Baltimore Business Journal articles from March 2000

Baltimore Business Journal archives from March 2000

Quiet giant.(Royal Ahold acquires U.S. Foodservice)
March 31, 2000... Royal Ahold eating up food industry When most Baltimoreans make a run for groceries or dine out with their significant other, they have no idea that they're stepping into Dutch territory. But if ifs the local Giant supermarket or a...

Techies lobby for funding.(for the Maryland Technology Development Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... In an unprecedented show of unity, the State's technology companies are rallying together in support of increased funding for the Maryland Technology Development Corp. With the General Assembly expected to decide by April 3 whether the...

W.R. Grace acquires fire product co.(International Protective Coatings Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The chemical manufacturing division of Columbia-based W.R. Grace & Co. paid an undisclosed amount of cash this week for International Protective Coatings Corp., a Middletown, NJ. manufacturer of fire-protection products. Officials with...

City manufacturer lays off 179 workers.(Eastern Standard Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A Baltimore company that manufactures and sells above-ground pools and 'window coverings is dosing the remainder of its operations in the next two months, leaving at least 179 people out of work. Eastern Standard Corp., with headquarters...

Bankrupt chain auctions two stores.(Valu Food Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Valu Food Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection in November 1998, auctioned off two of its six remaining grocery stores. Food Lion Inc. bid $60,000 for the lease of Valu Food's Hanover store while Stop, Shop & Save offered $65,000 for...

GTS Duratek acquires business.(nuclear services business of Waste Management Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... GTS Duratek Inc., a radioactive waste services company based in Columbia, has entered into an agreement to acquire Waste Management Inc.'s nuclear services business for up to $65 million in cash. The transaction is expected to add about $100...

Internet media firm gets' $250,000.(Web-On-Site)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Web-On-Site, a Baltimore Internet media company, received $250,000 in bridal stage investment capital from the Delaware Innovation Fund. As part of the funding agreement, Web-on-Site will pursue opportunities to place network and customer...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
March 31, 2000... In the list of "Largest day care centers in the Baltimore area" [Vol. 17, March 10-16, Page 22] YMCA of Central Maryland should have been No. 1, with a 1999 enrollment of 3,500 at their 73 Baltimore area locations. The YMCA did not provide...

Blake to strike again.(Norman P. Blake Jr.)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... This news might bring back some bad memories for former USF&G Corp. employees. It seems that Norman P. Blake Jr., the corporate turnaround specialist who was named CEO of the US. Olympic Committee last month, isn't about to shake his...

Foul ball.(survey of baseball fans)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... The old saying goes something like this: There are liars, damned liars and statisticians. New York-based Scarborough Research Corp. -- to be sure, a well-respected polling organization -- got us thinking about that old adage this week...

Acting dean.(Eric C. Schneider)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The search is still on for a new dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law. But in the meantime, one of the school's law professors will step in. University of Baltimore president H. Mebane Turner named Eric C. Schneider as...

Gainers & Losers.(Baltimore, Maryland)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... As a Dutch food conglomerate becomes a force in Maryland, a venerable Baltimore grocery chain bites the dust Louis Denrich It's a sad day in Baltimore as it loses one of its long-time supermarket chains. Hopefully, Denrich can make a...

Convention bill stalls in Senate committee.(Maryland)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A bill languishing in the state Senate Budget and Tax Committee could cost Baltimore up to $180 million over three years if it is not passed, the state's top tourism official said. The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association...

Angels group taps Columbia Internet venture.(MarylandAngel Council funds FastTrends.com Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Eric Henry needed another quarter million dollars to further. his company's plan to promote licensing of sports and other pop culture products on the Internet. But the president of Columbia's FastTrends.com Inc. did not want to yield...

Microsoft files lawsuit against five Md. firms.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Five local computer distributors are on the receiving end of separate software piracy lawsuits filed by Microsoft Corp. The five individual lawsuits, which were filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, allege that each...

Governor 'anxious' for passage of septic law.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening has taken strong stances this session on several hot-button national issues ranging from locks on handguns to anti-discrimination laws for homosexuals. But a rather unlikely topic also is topping...

Legg Mason prepares for its future growth.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Legg Mason Inc. is preparing for the possibility of raising up to $450 million through a debt offering, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27. The proposed bond offering follows a furious...

Disposable income in Maryland among Top 20.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Marylanders have lots of money to spend -- at least according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the agency that tracks income levels. The agency recently released new data measuring disposable income -- the amount of money earned...

Major losses plunge Genesis into 'junk' status.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Genesis Health Ventures Inc., a company that runs 37 nursing homes in Maryland, is facing many of the same troubles that plunged Integrated Health Services Inc. into bankruptcy. Genesis, crippled by $1.5 billion in debt and losing about...

Orioles Web developer in lawsuit.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Ultrastar Internet Services, which is developing the subscription sections of the Baltimore Orioles' and New York Yankees'. Web sites, filed a summons in New York County state court that it intends to bring suit against ACSSports.com, its...

Owings Mills distributor signs $1M contract.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Jarrett Industries, an Owings Mills packaging and distribution firm, signed a contract worth more than $1 million to supply appliance manufacturer Frigidaire WITH all of its packaging. Frigidaire's Fletcher, N.C. re-shipping and packaging...

Harford brewery to grow.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... DuClaw Brewing Co. of Bel Air is expanding to three new locations over the next three years. The four-year-old company is also bringing its own brand of beer to the shelves in local markets by the end of this year. Each of the new locations...

NAACP wins settlement.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... NAACP president and CEO Kweisi Mfume announced an $8 million settlement between the Adam's Mark Hotel and Resorts chain and five African-American students represented by the NAACP, the U.S. Justice Department and the Florida Attorney...

Bethesda gets Expo store.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... An Expo Design Center is headed for a former Hechinger site in Bethesda. Atlanta-based Home Depot has chosen that 95,000-square-foot space -- across the street from Montgomery Mall -- for its high-end interior design concept. The store...

Hammers in the morning.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Ever had the urge to do some caulking at say, 3 a.m.? No problem, says Home Depot. The Atlanta, Ga-based home-improvement chain will offer 24-hour service in five of its Maryland stores. Home Depots in Bel Air, College Park, Dundalk,...

State to watch over 'payday loan' trade.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Pawn brokers and check-cashers who are making so-called "pay-day" loans in Maryland now will have to be licensed by the state or risk criminal penalties. Under the terms of a payday loan, the borrower writes the check-cashing company a...

Got money?(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer is seeking the rightful owners to $107 million in unclaimed funds held by financial institutions. The comptroller's office ran an eight-page advertising supplement that ran in 36 newspapers...

Bank hires Stegman.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Annapolis National Bancorp Inc. replaced its accountant, Rowles & Co. LLP with Stegman & Co. on March 16, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents. The move is the latest in a series of changes at the bank since it had...

Honesty among auditors.(study by Institute for Operations Research, Management Sciences)(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A new study by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences in Linthicum says that auditors are more likely to be honest than sales people. Since auditors are legally accountable for their decision-making, they tend...

Celsion may get shot at Nasdaq SmallCap.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... The numbers are in at Celsion Corp., and it appears the Columbia-based cancer treatment company has the financial requirements to appear on the Nasdaq SmallCap market sometime soon, said Douglas Liu, the assistant to Celsion's chief financial...

Hopkins' brand strategy.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A recently released on the growing trend of branding in the health care industry features a chapter on the strategies Johns Hopkins Medicine uses to leverage its scientific discoveries to further its brand. The chapter, co-written by...

Kaiser adds Arundel.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Kaiser Permanente and Anne Arundel Health Systems Inc. signed a contract March 16 that will add Anne Arundel Medical Center to Kaiser's network plan. The agreement will expand hospital choices for Kaiser's area members, said Martin L....

Md. hospitals post losses.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Nearly half of Maryland's hospitals posted an operating loss during the 1999 calendar year, according to the Maryland Hospital Association. The average operating margin for all Maryland hospitals dropped to 0.6 percent, compared to 3.0...

Poll: HMO suits non-issue.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... A new poll commissioned by the Democratic Leadership Council found that only 7 percent of voters think giving patients the right to sue HMOs is the most important health care, issue that government should address. Insuring everyone is...

Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States named Cynthia Powers Overmyer its vice president and chief financial officer on March 22. Overmyer, a certified public accountant and certified internal auditor, has served the Kaiser...

Mercy Medical Center.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Graham, Scott The 'Millionaire' craze continues to grow. Mercy Medical Center is sponsoring "Mercy Mia," an Italian-themed afternoon of entertainment on April 2 that will include a special event called "So You Want to Feel Like a...

OSHA cracks down on high-risk work sites.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently informed 13,000 employers that OSHA inspectors may be headed their way. For every 100 full-time workers, the employers on OSHA's target list had eight or more injuries or...

Spam bill gets a boost.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A House Commerce subcommittee unanimously passed legislation that would restrict unsolicited commercial e-mail, popularly known as spam. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., includes provisions that had been part of...

Health costs rise.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Health care costs are up 9.7 percent this year, compared with 7.5 percent increases in 1998 and 1999, according to more than 500 employers surveyed by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and two nonprofit health care organizations. Health care...

American innovation.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... American inventors received 55.6 percent of the record 169,154 patents issued last year by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. California was the leading state for inventors, followed by New York, Texas, New Jersey and Illinois....

Behind the scenes.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The Small Business Administration and the National Academy Foundation will team up to provide high school students with internships at small business. The SBA (www.sba.gov) will link small business owners with the foundation's network of...

Saving space.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Despite obstacles, adaptive reuse proves .to be a viable option for many In its valiant effort to keep its headquarters in downtown Baltimore, the American Urological Association has learned firsthand the hard truth of adaptive reuse:...

Market Facts.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... The construction of new office and industrial properties in Baltimore has decreased since 1998. But with a total of 2,720 buildings in 1999, it's hard to tell. According to The CoStar Group (www.costargroup.com), there was 926,000 square feet...

Plan touts city living, boosts local initiative.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Proximity to work, family and friends are the top three factors influencing homebuyers searching for a new place to live, a recent study shows. Baltimore is capitalizing on that information and expanding its "Live Near Your Work'...

Realtors wanted.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Baltimore wants residential real estate agents who are familiar with city neighborhoods. In an effort to attract some homeowners to the nearly 200 city neighborhoods, Live Baltimore Marketing Center has begun offering a "Preferred...

Help for City Hall.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... About 250 volunteers from the business community continue to assess city agencies -- in the name of making City Hall run more like a successful corporation. The volunteers are still collecting information on the Department of Public...

Heidtman Steel Products.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Heidtman Steel Products purchased 12 acres of land in Baltimore County's North Point Enterprise Zone for a new $12 million steel service center. The 150,000-square-foot production, warehouse and office complex will mark the company's second...

Target.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Target, which bills itself as an upscale discount retailer, is expected to open at 9901 York Road in Cockeysville by the end of July. The new 125,000-square-foot store is expected to employ nearly 200 people.

A.F.K. Partnership LLC.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Wyman Towers, the apartment building at 3100 St. Paul St., was sold by A.F.K. Partnership LLC to Wyman Towers LLC for $3.8 million. William S. Roohan, Robert F. Freeze Jr. and Michael E. Muldowney with the Baltimore office of CB Richard Ellis...

Struever Bros.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Struever Bros., Eccles & Rouse completed two affordable senior housing projects, the Walker Avenue Cooperative Apartments and Lexington Terrace Senior Apartments. The Walker apartments is a $5.4 million, 88-unit independent living center....

Bowie center aims at fall 2001 completion.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... After nearly 30 years of talk, the Bowie Town Center on Collington Road near the John Hanson Highway in Prince George's County is about to become a reality. Pending final permits, the groundbreaking should take place in a couple of months,...

Bob Ward.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... After 15 years in the business Bob Ward has learned the fine art of hanging loose. Baltimore's seventh-largest home builder, Bob Ward Cos. of Edgewood is also the largest privately-held home construction finn in the area, and Ward said...

Largest commercial real estate firms inthe Baltimore area.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Largest commercial real estate firms in the Baltimore area (Ranked by local commercial transactions) Rank/ Name 1999 last Address ...

Networking, education lead to rewards.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... REAP apprentice program clears path into real estate for African-Americans Doctors have residencies. Lawyers have law school. Teachers have student teaching. But the career path into commercial real estate is less clear-cut, based mostly...

Largest commercial real estate deals in the Baltimore area.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Largest commercial real estate deals in the Baltimore area (Ranked by value of largest 1999 transaction) Name Dollar ...

Yesterday's brochures make way for Web site.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Suppose you are a prospective tenant interested in the Tower Building, a $50 million office tower going up at the intersection of Parkway and I-270 in Rockville. Want to check out the technical specifications, read up on the neighborhood or...

A Conversation with Bill Miller.(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... As a senior vice president with Baltimore-based brokerage KLNB since 1983, Bill Miller has seen the highs and lows in real estate, though mostly it has lately, been highs. The firm has expanded from one to four offices during his tenure,...

Ignorance is no longer an option for landlords.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Ignorance is no longer an excuse. As a result of a recent decision by Maryland's highest court, smaller Baltimore landlords with notice of peeling, chipping, or flaking paint surfaces in their residential rental units will no longer be...

Reuse offers variety of perks to communities.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... We have watched our communities evolve in accordance with the changing needs of society, allowing our worlds to convene on common cyber-grounds, yet the transition of our nation and the globe into this cybernetic age further increases the...

Profiting from the suburban dream.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... By the turn of the 20th century, Baltimore was already known as the city of rowhouses. There were elaborate Italianates in Mount Vernon, Victorians in Bolton Hill and practical two- and three-story houses in the city's working class...

How to read the Journal.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... A quick saunter through this newspaper gives the impression that half the companies in Maryland have either invented some new thingywhomper that will significantly make the world a better place or signed a new contract to increase their...

Selling salsa.(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Latin Palace taps into fast-growing Hispanic population The Latin Palace marked its one-year anniversary on Valentine's Day, and owner Enrique Rivadeneira says he is finally starting to feel at home. The fact is some Fells Point...

How do you given an elevator pitch?(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Dan McClure President, East Coast Sportswear & More / Townson "As a graduate of West Point Prep School and the military, I've learned to get to the point, get rid of the garbage, one, two, three. You want to make sure it's...

Skills beyond HTML needed for a designer.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Ready to go live on the Internet? Or is your existing Web site ready for an overhaul? Unless you happen to be a design firm, you probably don't have the in-house resources to create a site that dazzles. It's time to hire some help. But...

EA Engineering Science & Technology Inc.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)(Company Profile)
March 31, 2000... Corporate Profile It's not easy being "green." 1999 was a whirlwind year for EA Engineering, Science and Technology, a Hunt Valley-based environmental services and engineering firm. In early February 1999, former chairman and founder...

Weekly Gainers & Losers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Weekly Gainers & Losers Price Corporation 3/29/00 % Change 1. Chapman Holdings (CMAN) $14.00 16.67 2. I.C. Isaacs...

Monthly Gainers & Losers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Monthly Gainers & Losers Price Corporation 3/29/00 % Change 1. Noise Cancellation Technologies (NCTI) $1.25 56.25 2. U.S....

6 Month Gainers & Losers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... 6 Month Gainers & Losers Price Corporation 3/29/00 % Change 1. Noise Cancellation Technologies (NCT) $1.25 606.21 2. Ciena Corp....

Decade to see easy capital but fewer start-ups.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Anthony Girellini needed a loan to buy office equipment and computers for his expanding Staten Island, N.Y., stock brokerage firm, but he was too busy to go to a bank. Then, one day, as he checked stocks on the Internet, he noticed a...

Singing a new tune on the Net.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... There's no question that the Internet and MP3 technology are revolutionizing the music industry -- and especially the independent music business. The people at Columbia-based ListenSmart.com (www.listensmart.com), which launched in the...

Mixed news at Essex.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Essex Corp., the developer of high-speed telecommunications equipment for government and private-sector companies, reported positive year-end earnings but less-than-stellar quarterly figures. Essex reported net income of $59,000, or 1...

Net execs: A 'devastating' defeat.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... Supporters of open Internet access say they're not done fighting With a vital piece of legislation dead in Annapolis, local. Internet service providers and consumer advocates are contemplating their next move. The legislation --...

Don't rush out to buy latest Windows- ware.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Microsoft has always been better at monopoly than marketing. That's why I've been impressed how well it has positioned its latest desktop operating system, Windows 2000 Professional, as the choice for business. Customers who couldn't...

Peter J. Chakales.(Brief Article)(Interview)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... BBJ: Exactly what does your business do? Chakales: We take the headache of managing an internal IT department's infrastructure off-site to one of our mission-critical Managed Technology Centers. Our management team has been running...

People.(Brief Article)
March 31, 2000... * Advertising Advertising firm The Reeves Agency named Debra M. Miller director of new business development. Miller previously worked in client development and marketing at Three West Casting and Baltimore Magazine. * Architecture...

Assembly endangers tech future.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... In a little-noticed move, a Maryland House of Delegates committee may have jeopardized the state's future as a mecca for so-called dot-com companies. The House Commerce and Government Matters Committee recently killed the Internet...

Md. as REIT-friendly state.(real estate investment trust)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Maryland is hardly about to usurp Delaware as the king of business-friendly states. But the Old Line State seems to have one up on its neighbor when it comes to real estate investment trusts. REITs have discovered Maryland as a welcoming...

Goodwill toward governor comes from lots of green.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... What a difference a billion dollars makes. For the first time in his six years as governor, Parris Glendening is enjoying a relatively easy ride and a modest amount of goodwill during this legislative session. And he's doing it with pixie...

Maryland moves toward new code for tech industry.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 31, 2000... Virginia officials, including Gov. Jim Gilmore, gave themselves a hearty slap on the back a few Weeks ago for being the first state to pass a new uniform commercial code for tech-related contracts and transactions. Now it appears...

Web Site of the Week: www.mdhitech.org.
March 31, 2000... The Web site for the High Technology Council of Maryland offers updates on what the organization is doing and allows users to connect with potential business partnerships through its membership database. Industry reports, technology programs...

PSINet scores big on Ravens stadium deal.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... When the Baltimore Ravens went shopping for a corporation interested in buying the naming rights to the team's new football stadium, it didn't intentionally seek out an Internet company. Likewise, when PSINet Inc. decided a sports...

Crown Cork to expand in Md.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Crown Cork & Seal Co., the long-lime Baltimore company that shifted its headquarters to Philadelphia more than 40 years ago, is now expanding its Maryland presence. The manufacturer of cans and bottles leased more than 300,000 square...

Internet to go on trial in USF&G trading case.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... The Securities and Exchange Commission is alleging in U.S. District Court that at least nine people illegally profited from the merger of USF&G Corp. with The St. Paul Cos. in 1998. The alleged mastermind of the scheme was John Freeman of...

State approves Blue Cross affiliation.(Brief Article)
March 24, 2000... Maryland Insurance Commissioner Steven B. Larsen gave his approval to the proposed business combination of CareFirst Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware. The affiliation, which is not a merger, required official approval by regulators...