Business First of Buffalo articles from September 1999

Business First of Buffalo archives from September 1999

Expanding CTG signs lease deal.
September 27, 1999... Plans by CTG to increase its area work force by nearly 25 percent took a giant step forward when the computer industry leader signed a long-term lease for an Amherst office building. CTG, buoyed by a recently signed contract with KeyCorp...

Gary Allen retires from KeyBank.
September 27, 1999... Gary Allen's colleagues never knew when they might catch him in the office for a business meeting or social cup of coffee. He was one the U.S. business world's most traveled traveling men. As chief banking officer of KeyCorp, and...

Yoga anyone? HMOs approve alternative therapies.(health maintenance organizations)
September 27, 1999... Independent Health is the most recent HMO to make alternative therapies available to its Western New York members seeking the popular but less traditional treatment options. The program includes a network of providers covering the eight...

Fourth HMO could be joining fray in WNY.(western New York aged patients could be served by a fourth health maintenance organization)
September 27, 1999... Aging western New YorKers might be served by a fourth Medicare HMO following recent talks between Independent Health and the Catholic Health System. The discussions that led the area's largest HMO and the hospital system with its doctors...

Eckerts acquire AOP Solutions for 2nd time.(Paul and Suzanne Eckert retains back ownership of computer consulting firm)
September 27, 1999... Paul and Suzanne Eckert have purchased AOP Solutions for the second time in a decade. The Eckerts originally bought AOP in 1990 with seven employees and revenues of about $700,000. When the couple sold the Buffalo company in June...

Delphi venture targets Europe.(Delphi Automotive Systems-Calsonic Corp.)
September 20, 1999... Delphi Harrison Thermal Systems of Lockport is linking up with a major competitor, Calsonic Corp., to form a joint venture to produce automotive air-conditioning compressors in Hungary for the European market. It will be the two...

International projects boost Cannon's resume.(architectural and engineering firm)
September 20, 1999... Cannon, the area's largest architectural and engineering firm, is in the running for five foreign projects that will help cement its international reputation for designing signature projects. For Cannon, working overseas is not new, but...

Burton sisters put Buffalo in spotlight.(Buffalo, NY-based Five Sisters Productions' feature film 'Manna from Heaven')
September 20, 1999... Five filmmaking sisters from the Buffalo area want to cast their native city in a positive, hope-filled light in their third feature film, "Manna from Heaven." "We did a film retrospective on the films that have been done in Buffalo,"...

IDA approves incentive package for new bank.(Erie County Industrial Development Agency; Greater Buffalo Savings Bank)
September 20, 1999... A new savings bank received a financial package from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, but not without a heated discussion from agency directors. On Sept. 15, ECIDA directors approved a $1 million financial package for the...

Hot wheels 2000.(Special Report: Auto, Trucks & Leasing)(new car models)
September 20, 1999... With a few notable exceptions, most carmakers don't adhere to the new model season anymore When it comes to Y2K new model introductions, the millennium bug seems to have bypassed the automotive industry since almost nobody seems to be...

Exec rides the road to life of his dreams.(Special Report: Auto, Trucks & Leasing)(Ray Laks Acura/Honda general manager Bill McDonald)
September 20, 1999... Bill McDonald is crazy about his wife, delighted by his two small children and fascinated by his work in the Western New York automotive industry. This is a guy who's living the American dream and loving it. "Life is but a dream,"...

Daughters Inc.: women taking over as family business leaders.(Business Women First)(women executives in New York)
September 20, 1999... With a style somewhere between a construction foreman and a mother hen, Laurie Brock Lisk handles a tough customer for her scrapyard's recycled materials on the telephone, chats with a secretary and directs a truck driver to the right pile of...

Ralph Wilson Stadium: no option for failure.(Ralph Wilson Stadium: The New Era Begins...)(renovation of a football stadium in Buffalo, NY)
September 20, 1999... Back in the early 1990s, when the Buffalo Bills and the Super Bowl were still the same thing, a few key players were thinking ahead to today. But we're not talking about Jim Kelly or Bruce Smith, not Marv Levy or John Butler. The key men...

Animal magnetism.(fund raising for Buffalo Zoo, New York)
September 13, 1999... Scramble is on to find funds for renovation of Buffalo Zoo Having come to the realization that ambitious plans for a waterfront zoo had been scuttled by both local politicians and homeowner groups, the Zoological Society of Buffalo Inc....

Paladino gains rights to former L.L. Berger store.(attorney Carl Paladino to spearhead an apartment development in Buffalo, New York)
September 13, 1999... Buffalo officials are turning to a familiar figure to redevelop the long vacant L.L. Berger Inc. downtown flagship store. The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency was expected, at its Sept. 9 meeting, to name a development team headed by...

Family legacy follows Scott Danahy Naylon.(Special Report: Insurance and Employee Benefits)(insurance brokerage firm)
September 13, 1999... Scott Danahy Naylon Co. Inc. 300 Spindrift Drive Amherst, N.Y. 14221 Phone: 633-3400 * fax: 633-7141 What's going on: The firm is a full-service insurance brokerage and retailer that specializes in commercial property and...

Babbitt's career follows an independent course.(Special Report: Insurance and Employee Benefits)(Niagara National Inc pres Paul Babbitt)
September 13, 1999... "They can because they think, they can." "I'm a very positive person,' Paul Babbitt says, explaining why he chose to emblazon the above phrase, a quote from the ancient Roman poet Virgil, on his PC monitor as a screen saver. That...

Keep it clean.(exciting washing experience at The Laundry Lounge)
September 13, 1999... Couple is awash with idea that a laundromat can be fun The Laundry Lounge 860 Kenmore Ave. Buffalo, N.Y. 14216 Phone: 876-6322 Their second day in the laundry business, Michael D'Avolio and Corrine Giannini were tested...

Falls attorney is part owner of 3 Carolina sports teams.(profile on Niagara Falls, New York-based lawyer James Roscetti)
September 6, 1999... For a lifelong Niagara Falls resident, attorney James Roscetti sure has a lot of Carolina blue in him. So much so that the 51-year-old graduate of Duke University Law School has become a part owner in three minor professional teams in...

Nursing homes embrace healthcare trend.(Buffalo, New York)
September 6, 1999... Emergency room patients who are too sick to go home but not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital might find themselves being transferred to area nursing homes for a short stay. Buffalo-area nursing homes have been asking health-care...

Private pilots say flying boosts business.
September 6, 1999... Lengthy business road trips and exorbitant commercial airfares are a thing of the past for Robert Miller. He bought his own plane last year and flies where he wants, when he wants. While not commonplace, private flying for professional...

WNYers see region on wrong track.(Western New York)
September 6, 1999... Western New Yorkers are of two minds about current conditions. Fifty-one percent of the local adults surveyed by a new Business First-Goldhaber Research Associates Poll said the United States is headed in the right direction economically,...

Finding a leader for BNE tops Jacobs' priorities.(profile on Buffalo Niagara Enterprise's acting Chmn Jeremy Jacobs Jr.)
September 6, 1999... The new chairman of the controversy-marred Buffalo Niagara Enterprise must be part business leader, cheerleader, negotiator and fence-mender. And that person must be willing to serve out his or her term in a fishbowl, with many sets of...

WNY fitness gear dealer expands to Pittsburgh.(G and G Fitness' expansion to Pennsylvania)
September 6, 1999... G & G exercises expansion into Pennsylvania. G & G Fitness equipment, the area's oldest and largest specialty fitness equipment dealer, has opened the first of two planned retail locations in Pittsburgh. The first opening took place Sept. 1...

Computer career was in the bag.(profile on Base 2 Companies Inc.'s owner Joe Buscaglia)
September 6, 1999... Joe Buscaglia is perched in front of a computer, one hand on the mouse, the other holding a bagel. He rocks lightly in his chair, takes a final bite and highlights "shut down" under the menu bar. Not bad, only 1 a.m. Other nights he works...

Roof over their heads.(Small Business)(profile on Roberts Roofing and Siding Co. Inc.)
September 6, 1999... Family business grows and goes where service calls Roberts Roofing & Siding Co. Inc. 279 Ridge Road Lockport N.Y. 14094 Phone: 433-2883 fax: 439-8783 SMALL BUSINESS PROFILE What's going on: Besides roofing and siding, the...

A David among Goliaths.(profile on family-owned real estate and construction firm Gian Properties)
September 6, 1999... Transitown Plaza prospers under Gian Properties management At the corner of Main Street and Transit Road in Clarence stands the Transitown Plaza. Since 1957 the plaza has stood as a retail beacon for the northern suburbs and, at the...

Home, safe home.(home protection devices)
September 6, 1999... One of the scariest aspects of home ownership is the possibility that some day or some night, fire will break out, no matter how many precautions have been taken. In fact, the Consumer Products Safety Commission reported that 451,000...

Building out.(profile on general contractor Frontier Metal Buildings Inc.)
September 6, 1999... General contractor ranks among Top 300 metal builders in the country What's up: General contractor Frontier Metal Buildings has constructed or renovated more than 200 buildings in Niagara and Erie counties. As a Varco Pruden Buildings...

From public to private to public.(profile on Eric Gillert, the planning director of Amherst, New York)
September 6, 1999... Amherst planning director takes job and new career direction Even as the Town of Amherst went looking for a new planning director last winter, Supervisor Susan Grelick already had a candidate in mind. He was Eric Gillert, who at the...