Baltimore Business Journal articles from July 1996

Baltimore Business Journal archives from July 1996

Merger planned for S&Ls. (savings and loan associations in Baltimore, Maryland)
July 5, 1996... Would form huge thrift Doing an about-face on its pledge to run three Baltimore thrifts separately, a Pennsylvania bank plans to consolidate the three into one organization. Susquehanna Bancshares Inc., a $3 billion bank headquartered in...

Dry cleaner plans 10 Baltimore stores. (Blue Ribbon Industries)
July 5, 1996... A New Jersey dry cleaning chain, which claims it has solved potential hazardous waste problems that plague the industry, plans to open about 10 locations in the Baltimore area over the next year. But Blue Ribbon Industries of Cherry Hill, N.J.,...

Trying for more best sellers. (Bibelot bookstore)
July 5, 1996... Bibelot building two new stores to reach readers Just when it seemed that superstores were gobbling up all the mom-and-pop book nooks, Brian Weese came up with a strategy: Play on their reading level. In April 1995, that meant opening a...

Tenants run to be near shoe store. (SRI Shoe Warehouse)
July 5, 1996... The success of an outlet shoe retailer in Reisterstown has led to the nearly complete leasing of a 115,000-square-foot warehouse complex, and is one of the key reasons the center is becoming a retail draw. When the final phase of the...

Waverly Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 5, 1996... Corporate profile Revenue from overseas ventures, which rose to 40 percent this year, and revenue from new products helped medical publisher Waverly Inc. achieve record sales, net earnings and earnings per share numbers in 1995. Revenue from...

Credit card debts pile up. (debts in Maryland banks)
July 12, 1996... Nationwide 'plastic disease' hits banks Credit card delinquencies at seven Maryland banks rose above the national average in the first quarter, a small sampling of how credit card debts are building nationwide. Bank of Glen Burnie, Harbor...

Metro set to go public. (Metro Networks Inc.'s initial public offering)
July 12, 1996... Getting stuck in traffic was one of the best things David Saperstein ever did for himself. He was a Ford car dealer commandeering the streets of Baltimore one day in 1978 when he had the idea for a company that recently claimed it reaches out...

Soaring 'Net spurs tax visions. (planned taxation of online services in Maryland)
July 12, 1996... The tax man is setting his sights on the Internet. A growing number of state and local government across the country are considering ways to get revenue from the sale of online services. And Maryland may not be far behind. The state Senate...

Weinberg & Green licking its wounds. (efforts to improve its image)
July 12, 1996... A local law firm that has had more than its share of negative publicity recently is now looking for ways to regroup and polish its image. That effort, according to speculation in the legal community, might even mean a name change for the firm...

Job growth nationwide outpaces Baltimore.
July 12, 1996... Unemployment may be dropping in Baltimore, but the region still isn't creating jobs at a rate competitive with the rest of the country. According to a Business Journal study, Baltimore's non-farm employment rose 2.91 percent from 1993 to 1995,...

Hopkins, U.S. Healthcare team up on 'Net. (Johns Hopkins Hospital and U.S. Health Care Systems Inc.'s planned online health information service)
July 12, 1996... Johns Hopkins is teaming up with one of the nation's largest managed care organizations to form a new Internet-based health information and consumer products company. U.S. Healthcare, which is best known for its extensive network of health...

Where are these buildings? (discontinued office building projects in Baltimore, Maryland)(Special Report: Real Estate/Construction)
July 12, 1996... Where are they? The short answer is: Nowhere. But they do exist. Either in models that are collecting dust in real estate brokerages or in drawings that have been rolled up and filed away at architectural firms. More than a half-dozen...

Builders open home stores as buyers' choices grow.(Special Report: Real Estate/Construction)
July 12, 1996... Given the sluggish housing market and the gloomy economic outlook in general, several area builders have recently opened home stores to try to gain a competitive advantage. "It used to be that home buyers could just choose between three shades...

Interior designers start to benefit from mergers. (recovery of the Baltimore, MD, interior design industry)(Special Report: Real Estate/Construction)
July 12, 1996... Change - rapid change - has swept the interior design industry, both in Baltimore and nationally. Leaders in the profession say it's a good news-bad news situation. "We were hit with a kind of double whammy," said Michael Asner, whose...

Signet sells off portfolio. (Signet Banking Corp.)
July 19, 1996... Signet Banking Corp. sold off $86 million worth of commercial real estate loans as part of its plan to exit what it considers risky lending to real estate developers. In the process, the $11 billion Richmond, Va.-based bank has disbanded part...

Sporting goods stores move into region. (Galyan's Trading Co. and Modell's Sporting Goods in Baltimore, Maryland)
July 19, 1996... Two chains plan to enter market, others expanding As if a new football team weren't enough to keep Baltimoreans sportsminded, retailers are going to pound the message home. At least two sporting goods chains - Galyan's Trading Co. and...

How to tax emerging industries? It's complex.
July 19, 1996... Legislators take look at telecom, computer firms Cable television companies that do business in Maryland must pay corporate income taxes, property taxes and local franchise fees. The new "wireless cable" television industry must pay the same...

Becoming the boss in a single bound. (includes related article on selling a business to an employee)
July 19, 1996... Some employees climb the corporate ladder by buying the business from their employers Kenneth and Lillian Crowley of Baltimore dreamed of going into business for themselves, so five years ago they started cutting their expenses and socking the...

HCIA Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 19, 1996... Corporate profile Last month, George Pillari was named one of Maryland's nine most successful entrepreneurs of the year by Ernst & Young LLP, and no wonder - he's transformed his 11-year-old health care information services company, HCIA, into...

BGE, union fight over vote. (Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.; International Brotherhood of Electric Workers Local 1900)
July 26, 1996... Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and its would-be union have been sparring all summer over an upcoming union election that could have a profound effect on the utility's future. In a National Labor Relations Board hearing room on Gay Street in...

Contractor must pay higher wages. (Maryland)
July 26, 1996... Move may spread to other work The state has decided to require a private contractor to pay an hourly wage 55 percent above the current federal minimum, a move that could spread to other government contracts. Maryland's Board of Public Works...

Pa. manufacturer to open plant in city. (Fypon Inc.'s planned facility in Baltimore, Maryland)
July 26, 1996... A Pennsylvania manufacturer of home building materials is nearing a deal to open a new plant in Baltimore City, possibly bringing as many as 60 new jobs. After a lengthy search that included York County, Pa., and northeast Maryland, Fypon Inc....

Big employers cut health costs with muscle.
July 26, 1996... Regional coalition representing about 150,000 workers reports savings A health insurance buyers' group created to negotiate price breaks for local businesses apparently has produced big savings for its members. MidAtlantic Healthcare...

Holabird site sold for $13M. (Fila USA's facility at Fort Holabird Industrial Park in Baltimore, Maryland)
July 26, 1996... Hale purchase, Obrecht site signs of strength in East Baltimore industrial market Fila USA's warehouse facility at the Fort Holabird Industrial Park in Baltimore City has been sold to a Chicago pension fund adviser for more than $13 million....

Two women-owned firms in the zone: Techmark, Space Technologies find place to call home.
July 26, 1996... Techmark, Space Technologies find place to call home Two women-owned companies are the latest to take advantage of promised tax credits and low rents in Baltimore's federal empowerment zone. Terri Annis and Rebecca Bergman, both veterans of...

Giant Food Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 26, 1996... A weekly analysis of Baltimore-area public companies Corporate profile Giant is moving forward with its expansion plans, opening eight new stores in the next year, including five in New Jersey, one in Pennsylvania, one in Virginia and one in...