Puget Sound Business Journal articles from April 1995

Puget Sound Business Journal archives from April 1995

The passive-aggressive growth model. (Puget Sound, Washington)(15th Anniversary Issue)
April 28, 1995... Laid-back but entrepreneurial, nice but persistent, Puget Sound politely pushes into global arena May 18, 1980. Another day that will live in infamy. Few of us were computer-literate, yuppies were about to be invented, interest rates were in...

The readers' choice: Microsoft, Starbucks. (Microsoft Corp.; Starbucks Corp.)(15th Anniversary Issue)
April 28, 1995... Entrepreneurial, high-growth firms tabbed as top business stories of past 15 years; Boeing trails The envelopes, please. Well, not exactly. Some two-thirds of the ballots for our readership poll of the top business stories of the past...

A real estate roller-coaster. (Puget Sound, Washington's real estate industry)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Skyscrapers went from boom to bust, while homes and business parks proliferated Columbia Seafirst Center was just a glimmer in Martin Selig's eye 15 years ago. Half of downtown Seattle's office space did not yet exist, and vacancies were 2...

A splintered industry. (Puget Sound, Washington's lumber industry)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Many logging operations shut down, but timber owners and innovators manage to prosper When you drive into Forks, Wash., you are greeted by a wood carving of a large owl anchored on the side of the road. It was made years ago, before the word...

Reinventing a giant. (Boeing Co.)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Company Profile)
April 28, 1995... Boeing reshapes itself into a leaner, smarter aircraft-builder to cope with ever-changing markets Fate has thrown The Boeing Co. one curve ball after another during the last 15 years. First there was the recession of the early '80s, which...

Going broke getting healthy. (diagnosis related groups)(15th Anniversary Issue)
April 28, 1995... Soaring costs drove government and business to push hard for new ways to pay for health care In 1983, word started to get around in the business community about something arcanely called "DRGs." Observers said DRGs were going to...

Still learning: economic shifts send grownups back to school to update their skills.(15th Anniversary Issue)
April 28, 1995... Educators agree that one of the most important trends in higher education over the past 15 years is the explosion in programs of all types catering 16 adult learners. Such programs have been around for a long time - the University of...

Eastside story. (Washington's Eastside)(15th Anniversary Issue)
April 28, 1995... Sparked by high tech and an attractive lifestyle, the Eastside becomes a vigorous 'edge city' Fifteen years ago, Bellevue Square developer Kemper Freeman Jr. worried that "Bellevue was well on its way to becoming the next Tacoma." That...

Political rules rewritten. (Washington)(15th Anniversary Issue)
April 28, 1995... From Gamscam to Contract with Washington, the script and the players have changed Local politicos remember the old tmmes with a shrug and a smile. They're not particularly proud of what was going on in the Legislature some years ago, but...

Banks for the memories. (regional banks)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Many leading regional banks were swallowed up as new rules transformed the industry At year-end 1982, Seafirst Bank lay near financial death. Washington's largest bank was choking on bad energy loans. That the bank had decided to buy...

Erratic trajectory for biotech's 'magic bullets.' (biotechnology)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Promising startups grapple with expensive research and fickle investment climate Neither scientists nor financiers nor their enthusiastic investors understood in the early 1980s what a perilous path lay behind the newly opened gate of...

Waves of change rock maritime industries.(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... The ports grew beyond anyone's expectations, but fishing and shipbuilding had a rougher time For port and waterfront business around the Puget Sound, the last 15 years have turned so much upside-down that little is recognizable. On the...

Software central. (Washington)(15 Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... From operating systems to new multimedia and telecom tools, the region leads the world Unless you're a software insider, you've probably never heard of Steve Wood. But if you track his career path, you can track the history of the...

Dislocation, dislocation, dislocation. (retail stores)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Retail changes as big boxes, specialty shops displace mom-and-pops and department stores Retail stores have gotten bigger. That, retail experts say, is the most notable trend over the past 15 years. Gone are many of the little mom-and-pop...

Under the gavel. (law firms)(15th Anniversary Issue)
April 28, 1995... Law firms enjoyed the '80s but now must scramble for clients and colleagues Today's legal market is a downright yawn compared to what was going on the 1980s. During the go-go era, firms were announcing mergers, hires or new offices almost...

Tourist tap. (Washington's tourism industry)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... A growing pool of visitors pours millions into region's economy, without much prompting As some traditional industries have declined over the past 15 years, tourism has become an important leg supporting Washington's economy. "It's been...

A half-hearted cheer. (Washington's professional sports)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... The town that claims to have started 'the Wave' still has trouble filling pro stadium seats Let's face it - a stellar professional-sports town, Seattle ain't. Seattle teams have zero baseball pennants, zero Super Bowl rings and just one...

Disconnecting the phone: McCaw builds a cellular industry leader. (McCaw Cellular Communications Inc.)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... In 1980, the world of U.S. telecommunications consisted largely of The Phone Company, otherwise known as AT&T Co. At the time, Craig McCaw was still playing with a group of cable television systems. But McCaw was quietly getting ready for...

Young firms grew up fast in just 15 years. (Washington)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Public, private newcomers have matured from startups to major players in local economy Some of the common names in the business headlines today weren't even around when the Seattle Business Journal began publishing business news 15 years...

Getting on the map of world trade. (Washington)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... 'The other Washington' becomes a major trader in everything from high tech to lowly bottomfish For much of the last 15 years, sketching maps on napkins has been a necessary skill for local business people trying to conduct international...

Arts' pace quickens, art space grows. (Seattle, Washington)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Local art groups gain national attention while community makes some concrete commitments Fifteen years ago, Seattle's arts scene was a half-painted canvas, an unfinished work just hinting at its potential. Since then, local arts groups...

Future is now for top prospects of 1985. (business leaders below 40-years-old)(15th Anniversary Issue)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Ten years later, the Business Journal's projected young leaders are still making their marks What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, in its fifth anniversary issue, the Puget Sound Business Journal identified a number of individuals...

Economic development: a matter of balance.(Washington Surveys the Future)
April 28, 1995... More than 10 years after then-Gov. Booth Gardner announced to great fanfare the creation of "Team Washington" to advance the state's economic future, elected officials, corporate leaders, and Washington cities and towns still remain uncertain...

State income tax: saying 'no' for 60 years.(Washington Surveys the Future)
April 28, 1995... Why don't we have a state income tax? Lucky, I guess. That would probably be the answer of a substantial majority of Washington taxpayers based upon the results of numerous statewide votes on the income tax during the past 60 years. However,...

Public education: children are top priority.(Washington Surveys the Future)
April 28, 1995... Public education represents America's most noble experiment in democracy. Acceptance for all and a belief in the dignity and worth of every child are the cornerstones of a public education system and necessary for democracy to succeed. A...

The trading state: building on history, vision. (Washington)(Washington Surveys the Future)
April 28, 1995... The United States has always been a trading nation. There were a dozen Yankee clipper ships in Hong Kong Harbor the day the Declaration of Independence was signed, However, over the past 50 years, while our national market grew into the world's...

Exports: developing countries a growth market.(Washington Surveys the Future)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Exports have been a dominating source of growth for the regional economy in recent years. Between 1988 and 1993 Puget Sound merchandise exports expanded more than twice as fast as growth in overall output, as measured by gross regional product....

Capital investment: asking voters for more.(Washington Surveys the Future)(Industry Overview)
April 28, 1995... Between the years 1960 and 1994, 2,213 money measures were placed before voters in King County by local governments and special districts. Voters approved 1,438, or 65 percent. However, in the past five years, voters approved 59 percent of...

Investors find Todo Loco tasty. (fast food chain plans to open more outlets in Seattle, Washington)
April 21, 1995... Schultz and Brotman see a recipe for success Todo Loco, a small chain of colorful "fast fuel" eateries serving a healthy version of Mexican fare, has landed $1.8 million from a group of high-profile investors including Starbucks chairman...

Incredible edibles are baked daily at Amazing Cakes. (bakery in Redmond, Washington)
April 21, 1995... Chef Mike McCarey has boldly taken cake where no cake has gone before. Cakes that look just like the Starship Enterprise. Or cacti. Or sushi, or Nordstrom shopping bags, or Rodda paint cans (complete with the Rodda logo, green chocolate...

Health-care reform rolled back.
April 21, 1995... Business celebrates repeal of 1993 act's 'unworkable' provisions Health-care reform in Washington may well have been tried out largely in its original form but for two impediments - existing federal law and Republican legislative victories...

Property with a dirty past. (lawsuits against building owners and developers)(Environmental Quarterly: A Special Report)
April 21, 1995... No statute of limitations inhibits suing old polluters - even turn-of-century misdeeds are fair game If you want to reclaim urban land, be forewarned: You may get a costly history lesson you didn't expect. That's been the experience of the...

Snoqualmie Ridge not out of woods yet. (real estate development near Seattle, Washington)(Environmental Quarterly: A Special Report)
April 21, 1995... New community, long on hold, has been scaled back but environmentalists still on guard Citizen groups didn't stop Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co.'s giant Snoqualmie Ridge master-planned development east of Seattle, but their efforts helped to...

Air freight carriers leave Sea-Tac for Boeing Field. (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport)
April 21, 1995... Two air cargo carriers are fleeing Sea-Tac International Airport's congestion for the more open skies of Boeing Field, and more carriers hope to follow. The two, Airborne Freight Corp. and Burlington Air Express, say they're moving to avoid...

Tera pursues supercomputer as industry's superstars fail. (Tera Computer Co.)
April 21, 1995... Three high-spending, high-profile supercomputer companies have run out of cash in the past six months, chilling the climate for a smaller, thriftier Seattle company that's chasing the same dream. Seattle's supercomputer company, Tera...

Report urges a focus on region's high-skill jobs. (Puget Sound Metropolitan Area)
April 21, 1995... If you're a biotech engineer, lawyer or medical technician, the local job market in the next few years looks very promising. But if you're wearing a blue collar and don't have a college education, the outlook is pretty bleak. And if policy...

Nintendo cuts Rare deal with video-game maker. (Nintendo Company Ltd.)
April 21, 1995... In an effort to lock up the talents of what it believes is the world's best video-game maker, Nintendo Co. Ltd. took a multimillion-dollar stake in United Kingdom-based Rare this week. The 25 percent position, for an undisclosed amount, is...

Audubon Coffee's 'shady' practices are for the birds.(Environmental Quarterly: A Special Report)
April 21, 1995... A new Seattle coffee company has taken a page or three from John J. Audubon's 1838 classic, "Birds of America," as it launches itself in the crowded specialty coffee market on the wings of migratory birds. Audubon Coffee bags its coffee in...

Auto service firms rev up commitment to recycling.
April 21, 1995... Editor's note: This article is part of an ongoing series on how local businesses are disposing of or making creative uses of hazardous waste. Every year it costs businesses more money to buy raw materials and dispose of hazardous waste. When...

Landscape designers can bank on going native. (environmental landscaping)
April 21, 1995... Many of the displays at the recent Northwest Flower & Garden Show emphasized a sensitivity to the conservation and ecology ethic, including the use of native drought-resistant plants and recycled materials for gardens and patios. It's all part...

Craig McCaw buys Boeing Field fueling business.
April 21, 1995... Craig McCaw has purchased an airplane refueling business at Boeing Field, at least partly to appease county concerns about a new hanger that he and his airplane-loving brothers built farther north on the same runway. The newest McCaw...

Tough mining chief has her eye on global gold. (Peggy Witte, president and CEO of Royal Oak Mines Inc.)
April 14, 1995... Peggy Witte lives for gold mining, even if her passion sometimes leaves others in the dust. She is warm, accessible and disarmingly self-effacing in person. But as chairwoman, president and CEO of Royal Oak Mines Inc., Witte operates with an...

Magnolia Hi-Fi pulls plug on computer retail effort.
April 14, 1995... Consumer electronics retailer Magnolia Hi-Fi abruptly bailed out of the personal computer business this week, closing out a category it had spent millions to enter last September. Just six months ago, the Seattle-based chain retrofitted its...

Boeing's next-generation 777 expected to outsell original. (777 B) (Evaluation)
April 14, 1995... Try flying one of the highly touted Boeing 777 A models from Chicago to Tokyo, and you might run short of fuel over the Pacific. That's where the 777 B comes in. Many industry observers believe that the longer-range version of Boeing's new...

CB manager Aigner bolts to rival RE firm. (CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc.; Rob Aigner; Collier Macaulay Nicolls International)
April 14, 1995... A leading player in the Puget Sound real estate industry has jumped ship to a rival firm, taking some in the brokerage community by surprise. Rob Aigner, the longtime branch manager of CB Commercial's regional operations, quit Wednesday and...

Bank takes, sells Selig's Second and Columbia site. (Seattle-First National Bank; developer Martin Selig)
April 14, 1995... Developer Martin Selig has just begun the battle to hang onto his imperiled Metropolitan Park office towers, but he's already lost a fight on another front. Seafirst Bank has foreclosed on one of Selig's last remaining development parcels...

SBA may boost its loan fees and close one of two offices. (Small Business Administration; offices in Washington State)
April 14, 1995... The Small Business Administration may impose higher loan fees and close one of its two district offices in Washington to meet President Clinton's demand that the agency do more with less. SBA officials claim the higher fees will not...

Info about troubled Midisoft may be harder to come by. (Midisoft Corp.)
April 14, 1995... Citing a lack of confidence in management, one of the two independent analysts who cover Midisoft Corp. is considering dropping coverage - a move that would leave many Midisoft investors in the dark about the company's future. And...

Looming price war will slow Wall Data's effort to rebound. (Wall Data Inc.)
April 14, 1995... Don't expect Wall Data Inc.'s stock to rebound too quickly from its major haircut last week. The Kirkland connectivity software company, which saw its stock shaved by $19 to about $21 per share on the news that it may post a loss for its...

State's exports decline for second straight year. (Washington)
April 7, 1995... 11 percent drop: Boeing is down, high tech is up Washington state's exports plunged in 1994 for the second straight year, dropping by $3 billion, or 11 percent, largely because of a drop in Boeing sales. Local-origin exports fell to $26.2...

Former bush pilot hopes to give planes extra oomph. (Joe Soloy)
April 7, 1995... Joe Soloy believes two engines are better than one. A former Alaska bush pilot turned inventor, Soloy has developed a revolutionary method of powering single-propeller airplanes that may increase their safety, efficiency and passenger...

Selig towers face foreclosure. (developer Martin Selig's Metropolitan Park I and II)
April 7, 1995... Developer hopes to work out settlement with pension fund An Illinois pension fund has filed an $83 million foreclosure action against highrise developer Martin Selig, posing perhaps the most serious crisis for the Seattle builder since he was...

Natural-food retailer Alfalfa's will sprout up to six area stores. (Alfalfa's Corp.; Seattle, Washington)
April 7, 1995... Alfalfa's Inc., a Colorado chain of natural-food groceries that will open its first Seattle store early this summer, has plans for as many as six area stores. Its stores sell organically grown produce, hormone-free meats and other health and...

Developer Mastro selling $120 million portfolio. (Michael R. Mastro; Washington properties)
April 7, 1995... Seattle mega-developer Michael R. Mastro has sold $32 million worth of Western Washington properties in the past 30 days, and a Mastro consultant says he has another $90 million under contract. The deals continue a recent run of sales by the...

MidCom dials up an IPO grow-or-die market. (Mid-Com Communications Inc.)
April 7, 1995... Long-distance reseller MidCom Communications Inc. plans to raise $60 million in an initial public offering as part of the company's plan to become a full-fledged telephone company. Analysts say Seattle-based MidCom will need that cash to...

Tight-fitting caps give travel agencies headaches. (Washington)
April 7, 1995... Local travel agencies expect layoffs, closures and, eventually, imposition of additional service fees as they grudgingly adjust to a new commission structure. Such dramatic changes were not what the agencies had in mind. Nonetheless, the...

Nurses fighting for jobs as hospitals economize. (Washington)
April 7, 1995... The recent one-day nurses' strike at Group Health Cooperative was but one local skirmish in a nationwide fight by nurses to preserve their jobs. It's a struggle they're unlikely to win in the long term. Changes in medical technology and the...

Lumber looks cheaper but uglier this building season. (Washington)
April 7, 1995... With the building season hitting full stride in the next few weeks, supply yards around the region are reporting unusually low prices for all types of lumber. That happy scenario is the result of a variety of trends in the timber and...

House and Senate approach an agreement on reg reform. (Washington; regulatory reform)
April 7, 1995... Democrats, Republicans and employers are moving closer to agreement on regulatory reform. Senate Democrats last week stripped the House Republican reform bill and replaced it with one of their own. But this drew no protests. "I think we...

Nursing homes protest Lowry budget cut. (Washington)
April 7, 1995... A Lowry administration proposal to curb the soaring cost of Medicaid nursing-home care is drawing protests from operators of the homes. The administration wants to cut $72 million from the $1 billion projected for nursing-home spending in the...

Columbia Banking System Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 7, 1995... 1102 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma, WA 98402, (206) 305-1900 Columbia Banking System is a bank holding company whose sole subsidiary, Columbia Bank, is a state-chartered commercial bank providing banking and commercial lending services to small- and...

A matter of degrees. (Antioch University's masters of science in management program)(Special Report: Computers & Technology)
April 7, 1995... When Susan Mann decided to get an advanced business degree, she investigated several different master's programs, then decided on the management program offered by the Seattle branch of Antioch University. What swayed her, says Mann, was the...

WTC can jump start small firms with a better idea. (Washington Technology Center)(Special Report: Computers & Technology)
April 7, 1995... On the east side of the University of Washington campus is a modest concrete and glass office building looking so deceptively quiet that most people don't know there's a revolution going on inside - a commercial revolution. Fluke Hall, named...

The millennium is coming; the end is near.... (conversions of computer systems that treat years as two-digit numbers; format for year 2000)(Special Report: Computers & Technology)
April 7, 1995... The end for many computer systems, that is, unless they're reprogrammed to allow for new century The information age may come to a screeching halt in the year 2000. The world probably won't end, but the computers that run it might....

Senn set to adopt modified rules on pollution liability. (Washington Insurance Commr. Deborah Senn)
April 7, 1995... Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn is expected this week to finally adopt controversial regulations governing insurance claims on polluted property. For some property owners, the new regulations don't come a minute too soon. "We're in...