Baltimore Business Journal articles from May 1995

Baltimore Business Journal archives from May 1995

Big bucks at top. (executive compensation; Baltimore, Maryland CEOs)
May 26, 1995... Compensation often tied to results Baltimore's highest paid chief executive officer last year saw his cash compensation drop nearly 21 percent - almost the exact percentage his company lost in net income for the year. A.B. "Buzzy"...

Retail rush may spur major deal. (new retail sites in Owing Mills, Maryland)
May 26, 1995... A massive chunk of land off Interstate 795 in Owings Mills could become a new retail center for the type of superstores that have been popping up all over Baltimore. Two prominent developers - Manekin Corp. and bakery...

Evening Sun circulation drops 49%. (Baltimore, Maryland newspaper)
May 26, 1995... A plunge in Evening Sun circulation and the company's focus on its growing morning paper is feeding speculation about how long the 85-year-old afternoon daily can hang on. The latest numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that...

SBA loan winner nearing a strikeout. (Small Business Administration; Say Baltimore)
May 26, 1995... The first Baltimore beneficiary of a new federal small business loan program might have to shut his doors, a victim of the major league baseball strike. The owner of Say Baltimore, on the corner of Eutaw and Lombard streets, said sales of...

Canadian recycler taps Howard for U.S. hq. (Hanna Paper Fibres Inc.; Howard County, Maryland; headquarters)
May 26, 1995... Up to 70 jobs may be created here A fast-growing Canadian paper recycling firm will launch its first Mid-Atlantic plant in Howard County next month and open its new U.S. headquarters in the same Savage warehouse this summer. The moves by...

Health coalition deals shave 16% off insurer bills. (Mid-Atlantic Healthcare Purchasing Coalition)
May 26, 1995... An agreement between a new employer health care purchasing coalition and a dozen local health insurers could mean big savings in health care costs for member businesses. The Mid-Atlantic Healthcare Purchasing Coalition - a group of...

USF&G finds moving can be a real headache. (USF and G Corp.)
May 26, 1995... The to-do list: meet neighbors, sign papers, pack boxes Ray Celli has been getting some weird questions about USF&G Corp.'s plans to move its downtown headquarters to its Mount Washington Center. A few have even asked the company's...

Why one business took road away from home. (Vartta Industries Inc.'s relocation to Carroll County, Maryland)
May 26, 1995... A Linthicum-based cabinet maker forced out of its factory has moved to Carroll County after an unsuccessful search for property in Anne Arundel. Vartta Industries Inc., a 15-year-old company that manufactured about 30,000 cabinets last year,...

Insurers say they'll adjust to new 'patient' law. (Maryland health insurers)
May 26, 1995... But governor nixes several other bills Maryland's health insurers must now provide employers who sign up for their health maintenance organization plans with an option that allows employees to choose non-HMO doctors. On Thursday, Gov....

Mariner scraps sub-acute plan; seeks out wider market niche. (Mariner Health Care)
May 26, 1995... Mariner Health Care Inc. has admitted defeat in its 2-year-old attempt to provide Baltimore with the only free-standing facility devoted solely to caring for discharged hospital patients who are too sick to go home. "It didn't work, to be...

Mental health firms move to serve Harford. (Harford County, Maryland)
May 26, 1995... The dramatic rise in Harford County's population has stirred interest from a possibly unlikely quarter - mental health companies. Because of the county's tremendous growth - almost 20,000 new residents in the past five years - several...

Fight over Bagby project escalates. (proposed apartment project in Baltimore, Maryland)
May 26, 1995... A proposed apartment project in East Baltimore once supported by residents of Little Italy has turned into a nasty legal confrontation between a developer and the community association. The Little Italy Community Organization wants to stop...

In family market, it's a matter of fun and games. (entry of Q-ZAR and TechTreK in the Baltimore-Washington area)
May 26, 1995... Two new retailers have targeted the Baltimore-Washington area, trying to tap into the booming family entertainment market. The first local Q-ZAR, a laser game concept, will open at the end of May in Manassas, Va. Players battle for points and...

Las Vegas casino confuses deal on Rosecroft Raceway. (Bally Casino Holdings Inc.; Oxon Hill, Maryland)
May 26, 1995... A move by local horsemen to save Rosecroft Raceway in Oxon Hill is growing more contentious, thanks to an offer from a Las Vegas casino. Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association, a group of regional horsemen trying to keep Rosecroft Raceway...

New home sales sluggish in area. (Baltimore, Maryland)(Real Estate Monthly))
May 26, 1995... Lack of consumer confidence, interest rates blamed for soft market It's a buyers' market for new homes. Interest rates are dipping to their lowest levels since last year. Builders are offering fantastic incentives. Competition is driving...

Giant Food Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 26, 1995... Corporate Profile Expansion will play a key role in Giant's future plans as it enters into new markets north of its Maryland-Virginia stronghold. Of the seven new stores scheduled to open this fiscal year, three are in Virginia, two in...

The search is on.... (site selectors for retailers)(Commercial Real Estate Magazine)
May 26, 1995... Site selectors stay busy hunting down new locations for clients "Everyone knows retail [real estate] is driven by location, location, location... What they don't tell you is, location changes." - Richard Rotner, President, Hicks & Rotner...

No space? Firms turning to build-to-suits. (office space; Maryland)(Commercial Real Estate Magazine)
May 26, 1995... What do you do when you're looking for contiguous office space with more than 10,000 square feet in Anne Arundel County, and find you're out of luck? Many companies, faced with that dilemma, are turning to build-to-suits, according to...

Retail projects leading comeback. (Hartford County, Maryland; building of retail stores)(Commercial Real Estate Magazine)
May 26, 1995... Rouse Co. betting on future with discount center, mall expansion The retail sector is leading a flurry of recent commercial activity in Howard County that may signal the start of the long-awaited recovery. Columbia-based Rouse Co. recently...

City fights to retain luster. (Baltimore, Maryland's commercial real estate market)(Commercial Real Estate Magazine)
May 26, 1995... Class B vacancy rate just keeps climbing, as major tenants move on Baltimore City is suffering, according to local commercial real estate brokers. And the first quarter did nothing to help, delivering some major blows to the city. The...

Tourism on a shoestring. (Baltimore, Maryland)
May 19, 1995... Other cities spend more to attract visitors Baltimore tourism officials last year spent the majority of their $3.1 million budget on salaries and benefits for their 41 employees. Their second largest expense, general and administration,...

Meager crowds, rain drown jazz fest debut. (Baltimore music festival)
May 19, 1995... What was billed as "the biggest music festival this side of New Orleans" didn't make much noise in Baltimore last weekend. The Inner Harbor's Rash Field was conspicuously lifeless Saturday and Sunday for U.S. Healthcare Music Fest '95....

HMOs' profits could suffer as battle heats up. (Baltimore health maintenance organizations)
May 19, 1995... '94 a banner year Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland was able to announce some good news this week: Increased earnings and enrollment for its managed care plans, which are profiting from employers' efforts to find cheaper health benefits...

Artist gets funky for Bash. (Chester Overlock; Preakness Eve Bash)
May 19, 1995... Chester Overlock insists on conducting business meetings on his turf, where he can immerse clients in his world. It's a world of art and magic, where the president of Chester Design Unlimited has converted a 5,000-square-foot studio into a...

Major realty groups to merge. (CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc.; TCW Realty Advisors)
May 19, 1995... The asset management arm of CB Commercial Real Estate Group is nearing a deal to acquire TCW Realty Advisors, a top national pension fund advisor that manages about 2.5 million square feet of property in the Baltimore/Washington corridor....

Is Schaefer a factor in the mayor's race? (former Gov. William Donald Schaefer)
May 19, 1995... Despite ex-mayor's talk, business leaders unlikely to organize for his return Who lost more jobs? Schmoke or Schaefer? That might not be a debate the Baltimore business community wants to engage in, but it's shaping up as one of the issues...

Two HMOs target Baltimore. (health maintenance organizations)
May 19, 1995... Principal, Humana building networks to serve the area As if the managed care market in Baltimore weren't competitive enough, two new arrivals to the nearby Washington, D.C., market plan to join the fray in signing up employers in the Central...

NationsBank lays off 100 in trust operations. (NationsBank Corp.)
May 19, 1995... NationsBank Corp. laid off nearly 100 workers in its trust operations department in Silver Spring this month, part of the Charlotte, N.C., bank's latest effort to scale back its Maryland work force. A Maryland Department of Economic and...

Off government feed bag: Tate Andale diversifies line. (Tate Andale Inc.)
May 19, 1995... William J. Tate realized six years ago that business as usual was no longer an option. His Lansdowne company, Tate Andale Inc., makes industrial strainers and other equipment to clean and maintain pipelines. At the time, defense-related...

Mercantile asks court to throw out Sparks lawsuit. (Mercantile Bankshares Corp.; Sparks State Bank)
May 19, 1995... Mercantile Bankshares Corp. has asked a Baltimore County judge to throw out a lawsuit that seeks to stop the $5.9 billion bank from buying Sparks State Bank. Attorneys for Mercantile filed a motion to dismiss the suit in Baltimore County...

Casey Foundation hikes grants to local projects. (Annie E. Casey Foundation; Baltimore, Maryland)
May 19, 1995... Since its move to Baltimore last August, the Annie Casey Foundation has pumped an additional $2 million in grants into local projects that aid disadvantaged children. The $1.07 billion foundation increased its giving in the Baltimore area...

Md. goes against the grain. (Maryland; North American Free Trade Agreement)
May 19, 1995... Polk Audio first company in state to dislocate workers because of NAFTA, contrasting with rest of the nation Polk Audio Inc. is one of Baltimore's economic success stories. Since the upscale speaker manufacturer moved its headquarters into...

Port, BWI, access to Washington pluses for global firms. (Port of Baltimore; Baltimore/Washington International Airport)
May 19, 1995... International executives also concerned about high cost of business, survey shows The Port of Baltimore and Baltimore/Washington International Airport, as well as the area's proximity to Washington, D.C., makes the Baltimore region prime...

Rouse Co. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 19, 1995... Corporate Profile After 27 years serving the Rouse Co. - including 16 years as its chief executive officer - Matthias DeVito retired in February and turned the reigns over to Anthony Deering, the company's president and chief operating...

Shake up for travel agencies.
May 12, 1995... With cap in place, firms struggling As soon as he heard the bad news back in February, Jim Hampson started plugging numbers in his calculator. The part-owner of Columbia-based Holidays to Go determined major airlines' decision to reduce...

Realtor group may pack its bags. (Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors)
May 12, 1995... The long-time headquarters of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors is under contract for sale to a top city hospital looking to expand. GBBR Executive Vice President Christine Vasiliou said this week that Maryland General Hospital has...

Plastics company nixes Md. (Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.; Maryland)
May 12, 1995... Maryland's bid to lure a giant Canadian plastics firm to the Free State has apparently fallen short. Husky Injection Molding Systems Inc. announced recently that after scouting a number of sites throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic...

Legg fund tries to capitalize on bank takeovers. (Legg Mason Inc.)
May 12, 1995... Legg Mason Inc. wants to hone in on the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the financial industry with a new mutual fund that invests in possible bank takeover targets. The Baltimore investment firm has seen NationsBank Corp. eat up...

State, business officials: no rush to fill trade posts. (Maryland)
May 12, 1995... Port, international roles too important, observers say When Maryland launches its annual World Trade Week next Sunday, the state won't have an international chief or port director to welcome business prospects. The first job - which pays...

Foreign rumors boost Alex. Brown stock. (Alex. Brown Inc.)
May 12, 1995... German bank among names sending price to record high Alex. Brown Inc.'s stock is trading at record highs, encouraged by investor speculation that the oldline Baltimore investment firm will be sold. Rumors are swirling on Wall Street and...

Federal cuts may slash thousands of teen jobs. (Baltimore, Maryland)
May 12, 1995... City seeks help in mass-mailing to businesses City officials say nearly 4,000 Baltimore City teenagers could be out on the streets with nothing to do if a federally-funded jobs program is slashed by Congress. Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke is...

Mayor's office lays out concerns about tourism spending. (Baltimore, Maryland)
May 12, 1995... The Baltimore city mayor's office is questioning the spending decisions of Baltimore convention board officials, who allegedly spent money on country club memberships for lower-level staffers and awarded a contract to a board volunteer. The...

State betting on Preakness to win over top executives. (Maryland; Preakness Stakes)
May 12, 1995... The second jewel in the Triple Crown also has become a gem of a marketing opportunity for the state, and this year officials hope to shine for about 400 carefully selected visitors. Each year, Maryland economic development officials seek to...

Standards set for land surveys despite Rouse's concerns. (Rouse Co.)
May 12, 1995... Complaints from the Rouse Co. and the Maryland State Highway Administration that new state land survey regulations would add both extra costs and delays to commercial developments failed last week to sway the state board charged with setting...

On the waterfront: chasing the crowds. (Stouffer Renaissance Harborplace Hotel general manager Gary Oster)
May 12, 1995... A day in the life of: Gary Oster Gary Osier stands at the corner of Pratt and Calvert streets, spreads his arm wide and points west to the Convention Center expansion and Camden Yards. To the east, Oster notes as he turns, is the new...

Enterprise Foundation extends efforts to 4 cities.
May 12, 1995... The Columbia-based Enterprise Foundation has opened four new offices, expanding a nationwide community renewal program now concentrated in 15 cities and 138 other locations across the country. The $1.2 billion national nonprofit organization...

Silver Diner now eclipsing American Cafe. (restaurant chain)
May 12, 1995... As local restaurant chain Silver Diner expands - two weeks ago opening its fifth store in Fairfax, Va. - founder Robert Giaimo is lamenting the closing of another passage in his life. The American Care in Georgetown recently closed, the first...

Hospitals hit the airwaves. (marketing)
May 12, 1995... Media projects the newest in health care marketing In early April, WJZ-TV viewers began to see the station's health reporter, Kellye Lynn, talk about such preventive health measures as proper nutrition for pregnant women and childhood...

Hair today not necessarily gone tomorrow. (Dyad Pharmaceuticals Corp.)
May 12, 1995... Columbia firm works to get at root of baldness treatment Heads up, sufferers of bad toupees and expensive hair transplant surgery: The next baldness treatment is in the works. A tiny Columbia-based biotechnology company, Dyad...

Cocaine research the latest project for addiction center.
May 12, 1995... A drug that can block the effects of cocaine soon may be headed to the market, spurred on by a joint venture by three Maryland organizations. Eventually, the drug could become a hot commodity in hospitals, which would be able to use it to...

HMOs ready for price war, lower profits. (health maintenance organizations)
May 12, 1995... Local HMOs are bracing for a price war - and lower profits - in the wake of U.S. Healthcare's plan to cut insurance premiums. "There has been a price war pretty much happening for the past 18 months, but after U.S. Healthcare's announcement,...

New doctors choosing job security over salary.
May 12, 1995... Managed care has young doctors valuing job security and work environment over money in their search for selecting a practice, a recent national survey of final-year medical residents shows. According to the survey, conducted by Merritt,...

Discovering a record producer. (Flutterby Records)
May 12, 1995... Arundel student wraps up entrepreneur prize Cutting record deals and producing local concerts is as much a part of daily life as math class for 18-year-old Arundel Senior High senior Dana Lamacchio. As proprietor and sole employee of...

New firm targets elderly making transition into retirement homes.
May 12, 1995... After seeing friends and family members struggling through the transition from a private home to a retirement community or care facility, Pamela B. Mitchell decided there was a market nitch that needed to be filled. And, last January, she...

Women's show producers hope gamble pays off. (Baltimore International Women's Show)
May 12, 1995... This weekend, Baltimore-based Atlantic Shows Inc. hopes to draw more than 30,000 visitors to its first Baltimore International Women's Show. The show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium is targeting women age 20 and up with such...

Martek Biosciences Corp. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 12, 1995... Corporate Profile Columbia-based Martek Biosciences Corp. has been taking important steps within the past year toward worldwide commercialization of its most promising product, Formulaid, an infant formula additive for low-birth weight...