Business First of Buffalo articles from April 1998

Business First of Buffalo archives from April 1998

Natural gas producers dig in; region's well drillers battle soft market. (Western New York)
April 6, 1998... In 1825, Fredonia tinsmith and tinkerer William Hart cut a small hole in the bottom of his wife's wash tub, connected a shotgun barrel to the hole and placed the tub over steady bubbles in Canadaway Creek. Natural gas within the bubbles...

GM expects engine's debut to create few new hires. (General Motors Corp.)
April 6, 1998... The new L850 world engine at General Motors Corp.'s engine plant might lead to new jobs at the Town of Tonawanda facility down the road. But with full production of the lightweight engine still one year away, GM officials continue to emphasize...

Four groups bid on city rink complex.
April 6, 1998... Two area groups and two from Canada are bidding for the right to develop a sports and entertainment complex near Marine Midland Arena. Details of the proposals have not been released. The facility has been proposed for a site east of the...

Surge in coatings market builds business at Balzers. (Balzers Tool Coating Inc.)
April 6, 1998... Growth in the coatings market is helping a local company expand further with a new plant in Ohio and another in the works for Michigan. Balzers Tool Coating Inc. last week opened a coating center in Cleveland. Fifteen people are being trained...

Innovative valve system fuels growth of local firm. (National Fuel Gas Co.)
April 6, 1998... A gas valve developed and patented by an area utility may fuel sales and growth for an Amherst company. The Neupmatic Valve, developed by National Fuel Gas Co., is being manufactured and distributed by Buffalo Gauge Inc. The valve allows...

Marketing of 1998 Bisons ready to go International. (professional baseball club Buffalo Bisons; International League)
April 6, 1998... When the first pitch is tossed just after 2 p.m. April 9 at North AmeriCare Park, everything old will be new again for Buffalo's professional baseball team. The Buffalo Bisons are returning to the International League, a move the franchise has...

New look, special promotions highlight 1998 season. (professional baseball group Buffalo Bisons)
April 6, 1998... The last time the Buffalo Bisons were in the International League, Richard Nixon was president, the Beatles were still together and Frank Sedita was mayor. "In some ways it is both easier and harder on us this year," said Tom Bums, Bisons'...

No growth spurt for region's law firms. (New York State)
April 6, 1998... Law firms haven't gotten much bigger in the past, year, and that's encouraging news. "That's a hopeful sign. No change represents some progress: Law firms aren't retrenching," said Robert Fine, managing partner of Hurwitz & Fine, the area's...

Local job losses unlikely in wake of Citicorp cuts.
April 6, 1998... Cutbacks in Citicorp's 90,000-member global work force that were announced last fall will cause no job losses at the company's Amherst center, a spokesman said. The disclosure is good news for Citicorp's Global Cash Management Services, where...

Realty firm buys Bell plant. (Industrial Realty Group Inc. buys Bell Aerospace Textron plant in Wheatfield, New York)
April 13, 1998... New owner to renovate former aerospace site into business center The sprawling Bell Aerospace Textron plant in Wheatfield has been sold. a transaction that could bring aggressive marketing to one of Niagara County's largest industrial...

Fade to black for downtown movie complex. (General Cinema Corp. to close Market Arcade Cinemas in Buffalo, New York)
April 13, 1998... The Market Arcade Cinemas, an eight-screen downtown theater, may soon be showing the last picture shows. City Hall representatives confirmed the General Cinema Corp. is expected to close the decade-old theaters in late May. Officials of the...

Cover story plays well for Buffalo printer. (Buffalo, New York-based Miken Companies Pres. Kenneth Jaworski)
April 13, 1998... Kenneth Jaworski comes off as somewhat of a name-dropper. Jaworski, who returned to the family printing business in December as president of Miken Cos. Inc., spent a few years in Miami running Mercury, a trendy restaurant in South Beach....

For now, Buffalo not part of Ford dealer consolidation. (Ford Motor Co. may consolidate dealerships in Buffalo, New York)
April 13, 1998... Could Ford Motor Co. be moving to consolidate dealerships in the Buffalo area the same as a trade magazine says it wants to do 60 miles away in Rochester? Nothing is in the wind now, said James Doyle II, president of Jim Doyle Ford Inc. in...

Changes in front office propel Sabres into new era. (professional hockey club of Buffalo, New York)
April 13, 1998... That the Buffalo Sabres fired controversial team president and CEO Larry Quinn didn't come as a surprise in sports circles. But now that the team has jettisoned Quinn and is about to embark on a new era of ownership, local and national...

Canal landmark Packet Inn acquired by local group. (hotel overlooking the Eerie Canal bought by Amherst, New York-based partnership Patrick Properties/Pocket Center LLC)
April 13, 1998... A team of local investors is purchasing the former Packet Inn in North Tonawanda. The deal seals months of uncertainty over the landmark overlooking the Erie Canal. The 140-year-old building had been owned by an Atlanta-based real estate...

Falls hospital keeps beds to satisfy critics of merger. (Health System of Niagara to retain acute-care services at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center)
April 13, 1998... Some inpatient beds will be retained after all at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center as the facility proceeds with a money-saving merger with Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston. The change is in response to community outcry to initial...

Snaring Falls-bound traffic eludes Boulevard motels. (Niagara Falls Boulevard Business Assn. wants to beautify boulevard)
April 13, 1998... When Julie Zito Clark's father, Sam Zito, started the Beacon Motel in Niagara Falls in 1930, Niagara Falls Boulevard was a two-lane dirt road. As the road grew and was paved, ultimately connecting directly to Buffalo, tourists followed it to...

Merger creates janitorial services giant. (Doyle/Machelor Services Inc. merged with Doyle Group Inc. to form Doyle United Building Services)
April 13, 1998... The region's two largest commercial janitorial services firms have merged, creating a company with more than 1,200 employees. Doyle/Machelor Services Inc., a Cheektowaga-based subsidiary of The Doyle Group Inc. in Rochester, acquired United...

WNY awaits impact of bank merger. (Western New York; merger between NationsBank Corp. and BankAmerica Corp.)
April 20, 1998... NationsBank's merger with BankAmerica Corp. will make the new $570 billion-asset company the country's largest mortgage servicer. Not as clear, though, is what it will mean for NationsBank's mortgage servicing center in Amherst where 722 people...

International truck traffic tops record. (Western New York)
April 20, 1998... Commercial traffic over Western New York's four international bridges climbed to a new first-quarter high. Trucks crossing the Lewiston-Queenston, Whirlpool Rapids, Rainbow and Peace bridges during January, February and March totalled 551,637,...

Sabres owners chart the club's future course. (interview with Buffalo Sabres hockey team executives Tim Rigas and Jim Brown)(Interview)
April 20, 1998... On the ice, the Buffalo Sabres have the youngest team in the National Hockey League. Now with the sale of the franchise to Adelphia Communications Corp., the same may be true for management. Following the ouster of Larry Quinn as CEO/president...

Feds investigating allegations of 'patient dumping.'
April 20, 1998... Seven Buffalo-area hospitals are under investigation and two others have settled charges regarding violation of so-called federal "patient-dumping" statutes. The facilities are accused of breaking federal provisions that require hospitals to...

Losses overshadow gains as state job drain continues.
April 20, 1998... Six months ago, Silipos Inc. was seriously considering a move to a Southern state. The Wheatfield company, a manufacturer of prosthetic and orthotic products and wound and bum skin care items, ultimately opted to remain and expand in Niagara...

Niagara business groups fight membership decline. (Niagara County, NY)
April 20, 1998... [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] Diverse interests and needs continue to foster the proliferation of business groups in Niagara County. As many as 17 business organizations have developed over the years, four in this decade alone. They span...

Women business owners optimistic about economy.
April 20, 1998... Nearly 75 percent of women business owners in Erie County plan to expand their businesses in the next five years, according to a report by the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women. This despite an overall feeling that the economic...

Pepsi wins naming rights for Amherst rink complex. (Pepsi-Cola Buffalo Bottling Corp.)
April 20, 1998... For the better part of four decades, the Pastor family and the Pepsi-Cola Buffalo Bottling Corp. have been synonymous with hockey in Western New York. That relationship has gotten even stronger with the April 13 announcement that Pepsi won the...

Second time around. (Niagara Fiberboard Inc.)(Company Profile)
April 20, 1998... Recycling company creates paper line for industries What's going on: Niagara Fiberboard was putting old paper to new uses long before recycling became environmentally fashionable. The company converts rolls of what used to be as many as 100...

NYS bucks come to WNY. (Western New York; auto dealers' state contracts)
April 27, 1998... Two auto dealers take lion's share of state contracts Two automobile dealers captured the largest slices of the $67 million in total area contracts awarded by the state Office of General Services in 1997. Between them, LaPorte Chevrolet...

Technology helps printing firms add more workers.
April 27, 1998... A strong economy and expansion into digital imaging technology has boosted area commercial printing firms. Increased employment at 10 area printing companies resulted in 221 new employees since July, according to the Business First Commercial...

Acquisitions fuel Noco's growth. (Noco Energy Corp.)
April 27, 1998... When Gulf Oil decided to sell its Town of Tonawanda petroleum terminal in 1973, Noco Energy Corp. stepped in to buy. "That was a huge, huge risk for the company," said James Newman, Noco executive vice president. The gamble paid off,...

Farms go entrepreneurial in Chautauqua County. (New York)
April 27, 1998... When Gail Black starts her day, she never knows exactly how much she will get done, but she knows it will be a lot. On an average day, Black, owner of Vinewood Acres Maple-Grape Farms and the Sugar Shack in Westfield, might be out picking...

Lockport Savings aims to be one-stop community bank. (Lockport Savings Bank)
April 27, 1998... Having completed its conversion to a stock-form savings bank, Lockport Savings Bank now is positioned to continue and broaden its expansion plans. That strategy includes adding locations to the current 15-branch network, acquisitions of other...

Episcopal Home Care searches for new ownership.
April 27, 1998... The services of Episcopal General Home Care are likely to be phased into the CGF Health System. How it will be done is the question. The boards of directors of both organizations have signed a letter of intent to explore the integration of the...

Solar building company wants manufacturing plan in Cheektowaga. (Conserval Systems Inc.; Erin County, New York)
April 27, 1998... An Amherst solar heating company wants to establish a $2.6 million factory in Erie County by year-end. Conserval Systems Inc. is negotiating for space in Cheektowaga. The company installs a patented Solar Wall heating system. The factory would...

Sabres draft marketing strategy based on Flyers games.
April 27, 1998... Facing the Philadelphia Flyers in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs was not the match Sabres' followers necessarily hoped for. However, to some in the organization there are benefits to taking on the franchise Buffalo has never gotten...

Fire up. (Lane Fire and Safety)(Company Profile)
April 27, 1998... Extinguisher company starts new service blaze of business What's going on: Fire and safety are everything to the folks at Lane Fire & Safety. For many years, the Tonawanda company focused on servicing portable fire extinguishers, including...