The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun articles from April 1996

The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun archives from April 1996

Success formula requires focus. (Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. Chairman and CEO Jonah Shacknai)
April 12, 1996... Jonah Shacknai, a self-made millionaire at 39, has a magic touch with startups. He attributes his success to an ability to stay focused on his goals. "Focus starts with having a vision of what one wants to become and the willpower and...

Networking with experts builds business. (Hacienda Builders Inc.)(Company Profile)
April 12, 1996... Young faces and a lack of industry experience often are a toxic formula for small startups. Todd Stevens, 29, and David Cohen, 28, opened shop four years ago with a double dose of those ingredients. But their Phoenix company, Hacienda Builders...

Honeywell in make-or-break bid. (Honeywell Industrial Automation Systems Div. to launch new computer system)
April 19, 1996... Honeywell Industrial Automation and Control is ready to launch its latest product, which analysts say cost roughly $20 million and could make or break the company's dominance in the world of computerized manufacturing. "It's very critical" to...

Teets hit with $1M pay cuts. (John Teets, chief executive officer of Dial Corp.)(includes related article on Dial Corp.'s revenues)
April 19, 1996... The Dial Corp chief John Teets found his paycheck more than $1 million lighter last year after the Phoenix-based manufacturing giant failed to meet performance goals. After earning $2.3 million in salary and bonus in 1994, Dial chairman and...

Clinics head for border. (Mexico)
April 19, 1996... A Phoenix doctor plans to develop up to 25 health clinics in Mexico over the next four years. Dr. Marcus Engelman, medical director of the emergency department at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix for the past 22 years and...

Valley faces chip blues. (Phoenix, AZ)(Industry Overview)
April 19, 1996... It's a billion-dollar gamble - and the odds just took a tumble. The semiconductor industry, which experienced a phonomenal 44 percent worldwide growth last year prompting billion-dollar construction projects in the Valley, has hit a wall. Some...

Ice-rink builders skating into desert. (vie for construction of new ice rink in Phoenix, AZ)
April 19, 1996... Ice rink operators, equipment manufacturers and developers from as far away as Toronto, Ont.. Canada, and Syracuse, N.Y., have their eyes on Phoenix. A contingent of local forces has emerged as well, each hoping to be selected to build a...

Ugly Duckling Car Sales prepares public offering.
April 19, 1996... Ugly Duckling Car Sales is waddling through the paperwork for a public offering that would help the Phoenix used-car company expand nationwide. Industry sources say Phoenix-based Ugly Duckling, which has seven lots in Phoenix and Tucson, will...

Sneva takes chip shot at landfill golf course. (former car racer Tom Sneva plans construction of new golf course in Phoenix, AZ)
April 19, 1996... Former champion car racer Tom Sneva is driving forward with plans to build an 18-hole golf course and possibly a mid-size hotel just south of downtown Phoenix near the Salt River. Rio Salado Sports Group, headed by Sneva and partner Larry Pepe,...

Small-business bills succeed in legislature. (Arizona)
April 19, 1996... Small business seems to have scored on at least four of eight business measures as the Arizona Legislature moves into its final days. Small business was given an unprecedented priority in the legislature this session as Rep. Barry Wong, R-Mesa,...

Lease may launch action on Scottsdale Waterfront.
April 19, 1996... The Arcadia Water Co. has extended lease terms that will allow developer Mashburn-Hope to proceed with its portion of the Scottsdale Waterfront project, at the very least. At the very most, the new lease agreement will assist in ongoing...

Timberline buyer expects growth. (Timberline Productions; Production Group International Inc.)
April 19, 1996... One of the largest entertainment and events production companies in the country is entering the Phoenix market with its acquisition of Timberline Productions. Timberline, with 34 employees and $5.2 million in sales in 1995, was purchased this...

Samaritan fights for $38.5M deal. (Samaritan Health System; Intergroup Healthcare Corp.)
April 26, 1996... Health maintenance organization Inter-group of Arizona pulled the plug Tuesday on a $38.57 million contract with Samaritan Health System, the state's largest healthcare provider. Less than 24 hours later, Samaritan called Intergroup to try to...

Walgreen's Rx no cure for CIGNA. (Walgreen Co.; CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona Inc.)
April 26, 1996... Walgreen Co. has dumped its pharmacy contract with CIGNA Healthcare of Arizona Inc. after CIGNA refused to accept a whopping 55 percent rate increase. Edward Drea, director of pharmacy services for CIGNA, said the reimbursement rate increase...

Antioco pay tops Teets. (John Antioco, chief executive officer of Circle K Corp.; John Teets, chief executive officer of Dial Corp.)
April 26, 1996... [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] John Antioco of The Circle K Corp. jumped to the top of the list of Arizona's highest paid chief executives in 1995, booting out former pay king John Teets of The Dial Corp. Following Antioco's state-leading $4.8...

ABCO closing 10 stores, displacing 350 workers. (ABCO Markets Inc.)
April 26, 1996... ABCO Markets Inc. is closing 10 of its 71 stores in Phoenix and Arizona, causing as many as 350 employees to face transfers to other stores or possibly lose their jobs. The closures. which will continue over the next few months. are part of...

The show must go on ... 25 screens. (Harkins Theatres to build biggest movie theater in the US in Mesa, AZ)
April 26, 1996... The Valley's largest theater operation is about to get a lot bigger. Harkins Theatres will build what it claims is the largest movie theater in the country - boasting 25 screens and a price tag of $15 million - at Superstition Springs in east...

Developers take healthy look at land. (collaboration between real estate developers and health-care firms to develop health facilities in Phoenix, AZ)
April 26, 1996... Developers and health-care companies are collaborating to place medical campuses within master-planned communities across the Valley. Some developers are making medical services a part of their plans up front; others have added medical...

City threatens takeover of Scottsdale Waterfront. (Scottsdale, AZ)
April 26, 1996... Don't mess with the city of Scottsdale. Frustrated by slow progress in an ongoing effort to redevelop the Scottsdale Waterfront and bring Nordstrom to the Valley, the city of Scottsdale has resorted to threats of condemnation. This week's...

Hypercom division snags $30M contract. (Hypercom Inc. Network Systems Div.)
April 26, 1996... Hypercom Network Systems, a 3-year-old division of Phoenix-based Hypercom Inc., has scored a $30 million contract that officials say should help the young group's sales outgrow its founding company. The founding brothers of Hypercom created...

Computer software guru tackles new CAD project. (Mike Riddle, developer of AutoCAD; FastCAD for Windows '95)
April 26, 1996... The father of AutoCAD, software that brought computer-aided design to the desktop, is at it again. Mike Riddle has created FastCAD for Windows '95, a program that merges sophisticated animation and pictures on a personal computer with popular...

Del Webb zoning stirs controversy in Mesa.
April 26, 1996... It's not often homeowners and developers team together to advance a project, but that's what's happening in Mesa, where a controversial zoning case involving Del Webb's Coventry Homes has become the focal point of the city's entire general plan...

City staff to talk about river walk venture. (proposed riverfront development project in Phoenix, AZ)
April 26, 1996... Phoenix city staffers aren't leaking any information about a meeting today to discuss a developer's plans to get the Salt River flowing. Norris Nordvold, director of intergovernmental programs for the city of Phoenix, said the meeting was...

Coliseum, Roadrunners quiet on new ice lease. (Veterans Memorial Coliseum; Phoenix Roadrunners)
April 26, 1996... A delay of game apparently has been called by Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Phoenix Roadrunners as negotiations head into overtime for a new contract to play at the facility next season. The International Hockey League team made a proposal...

Southwest Airlines 'mistake' brings fine.
April 26, 1996... More people are soaring through cyber-space to find the best airline fares and the federal department of transportation is making sure consumers aren't being taken for a ride. The U.S. Department of Transportation on April 16 fined Southwest...

Royal Palms plan closes development of Arcadia. (proposed housing project in Phoenix, AZ)(Focus: Real Estate & Development)
April 26, 1996... New developments near Camelback Mountain are working from plans originally drawn for two of the oldest properties in Phoenix. The construction of Royal Palms Estates and a $10 million renovation of the Royal Palms Hotel will complete projects...