Denver Business Journal articles from June 1996

Denver Business Journal archives from June 1996

Westcor has plan for mall. (Westcor Partners to develop new shopping mall in Broomfield, CO)
June 7, 1996... Highway 36 site may lure Macy's At the urging of some of the biggest names in retailing, Westcor Partners has purchased a 170-acre parcel in Broomfield to develop metro Denver's newest mega-mall. The Phoenix-based developer sealed the...

Beef jerky biz moves off retail shelves. (Colorado Jerky Company Inc.)
June 7, 1996... Having products on the shelves of major stores is what most companies dream about, but in an unusual move, Colorado Jerky Co. Inc. has decided to give up its space in stores such as King Soopers to sell directly to the consumer. Colorado Jerky...

Wireless Telecom steps past hardware.
June 7, 1996... Company targets on-the-go execs Wireless Telecom Inc. has big plans to expand its "middleman" role in the wireless communications business. The company peddles wireless equipment from large manufacturers to dealers, who in turn install them...

Ralcorp showing may attract ski suitors. (Ralcorp Holdings Inc.)
June 7, 1996... Ralcorp Holdings Inc.'s attempts to sweeten its souring cereal business will not affect its Colorado ski resorts, according to a company spokesperson. Analysts, however, aren't so sure. St. Louis-based Ralcorp's Summit County resorts -...

Bank scouting Denver. (First Union Corp.)
June 14, 1996... First Union may bring 1,250 jobs First Union Corp., the sixth-largest bank holding company in the country with $77.3 billion in assets, has been checking out metropolitan Denver for a new data Center site, according to sources. The banking...

Boulder company takes early plunge into Java. (Cadis Inc.)(Online)
June 14, 1996... Cadis uses new language for program While much of the country has been content to watch the steam rise from Java, one Boulder company has taken a gulp of the hot new computer language. Cadis Inc. stands as one of the first companies to...

Gillett ends 10-year reign at Vail. (Vail Resorts Inc. Chmn. and CEO George Gillett)
June 14, 1996... After a sometimes rocky 10-year stretch with Vail Resorts Inc., chairman and CEO George Gillett is poised to leave his highly paid position with the nation's largest ski resort and cash in on the company's planned initial public offering....

Channel 20 scores goal in Avalanche telecasts.
June 14, 1996... Station expects to retain contract Of all the hockey fanatics in Denver who now claim a piece of the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, one of those with legitimate early bragging rights is Terry Brown, vice president and general manager...

State rejects protest. (Colorado's Dept. of Human Services rejects Transactive Corp.'s claim that bidding on the Colorado electronic benefits transfer project was biased)
June 14, 1996... Citibank keeps welfare contract The Colorado Department of Human Services has rejected a Texas company's claim that it botched the award of a contract to deliver $500 million a year worth of welfare benefits via magnetic-stripe cards and ATM...

Bardeen masters pumpkin business. (Pumpkin Masters Inc. owner Kea Bardeen)(Entrepreneur of the Year)
June 14, 1996... Company born of family tradition Kea Bardeen, owner of Denver-based Pumpkin Masters Inc., knows that being an entrepreneur is very much a matter of doing whatever it takes to make a business successful. Pumpkin Masters sells pumpkin- and...

Feder's law firm will live on. (Feder Morris Tamblyn & Goldstein)
June 14, 1996... Last remaining name partner taking his leave Feder Morris Tamblyn & Goldstein will lose its president, but insiders say the well-known law firm isn't closing its doors. Leonard Goldstein, president and the last remaining name partner of the...

Bentley drives to success with used-car dealership. (Automotive Avenues Inc. founder Stephen Bentley)
June 14, 1996... Branching out opened up avenues Stephen Bentley began his business career with a Denver-area tax practice during the early 1980s. With primary clients in real estate and the oil and gas industries, Bentley branched out to start a...

Banker tries new approach. (Bank of Boulder Pres. Steve Bosley)(Entrepreneur of the Year)
June 14, 1996... Bosley thinks like an entrepreneur Bankers aren't usually known for thinking outside the box. But then Steve Bosley, president of the Bank of Boulder, isn't your typical banker. Bosley and his employees have gained national attention for an...

Automation idea proved right path for businesses.(Entrepreneur of the Year)
June 14, 1996... A group of ex-Martin Marietta engineers involved in the NASA Viking Mars Lander program had an audacious idea back in the early 1970s. They believed that if they could automate a spacecraft to conduct scientific experiments on a planet some 200...

Nentel signs up dealers to push cellular service.
June 14, 1996... Nentel is heating up the race for cellular phone customers in Colorado. Since arriving in Denver in April, Nentel has signed on 15 retail dealers in Colorado and Wyoming. The year-end goal is 50 dealers. The Portland, Ore.-based company...

Kaire International rides wave of health concerns.(Entrepreneur of the Year)
June 14, 1996... When Nick Mangeris was fired from his job in 1988, he decided to start his own company. After doing some consulting, Mangeris decided to take his experience as an upper-level executive with a marketing company and use it in a growing market -...

Coors goes for gusto in European market. (Coors Brewing Co.)
June 14, 1996... The Coors Brewing Co. is expanding its sales overseas, finding lucrative markets for such brands as Coors Light in countries such as Ireland, traditionally known for heavy brews. Coors' foreign sales rose 17 percent in 1995. The company...

Spectra Logic products attract key customer list.(Entrepreneur of the Year)
June 14, 1996... Thompson keeps plugging along Nathan Thompson already had eight employees by the time he graduated from college in his first and only job as founder of Spectra Logic. Thompson said while his lack of experience led to several missteps along...

Cable modems shift infobahn to high speed.
June 14, 1996... TCI, Jones explore faster way to pull information from the Internet Denver residents soon will be able to use new cable modems to travel the Internet at warp speed. Now being tested by most major cable companies, the devices can download...

TeleTach's toll-free help keeps company growing. (TeleTech Communications)
June 14, 1996... Several years ago, when Californian Kenneth Tuchman tried to buy a product through a trade publication ad but found himself unable to connect with the supplier, a light bulb went on in his head. By 1982, the 22-year-old real estate developer...

It's Pak-Mail vs. U.S. Postal Service.
June 21, 1996... Franchisor presses case in D.C. Neither sleet, snow, hail or rain is supposed to stop the U.S. Postal Service from its appointed rounds. But what if your postman wants to package that box for you and sell you a long-distance calling card while...

Wild Oats may pick downtown. (Wild Oats Markets Inc.; Denver, Colorado)
June 21, 1996... Grocery needed in city's center Buying a beer is no problem in downtown Denver, an area loaded with bars. But just try buying a bag of groceries without getting in a car or hopping on a bus. Despite a flurry of residential development,...

Mobil maneuvers to sell Stonegate. (Mobil Corp.; residential development)
June 21, 1996... Investment expects to close on land purchase To re-energize its oil and gas business, Mobil Corp. has opted to sell its Stonegate residential development in Douglas County. The 1,600-acre, master-planned community near Parker is one of 18...

Trustee launches probe. (auto financier Douglas Kemp)
June 21, 1996... Kemp's deals draw scrutiny A court-appointed trustee is investigating whether an Englewood auto financier who has been sued for missing auto loan payments and cars also committed bankruptcy fraud. "We are looking into that," said Barbara...

Cellular firms vying for 'stealth' antennas.
June 21, 1996... Quality Inn transmitting signals Cellular phone antennas are sprouting up in the oddest of places. To eliminate the fuzz and buzz of cellular calls, and to meet a growing demand for portable phones, phone companies need to erect more...

NELX hoping oil, water really do mix. (NELX Inc.)
June 21, 1996... A small public company in Wheat Ridge is planning to take the plunge into the bottled water business. NELX Inc., an oil and gas and real estate concern, has acquired the leases on a spring in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. It has been...

Carlyle sales swinging with ex-hat pros at top. (Carlyle Golf Inc.)(Company Profile)
June 21, 1996... Carlyle Golf Inc., a Denver-based producer and marketer of men's golf apparel, is teeing off for a great season. The company's spring and fall lines of men's apparel have met with wide approval among buyers for elite golf shops. The company's...

U S West gambling on cable TV profits. (U S West Inc.)
June 21, 1996... Growth expected outside phone The cable television business will help drive the growth of U S West outside its core 14-state phone service region. The Baby Bell could fetch big revenue gains in cable, especially if the company successfully...

Newmont, Echo Bay join AMEX's gold stock index. (Newmont Gold Co.; Echo Bay Mines Ltd.; American Stock Exchange)
June 21, 1996... Two Colorado gold mining companies are getting free exposure in the world financial markets, thanks to some new Bugs. Newmont Gold Co. and Echo Bay Mines Ltd. are part of a new gold index sponsored by the American Stock Exchange Inc. The market...

Frontier victor in race for profit on low fares. (Frontier Airlines Inc.)
June 21, 1996... Western Pacific expects losses to end While federal regulators try to reassure air passengers about the safety of low-fare airlines in the wake of the ValuJet crash, Colorado's upstarts are thriving. And once-struggling Frontier Airlines,...

Labor shortage looms for telecom; companies scramble for workers.
June 28, 1996... If you are a skilled telecommunications professional, you are one hot commodity in Denver. How hot? Some technicians can double their incomes to $50,000 a year by learning about newfangled technology. Starting pay for phone equipment...

Tuchman soon to join ranks of richest. (TeleTech Inc. Chairman and CEO Kenneth Tuchman)
June 28, 1996... Kenneth Tuchman may become one of the state's richest individuals when his fast-growing company, TeleTech Inc., goes public this summer. The telemarketing entrepreneur will own a $700 million to $900 million stake in TeleTech if the expected...

Plenty of rooms at B&B inns: owners gets smarter about marketing, financing strategy. (bed-and-breakfast inns)(Small Business Strategy)(Industry Overview)
June 28, 1996... Maggie Senn was working in a Vail deli and searching for an entrepreneurial opportunity when she came upon the 115-year-old house in Leadville, Her background as a reservations supervisor for the Vail Resort Association made her plan for a bed...

Pavilions project financing near; developer plans September start. (Denver Entertainment and Fashion Pavilion)
June 28, 1996... California developer Bill Denton expects to cement financing for his $94 million Denver Entertainment & Fashion Pavilions project in August and break ground in September, according to local sources. That backing supposedly comes from a foreign...

Investors plan $23 mil. bid to buy railroad line. (Tennessee Pass rail line)
June 28, 1996... A metro Denver investor group is poised to bid on the Tennessee Pass rail line - if regulators approve the Union Pacific Railroad merger with Southern Pacific Lines July 3. Philip Bruchez, president and CEO of Broomfield-based Mile High...

Diedrich Coffee pours into town; company converts former Brothers, Java City stores. (Diedrich Manufacturing Inc.)
June 28, 1996... Diedrich Coffee has finished converting nine former Brothers Coffee and Java City locations to Diedrich Coffee-houses. The remaining eight locations of the two chains that the Orange County, Calif.-based Diedrich bought out earlier this year...

Regal owner hopes to expand presence. (Regal Hotels International Ltd.; Y.S. Lo)
June 28, 1996... Expect to see the name "Regal" a lot more in the hospitality business, perhaps even in Denver. The Regal name is well-known in Asia because the company - Regal Hotels International Ltd. - is based in Hong Kong, but there isn't a lot of name...