Puget Sound Business Journal articles from July 1993

Puget Sound Business Journal archives from July 1993

Slowdown hits environmental firms; slack economy forces layoffs on an industry accustomed to rapid growth.
July 30, 1993... A wave of layoffs is sweeping through Washington's environmental remediation and consulting industry, as firms struggle with the effects of the sluggish business climate. "It's been a real tough year for us," said Jim Miller, president of...

Nintendo plays it cool as industry awaits next move. (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
July 30, 1993... Nintendo Co. Ltd. hasn't changed its course in the past decade, but the video game giant has analysts puzzled over its next move. Will plumber Super Mario conquer Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog and remain the king of video games, or is the...

Pacific Building Corp. in Chap. 11 as lenders bolt.
July 30, 1993... Another Seattle developer has fallen victim to the nationwide crunch in real estate lending. Pacific Building Corp. and two related entities controlled by longtime developer Richard H. Hadley have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection...

Playgrounds tough turf for Maple Valley firm. (Playsystems Inc.)
July 30, 1993... As they gyrate in tire swings or spiral down corkscrew slides, kids at a playground are too busy exercising their biceps and imaginations to wonder where the structures originate. But to the companies specializing in commercial playground...

Weyerhaeuser's yew crop targets Taxol market. (Weyerhauser Co.)
July 30, 1993... Weyerhaeuser Co., which will harvest its first yew crop next month, hopes to be the main supplier in North America for Taxol, the experimental, cancer-fighting drug discovered in the bark of the Pacific yew. "We are the only ones we are...

Diaper maker Paragon tops forecasts in first six months. (Paragon Trade Brands Inc.)
July 30, 1993... Paragon Trade Brands Inc., the leading manufacturer of private-label disposable diapers, outperformed expectations in its second quarter as a public company. "The quarter was better than we anticipated," said Bobby Abraham, Paragon president...

King County Medical's cure for class-action lawsuit blues. (King County Medical Blue Shield)
July 30, 1993... Controversial Seattle litigator Steve Berman has exacted millions of dollars in settlements through class-action suits against leading local companies. But he didn't get one cent from King County Medical Blue Shield. Berman withdrew his suit...

Speculation on 737 revamp may provoke a wing flap. (Boeing Co.'s 737X)
July 30, 1993... Boeing's 737X, the proposed revamp of its best-selling 737, could break precedent by flying on wings made in Japan. Such a development would fly in the face of a long-established Boeing credo that it always builds its own wings, even if it...

Aldus aims at 'electronic publishing' with CoSA buy. (Aldus Corp.; Company of Science and Art)
July 30, 1993... Aldus Corp. took a key step this week toward establishing a position in electronic publishing by acquiring a small Rhode Island company considered a leader in digital animation. The purchase is just one of several the publicly traded Seattle...

Barrier expands dealership with a four-franchise buy. (Barrier Motors Inc.)
July 30, 1993... Upscale auto dealer Jimmy Barrier is buying the Bellevue Jaguar-Porsche-Audi-Lotus dealerships owned by Manfred Knauf. Barrier, president of Barrier Motors Inc. and Barrier Volvo-Saab, recently completed the purchase of the 1.6-acre property...

Espresso-machine firm lands a double-tall pair of orders. (Caffe Acorto Inc.)
July 30, 1993... Last year brought a record $4 million in sales for Caffe Acorto Inc., but recently the maker of automated espresso machines sold more than half that amount in a single day. On July 21, the 3-year-old Bellevue company received purchase orders...

Islands Bakery seeks dough for Chap. 11 reorganization.
July 30, 1993... Islands Bakery, one of a handful of niche bread bakeries operating in the Puget Sound area, is looking for an investor to help it rise out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The July 9 filing was caused by cash-flow issues rather than any real...

Software developer StatSci acquired by MathSoft. (Statistical Sciences Inc.; MathSoft Inc.)
July 30, 1993... Matthew Schiltz had a rather full day June 30: During final negotiations to sell his Seattle software company for roughly $5.6 million, he attended the birth of his first daughter. Fast-growing Statistical Sciences Inc., also called StatSci,...

Biz confidence index rebounds: despite improved outlook, execs still leery of local economy. (Business Confidence Index shows economic improvement in Puget Sound)
July 23, 1993... Local executives are feeling better about the local economy than they did a few months ago -- sort of. The quarterly Business Confidence Index, a regional indicator co-sponsored by the Puget Sound Business Journal and Hebert Research Inc.,...

Alliances vie for big health-care pact. (contract with the Employers' Health Purchasing Co-op)
July 23, 1993... Heralding a new order in the local health-care industry, many of the region's top providers have partnered up in 11 competing bids to win what could become the state's largest health insurance contract. One or two of these new strategic...

Page must forge consensus on job-creation tactics. (Forward Washington Managing Dir. Dick Page) (Profile)
July 23, 1993... Everyone wants more high-wage jobs in this state. The biggest issue facing Dick Page is getting business, labor and environmental interests to agree on how to go about creating them. Page is the new managing director of Forward Washington, a...

We're no. 1 (again): Seattle's image still tops with urban experts. (Business First survey of urban experts on most well-managed cities) (Top 10 Cities)
July 23, 1993... TOP 10 CITIES 1. Seattle 6. Phoenix 2. Portland (tie) Orlando 3. Atlanta 8. San Diego 4. Minneapolis 9. Denver 5. Charlotte 10. Tampa The Emerald City's image...

Little Gym jumps at Japanese market, eyeing 185 franchises. (Little Gym International physical fitness center)
July 23, 1993... The Little Gym International, which has signed up 50 U.S. franchises in the past year, is leaping into the Japanese market with plans for 185 locations by 1999. The Kirkland company's program of fitness and fun for youngsters could be well...

BPA's Randy Hardy aims to transform utility's culture. (Bonneville Power Administration chief) (Interview)
July 23, 1993... Randy Hardy, the Bonneville Power Administration's chief, has just handed his customers double-digit rate increases. Though the rate hikes are steep, many BPA customers admit things could have been worse and some even credit Hardy with...

Siemens Power surges ahead as a supplier of nuclear fuels. (Siemens Power Corp.)
July 23, 1993... Siemens Power Corp. has received a surge of orders in recent weeks, solidifying its position as a major fuel supplier to nuclear power plants in the U.S. and abroad. The Bellevue-headquartered company has just won "the largest...

Virtual Vision ramps up production and hiring. (Virtual Vision Inc. expands facilities and increases employees for European and Japanese markets)
July 23, 1993... Virtual Vision Inc. is ramping up production of its high-tech video goggles so it can introduce them to Japan and Europe a year earlier than planned. To do that, Virtual Vision has opened a 32,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in...

Puyallup fair's bond offering sells like scones. (Western Washington Fair Assn. raises $10 million from the offering of annual Puyallup Fair bonds)
July 23, 1993... Piper Jaffray Inc., the state Housing Finance Commission and about 250 investors "did the Puyallup" early this year. Together, they helped the Western Washington Fair Association raise $10 million by selling tax-exempt bonds for the annual...

FAO Schwarz sets stage for Bellevue Square debut.
July 23, 1993... Teddy bears will be there in full force. So will the giant piano that plays music as people walk across its keys, like actor Tom Hanks did a few years ago in the movie "Big." Along with them, hordes of curious shoppers are also expected to be...

Issaquah braces for growth as malls come on line. (Washington State)
July 23, 1993... Little has changed in Issaquah in the three decades Suzanne Suther has lived there. Mom-and-pop shops still line the 100-year-old wooden storefronts along Front Street, downtown's main drag. The city's population, which numbered close to 5,000...

Quick printing has gone corporate. (photocopying and duplicating services dominated by big franchises) (Office Productivity Quarterly) (Industry Overview)
July 23, 1993... Big franchise firms are main survivors in an industry that must keep in forefront of new technology One of the best office productivity boosters sometimes isn't even in the office. It's a quick-printing and photocopying center. These...

E-mail sidesteps time-wasting meetings. (electronic mail systems) (Office Productivity Quarterly)
July 23, 1993... No more lost messages. Almost no interruptions, and less time in meetings. You'd probably be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn't want an office like that. If you have a computer network, no matter how big, small or what kind, it's...

People still love their 'live wires.' (Kelley's Answering Service offers live telephone answering services) (Office Productivity Quarterly)
July 23, 1993... Extinction eludes live answering services, despite the proliferation of do-it-yourself message devices Twenty-four-hour office voice-mail systems, recording machines and other electronic devices are capturing more than messages, they're...

Scanning technology marches on: it's faster, cheaper. (Office Productivity Quarterly)
July 23, 1993... Although the paperless office is still a few years away, scanning paper documents into a computer database is attracting attention from a wide spectrum of businesses. With scanner prices coming down, paper-intensive companies are saving...

Fewer free rides for software users. (fee-based technical support for software) (Office Productivity Quarterly)
July 23, 1993... The switch to fee-based technical support seen as part of the industry's financial evolutionary process You're typing away at your computer when suddenly it does something completely puzzling. Do you: A. Look up the solution in the users...

Troubled promoter eyes MCA deal. (Bauer-Kinnear Enterprises; MCA Concerts)
July 16, 1993... Bauer Kinnear, facing creditors' pressure, may sell Black Diamond project Financially strapped concert promoter Bauer Kinnear Enterprises Inc., hounded by creditors and by the state over huge debts, may abandon plans to build an 18,000-seat...

Vancouver exchange lures NW firms. (northwestern state companies listed at Vancouver Stock Exchange)
July 16, 1993... A small but growing number of Pacific Northwest companies are crossing the Canadian border to raise money on the Vancouver Stock Exchange, long disdained as a haven for con artists and speculators. Reforms aimed at rooting out abuse on the...

Car Toys' boss pumps up the volume. (Dan Brettler) (Company Profile)
July 16, 1993... When Dan Brettler started his company in 1987, he thought he might call it Mobile Electronics World. But then his wife, Cindy, suggested "Car Toys," an inspired choice for a retailer that sells fancy electronic adornments, mostly to men....

Banner Building gets financing, construction date. (Seattle mixed-use building)
July 16, 1993... Construction finally will begin next month on the Banner Building, a seven-story, $5.8 million condo/retail mid-rise hailed as Seattle's first completely new building where people can live and work. Koryn Rolstad, a first-time developer who...

One year later, Central Garden goes public again. (Central Garden and Pet Supply Inc.)
July 16, 1993... Central Garden & Pet Co., a national wholesale distributor that operates from Federal Way, went public this week with an initial stock offering of 2.2 million common shares, just one year after an IPO was withdrawn in the wake of a fire....

Amusement park partners agree to take separate rides. (Enchanted Village and Wild Waves, Puget Sound)
July 16, 1993... In an amicable but surprising move, the partners in Enchanted Village and Wild Waves amusement parks have split. The move comes just three months after Jeff Stock and Mike Moodenbaugh bought the 277-acre Boblo Island amusement park in...

Grand Ridge owners say next move is sale of lots. (proposed planned community in Issaquah, Washington; Blackhawk Port Blakely Communities Inc.)
July 16, 1993... Rebuffed in their attempts to build a planned development on 2,200 acres of rural land east of Issaquah, the owners of Grand Ridge plan to do exactly what they said they would do -- sell off the property in 5-acre parcels. The owners of...

Architects shelter in niches during a tough time. (Industry Overview)
July 16, 1993... For Puget Sound architectural firms, finding a solid niche in a fluctuating market has been key to finding opportunities in the last year. Some firms have downsized or consolidated with other firms, while others have sought more...

Wall Data Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
July 16, 1993... 17769 N.E. 78th Place, Redmond, WA 98052-4992, (206) 883-4777 Wall Data develops, markets and supports Windows-based connectivity software products and associated application tools. Its principal product line is the Rumba family of products....

County races get biz attention. (King County, Washington council elections)
July 9, 1993... Once considered a political backwater, the King County Council has been transformed into a regional powerhouse, and local businesses are beginning to take notice. The council redrew county districts and added four new positions last year....

Timber plan has few friends, but some 'winners' emerge. (lumber industry)
July 9, 1993... In the time since President Bill Clinton announced his somewhat-overdue plan for solving the timber crisis in the Northwest, it's been difficult to find anyone to praise it. Gov. Mike Lowry tried. "This decision today breaks the two-year...

Steamship agencies victims of economy, shipping technology.
July 9, 1993... Steamship agencies are consolidating on Seattle's waterfront, just a step behind the mergers of the steamship lines they serve. The consolidation movement, which means fewer waterfront jobs for Puget Sound, is closing a chapter on Seattle's...

Multimedia maven leads the way. (Mammoth Micro Productions founder Tom Lopez) (Profile)
July 9, 1993... Tom Lopez, founder of Mammoth Micro Productions, is almost an unknown in Seattle. But nationally, he's considered a major player in CD-ROM and multimedia, a new industry that is storming the computing world. "This is just the beginning,"...

Sidetracked here, horse racing heads east for the next season. (Auburn, Washington racetracks)
July 9, 1993... The proposed racetrack in Auburn has become mired in a hotly contested wetlands dispute, and prospects that construction will begin this summer look slim. With live thoroughbred racing in Western Washington now unlikely for the 1994 season,...

Spieker Partners explores REIT stock offering. (real estate investment trusts)
July 9, 1993... Another of the region's major developers has decided that Wall Street may offer the best antidote to the financial blahs afflicting today's real estate markets. Spieker Partners, which owns retail, office and industrial complexes in Seattle...

Salmon farmers join forces to promote fish's fortunes. (Washington State Farmed Salmon Commission) (Industry Overview)
July 9, 1993... Caught between rock-bottom prices for caught salmon and a flood of farmed salmon from Chile and British Columbia, Washington salmon growers are banding together to market their own products. The newly formed Washington State Farmed Salmon...

U.S. Marine reshapes its boat line as the industry languishes.
July 9, 1993... U.S. Marine is trying to position itself for a market rebound by launching several new powerboat models while dropping others. In recent months, the Arlington-based company has revamped its product line. Gone are Arriva, a sporty runabout,...

Dinner-train firm plans to set table in Midwest. (Spirit Cruises Inc.)
July 9, 1993... Business is chugging along so swiftly at the Spirit of Washington Inc. that the dinner-train operator is laying tracks to head east. The Renton company has bought a second train from a defunct dinner-train firm in Texas, and plans to deploy...

Hoteliers eager to greet convention center. (Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue, Washington)
July 9, 1993... Construction of Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue's long-awaited $29 million convention center, is 92 percent complete and on track for its scheduled opening this September, says Judhi Chopping, executive director of the center. While the center...

Interwest Savings Bank. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
July 9, 1993... 1259 W. Pioneer Way, Oak Harbor, WA 98277, (206) 675-0788 Interwest Savings was originally established in 1957 as Island Savings and Loan Association to help Whidbey Island families buy homes and build security. It now provides a wide array...

Electrical contractors short of work. (Industry Overview)
July 2, 1993... Largest firm's revenues plunge as two others insulate themselves in Chapter 11 Being an electrical contractor these days can be a lot like sticking your finger in a wall socket: shocking and unpleasant. In the past year, cash-flow problems...

After 25 years, Duff still quietly pushing progress. (Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce president George Duff)
July 2, 1993... Back in 1968, when George Duff was still brand new to his job as president of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, he concluded that a young, liberal lawyer named Wes Uhlman was likely to be elected mayor. Duff, who had watched as a...

More than one Key factor to Harjo's firing. (Key Bank of Washington chairman and CEO Hans Harjo)
July 2, 1993... The official version of the abrupt firing of Hans Harjo, Key Bank of Washington's chairman and CEO, emphasizes the bank's less-than-stellar returns and its negative community image. But there's apparently more to the story than that. Some...

Duo blazes trails through regulatory thickets. (Phoenix Environmental's Dione and Cyndi Davenport)
July 2, 1993... Dione and Cyndi Davenport have unlocked the labyrinth of state and federal regulations, and will map a path through it just for your organization -- for a fee. You might call the Davenports' consulting firm, Phoenix Environmental, the...

Super Collider vote means millions to UW, others. (University of Washington)
July 2, 1993... The House's vote last week to kill the Superconducting Super Collider casts doubt on the future of several million dollars worth of Washington state business and research projects. Local businesses and the University of Washington have...

Pacific NW Ballet needs strong CEO for next leap. (ballet company)
July 2, 1993... The next chief executive of the Pacific Northwest Ballet has some pretty large shoes -- or dance slippers -- to fill. Ballet CEO Arthur Jacobus left this week to take a similar position with the much larger but financially troubled San...

WinterBrook sees sparkling future in bubbly beverages. (Winterbrook Beverage Group)
July 2, 1993... Usually, acquisitions are a matter of larger companies buying out smaller ones. Last November, Bellevue-based WinterBrook Beverage Group reversed that equation by taking over a Midwest-based operation five times its size. In acquiring the...

Leventhal CPA firm shutters its local office after one year. (Kenneth Leventhal and Co.)
July 2, 1993... Kenneth Leventhal & Co., the nation's eighth-largest public accounting firm, opened a Bellevue office last year boasting that it would more than triple its professional staff within three years. Leventhal recently closed that office without a...

Sun Sportswear Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
July 2, 1993... 6520 S. 190th St., Kent, WA 98032, (206) 251-3565 Sun Sportswear designs, prints and sells casual sportswear for men, women and children, including T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants. It sells the sportswear, bearing both proprietary and...

No cap on the demolition business. (Engineering & Construction)
July 2, 1993... For many, times are good: Workload ranges from gutting of luxury homes to explosive grand finales A slowed economy has pared the number of new buildings going up in the Puget Sound area but it hasn't kept old buildings from coming down....

Jobless aero engineers being forced to get creative. (Engineering & Construction)
July 2, 1993... Laid-off Boeing engineers are finding that too much specialization in aerospace can be a liability when they try to find a new job. "There is a lot of hiring going on; the software community and biotech are both strong," said Dan Jilka,...

Lighting Design Lab shows contractors what's out there. (Engineering & Construction)
July 2, 1993... At first glance, the Lighting Design Lab seems like a hands-on science museum where visitors have fun trying all the equipment, flipping switches on and off, and conducting their own scientific experiments. But it's no fun-and-games place....

HVAC firms learn to make do in non-boom economy. (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) (Engineering & Construction)
July 2, 1993... High-tech robots and diversified client rosters are helping heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) service firms and contract engineers survive, and even prosper, despite Puget Sound's sluggish building economy. While construction...

Retailers out to resurrect lost thrill of mall-grazing. (Engineering & Construction)
July 2, 1993... In many ways, the megamall scheduled to break ground on a 155-acre site in Auburn this summer is typical of local and national shopping center trends. The Supermall of the Great Northwest is a discount mall, anchored by large discounters and...