, we had to recall 4,573 exploding toasters and fast. Thanks to [Stamps.com.sup.TM], nobody else got seriously hurt!".(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... "I guess I must have been about 12 years old before it occurred to me that my father wasn't quite right in the head. He defended his ill-fated prototype for the Remote Control Baby Carriage with such passion and conviction that I distinctly...

Webvan online grocer to debut in Metroplex.
November 26, 1999... Plans include a Grapevine distribution center plus several transfer stations GRAPEVINE -- Webvan Group Inc., the California-based online grocer, plans to enter the Dallas-Fort Worth market with a distribution center in Grapevine and 10...

Lack of line officers slows women's progress.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Nearly 12% of the corporate officers in America's 500 largest companies are women, compared with slightly more than 11% last year, according to an annual census conducted by Catalyst, a New York-based nonprofit...

Bill supports women's biz program.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congress has passed the "Women's Business Centers Sustainability Act of 1999," which is designed to address the future of the Women's Business Centers Program, a Small Business Administration program targeted to help women...

Meeting of minds program set Dec. 3.
November 26, 1999... ADDISON -- The Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the American Marketing Association and the Texas Chapter of the Industrial Designers Society for America are teaming to host "Meeting of the Minds II." The symposium will be held from 9 a.m. to...

Metroplex psychiatrists in short supply.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... GREATER METROPLEX -- Psychiatrist are shunning the Metroplex as an "unfriendly" place to practice, according to area hospital officials who are Struggling to cope with a shortage of psychiatrists. With a few exceptions, including the...

More treatment centers are needed for kids, adolescents.
November 26, 1999... GREATER METROPLEX -- Children and adolescents here need more places to receive inpatient behavioral treatment, behavioral-health advocates and providers say -- and the need seems greatest in Tarrant County. Those concerned with the...

Christus Health sells off its HMO to Humana.
November 26, 1999... Sale allows company to focus on hospitals and not insurance LAS COLINAS -- Newly Metroplex-based Christus Health Inc. has sold its HMO to Humana. The purchase price is not being disclosed. Last week Humana (NYSE: HUM) purchased the...

Court says officials can oppose federal contracts to 'hate' groups.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... WASHINGTON, D. C. -- If you're going to bid for federal contracts, you better not be tied to the Ku Klux Klan or the Nation of Islam. That's the upshot of a recent U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, which said public officials can question...

Movin' on up.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... Dallas-based Panja Inc. announced it will build a 129,000-square-foot headquarters, research and development, assembly and distribution facility on a 10-acre site in Richardson. The campus-style corporate headquarters development will, be...

Chill.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... Nordic Trucking Inc., a regional refrigerated carrier primarily serving the Midwest and West Coast, has been acquired by FFE Transportation Services Inc., a subsidiary of Frozen Food Express Industries Inc. Nordic, a privately held company,...

Listen up.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... In a reverse merger planned for completion next month, USARadio.com will acquire Colorado-based Ansel Project Inc. The combined companies will operate under the USARadio.com name. USARadio.com plans to expand its broadcast and Internet...

New acquisition.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... Irving-based Flowserve Corp. will acquire Innovative Valve Technologies Inc. for about $100 million in a deal expected to close in early January. Under the agreement, Flowserve will assume projected debt and obligations of about $84 million...

No sale.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... The largest individual shareholder of Invatec, Robert Alpert, plans to refrain from tendering his 1.7 million -- or about 13% of total Invatec shares -- in response to Flowserve Corp.'s purchase offer "until more adequate information is...

Management help.
November 26, 1999... Global consulting and information-technology provider Computer Sciences Corp. will assist Michaels Stores Inc. in managing the company supply chain by optimizing efficiency, assessing cost reductions and investigating revenue growth...

Growing geeks.
November 26, 1999... Internet America Inc. received approval from its shareholders to issue 2.4 million shares of common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding stock of PDQ.Net Inc., a Houston-based Internet service provider. The acquisition creates one of...

In the air.
November 26, 1999... CareFlite helicopter air ambulance celebrated 20 years of service earlier this month with an anniversary event at the Bell Helicopter Textron Delivery Center in Hurst. With one Bell Long Ranger helicopter shared between Dallas and Fort Worth,...

Bigger and better.
November 26, 1999... Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic, a private nonprofit health center, has received a $45,000 grant from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board as part of a larger grant to link the member community and migrant health centers in...

Mighty Mouse.
November 26, 1999... Dallas-based Team Mouse, a maker of sports licensed computer and office accessories, announced its first Super Bowl licensing agreement with the National Football League. The Super Bowl agreement extends through the first quarter of 2000 and...

Time to build.
November 26, 1999... Churchill Professional Suites is slated for development in the town of Flower Mound by SMK Developments Ltd. Encompassing 25,000 square feet on 2.2 acres, the development will be used for medical activities and is adjacent to the town's...

Entering a plea.
November 26, 1999... Developers Peter Shaddock and John Baker entered 365 not-guilty pleas in Flower Mound municipal court in response to accusations by the town of Flower Mound that they illegally removed more than 300 trees in the development of a residential...

Touting the town.
November 26, 1999... Arlington should consider museums and entertainment centers in its quest for year-round attractions, according to a study by Deloitte & Touche. The study was commissioned by the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau to help it determine what...

Shares offered.
November 26, 1999... Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. is publicly offering 5 million shares of its common stock at a price of $5 per share through an underwriting group managed by Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Dain Rauscher Wessels and Morgan Keegan & Co....

Gainsco gain.
November 26, 1999... Fort Worth-based Gainsco Inc. is going to acquire Tri-State Ltd., a privately owned insurance operation in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Tri-State operates a managing general agency, a motor-vehicle driving records service company...

New and improved.
November 26, 1999... Nixhilton & Associates, an Internet design, integration and marketing firm, announced the launch of a redesigned and enhanced Kirkland's Web site at www.kirklands.com, the e-commerce affiliate of national home decor and gifts retailer...

New guy.
November 26, 1999... Euless-based Worldwide Flight Services appointed Doug Pinckney as senior vice president of sales and marketing. Pinckney will head the sales and marketing efforts that provide diversified services to most of the leading carriers and airports...

Quarter down.
November 26, 1999... Crescent Operating lost $2.5 million, or 24 cents per share, for the third quarter compared with a $100,000 profit, or 1 cent per share, the Previous year. Revenue rose to $175.6 million from $111.8 million. Fort Worth-based Crescent...

Enrollment up.
November 26, 1999... At the annual fall meeting of the TCU board of trustees, Chancellor Michael R. Ferrari reported an increase in enrollment and student retention (freshman to sophomore). Undergraduate enrollment for this fall is 7,603 compared with 7,395 last...

Breaking ground.
November 26, 1999... Arcadia Realty Corp. and city dignitaries celebrated the Nov. 23 ground breaking of the North Richland Hills Town Center, considered the largest and most comprehensive town center in North Texas. The project, on about 300 acres of land near...

Austin VC fund seeks out Texas high-tech startups.(Sternhill Partners)
November 26, 1999... Now here's something novel: a venture capital fund that wants to invest in nothing but startups. That's exactly what Austin-based Sternhill Partners plans to do. Apparently, a lot of big-time investors agree with the strategy. ...

Update on Tatum.
November 26, 1999... Since we last wrote about Tatum CFO Partners L.L.P. in April, the Dallas consulting company has experienced both rapid growth and market-driven metamorphosis. Dallas-area partner Dan Jones says the group has grown from the initial seven...

Loose change.
November 26, 1999... * Dallas-based Park Pharmacy Corp. (OTCBB: PPRX) retained Dallas investment banker Hoak Breedlove Wesneski & Co. to assist Park Pharmacy with its strategic planning. Specifically, Hoak Breedlove will help Park find candidates for future...

White, Feid form PR firm, BizCom Associates.
November 26, 1999... Scott White, former president of Hadeler White Public Relations, and Monica Feid, former group supervisor there, have formed a new public-relations agency called BizCom Associates. White is president of the new agency; Feid is vice...

Changing roles.
November 26, 1999... After 22 years at J.C. Penney Co. Inc., public-relations manager Duncan Muir has a change of pace in mind. Muir will take early retirement at the end of the year, then begin some new projects. "I won't be forming a new business as...

New publication.(Concierge Dallas)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... A new magazine, Concierge Dallas, was unveiled in September, providing entertainment information for area visitors. Concierge is a city/travel guide with an added twist, according to Publisher John Finlay. The magazine also offers feature...

People and places.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 26, 1999... * Cummings McGlone & Associates provided pro bono work for the 1999 Brian Jensen's Bryan's House Open and Westapher Golf Charity tournaments. * Texas Monthly Publisher Michael R. Levy will be honored Jan. 26 with the 1999 Henry Johnson...

Study ranks Metroplex as good place to work.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 26, 1999... The Metroplex ranked as one of the best cities to work in a national poll of 2,000 executives commissioned by Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and prepared by New Jersey based Business Science International. The study has a 3% margin of error. ...

Dauley retires.(DeSoto Economic Development Corp. executive director Dean Dauley)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 26, 1999... Dean Dauley, 74, is retiring as executive director of the DeSoto Economic Development Corp. Fran Irwin, Who was the economic development director for the city of Victoria, will take his place. She starts Dec. 1. Under Dauley's five-year...

New look.(Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. remodels Stanford Corporate Center, TX)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. is refurbishing the lobby area of Stanford Corporate Center to attract new tenants. The building is mainly empty after Tenet Healthcare Corp. moved across the street to Galleria North. "We are totally...

Real Estate Superstars.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... It's time to sign up for the 2000 Battle of the Real Estate Superstars. The annual event raises money for the Children's Cancer Fund of Dallas Inc. Seven-member company teams compete in such events as an obstacle course, balloon catapult and...

FKP Architects Inc.(opens Dallas, TX, office)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * Houston firm FKP Architects Inc. has opened a Dallas office. The firm specializes, in the health care field and has done design work and consulting for Presbyterian Hospital and Harris Methodist in Dallas and Scott & White in Waco.

Linbech Construction Corp.(contract for expansion of Amos Carter Museum building, Fort Worth, TX)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * Linbech Construction Corp. was selected to renovate and expand Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum. Carter-Burgess of Fort Worth was selected as the architect.

Flexjet to grow fleet, hire pilots for flight program.(Statistical Data Included)
November 26, 1999... What do executives T. Boone Pickens of PB Capital, Jack Frazee of PageNet, Gary Hall of Hall-Houston Oil Co. and Robert Davenport of Aerojet Aviation have in common? They all own a piece of a corporate jet through the "fractional jet"...

Where's the money?(Statistical Data Included)
November 26, 1999... Want to find out if your salary and earning potential are in line? Check out the going rates for manufacturing jobs in Compensation in Manufacturing, 19th Edition. The new survey -- carried out by management consultants Abbott, Langer &...

Internet SportStations to unveil new Web site.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... Fans of amateur sports should keep an eye out for the January launch of Internet SportStations, which will be off ring online news and information about van us athletic competitions on both a local an national basis. President Sumner...

Aexis Telecom.(raising equity)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * Aexis Telecom, a Dallas-based phone company that serves countries with underdeveloped telecom infrastructures, is raising $5 million in private equity, according to a report in Private Equity Week. Aexis is building an 18-city phone network...

RheinTech Laboratories.(sells Dallas testing lab to National Technical Systems Inc.)
November 26, 1999... * RheinTech Laboratories of Herndon, Va., has sold its Dallas testing laboratory to Calabasas, Calif.-based National Technical Systems Inc. Terms weren't disclosed. The Dallas facility performs tests on telecommunications equipment.

jobs.com.(jointly developing online recruiting service)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * Dallas' jobs.com recently agreed to jointly develop an online-recruiting service for college students and graduates with College Directory Publishing Inc. and aroundcampus.com.

Southern Methodist University.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * Southern Methodist University's engineering and applied-science school recently opened a research-and-development lab in Richardson. The 6,000-square-foot facility will focus on developing manufacturing technologies, and is looking for...

Total Network Solutions Inc.
November 26, 1999... * A New York network-design and management company, Total Network Solutions Inc., has opened it Southwest regional headquarters in Dallas. Heading the local shop is regional Vice President Robert Horne.

BenefitMall.com.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * BenefitMall.com, which helps insurance brokers sell health and life plans to small companies over the Internet, has acquired six insurance agencies on the East Coast. The Dallas-based spinoff of Humana Inc. says it now serves 80 carriers,...

Dallas School of Music.(launching Web site)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * The Dallas School of Music will be launching a Web site in January that aims to help surfers better understand music. Among other things, it will sell music-related items and offer chat rooms, online sessions with the school's teachers and...

Intelect Communications.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... * Intelect Communications (Nasdaq: ICOMC) was hit with a class-action shareholder lawsuit last week. The litigation alleges the Richardson concern issued false financial statements last year. In November of 1998, Intelect announced it was...

Horizon to bring pharmacy services to the Net.(Horizon Pharmacies Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... Denison-based Horizon Pharmacies Inc. plans to launch an Internet pharmacy site in early 2000, allowing online shoppers to choose from more than 5,000 items. Customers will be able to place new and refill prescriptions online with the...

UT error tracking.
November 26, 1999... The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the National Institutes of Health have received a four-year, $4 million grant to use the Medical Event Reporting System for Transfusion Medicine, a no-fault standardized...

Money update.
November 26, 1999... Los Barrios Unidos Community Clinic, which serves the West Dallas area, has received another $35,000 in capital grants toward its $4.5 million construction of a mother-and-child clinic. The Dallas Foundation has donated $30,000 from its...

PhyMed Diagnostic Imaging Center-Hillcrest Inc.
November 26, 1999... * PhyMed Inc. (OTCBB: PYMD) has formed a subsidiary, PhyMed Diagnostic Imaging Center-Hillcrest Inc., for the purpose of operating a diagnostic imaging center in Dallas at the intersection of Hillcrest Road and LBJ Freeway.

Texas Cancer Center.
November 26, 1999... * Texas Cancer Center in Sherman is one of two pilot sites for phari-i-net, a palm-size computer and Internet connection to check drug interactions and insurance formularies. North Beach, Calif.-based med-inets.com chose Texas Cancer and St....

Acquisition action.
November 26, 1999... Crucial steps in making an acquisition pay off PLANO -- When one company buys another, says consultant Bill Case, the key to getting the most out of the acquisition is speed. "The longer the patient is on the table, the greater the...

How brokerage firms deal with online competition.(Brief Article)
November 26, 1999... DOWNTOWN DALLAS -- If you can't beat them, join them. That seems to be the battle cry of most industries facing competition from Internet services, and the investment industry is no different. With Joe Public scrambling to trade online,...

No bull: Investors are more bearish.
November 26, 1999... ARLINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan should be happy to know that his famous complaint about "irrational exuberance" among investors appears to be waning -- especially among women -- a recent study indicates. About 47% of...

Companies partner to offer logistics and financing.
November 26, 1999... GRAPEVINE -- One-stop shopping enters a new arena with two local companies partnering to offer an international and domestic trade finance program. Trans-Trade Inc. and KBK Financial Inc. have teamed to offer an asset- based lending...

Making your message heard during 'quiet period'.
November 26, 1999... Communicating valuable information prior to an initial public offering It's an old story. A company preparing to go public finds itself on the horns of a dilemma. In order to impress investors and get the word out, the company needs to...