Puget Sound Business Journal articles from April 1997

Puget Sound Business Journal archives from April 1997

Hospital margins relapse; usage, revenues up, but bottom lines in precarious condition.
April 25, 1997... Usage, revenues up, but bottom lines in precarious condition The state's hospitals saw their financial operating margins slump again last year, after a rebound in 1995, and the outlook for next year may be grimmer still. Some hospitals are...

Poll star: researcher Stuart Elway believes public opinion surveys should be used to enhance communication, not inflame differences.
April 25, 1997... His client roster ranges from American Airlines, the Ford Foundation and the Seattle Mariners to Shephard Ambulance, St. Martin's College and Asarco. He is perhaps best known as the research professional whose presence assures that The...

Start-up takes on Microsoft, Adobe; $11 million staked on rival to kings of desktop publishing. (Design Intelligence Inc.)
April 25, 1997... The market for desktop publishing software is crowded and dominated by 800-pound gorillas such as Adobe Systems' PageMaker and Microsoft Corp.'s Publisher. But a Seattle start-up will enter the fray next month with new technology that makes...

'Ugly' freight is beautiful for small Airgroup Express.
April 25, 1997... Airgroup Express has grown by refining a $50 million niche: moving anything other air freight companies won't. Since creating the company 15 years ago, president Bill Moultrie has built an organization with offices in 38 cities across the...

Sasquatch Books lengthens its stride.(Small Business Weekly)
April 25, 1997... The small press looks beyond travel to literature and business titles While best known for its "Best Places" series, Sasquatch Books wants to make a bigger footprint in regional publishing by broadening its reputation beyond travel....

Space, deals available despite tight market.(Office, Industrial and Retail Leasing)
April 25, 1997... Message to downtown office tenants: Relax, the sky is not falling. Rents may be rising and big spaces are hard to find, but office users continue to make deals at tolerable rates, say a cross-section of downtown brokers. "My gut tells me...

Changes coming to venerable area. (Pioneer Square's historic office buildings)(Office, Industrial and Retail Leasing)
April 25, 1997... Pioneer Square's historic office buildings have provided incubation space for growing high-tech companies and a stimulating environment for architecture firms, advertising agencies and other creative businesses. Office tenants are attracted...

Landlord challenge: filling the big boxes.(Office, Industrial and Retail Leasing)
April 25, 1997... Recycling "big-box" retail outlets in the wake of the big-store bust has grown into a vexing challenge for landlords who once reaped handsomely from such retailers. The collapse of Ernst Home Center Inc., smith's Home Furnishings, Silo, Home...

Space chase portends building boom. (Office, Industrial and Retail Leasing)
April 25, 1997... With downtown Seattle Class A office space at record low vacancy levels, rents heading up, ten-ant-improvement allowances diminishing and institutional investors bulging with cash, some developers are starting to dream the dream of creating new...

Hanging out the 'not much vacancy' sign.(Office, Industrial and Retail Leasing)(Directory)
April 25, 1997... Available office space on the Eastside is becoming an increasingly rare and precious commodity these days. As the vacancy rate continues to fall and lease rates continue to rise, developers are cautiously getting back into the swing with a...

Northern climate increasingly appealing. (North Seattle and Snohomish County)(Office, Industrial and Retail Leasing)
April 25, 1997... The North Seattle and Snohomish County real estate markets continue to benefit from the increasing scarcity of available sites for users of office and industrial space in downtown Seattle and the Eastside. Office The vacancy rate for North...

Relying on industrial-strength appeal. (South King County, WA)(Office, Industrial and Retail Leasing)
April 25, 1997... South King County real estate is a study in contrasts: The industrial sector is booming, its vacancy rates are low, many spec buildings are under construction, institutional buyers are scouring the flatlands for property, and there is even the...

Emerald Downs off slowly: top exec backs bill he says would boost revenues, purses. (thoroughbred racing track)
April 4, 1997... Roughly 594,000 people passed through the gates at Emerald Downs thoroughbred racing track in Auburn last year, but the biggest gamblers weren't in the crowds. They were sitting in the owners' boxes. With horse racing tracks going out of...

Fading star: Washington's once-hot film industry is losing screen time to scene-stealing British Columbia.
April 4, 1997... After years of writing about filmmakers, Tim Rhys decided to become one. Rhys, editor and publisher of Seattle-based MovieMaker magazine, pumped over $100,000 of his own money into "Men in Scoring Position," a coming-of-middle-age film he...

Not going public, going broke: coffee chain Tuscany seeks Chapter 11 after IPO falters. (initial public offering)
April 4, 1997... Tuscany Inc. has shut all but one of its 28 coffee bars and taken shelter from creditors under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The filing comes after an unsuccessful attempt to take the Seattle-based coffee retailer public in a stock...

Defunct site for nuke plants now touted as business park. (Satsop)
April 4, 1997... Thirty miles west of Olympia, two 500-foot concrete towers loom over the hulking, rust-streaked structures built almost two decades ago to house twin nuclear reactors. Some see the bones of an old failure: the spectacular financial collapse...

Winning ways help narrow financial losses; popular club packs 'em in, still faces big cash demands.(Seattle Mariners)
April 4, 1997... The Seattle Mariners are starting to turn their new-found popularity into cash. Last year, the Major League Baseball club boosted game-day revenues by a whopping $14.6 million as a record 2.7 million people streamed into the Kingdome to...

Nextel rolls into the wireless services battle here. (Nextel Communications Inc.)
April 4, 1997... This week, Craig McCaw's new company started battling his old company in his hometown of Seattle. Nextel Communications Inc., whose wireless service combines cellular calling, two-way radio and pager-like messaging in a single handset,...

Fight for advertisers begins with Sidewalk launch. (Microsoft Corp.'s online city guides)
April 4, 1997... Analysts say Microsoft Corp.'s much publicized and much feared Sidewalk, the online local entertainment guide launched this week, ultimately could be one of the Redmond company's most important projects. Although the current market for such...

Mariners embrace big-league marketing plan; TV time, merchandising pitch boost 'brand awareness.'(Seattle Mariners)
April 4, 1997... Seattle will see a lot of its Major League Baseball team on the air this year. Local television stations will carry more games. Seven new humorous television commercials that feature key Mariners players will be shown locally. And Major...

Royal Oak gold mine challenged by Indian tribe. (Royal Oak Mines Inc.)
April 4, 1997... Royal Oak Mines Inc.'s plan to produce 1 million ounces of gold annually by 2001 could be tripped up by resistance from a small Canadian Indian tribe. The dispute is over the $284 million Kemess Mine in northern British Columbia, which is...

Business groups cautious on governor's reg-reform order.
April 4, 1997... Business interests applauded the executive order on regulatory reform signed by Gov. Gary Locke last week, but said they fear the governor will use his order as an excuse to veto reform legislation they want. "We don't want to see his...

Merger of health insurers creates new Regence brand.
April 4, 1997... King County Medical Blue Shield and Pierce County Medical Bureau have completed their merger, changed their name to Regence Washington Health and hired a new CEO. On July 1, Rich Nelson will succeed retiring King County Medical CEO Dale...

Bank stocks roughed up, but deals won't feel it.
April 4, 1997... WaMu, U.S. Bank mergers likely to be unaffected Interest-rate fears have transformed most bank stocks from high fliers to ground-hugging turkeys over the past few days, but the sell-off isn't likely to stop either U.S. Bancorp or Washington...

New call center aims at firms suffering customer overload. (CSG Openline)
April 4, 1997... Software companies and others that face high volumes of customer-service calls during peak periods of business can now instantly beef up their operations by renting space at a new call center in South Seattle. Armed with $1 million from...

M's build sponsorship team with long-term deals; corporate backing already up 33 percent over 1996.(Seattle Mariners)
April 4, 1997... This year, fans will be able to sign up for a new Mariners credit card, courtesy of First USA Bank. Some 12,000 fans will receive Shimano fishing poles and a chance to win a fishing trip with Jay Buhner. Some 36,000 kids will receive Alex...

Bills would limit power of land-use hearings boards.
April 4, 1997... Local officials complain their authority is usurped Bob Hill owns six shoreline lots in Pacific County, and can't understand why an obscure state board has barred him from building on them. Others have been allowed to build, be said, "so...

New stadium designed to fit neighborhood; fan-friendly ballpark will offer plenty of diversions.(Seattle Mariners)
April 4, 1997... Before the architects at NBBJ took up their drafting pencils to design the Mariners' state-of-the-art baseball stadium, they grabbed scissors and glue. Searching through piles of photographs and drawings, the designers put together a collage...

Regulators take closer look at 'viatical' deals.
April 4, 1997... Questions for companies that trade cash for a dying person's life insurance policy WASHINGTON - An industry that spawns millions of dollars in settlement money by gambling on terminally ill patients soon may face increased scrutiny from...

Suite solutions for small businesses: growing service industry offers more than space to start-ups, branch offices.(Small Business Weekly)
April 4, 1997... The Puget Sound region's largest executive-suites company also lays claim to being the area's oldest. Business Service Center of Bellevue was started 30 years ago by Rosemary Giardina, the wife of Bellevue's then-police chief. When...

Wells targets women business owners. (Wells Fargo Bank)(Small Business Weekly)
April 4, 1997... Seattle business owner Ellen Rasmussen was unhappy with her bank, so she was delighted when a Wells Fargo Bank representative called to offer her credit. Rasmussen owns the Yangtze River Trading Co., a 5-year-old downtown Seattle small...