Baltimore Business Journal articles from April 1999

Baltimore Business Journal archives from April 1999

Ex-broker sues Coleman.(Randal Jenkins; Coleman Craten LLC)
April 30, 1999... With lawsuits piling up, employee asks for $500,000 signing bonus Coleman Craten LLC lured Randal Jenkins to Baltimore with promises of a hefty $500,000 signing bonus and a chance to latch onto a rising stock brokerage. The...

Riparius buyers surface.(Riparius Development Corp.; Corporate Office Properties Trust)
April 30, 1999... A massive Philadelphia-area real estate investment trust is the leading candidate to buy 653,000 square feet of property in the Baltimore suburbs. Sources familiar with the talks said Highwoods Properties Inc., which owns the local...

St. John's work: why Ed St. John is sitting pretty at MIE.(MIE Properties Inc.)
April 30, 1999... Edward A. St. John Jr.'s home atop 300 sprawling acres in Owings Mills suggests a man enamored of the spectacle and pomp often associated with real estate moguls. Inside the 20,000-square-foot home, built in 1940 for a Vanderbilt heir, a...

Station sets top ranks; WMAR-TV team tries for ratings turnaround.
April 30, 1999... WMAR-TV team tries for ratings turnaround The local ABC television affiliate, in its latest move to halt.a ratings slide, promoted two employees to station manager and news director. WMAR-TV 2 this month tapped Drew Berry, who joined...

REIT stocks surge as Buffett buys in.(real estate investment trust; Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett)
April 30, 1999... Stock for local and national real estate investment trusts are on the upswing after a year-long trend of tumbling prices. Baltimore-area REITs such as the Rouse Co., Prime Retail Inc. and Town & Country Trust have enjoyed a boost in stock...

Novavax looks for break with menopause drugs.
April 30, 1999... Novavax Inc. executives hope the final phase of tests on a possible breakthrough drug for menopausal women is finished before the company runs out of money. On April 16, the Columbia research and development company sold 1,651,100 shares...

Who's who in health care.(Baltimore, MD'S healthcare industry)
April 30, 1999... From its world-renowned hospitals to its infamous public health problems, Greater Baltimore is at the center of the nation's constantly evolving health care industry. For the first time, the Baltimore Business Journal presents a special...

First Mariner Bancorp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 30, 1999... 1801 S. Clinton St. / Baltimore 21224 Corporate profile After posting a record performance last year, First Mariner Bancorp is positioning itself to become even larger and more profitable in 1999. The Canton-based bank company, which...

And the winners are....(Growth Strategies)(Nauticos Corp. Pres. David Jourdan, recipient of SBA Small Business Person of the Year award)
April 30, 1999... If a single word could sum up the business philosophy of this year's Small Business Administration "Entrepreneur of the Year" in Maryland, that word is "flexibility." David Jourdan knows how to follow the action. In his world,...

South found his calling parking cars in Annapolis.(Growth Strategies)(Towne Park Ltd. owner Jerry South, recipient of SBA Entrepreneurial Success award)
April 30, 1999... Putting college on hold has given Jerry South a better education than he would have found in a classroom. The 34-year-old owner of the Annapolis-based Towne Park Ltd. has watched a short-term college job grow into an $11 million-per-year...

High-tech firm spans the globe to sell wares.(Growth Strategies)(American Microwave Corp., recipient of SBA Small Business Exporter award)
April 30, 1999... In a tiny conference room tucked away in a nondescript Frederick office park, Raymond Sicotte squints at work orders that are displayed behind glass, in black frames, as if they were historical documents. "Here's a Germany," announces the...

Doctors look for way out: two groups seeking exit from Mass. firm.(Flaghip Health and Clinical Associates to leave Physicians Quality Care Inc.)
April 23, 1999... Scores of area doctors are trying to untangle themselves from a crumbling Massachusetts-based physician practice management company before their practice are lost. A week ago, officials Clinical Associates of Baltimore, announced they...

DQ seeks 40 stores here.(Dairy Queen Inc. to help franchise owners open 30 to 40 restaurants in Maryland)
April 23, 1999... After decades of pretty much ignoring the nation's third-largest consumer market, International Dairy Queen Inc. wants to help franchise owners open 30 to 40 restaurants here within the next four years. "We were looking at development...

MedStar: not quite a household name.(MedStar Health, the new name of the merged companies of Helix Health and Medlantic Healthcare)
April 23, 1999... MedStar, the new name affixed to Baltimore's second-largest health system, won't be affixed to much else. The health system is spending a mere $140,000 on external advertisements announcing the name switch from Helix Health and Medlantic...

Getting healthy.(HCIA Inc. CEO George D. Pillari brings his firm to the brink of a turnaround)
April 23, 1999... Pillari is an unlikely turnaround artist Now that he has unloaded the unprofitable side of HCIA Inc., George D. Pillari feels freer than he has been in years. The 36-year-old chief executive recently took a much-needed vacation and...

E.spire paid $650K to short-timer CEO.(E.spire Communications, Jack E. Reich)
April 23, 1999... E.spire Communications Inc. paid a hefty separation fee to discharge two top executives who spent less than a year at the company. The severance Jack E. Reich, former chief executive officer at e.spire, took home included $550,000 in...

Provident shareholders back management.(Provident Bankshares Corp.)
April 23, 1999... Shareholders of Provident Bankshares Corp. this week shot down a proposal by a dissident shareholder calling for the sale of the banking company. After a slight delay in tabulating shareholder votes at the company's April 21 annual...

D.C. real estate firm on shopping spree.(Bernstein Cos.)
April 23, 1999... Bernstein Cos. planning to invest $100 million pension funds in regional deals A Washington real estate firm plans to spend $100 million in pension money on properties throughout the Mid-Atlantic and is specifically targeting Baltimore...

New Equitable CEO the 'perfect choice.'.(Sharon V. Woodward)
April 23, 1999... The fact that she is the first female CEO in Baltimore Equitable Insurance Corp.'s 205-year history doesn't daunt Sharon V. Woodward. In fact, Woodward said when she was named to the post earlier this year, succeeding longtime CEO...

Music store enters city with Hopkins site.(Record & Tape Traders Inc.)
April 23, 1999... Call it a no-brainer. Record & Tape Traders Inc., a 21-year-old local chain of music stores, is opening a store directly across the street from Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus. Record & Tape Traders joins a growing number of...

The human factor: human resources pros become a corporate force.
April 23, 1999... In an age when automation and robotics were supposed to have replaced human workers, Carroll Nordhoff is convinced that people are more of a precious asset to a company than ever before. And the executive vice president of McCormick & Co....

A conversation with ... Mary Kraft.(president, Mary Kraft & Associates Inc.)(Interview)
April 23, 1999... president, Mary Kraft & Associates Inc. Finding and keeping good employees is key to the success of any business or industry. In today's healthy economy, with its historically low unemployment rates, this is a greater challenge for...

Projects line up for PILOTs.(Maryland's payment-in-lieu-of-taxes)
April 16, 1999... Developers of several stalled downtown real estate projects are lining up for tax breaks after the General Assembly passed legislation that allows developers to negotiate property taxes with the city. Both the Senate and the House of...

The battle for Provident: Shearer: truth will set the stock free.(Provident Bancshares Corp.; Mid-Atlantic Investors managing partner Jerry Shearer)
April 16, 1999... Jerry Shearer, the soft-spoken Southerner who has made himself an enemy of numerous bank CEOs across the Southeast, will soon be giving Provident Bankshares Corp. a taste of just how fierce a proxy battle can be. Historically, annual...

Analysts say Carolina banks eye Baltimore.(The Battle for Provident)(South Carolina)
April 16, 1999... BB&T Corp. and First Union Corp. number among the banks most likely to take advantage of efforts by a South Carolina investment company to force the sale of Provident Bankshares, analysts say. BB&T of Winston-Salem, N.C., would jump from...

Genesis marketing benefits for elder care.(Genesis Health Ventures' ElderCare Benefits packages)
April 16, 1999... By pitching its ElderCare Benefits packages to employers, Genesis Health Ventures is hoping the fastest way to a growing market of seniors is through their kids and grandkids. The Kennett square. Pa., company is marketing the product,...

State scrutinizes pre-pay funeral deals.(Maryland)
April 16, 1999... Maryland officials want to get a grip on how much money the funeral industry is reaping through the lucrative practice of selling funerals to people before they die. By April 15, Maryland mortuary service providers, including funeral...

Health bills make way through Md. assembly.
April 16, 1999... After a slow start, several key health care bills gained momentum in the last days of the General Assembly, with legislators passing the first step in regulatory reform as well as several bills that force insurers to pay for more hospital...

Local PR exec wants to cash in on ATMs.(MMA Public Relations & Advertising Pres. Michael J. Szimanski's plan to use automated teller machines as advertising medium)
April 16, 1999... The president of Baltimore-based MMA Public Relations & Advertising sees cash in ATMs. Looking beyond the 10- and 20-dollar bills behind ATMs' facades, Michael J. Szimanski said he foresees ATMs - both their screens and receipts -...

Visa opens venture fund to member banks.(Financial Quarterly)(Visa International)
April 16, 1999... Visa International, the huge credit card company, is opening its successful venture capital program to its 20,000 member banks, hoping to raise as much as $200 million for a new fund. "We are still focusing on the specifics, but expect to...

A conversation with ... Daniel T. McHugh.(Financial Quarterly)(president of Lombard Securities Inc.)(Interview)
April 16, 1999... Daniel T. McHugh, president, Lombard Securities Inc. Life is good for stockbrokers and financial analysts these days. With the bull market hitting record highs and the economy showing little or no signs of recession, brokerage firms...

Southwest Airlines Co.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 16, 1999... P.O. Box 36611 / Dallas, TX 75235 / (214) 792-4000/www.southwest.com Corporate profile Southwest Airlines Co., with 82 daily nonstop departures and 23 percent of the market. is the second-largest carrier at Baltimore/Washington...

Two EPIC founders try again: Anchor has funds for 46 stores, will join crowded local pharmacy market.(EPIC Pharmacies; Anchor Pharmacies Inc.)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 9, 1999... Backed by a well-heeled California investor, the founders of EPIC Pharmacies have launched a new chain of drug stores in the Baltimore area to take on an industry ruled by chain-store titans and managed-care companies. Anchor Pharmacies...

Ryland to sell plant.(Ryland Group Inc sells wood products plant to Universal Forest Products Inc)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 9, 1999... New owner will add jobs to Carroll facility Ryland Group Inc. will shed the last of its manufacturing operations after selling its western Carroll County wood products plant to a Michigan company that plans to expand the operation. ...

First Mariner profits skyrocket in 1998.(First Mariner Bancorp.)(Company Financial Information)
April 9, 1999... First Mariner Bancorp's earnings shot up 208 percent to $1.1 million in 1998, marking the company's most significant growth spurt since it was founded four years ago. Driving much of the increase was a jump in total loans, which grew...

Baltimore distributor acquires competitor.(Northeastern Supply Inc. acquires Sigler's Supply of Baltimore)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 9, 1999... Northeastern Supply Inc., a fast-growing Baltimore distribution company, has agreed to buy one of its local competitors. Northeastern signed a letter of intent to pay an undisclosed sum for Sigler's Supply of Baltimore, a 67-year-old...

First Maryland trust arm gets new chief.(FMB Trust names Rick Gold as CEO and Kathy Jackson as president and chief trust officer)(Company Operations)
April 9, 1999... First Maryland Bancorp's trust and investment arm has two new faces at the helm. Rick A. Gold has been named CEO and Kathy A. Jackson has been named president and chief trust officer of FMB Trust, a subsidiary of the Baltimore-based...

Hotels target long-term guests.(Baltimore-Washington markets)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 9, 1999... Extended-stay hotels are all the rage in the hospitality industry this year, and the Baltimore-Washington market has been no exception. Marriott International, for instance, which already has more than half a dozen extended-stay...

Working it out: hospitality industry gets people off the welfare rolls.(Company Operations)
April 9, 1999... Angela Patterson knows her seafood. Her shifts at Shuckers Raw Bar in Harborplace involve making crab cakes, creating four kinds of soups and steaming more than 30 pounds of shrimp a day. But, she said, living with that constant...

Cordish considers a different Inner Harbor.(real estate developer Cordish Co.)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 9, 1999... What happens during the next few months along Buffalo's Inner Harbor may set the tone for the economic development future for the western New York city. And Baltimore-based Cordish Co. could be a major part of that future. Development...

Hospitals look to hotels for business tips.(Baltimore-Washington market)
April 9, 1999... Does the hand hospitality maxim "The customer's always right" translate seamlessly into "The patient's always right"? Several area hospitals believe it does, and they're calling on the hospitality experts for help. Earlier this...

U.S. Airways Group Inc.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 9, 1999... 2345 Crystal Drive/Arlington, Va 22227/(703) 872-5305 Corporate profile US Airways Group Inc. has been on a crusade to improve profits, its planes, and its stock price for the past several years. In 1998, chairman Stephen M. Wolf...

Chasing the Road Runner: @Home parent could find broadband affiliate attractive.(Company Business and Marketing)
April 9, 1999... The proposed merger of cable television giants Comcast Corp. and MediaOne Group prompted speculation that the cable industry's two leading high-speed Internet services, @Home and Road Runner, also will merge. But a spokesman for Reston,...

Bridge building: Warren Green emerges as merger maven.(LifeBridge Health Inc. chief executive officer)
April 2, 1999... The ink is still drying on an agreement to merge the troubled New Children's Hospital into the much larger Sinai Health System. But what will be the third merger for Sinai is already cementing CEO Warren Green's reputation as a deal-maker....

First Md. nixes '98 bonuses.(First Maryland Bancorp cuts bonuses for top executives)
April 2, 1999... Maritime loan glitches dampen performance Due in part to the Asian financial crisis, First Maryland Bancorp cut out bonuses for its top five executives last year, making good on its promise not to hand out rewards if earnings goals fell...

Club owner to try again.(Hammerjacks ex-owner Louis Principio planning a rock n' roll nightclub in a warehouse)
April 2, 1999... The former owner of Hammerjacks wants to recreate the rock 'n' roll nightclub in a warehouse near the Ravens stadium. Louis Principio said he is eyeing, a warehouse at 1226 Wicomico St. for a $2.5 million concert hall that would seat...

Columbia company buys 1,200-worker firm.(Columbia, Maryland-based Dakota Imaging Inc. buys Denver, Colorado-based Data and Entry Information Systems Corp.)
April 2, 1999... Columbia-based Dakota Imaging Inc., which has just 60 employees, is planning on multiplying its work force - by 20. Dakota Imaging president Sandeep Goel said the company is close to completing a deal to buy Data & Entry Information...

University spin-off is in the zone.(Zone Therapeutics Inc. conducts research on oral drug therapies)(Company Profile)
April 2, 1999... Zone Therapeutics researches oral drugs Dr. Alessio Fasano is afraid of needles. But that's only one reason he began research in 1991 to find a way to deliver drugs to the blood stream without injections. "Who isn't afraid of...

At the plate: companies line up to cash in on baseball fever.(Focus on the Orioles)(corporate sponsorship of the Baltimore Orioles)
April 2, 1999... When the bats start cracking at Oriole Park at Camden Yards next week, the Baltimore Orioles won't be the only major corporation hoping to cash in big on the 1999 baseball season. More than 85 companies have a financial stake in the...

Orioles hope D.C. stays in the dugout.(Focus on the Orioles)(Baltimore Orioles oppose the formation of a new professional baseball team in the Washington, D.C., area)
April 2, 1999... The bats have been silent in Washington for almost 30 years. And the Baltimore Orioles want to keep it that way. The nation's capital has not had a professional baseball team since 1971, when the Washington Senators became the last...

Player salaries continue their upward spiral.(Focus on the Orioles)(Industry Overview)
April 2, 1999... Albert Belle makes more than you. Even if you're in the top echelon of high-paid Baltimore executives, Belle probably pulls in about 10 times more a year than you do. No one, Orioles General Manager Frank Wren included, expected baseball...

A conversation with ... Bud Selig.(Focus on the Orioles)(interview with Major League Baseball commissioner)(Interview)
April 2, 1999... If you're talking to Bud Selig about the economics of baseball, it won't be long before he reminds you about the importance of hope and faith. The way George Bush had 1,000 points of light; the way Patrick Henry had liberty or death; the...

Class warfare coming to big league baseball.(Focus on the Orioles)(sharing of media revenues among professional baseball clubs)
April 2, 1999... It's not hard to understand why the barons of baseballs more lucrative markets so fiercely resisted revenue sharing before caving - and even then only slightly - during then' last labor battle. The New York Yankees will make more than $40...

Networks may pay more for baseball on TV.(national broadcast rights)
April 2, 1999... When it comes time to bid on baseball's national broadcast rights after the 2000 season, major league officials will have only one thing on their minds: hockey. The Walt Disney Co. paid $600 million to televise the NHL on ABC and ESPN...

Horse tracks get a Web boost.(Maryland Jockey Club signs contract with Youbet.com for online simulcasting of horse-racing)
April 2, 1999... Pimlico, Laurel races to get online audience The Maryland Jockey Club is betting it can broaden its fan base by using the Internet to reach a younger audience. An agreement signed two weeks ago between the Maryland Jockey Club - the...