Denver Business Journal articles from August 1994

Denver Business Journal archives from August 1994

MarkAir's option: Cincinnati. (proposed headquarters site)
August 26, 1994... MarkAir has landed a proposal to bring its headquarters to Denver on Mayor Wellington Webb's desk. Should the city decide not to fly with it, Cincinnati is waiting in the wings. MarkAir's president, Neil Bergt, said he is anxious to...

Mass. insurer plans buy of Denver's largest PPO. (Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.; preferred provider organization Ethix/Sloans Lake)
August 26, 1994... Less than two years after it was last sold, the preferred-provider organization Ethix Sloans Lake will change hands again. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., a minority shareholder in the parent of Ethix Sloans Lake, should assume...

Denver hired law firm for baggage fray. (Gelt, Fleishman and Sterling to handle possible lawsuits over the Plan B baggage system at Denver International Airport)
August 26, 1994... A week before it announced its decision to build a backup baggage system at DIA, the Webb administration took a second, less public precaution: It hired the Denver law firm of Gelt, Fleishman & Sterling. For the past four weeks,...

Landscape architects break mold at Civitas. (Denver-based landscape architectural firm) (Company Profile)
August 26, 1994... Say your job is to design an amusement park. Where would you go for advice? 17th Street? City Hall? No way! If you had your wits about you, you'd head for your local elementary school. That's exactly what Todd Johnson of the Denver...

LoDo high-rise sparks furor. (proposed Palace Garage building in lower downtown Denver, Colorado)
August 26, 1994... Lower downtown is known for its quaint art galleries and coffee houses, but behind the scenes it's starting to look like a combat zone. Serious proposals for large new construction in the historic district are now emerging, setting off...

Kirkland & Ellis will slash local operations. (Chicago-based law firm to reduce its staff in Denver, Colorado)
August 26, 1994... After a 13-year stint in Denver, Kirkland & Ellis, a Chicago-based law firm, plans to dramatically reduce its local operations and move a majority of its staff to the more lucrative Los Angeles area next year. Where they ranked ...

Manville Plaza lands HQ move by NationsWay. (NationsWay Transport Service Inc. transfers headquarters to Denver office building)
August 26, 1994... Jerry McMorris, trucking mogul and Colorado Rockies baseball club owner, looks like he's loading up his conglomerate's headquarters and move it downtown, according to real estate sources. NationsWay Transport Service Inc., a Commerce City...

Boulder County races to build hotels.
August 26, 1994... There's no more room at the inn. Unusually high summer occupancy rates at Boulder hotels, and the likelihood that new hotel construction in downtown Boulder won't happen soon, is pushing developers and chains to other areas of this north...

Sea Sweep scours market for up to $500,000. (stock offering)
August 26, 1994... Denver-based Sea Sweep Inc. wants its latest stock offering to soak up between $125,000 and $500,000 in capital, so the company can stay afloat another year. Sea Sweep manufactures a wood-based product that absorbs oil, gasoline and...

Chicago's Zell expanding office to 250 employees. (real estate developer Sam Zell; Denver-based apartment management firm Equity Residential Properties)
August 26, 1994... One of Chicago real estate investor Sam Zell's companies will soon gain a lot of weight in Denver. Equity Residential Properties here, which manages apartments owned by Zell's Equity Residential Properties Trust, will soon grow from a...

Trammell Crow negotiating for local Iliff, Thorn. (real estate brokerage firms to merge Denver operations)
August 26, 1994... The Denver branches of Iliff, Thorn & Co. and the Trammell Crow Co. may soon get married, officials at both companies confirmed this week. "We've courted, and we're now in the throes of negotiation," explained William Rothacker, managing...

Coscan to merge local operations into Brookfield. (Coscan Development Corp.; Brookfield Development Inc.)
August 26, 1994... Coscan Development Corp. can't work in commercial development and management anymore. Effective Sept. 1, the Canadian company shuts down its commercial operations in this country and Canada, instead focusing its energies on land and...

Denver Boot puts heel to parking scofflaws.
August 26, 1994... What weighs 12 pounds and stops parking scofflaws in their tracks? The original Denver Boot. Now in use all over the world, from Boston to Kuwait, and widely imitated, The Boot was invented 40 years ago by Frank Marugg, a...

Dovatron builds near DIA. (DOVatron International Inc. to construct manufacturing facility near Denver International Airport)
August 26, 1994... Access to Denver International Airport and an enterprise zone has lured Boulderbased Dovatron International Inc. to construct a 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Weld County. The facility, scheduled for completion by year-end,...

Fuller's new Mexican connection has little to do with real estate. (Fuller and Co. International Trade Group)
August 26, 1994... Mexico crooked a finger at Fuller and Co., beckoning the Denver commercial real estate company to tap into business opportunities there, and Fuller followed. Fuller, which long ago knotted business ties south of the border, just launched...

First PPO in Denver, Key Health set to die. (preferred provider organization Key Health Care Inc.)
August 26, 1994... Denver's first preferred-provider organization, Key Health Care Inc., will shut down at year's end. "It's sort of like losing your baby," said Dr. Leroy Sides, the Denver gastroenterologist who's served as president of Key Health since...

Slingshot maker nails mega Wal-Mart order. (Trumark Manufacturing Co.; Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)
August 26, 1994... Folks at Trumark Manufacturing Co. Inc. are getting ready for the holiday season early this year. The Boulder manufacturer of slingshots and rubber-band guns recently received an order from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that is its largest ever...

P.C. Passport markets a ticket to software smarts. (a list of available training courses from Infovisa that comes with the purchase of a software)
August 26, 1994... Mike fink and Jean Patrick have developed P. C. Passport as an alternative to the books, videos and built-in teaching programs for the software that many small-business owners need. P.C. Passport allows small-business owners and...

Today's money lessons educate tomorrow's CEOs. (teaching children the basics of managing their money; chief executive officers) (Small Change) (Column)
August 26, 1994... As children return to school, we send them off with instructions to look both ways before crossing the street, listen to the teacher, avoid losing their lunch money and be polite... . What about some instructions for managing their...

Billboard advertising works for small-budget businesses. (Small Business Matters)
August 26, 1994... Outdoor advertising includes all forms of advertising that people are exposed to out-of-doors, from the person strolling the 16th Street Mall wearing a sandwich board to the airplane pulling a banner over Mile High Stadium. But the most...

Largest publicly held Denver-area oil & gas companies. (tabular data only) (Directory)
August 26, 1994... Rank/last year's rank [1.sup.1] Company name and address Total Petroleum (North America) Ltd.(1) 999 18th St. Suite 2201 Denver, CO 80201 Phone/Fax 291-2000 291-2330 Total revenues 1993/1992 ...

Bad blood? (lawsuits filed against Belle Bonfils Memorial Blood Center for AIDS-contaminated blood)(includes related article on blood product recalls) (Health Care Quarterly Report)
August 26, 1994... The early days of the AIDS epidemic, when confusion reigned over how the deadly disease was transmitted, continue to plague Belle Bonfils Memorial Blood Center. A string of lawsuits filed over the past decade accuses the Denver blood...

Helping the elderly. (geriatric mental health care services in Colorado) (Health Care Quarterly Report)
August 26, 1994... Despite all the discussion of health-care issues, one important segment of public health care seems to have fallen through the cracks: senior mental health. "There is not a comprehensive plan for treating seniors with mental-health...

Federal agency's new leader brings personality to position. (Margaret Cary, regional director of the Department of Health and Human Services) (Health Care Quarterly Report)
August 26, 1994... Dr. Margaret Cary is not your typical bureaucrat. The regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services brings an engaging, personal style to her position as well as real-world medical experience to her job. "I'm not...

HealthMark guru heading national. (Robert Gleser, founder of HealthMark Centers Inc.) (Health Care Quarterly Report)
August 26, 1994... Restaurant patrons nationwide soon will rely on a Rocky Mountain standard of almost 10 years -- the familiar HealthMark symbol that signifies certain menu items meet a series of dietary guidelines. Nine years after establishing Denver's...

Unique insurance takes slightly different approach. (health insurance covering holistic medicine from American Western Life Insurance Co.)(includes related article) (Health Care Quarterly Report)
August 26, 1994... The country's first holistic health insurance plan has hit Colorado, integrating self-care, self-reliance and natural "alternative" medicine with the traditional remedies of conventional medicine. "The Wellness II Health Plan," a product...

How Colorado hospitals stack up. (hospital fees)(tabular data only) (Health Care Quarterly Report) (Illustration)
August 26, 1994... All Cardiovascular Diseases Individual Colorado hospitals combined compared with the Colorado comparative database, 1992 Mortality Observed Expected Range Length of Stay Average Charges ...

Group seeking to lift cultural barriers in treating Hispanics. (Latin American Research and Service Agency)(includes related article) (Health Care Quarterly Report)
August 26, 1994... The health-care system fails when doctors cannot communicate with a Spanish-speaking pregnant woman to tell her whether she's had a miscarriage or whether she should just go home and rest. This incident, which happened at a Denver...

Feds remove regs on Colo. trucking, start free-for-all. (Colorado)
August 19, 1994... Colorado regulators will hand the wheel steering the state's trucking industry over to the free market next year, a switch that spells either disaster or better mileage. Last week, the U.S. Senate pre-empted state trucking laws, effectively...

Keystone launches $400M expansion: partnership plans 20-year buildout of project at resort. (Keystone Resort)
August 19, 1994... The price tag dangling from Keystone Resort's massive, 20-year expansion plan may ring in at a whopping $400 million, according to resort officials. The project, first sketched out in October 1993, is galloping toward the final turn before...

Denver likely to lose again under new Continental plan. (Continental Airlines)
August 19, 1994... 'Codesharing' pact with America West favors Phoenix, Vegas Continental Airlines is busily stitching together a network to replace the flights it has cut in the West, but Denver probably won't emerge as a major piece of the fabric....

Travelers forecloses on Hilton. (Travelers Insurance Co.; Denver Hilton South)
August 19, 1994... Foreclosure finally hit one of the Denver area's largest hotels, the Denver Hilton South in Englewood. On July 25, the Travelers Insurance Co. started foreclosure proceedings against the property, after former owner Western Group Ltd....

Hotel-design company checks in with details. (Newmark Diercks Design Inc.)
August 19, 1994... Even on vacation, Carl Newmark eyes the glowing light fixtures that dangle from the ceiling, clutch the walls and sprout from the floor of his hotel. He scrutinizes the dining room silverware, not to mention the linen or cotton or polyester...

Preserving the foothills: huge mountain park gets initial nod from 5 counties.
August 19, 1994... Five Front Range counties have put up $50,000 in cash and services to help win more money for a massive new mountain park system that would extend from the Wyoming border south through El Paso County. The effort, known as the Front Range...

Denver auto sales speed ahead.
August 19, 1994... Pent-up consumer demand drives dealers' recovery Auto sales in Denver are revving up faster than Mario Andretti at the Indy 500. Local auto dealers are seeing the strongest sales in years, and some customers have had to put their names on...

Rocky Flats project draws enviro-groups' ire: Manufacturing Sciences ready to hire 200-plus to recycle contaminated metal. (Manufacturing Sciences Corp.)
August 19, 1994... Local environmental groups have come out against an innovative economic development project at Rocky Flats in what could become a classic jobs-vs.-environment clash. The project, part of a national pilot program, centers on recycling...

Mallard Pond Farms battles county officials over zoning. (Mallard Pond Farms Inc.; Boulder County, Colorado)
August 19, 1994... A years-long standoff between Boulder County officials and the operator of popular Mallard Pond Farms Inc. is reaching a climax that could determine whether the business must close or relocate. Mallard Pond owner John Cohagen has been at odds...

Collections workers win; bank to pay back bonuses. (collection managers; Colorado National Bank)
August 19, 1994... Trio triumphs over Colorado Nat'l subsidiary Collection managers at Colorado National Bank Wednesday won their battle to collect more than $120,000 in unpaid incentives from their old employer. Rhonda Brown, Kathryn Ohman and Richard...

Best defense for sexual harassment suits: don't do it.
August 19, 1994... No legal issue worries employers more than sexual harassment and the expensive lawsuits it spawns. It seems that we cannot go to a lunch meeting or a cocktail party without the issue coming up (although, recently, sexual harassment in the...

Merrill Lynch nears land buy. (Merrill Lynch and Company Inc.)
August 12, 1994... Brokerage eyes up to $110M 'super' project at office park close to Denver Tech Center The country's largest stock-brokerage firm has dotted most of its i's and crossed most of its t's in the land deal for a new "super" operations center in...

Four names down, four to go on new Colo. eco-devo panel.
August 12, 1994... Legislative leaders have named four businessmen to a powerful new state board charged with reforming the state's fragmented economic-development system. But the eight-member board, which legislative leaders had hoped to put to work this...

Local real estate gets too pricey for Chicago's Zell. (real estate investor Sam Zell)
August 12, 1994... Denver may be getting a little too hot for Chicago real estate investor Sam Zell, who supposedly is no longer hungry for local office space. Zell, who pooled $500 million with Merrill Lynch & Co. into an investment fund, has devoured trophy...

'Cable Dr.' idea nurses Golden firm to health. (cable maker Mountain Cable Industries Inc. of Golden, Colorado)
August 12, 1994... Ed Meade admits it. By 1989, he had grown cocky. Too cocky. He and his wife, Carol, had built Golden-based Mountain Cable Industries Inc. from a tiny operation in their Lakewood garage to a thriving business building cable assemblies. They...

Women's fund takes off: venture capital team raises $660,000 to finance female businesses. (Women's Equity Fund)
August 12, 1994... Two Boulder entrepreneurs have managed to do what no one else nationwide has done -- raise a venture-capital fund dedicated to financing women-owned companies. This summer, the Women's Equity Fund successfully completed a two-year...

Tiff brews over Coors Field parking.
August 12, 1994... Landowners near baseball field pursue parking lots resisted by planners, others Coors Field has been touted as a new-age ballfield, woven into the historic fabric of lower downtown. But a rush to build nearby parking lots has some fearing...

Children's World deals with 'angst' biz world doesn't. (child-care center)
August 12, 1994... After 25 years, Golden-based firm matures into leader in child care Anyone who thinks succeeding in the child-care business is as easy as choosing graham crackers and scheduling naps should think again. There are fewer industries where the...

Denver squabbles over Pena Boulevard: landowners FDIC, Union Pacific seek more money for condemned land parcels. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; Union Pacific Land Resources Corp.)
August 12, 1994... Two owners of land near Denver International Airport's main artery, Pena Boulevard, contend the road's construction cost them almost $12 million. The two landowners -- the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Union Pacific Land Resources...

Friendly Ford owner battles termination of auto franchise. (Emanuel Bugelli)
August 12, 1994... Friendly Ford owner Emanuel Bugelli is holding on to his 11-year-old Ford dealership in Wheat Ridge by his fingernails. He may soon lose it completely. After a three-month audit, Ford Motor Co. discovered a conspiracy, admitted to by...

Oil industry fights farmers on boosting ethanol content.
August 12, 1994... Sometimes longtime friends fight harder than recent enemies. Colorado's oil-and-gas industry has squared off with the state's farmers over a new federal requirement that would boost the amount of ethanol, made from corn, in gasoline. In...

Adams snags share of metro growth. (Adams County, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area) (Industry Overview)
August 12, 1994... Long-ignored county emerges as hot spot for area developers Planners, builders and business movers and shakers are rediscovering that the metropolitan area has a northern hemisphere as well as a southern one. Like its neighbors, Adams...

Northglenn bounces back. (Northglenn, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area) (Industry Overview)
August 12, 1994... Adams County city secures first housing start in 17 years Northglenn, like a municipal version of Sleeping Beauty, has discovered what the kiss of a home builder can mean. For years, Northglenn's last name might as well have been...

Arapahoe embraces boom times. (Arapahoe County, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area) (Industry Overview)
August 12, 1994... Retail sales surge 24 percent as firms flock to one of area's most-diverse counties Arapahoe County residents don't shy away from the "B" word. Economies in Arapahoe County cities such as Aurora, Englewood, Sheridan and Littleton exploded...

Land buoys Arapahoe market. (Arapahoe County, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area) (Industry Overview)
August 12, 1994... Industrial market teetering on brink of spec construction Like the taut bodybuilder and the flabby wrestler who tip the scales at the same weight, numbers don't tell the whole story about Arapahoe County's industrial real estate market. In...

Boulder remains wary of development. (Boulder County, Colorado)(includes related article) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area)
August 12, 1994... City's anti-growth ways prompt smaller towns in Boulder County to ask for county-wide planning Every 10 years or so rumblings about too many people, too many cars and too many buildings in Boulder County erupt into an audible roar. 1994 is...

Suddenly, center-city housing is hot. (residential construction in Denver, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area) (Industry Overview)
August 12, 1994... After years of losing residents to the 'burbs, Denver enjoys mini-boom in close-in 'hoods In the Denver construction scene, huge projects such as Denver International Airport and Coors Field have monopolized the stage, but the real star of...

Denver's boom still hasn't finished exploding. (Denver, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area) (Industry Overview)
August 12, 1994... Sales-tax revenue figures show surprising strength Call it the bust that never happened. This was supposed to be the year Denver's multibillion dollar public spending spree drew to a close and took the economy down with it. The end of...

Douglas leads nation in growth. (Douglas County, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area)
August 12, 1994... Population triples over 10-year period to 90,000 residents It's the fastest-growing county in the nation for the 1990s, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And it's home to Highlands Ranch, the country's No. 1 planned community for 1993,...

County lacks affordable homes. (Douglas County, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area)
August 12, 1994... Douglas officials fear label as 'Orange County of Colorado' Is metro Denver's premier "bedroom community" on its way to becoming the Orange County of Colorado? That's what some Douglas County planners fear may happen in the near future if...

Jeffco sees faster growth than in previous years. (Jefferson County, Colorado) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area)
August 12, 1994... Newcomers to Denver area often choose to live in Jefferson County, because it's near the mountains Within the next year or two, Jefferson County will surpass Denver as the most populated county in the metro area, and figures from 1993 and...

Keeping the faith: Baltimore developer has built speculative warehouses since 'deep dark days' when county's economy struggled. (MIE Properties Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland) (The Metro Market Report: Growth and Trends Around the Six-County Denver Metro Area)
August 12, 1994... The Jefferson County office/warehouse market is so hot that one company has been building purely speculative office/warehouse space there... since 1989. That's right, since the deep dark days when Denver's economy was struggling for air....

Biotech next for Platte? Trillium plans urban R&D park, joins Elitch's, Coors Field in hot spot. (Central Platte Valley, Denver, Colorado)
August 5, 1994... The largest landowner in the Central Platte Valley is designing a 25-acre biotechnology center that could transform the blighted area into a regional R&D hub. It's the latest major development to target the emerging Platte Valley area,...

DIA's fate may hinge on reserves; with no United agreement, Denver officials may resort by reserves by end of year. (Denver International Airport; United Airlines)
August 5, 1994... DIA'S RESERVE FUNDS Total Available Fund (millions) Capital Fund $30 Coverage Account $47 Bond Reserve...

Adams water gets dirtier; county seeks federal assistance to replace contaminated supply. (Adams County, Colorado)
August 5, 1994... Like bedouins searching for water to replace poisoned wells, officials from south Adams County are making another pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., for help. With each passing month, groundwater wells in south Adams County are registering...

Tiny Superior mulling urban renewal district. (Superior community in Boulder County, Colorado)
August 5, 1994... Voters in Superior, a tiny but rapidly growing community on the Boulder Turnpike, soon may be asked to approve a decidedly big-city concept: urban renewal. If voters go for the notion in November, Superior would become the smallest community...

Denver's home on the range for new 'zines; new Western lifestyle magazines flocking to niche, targeting big-city burn-outs who long for cowboy life.
August 5, 1994... You wouldn't expect a cowboy to pose for a fashion spread, but then who would have thought a place like Livingston, Mont., would become chic? Home on the range is suddenly where everyone wants to be, and a herd of new publications aims to...

Regency Plaza sold to Texan for $32 million. (Richard Rainwater)
August 5, 1994... Forth Worth oil baron and real estate investor Richard Rainwater -- friend to Texas gubernatorial candidate and presidential son George Bush and gridiron hero Roger Staubach -- "arrived" in Denver this week. Through Crescent Real Estate...

Movers stuck in gridlock, lack drivers, vans, space; faced with summer influx, many are turning away clients. (Industry Overview)
August 5, 1994... Americans are packing their bags and moving in record numbers, but moving companies, including those in Denver, are finding themselves stuck with a deficit of drivers, vans and storage space. Things are so busy that many moving agents and van...

Big blocks of space batter industrial market; Michelin, J.C. Penney vacating local warehouses, but rental rates keep creeping up.
August 5, 1994... Michelin Tire Corp. is retiring from its 280,000-square-foot warehouse at Interstates 70 and 225. J.C. Penney Co. Inc. will close out its lease on 254,000 square feet of space in Montbello. With those actions, the French-owned tire company...

Photonics absorbs Bandgap in hi-tech shuffle. (Photonics Research Inc.; Bandgap Technology Corp.)
August 5, 1994... Photonics Research Inc. of Longmont has acquired the assets and technology of Broomfield's Bandgap Technology Corp. The move accelerates Photonics' efforts to get its optoelectronic technologies to market, said Photonics president Greg...

Brain food: Mind Extension's Glenn Jones discusses Jones Intercable Inc., why he's teaching the world, and what's next on his agenda. (Mind Extension University) (Interview)
August 5, 1994... In the mid-1960s, Glenn Jones slept most weeknights in his Volkswagen in the mountains of Colorado. But, starting with a $400 loan on that same Volkswagen, Jones has built a cable-TV empire financed largely by limited partnerships and centered...

Women's credit crunch. (Special Report: Women in Business)
August 5, 1994... Start-up financing is tough to come by for women business owners. These days, though, government and private lenders are looking for ways to make it easier. Women venturing into entrepreneurship should beware of a roadblock that often has...

Family-friendly benefits elude women-owned businesses, too; survey shows women CEOs struggle just as much as men to provide costly day care, paid leave. (Special Report: Women in Business)
August 5, 1994... Few people will argue that businesses need to find better ways to accommodate families. But the task -- even for businesses owned by women, long presumed more family-oriented -- isn't easy. Women-owned businesses rank as no more likely than any...

Strength in numbers: women are counting on it; watch out, Colorado. The women are coming on strong. (Special Report: Women in Business)
August 5, 1994... Colorado women's organizations and their leaders have learned there is strength in numbers. Through the Colorado Women's Leadership Coalition (CWLC), women's organizations are forming a network for communication and political clout, as well as...

A hill of beans means mountains of opportunity for down-on-luck women; bean-sorting project acts as job incubator for homeless, thanks to efforts, idealism of founder Jossy Eyre. (Special Report: Women in Business)
August 5, 1994... Inside a cinderblock building on Curtis Street, the humble bean is fueling a small economic engine that's helping homeless women rebuild their lives. The engineer behind this undertaking, known as the Women's Bean Project, is Jossy Eyre, a...

Counties refuse state mandate to review special-district debt. (Colorado)
August 5, 1994... In what appears to be a growing civil rebellion, nine Colorado counties are politely saying "hell no" to a state directive to review the finances of special districts within their borders. The counties, empowered under Amendment 1 to refuse...