Baltimore Business Journal articles from November 1998

Baltimore Business Journal archives from November 1998

HCFA change looms; switch could cut hospital revenues.(Health Care Finance Administration)
November 6, 1998... The federal Health Care Finance Administration is contemplating a new regulation that could cut into the revenues of Baltimore-area hospitals. Hospitals fear that radiation treatments, chemotherapy, dialysis, and a host of other health...

Dynatech under fire.(Dynatech Integrated Systems Corp sued for deal with National Labor Relations Board)
November 6, 1998... A small Columbia technology firm that secured a lucrative contract with the National Labor Relations Board is under investigation by the federal agency and faces multiple lawsuits related to the deal. Dynatech Integrated Systems Corp., a...

New CEO at Ferris, Baker, again.(Louis J. Akers Jr named CEO of Baker Watts Inc)
November 6, 1998... Paul J. "Skip" Geidel has abruptly resigned as chief executive officer of Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. and returned to his former position as chief financial officer of the regional brokerage. Louis J. Akers Jr., the firm's vice chairman and a...

Ram's Head on tap at Historic Savage Mill.(Ram's Head Tavern added to specialty retail center in Howard County, Maryland)
November 6, 1998... The Historic Savage Mill's owners have snagged the Ram's Head Tavern as part of their efforts to make the Howard County specialty retail center an entertainment destination. The Ram's Head Tavern, which has made a name for itself in...

Morgan plans two new local branches.(Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Co to launch offices in Baltimore, Maryland)
November 6, 1998... After recruiting a number of brokers from other firms in town, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. is planning to open two new local offices. Rick Faby, branch manager of the firm's Lutherville office and first vice president, said the firm...

Retailer fighting to keep Nasdaq listing.(Cosmetic Center Inc)
November 6, 1998... After another disappointing quarter, Cosmetic Center Inc. is now fighting the possibility of getting kicked off the Nasdaq National Market. The Columbia-based cosmetic retailer intends to petition Nasdaq to keep it listed based on its...

Troubles at Patriot could hamper hotel.(Patriot American Hospitality Inc's acquisition of Wyndham Inner Harbor East Hotel)
November 6, 1998... A Dallas-based real estate investment trust may have to sell off some assets to buy the Wyndham Inner Harbor East Hotel because of the company's billion-dollar debt load, according to industry analysts. Patriot American Hospitality Inc....

A conversation with ... Fred Elburn.(Charles Center Travel owner)(Interview)
November 6, 1998... Principal, Charles Center Travel Much has been made of the concept of the global village - a place where information, people and goods travel with ease and speed in a word without borders. However, even with the advent of first-class...

Competition turns BWI into low-cost hub.(Baltimore/Washington International Airport)
November 6, 1998... When US Airways started the low-cost airline MetroJet in June, many travel experts predicted an all-out fare war at Baltimore/Washington International Airport. After all, BWI Airport was already getting national attention as a major...

Owners focusing on growing St. Charles.(American Community Properties Trust to develop planned community)
November 6, 1998... Flush with $35 million from an Oct. 7 initial public offering, the owner of St. Charles, Md., will now focus on building and marketing the next phase of the Southern Maryland planned community. American Community Properties Trust, a real...

Crown Central Petroleum Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpt)(Company Profile)
November 6, 1998... Corporate profile Public-relations wise, it's been a tough couple years for Crown Central Petroleum Inc. Besieged by labor problems and slapped with a $1 million environmental fine in Texas, Crown has become the enemy of labor,...

Valu Food hopes for revival: struggling chain, facing possible bankruptcy filing, attempts makeover.
November 13, 1998... Grocer Louis Denrich, faced with the possibility of putting his company in bankruptcy, is hoping a new store concept will pull Valu Food Inc. out of its financial difficulties. Officials at Valu Food, one of the Baltimore areas largest...

Bramble plotting changes; top ranks at 1st Md. to undergo revamp.(First Maryland Bancorp CEO Frank P. Bramble)
November 13, 1998... First Maryland Bancorp chief executive Frank P. Bramble said this week that he is planning to reorganize the company's top ranks and relinquish his CEO position as soon as next year. As the new head of the U.S. division of Allied Irish...

Corporate buying again; Philadelphia REIT plans spec project in Linthicum.(real estate investment trust Corporate Office Properties Trust; Linthicum business park in Baltimore, MD)
November 13, 1998... Corporate Office Properties Trust is trying to increase its presence in the area around Baltimore/Washington International Airport with plans for a new office building in a Linthicum business park. The Philadelphia-area real estate...

Prime has Faith in branding campaign.(Prime Retail Inc's advertising campaign featuring actress Faith Ford)
November 13, 1998... Prime Retail Inc. has kicked off a $5 million advertising campaign to introduce the Baltimore company's newly branded outlet centers nationally. The ads, designed by Philadelphia-based Elkman/Alexander & Partners, offer outlet center...

Activist group challenges T. Rowe Price thrift.(Inner City Public Interest Law Center; T. Rowe Price Associates Inc)
November 13, 1998... T. Rowe Price Associates Inc.'s plan to charter a federal thrift is facing heavy opposition from a New York consumer activist group that is charging that the investment firm is trying to skirt the Community Reinvestment Act. In a four-page...

Allright buys Masonic Temple parking lot.(Allright Baltimore Inc)
November 13, 1998... Allright Baltimore Inc., one of the city's largest parking companies, paid more than $1 million last week to buy its 40th city parking lot. The 130-space lot, behind the former Masonic Temple on the 200 block of North Charles Street,...

Software developer finds market in sleep.(BioMedical Inc)
November 13, 1998... Alex Menkes has no problem sleeping. But 67 percent of U.S. adults do, according to the Washington-based National Sleep Foundation. And 3,500 sleep labs across the nation have sprung up to help patients diagnose their conditions. ...

Lack of parking stunts downtown growth.(Baltimore, MD)
November 13, 1998... Even though downtown Baltimore experienced its greatest economic growth in a decade in 1998, the city may have tapped itself out until the parking crisis is resolved. According to a report released this week by the Downtown Partnership of...

Maryland's loading zone: Harford County becomes a distribution hot spot.
November 13, 1998... Harford County has a reputation that it just can't shake. Not that it really wants to. County leaders don't mind their part suburban, part rural jurisdiction being labeled a distribution hot spot or a warehousing hub. Truth is, there...

The Proctor & Gamble Co.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
November 13, 1998... PROXY CORNER A weekly analysis of Baltimore-area public companies Corporate profile Retail product giant Procter & Gamble Co.'s local presence is at Hunt Valley-based Noxell Corp., a P&G subsidiary known for Noxzema personal care...

Doctor-run HMO fizzles.(health maintenance organization; Maryland Medical Group)
November 13, 1998... Six months after a pair of Baltimore physicians tried establishing Maryland's first doctor-run health maintenance organization, their plan has been put on permanent hold. Surgeon F. Graham Fallon and urologist Michael J. Naslund, the...

Ellin & Tucker moving; firm finds views in new downtown site.(Ellin & Tucker Chartered)
November 20, 1998... In search of a harbor view and better office space, Ellin & Tucker Chartered, one of Baltimore's largest accounting firms, is relocating from Charles Center South to the NationsBank Center Tower downtown. The firm, which employs 75 people,...

A tough market: independent grocers fight for survival.
November 20, 1998... Valu Food Inc. president Louis Denrich, whose company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this week, is not alone in his struggle to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive supermarket industry. Denrich and other...

Bank feud comes to a quiet close.(Glen Burnie Bancorp)
November 20, 1998... F. William Kuethe Jr. and Edwin F. Hale Sr. have called a truce. For more than two years, the pair have been embroiled in a bitter battle over Glen Burnie Bancorp, of which Kuethe is chief executive officer. While Hale, chairman of First...

Hawkins leaving town; Urban City Food's chief is relocating company to Detroit.(La-Van Hawkins)
November 20, 1998... La-Van Hawkins Urban City Foods is moving its headquarters out of Baltimore. The company, which owns and operates Burger King and Pizza Hut franchises, is relocating to Detroit, said Laura Williams, executive administrative assistant at...

Eisner says 555-NEED company stole design.(Eisner & Associates Inc.; Nexus Communications Inc.)
November 20, 1998... Eisner & Associates Inc. is suing Nexus Communications Inc. and its chief executive, claiming the company stole a billboard design to market its new 555-NEED information line. The lawsuit, filed Nov. 5 in the U.S. District Court of...

Black & Decker sector finishing move to S.C.(South Carolina)
November 20, 1998... Black & Decker Corp. is moving what's left of its Hampstead distribution division to South Carolina by year's end. The Towson-based tool manufacturer confirmed this week that the distribution division will move to Fort Mill, S.C., as part...

New auto terminal celebrates opening.(Atlantic Marine Terminal)
November 20, 1998... If there is a Chrysler vehicle heading to sea, chances are it is going to leave the United States through a new Baltimore loading facility. The Atlantic Marine Terminal started operating in early September, and once at full capacity,...

Doctors Health Inc. files for Chapter 11.
November 20, 1998... After a month on life support, Doctors Health Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Even last month's cash infusion from the Beacon Group and Genesis Health Ventures, could not prevent the...

Banks reaching out to deaf community.
November 20, 1998... Two Baltimore-area banks are reaching out to a relatively untapped market by teaching their employees how to better communicate with the nearly 500,000 people in Maryland's deaf community. Employees from both Carrollton Bancorp and First...

Capitals score big in Washington this season.(Washington Capitals)
November 20, 1998... Don't look now. Washington may be turning into a hockey town. The Washington Capitals sold out five of their first seven home games. The team is averaging 17,567 fans a game, up 44 percent from the same period last year - the biggest jump...

First Union Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
November 20, 1998... First Union Corp. established a major foothold in Maryland this year by taking over $11.3 billion-asset Signet Banking Corp. The deal boosted the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giants locations in the state to roughly 65 and its number of...

History on their side: multicultural tourism has slow start.(proposed tourism business in Baltimore)
November 27, 1998... Louis C. Fields feels right at home in Baltimore's Great Blacks in Wax Museum. The executive director of the Baltimore African American Tourism Council has spent the last five years learning everything there is to know about the African...

Metro plots growth: grocer aims to top Giant in Md. market.(Metro Food Markets; Giant Food; Maryland)
November 27, 1998... John Ryder, president of Metro Food Markets, is on a crusade to make his supermarket chain the largest grocer in Maryland. Ryder plans to add 10 more stores to his 19-store chain in the Baltimore area within the next 22 months. And in...

Unknown leaps into the limelight: new business czar Lewin wants to go beyond taxes.(Richard C. Mike Lewin to become secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development)
November 27, 1998... Richard C. Mike Lewin last worked in the public sector in 1969, when he served as executive assistant to former state Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein. But he never stopped thinking about it, and he stayed on the fringes by taking...

Pols meet to save rural Medicare HMO service.(Maryland)
November 27, 1998... Three Maryland congressmen are trying to prevent more HMOs from exiting the Maryland Medicare business. U.S. representatives Benjamin L. Cardin, D-3rd, Elijah Cummings, D-7th, and Wayne T. Gilchrest, R-1st, met this month to discuss how...

Harford officials waging Aberdeen stadium fight.(Harford County, Maryland)
November 27, 1998... Cal Ripken Jr.'s home town of Aberdeen may be famous for producing one of baseball's greatest players. But whether the town gets a minor league stadium is still up in the air. Some city and county officials argue that the stadium will bring...

FDA's OK of eye laser may curb rush north.(approval of VISX Excimer Laser System)
November 27, 1998... For years, Baltimore ophthalmologists sent patients to Canada to get farsightedness corrected by a type of laser that was not approved for use in the United States. Starting Nov. 3 - when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use...

Keep it country?: activists, developers remain divided over Harford's future.(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)(Harford County, Maryland)
November 27, 1998... It's the classic suburban skirmish, a battle that's repeated time and again on the far edges of the nation's major metropolitan areas. To develop or not to develop, that is the question facing politicians, developers, and-development...

A conversation with ... James M. Harkins: county executive, Harford County.(Maryland)(Interview)
November 27, 1998... James M. Harkins chose a different career path from the rest of his family, which has been raising dairy cows in Forest Hill, a once-sleepy hamlet in northern Harford County, for more than 200 years. Harkins gave up bovines for a career in...

Picking the spot: firm's location may be most crucial decision.
November 27, 1998... The most crucial derision a business owner will ever make, aside from deciding to start a business in the first place, may be where to put that business. "You know, it's the old adage: location, location, location," said O. J. Phillips,...

Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC.(proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
November 27, 1998... Corporate profile Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, nicknamed MuniMae, posted phenomenal gains in 1998. By early October, the Baltimore-based company, which invests in tax-exempt bonds secured by multifamily housing, had completed $211...