Baltimore Business Journal articles from July 1998

Baltimore Business Journal archives from July 1998

Psychic Friends to be sold. (auctioning of the Psychic Friends Network trademark of Inphomation Communications Inc.)
July 3, 1998... A court-appointed trustee plans to sell Inphomation Communications Inc.'s most valuable assets to the highest bidder, a move that could snuff out Michael W. Lasky's hopes of taking back the company he founded. Paul-Michael Sweeney, the trustee...

Arundel mall on track: county executive backs financing. (Anne Arundel County executive John Gary)
July 3, 1998... County executive backs financing Anne Arundel County's top official pledged to support legislation that would clear the way for construction of the Baltimore area's first major new mall in more than a decade. The Mills Corp. of Arlington,...

Radio One plans stock sale in 1998. (Radio One Inc.)
July 3, 1998... Radio One Inc., the nation's largest African-American-owned radio broadcasting company, plans to go public. "We aren't public yet," Alfred Liggins, president and chief executive officer, told a June 25 gathering of radio industry executives in...

Wolpoff & Co. talking merger with Amex. (American Express Tax and Business Services Inc.)
July 3, 1998... American Express Tax & Business Services is negotiating to buy another one of Baltimore's largest accounting firms, sources close to the deal said this week. Wolpoff & Co., a 38-year-old downtown company with more than 90 employees, is only...

Bell Atlantic takes a hit in local rate loss. (Bell Atlantic Corp.)
July 3, 1998... Providing access to Maryland's $1.9 billion local calling market to would-be competitors won't be as lucrative as Bell Atlantic had hoped. The Maryland Public Service Commission ruled Thursday that Bell Atlantic must charge competitors such as...

Shareholder tries to oust firm's board. (Information Resource Engineering Inc. shareholder Steve Bronson)
July 3, 1998... A major shareholder in Baltimore-based Information Resource Engineering Inc. is challenging the company's management team by opposing its slate of directors. Steven Bronson, who holds 150,000 shares, or 2.7 percent, of the publicly traded...

Picking plan difficult, but rewarding. (health insurance plan)
July 3, 1998... When Bruce Schindler chose his company's health insurance plan, he wasn't just thinking about money. "Health insurance is something you can't play Russian roulette with," said Schindler, secretary and treasurer of Bob Davidson Ford Inc. in...

In the house: outsourcing trend hasn't reached the corporate lawyer.
July 3, 1998... David Schwiesow knew he wasn't alone. That's why the vice president and associate general counsel for the Rouse Co. helped start a local chapter of a national organization for people just like him - in-house corporate lawyers. With the trend...

'Best' worse off after Fox Fox deal fizzles. (Best 20 Group founder Benjamin Higgs suing Fox Broadcasting parent News Corp and McWhorter-Driscoll)
July 10, 1998... The founder of a Westminster company that partnered with Fox Broadcasting to find the superlatives of the 20th century is lashing out at the network with a $600 million lawsuit. Benjamin Higgs, founder of the Best 20 Group, is suing Fox parent...

BGE development good omen for Annapolis. (Baltimore Gas and Electric; Annapolis, Maryland)
July 10, 1998... The 204,000-square-foot Annapolis Exchange office building, the largest in the town's history, could signal the beginning of a building boom in the state capital. While office development there has been largely dormant in recent years, the new...

LearnWare hopes to be 1st in Can's incubator. (LearnWare LLC; Emerging Technology Center of American Can Co)
July 10, 1998... Clayton Ajello can't wait to move. The president of LearnWare LLC will be among the first to move into the American Can Co.'s Emerging Technology Center, au information-technology incubator. LearnWare, which develops interactive worker...

Doughnut store franchise seeks to fill hole. (Krispy Kreme Doughnut Co to open store in Baltimore, Maryland)
July 10, 1998... Krispy Kreme doughnuts, long a staple of the Southern palette, will soon be available in Baltimore. The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Krispy Kreme Doughnut Co. is making its way into the Baltimore area, with two new locations scheduled to open by...

Taking credit: collect the bills now, or pay later. (Floors Etc)
July 10, 1998... After 35 years in the floor-covering retail business, rapid growth and a growing staff prompted. management at Floors Etc. last year to take a hard look at the company to figure out how to ease the growth. The company turned to its distributor,...

Help wanter: Maryland's construction industry faces a growing shortage of skilled workers.(Industry Overview)
July 10, 1998... Jim Martin, vice president of North American Cos., is in the business of giving his customers what they want. But a severe shortage of skilled craftsmen is wreaking havoc with companies like Baltimore's North American, a commercial and...

Manekin closes in on sale. (Baltimore real estate developer to be acquired by AMB Property Corp.)
July 17, 1998... Old-line Baltimore real estate company latest to turn to REIT money Officials with the Manekin Corp., one of the Baltimore area's most prolific commercial real estate developers, are in the final rounds of negotiations to sell either the entire...

Developer plans Hilton in Annapolis. (Switzenbaum Realty Capital)
July 17, 1998... Anne Arundel County has tentatively picked a Philadelphia-based real estate company to develop a 200-room Hilton Garden Inn & Suites hotel and a 70,000-square-foot, $20 million conference center in Annapolis. The project will bring to the...

Mission: profits. (Sister Helen Amos, CEO of Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, MD)
July 17, 1998... How a savvy nun made Mercy rich As the chief executive officer of Mercy Medical Center, Sister Helen Amos knows her responsibility to charity. But she hasn't forgotten that profits are still the bottom line. Amos, the state's only ordained...

IRE rebuffs dissident but hears a message. (Information Resources Engineering Inc.)
July 17, 1998... Steven Bronson said before last Friday's annual meeting that he didn't think he had enough votes to throw out White Marsh-based Information Resource Engineering Inc.'s board of directors. He was right. Bronson, a Florida investment banker...

Gage looking to dress thousands at big sale. (Gage Menswear)
July 17, 1998... Bill Glazer knows most men hate to shop. So, in a bid to set his menswear company apart from the national chains, he has organized a $100,000 "Menswear Mania." Glazer, owner of Gage Menswear in Baltimore, organized the event with several...

Radio One's debt offering rated by agencies.
July 17, 1998... The nation's top two rating agencies graded the debt and loans Radio One Inc. is using to expand nationally, offering potential investors a peek into the finances of the privately held radio broadcasting company. Both Standard & Poor's Inc....

Monument tries 'Net fund. (Monument Funds Group Inc. launches new mutual fund focusing on Internet companies)
July 17, 1998... Alexander Cheung is ambitious, but not delusional. Cheung, adviser and senior portfolio manager at the new Laurel-based Monument Funds Group Inc., said he doesn't expect a new Monument mutual fund that will focus on Internet companies to rival...

Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 17, 1998... Corporate Profile Sylvan Learnings Systems Inc. had a record year for financial performance, with revenues reaching $246.2 million, an increase of 35 percent from 1996. Net income increased to $29.4 million, compared to net income of $14.8...

Price nabs Foodservice stock; mutual fund sees untapped value in new giant. (T. Rowe Price Associates Inc.; U.S. Foodservice)
July 24, 1998... Mutual fund sees untapped value in new giant Mutual fund giant T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. has spent more than $50 million since January to boost its stake in Columbia-based food distributor U.S. Foodservice. Since the $1.2 billion merger...

Newly public I.C. Isaacs sees stock plunge.
July 24, 1998... The stock of East Baltimore clothes maker I.C. Isaacs & Co. Inc. has fallen through the floor since the company went public only eight months ago. The 85-year-old company's stock - which debuted on the Nasdaq stock market in December - opened...

Firm says state erred in contract. (PHP Healthcare Corp.)
July 24, 1998... A Northern Virginia company claims the state violated its contract to provide health care to Baltimore prisons. PHP Healthcare Corp. signed a contract in June 1996 to provide health care to inmates in nine Baltimore City jails, but the company...

UM raises rates to pay for uninsured patients. (University of Maryland Medical System)
July 24, 1998... To help pay for uninsured, nonpaying patients at its Shock Trauma and cancer centers, the state gave approval to the University of Maryland Medical System to raise rates for the first time in a decade. Sean Cavanaugh, associate director of the...

New Kaiser chief eyes growth in Baltimore. (Kaiser Permanente executive director Robert L. Williams)
July 24, 1998... Robert L Williams took over Kaiser Permanente's Baltimore operations with an eye on growth. After being named the health maintenance organization's vice president and executive director in April, Williams is developing a business plan that...

Odyssey tries hand at video technology. (Odyssey Technologies Inc.)
July 24, 1998... At Odyssey Technologies Inc., chairman Frank Cheng plays surveillance video from five days before and watches one of his employees walk into the office on a recent Saturday afternoon. It's nothing dramatic, just his vice president of research...

Cosmetic Center Inc. (Proxy Reports Excerpt)(Company Profile)
July 24, 1998... A weekly analysis of Baltimore-area public companies Corporate profile While 1997 was a big year in the history of the Cosmetic Center Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Revlon Inc., 1998 is turning out to be even more interesting. In June,...

Bell, AT&T plan rate appeals.(Bell Atlantic Corp.)
July 31, 1998... AT&T Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp. will ask the Maryland Public Service Commission to rethink a controversial order designed to pave the way for local telephone service competition. The companies are upset over the commission's July 2...

HMOs suffer bum profits, image in '98.(health maintenance organizations)
July 31, 1998... Bashed by politicians and scorned by the media, Maryland's health maintenance organizations have lost the rosy image they once enjoyed. But while public relations can be fickle and executives here say they can win back public trust, a more...

Back to the future: for new Fila chief, the past is where it's at.(Fila USA; Jon Epstein)
July 31, 1998... Each morning Jon Epstein arrives at File USA's Hunt Valley offices and cringes. Emblazoned on the side of the sportswear makers U.S. headquarters is Fila's motto: "Change the Game." "We're not using that anymore. What does it mean...

Demand drives up parking costs in city.(Baltimore, MD)
July 31, 1998... Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. A brisk office market and the development of new tourist attractions has led the cost of the scant available parking spaces downtown to skyrocket. The average monthly cost to park in...

Duo sees opportunity in church community.(Brian D. Morris and Vernon J. Marrow of Legacy Unlimited LLC)
July 31, 1998... Every time Brian D. Morris and Vernon J. Marrow start preaching in church, the sermon is always the same. The pair, both former Legg Mason Wood Walker stockbrokers, has taken to the pulpit to educate African-American churches and their...

Housing experiment readies construction; unique marketing challenges at Terraces.(Townhomes at Terraces)
July 31, 1998... With the start of construction just weeks away, developers of the Townhomes at the Terraces are on the cusp of an ambitious effort to remake inner-city living with public dollars. The drive presents a marketing challenge most residential...

Zurich tries new help wanted campaign.(Zurich Personal Insurance)
July 31, 1998... A Baltimore-based insurance company is trying to shed its suit-and-tie image with a series of eye-catching help-wanted ads that target a more diverse pool of potential employees. Zurich Personal Insurance is running ads that feature either...

Investors see signs of REITs slowing down.(real estate investment trusts)
July 31, 1998... Though real estate investment trusts have been white-hot for developers and real estate brokers, Wall Street may have some cold water waiting in a bucket. So far this year, the so-called REITs, the public companies that deal in commercial...

Towson-based firm finds profits in insurance fraud.(Vips Healthcare Information Services' fraud-detecting software)
July 31, 1998... A Towson-based software company is cashing in on a nationwide health insurance fraud crackdown. Vips Healthcare Information Services develops software that helps insurance and health care firms detect and track improper payments, a...

Keep lines open; talking is key when seeking permits.(Growth Strategies)(PMT & Associates' services for obtaining environmental permits)
July 31, 1998... Obtaining environmental permits for a business in Maryland is known by business owners from Cumberland to Salisbury to be a seemingly impossible task. But small-business owners often can ease the pain by communicating, say many business...

HCIA Inc.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 31, 1998... Corporate Profile: HCIA Inc. had one of its most challenging years in history in 1997. The company experienced execution problems that led to disappointing financial results in the first half of the year, but ended the year on track....