Denver Business Journal articles from April 1999

Denver Business Journal archives from April 1999

Revitalization begins for Larimer.(Larimer Square in downtown Denver, Colorado)
April 2, 1999... Shopping area wants new stores, hotel Larimer square, the project that three decades ago pioneered Denver's downtown renaissance, is preparing to unveil a new look. New retailers will take over much of the shopping district's 115,000...

Suburban parking problems: office parks grapple with crowded lots.(downtown Denver, Colorado)
April 2, 1999... Stephany Wilson, a graphic artist whose job moved from downtown Denver to the Triad office complex in the southeast suburban wilds of Greenwood Village several months ago, found a good-news, bad-news scenario regarding parking there. While...

Rivals say U S West misled PUC.(Colorado Public Utilities Commission)
April 2, 1999... Phone companies question settlement A group of phone companies led by MCI Communications Corp. has charged U S West Inc. with misleading state regulators to win a favorable over-earnings agreement. The group, which includes ICG...

To sell or not to sell?: Ascent seems trapped as public team owner.(Ascent Entertainment Group Inc.)
April 2, 1999... If the Ascent Entertainment Group Inc. sells its two sports franchises, the stellar Colorado Avalanche and the cellar-dwelling Denver Nuggets, it will be for a simple reason, according to sports and business analysts. Denver-based Ascent...

Rebuilding Martin: a tall order.(Lockheed Martin's Denver, Colorado-based rocket division)
April 2, 1999... Nineteen ninety-eight was not a good year for Lockheed Martin's Denver-based rocket division. It learned it would have to develop a new line of rockets with only a fraction of the federal funding the unit originally expected, and then...

Merger puts PSCo's parent in nuclear biz.(Public Service Company of Colorado; New Century Energies Inc.'s merger with Northern States Power Co.)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 2, 1999... New Century Energies Inc. is getting back into the nuclear power business. Its recently announced merger with Minneapolis-based Northern States Power Co. saddles the company with two nuclear power plants. Public Service Company of...

New life for Aurora center: Majestic Realty turns around one-time Silverado casualty.(Focus: North Metro/DIA)(Aurora Business Center)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 2, 1999... When Majestic Realty Co. bought the old Aurora Business Center four years ago, it inherited a can of wriggling worms left over from the 1980s savings-and-loan debacle. The combination of a roller-coaster real estate market, defaulting on a...

Turnpike sprouts offices: Interlocken paves way for new parks.(Focus: North Metro/DIA)(Denver, Colorado)(Company Business and Marketing)
April 2, 1999... Don "Augie" Aughenbaugh, his face scruffy and already tanned by the March sun, looks skyward as he directs a crane maneuvering a 10-ton block of prefabricated concrete into place as part of the nascent building's second-story wall. It's...

A look behind the maintenance of DIA.(Denver International Airport)(Directory)
April 2, 1999... A plaque on Turner West's desk enjoins the deputy manager of aviation maintenance to "Assume Nothing." The simple directive is tailor-made for the man in charge of ensuring that the Denver International Airport runs smoothly in all kinds...

It's guns vs. business if bill passes.(Colorado plans to relax concealed carry gun laws)
April 9, 1999... Relaxing Colorado's concealed carry gun laws could force employers to spend more money on security measures and take other steps to ensure they are not liable if someone gets shot at the workplace. From the Denver Broncos to retailers to...

Cassidy revives CACI.(Sam Cassidy, Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry)
April 9, 1999... In the 18 months since he took the helm of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, CEO Sam Cassidy has led the statewide business association to its most aggressive legislative agenda in years. Along with flexing CACI's muscle...

Wellpoint, Anthem plead cases.(Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. and Anthem Inc. bid for acquisition of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado)
April 9, 1999... Blues bidding goes to the regulators Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado's battling suitors, Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. and Anthem Inc., are both members of the national "blues" family, but the health plans' similarities, for the most...

Training people to sell high-tech.
April 9, 1999... Kendra Lee's company targets industry needs Despite the technological advances of the computer age, the high-tech industry still has yet to invent a product that can sell itself. And that day may never come, at least that's according...

Winthrop targets high-tech leasing market.(Winthrop Resources Corp.)
April 9, 1999... TCF subsidiary sets its sights on small- and medium-sized businesses in Denver Winthrop Resources Corp. has targeted Colorado with every intention of shaking up the high technology leasing business. Backed with the deep $12 billion...

Merger could benefit Web-savvy companies.(Online Systems Services Inc. has acquired netIgnite)
April 9, 1999... The recent marriage of two Denver-based companies could cut the Internet down to size for small businesses looking to advertise on the Web. Online Systems Services Inc. acquired netIgnite, a developer of Internet directory publishing...

Davis, Graham & Stubbs will leave Republic Plaza.
April 9, 1999... Davis, Graham & Stubbs LLP, metro Denver's fourth-largest law firm, will begin the new millennium in a new building of the same name. The firm, after weighing its options for more than six months, has decided to leave its offices on a...

Kiewit Construction joins ranks of area contractors.
April 9, 1999... Kiewit Construction Co., part of the Omaha-based Peter Kiewit Sons' Inc. conglomerate, is building its Denver-area presence. The company opened a branch in Aurora in January, though it has been active here since breaking ground last year on...

How Iomega's Longmount unit fits in strategy.(Iomega Corp.'s Beyond-PC division)
April 9, 1999... Iomega Corp.'s Beyond-PC division, headquartered in Longmont, could be poised to play a major role in the company's vision for future growth, given a management shift and corporate restructuring initiated at the company earlier this year. ...

Temporary solutions: staffing services help resolve labor crunch.(Industry Overview)
April 9, 1999... Like any business, the York Street Cafe in Denver has felt the effects of a tightening labor market. Struggling to find quality employees, the restaurant turned to Hospitality Personnel Services Inc., a staffing services provider, to fill...

Corporate aviation keeps airport busy.(Centennial Airport, Colorado)
April 9, 1999... Centennial jet fuel sales strong Business is booming at Centennial Airport primarily due to activity from private corporate aircraft. Centennial is the second-busiest general aviation airport in the nation and one of the 15 busiest...

HMO exec on the rise.(health maintenance organization Kaiser Permanente's Rocky Mountain Region Pres. Kathryn A. Paul)
April 16, 1999... She got her masters degree at Berkeley in the late 1960s and married an artist who still tools around in his '67 Volvo. But this new age healer doesn't deal in crystals and Chinese acupuncture. Kathryn Paul is a miracle worker of another...

AMR's problems take their toll.(American Medical Response)
April 16, 1999... Aurora company faces U.S. job cuts Difficulties at Aurora-based American Medical Response landed a direct hit on the bottom line of its parent company, Canadian transportation giant Laidlaw Inc. While other Laidlaw subsidiaries...

Testing the limits: SysTest Labs finds bugs in new software.
April 16, 1999... For SysTest Labs, finding fault with the client's work is good for business. Headquartered in downtown Denver, SysTest Labs handles software testing for businesses ranging from the area's smallest software developers to telecommunications...

Stewart's shakes up pop culture.(Cable Car Beverage Co. celebrates 75th anniversary of Stewart's Root Beer with national promotions)
April 16, 1999... Cable Car Beverage promotes root beer Cable Car Beverage Co. is celebrating the 75th anniversary of Stewart's Root Beer with national promotions as American as root beer - trips to the World Series and All-Star baseball games. ...

Berco lands $25M from First Reserve.(Berco Resources Inc.)
April 16, 1999... As the stock markets and investment community continue to shy away from energy stocks, one private equity firm is bucking the trend. First Reserve Corp. has invested $25 million in Berco Resources Inc., a privately held Denver exploration...

Wireless firm offers mobile Internet link.(Wireless Telecom Inc.)
April 16, 1999... Laptop connection allows hookup on the road Wireless Telecom Inc. isn't in the moving business, but the company wants to ship your desk along for business trips anyway. The Aurora-based company operates what may be the area's first...

Certification removes worry from e-commerce.(American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' CPA WebTrust program)
April 16, 1999... With the CPA WebTrust program, members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants have taken it upon themselves to diminish the fears of Internet shoppers. "E-commerce is changing so rapidly with new businesses coming online...

One 17th street firm takes criminal cases.(Denver, Co-based Isaacson, Rosenbaum, Woods and Levy P.C.)
April 16, 1999... Isaacson, Rosenbaum bucks the trend Fox television's quirky heroine Ally McBeal and her colleagues at a Boston law firm challenge the buttoned-down corporate legal culture every Monday night at 8 o'clock. The civil litigators' antics are...

Sports plays key role in the fight for readers.(Denver, CO, newspapers fight for market share)
April 16, 1999... A bitter, 104-year-old blood feud rages in the wild, wild West. It's an old-fashioned gunfight between the Denver Rocky Mountain News, the tabloid first published in 1859, and The Denver Post, its broadsheet rival since the 1890s that has...

Retailer Sports Rack expands to Denver.(Sports Rack Vehicle Outfitters opens stores in Colorado)
April 16, 1999... California company grows as drivers of SUVs need place to store their gear Sports Rack Vehicle Outfitters, the Sacramento, Calif.-based retailer of vehicle racks and accessories, plans to enter the Denver market. The nation's largest...

Old-time charm draws business: shops in Bonnie Brae hold onto the flavor of 1920s heritage.(community in Denver, Colorado)
April 16, 1999... Judy Simon, co-owner of Bonnie Brae Ice Cream, has one customer who comes in every day for a milkshake before his lunch. That type of small-town feel is hard to find in Denver, Simon said. "I think Bonnie Brae has a charm that few places do...

Bonnie Brae Tavern taps rich history.(drinking place)
April 16, 1999... When the Bonnie Brae Tavern opened in 1934, Carl and Sue Dire sold 10-cent beers, 15-cent shots of whiskey, 10-cent hamburgers and a plate of spaghetti for 50 cents. Carl owned a gas station on the corner of University Boulevard and Ohio...

Lillis gets $15M in pay: MediaOne chief's 1998 package doesn't include buyout.(MediaOne Chmn and CEO Charles Lillis)
April 23, 1999... The rich got richer at MediaOne Group Inc. in 1998. The Englewood-based cable company paid chairman and CEO Charles Lillis close to $15 million in 1998 while awarding the retired Richard McCormick $30.2 million for the year. Lillis,...

Steamboat's slippery slope.(survey on American Skiing Co)
April 23, 1999... The American Skiing Co., owner of Colorado's Steamboat ski resort, got mixed reviews in a recent study of tourism in adjoining Steamboat Springs by a class of MBA candidates from Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Interviews with...

Prisons release development boom: demand for more correctional institutions benefits enterprising contractors.(Colorado)
April 23, 1999... A couple of months ago, Susan Keegan Gary represented her company on a trade mission to Cuba. President Fidel Castro circulated among the executives from 100 American companies at a reception held during the visit, pausing to chat about what...

Telecom boom raises rental revenue's roof: property managers lease office tops for antennas.(rooftop space renting in Denver, CO)
April 23, 1999... With the proliferation of the information highway, many property managers are looking up and finding money on their rooftops. Rooftop space on certain Denver buildings has become valuable and some property managers are generating...

Wellpoint loses Blues battle, but will keep QualMed.(Wellpoint Health Networks Inc's planned entry into Colorado market)
April 23, 1999... Wellpoint Health Networks Inc. may not enter Colorado as the proud owner of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado, but the nation's fifth-largest managed-care organization still plans to be here by 2000. As Blue Cross Blue Shield draws closer...

Go West, young man: early start leads developer to Denver.(developer Mark Smith)
April 23, 1999... Developer Mark Smith of Vail-based East West Partners didn't pick real estate as a career; it picked him. As a teenager growing up in the city of Tampa on Florida's eastern, Gulf Coast side, Smith quickly tired of kids' typically menial...

Denver Pavilions energizes downtown retail.(shopping and entertainment center)
April 23, 1999... The Denver Pavilions opened last fall in downtown Denver to high expectations that it would save much of downtown retail and rejuvenate ailing businesses. Nearly six months later, the 350,000-square-foot shopping and entertainment center...

Boulder startup gets out its message on bottles.(water bottle label maker H2Logos)
April 23, 1999... Forget the message in a bottle... it's the message on the bottle that counts. That's the philosophy behind a new company, H2Logos, which is turning humble bottled water into an upscale, innovative advertising medium. Boulder...

Archstone tries new approach in REIT market.(Archstone Communities; real estate investment trust)
April 23, 1999... In the year since the announcement of the formation of Archstone Communities, the Englewood-based apartment real estate investment trust has forged ahead in spite of a volatile real estate investment trust market. Once the darlings of Wall...

Sign of the times? Assist-2-Sell's approach shakes up old traditions.(real estate brokerage franchise)
April 23, 1999... Dan O'Meara and Jerry Black think they've got a better way to buy and sell real estate. O'Meara and Black own Assist-2-Sell discount real estate brokerage franchises in the Denver area. Assist-2-Sell is a concept created in 1987 by two...

Low jobless rate threatens growth: after nine years of fast pace in Colorado, economists predict slowdown.
April 30, 1999... Metro Denver's unemployment rate has dropped so low so fast that it could choke off future economic growth. The unemployment rate for February hit 2.3 percent in the metro area and 2.8 percent statewide, in a report from the Colorado...

Pierson Graphics maps future growth.(map maker)
April 30, 1999... Denver mapmaker Pierson Graphics Corp. is the region's leader, but as it celebrates its 20th year, its priorities are to strengthen its brand name and to expand to other major markets. "We are looking to expand out of state," said Paul...

Labor crunch sharpens consulting firm's vision.(Private Companies)(computer consulting firm AMI Visions Inc.)
April 30, 1999... Recruiting from out of state benefits AMI Jerald Golley, president of AMI Visions Inc. didn't let Denver's labor crunch slow the pace of growth at his computer consulting firm. "It became clear that if we only recruited from the local...

Manufacturer continues winning streak.(Private Companies)(R.A.M. Sports Inc.)
April 30, 1999... Denver R.A.M. Sports claims 10 percent of the market share in basketballs Growing more than 800 percent over the last two years isn't good enough for R.A.M. Sports Inc. "Frankly, right now we're not satisfied with where we are," said...

Climbing the peak: Mountain Crest Mortgage scales growth.(Private Companies)
April 30, 1999... When Derek Bamonte and Michelle Capelle, partners at Mountain Crest Mortgage Inc. in Denver, started their business in 1996, they shared a desk - and it was a coffee table. The company has grown so much since then that their 14 employees...

Solomon's challenge: health service tackles controversial acquisition.(Private Companies)(Solomon Health Services LLC)
April 30, 1999... When Solomon Health Services LLC took over operation of Bergen Regional Medical Center, one of New Jersey's largest hospital campuses, in March 1998, the company's Denver-based leadership didn't expect a warm welcome. As a for-profit,...

Rodizio carving a national niche: steakhouse plans further expansion into other markets in '99.(Private Companies)(Rodizio Restaurants International Inc.'s plans for 1999)
April 30, 1999... With a national award and a new restaurant, Rodizio Grill president Ivan Utrera is hoping 1999 will shape up to be an even better year than 1998, when the restaurant company saw revenue increase to $6.3 million from $1.1 million in 1996. ...

Izzo bags success with golf products.(Private Companies)(Izzo Systems Inc.)
April 30, 1999... Lakewood company dual-strap product line draws attention internationally Lakewood-based Izzo Systems Inc. started as a dream - literally. Joe Louis Barrow Jr., president and chief organizing officer of the ergonomic golf products...

Engineering firm won't stop at No. 1:.(Private Companies)(CH2M Hill)
April 30, 1999... CH2M Hill, Colorado largest private company, continues aggressive growth strategy Denver's largest private company continues to grow at a rapid pace. CH2M Hill's revenue grew from $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion from 1997 to 1998, mostly...

Hensel Phelps takes on big projects: construction company adds to Colorado's Ocean Journey to its growing resume.(Private Companies)
April 30, 1999... The interior walls of the utterly unremarkable, single-story brick building are decorated with photographs of some of Denver's best-known architectural achievements: Denver International Airport, The Denver Pavilions, the new Elitch Gardens...