Baltimore Business Journal articles from September 1996

Baltimore Business Journal archives from September 1996

Health firm scouting; regional HQ site slated for area. (United Health Care considers Baltimore, MD, as headquarters site)
September 6, 1996... A large and fast-growing Minnesota health care company is scouring the Baltimore real estate market for a regional headquarters location for 300 employees. United HealthCare, which bought the parent company of Baltimore-based Chesapeake Health...

Banking on growth: small bank wants to keep pace. (Commercial and Farmers Bank)
September 6, 1996... Its name, Commercial and Farmers Bank, recalls an era when Howard County was a bucolic backwater. But all that's changed, and leaders of the small, 62-year-old Ellicott City bank say they want to keep pace with the growth of the prosperous...

Local insurers face choppy seas. (Baltimore, MD)(Special Report: Insurance)(Industry Overview)
September 6, 1996... Challenges will mean 'survival of the fittest' A job at USF&G Corp. used to mean security and longevity. If you had a job there, you most likely would stick around for the gold watch. Then Norman P. Blake Jr. came along. "It was like...

Competitors go after niche groups.(Special Report: Insurance)(Industry Overview)
September 6, 1996... The highly competitive insurance industry has found that target marketing is an effective strategy to attract specific groups of companies and individuals. Within the past 10 years, more companies have adopted this technique to appeal to...

Young reinsurer moving into world's leagues. (F&G Re Inc.)(Special Report: Insurance)(Industry Overview)
September 6, 1996... In little more than a decade, F&G Re, a USF&G subsidiary, has emerged as a major player in the high-stakes reinsurance industry. Founded in 1983, the USF&G subsidiary ranked 14th among reinsurers for net premiums written in 1995, with $512...

Written policies help managers do right thing.(Law in the Workplace)(Column)
September 6, 1996... Most managers and business owners realize that written personnel policies act as a tool in avoiding and defeating claims. But an effective policy can also be a great help in managing the company and in helping all employees, including high...

Public companies on buying spree. (Maryland firms)
September 13, 1996... Robust conditions prompt sales at record pace in Md. Maryland public companies are buying new companies or selling off their own at a record pace. Already the number of deals in the first eight months of 1996 has surpassed those for all of last...

Brady toughs it out. (Maryland's economic development secretary James T. Brady)
September 13, 1996... When Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening appointed James T. Brady as the state's economic development secretary in early 1995, Maryland's hard-to-please business community could barely contain its glee. "At last," the state's business leaders...

Pet hotels sniff out territory. (Best Friends Pet Resorts & Salons)
September 13, 1996... A Connecticut-based hotelier plans to build about 40 new resorts in the Baltimore-Washington area, complete with closed-circuit TVs, special air flow environments and luxury suites outfitted with online computer video systems. And it's all...

Distributor ready to jump to Anne Arundel. (Cummins Chesapeake Power Inc.'s transfer to Anne Arundel County, Maryland)
September 13, 1996... A longtime Baltimore-based distributor for the Cummins Engine Co. is making plans to build a new distribution facility in Anne Arundel County. Cummins Chesapeake Power Inc. is close to buying a five-acre site in the Park 100 industrial park in...

New fed rules open up satellite dish market.
September 13, 1996... Neighborhood homeowner associations won't be allowed to ban most types of modern satellite dishes under new rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. That change would open up previously restricted areas, such as Howard and...

Station owners play musical chairs. (radio industry in Baltimore, Maryland)
September 13, 1996... New federal rules turn local radio market topsy-turvy Here's the tally so far: * American Radio Systems Corp. is buying three Baltimore area stations, bringing ownership of stations in this area to five. * Infinity Broadcasting Corp....

Judge tells patron, eatery to tell story to arbitrator. (Judge Bonita Dancy's ruling on the case between Pizza Ole Inc. and Prudential Securities)
September 13, 1996... A dispute between a testy Prudential Securities executive and the owner of a popular restaurant where even Academy Award winners must wait for a table won't make it to court. A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge last week threw out a $51...

Agents stick with tried and true. (information services for real estate agents)
September 13, 1996... The Internet has yet to pay off for most real estate agents. Many brokers in both the commercial and residential real estate industries have found the technology having the most impact on their work lives is the same communications and...

Coxing the CREW. (National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women)
September 13, 1996... National women's group grows with Bonnie Gottlieb's assistance Bonnie Gottlieb's challenge is something of a Catch-22. The strength of the National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women, which Gottlieb serves as president, hinges on the...

Misspent youth? No, not exactly. (young entrepreneurs in Maryland)
September 13, 1996... The state's economic future rests in some young, but apparently capable, hands. When it comes to entrepreneurial spirit, the secret may not be in the genes. But a little help from the family never hurts. A survey of recent winners of the...

Once-hot market cools off. (building leases)
September 20, 1996... But 5 firms look for warehouses In the last month, at least five companies looking for large blocks of warehouse space have asked developers in the Baltimore-Washington corridor to make them a deal. That's the good news. The down side is...

Feds blast state on stadium spending. (Baltimore's football stadium)
September 20, 1996... The debate over Baltimore's new football stadium isn't ending, even though the bulldozers have begun digging the foundation for the nearly $200 million Camden Yards facility. But the argument has shifted from Annapolis to Washington, where...

Telecommunications law has county officials wired.
September 20, 1996... The free-for-all created when Congress passed a sweeping and historic telecommunications law earlier this year is causing more than a little anxiety in Maryland's localities. While enthused about opening their doors to a range of...

Blue Cross decides to pay $30M and upgrade its computers itself. (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland Inc.)
September 20, 1996... Old system criticized Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland plans to lay out about $30 million over the next 18 months to make its controversial computer systems more user friendly. The Maryland Blues have come under fire from brokers and...

This little chicken company's going to market. (Boston Chicken Inc.)
September 20, 1996... Roy Rogers' exit may mean opportunities for rapidly expanding restaurant chain Boston Chicken Inc. is looking for new places to roost in the Baltimore-Washington area. As part of the public company's national expansion plan to triple its...

Craft catalog publishers tap market. (Made Just 4 Me Inc.)
September 20, 1996... Not long ago, Barbara Williams was just an entrepreneur who thought it might be a good idea to publish a catalog showcasing items handmade by Maryland craftspeople. Now she has access to almost $7 million worth of products, a list of 115...

Assisted living houses are popping up all over. (Colonial Manor Homes)
September 20, 1996... Just 10 years ago, George Wentz had a bear of a time finding investors for a new type of health care facility he wanted to build. He wanted to construct the type of place that would care for elderly residents not ill enough to be in a nursing...

The jury's still out on impact of medical savings plans.
September 20, 1996... A new method designed to cut health care costs may end up simply exacerbating problems in providing health care, say Maryland health insurance executives and policy experts. They are especially worried that medical savings accounts would hurt...

Manufacturers go online for bids.
September 20, 1996... Smaller firms have started to bid for private contracts by accessing the Internet Maryland manufacturers are learning how to sell their wares through the Internet, giving them an edge over the competition as electronic commerce becomes more...

Welfare dilemma: too many people for few jobs, officials say.
September 27, 1996... Baltimore City has the highest concentration of welfare recipients in the state, and the lowest number of new jobs being created. Even as the city's social service department works overtime preparing for a new state law that aims to put some of...

Agencies to pull temps from Md. (temporary workers; Maryland)
September 27, 1996... Seven companies that provide more than 200 temporary workers to state agencies have notified the state they will send the employees home Tuesday, the day the federal minimum wage goes up. But state officials don't seem worried about the exodus,...

Playoffs would spark economic home run. (Baltimore Orioles)
September 27, 1996... When the Cleveland Indians made the World Series last October for the first time in 41 years, the city and its surrounding counties literally ran out of hotel rooms. "We have about 15,000 hotel rooms in the Cleveland area, and we still had...

New look starting to pay for livelier Jos. A Bank. (Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc.)(Company Profile)
September 27, 1996... Creative ideas include trip to Japan for CEO Finley The latest catalog features a Putt 'n' Hazard practice surface and a Swing Groover, among a host of other accessories for that discerning golfer. Also plastered across the inside pages are...

Columbia tech firm's dialing a new party line. (Computer Systems Technology Inc.)
September 27, 1996... Computer Systems' new OutReach effort attracing investments Stephen Brucker and his company were at that proverbial crossroads about two years ago. The chief executive officer of Columbia-based Computer Systems Technology Inc. was sitting on...

Congress may toughen apartment housing limits.
September 27, 1996... Fair Housing Act may be amended to limit per room occupancy, a move landlords are backing WASHINGTON - Apartment owners and managers may soon have the legal right to limit how many people can live in an apartment or townhouse. Congress is...

Tool company banking on a new product line. (Baltimore Tool Works Inc.)(Company Profile)
September 27, 1996... For more than 70 years, Baltimore Tool Works has been crafting chisels, nail sets and star drills for hardware home centers along the East Coast. This fall, the tool manufacturer is placing its bets on a new line - so-called hammerless tools...

Welcome to the full time. (conversion from a part-time to a full-time business)(Workshop)
September 27, 1996... What it takes to convert a part-time business into a full-time endeavor and somehow make it all work Laid off from his job at a contracting supply store, unemployment benefits running out, Joe Greenbaum was looking for a way to support his...

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
September 27, 1996... Corporate profile Since it discontinued its women's line in 1995, Hampstead-based clothing retailer and manufacturer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. has been focusing on its core men's business. While the absence of the women's line led to a 17...