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

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

TriStar sale, expansion imminent. (Tri-Star Computer Corp.)
December 6, 1996... A year after purging most of its top brass for what owners say was sloppy management, Tempe-based CAD workstation distributor TriStar Computer Corp. is close to being purchased by an unnamed holding company. Although the privately held...

Doctors invest to stay healthy. (OrNda Healthcorp's proposed surgical center)
December 6, 1996... OrNda Healthcorp., the nation's third-largest publicly traded hospital-management company, is offering an unusual chance to let doctors in on a private investment. It involves a proposed surgical center, part of a 160,000-square-foot medical...

Microsoft taps Valley small business market. (Microsoft Corp.; Phoenix, Arizona; Internet-based information and communication center)
December 6, 1996... Redmond, Wash.-based software giant Microsoft Crop. has chosen Phoenix as the launching pad for a pilot program the company hopes will become its national model for a new marketing push toward small businesses. The company is working with...

Arizona Beverage, union settle - for now. (Arizona Beverage Distributing Co.; International Brotherhood of Teamsters)
December 6, 1996... Phoenix-based Arizona Beverage Distributing Co. has settled a 10-day strike with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, but the two sides continue to lock heads on a contract bargaining process that began almost two years ago. About 67 of...

Gregarious cowboy lassos construction. (Johnson Carlier Pres. and CEO Chris Johnson)(Company Profile)
December 6, 1996... Johnson Carlier president and CEO Chris Johnson, 42, easily could be characterized as the Marlboro man of contractors around town. He's not one for show or pretense, and his rustic, cowboy lifestyle represents a contrast to the suit-and-tie...

Less is more for business consulting firm. (Cadre Business Advisors LLC)
December 6, 1996... Cadre Business Advisors LLC is making waves in the Valley's consulting industry. A Phoenix consulting firm which began in 1995, Cadre Business Advisors specializes in strategic business systems, process re-engineering and information systems....

Software companies join to provide better service. (Cotelligent Group Inc.)
December 6, 1996... Public relations firms do it. TV and radio stations do it. Newspapers also do it. And for the first time, software professional services firms are increasing their size and geographic reach by pooling resources. FDSI Consulting, a Seattle-based...

Orchestrating reorganizations directs local firm to find its niche. (Facilities West)(Company Profile)
December 6, 1996... When a new corporate headquarters site is picked by The Finova Group - a topic that's kept the Valley real estate community buzzing - among the first to know may be Robert Gregoire. Gregoire's Facilities West managed the move for Finova's...

Riding the rails: Amtrak could carry commuters across Valley. (Sun Valley, AZ)
December 13, 1996... An experimental passenger rail service that could tote commuters from downtown Tempe to as far away as the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in the far west Valley is being put together by downtown Phoenix business and community interests....

Wells Fargo glitch slows funds in 10-state region.
December 13, 1996... Wells Fargo was almost wireless two days before Thanksgiving. As a result of a "slowdown" in the bank's system for wire processing, some electronic fund transfers were delayed two days, a bank spokesman acknowledged this week. The problem,...

Who's hot, who's not; Holmes emerges as Valley leader. (Sun Valley, AZ's business leaders; Cox Communications Inc. VP and General Manager Gregg Holmes)
December 13, 1996... The pressure is on Gregg Holmes. The vice president and general manager of Cox Communications Inc. in Phoenix was voted the Valley's top burgeoning business leader - despite a poll two weeks ago placing him ninth on the list of overall...

High-tech chiefs seek influence.(Who's Hot, Who's Not)
December 13, 1996... Motorola may be the state's largest private employer, but you won't find any of its executives on The Business Journal's list of the Valley's most-influential people. The same goes for AlliedSignal Inc., which provides about 8,900 jobs. And...

Wade moves over to UDC. (appointment of Kathleen Wade as president of UDC Homes Inc.)
December 13, 1996... Two of the Valley's top homebuilders have been playing musical chairs. In a transition that's evolved over the past several years, four former executives from Continental Homes now comprise the key management force behind UDC Homes. The latest...

Small-businesses road map for world trade offered. (Small Business Administration's Export Trade Assistance Partnership program)
December 13, 1996... A grassroots effort was launched this week to help Arizona small businesses find their way into international markets. The U.S. Small Business Administration is targeting Arizona as one of its first regions for development of an Export Trade...

FHP stockholders get dibs on Talbert shares. (FHP International Corp.; Talbert Medical Management Corp.)
December 13, 1996... Shareholders of FHP International Corp. will get a chance to grab a piece of Talbert Medical Management Corp. as FHP spins off its medical-management firm into a publicly traded company with an initial capitalization of about $60 million. This...

Action software games pot of gold for Rainbow. (contract between Rainbow Studios and Microsoft Corp.)
December 13, 1996... A Phoenix software company that turned in its corporate pinstripes three years ago to develop video games is on the verge of becoming a national name with a new title that bears the mighty Microsoft label. Rainbow Studios - started in 1986 to...

Lottery director energizes team. (Arizona Lottery; Jody Spicola)(Profile)
December 13, 1996... One of the best parts of Jody Spicola's job is the checks - not the ones he gets to take home every pay period, but the ones he gets to give away. Within his first month on the job as executive director of the Arizona Lottery, Spicola got to...

Industry wary of surge in new hotels.(Industry Overview)
December 13, 1996... City officials and major hotel chains are waking up to the fact that the Valley is witnessing an onslought of limited-service hotel development, enough so that whispers of "overbuilding" are fanning out across the desert. "We have looked in...

Phoenix tops major cities in apartment building.(Industry Overview)
December 13, 1996... Decline in vacancy, jobs are driving forces behind influx of new residents Phoenix led the nation in new apartment building as a brisk economy boosted issuance of multifamily housing construction permits in second-quarter 1996, with more than...

CB Commercial moves into new real estate info arena. (launching of CBC Land Group division)
December 13, 1996... CB Commercial has created a land division that will cater to homebuilders across the country. The commercial real estate brokerage has launched CBC Land Group in an effort to provide demographic information, aerial mapping, ongoing development...

Old Phoenix motel gives homeless shelter.
December 13, 1996... An old Phoenix motel on Grand Avenue will have a new chance at life, and so will 60 homeless people, thanks to an innovative housing project involving both the public and private sector. Central Arizona Shelter Services will manage the 60 units...

Tempe ranks as top spot for Phoenicians.
December 13, 1996... Residents of metropolitan Phoenix have ranked downtown Tempe as one of their top 10 places to visit, so city officials have put together a list of the top 10 reasons why the area has been transformed into a must-see destination: *...

New tubing pipes in natural gas. (corrugated stainless steel)
December 13, 1996... A Mesa homeowner has found a new way to lower the cost of bringing natural gas safely into his house. Jack Blakley's home at 810 N. York Circle, was built using as innovative natural gas pipe made from corrugated stainless steel tubing. "He...

Real estate trends shift, opportunities unfolding.(Industry Overview)
December 13, 1996... Significant political, social and technological shifts are creating new opportunities for the real estate industry in Phoenix and across the country. E&Y Kenneth Leventhal brought together its best thinkers to analyze today's trends and to...

Wireless firms seek rooftop space for lease.
December 13, 1996... In one sense they're every landlord's dream - they take up virtually no space, use few resources and still pay the rent. And as more players enter the telecommunications field, property owners are finding that leasing rooftop space for wireless...

Roofer firm grows by a proactive approach. (Poly Tech Inc.)(Keys to Emerging Businesses)(Company Profile)
December 13, 1996... Phoenix-based Poly Tech Inc. has become one of the largest roofing companies in the Southwest without advertising - unless you count the listings for Inc. magazine's 500 fastest growing companies in 1995 and 1996. But that was more of a...

Vocational training: on the road to equity.
December 13, 1996... Plato said, "If we want our daughters to know the same things as our sons, we must teach them the same things." Our vocational training options have expanded a bit since Plato's times, but women are still held back by stereotypes and fears...

State banks on the rise.
December 20, 1996... On a geographical scale of one to 10, Arizona has become a 10 for investors looking to open banks. Spurred by a flurry of mergers and consolidations that thinned the number of banks in the state, and lured by the healthy returns of some small...

Daily newspapers prep for an east Valley battle. (Sun Valley, AZ)
December 20, 1996... While it's always been there, competition between the Valley's daily newspaper companies is rising to new levels with the closure of the sale of the Valley's Tribune Newspapers to Thomson Newspapers this week. When the sale to Thomson was...

Valley doc finds niche that fits like a glove. (Sun Valley, AZ; Gimbel Glove Co. founder Dr. Neal Gimbel)(Company Profile)
December 20, 1996... A desire, first felt eight years ago, to protect himself and other surgeons from frequent needle sticks during surgery that have the potential to spread disease, has led to a new product and a new company for one Valley orthopedic surgeon. And...

Firm grows by shipping the huge, the bizarre. (America Worldwide Inc.)(Keys to Emerging Business)(Company Profile)
December 20, 1996... What do Harley Davidson motorcycles, satellite systems and huge canisters of dry goods have in common? Absolutely nothing, unless they are being shipped half-way around the word. That's when Nick Matyas, founder and president of America...

Monterey Homes, Homeplex agree to $11M merger. (Homeplex Mortgage Investments Corp.)
December 27, 1996... Sharehoders of Homeplex Mortgage Investments Corp. approved an $11 million deal Monday to buy Monterey Homes Arizona II Inc. and Monterey Homes Construction II Inc. Effective the end of the year, Phoenix-based Homeplex will cease to operate as...

Los Arcos targeted for makeover. (Los Arcos Mall in south Scottsdale, AZ)
December 27, 1996... Los Arcos Mall in south Scottsdale is finally going to get its long-awaited facelift - transforming from an outdated retail center to a mixed-use project with more than 1 million square feet of retail, residential and hotel uses. The property...

Arizona is fast becoming high-tech Mecca.
December 27, 1996... Arizona came a few steps closer to establishing itself as a global player in the high-tech arena last year with new semiconductor plants, a maturing software industry and, some would argue, the groundwork for even greater prosperity in the...

Brothers find independence to their liking. (The Copier Brothers)
December 27, 1996... "Oh, brother." It wasn't too long ago that those words reflected tension that brewed between brothers Ron and Bob Franz during the early stages of trying to get their copier-sales office in Tucson off the ground. "We fought like cats and...

GPEC: quality of life best '96 achievement. (Greater Phoenix Economic Council)(Column)
December 27, 1996... As 1996 draws to a close, many people reflect on their accomplishments of the past year and ponder what the new year may bring. Greater Phoenix Economic Council is no different. Reflecting on the major achievements of the current year, we, too,...