Puget Sound Business Journal articles from February 1997

Puget Sound Business Journal archives from February 1997

Paper chase: recyclers feel overwhelmed by glut of low-grade paper. (waste paper exports)
February 28, 1997... The supply of curbside mixed waste paper is a bit like the water buckets in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice": Now that the spell has been cast, the deluge keeps growing and growing. This onslaught threatens to overwhelm the system's ability to...

Intermind's 'webcasting' tool is catching on with publishers. (Intermind Corp.'s Web broadcasting software)
February 28, 1997... In just four months, 140 Interact publishers have adopted Intermind Corp.'s Web broadcasting software, putting the Seattle company ahead of competitors in the race to establish a standard for so-called "push" technology. But the industry is...

InterWest Bancorp Inc.(Company Profile)
February 28, 1997... InterWest Bancorp is a Washington state-chartered bank holding company for InterWest Bank and Central Washington Bank. It operates 37 offices throughout western and central areas of the state. The company originally was organized in 1956 as...

Health-food stores in expansion mode: independents say they're prospering, while the GNC chain looks to grow through local acquisitions. (General Nutrition Center)
February 28, 1997... The health-food-store business is... well, quite healthy. Take Rainbow Grocery on Seattle's Capitol Hill. Last March, Ross Kling, who owns the store with his wife Pat, moved it a few doors down the street into a new location with 50 percent...

Washington Wine uncorks offering: bottlers of Silver Lake label will use cash to expand facilities, distribution. (Washington Wine and Beverage Co.)(Small Business Weekly)
February 28, 1997... Washington Wine and Beverage Co., which sells wine under the Silver Lake label, plans to raise up to $2.5 million in a secondary public offering by selling a 10 percent stake. The Bothell company, which is the state's only consumer-owned...

Welfare reform will challenge employers: low-skilled workers face high barriers to new jobs. (Washington state)
February 21, 1997... When Ride Snowboards wanted to hire workers from south-central Seattle for its manufacturing facility in Preston last year, it quickly discovered that most candidates couldn't even make it out for a job interview. After Ride and several...

Sale of Vyzis empire seems close at hand. (Vyzis Co.)
February 21, 1997... Vyzis Co. has issued termination notices to a number of employees and a headhunter has begun interviewing new leasing and property-management talent, in what sources describe as preparation for sale of the company. The Bellevue-based real...

Seafair's rough waves: even Angels can't help as festival loses money, president. (Blue Angels aerobatic team)
February 21, 1997... Despite the soaring return of the popular Blue Angels, Seattle's Seafair celebration took a financial nose dive last year. In fact, the aerobatic military jets' unsponsored appearance helped blow a big crater in the annual festival's bottom...

$10M funding for maker of Web watchdog. (Sequel Technology Corp.)
February 21, 1997... Venture capitalists have crowded around to invest in Sequel Technology Corp., whose software enables companies to monitor how Web-surfing employees spend their time on the Internet. The idea is expected to appeal to corporate managers so much...

Boos Game Studios ready to play with 3-D 'Spider' game. (video game)
February 21, 1997... After working for more than two years in secrecy, Boss Game Studios is unveiling its first video game next week. The 40-employee Redmond company, formed by special-effects whiz Richard Edlund and financed by local mogul John McCaw Jr., kept...

New book wholesaler moves in to fill Pipeline void. (Partners Book Distributing Inc.; Pacific Pipeline Inc.)
February 21, 1997... Michigan-based firm looking for warehouse site The demise of book wholesaler Pacific Pipeline Inc. has left a wide gap in the local book trade, which a Michigan-based distributor plans to fill. Partners Book Distributing Inc. of Holt,...

Cherry growers say ole to pact on Mexico exports. (Washington growers)
February 21, 1997... For Washington fruit growers and exporters, losing access to Mexico's market for fresh cherries has been the pits. That's why they are cheery that Mexico has agreed to accept U.S. cherries again. The settlement with Mexico - the first...

Bill aims to stabilize market for individual health policies. (Washington State Legislature)
February 21, 1997... Dyer's proposal would restrict enrollment period Rep. Phil Dyer, the Issaquah Republican who chairs the House Health Care Committee, this week introduced controversial legislation aimed at stabilizing the market for health insurance purchased...

Big manufacturers want megawatt monopoly ended. (electricity purchasing)
February 21, 1997... Large industrial companies are pressing the Legislature to allow them to choose among competing suppliers of electricity. The Boeing Co., Boise Cascade Co., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Birmingham Steel Corp. were among the big manufacturers that...

New owners are game to rebuild Olympic Sports. (sporting goods retailer)
February 21, 1997... But industry's turmoil places hurdles ahead The new owners of beleaguered sporting-goods retailer Olympic Sports Inc. have shuttered its 44,000-square-foot Bellevue store as they attempt to retool the last link in the former eight-store...

Federal budget plan safeguards Boeing projects.
February 21, 1997... Fiscal '98 proposal maintains defense spending Despite the goal of balancing the federal budget by 2002, all major Boeing military programs remain well-funded in President Clinton's 1998 $247 billion budget proposal. "It seems to be as...

Business involvement in welfare reform is crucial to its success.(Editorial)
February 21, 1997... If true welfare reform is on the way, then few of us in the business community are really prepared for it. A fundamental premise of welfare reform is that many people now on the dole will move into the workplace. In fact, many of them want...

B&O victory could come at a high cost. (business and occupation tax rollback)
February 21, 1997... Business is on the verge of achieving the $200 million rollback in business-and-occupation taxes for which it mounted a full-court press this legislative session, but some business leaders are wondering if there'll be a high price for achieving...

Business, education must unite to help workers.
February 21, 1997... As 1997 unfolds and companies implement their plans for growth and launch new strategies for success, it's imperative that education be foremost in their minds. Businesses that expect to gain market share or develop new product lines will...

Pols react to property-tax report that never happened.
February 21, 1997... At press time, Gov. Gary Locke had not yet decided whether to pass or veto a Republican-backed property-tax cut that would restrict tax increases to 6 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less, and place a limit on large valuation...

Burning ambition fuels stove maker. (Jerry Whitfield of Pyro Industries Inc.)
February 21, 1997... Pyro Industries turned sawdust pellets into profits with innovative design Where others saw waste, Jerry Whitfield recognized opportunity in tiny pellets made from compressed sawdust. Whitfield parlayed those pellets into Pyro Industries...

Pike/Pine retail: the boom heads uphill. (Seattle's East Pike and East Pine neighborhoods)(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... Projects such as Harvard Market and others might put upward pressure on store rental rates On Seattle's East Pike and East Pine streets, there are few limits on the unconventional. The Pike/Pine neighborhood - straddling densely populated...

Monroe's doctrine embraces growth. (Washington township)(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... Some residents of Monroe are so concerned about growth in this Snohomish County town that they've formed a grassroots organization to slow development. Commercial property appraiser Jeff Sherwood has quite a different perspective....

King County warming up to condos. (condominiums)(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... In Seattle area, sales of new condominium units are starting to outpace the sales of new homes A few years ago, Roger Bass turned down a job offer in New York City, but the dream that made him pause to even consider the offer lingered on....

Job boom yet to inflate Everett home prices.(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... Older 'lunch bucket' dwellings in central area of city fetching between $100,000 and $175,000 The city of Everett is awash with jobs, thanks in large part to The Boeing Co. and the U.S. Navy. "Everett is one of few places in the world...

Is retirement-building mart nearing saturation?(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... The retirement business has been a good one for many developers and property managers with operations in the Puget Sound area. Thanks to the demographics of an aging population and a thriving economy, it could continue to be a good one for...

The best of leasing and ownership worlds.(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... Companies requiring large buildings for operations historically had two choices: leasing, which is accounted for as an operational expense but provides no equity or tax benefits and limits long-term planning; or real estate ownership, which...

Marketplace is awash with potential lenders.(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... Commercial real estate investment and development activity is booming once again as the industry shifts from recovery to growth. As yields on real estate debt and equity investments continue to compare favorably with alternative investments,...

Bucking Whidbey's anti-growth sentiment. (Whidbey Island)(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... Oak Harbor, some say, needs a business park to decrease dependency on Naval Air Station Though just a short ferry ride from the increasingly urbanized I-5 corridor, Island County's Whidbey Island remains relatively unspoiled. About 70...

Landscape architect's diverse lot.(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... Bill Gates' back yard to sports fields are fair game in this profession Even though landscape architects play a key role in many high-profile real estate projects - from the opulent mansion Bill Gates is building in Medina to the...

Great locations you literally can bank on. (former bank branch buildings as business outlets)(Special Report: Real Estate Quarterly)
February 21, 1997... An areawide search for a microbrewery and restaurant location took Alison Home and John Jankowski to Renton, where they discovered a branch bank building that had been tossed from bank to bank following several mergers. High ceilings, corner...

Boeing tests recipe with care as it blends in Rockwell units. (Rockwell International Corp.)
February 14, 1997... One month after finalizing The Boeing Co.'s acquisition of the defense and aerospace portions of Rockwell International Corp., executives on both sides are starting the real work of meshing the two groups. It's crucial for Boeing to get this...

Russian oil and gold mean work for local firms.
February 14, 1997... A long-anticipated boom in oil and gold exploration in Russia's Far East is finally under way, and Alaska Airlines' announcement this week of a new weekly flight to Sakhalin Island is just one of the local impacts. Freight forwarders here...

Going digital, some printers turn the page on paper work.
February 14, 1997... A vanguard of local printers is attempting the tricky transition away from paper and into the cyber era. Some have launched themselves into printing software documentation and packaging, only to find the demand for weighty software manuals...

Fluke Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 14, 1997... P.O. Box 9090, Everett WA 98206, (206) 347-6100 Fluke designs, manufactures and markets compact, professional electronic test tools. Its principal products are portable instruments that measure voltage, current, power quality, frequency,...

Health insurers lose again. (Washington health insurers; reduced purchases of individual health care policies)
February 7, 1997... Individual-policy market in jeopardy as carriers' losses mount For the second year in a row, major health insurers in Washington state have lost millions of dollars on individual health-care policies. And with fewer people buying such...

Asymetrix gets Aussie investor. (Asymetrix Corp.)
February 7, 1997... Second Pacific alliance for Paul Allen venture Asymetrix Corp., the Bellevue software company owned by Paul Allen, has added another Pacific Rim corporate investor by selling a stake to an Australian computer training company. Multimedia Asia...

Another Seattle all star. (planned opening of the Official All-Star Cafe)
February 7, 1997... Trendy eatery slated for I. Magnin site; others may follow Ken Griffey Jr.'s eatery soon may open up shop next to Arnold Schwarzenegger's place. The Official All Star Cafe is poised to sign a deal for 15,000 square feet in the former I....

National Mobile Television sold to L.A. buyout firm. (Oaktree Capital Management)
February 7, 1997... A Los Angeles-based buyout firm has acquired control of National Mobile Television, once a subsidiary of King Broadcasting Co., in a deal valued at $55 million. Oaktree Capital Management has purchased 90 percent of Seattle-based National...

Pasta ya Gotcha cooks globally, expands locally. (fast-food chain)
February 7, 1997... Eastside chain brings 'flavors of world' downtown After several years of careful testing, Pasta ya Gotcha, a quick-service eatery offering international-flavored pastas, is ready to set a bigger table. The Bellevue company is opening two...

Staffing a challenge for fast-growing Onyx. (Onyx Software)
February 7, 1997... Software firm emphasizes team building, customer service to build market share Onyx Software faces a fast-growing company's common dilemma: finding enough qualified employees to keep up with growth. Onyx, which was started in the basement...

Utilx Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 7, 1997... P.O. Box 97009, Kent WA 98064, (206) 395-0200 Utilx provides services and products used to replace and renovate underground utilities. Domestically, Utilx provides its technology through its FlowMole and CableCure services, while...