Orlando Business Journal articles from March 1995

Orlando Business Journal archives from March 1995

DOT's plans to handle I-4 traffic cost billions. (Florida Department of Transportation)
March 31, 1995... While the numbers are just preliminary, it looks like it may cost between $2 billion and $4 billion to make Interstate 4 a street of dreams in 2020. The estimates come from the first draft of the Florida Department of Transportation's I-4...

Restaurant chain honors Darden by taking name. (Darden Restaurants Inc.; Bill Darden)
March 31, 1995... Bill Darden gave the world its first Red Lobster Restaurant and Joe Lee his first management job. This week, Lee, now chairman and CEO of General Mills Restaurants Inc., gave Darden's family something back: The Orlando-based spinoff of...

Attractions, bureau ask Orange County to keep fifth cent; Chapin turns to TDC. (repeal of resort tax; Orange County Commission; Linda Chapin; Tourist Development Council)
March 31, 1995... Because of the "great many mixed signals from the industry" she has received recently regarding the resort tax's fifth cent, Orange County Chairman Linda Chapin plans to take the issue to the county's Tourist Development Council for expert...

Airport to pay $2.35 million penalty to IRS. (Orlando International Airport)
March 31, 1995... By September 1998, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority will have paid the Internal Revenue Service $2.35 million in penalties on a construction fund from a 1992 tax-exempt bond issue. The penalties are a result of the authority's failure...

Disney's water war beachhead: Blizzard Beach gets aggressive marketing campaign. (Walt Disney Co.)
March 31, 1995... Early in 1990, John Tishman took Disney's Michael Eisner to see the Presidential Suite atop the Wait Disney World Dolphin hotel that Tishman's company was building and owns a third of. As the two chairmen stood on a balcony and stared at the...

Investors leave Sunbird stuck on ground. (Sunbird Airways Inc.)
March 31, 1995... Troubled Sunbird Airways has about two months to find a million-dollar investor before the would-be airline's wings are clipped by the government. Due to two Orange Circuit Court suits, one of the company's major investors pulled out nearly...

Juarez faces August deadline to pay debt on office building. (Oscar F. Juarez of Magnolia-Robinson Ltd.)
March 31, 1995... Business/political consultant Oscar F. Juarez has until Aug. 16 to come up with $6.76 million or face losing downtown Orlando's five-story, 45,673-square-foot Juarez Office Building to New Jersey-based MBL Life Assurance Corp., according to a...

New life for Winter Park's New England Avenue. (Winter Park, Florida)
March 31, 1995... Hannibal Square, on Winter Park's west side, had a history of being a high-crime area. That is changing now, thanks to Winter Park's Community Redevelopment Area and Sydgan Corp. President Dan Bellows. New England Avenue is being transformed...

Entertainment industry school graduates first class in Orlando. (Orlando International School of Visual and Entertainment Design Corp.; Orlando, Florida)
March 31, 1995... Three years ago, Dr. Jean-Paul Cajolais and his wife, Dr. Michelle Minville, did something out of the ordinary with the retirement nest egg they had worked long and hard to save over the years: The educators started the Orlando International...

Sexual harassment suit filed against Coldwell Banker. (Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Inc.)
March 31, 1995... Janis K. Hunt, a three-year sales associate in the Winter Springs office of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Inc., is suing the brokerage, the branch manager and the regional president on allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation....

Bankruptcy court judge allows Calico Jack's to keep operating. (Judge Arthur B. Briskman; Calico Jack's of America Inc.)
March 31, 1995... Bowing to pleas that the business would go under and 511 employees would be immediately out of work, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur B. Briskman has allowed Orlando-based Calico Jack's of America Inc. to continue operating its four oyster bars,...

USA Golf to buy four Palm Coast courses. (USA Gold Properties; Palm Coast, Florida)
March 31, 1995... ITT also selling hotel, marina, tennis complex to Winter Park-based company Winter Park's USA Golf Properties has signed a letter of intent to buy four golf courses, a Sheraton hotel, a marina on the Intercoastal Waterway and an 18-court...

Local firms support trend toward casual workdays.
March 31, 1995... When Linda Costa's employees show up for work on Fridays dressed in jeans and sweatshirts or shorts and T-shirts, she smiles. "Two years ago, we began having casual dress days once a week," says Costa, president of the Orlando public...

American Pioneer board, RTC settle. (American Pioneer Savings Bank; Resolution Trust Corp.)
March 24, 1995... Thirteen ex-board members of American Pioneer Savings Bank have agreed to settle millions of dollars in claims brought by the federal government - but not before testimony tying lax federal supervision and a Big Six accounting firm to the...

Life's a beach for Ant chair maker. (MLe Co.)
March 24, 1995... Everyone knows an ant can't move a rubber tree plant - but high hopes for selling Ant beach chairs led a New Jersey company to move its headquarters to Orlando in December. So far, MLe Co.'s only product is the Ant beach chair/carrier. Made...

Sunshine hopes to hook Devil Rays TV contract. (Sunshine Network; Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
March 24, 1995... Orlando won't be hitting the ball around in 1998, but Orlando-based Sunshine Network might show the Tampa Bay Devil Rays running the bases. While no formal negotiations have started, Sunshine General Manager Dave Almstead says the network is...

GTI Telecom plays its cards right all over the world in '95. (GTI Telecom Inc.)
March 24, 1995... GTI Telecom Inc., a Winter Park-based customized prepaid telephone card company, is getting ready to launch its United Kingdom network within the next six months. GTI also plans to open offices in Los Angeles, Washington, London and Sao...

Disney seeks $2 million in fees in Heidrich case. (Disney Development Co.; Herman J. Heidrich citrus family)
March 24, 1995... Disney Development Co. has asked Orange Circuit Judge William C. Gridley for an estimated $2 million in attorneys' fees and court costs incurred in its two-year Osceola County development dispute with the prominent Herman J. Heidrich citrus...

CAC-Ramsay to offer health plan to local businesses.
March 24, 1995... CAC-Ramsay Health Plan on April 1 plans for the first time to offer a health plan to businesses in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. CAC-Ramsay, which offers a health maintenance organization to Medicaid recipients and individuals...

Why Orlando passed on Wichita's TCE cleanup model. (Orlando, Florida; Wichita, Kansas; trichloroethene)
March 24, 1995... Not even ardent supporters of the Wichita, Kan., trichloroethene cleanup plan believed it offered a cookie cutter solution to Orlando's ground water contamination. But to The Orlando Sentinel, which originally examined it, and the city...

State will study Benlate impact at local landfill. (Orange County, FL)
March 17, 1995... The Environmental Protection Agency has reclassified the key ingredient of Du Pont's Benlate fungicide as a hazardous waste. The EPA ruling on benomyl coincides with a state decision to target Orange County's landfill for Benlate-related...

Office Depot delivers big lease.
March 17, 1995... Office Depot Inc., the nation's leader in retail office product sales, has signed the largest commercial real estate lease so far this year in metro Orlando - 185,505 square feet - for a combined customer service center and delivery warehouse....

Orange County re-examines resort tax after baseball loss. (Florida)
March 17, 1995... Now that Orlando has struck out with Major League Baseball and Tampa Bay has hit a home run, Orange County Chairman Linda Chapin is examining what to do with the resort tax money that would have gone toward building a baseball stadium. One...

TCE cleanup order drafted. (Orlando Sentinel agrees to remediate trichloroethane pollution)
March 17, 1995... Sentinel would remediate but still deny it is source The Florida Department of Environmental Protection and The Orlando Sentinel have hammered out a draft consent decree calling for the Sentinel to remediate a massive plume of contaminated...

Petroleum cleanup program runs out of gas. (Inland Protection Trust Fund, Florida)
March 17, 1995... Under fire and underfunded, Florida's petroleum cleanup payment program is on hold. Gov. Lawton Chiles has signed a 60-day ban on state reimbursement for costs incurred in cleaning up all but the most serious sites. The executive order...

Ex-Wheeled Coach CFO wants injunction lifted. (Alex Weinberg, former chief financial officer of Wheeled Coach Industries Inc.)
March 17, 1995... Weinberg says he was only trying to keep banks informed of management changes Alex Weinberg, controller and chief financial officer of Wheeled Coach Industries Inc. for seven months until he was fired Jan. 9, is acting as his own attorney in...

Angel's, Holiday Inn teaming up again. (Angel's Diner and Bakery to put up restaurant at a Holidy Inn hotel in Orlando, FL)
March 17, 1995... Orlando-based Angel's Diner and Bakery is set to build its eighth Central Florida Angel's restaurant and second Holiday Inn location. The 300-seat, 11,000-square-foot restaurant, to be built at the Holiday Inn Maingate at 7300 W. Irlo...

Zuma Beach owner sues club manager. (Mark E. NeJame; Hospitality Management of America)
March 17, 1995... Zuma Beach owner Mark E. NeJame has sued Hospitality Management of America over the company's management of the downtown Orlando nightclub. NeJame and his company, White Sands of Orlando, filed a breach of contract suit in Orange Circuit...

Local grower wins big award in Puerto Rico Benlate lawsuit. (Florida farmer Rick Hattaway)
March 17, 1995... Altamonte Springs grower Rick Hattaway's Caribe Bromeliads is one of two Puerto Rico nurseries winning a total of $17.3 million in a trial linking Du Pont's Benlate fungicide to crop damage. In exchange for Du Pont not appealing the decision,...

Ex-Disney worker dies of AIDS, but suit over disclosure survives.
March 17, 1995... Lawyer says Disney mischaracterized facts in answer to appeal A former Walt Disney World employee who sued the theme park over disclosure of his AIDS status died this month from the disease. However, his case, which he spent the last two...

Naples investor sues Orecks over condo renovation deal. (Carl W. Ferris; real estate developer Robert Oreck)
March 17, 1995... Naples investor Carl W. Ferris and his company, C.O.F. Inc., have accused longtime Orlando developer Robert Oreck, his wife Shirley Oreck and their son Paul Oreck of misapplying $700,000 in construction funds Ferris loaned the Orecks to...

Disney billboards to sprout along north Florida highways. (Walt Disney World Co.)
March 17, 1995... Disney World's expansion into outdoor advertising, long an area of marketing that the company all but ignored, soon will jump forward dramatically as the theme park puts its message on interstate highway billboards in northern Florida....

Blake hands off to Synergy; Ward passes to Gouchenour. (Jeff Blake signs contract with Synergy Sports Marketing USA; Chris Ward hires Gouchenor Public Relations as agent)
March 17, 1995... Two famous Florida football players have signed on with Synergy Sports Marketing USA and Gouchenour Public Relations for marketing services. First to sign was Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and Sanford native Jeff Blake. Synergy was hired by...

State should lead formation of a full continuum of care. (Florida)
March 17, 1995... At the beginning of 1994, the topic on almost everyone's mind was health care reform. Much was written and discussed during the year, but nothing was accomplished - at least on the political level. However, the acute care providers' (hospitals)...

Software Support to add 608 jobs. (Software Support Inc.)
March 10, 1995... Training grant helps company's expansion Heathrow-based Software Support Inc., a national third-party software support organization, plans to hire 608 more customer service representatives during the next 18 months. The 4-year-old company,...

ORHS eyes joint venture with PruCare. (Orlando Regional Healthcare System Inc.; Prudential Health Care Plan Inc.)
March 10, 1995... Orlando Regional Healthcare System and the Prudential Health Care System are discussing the formation of a business venture that both companies would own. Such a partnership is one option the hospital system and managed care company are...

Other hoteliers study Rosen's tax suit; Orange County asks for its dismissal. (Harris Rosen)
March 10, 1995... Hotelier Harris Rosen may have some company in his suit against Orange County over the use of fifth-cent resort tax revenue for baseball. But the company may come too late, because Orange Circuit Court will hold a hearing April 7 on Orange...

No red ink in UCF's I-A football game plan. (University of Central Florida)
March 10, 1995... Even though more than 70 percent of division I-A athletic budgets are running in the red, the University of Central Florida's athletic director says there is no way UCF's move to college football's top division will see anything but black. A...

Lennar defeats age discrimination lawsuit. (Lennar Homes Inc.)
March 10, 1995... A seven-person federal court jury has cleared the Altamonte Springs office of Miami-based Lennar Homes Inc. of age discrimination charges brought by two former sales associates. The defendants, Pamela M. Wooten, 44, and Judy A. O'Callaghan,...

Pignones: bond flier done without malice. (Fran and Frank Pignone)
March 10, 1995... Fitzgerald objects to plans to subpoena bond records Almost four months after being sued for libel, former Orange County Commissioner Fran Pignone and her husband, Frank Pignone, under court order, have replied to Orlando investment banker...

Ambulance firms buy time; county prepares EMS plan. (Orange County, Florida; emergency medical service)
March 10, 1995... Following a study committee's recommendation, Orange County staff will suggest to county commissioners March 14 that the county take over emergency medical services in 90 days. In those 90 days, Director John Warbington will put together a...

Billboard companies fight to keep signs.
March 10, 1995... In 1989, local outdoor advertising companies watched as the Seminole County Commission passed a law containing a provision that eventually would make many of their billboards illegal. In 1995, less than three months before that provision is...

New, small dishes improving picture for satellite dish sales.
March 10, 1995... When Roy Reynolds moved to Christmas, he couldn't watch the football games of his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, unless he went to a sports bar. "There is no cable where I live," says Reynolds. He didn't want to buy a large-dish...

Zeller may help Russians make building materials from wastes. (Gary Zeller)
March 10, 1995... A local chemist's research into ways to reuse commercial waste as building products has found an eager audience in Russia, which faces a desperate need for affordable housing. A Russian delegation visited Orlando last month to confer with Dr....

Proposed business incubator has high hopes but no funds. (Central Florida Innovation Center)
March 10, 1995... Although funding remains shaky, the planned Central Florida Innovation Center, a non-profit business incubator, could open in Orlando as early as July 1. "That is our goal," says CFIC President Mike Buffa, head of Maitland marketing firm...

City goes to Bourbon Street, but deal will get close look. (Orlando, Florida; real property)
March 10, 1995... Bob Windham, president of Church Street Station, will meet with Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood March 16 to express his concern about Bourbon Street at Church Street West. The mayor's office confirmed the meeting the day after Orlando city...

Orlando tops state in film TV production. (Florida)
March 10, 1995... With all the excitement of an Oscar-night announcement, the news is out: Metro Orlando's 1994 production tally of more than $142.4 million makes it the No. 1 film, television and commercial production center in the state, topping perennial...

Senator seeking to ax hospital tax sooner than later. (Florida Sen. John Ostalkiewicz)
March 10, 1995... While state Rep. Bill Sublette is satisfied with his deal to put an end to the West Orange Healthcare District in five years, that may not be soon enough for another local legislator. The tax district went into effect in 1952. It raises $5.3...