Orlando Business Journal articles from August 1998

Orlando Business Journal archives from August 1998

Legend folds, investors wait. (Legend Sports Inc.)
August 28, 1998... ALTAMONTE SPRINGS - This Legend has no happy ending. Two key players in Altamonte Springs-based Legend Sports Inc. have been fined and barred from selling securities in Florida for the next decade. New Hampshire authorities have halted the...

Florida Fun-Train charts a course for shutdown. (First American Railways Inc.'s plan to suspend operations)
August 28, 1998... ORLANDO - Florida Fun-Train is beginning to look a lot like the little engine that couldn't. In the last four months, the company has switched CEOs, been bumped from 'its NASDAQ small-cap listing to the less prestigious over-the-counter...

Big funeral chains make a killing on the business of death.
August 28, 1998... TAMPA - Funeral home director Michael Adams pulled off quite a feat recently. Adams and his investors developed a 47-acre cemetery, funeral home and crematory in east Hillsborough County. It may not sound like a huge accomplishment. But...

Planning for the worst: what Florida residents need to know. (includes Florida Comptroller Office's tips on funeral services)
August 28, 1998... TAMPA - Advertisements touting preplanning of funerals are almost as difficult to avoid as the inevitable event they address. But experts such as Tim Wheaton, a financial examiner and analyst with the state Department of Banking and Finance...

After the fires, Volusia gets back to business. (Volusia County, FL)(Focus: Volusia Update)
August 28, 1998... If you happened to take a jaunt down U.S. 1 through Ormond Beach during the Fourth of July weekend, you saw the effects of the fires that raged through Volusia County. Thick brown smoke burned the back of your throat as you tried to gulp in...

Drew Page means business - as far as Volusia' future goes. (head of Volusia County Business Development Corp.)(Focus: Volusia Update)(Interview)
August 28, 1998... In the five years that Drew Page has run the Volusia County Business Development Corp., he has overseen nearly 3,200 jobs created in the county through businesses small and large growing and moving into the area. While some of the major...

Oak Hill fishes for economic development while keeping its rural edge. (Oak Hill, FL)(Focus: Volusia Update)
August 28, 1998... In the beginning of 1996, Oak Hill was a typical rural town. It had a thriving agriculture industry, a couple of manufacturers and one stoplight. Then disaster hit. Unlike areas of the state ravaged by tornadoes, floods or fires. Oak...

Legislation means fewer setbacks for beachfront development.(Focus: Volusia Update)
August 28, 1998... DAYTONA BEACH - Volusia County's beachfront areas are likely to have a different look in the next three to four years thanks to a bill passed by the Florida Legislature that will allow for rehabilitation and revitalization along the coast....

St. Joe/Arvida development is company's first in Volusia. (Volusia County, FL)(Focus: Volusia Update)
August 28, 1998... DELAND - A proposed mixed-use development that fronts Interstate 4 near Lake Helen got one step closer to reality when the DeLand planning board voted Aug. 19 to recommend annexation of 1,767 acres for the project. Developer St. Joe/Arvida...

Silicon Valley dollars pour into Orlando. (Silicon Valley Bank; Florida)
August 21, 1998... ORLANDO - Silicon Valley is starting to feel right at home in Central Florida. Over the past several months, California-based Silicon Valley Bank has committed nearly $14 million in credit to five high-tech businesses in Orlando, Maitland...

TCE seeping into tap water? (trichloroethylene)
August 21, 1998... ORLANDO - Unacceptably high levels of two toxic chemicals have been found in a downtown Orlando well. It's not believed that the chemicals pose an immediate health threat: they were discovered at a depth of about 145 feet, while the city's...

Whatever the toy market will bear. (Beanie Babies)
August 21, 1998... Beanie babies brouhaha: Jacked-up prices leave 'em crying in the aisles ORLANDO - Despite manufacturer pleas, local retailers are jacking up the prices of Beanie Babies as much as 800 percent over the suggested retail price. Oakbrook,...

Cooperation on agenda for centers. (World Expo Center in Osceola County, Florida)
August 21, 1998... Osceola, Orange counties agree to small talk over looming challenge ORLANDO - It's going to be a really big show. When finished, the World Expo Center will be visible to astronauts in orbit. That's big enough to give Chicago's mighty...

BBIF charting a new financial course? (Black Business Investment Fund)
August 21, 1998... ORLANDO - The Black Business Investment Fund could be heading for a metamorphosis. The organization, which underwrites commercial bank loans to emerging black-owned companies, is finding that it might better serve its clientele by making...

BBQ chain racking up stores. (Sonny's Franchise Co's Real Pit Bar-B-Q restaurant)
August 21, 1998... ORLANDO - Is the Southeast ready for Sonny's? Sonny's Franchise Co. debuts its 100th Real Pit Bar-B-Q restaurant this month, and the Maitland-based franchiser believes there's room for plenty more: President and CEO Bob Yarmuth predicts the...

Olympia nails payback plan. (payment plan for Olympia Homes Inc.'s creditors)
August 7, 1998... ALTAMONTE SPRINGS - Olympia Homes Inc. is preparing to hammer the last nail in its 8-month-old Chapter 11 petition. The once high-flying home builder is offering a payment plan to its 137 creditors: Some, including unpaid employees and a...

Local software firm heading to Wall Street. (Collegis Inc.)
August 7, 1998... MAITLAND - Collegis Inc. is trying its luck on The Street with an initial public stock offering of $59 million. The Maitland-based company, which provides computer consulting to colleges and universities, is planning to sell 3.7 million...

Architects find true love. (renovation of downtown Weeks Building by Butler Lemons Romero Inc.)
August 7, 1998... Firm turns ugly duckling office interior into Cinderella The best-kept secrets in downtown Orlando until now - are a munchkin-shaped, 3,400-square-foot building at Washington Street and Magnolia Avenue and the tenant, Butler Lemons Romero...

Philco bets on long-term relationships - and wins. (marketing strategies of Philco Construction Inc.)
August 7, 1998... MAITLAND - In eight short years, homegrown Philco Construction Inc. of Maitland has evolved into one of the leading retail and industrial property building specialists in the Southeast. From sparse contract volume of $250,000 in its startup...