Atlanta Business Chronicle articles from April 1998

Atlanta Business Chronicle archives from April 1998

Opening phones to competition: Georgia's rural phone companies won't have a monopoly anymore. (opening of telephone markets to competition beginning Jul. 1, 1998)
April 24, 1998... Ralph Diaz knows that everything changes on July 1. On that day, anyone will be allowed to sell local phone service anywhere in the state. For the first time, Nelson-Ball Ground Telephone Co. in Cherokee County, where Diaz is general...

UPS finds Europe's pulse. (United Parcel Service breaks even internationally in 1997)
April 24, 1998... For years, Big Brown has bled red abroad. United Parcel Service lost $1.3 billion in its international operations from 1992 to 1996. But last year, UPS nearly broke even internationally. In Europe, UPS' main international market, it is now...

New lending firm to zero in on franchises. (Peachtree Franchise Finance; restaurant franchisees)
April 24, 1998... Four top lenders from the country's leading restaurant franchise finance company are teaming up with an Atlanta bond veteran to form a new specialty lending company. The goal of the new Peachtree Franchise Finance is to dominate the market...

Synovus deals tighten ring in north metro. (Synovus Financial Corp.'s acquisition of three North Georgia community banks)
April 24, 1998... Synovus Financial Corp. has swallowed three North Georgia community banks this month, and the banks that served as fodder couldn't be happier. "It's not often you have the opportunity to continue everything you've been doing, yet have the...

Fluent in finding job candidates.
April 24, 1998... When Rosa Santiago Zimmerman moved from Puerto Rico to Miami in the mid-1980s, she never dreamed she would create a business finding jobs for people. She was going to be a Dade County paramedic. In between emergency medical training and...

West Paces Ferry to get new $2 million houses.
April 24, 1998... Fourteen houses in the $2 million range will be built on 14 acres near the Governor's Mansion, the first such development in that neighborhood in several years. Construction is scheduled to begin next week on 675 West Paces Ferry Road, a...

Newcomer takes on takeout battle in Buckhead. (Philip Romano; Buckhead, Georgia)
April 24, 1998... Philip Romano never imagined that his idea for a European-style bakery would go national. But after opening the third eatZi's Market & Bakery, Romano now envisions opening eight to 10 more per year until eatZi's has 75 locations throughout...

Top executive leaving developer Childress Klein. (Childress Klein Properties partner Tad Leithead)
April 24, 1998... Tad Leithead, a partner at Childress Klein Properties, has left the company for what may become a future in politics. "I have certainly always considered politics and have thought about it for years," Leithead, 43, said this week. "I don't...

Sidelines Sports Grill a home run for Steve Kaye.
April 24, 1998... Steve Kaye doesn't really follow sports. But the founder and principal owner of the Sidelines Sports Grill chain in Atlanta has discovered how to attract people who do. Since opening his first Sidelines location in March 1994 in Kennesaw,...

FCC rumbles about mergers, but few are quaking. (Federal Communications Commission; merger of radio stations)
April 24, 1998... Atlanta not part of merger frenzy; Cox still shopping A flurry of mergers and ownership changes among radio stations in the past couple of years has caught the attention of the Federal Communications Commission, which says it will scrutinize...

Year 2000 bug bites state. (Georgia and the Year 2000 date change problem)
April 17, 1998... The state of Georgia just approved $91.8 million to fix computers to understand that the year 2000 is not 1900. It might not be enough. "State employees are working as hard as they can, but they got a late start and have a big problem,"...

Stock market high rollers: day traders rise, fall on mere fractions.
April 17, 1998... Gary Johnston lost $20,000 during his first three weeks as an electronic day trader on the Nasdaq Stock Market a year ago. During the next several weeks, he made $50,000. But since September, Johnston said he's earned $4,000 to $5,000 after...

Home Depot remodels its Expo stores. (Expo Design Center)
April 17, 1998... The Home Depot Inc. said it would consider converting or relocating its wildly successful Expo Design Center near Perimeter Mall, because, well, it's been too successful. After more than four years at that location, company officials have...

Nalley to sell its real estate: deal frees up cash for acquisitions. (Nalley Cos.)
April 17, 1998... For the first time in Atlanta, an automobile dealer group plans to sell off its real estate to a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). The Nalley Cos., now partly owned by a Pennsylvania-based dealer group, plans to sell all...

Fastener-maker Scovill deals with slow growth; Ga. company eyes overseas expansion, plans acquisitions. (Scovill Fasteners Inc.)
April 17, 1998... The New York buyout firm Kohlberg & Co. found a gem in the hills of North Georgia in 1995. The tiny town of Clarkesville in Habersham County was home then to Scovill Fasteners Inc.'s only factory. Scovill began making brass buttons and other...

Yasin's seafood chain sold to Chicago's Dock's. (Yasin's Homestyle Seafood chain; Dock's Great Fish Inc.)
April 17, 1998... A Chicago-based seafood restaurant chain has acquired Atlanta's Yasin's Homestyle Seafood chain and plans to open several more locations in the Atlanta area. Dock's Great Fish Inc. of Chicago, a quick-service seafood restaurant chain with 23...

Aaron Rents selling stock to finance its rapid growth: up to $55 million will be raised.
April 17, 1998... Aaron Rents Inc. continues to grow its Atlanta business even while expanding its national presence in the office furniture market. On March 31, the company announced plans to sell an additional 2.5 million shares of stock, which would raise...

Truck trailer-maker trying to turn corner in '98. (Dorsey Trailers Inc.)
April 17, 1998... String of losses and flood have put brakes on Dorsey No one can say Marilyn R. Marks isn't a fighter. After the second flood in 11 years hit her Elba, Ala., plant, the chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based Dorsey Trailers Inc., said the company...

Indian firm pushes its software services in U.S. (NIIT Ltd.)
April 17, 1998... NIIT targets other software firms in marketing efforts Vijay K. Thadani carries in his pocket a credit card-sized paper chart on which he grades himself each day on punctuality, accomplishing the day's tasks, getting exercise, doing outside...

Riding telemarketing boom: switching careers put Baskin in front. (Market Track Pres. Jamie Baskin)
April 17, 1998... Jamie Baskin wanted to be an entrepreneur for a very specific reason. "I just wanted to be my own boss," said Baskin, now president of Market Track Inc. "I was frustrated working for other people." She had worked seven years as a dental...

Morgan loses his 'baby'. (George Morgan, real estate developer, strikes deal with Sumitomo Corp.)(includes related article on Sumitomo)
April 10, 1998... Developer shut out of Hamilton Mill George Morgan just ran out of time. The veteran Atlanta developer expected to bring Hamilton Mill, his 2,000-acre golf course community in Gwinnett County, into the new millennium. But his partner,...

A new campus in town: EduTrek's building will open in July. (campus opening of American InterContinental University in Georgia in 1998; EduTrek International Inc.)
April 10, 1998... Steve Bostic's dream campus for his for-profit university has the potential to change the business education landscape in Atlanta. American InterContinental University (AIU) will open a new campus in July near Georgia 400 and the Perimeter....

Paragon tries to stay afloat. (Paragon Trade Brands Inc.)
April 10, 1998... Norcross firm seeks ways to compensate for sagging sales Legal troubles have left Paragon Trade Brands Inc. fighting for its life. The Norcross company, which dominates the store-brand baby diaper market, may eventually be able to get back...

Sam's, Costco scouting new sites. (warehouse store retailers Sam's Club and Costco Companies Inc. in Atlanta, GA)
April 10, 1998... Warehouse clubs are back. After several years of decreasing membership and traffic, both of Atlanta's warehouse retail players, Sam's Club and Costco Companies Inc., are showing improved financial performance and say they are considering...

Spiraling city school costs bedevil board. (expenditures for school personnel salaries in Atlanta, GA)
April 10, 1998... Salary increases, personnel expenses mount in Atlanta When the Atlanta Board of Education begins to hash out a preliminary budget April 14, only a fraction of the about $425 million in planned expenditures will be on the table. That's...

Airport hotels thrive, but must strive to keep up. (hotel industry in Atlanta, GA)
April 10, 1998... Airport hotels are drawing more customers than hotels in any other area in metro Atlanta. Hotels near Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport filled 71.5 percent of their rooms in 1997, compared with an estimated 65 percent occupancy rate...

Bigger World Access ready to go after telecom market. (merger of Resurgens Communications Grooup Inc. and World Access Inc. in Atlanta, GA)
April 10, 1998... John D. "Jack" Phillips and Steve Odom are entering a market where the biggest, fastest horse is going to win. And these two Atlanta telecommunications players think they are creating the biggest, fastest horse. Phillips and Odom are...

CEO spotlight. (interview with William Clement Jr., chairman and CEO of Dobbs, RAM and Co. based in Atlanta, GA)(Interview)
April 10, 1998... Clement's firm capitalizes on year 2000 bug's vast potential * Who: William A. Clement Jr. * What: Chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based Dobbs, RAM & Co. * FYI: Dobbs, RAM & Co. is a computer systems integration company that is...

Investors back $65 million hotel on Georgia 400.
April 3, 1998... Developers have received funding to build Atlanta's first new upscale hotel since the early 1990s. Boss Properties has teamed with Overseas Partners Capital Corp. to build a $65 million hotel off Georgia 400. The two companies struck a deal...

Alltel dials up Alpharetta for $70 million building. (Alltel Corp.)
April 3, 1998... In what may be a signal of the coming local-service telephone wars, Alltel Corp. will build a $70.5 million, four-story building in Alpharetta's Deerfield Park. The Little Rock, Ark.-based telecommunications company also plans to hire 500 to...

German firm's headquarters to hire 175 here. (SonicEase LLC)
April 3, 1998... A golf club-cleaning offshoot of two German computer companies has moved its world headquarters to Atlanta. SonicEase LLC has so far hired 25 employees here and expects to add 175 more by year end. SonicEase's product is a machine that uses...

Brokerage firms continue to grow by merging.
April 3, 1998... A lot of factors have contributed to the trend toward consolidation in the commercial real estate industry. And opinions differ on whether bigger is better - for the client or the organization. T. Richard Bryant, president for the Atlanta...

Atlanta physician firm waiting for deal to close. (First Physician Care Inc.)
April 3, 1998... First Physician Care could get $100 million Dr. Stephen George's change from a white coat to a business suit seems to have worked out well. The Atlanta-based physician practice management (PPM) company that he started in 1993, First...

Deals bore fruit in 1997 for retail broker Brown. (William Brown Jr., president of Merchants Resource Realty Inc.)
April 3, 1998... Merchants Resource Realty Inc. president William "Bill" Brown Jr. saw several long-term projects come to fruition in 1997. Brown reports his total dollar volume was $113 million from 30 transactions, making him the Atlanta Commercial Board of...

Atlanta company's trainer is a hit with golfers. (Jim Sorenson of Momentum Golf Inc.)
April 3, 1998... Momentum Golf Inc. swings for $1 million in teaching tool sales Helping people become better golfers is a passion that drove Jim Sorenson to create a successful training tool and his own company - Momentum Golf Inc., based in Chamblee....

Focus on niche unlocks growth for Armada. (Armada Vehicle Rental Inc.)(Company Profile)
April 3, 1998... Miller rents his vans to families, sports fans and other groups Realizing that small ventures operate only as long as industry giants let them, Norcross-based Armada Vehicle Rental Inc. hit upon a winning strategy: niche marketing. Armada...