The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun articles from July 1999

The Business Journal - Serving Phoenix & the Valley of the Sun archives from July 1999

Arizona opts out of local phone test; US West asked for 3rd-party OK.
July 2, 1999... Thirteen of the 14 states served by US West are asking the phone provider to conduct independent third-party tests of its System to determine how easily would-be competitors can tie into the network - but Arizona isn't among them. ...

Valley developer plans resort south of border.(Laguna Shores LLC)
July 2, 1999... Canadian and American investors are poised to add another resort to their growing ranks on the Sea of Cortez. The newest proposal is a vacation-home project planned near Puerto Penasco by Laguna Shore's in Arizona LLC, said John Thompson,...

80% of new cargo space at Sky Harbor preleased.(Sky Harbor International Airport)
July 2, 1999... Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is barely pouring the concrete to build its new cargo storage complex, yet about 80 percent of its space already is leased. By the time the building is completed in early February, airport officials...

Central Phoenix projects spotlight residential plan.
July 2, 1999... Two unique residential developments are planned for vacant properties within two miles of each other in north central Phoenix. One is Colter Close, a gated town-home community of 55 units on 5.5 acres on Colter Avenue west of 15th Avenue....

Lawyers fret over status given CPAs in tax appeals.
July 2, 1999... A recent amendment to state law allowing non-lawyers to represent clients before the Arizona Board of Tax Appeals has some attorneys worried that the judicial noose on who can practice law is getting too loose. The Legislature in 1998...

Hospital system bigwigs lose jobs, problems mount.(Catholic Healthcare West)
July 2, 1999... More fallout hit Catholic Healthcare West this week as three senior executives lose their jobs and Moody's Investor Services makes good on its threat to downgrade the hospital system bonds. San Francisco-based CHW operates 48 hospitals in...

Top draft choice: temporary job leads to fulfilling career.(Profile)(Hensley & Co. Pres. Bob Delgado)
July 2, 1999... The side-by-side neon signs in the company's sales room say it all. "Be mean," commands one. "Be humble," warns the other. Bob Delgado wouldn't have it any other way. As president and chief operating officer of beer distributor Hensley &...

Researcher balks at small-business role.(Tom Rex of Arizona State University's Center for Business Research)
July 2, 1999... They all speak from the same page. It's the one that says 99.5 percent of all the state's employers are small businesses. It's the page that lists 407,000 of the state's 409,000 companies as small businesses. And it's the one that has this...

Mall project model for future, mayors say.(Arizona Mills; Mayors Neil Giuliano of Tempe and jay Tibshraeny of Chandler, AZ)
July 2, 1999... Two Valley mayors believe the resolution to a nasty battle between mall developers a few years ago is a model for the future. In 1996, two development groups were fighting over tenants for their projects. The Mills Corp. in Arlington,...

Agricultural buffer formed as way to save base.(Luke Air Force Base)
July 2, 1999... As long as noisy military jet fighters fly out of Luke Air Force Base, nearly $2 billion will flow into the Valley economy each year. But close the base and the money vanishes from the economy as fast as the exhaust tram the jets' engines,...

Scottsdale Marriott advances.(new Marriott hotel planned in Scottsdale, AZ)
July 9, 1999... Construction is expected to start this summer on a $110 million, 518-room Marriott hotel near downtown Scottsdale. Mayor Sam Campana said the seven-story hotel, called the Scottsdale Marriott at Riverwalk Centre, will be the first of...

Partners secede from O'Connor Cavanagh firm.(Phoenix law firm O'Connor, Cavanagh, Anderson, Westover, Killingsworth and Beshears)
July 9, 1999... The 40-year-old law firm of O'Connor Cavanagh Killingsworth and Beshears PA in Phoenix has split. Shareholders Jeffrey Verbin, Robert Kant and Lawrence Rosenfeld have left to start their own firm and are taking 30 attorneys with them, Kant...

Rural/Metro Ambulance gains in climb to the top.(recruits four top AMR managers in the San Diego market)
July 9, 1999... An accelerating Rural/Metro Ambulance has tapped the rear bumper of Aurora, Colo.-based American Medical Response, which refuses to pull over in the race to dominate the nation's ambulance industry despite its mounting financial problems. ...

Artigue tapped for spot on Suns front-office roster.(Ray Artigue appointed senior vice-president of marketing and communications of the Phoenix Suns)
July 9, 1999... The Phoenix Suns have hired the general manager of its in-house advertising agency to direct the team's marketing efforts. Ray Artigue, who started SRO Communications for Suns and Arizona 'Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo in 1991, left...

Compassionate leader.(Steven L. Seiler, chief operating officer of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ)
July 9, 1999... Choosing positives brings life's success Steve Seiler is a man who doesn't have any problem showing emotion. When he talks about his family, it's easy to see there's nothing more important in his life, as he dabs a tear from his eye...

Tempe firm carves niche in semiconductor industry.(Lansdale Semiconductor Inc. acquires Motorola's military semiconductor business)
July 9, 1999... Not even a toxic-chemical siren - a false alarm, it turned out - was enough to rattle Dale Lillard recently as he talked about the culmination of a two-year negotiation with Motorola Inc.'s Semiconductor Products Sector. Even as...

On-site security unit adds another level of response.(Anderson Security Agency Ltd. introduces Arizona's first emergency mobile command unit)
July 9, 1999... Anderson Security Agency, Ltd., has introduced Arizona's first privately owned emergency mobile command unit. The 33-foot-long converted RV will be used by Anderson Security to assist clients 'on site' with workplace violence, security for...

Chamber pushes retention plan.(Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce's Business Retention and Expansion proposal)
July 16, 1999... The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce is planning a project designed to promote the expansion of Valley businesses. However, hopes of making it a Valleywide effort hit a snag when executives from other chambers accused Phoenix of leaving...

Money men: an insider's view of venture funding.(Blackwater Capital Partners LP)
July 16, 1999... Three groups of men cram themselves into a dimly lighted closet-size room filled with computers. Two employees in rumpled dress shirts point at wires and switches, explaining what their Internet company does. Three older men in golf...

Encouraging signs for Motorola, Intel.
July 16, 1999... Motorola Inc. and Intel Corp. - twin pillars of Arizona's high-tech sector - showed early signs of recovery in this week's earnings reports, but even the good news carne tempered with questions about their long-term outlook. Both companies...

Company vows to boost efficiency in sales offices.(SalesLogix Corp.)
July 16, 1999... It might be too early to declare Willy Loman deceased, but Scottsdale software maker SalesLogix Corp. hopes to make him a little more virtual. The company, which went public in May, is releasing its first electronic-commerce application, a...

Great Scott Productions expanding with purchase.(acquisition of Desert Production Center)
July 16, 1999... Great Scott Productions' plans for a second studio have been scrapped in favor of buying an entire production company. It plans to move both businesses into one large space in the summer of 2001. While the Phoenix radio and television...

Recruiter to explore web potential.(Success Strategies)(DDJ Myers Ltd.)
July 16, 1999... A company that started as an offshoot of the family business and developed a national reputation for executive recruitment soon will sprout another branch - this time online. DDJ Myers Ltd., operated by 46-year-old Deedee Myers, is a...

Peer logic: banking leader not 'just a stiff suit.'.(Profile)(Arizona Bankers Association Executive VP Ellen Poole)
July 16, 1999... Integrity is Ellen Poole's stock in trade. As executive vice president of the Arizona Bankers Association and the banking industry's lobbyist to the Arizona Legislature, Poole must coax, cajole and convince lawmakers to pass legislation that...

Qwest: not your father's phone company.(planned merger with US West Inc. and Qwest Communications International)(Statistical Data Included)
July 23, 1999... It's a fusion of the old and the new. A decades old local phone system and an upstart long-distance carrier. A tried and true revenue stream, now threatened by local competition, and the lure of huge profits in the frenzied world of...

Hotels on the move: Four Seasons already booking.(Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale, AZ)
July 23, 1999... Scottsdale's newest luxury resort already is booking convention and meeting business, even though the only "guests" now enjoying the property still are wearing hard hats. The Four Seasons Resort, under construction at Troon Village in...

Buckeye bound: town may annex upscale homesites.(Buckeye, AZ; planned development by DMB Associates)
July 23, 1999... Buckeye soon might be one of most prestigious addresses for homeowners in the Valley. The town west of Phoenix appears to be taking the lead in competition with the city of Goodyear for a master-planned community that analysts say will...

Acquisitions are budding for Scottsdale flower shop.(Cactus Flower may acquire grocery chain)
July 23, 1999... Cactus Flower is cultivating its growth with plans to acquire six Valley flower shops by year's end and enter a major supermarket chain in 2000. The last year has been busy for the business that operates out of Scottsdale. In October, it...

Expansions are planned in Valley for mattress store, women's wear.(Sleep Train and White House Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona)
July 23, 1999... For a Sacramento, Calif., mattress retailer and a Baltimore women's clothing store operator, Phoenix is an attractive expansion opportunity, although for slightly different reasons. While The Sleep Train is simply considering entering the...

Sun Community opens latest bank in East Valley.(Sun Community Bancorp Ltd.; East Valley Community Bank)
July 23, 1999... The sun is rising on a new community bank in the East Valley. East Valley Community Bank opened its doors June 30, just before its holding company, Sun Community Bancorp Ltd. of Phoenix, went public July 2. Although the Chandler bank's...

SkyMall moves to next stage in e-commerce arena.(new travel Internet site)
July 23, 1999... Sandy Goldman was calling reporters from a car phone this week, an ill-timed leg of a press tour that had been mutated by flight delays. As he explained the features of SkyMall Inc.'s new travel web site, the 41-year-old executive was...

Arizona Biltmore looks to Europe, bumps budget to boost occupancy.(Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa)
July 23, 1999... The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa has embarked on a mission to increase the hotel's occupancy, overlooking a brewing legal battle between owners and the hotel's former management company. The Phoenix property, owned by Florida Panthers...

Business groups blast new contractor ethics rules.(federal contractor 'responsibility' rules)
July 23, 1999... Business groups plan to fight proposed federal contractor "responsibility" rules that they say give unions an unfair weapon in organizing battles. The rules, published July 9 in the Federal Register, instruct contracting officers to...

Publishing company blooms.(Timed Resources Inc.)(Company Profile)
July 23, 1999... Three years ago, a new magazine aimed at Scottsdale children came out of nowhere. Publisher Larry Bloom had 20,000 copies printed. And because he knew little about the business, including distribution, be found out the hard way that...

Working up a sweat: builders joust for big projects in health care.
July 30, 1999... About $500 million in health care projects will be built in the Valley this year, causing a major scramble for the big jobs. But industry veterans warn that health care is not a business for the weak-hearted. It's a complicated industry --...

Arizona's billion-dollar babies are healthy.(investments in Arizona)
July 30, 1999... With the possibility of future interest rate increases threatening to put a damper on market activity, Arizona investors have been hoping for strong second-quarter earnings to give their favorite local stocks a boost. Now that more than...

Sun Valley development moves ahead in Buckeye.(Buckeye farming community in Arizona)
July 30, 1999... One of the Valley's most beleaguered developments appears to be back on track to becoming the metro area's largest master-planned community. The project is the second involving the west Valley farming community of Buckeye and has ties to a...

Online sports game maker merges, leaves for Virginia.(Sandbox Entertainment Corp)
July 30, 1999... One of the Valley's most promising Internet startups is packing its toys and moving to Virginia in a merger company officials say will create the online world's biggest sports game maker. Sandbox Entertainment Corp., a Phoenix company best...

Bistro America to open in Eddie's Grill space.
July 30, 1999... The space that once housed Eddie's Grill is prepping for a new concept from the restaurant group that created Michael's at the Citadel. Peak Restaurant Group Inc. in Scottsdale is readying Bistro America for the location at Seventh Street...

Mayo brings liver transplant ability to the Valley.(Mayo clinic bring liver transplant technology to Arizona)
July 30, 1999... An estimated 30 percent of patients waiting for a liver transplant are infected with hepatitis C, a number that is expected to increase to 80 percent within the next five to 10 years. As the new chair of transplantation medicine at Mayo...

'One-stop shopping' for small business.(Corporate Business Solutions Inc)
July 30, 1999... Many small-business owners follow their dreams of providing a product or service only to find themselves bogged down in a mire of accounts payable, collections and personnel problems. It is on this premise that a group of financiers decided...

Trade shows can be windfall or financial drain.
July 30, 1999... Michael Pollack of Maggie Lyon Inc. paints the scene exactly as anyone who has attended or participated in a trade show has witnessed it. "There's nothing worse than standing there in your booth, waiting for people to talk to you," said...

On the rise: building boom drives up starter home prices.
July 30, 1999... Homebuilders and real estate analysts are concerned that home prices in metro Phoenix are climbing faster than incomes. One builder is Greg Hancock, owner of Hancock Communities. He believes lower-income families are facing a form of...

Boundaries focus growth in northeast Phoenix.(policy on urban growth)
July 30, 1999... The North Black Canyon Corridor along Interstate 17 has been tapped for a major role in Phoenix growth under a plan approved this month by the City Council. On July 7, the city adopted "an infrastructure limit line," a pattern to control...

Spa at Rancho Manana gets ready for fall opening.(Cave Creek, Arizona)
July 30, 1999... Valley residents needing to relax, rejuvenate and remove tension and stress from their lives might consider taking a bath. The Spa at Rancho Manana in Cave Creek, set to open in the fall, will offer a bevy of "therapeutic soaks" and body...