Orlando Business Journal articles from December 2000

Orlando Business Journal archives from December 2000

Prosperity, peas.(Southern tradition not widely practiced)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Southern tradition claims a pot of black-eyed peas consumed on New Year's Day brings good luck all year long. But local restaurants are largely ignoring the tradition. Of more than a dozen area restaurants surveyed, only three plan to...

Visit soon.(online reservation service from Visit Florida Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Visit Florida's online reservation service, http://www.flausa.com, logged 56 reservations in its first two weeks of operation, representing nearly $24,000 in revenue for Florida properties. The site is one of the few in the nation that...

House hunting.(Florida online real estate auction)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Through Jan. 11, Central Florida home buyers will be able to bid in an online auction for one of 29 bank-owned properties. Conducted by AMSauctions.com, a sister company to Accelerated Marketing Services, it's the first online venture of...

And now might be a good time to buy.(housing prices in Orlando, FL)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Orlando's home prices are among the lowest per square foot compared to the rest of the country, according with HomeGain, a licensed real estate broker. Orlando tied with Providence at $91 per square foot. Houston was the cheapest at $77....

Mixed previews.(survey of investors)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... A recent survey conducted through eStrong.com, a unit of Strong Capital Management Inc., found investors are divided about the prospects for the economy in 2001. According to the survey by the mutual fund company, 45 percent of investors...

Lucky Loch.(planned Florida community)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Mount Dora's only gated community -- Loch Leven -- has received final approval from the city for its Villages project. As a result, 100 acres of undeveloped Loch Leven property will be transformed into a town center. It will include more...

Lord on board.(John S. Lord Jr., Orlando, FL)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Attorney John S. Lord Jr. will chair the nominating board for the city of Orlando. The board recruits and suggests possible appointments to the mayor and Orlando City Council. A member of Foley & Lardner's litigation department, Lord...

Pilot ad litem.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Barry University School of Law is starting a pilot project for attorney ad litem services. The university is getting a $900,000, three-year state grant for the program. The school of law will work with existing guardian ad litem...

Yanks in London.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Welsh Cos. soon will have a British accent. The Orlando division of the Minneapolis-based commercial real estate company has been named the principal supplier of Central Florida's commercial real estate industry information to the...

Land plans.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... With plans for the grand opening of its newest luxury vacation home community in Polk County, dubbed The Sanctuary, Beazer Homes has made a major land purchase in Seminole County. Located off Paola Road, the 40 home sites will form East...

The numbers game.
December 29, 2000... Not everyone thinks the state has its numbers right on the proposed shortfall in Medicaid funds. State Sen. Debby Sanderson (R-Fort Lauderdale), who served as chair of the House Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee, says,...

Happy with the Blues.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida's commercial HMO has earned an "excellent" rating from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. The insurance provider, headquartered in Jacksonville, earned the designation by meeting 60...

Drawing a line in the sand?(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Windermere hopes to fend off annexation requests, encroaching growth. WINDERMERE -- It was just a simple annexation request. But it may as well have been a declaration of what, for genteel Windermere, amounts to war. On one side...

It's church vs. billboards in local lawsuit.(Orlando, FL)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... ORLANDO -- Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church sits nestled among dozens of live oak and pine trees on Hiawassee Road. But not as many as there used to be. Only stumps remain of 40 pines and 15 live oaks, planted at the insistence of...

Seventeen to track in the coming year.(personalities in Orlando, FL business)
December 29, 2000... Who will make waves -- and deals -- in the coming months? Orlando Business Journal targets 15: Joe Lewis and Russell Allan, land buyers Lewis and Allan's Tavistock Allan LLC made waves with the purchase of the Jaymont block at Orange...

HMO bailout bill expected to swell to $7M.(Health maintenance organizations, Florida)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... SunStar collapse eats away at bottom line of surviving HMOs. SANFORD -- The bailout of the ill-fated SunStar Health Plan is now expected to cost the state's HMO industry roughly $7 million. At its peak, SunStar had as many as 88,0000...

Hot and cold sales perplex local retailers.(Orlando, Florida Christmas business)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... WINTER PARK -- It's been a blue Christmas for Winter Park retailer Shirley Rowe. The assistant manager at Partridge Tree Gift Shop on Park Avenue says retail sales slid 20 percent this holiday shopping season. Just down the avenue,...

Study: The cash isn't stretching as far this year.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... CHARLOTTE -- The start of a new year finds the typical American worker making a bit less than he or she did a year ago. Average weekly earnings for nonsupervisory employees rose 3.3 percent between November 1999 and November 2000,...

Pop the cork and enjoy the 2000 Tourism Awards.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... It's time to uncork the bubbly and unveil Second Annual Tourism World Awards for 2000. Best new ride: Sea-World's Kraken. A great coaster, especially when viewed from the front left seat. Best party: Texas party at Pow Wow. Great...

Maitland's Star tracks high cost of bad checks.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Paper checks cost the country's retailers and financial institutions $25 billion annually in fees, processing costs and losses due to fraud, according to a new study by Star Systems Inc. of Maitland. The bright side of the study is a...

The right name at the right time.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Jimmy O. Williams, who will retire from SunTrust Banks at the end of this year, is actually one of three SunTrust executives named Jimmy Williams. Jimmy B. Williams was chairman and CEO of SunTrust Banks in Atlanta before he retired in...

Citrus Bowl juiced by Capital One's title deal.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Noelle Haner-Dorr FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Capital One is launching a full-scale branding effort around college football. The immediate beneficiary: ABC TV and the Florida Citrus Bowl, which only a few weeks ago lost its title sponsor...

Yes, Virginia, they really said that: A year in verbs.
December 29, 2000... The quotes flew thick and fast in year 2000, proving that while the mouth might not be mightier than the sword, when skillfully wielded, it's every bit as sharp. Dream on. "All five women had the same hallucination." Administrative...

This is the year that was: 2000's wheeling, dealing.
December 29, 2000... What really happened -- and which business events of 2000 provide clues to what will happen in 2001. The Peabody's golden egg. In a massive construction project dwarfing its current site, the I-Drive hotel unveiled plans calling for more...

Will soft money ban increase union clout?(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... WASHINGTON -- "Count every vote," the union troops chanted as they converged on the U.S. Supreme Court for the last battle in the 2000 campaign. They wore orange ribbons on their lapels and carried signs with union labels: AFL-CIO, BAG,...

Community 'adopts' 29 local families for holidays.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... LEESBURG -- Residents at The Plantation at Leesburg raised more than $7,000 to buy toys, clothes, food and gift certificates for Christmas for 29 local needy families with 80 children. They are participating in the Adopt-A-Family program...

NANCY PFISTER AND CHAD ERIC WATT.(glass cutting technology of Applied Photonics)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Applied Photonic's Brian Hoekstra has returned from a tour of Korea, Taiwan and Japan Where he's been selling technology capable of separating glass molecule by molecule, leaving behind none of the fragments of traditional cutting methods....

Simulated learning.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Orlando-based National Center for Simulation is working with University High School to develop simulation software for use in high school classrooms. Using souped-up videoconferencing technology coupled with computers and simulation...

Brett Kingstone: Scaling new heights.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... In profile: Brett Kingstone President and CEO Super Vision International in Orlando. Lowdown: Super Vision, once again under the leadership of its founder Kingstone, is charging ahead into new arenas -- expanding its LED, or...

How to help your employees work up a sweat.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Corporate fitness programs start with figuring out what workers really want. The adage about leading a horse to water has a parallel in corporate fitness programs: The best intentions and state-of-the-art equipment won't cut it if...

Small BIZ Snapshot.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Scott Widerman thinks he's got a lock on a new gimmick in the bait and tackle business. The "Tackle Shackle," a simple combination of plastic and padding attaches to tackle boxes to allow convenient storage and transfer of expensive fishing...

What to do if the software police call.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Business Software Alliance - the self-appointed sheriff of software licensing--sent thousands of threatening letters to businesses recently, offering a temporary "truce" for software pirates. My phone rang in response. "Are we...

On The Move.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... APPOINTMENTS W. James Condry II has been appointed judge of compensation claims for District H. Condry currently is a partner in the firm of Broussard & Condry. Richard A. Howard has been appointed to the 5th Judicial Circuit Court,...

Rollins Alumni Record.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Rollins Alumni Record recently received five awards at the Florida Magazine Association's Charlie Awards, including three general excellence awards: a Silver award for best-written magazine, a bronze award for best overall design, and a...

Stockbroker Presentations Inc.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Stockbroker Presentations Inc. of Orlando will handle all investor relations for Medical Resorts International Inc. of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Southeast Fire Sprinklers Inc.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Southeast Fire Sprinklers Inc. in Sanford recently received the contract to install fire protection at Highwood Metro West, a 90,000square-foot building designed by Farmer, Baker and Barios for Highwood Properties, expected to be completed in...

Ardaman & Associates.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Ardaman & Associates of Orlando snagged three contracts totaling $2.5 million for geotechnical services and construction materials testing from the Florida Department of Transportation for projects in East Central Florida in Lake City in...

Wuesthoff Hospital in Rockledge.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... The medical staff at Wuesthoff Hospital in Rockledge has partnered with the hospital to create $1,000 nursing scholarships for up four students to study nursing. The Wuesthoff Health System's foundation will administer the program. Already...

S.I. Goldman Company Inc.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... S.I. Goldman Company Inc./Comfort Systems USA, a Longwood-based mechanical services contractor, gathered more than 2,500 pounds of food for Second Harvest Food Bank during the contractors' five-week Cool Food Drive IV. A check for $1,000 was...

www.realestatechannel.com.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... The Orlando-based real estate Website www.realestatechannel.com recently completed the build out of its new e-commerce-enabled "Real Estate & Home Improvement" section featuring useful books, in partnership with Barnes and Noble.com

Oros Risk Solutions.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Oros Risk Solutions has entered into a joint operating agreement with Sehnert Lumbra Robinson & Associations Insurance to establish a statewide medical professional liability specialty company to serve hospital systems, clinics, physician...

The Wuesthoff Cardiac Institute.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... The Wuesthoff Cardiac Institute in Wuesthoff Hospital at Rockledge recently acquired an advanced diagnostic system for patients with arrhythmic hearts. Wuesthoff is the fourth hospital in the state to obtain the tool that displays real-time...

BIRTHDAYS.(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Donald L. DeVane Jr., senior vice president, Codina Real Estate Management Inc.; 55, on Dec. 31. Rita Bornstein, president, Rollins College; 65, on Jan. 2. Bruce E. Williams, president, Williams Co., Orlando; 50, on Jan. 4.

RENOVATIONS.(Stetson University's Lynn Business Center)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Plans are near completion for a $12 million renovation of Stetson University's Lynn Business Center, a project that will require the relocation of all of the School of Business Administration classrooms, offices and computer labs until fall...

FUELING UP.(acquisition of Page Avjet Fuel Co.)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Miami Springs-based World Fuel Services Corp. has agreed to buy half of Page Avjet Fuel Co. LLC, up until now a wholly owned subsidiary of Orlando-based Signature Flight Support. Financial terms call for paying up to $3.5 million.

X RATED XMAS TUNES.(Party On Parody Productions Ltd. settles over lewd versions of copyrighted holiday songs)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Kissimmee-based Party On Parody Productions Ltd. and owner Scott Gordon have agreed to pay undisclosed damages to copyright owners for distributing lewd versions of holiday songs Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus...

BUY AND BUY AGAIN.(Brown & Brown Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Fresh off the recent acquisition of Georgia's WMH Inc. and Huffman & Associated Inc., the Daytona-based insurance firm of Brown & Brown Inc. announced yet another pending purchase: Huval Insurance Agency Inc. headquartered in Lafayette, La....

NEW REPUBLICS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... CNB National Bank, the subsidiary of CNB Florida B Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNBB) agreed to acquire the Lake City and Live Oak banking offices of Republic Bank. Terms of the agreement call for CNB to purchase the banking facilities, acquire...

SOLD!(Litton Laser Systems)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Earlier this year, Apopka-based Litton Laser Systems appeared to be headed for a new corporate umbrella with a half-dozen other divisions of Litton Industries. But the maker of laser targetry and range-finding devices will be acquired --...

DEALING.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Exigent International's software subsidiary, Exigent Software Technology Inc., finalized a $2.7 million product and maintenance contract. Most of the contract value will be booked this year -- a boost for the Melbourne company, which has...

STRINGS ATTACHED.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... A plan to bolster financially troubled Display Technologies Inc. called for guaranteeing $1.75 million in bank loans. Three investment firms owning 37.6 percent of the stock favor the plan, which also calls for the company's top executives --...

DIGITALLY YOURS.(Star Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Maitland's Star Systems Inc. launched a full-scale pilot program to replace personal identification numbers with digital signatures in debit card transactions. More than 100 consumers are participating in the program which will run through...

REAL ESTATE STAR.(NorthStar Advisory Group to provide real estate consulting and financial services)(Brief Article)
December 29, 2000... Commercial Net Lease Realty Services Inc. has formed NorthStar Advisory Group Inc., a consulting and financial services company. NorthStar's services will address each segment of the real estate process with a specific focus on retail...

BIG CHANGES.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Planned Parenthood will expand Central Florida services with eight new offices in four counties over the next five years. Currently, the agency sees 6,000 people a year in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Brevard counties. A new office...

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Orlando's Dr. P. Phillips Foundation pledged $1.5 million to the capital campaign for the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center-Orlando. The cancer center will be housed in a seven-story state-of-the-art building on Orlando Regional Healthcare's...

OFF TO MARKET.(lasers for medicine)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... SurgiLight of Orlando signed a letter of intent with A&A Medical Inc. to manufacture its EX-308 excimer lasers for the treatment of psoriasis. The EX-308 excimer laser is the second laser of its type to receive FDA clearance for the...

DARDEN'S DOUBLE DIGITS.(earnings)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Darden Restaurants reported record earnings per diluted share of 24 cents for its second quarter. The company reported a 33 percent increase in earnings from the prior year and the 14th consecutive period of quarterly earnings growth of more...

David Siegel: A savvy Santa for local charities.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... ORLANDO -- Ketron Brown wonders if Central Florida Investments owner David Siegel really is Sahta Claus. After all, the Shop for a Cop program run by Brown, the president of the Orange County Fraternal Order of Police, wouldn't be helping...

Giving to community benefits business, residents, Rosen says.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... UKLANDO -- No one who has ever met Harris Rosen doubts his passion for the hospitality industry. As the force behind two high-profile I-Drive hotels, the Rosen Centre and Rosen Plaza, located next to the Orange County Convention Center,...

What was your most successful charitable project this year?(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Sprint's employees for the past four years have participated nationally in the Let's Tackle Hunger Food Drive. This year, the Central Florida employees of Sprint collected 3,178 pounds of food for Orlando's Second Harvest Food Bank. This...

In our debt.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... It was a nervous kind of Christmas, what with the fate of e-tailers hanging in the balance and Dick Cheney tossing around the "recession" word no matter how many times Joe Lieberman asked him to stop. So shoppers did what wise folks tend to...

Getting that old time (non-dot-com) religion.(works who did not jump on the get-rich-quick wagon thankful now that wagon has sunk)(Brief Article)(Column)
December 29, 2000... It always cracks me up when someone asks for my predictions about what will happen to the economy. If I could do that, I wouldn't be doing this job. I'd be on a beach somewhere squandering the millions I made gazing into my crystal ball. ...

Beatles empire remains commercial force.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... It's crude to measure an artist by commercial achievement. But 40 years after John Lennon and Paul McCartney formed a musical partnership that changed the world, The Beatles continue to compile numbers That astound. Since 1996, The...

A whole new ballgame.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... MIAMI. The deal for the Marlins new stadium looks to be held together by glue, tape, bailing wire and chewing gum, but we hope that this may finally turn the trick. We have been leery about the use of tourism tax money to back the...

Electrified.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... AUSTIN. The Lone Star State also should be paying careful attention to the ongoing electricity crisis in the Golden State. In a little more than a year--on Jan. 1, 2002 -- Texas will introduce retail competition to the electricity market....

A needed slowdown.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... SILICON VALLEY. Suddenly, boom is turning to bust -- albeit a mild one. After a glorious five-year run, Silicon Valley, as well as the rest of California's technology sector, is confronting some serious economic potholes, and there...

CENTRAL FLORIDA'S LARGEST NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.
December 29, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

CENTRAL FLORIDA'S LARGEST FUND-RAISING EVENTS.
December 29, 2000... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

Williams Co.(completed construction of Lake Highland Prep)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Williams Co., an Orlando-based family-owned construction business, has completed construction of Lake Highland Prep's new $9.6 million, four-story building in downtown Orlando. The 60,000 square-foot building will be used for administration,...

Essex Builders Group.(completed construction of Grand Reserve at Kirkman Parke )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 29, 2000... Essex Builders Group of Winter Park has recently completed construction of Grand Reserve at Kirkman Parke in Orlando, 390 luxury apartments, and Grand Reserve at Tampa Palm in Tampa, also 390 luxury apartments. The two projects are joint...

Red ink.(Florida Medicaid program)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Florida is looking at a projected $1 billion deficit in its Medicaid program over the next two years, the upshot of dramatic increases in enrollments and escalating prescription drug costs. "It's a catastrophe. I feel that I might be...

Not forgotten.(Jimmy O. Williams, Sun Trust Banks)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Jimmy O. Williams will retire from SunTrust Banks at the end of this year, ending a career in which he has been the company's personal link between Orlando and many of its regions around Florida. Williams, now 60, joined SunTrust in 1984,...

Taking flight?(AirTran)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Atlanta is opening its arms wide to welcome AirTran back to its former national headquarters. At a recent meeting with AirTran President Robert Fornaro, members of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce indicated they are willing to discuss...

Crateful.(Crate & Barrel location)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Crate and Barrel is negotiating to become the fourth anchor tenant at the Mall of Millennia -- and establish its first Orlando retail store. Both the mall's developer, The Forbes Group, and the Chicago-based house-wares retailer say it is too...

Let them eat trains.(Florida budget)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... On the other side of the budget aisle, Lakeland retiree Doc Dockery, who proposed the high-speed rail constitutional amendment, argues the rail system isn't taking money away from planned road projects across the state. He says the $70...

The lowdown on high-tech.(online orders for pizza)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... A national pizza chain has begun advertising online ordering for their delivery service. But an online order from Orlando doesn't make it right into the local shop's computers. A brick-and-mortar store clerk explains Web elves from...

Movin' on up the dial.(Roger Franklin Williams)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Local political consultant Roger Franklin Williams will join national radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura on Clear Channel Communications' new talk format on 540 AM in February. Clear Channel executive Paul Proly refers to...

Up in smoke.(anti-smoking campaigns)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Florida's anti-smoking ads have a new class of skeptics: After $15 million and 16 years, scientists believe the so-called "social-influences theory" doesn't work to prevent smoking in kids and young adults. That's the finding from a...

Fast CAT.(CAT Computers)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... USA Digital's Gainesville subsidiary, CAT Computers, successfully designed and provided a supercomputer for EraGen Biosciences, an international biotechnology company based in Alachua. Phase I of the CAT's supercomputer consists of 100...

Road kill! I-4 upgrades staned.(Interstate 4 budgeting)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 22, 2000... Planning far I-4 expansion may be halted as rail system picks up steam. ORLANDO -- Forget getting enough money to finish rebuilding Interstate 4. Central Florida can't even get enough money to begin. Plans ultimately include...

County cool to penny tax for new arena.(Orlando Magic want new stadium in Orange County, FL)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... ORLANDO -- The Orlando Magic will need a lot more than heart and hustle to squeeze a sixth cent of resort tax out of the Orange County Commission. Four of six Orange County Commissioners say they are opposed to raising the resort tax,...

Aetna: 'It's a bright, sunny day in Florida'.(changes in Aetna U.S. Healthcare's contracts with Florida doctors)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Insurer hopes contract changes will appease doctors, damp criticism. ORLANDO -- Nestled amid a bundle of Aetna U.S. Healthcare contract changes are early Christmas presents for Florida physicians: an end to a controversial "all or...

Aetna cuts 5,000 jobs in restructuring.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... HARTFORD, Conn. -- Aetna Inc. plans to eliminate 5,000 of its 40,000 positions over the next 12 months in an effort to cut costs, increase profitability and focus more on its health care business. It's unknown how many jobs will be...

Sawtek's wild stock ride leaves investors reeling.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2000... Up 26 percent in one day, down 17 percent another, as questions of obsolescence fly. APOPKA -- The prospect of one of its main products becoming obsolete was old news to leaders at Sawtek Inc. But to investors, the announcement that...