Business First-Columbus articles from March 1999

Business First-Columbus archives from March 1999

Laura Ashley packs her bags.(relocation to Fort Mill, SC, from Columbus, OH)
March 5, 1999... Laura Ashley is pulling up stakes in Columbus after just 18 months in the city, a move that will cost 65 area jobs. The tony but troubled British retailer is relocating its distribution facility to Fort Mill, S.C., from 170,000 square feet...

Gerbig Snell looks to cap rapid growth with new HQ.(Gerbig Snell/Weisheimer & Associates)
March 5, 1999... Gerbig Snell/Weisheimer & Associates, which expects to increase its work force by a third to 325 people this year, plans to consolidate operations in a new 100,000-square-foot headquarters at Polaris by mid-2000. Chairman and CEO Robert...

Of fame, fortune cookies and 'Oprah': Fortunately Yours foretastes Internet growth possibilities.
March 5, 1999... Business has been booming for Rhonda Lashen's company since her appearance on the "Oprah Winfrey" show. And with her entry into the electronic commerce arena this week, she expects anything but a slowdown. The owner of Gahanna-based...

Central Benefits won't rush plan to take insurer public.(Central Benefits Mutual Insurance Co.)
March 5, 1999... Expanding around Washington is priority after passing rules hurdle Central Benefits Mutual Insurance Co. is a step closer to becoming a publicly traded company, but executives say they are in no hurry to take the next step. The...

CATCO shores up its sales pitch with marketing chief.(Contemporary American Theatre Co.; Vicki Christian)
March 5, 1999... Contemporary American Theatre Co. has hired its first marketing director in time to work toward building attendance for next season. Vicki Christian will join CATCO April 5. She arrives with several years of theater and arts promotion...

Zero Base ices Blue Jackets advertising account.
March 5, 1999... The NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets have chosen Zero Base Advertising Inc. as the team's first advertising agency. Though a deal has yet to be signed, the Blue Jackets reached a verbal agreement with Zero Base on Feb. 26, said David Paitson,...

Polaris public improvements could cost $53 million.(Polaris Centers of Commerce)
March 5, 1999... The final development phase at the Polaris Centers of Commerce will need nearly $53 million in public-financed infrastructure improvements to spur another $650 million in private-sector development. But the developer of a proposed...

Fitness club's Easton facility part of national expansion.(Life Time Fitness)
March 5, 1999... A 95,000-square-foot fitness club that caters to families is expected to open this spring at Easton. Life Time Fitness, a 7-year-old Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company that has its eye on national expansion, is selling memberships for a...

CADS erase pencils as tools for architectural dreaming.(Commercial Real Estate)
March 5, 1999... Despite the computer-aided design technology that has reached the architectural industry, Gerard A. Baxter still uses one of the oldest tools of the trade. "I'm still a pencil man," said Baxter, the managing director of the architectural...

Incentives sought for tech jobs: IBM plans $83 million upgrade of West Side facilities for Bank One outsourcing.(IBM Global Services; West Side technology center)
March 12, 1999... The Columbus Department of Trade and Development has proposed $7.5 million in tax incentives to encourage International Business Machines Corp.'s expansion of a West Side technology center. IBM Global Services plans to invest $39 million in...

Noncompete deal looming in Ohio state's bid for Park.(Park Medical Center)
March 12, 1999... Ohio State University's bid to purchase Park Medical Center could hit a legal snag in the form of Wendt-Bristol Health Services, which operates an oncology treatment center at the East Side hospital. Executives at Wendt-Bristol argue that a...

Wall Street awaiting proof on Huntington performance.(includes excerpts of interview with Vice Chairman Peter Geier)(Huntington Bancshares inc.)
March 12, 1999... Industry analysts want results from restructuring before going to bat on stock On April 13 of last year, John B. McCoy stood in the Empire Room at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York and launched a merger that would take Bank One Corp....

Survey: execs uneasy about business horizon.(Central Ohio)
March 12, 1999... Confused. That might best describe Central Ohio business executives' six-month economic outlook, Franklin University's latest quarterly Business Climate Outlook suggests. How else to explain that while overall business expectations are...

Clubs hope sales-tax repeal bid has the muscle this time.(Ohio health clubs oppose sales tax law)
March 12, 1999... In their best chance yet, Ohio health clubs are working up a sweat in a fight to repeal a 6-year-old state law that requires them to charge sales tax on memberships. The sales tax, which health clubs complain is unfair and poor public...

Crew hires outside PR firm to polish community image.(Columbus Crew hires PR firm Flynn Sabatino and Day)
March 12, 1999... For the first time, the Columbus Crew is going outside its Major League Soccer organization to hire a public relations firm - with the target of reaching a nonsports audience to broaden the fledgling team's appeal. Flynn Sabatino & Day has...

With setback far behind it, Applied stepping forward.(Applied Innovation Inc.)
March 12, 1999... New, enhanced 'core' products seen boosting '99 sales by 10-15 percent When Applied Innovation Inc. halted development of an Internet telecommunications product last fall, it said its core mediation products would, from that point on, take...

New city, new issues await candidates for CVB top job.(Greater Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau)
March 12, 1999... After nine years of living and working in Columbus, Howard Nusbaum no longer sees it as the vanilla city of Ohio. But Nusbaum, executive vice president of the Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association. says plenty of others have a poor perception...

Bulk airtime deals proliferate for business, talkative people.
March 12, 1999... Digital has become a welcome choice over analog cell phones because of features such as clearer reception, text messaging and caller identification. But choosing digital phone service can be a daunting task, especially in Columbus where...

Boardroom techno-geeks twist tongues on business-speak.
March 12, 1999... In a TV commercial for IBM Corp., a high-level executive asks a technogeek to explain whether the company's Web site is a good investment. After a few awkward seconds, the employee blurts out: "Every buck we spend makes two bucks back by the...

E-commerce offers savings in biz-to-biz transactions.
March 12, 1999... While buying books and music on the Web may be a great convenience for consumers, the biggest impact of electronic commerce will be on business-to-business trade, where the Internet is already revolutionizing the way companies deal with one...

Continent on block again: Benton Co. scraps development after financing fails.
March 19, 1999... When Ken Smith and partner Mark Turner started the Steak Escape restaurant chain at the Continent in 1982, it was the salad days for the landmark mixed-use retail-residential-office complex. Today, it's a different story. "For the most...

Columbus still gleams in the eye of 5/3 chief: after 3 big deals in '98, Schaefer sees groom to grow.(George A. Schaefer, CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp.)
March 19, 1999... After 3 big deals in '98, Schaefer sees room to grow Think Fifth Third Bancorp's 1998 shopping spree in Central Ohio sated the Cincinnati banking company's appetite? Think again. Fifth Third CEO George A. Schaefer Jr. says he's not...

Added duties for Hines spell executive shift at Lucent plant.(Ed Hines, global provisioning and manufacturing vice president at Lucent Technologies Inc.)
March 19, 1999... A changing of the guard of sorts is taking place at Columbus' largest manufacturer, Lucent Technologies Inc. Ed Hines, 51, who has overseen Lucent's day-to-day operations since 1994 as a global provisioning and manufacturing vice president,...

Outer countries drive area's population past 1.5 million.(Central Ohio)
March 19, 1999... Census finds Franklin stung by migration to suburbs The seven-county Central Ohio region last year topped 1.5 million in population for the first time, its robust growth outpacing Ohio's other metropolitan regions in the 1990s. Data...

WinnScapes seeds its future with purchase of Schmidt.(WinnScapes Inc. acquires Schmidt Nursery Co.)
March 19, 1999... WinnScapes Inc., an 18-year-old landscaping and lawn service that has bloomed into a $3 million-a-year business, will pick up a bit of Central Ohio history when it buys Schmidt Nursery Co. A bankruptcy court judge March 12 approved the...

Duke draws logistics firm into former Sun warehouse.(Duke Realty Investments Inc.; Commodity Logistics Inc.; Sun Television and Appliances Inc.)
March 19, 1999... A fledgling third-party logistics company has secured 416,000 square feet of expansion room at the former Sun Television & Appliances Inc. office/warehouse complex in Groveport. Commodity Logistics Inc. leased the remaining distribution...

2 cargo tenants taking space at Rickenbracker.(Hellmann Worldwide Logistics Inc.; Stephan Machinery Inc.; Rickenbracker International Airport)
March 19, 1999... Two Columbus-based subsidiaries of German corporations have agreed to relocate operations to a multitenant air cargo center under construction at Rickenbacker International Airport. Freight forwarder Hellmann Worldwide Logistics USA Inc....

$1M software gift pumps CCAD animation studies.(Columbus College of Art and Design)
March 19, 1999... A software gift worth $1 million to Columbus College of Art and Design will push the school toward the forefront of computer animation education. Toronto-based Alias/Wavefront, a subsidiary of Silicon Graphics Inc., donated its latest...

Ashland split makes room for more, larger acquisitions.(Ashland Chemical Co.)
March 19, 1999... With Ashland Inc.'s growing chemicals business divided into a distribution and specialty chemical divisions, the newly formed operations will step up their hunt for major acquisitions, industry observers and company executives say. "I...

Transmap hits the highway: with OSU-developed technology in hand, mapping firm making inroads with street engineers, planners.(Ohio State University)
March 19, 1999... A county engineer is on a deadline, trying to compile a road maintenance plan, factoring in surface widening and snow removal costs for a 10-mile stretch of highway. The project needs to be completed in a day, but measuring 10 miles of...

Battelle a step away from starting napalm disposal job.(Battelle Memorial Institute)
March 19, 1999... In pact with Rhodia Inc., chemical blend would be burned in Louisiana Battelle Memorial Institute could soon reach a critical step in the disposal of 3.4 million gallons of Vietnam-era military napalm. Robin Yocum, Battelle's manager...

Fox Sports frontrunner for hockey TV rights.(sports cable television company's contract with professional hockey team Columbus Blue Jackets)
March 26, 1999... Columbus Blue Jackets officials say they're leaning toward signing a seven-figure, multi-year cable TV rights deal with Fox Sports Ohio that would involve filling the airwaves with 65 regular-season games in the NHL team's inaugural season next...

Home retailers line up at Easton.(home furnishing retailers to open shops at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio)
March 26, 1999... High-end merchants joining local and national stores Fixtures and fittings merchant Restoration Hardware and high-end garden retailer Smith & Hawken will lead a group of home furnishings retailers idling out the last major group of tenants...

Schmidt, Design Group plan East Main project.(Schmidt Enterprises chooses Columbus, Ohio-based architectural firm for office building project)
March 26, 1999... Developers have plans for a 60,000-square-foot "gateway" office project at the southeast edge of downtown designed to spur other East Main Street projects. Schmidt Enterprises has landed Columbus architects Design Group Inc. to anchor the...

BWC, American Electric Power consider 1,800-slot garage.(Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation's joint venture with electric utility)
March 26, 1999... The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation may form a joint venture with American Electric Power Co. to develop a proposed 1,800-vehicle parking garage downtown. Troy Ames, bureau deputy administrator, said the proposed AEP partnership would...

Cardinal builds war chest to make small acquisitions.(Cardinal Health Inc.)
March 26, 1999... Cardinal Health Inc. is ready for more. After completing the two largest acquisitions in its history, the Dublin-based health-care products and services provider has filed a shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission to give...

Local firm first target of state on viaticals.(Ohio Commerce Dept.'s Div. of Securities ordered Heritage Foundation Inc. to stop marketing a viatical settlement portfolio)
March 26, 1999... Commerce Department says settlements constitute an investment contract State securities regulators are stepping up their campaign to bring oversight to the burgeoning viatical settlements industry. The Ohio Commerce Department's...

Rehab of Ohio Center shops to fill downtown retail gap.(stores at Greater Columbus Convention Center to be renovated)
March 26, 1999... $8M renovation aims to make finding stores easier task for visitors Planners are using an $8 million renovation of retail space at the Greater Columbus Convention Center as an opportunity to revitalize a shopping no-man's land between City...

Electric deregulation battle centers on stranded costs.
March 26, 1999... Stranded costs. For those following Ohio electric deregulation legislation, those words are at the center of what has become a scorching debate. When a Statehouse working document, touted as the foundation for electric deregulation,...

Nextlink taking its step ahead of Ameritech merger.(telephone companies)
March 26, 1999... When cell phone pioneer Craig McCaw took his Nextlink Communications public in 1907, he intended to take the deregulated telecommunications industry by storm. That also was the year the Columbus branch of the Bellevue, Wash., company blew...

Safety in numbers.(construction firm Reitter Stucco Inc. uses drug screening and random testing for substance abuse among workers)
March 26, 1999... With construction work having the highest rate of drug and alcohol abuse of any industry, Fritz Reitter knew his company probably had a problem. Back in 1991, Columbus-based Reitter Stucco Inc. started preemployment drug screening and...

Bexley's E. Main rehab aims at old appearance.(Casto Communities Inc. chosen for residential/retail redevelopment of Bexley, Ohio's East Main Street)
March 26, 1999... Those who stroll down Bexley's East Main Street will soon see a major change in the heart of the city. Bexley City Council and the Main Street Redevelopment Commission have selected Casto Communities Inc. as the "preferred developer" of...