Baltimore Business Journal articles from November 1997

Baltimore Business Journal archives from November 1997

High-flyer leaves Howard: Sienna Biotech closing plant, moving jobs to Minnesota.
November 7, 1997... One of the region's fastest-growing biotechnology companies is leaving Columbia for suburban Minnesota. Sienna Biotech Inc., which has grown from six employees to 92 over the past four years, told the state last week that it plans to close its...

School site may house skyscraper: BCCC land coveted by Connecticut developer. (Baltimore City Community College; Peter D. Leibowits Co.)
November 7, 1997... A Connecticut developer is angling to build the city's next skyscraper on a Baltimore City Community College site on Pratt Street, according to sources familiar with the effort. The lead tenant for the project would be Piper & Marbury,...

Accounting for all those acquisitions.
November 7, 1997... Mergers, acquisitions and buy-outs. It's enough to make an accounting firm seem sexy. Just like banks and law firms in the earlier part of the decade, accounting firms are being refashioned to face new demands from customers in a...

Theme restaurant branches into Towson. (Rainforest Cafe; Towson Town Center)
November 7, 1997... The theme restaurant wave, is rolling toward Towson. The Rainforest Cafe, a heavily forested restaurant complete with wildlife and wild weather, could open next fall in Towson Town Center. Officials at the Rainforest Cafe. where customers can...

Mills mall could trigger upheaval in retail. (Mills Corp.)
November 7, 1997... But no fire sales predicted just yet With the Mills Corp. eying an Anne Arundel County site for its next giant retail center - just a few miles from some of the area's most popular shopping venues - it begs the question: Is the Mills a mall...

3M quits Westminster, will lay off 95 by June.
November 7, 1997... Industrial powerhouse 3M Co. plans to shutter its Westminster plant and lay off 95 workers by next June. The St. Paul, Minn.-based manufacturer, which has operated a commercial graphics factory near the Carroll County seat since 1947, notified...

Rite Aid tests expanded store.
November 7, 1997... ANNAPOLIS - Customers at the Rite Aid store in Annapolis' Eastport Shopping Plaza are testing an expanded operation that offers a range of new services, including frozen foods and private chats with a pharmacist. The store, which grew by 3,000...

Md restaurants create council on food safety. (Maryland)(Special Report: Hospitality)
November 7, 1997... In February, 16 people claimed they had suffered from food poisoning at Tio Pepe's, and the Baltimore restaurant was shut down overnight by the city's health department. It didn't seem to matter that the investigation proved fruitless in...

Airline battle looms over low-fare market; new airlines, new planes set stage for competition.(Special Report: Hospitality)
November 7, 1997... Experts expect competition to start heating up in the Baltimore-Washington region's low-fare and business travel markets, now that US Airways is likely to become more competitive in those areas. US Airways recently reached a long-term deal with...

Limited-service hotels attractive to planners.(Special Report: Hospitality)
November 7, 1997... With full-service hotel rates rising, some meeting planners are turning to limited-service hotels for budget-friendly meeting site alternatives. Limited-service and extended-stay hotels - those residential-style units with multiroom floor...

Feeding big crowd no problem for some caterers.(Special Report: Hospitality)
November 7, 1997... If planning a party for 100 is tough, planning one for 1,000 must be 10 times worse, right? Not necessarily, say caterers who specialize in putting on large-scale events. "It's not that difficult if you're set up to handle it, meaning that you...

Hotel boom makes D.C. 'inn' place to be. (Washington, DC)(Special Report: Hospitality)
November 7, 1997... Over the past two years, Washington, D.C., has quietly become a better place for visitors to stay. Investments in the area hotel industry have been dramatic. More than 25 hotels have changed hands within the last five years, and many of these...

A day in the life: 'the only aspect of negotiation you have complete control over is your preparation.' (Ron Shapiro of Shapiro, Robinson & Associates Inc.)
November 7, 1997... Renowned agent Ron Shapiro takes his own advice - even when it means hiring his own agent. In fact, Shapiro used himself as an example at a recent seminar to illustrate an essential aspect of good negotiating: the need to take emotions out of...

Tessco Technologies Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
November 7, 1997... Corporate Profile Tessco Technologies, a distributor of products to the wireless communications industry, ended the 1997 fiscal year on a high note, with a $54 million increase in revenue, despite the loss of a major vendor and a lukewarm...

The ties that bind: small area publishers filling up bookshelves. (Stemmer House Publishers Inc, Nautical and Aviation Publishing and Black Classic Press thrive in Baltimore, MD)
November 14, 1997... It can pay to be small, especially in the book publishing world. Though Waverly Inc., Baltimore's best-known publisher, has put itself up for sale, the city still teems with pint-size publishers who have every intention of staying independent....

BGE sells Orlando mall dud; site seen as albatross. (Baltimore Gas and Electric Co's Constellation Real Estate Group Inc sells Church Street Station to investor)
November 14, 1997... Site seen as albatross Baltimore Gas and Electric Co, has reached a deal to sell a money-losing retail and entertainment complex it owns in downtown Orlando, Fla., according to published reports. Several Florida newspapers and a news wire...

Firm taps area for expansion. (Millennium Chemicals Inc to build technical facility specializing in titanium dioxide)
November 14, 1997... A major New Jersey chemical company with deep roots in Baltimore has decided to build a new $18 million technical center in the area. Millennium Chemicals Corp., previously known as SCM Chemicals Inc., is in the market for about 100,000 square...

USAirways set to start new low-cost airline at BWI. (US Airways Inc to begin operations for US2 low-cost airline)
November 14, 1997... USAirways' new "US2" low-cost airline could begin operations at Baltimore/ Washington International Airport as early as March, sources say. The Arlington, Va.-based airline has formed a task force to design the new service, which will compete...

Helix tweaks marketing after CEO departure. (Helix Health phases out James Oakey from television ads)
November 14, 1997... Helix Health didn't just lose its leader last week. It lost an actor and the company's original public face. James A. Oakey, Helix's president and chief executive officer who abruptly resigned last week, appeared in three of the company's...

Blues merger spurs competitive worries; some claim plans will turn for-profit. (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland's to merge with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of the National Capital Area)
November 14, 1997... Anxiety about the plan to merge the Maryland and Washington, D.C., Blue Cross plans seems to have little to do with the merger itself, but to what it could lead. Both competitors and consumer advocate groups are concerned that this "business...

Crestar still has appetite for mergers in Baltimore. (Crestar Financial Corp seeks more acquisitions)
November 14, 1997... Crestar Financial Corp.'s still hungry. Now that its acquisition of Baltimore-based thrift American National is complete, the Richmond, Va.-based bank is on the prowl for more Baltimore-area financial institutions. According to F. Scott...

Sole survivor: Anne Arundel Medical Center is one of the few hospitals still going solo.
November 14, 1997... Martin "Chip" Doordan could be forgiven for succumbing to hyperventilation attacks, given what the head of Anne Arundel Medical Center is up against these days: * Health giants such as Johns Hopkins Health System are muscling into his...

Nurses may strike at P.G. County hospital system. (labor strife at Dimensions Healthcare System in Prince George County)
November 14, 1997... Labor strife between management and nurses at Dimensions Healthcare System in Prince George's County now is escalating, with threats of another strike. Last month, nurses at Dimensions Healthcare went on strike over reorganized staffing...

Procter & Gamble Co. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
November 14, 1997... Corporate Profile Procter & Gamble's local presence now exists solely in Hunt Valley, where more than 1,300 employees work at Noxell, a P&G subsidiary known for Noxzema personal care products. Yet Noxell is part of Cincinnati-based P&G's...

Short commute: telecommuters work at home. (Skyline Network Technologies Inc, Charter Communications International Inc, and Washington Workplace thrive on telecommuting)
November 14, 1997... Skyline Network Technologies Inc.'s office is on White Oak Avenue in Parkville. No one works there, though. "None. Not even me," said Tom Kuegler, director of operations at the multimedia software development company. "No one ever works...

Choice Hotels veterans partner with Simon. (Creative Hotel Associates signs contract with William E. Simon and Sons Realty to build hotels)
November 14, 1997... Creative Hotel Associates, a Rockville company started a year ago by ex-Choice Hotels International executives, has formed a joint venture to build between 40 and 50 lodging properties over the next three years. The company's partner is William...

Columbia biotech firm near top of venture roster. (Gene Logic Inc receives venture capital investments)
November 14, 1997... WASHINGTON - Gene Logic Inc. of Columbia, which is preparing to go public, is near the top of the list of Mid-Atlantic companies that received venture capital investments in the quarter ended Sept. 30. In the Mid-Atlantic region, which...

Full speed ahead: local real estate market rebounds with fervor. (real estate boost in Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard Counties)(Industry Overview)
November 14, 1997... From the rejuvenation of downtown Baltimore, to the spate of new distribution centers in Harford County, to the retail growth in Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, commercial real estate deals are bursting out all over. As the national economy...

Designers, builders work together from get-go. (construction companies Atlantic Builders Group Inc and Mullan Contracting Co espouse design-build concept)
November 14, 1997... Eric G. Regelin remembers how ugly it got in the construction industry when the recession of the early 1990s reduced the number of projects to a trickle. Back then, Regelin, president of Atlantic Builders Group Inc. of Baltimore, watched...

Suits snare fast-food mogul.
November 28, 1997... Hawkins' Urban City hounded by creditors Expansionist Burger King entrepreneur La-Van Hawkins has been dogged by legal claims in the past two years from vendors, a lender and a former executive. Since June 1996, Hawkins has been sued nine...

ESPN spurs power plant dispute. (ESPN Grill)
November 28, 1997... The developer of the Power Plant retail complex at the Inner Harbor is literally fighting off tenants. A California restaurateur wants the Power Plant space now allotted for the ESPN Grill, and the dispute has wound up in U.S. District Court...

The appeal of the ER: Sinai hopes center draws patients, profits.
November 28, 1997... When administrators at Sinai Hospital see sick people waiting uncomfortably in the emergency department's tight quarters, they don't just see annoyed patients. They see a drag on profits. Their cure is a $16 million emergency center which is...

WPOC's buyer to decide on sale. (Baltimore radio station WPOC-FM)
November 28, 1997... The new owner of WPOC-FM, Baltimore's top country-western radio station, hasn't decided whether to keep the station or sell it. The station was one of 17 sold by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. to Covington, Ky.-based Jacor Communications Inc....

Putting a price on political appointees: state salaries inch up, but too much?
November 28, 1997... Although pay increases would have been just a drop in the state's $13.5 billion budget bucket, the request touched off a fair amount of controversy. When Gov. Parris N. Glendening sought to increase the salaries of three top aides in...

Owners make profit on downtown building sale.
November 28, 1997... A prominent downtown Baltimore office building has been sold for 43 percent more than its owners paid just two years ago. The Health and Retirement Properties Trust, a real estate investment trust in Boston, has purchased the NationsBank Center...

Bethlehem Steel Corp. (Proxy Report Exports)(Company Profile)
November 28, 1997... Corporate Profile Generations of Baltimoreans reported to work at Bethlehem Steel's plant and shipyard at Sparrows Point, making the Pennsylvania-based company one of the region's largest employers. But changing economies have threatened the...

'Net gains: Internet connection can help small firms grow, survey says.
November 28, 1997... Internet connection can help small firms grow, survey says Pete Phillips doesn't quite know what to make of the World Wide Web. Like a growing number of small business owners, Phillips, president of Baltimore-based Business Interiors of...