Denver Business Journal articles from December 1999

Denver Business Journal archives from December 1999

Westminster grapples with limits.(Colorado city limits housing permits)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... City will allow only 30 permits in 2000 The city of Westminster, which some hold up as a paragon of smart growth, is running out of room for new housing. But that lack of opportunity to build more housing, combined with the city's...

Assembly tackles growth.(Colorado General Assembly looks at growth control laws and other issues)
December 31, 1999... Population growth -- who benefits, who pays, how much there should be and where it should go -- are leading the agenda of business-related legislation as the Colorado General Assembly prepares to convene Jan. 5. Lawmakers will be frying...

Fake ID? You could face felony.
December 31, 1999... State legislator wants identity theft curbed Making and possessing false identity documents could become a felony in Colorado under a bill set to go before the General Assembly next week. State law now treats the use of fake...

Anschutz may make play for Ogden biz.(Philip Anschutz interested in Ogden Corp.'s entertainment business)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz is considering adding to his burgeoning sports empire by acquiring Ogden Corp.'s sports and entertainment business, said Anschutz's top sports 'executive Tim Leiweke. We are one of the companies taking...

Merger mania shakes up Denver.(Denver loses cable companies' headquarters to mergers)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Acquisitions altering telecom landscape This article originally appeared in the May 21-27 issue. Its standing as an axis for oil and gas became a dry hole, the label of Silicon Mountain never really stuck and now the notoriety of the...

The corporate vanishing act.(Colorado companies on the losing side of mergers)(Column)
December 31, 1999... This article originally appeared in the May 21-27 issue. Big game hunting has rapidly turned some of Colorado's biggest corporations into endangered species, with potentially profound consequences for the state's economy. Based on...

How Qwest can dial up a better U S West.(Brief Article)(Column)
December 31, 1999... This column, written by former DBJ Editor Henry Dubroff, first appeared in the July 23-29 issue. To hear the key players talk, the merger of long-distance upstart Qwest and Baby Bell U S West is a match made in heaven. They'll tell...

What's next for Qwest?(BellSouth would make a good aquisition for Quest Communications)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Analysts say BellSouth is a logical acquistion Qwest Communications International Inc.'s triumphant bid to swallow U S West Inc. is enough to give most companies indigestion, but in the current telecommunications setting, it's never too...

Correction.(Darrell Laham is the chief scientist of Knowledge Analysis Technologies)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Darrell Laham was incorrectly identified as a University of Colorado psychology professor in an article about Knowledge Analysis Technologies ("Software passes test," Nov. 24-30). Laham is the chief scientist of the company.

Hospitals on alert for Y2K problems.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Special teams on duty New Year's Eve On Denverites' list of celebratory destinations this Millennial Eve, it's a pretty safe bet the neighborhood hospital ranks near the bottom, somewhere near being stuck in line at a malfunctioning ATM...

Intrawest reports another record year.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Owner of Copper Mountain seeing success on and off the slopes Intrawest Corp., the Canadian commercial real estate developer-turned-resort developer and owner of Colorado's Copper Mountain ski area, continues to demonstrate that a ski...

Looking back at best in Denver advertising.
December 31, 1999... It was a pretty interesting year as far as Denver advertising is concerned. Nike Town caused some waves with its campaign featuring a doctor decked out in a catcher's garb assisting in a birth. John Elway caught some flack for endorsing Coors...

Sturm's tough stance his usual MO.(Donald Sturm's purchase of Ascent Entertainment sports interests)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... This article first appeared in the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 issue. The deal between Donald Sturm, the city and county of Denver and Ascent Entertainment subsequently fell apart. Donald Sturm has been here before. The last-minute, emotionally...

Ascent headed for exit?
December 31, 1999... This article originally appeared in the July 2-8 edition. Ascent Entertainment Group Inc. stockholders are angry at former company chief Charlie Lyons for accepting what they consider too-low a bid for Ascent's sports teams and the $170...

Largest Adams County Office Buildings.(Colorado)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Largest Adams County Office Buildings (Ranked by total leasable square feet) Patrick Sweeney Rent Largest ...

Largest Arapahoe County Office Buildings.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Largest Arapahoe County Office Buildings Patrick Sweeney Rent Largest Total leasable per ...

Largest Boulder County Office Buildings.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Largest Boulder County Office Buildings Patrick Sweeney Rent Largest Total leasable per block of...

Largest Douglas County Office Buildings.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Largest Douglas County Office Buildings Patrick Sweeney Rent Largest Total leasable per ...

Largest Jefferson County Office Buildings.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Largest Jefferson County Office Buildings Patrick Sweeney Rent Largest Total leasable per ...

U.S. vs. Microsoft.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Area attorney played role with Justice Karma Giulianelli didn't get to celebrate with fellow Justice Department attorneys when Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson found Microsoft Corp. to be a monopolist bully that suffocated the technological...

J.D. Edwards & Co. faces its customers.(Introduces Doug Massingill as new president/CEO.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... New CEO questioned about Y2K, slump Darth Vader is coming to Denver. James Earl Jones, the voice of the famous villain, is one of the keynote speakers scheduled for the J.D. Edwards & Co. annual user conference beginning May 18. The...

AMR's snafus under investigation.(American Medical Response Inc. is investigated.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Picking up the phone to call an ambulance is not something most people want to do. Flashing lights, screaming sirens and paramedics leaping from their rescue rig, a tangle of plastic-metal-liquid life support in hand, can mean a mother,...

Fund giants soar past $100 billion mark.(OppenheimerFunds Inc. and Janus Capital Corp. get past $100 billion.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Janus and Oppenheimer join elite ranks Denver's two largest mutual fund employers have crossed the $100 billion mark in assets, putting them in the major leagues of money management. Only a handful of mutual fund families have ever...

Leid takes the field for Denver Broncos.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... On the afternoon of Jan. 28, 1996, Kelly Leid had an epiphany. The man who's now helping to build the new Mile High Stadium near downtown Denver stood on the 50-yard-line of Tempe, Ariz.'s scenic Sun Devil Stadium, which nestles between...

Security measures needed to halt scams.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Ronald "Hollywood" Johnson, the convicted leader of one of the state's most famous identity fraud rings, had a grandiose view of himself as a banker. Johnson, according to Denver prosecutor Phil Parrott, would point to a bank and tell...

NEWSMAKERS.(Industries hire new people.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Architecture The Denver office of Design Workshop hired Emie Watters as a landscape architect. She previously worked at Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. Kirby Hoyt transferred to the Denver office as a landscape architect from Design...

It's time for growth to take center stage.(Population growth analysis.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Recently released census data should come as no surprise to any Coloradan who has waited in line at a no-reservations restaurant, stood motionless on 1-25 or tried to get a new phone hooked up. Over the past year, Colorado gained 87,000...

Let's celebrate 2000 without the tear gas.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... The biggest worry about Y2K isn't computer gliches and power outages, but something far beyond anyone's control -- human behavior. In recent years, people in the Denver-Boulder area have proven themselves capable of rioting at the drop of a...

Much ado about the Y2K bug.(Y2K/Millennium analysis.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... H.L. Mencken, a revered, but politically incorrect, newspaper columnist from earlier in this millennium, once remarked that. "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by...

Solving Colorado's water problem.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Problem: Colorado's top water officials have their collective heads in the sand. Federal river flow data shows Colorado is losing more of its renewable interstate waters to downriver states than before the 1950s. In addition, Colorado's vital...

Some cautionary computer advice.(protect against viruses)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Maybe someday we'll be nostalgic for the days when our worst technical nightmare was Y2K. Just over the last few months, several new types of computer viruses have appeared that break mischievous new ground. Unlike Y2K, these viruses can...

How FCC lost sight of First Amendment.(Federal Communications Commission)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Once upon a time, U.S. government regulators knocked on the door of Mrs. Smith's Phone Company in Phoenix. Henceforth, they said, Mrs. Smith could speak to her customers with only a vocabulary at the third-grade level. The agents told...

DBJ STOCK REPORT.(Denver Business Journal)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... DBJ STOCK REPORT DBJ Index 4.70% 2352.96 NASDAQ 5.77% 3969.44 S&P 500 2.62% 1458.34 Dow Jones Industrial 1.32% 11405.76 Top 10 Weekly...

DBJ FUND WATCH.(Denver Business Journal)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... Our exclusive weekly report ranks the top Denver-managed mutual funds, ranked by year-to-date total return. The information is derived from a database of more than 2,000 mutual funds. Data provided by Lipper Analytical services Inc. For week...

Starbucks ready to plant flag at REI.(Recreational Equipment Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Recreational Equipment Inc. is close to signing a deal that would land a Starbucks cafe in REI's new Denver flagship store in the former Forney museum at Speer Boulevard and I-25. Although the deal isn't done yet, real estate industry...

Lamenting the loss of a father.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... I'm 37 years old. My father is 40. My father, Lloyd Ralph Hicks, died in October 1978, a month shy of his 41st birthday. Ever since, he's been frozen in time, a father who never grows old, staring out from old photographs while I...

Consumer confidence reaches 31-year high.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Consumer confidence hit a 31-year high during December, according to figures released this week. The Conference Board announced that the index rose to 141.4 this month, the highest since October 1968. The board said a combination of low...

Dry Creek office park sold.(by Legacy Partners to RREEF Funds)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Pension-fund adviser RREEF Funds of Chicago bought the Dry Creek Business Park in Englewood this week from San Francisco-based Legacy Partners. The purchase price was not disclosed, but Legacy's former incarnation, Lincoln Property Co.,...

AmeriVest revamps.(merges with Sheridan Realty Advisors LLC)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... AmeriVest Properties Inc. has basically merged with Sheridan Realty Advisors LLC of Denver. A Lakewood-based real estate investment trust, or REIT, AmeriVest "retained" Sheridan to take over its day-to-day operations, especially managing...

Census takers needed.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... The U.S. Census Bureau's Denver office continues to recruit the 35,000 people it will need to gather data in a 10-state region for the 2000 census. Nearly half the census takers will begin working in suburban and rural areas in early...

Ski-area leases changed.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... The U.S. Forest Service initiated a major overhaul of public land leases this week, changing the fee structure impacting Colorado's ski areas. The changes were designed to create a more equitable lease system for ski areas operating on...

Samsonite exec convicted.(Keith Shwayder)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Former Samsonite executive Keith Shwayder was convicted of racketeering this week, following a two-month trial in a Las Vegas federal court. Shwayder was among 30 people indicted on charges of money laundering and stock schemes designed to...

Casino files for Chapter 11.(Jazz Alley Casino)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Virginia Lewis, owner of Jazz Alley Casino, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for herself and, the casino. Lewis said she filed for bankruptcy protection in order to protect her 100 percent ownership in the casino despite mounting...

Jato plans public offering.(Jab Communications Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Denver-based Jab Communications Corp. filed for an inital public offering designed to raise $125 million. The telecommunications company, with offices throughout the West, has a strategic alliance with Lucent Technologies providing network...

ICG names president, COO.(ICG Communications)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... ICG Communications Inc. named William Beans president and COO effective Jan. 1. Beans replaces John Kane at the Englewood-based telecommunications service provider.

CU's Cech resigns.(University of Colorado)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... University of Colorado chemist Dr. Thomas Cech is resigning from the university in order to become preident of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In his new position, he will become the chief dispenser of the Howard Hughes fortune,...

Listed are the effective annual yields.(money market accounts, certificates of deposit)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... Listed are the effective annual yields, after compounding, on a variety of savings instruments offered in the Denver area. Yields are fixed rate for all certificates of deposit (CD). Rates paid are for deposits of $2,500, except jumbo CDs,...

National Interest Rate Index.(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... National Interest Rate Index Current rate Previous Net change SHORT-TERM INTEREST RATES (%) week (%) (+ or -) Prime rate 8.50 8.50 ...

Borrowing Rates.(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... Borrowing Rates Auto terms $10,000 loan. 48-month ...

Current Tax-exempt Bond Offerings.(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... Current Tax-exempt Bond Offerings Issue Coupon rate Maturity Yield Denver Co City & Cnty Ref 5.25 08-01-00 4.20 Jefferson Cnty CO Sch Dist N 5.00 12-15-04 4.75 Univ Colo...

Loophole could force Y2K payouts.
December 24, 1999... Colorado companies could recover millions of dollars spent to prevent year 2000 disasters because of a 300-year-old provision buried in most corporate property insurance policies. Lawsuits recently filed in five states by GTE Corp., Xerox...

1989-1999 What a difference a decade makes.
December 24, 1999... Imagine freezing some poor executive walking the vacant canyons of 17th Street 10 years ago and awakening him in time to celebrate this New Year. Would he for a moment believe this was the same city? Back then, the Resolution Trust...

Slight economic slowdown forecast.
December 24, 1999... The Colorado economy should move through the year 2000 like a car passing over a small speed bump. Most economic forecasts call for a gentle slowing in economic growth next year, with no worries about wheels falling off. "I don't see...

Convention hotel makes progress.
December 24, 1999... The developers of a new, 1,100-room Marriott convention hotel in downtown Denver and city officials finally see light at the end of the tunnel in funding that huge hotel. Father-son development team Bruce and Seth Berger, Marriott...

ICG plans to build its base.
December 24, 1999... ICG Communications Inc. hopes to begin building companions to its landmark, leaning headquarters off Interstate 25 South next year, according to informed sources. The fast-growing, Englewood-based provider of Internet network management...

Software passes test.
December 24, 1999... CU-developed product rates students' essays Computer software developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder that scores the content of essays has been so successful that a company has been launched to provide the technology to more...

Stay cool throughout the holidays.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Iceberg Enterprises provides grocers with temperature-controlled trucks Iceberg Enterprises Inc. -- a business that likely helped keep your holiday turkey from spoiling -- actually started out as a favor to Rockies owner Jerry McMorris....

Post turnovers: Hot and fresh from the oven.
December 24, 1999... Listen up, Denver business: Here's more about who's making news decisions at The Denver Post. Editor Glenn Guzzo, former managing editor at the Akron Beacon-Journal, announced a newsroom shakeup this week. Business columnist Don Knox is...

Cracking the Y2K code.
December 24, 1999... Coloradans are getting increasingly apprehensive about Y2K, but you wouldn't know it from talking to them. Even the most rabid party animals plan to lay low Dec. 31, raising suspicion that millennial fear-mongers succeeded in scaring a...

Working on Y2K.
December 24, 1999... Some Denverites are facing the ultimate Y2K problem -- they have to work on New Year's Eve. Englewood-based Time Warner Telecom is inviting (read: requiring) key information-technology employees to attend a fully catered (sans alcoholic...

Fla. properties added to Alliance portfolio.
December 24, 1999... Firm buys 18 buildings for $165M Lakewood-based Alliance Commercial Partners LLC added a hefty portfolio of office buildings to its cache of assets this week. The privately held investment firm closed Monday, Dec. 20, on the $165...

Y2K consultants pinpoint problems.
December 24, 1999... Glitch could still hit smaller systems The ocean of time, energy and resources that businesses have amassed hoping to avoid possible Y2K chaos in their major systems may be all for naught if operators of the smaller systems they depend on...

Laidlaw picks new CEO.
December 24, 1999... Laidlaw Inc., the Canadian parent of Aurora-based American Medical Response, appointed a new chief executive officer Dec. 20. The transportation giant's board of directors fired former CEO James Bullock and promoted John Grainger,...

Office properties kept brokers busy in '99.
December 24, 1999... 'Tis the season... to wrap up sales of office buildings. The California Public Employees Retirement System's $209 million purchase this month of 1.2 million-square-foot trophy One Norwest Center in down-town Denver probably is the most...

Failure to see slump made it all the worse.
December 24, 1999... There is a saying that good judgment comes from experience. And experience comes only from bad judgment. The late 1980s in Colorado reflected the harvest of bad judgment and poor preparation. Few at the time could foresee it, but the...

Export-minded firms hurting for financing.
December 24, 1999... From a converted chicken barn in the mountains of western Maine, Rachel W. Carignan exports gaskets for snowmobiles, dirt bikes and other small-engine vehicles to more than 40 countries. Exports account for about 45 percent of the revenue...

Real estate bounces back from late 1980s doldrums.
December 24, 1999... The difference between the Denver-area commercial real estate market of the late 1980s and now is night and day. Where 1999 saw a continuation of unprecedented strength in the local real estate economy -- as rents rose, buildings filled...

Technology shifts oil, gas industries.
December 24, 1999... Advances make it easier to find deposits After being slapped hard by the oil bust in the mid-1980s, Denver's oil and gas industry was forced to tighten its belt and develop new, better, faster and cheaper methods of finding and...

Banks paid a price when the bust hit Colorado.
December 24, 1999... James Lewien, president of the Commerce Bank, remembers having to battle with regulators on behalf of delinquent borrowers back in the late 1980s. It was a fight he was glad he made. "They paid back every penny and they are still in...

Largest Denver County Office Buildings.
December 24, 1999... Largest Denver County Office Buildings (Ranked by total leasable feet) Katie Ford Patrick Sweeney ...

Cherry Creek, Park Meadows transformed retail.
December 24, 1999... Ten years ago Cherry Creek shopping center was still under construction, the latest downtown retail project had suffered an untimely death and e-commerce was a phrase that had yet to pass the lips of most mall managers. Today, the retail...

Health plans treading familiar ground in '99.
December 24, 1999... Scientific breakthroughs have brought a score of new drugs and medical treatments to patients in the last decade, but runaway costs, a rising number of uninsured and strained relations among doctors, hospitals and health plans threaten the...

The real 'Dynasty' crowd, 10 years later.
December 24, 1999... Denver served as the backdrop for the highly popular "Dynasty" television series in the 1980s. Americans tuned in every week to see wealthy businessman Blake Carrington and his brood enjoy an idealized '80s lifestyle complete with fancy cars,...

Series of mergers reshapes telecom industry.
December 24, 1999... It seems as though the telecommunications industry jumped from the horse-and-buggy age straight into jet propulsion over the last 10 years. And there are even more changes in the offing. Colorado has been right in the thick of the...

NEWSMAKERS.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Banking & finance McDonald Investments Inc., the investment banking and brokerage affiliate of KeyCorp, named Michael B. Hobbs senior vice president for its Investment Banking Group in the Rocky Mountain Region. Hobbs will be based in...

A look back at business news from a decade ago.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... What was going on in the Denver area during 1989? Plenty. Even though the economy remained bleak, there was a considerable amount of news that year. Here are some highlights from the pages of The Denver Business Journal: January --...

Technological landscape changed rapidly.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Technology's evolution along the Front Range accelerated over the past decade at a pace that would have made Darwin's head spin. In 1989, Colorado's technology landscape was dominated by tape storage pioneer Storage Technology Corp. and...

Recalling lessons from a decade ago.
December 24, 1999... Newcomers to Colorado may find it hard to grasp how different Denver was a decade ago. Hobbled by a severe economic downturn, victimized by scams and schemes that amazed even the most cynical of observers, we were just beginning to stand...

From hack to flack and back.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Not long ago, I spoke to an association of health care communications people about my move a few years back from the world of journalism to public relations. The title? "From Hack to Flack." "Hack," of course, is slang for newspaper...

Is it now time for re-regulation?(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Monopolies, and to a similar extent oligarchies, tend to focus on maximizing profits without alienating too many customers. That's a benefit to being a monopoly or oligarchy. Your customers are captive and, as long as they're not too unhappy,...

Internet leads to media mish-mash.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Maybe I missed something. I thought it was supposed to be the "old media" using and fearing the "new media." Now it seems the "new media" (i.e. the Internet) needs the "old media" (especially television) to promote its products and World...

LETTERS.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Business health coalitions don't work I read Marsha Austin's article in the Dec. 10 Business Journal ("What health care should do in Denver"). I suggest that she expand her reading and look at the current situation in Cleveland,...

DBJ STOCK REPORT.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... DBJ STOCK REPORT DBJ Index 1.37% 2247.28 NASDAQ 3.67% 3753.06 S&P 500 4.02% 1421.06 Dow Jones Industrial 0.29% 11257.43 Top 10 Weekly...

DBJ FUNDWATCH.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Our exclusive weekly report ranks thetop Denver-managed mutual funds, ranked by year-to-date total return. The information is derived from a database of more than 2,000 mutual funds. Data provided by Lipper Analytical Services Inc. For...