LI Business News articles from March 2005

LI Business News archives from March 2005

Melville developer Ted Weiss acquires Superior Packing facility on Long Island Expressway.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi Ted Weiss doesn't like to mess with success. The Melville developer has consistently hit gold over the past 10 years by acquiring run-down industrial property and revamping it into office space that sells at...

Butchers file another lawsuit challenging NY State's kosher certification authority.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Something still ain't kosher in Albany, three Commack butchers say. A revised law and online database has failed to snuff the legal sparks surrounding the challenge by the butchers to New York State's kosher...

Manhattan-based Apollo Real Estate Advisors to acquire three Hicksville office buildings.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Apollo Real Estate Advisors, the main stakeholder and developer of iPark in Lake Success, is in contract to acquire three Hicksville office buildings totaling about 425,000 square feet of space from J.P. Morgan Chase...

Industry analysts believe Maine-based Banknorth will enter NY financial market.
March 4, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale The Maine-based financial institution is making stock moves that analysts believe are a pre-cursor to an acquisition, with the New York market as a prime target. In the likely bull's-eye: Long Island's Astoria...

Beer distributor Clare Rose finalizes plans to develop new headquarters in Shirley.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi Beer distributor Clare Rose, a fixture in the Village of Patchogue since its founding there in 1936, is finalizing plans to develop a 200,000-square-foot headquarters, warehouse and distribution facility, possibly on...

Viacom seeks benefits for expansion from Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi Viacom International Inc., the Manhattan-based producer of such television programming as MTV, is expanding its operations at 35 Adams Ave. in Hauppauge, a project valued at $13 million. The company owns and...

Symbol Technologies has Sarbanes-Oxley financial controls in place.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter It took two years, the hiring of an outside consultant and an estimated $10 million to $15 million, but Symbol Technologies finally has a grip on its finances, company officials said. Within days, the maker of...

Interview with Suffolk County comptroller about Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau audit.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter LIBN: Your name will always be connected to the audit of the LICVB. What's your take on what has happened there? Sawicki: The lack of a performance by Michael Hollander is so unfortunate. One person literally...

Federal government wants cost estimate for electric transmission cable from N.J. to Long Island.
March 4, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Get off the dime. That's the message the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sent to PJM Interconnection, ordering it to give the Neptune Regional Transmission Grid an estimate of what it would cost to plug its...

Chiron gets go-ahead to resume production of flu vaccines; Henry Schein shares rise 4.4%.
March 4, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Just a day after Henry Schein pointed to concerns about Chiron's continuing inability to supply it with flu vaccine, the firm got a healthy shot of good news. On Wednesday, Chiron said that British regulators have...

US Postal Service begins marketing campaign for its online operations.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn With the kinks ironed out and new services added, the U.S. Postal Service has begun to put some serious marketing muscle behind its online operations. One USPS option, called Click-N-Ship, enables users to print...

Feuding Cablevision Systems officials put fate of Jericho-based satellite TV unit in limbo.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter The seams of Cablevision Systems were continuing to fray as Jericho-based Voom HD, a unit aligned with Chairman Charles Dolan, issued a statement saying that family members were prepared to continue financing the...

Hauppauge electronics maker Audiovox says it will delay annual report.
March 4, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff After missing a Feb. 28 deadline, Hauppauge electronics maker Audiovox Corp. said it expects to file its annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 31. The company said its auditor, Grant...

Kimco Realty Corp. among groups in the running to acquire the Toys "R" Us operations.
March 4, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Real estate investment trust Kimco Realty Corp. is reportedly among the final four groups in the running to acquire the Toys "R" Us toy store operations. The Wall Street Journal reported that Kimco, Goldman Sachs...

KeySpan Corp. reports fourth-quarter earnings jump.
March 4, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff KeySpan Corp. reported that fourth-quarter earnings jumped to $199.7 million from $135.4 million a year ago based on strong performances by its core gas and electric businesses. KeySpan's gas business performed well...

Stocks of both Cablevision Systems Corp. and Arrow Electronics rise.
March 4, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff It was a good week for Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC). The firm's stock rose 8 percent to $30.18 after Cablevision gained full control of Madison Square Garden, the Knicks, the Rangers, Liberty, Radio City...

Commentary: Chancellor King's SUNY tuition hikes are on target.
March 4, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff If Long Island is going to attract the best and brightest, our state colleges and universities have to keep up with competitors, here and across the country. That means investing and reinvesting in infrastructure and...

Commentary: With no agenda, Dems turn to message of fear.
March 4, 2005... Byline: John Kiernan This time last year, as Sen. John Kerry was clinching the Democratic nomination for president, all we heard was that the United States economy was in terrible shape and economic disaster was just around the corner....

Commentary: Shades of 1984: Is Big Brother watching you?
March 4, 2005... Byline: Jerry Kremer We have lots of books on our shelves at home, so rarely do I read any one of them more than once. But because of its continued timeliness, I re-read George Orwell's "1984" every few years. It's a book about a society...

Long Island avoids VC shutout with Hauppauge-based Sagitta funding.
March 4, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale Only four Long Island companies received venture capital funding in 2004, and only Hauppauge-based Sagitta Inc. kept Long Island from getting nothing in VC funding in the fourth quarter, according to...

Melville-based financial institution North Fork launches marketing campaign.
March 4, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale North Fork has been a dominant bank on Long Island for years. But for some people in the New York metro area, it's just another bank in a crowded marketplace. To change that, the Melville-based financial...

Computer Associates plans to donate patents to open source movement.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Computer Associates is in the giving mood. The software maker plans to donate a slice of its patent portfolio to the open-source movement, officials confirmed. The Islandia-based company joins IBM and Sun...

Melville entrepreneur and voice over Internet Protocol guru Jeff Pulver plans trip to Israel.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Many know Israel as the ancient birthplace of major religions, but only a select few know it also spawned modern Internet telephony. (Think of Vonage, the CallVantage service of AT&T - soon to be joined with SBC...

Wall Street Journal columnist examines methodology of NPD Group.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Business journalism is full of statistics, some useful and some specious. (Though we try to keep the latter to a minimum in this space.) To build a foundation for stories, journalists often cite market studies and...

Healthcare assessment firm Island Peer Review renews lease for Lake Success HQ.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi Healthcare assessment firm Island Peer Review Organization, which has been based out of 77,301 square feet of office space at 1979 Marcus Ave. in Lake Success since 1988, has renewed its lease for another 11 years....

Melville Corporate Center II hits maximum occupancy.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi Melville-based developer T. Weiss Realty Corp. announced that its recently completed office development, Melville Corporate Center II, has reached 100 percent occupancy just 20 months after opening its doors. ...

Jericho-based mortgage banking firm MRG & Co. arranges $56M in financing for Rechler Equity.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi The Jericho-based mortgage banking firm M. Robert Goldman & Co. arranged $56.5 million in financing through three separate transactions for Rechler Equity Partners, the largest owner of industrial space on Long...

Long Island home sales slip in January.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi Sales of existing single-family homes on Long Island dipped in January following a strong December, according to the Albany-based New York State Association of Realtors. Sales in Nassau fell 20 percent to 743...

Nixon Peabody law firm No. 2 nationwide in private equity roster.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Nixon Peabody leapfrogged to the No. 2 spot nationwide from No. 6 a year earlier in a ranking of law firms published in Private Equity Analyst, a monthly publication from Dow Jones & Co. The firms' rankings were...

Not-for-profits face new wave of regulations.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Congress and the New York State attorney general's office are considering imposing Sarbanes-Oxley-like requirements on large not-for-profits, though the size and scope of those regulations is still unclear. ...

A few simple rules for a winning eBay formula for sellers.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Considering selling on eBay? Those who treat the venture as a real business can prosper. Just ask Ray Bartlett, who rakes in $120,000 a year in sales from the auction site. An owner of a UPS Store in Babylon, whose...

Farmingdale State to host conference on entrepreneurship.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Business owners and future entrepreneurs can mark April 2 on their calendars. That's the date of the Farmingdale State Conference on Entrepreneurship, "Taking the Mystery Out of Business Ownership." An all-day...

U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce officer to lead virtual meeting about procurement.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Interested in scoring contracts with corporations? The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has announced that Brookhaven National Laboratory Small-Business Liaison Officer Jill Cough-Johnston will lead a virtual meeting...

Sharing retail space with another shop owner has advantages, says Huntington boutique owner.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Adina Genn Sharing retail space with another shop owner has its advantages, said Kathleen Murphy, owner of Bella Boutique in Huntington. The boutique, which carries women's accessories, is situated in front of the Nail Nook,...

Nature Conservancy appoints Paul C. Brennan to board of South Fork-Shelter Island Chapter.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The Nature Conservancy appointed Paul C. Brennan to its South Fork-Shelter Island Chapter board of trustees. He's currently Hamptons regional vice president for Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Brennan is...

Deer Park-based Mayer & Company promotes Marianna Mooney to partner.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Deer Park-based Mayer & Company promoted Marianna Mooney to partner. She oversees the firm's financial management and provides advice in areas of tax planning. Mooney began her career at Mayer in 1995.

Garden City-based Energy and Environmental Analysis names Nicholas J. Recchia vice president.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Garden City-based Energy and Environmental Analysis named Nicholas J. Recchia vice president of its hazardous materials assessment and remediation division. He has been with the EEA since 1989 and was senior...

Long Island financial institutions announce staffing changes: March 4, 2005.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Connie Robinson joined Bankers Life of New York as customer service representative and will handle complex policy service requests and general accounting transactions. She previously was a data entry processor at...

North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System names Lawrence G. Smith chief academic officer.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System named Lawrence G. Smith chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs. He joins LIJ from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan and...

HVS International names Michael Beam director of Restaurant Management and Advisory Services.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly HVS International, a hospitality consultancy, named Michael Beam director of its Restaurant Management and Advisory Services division. He will work out of HVS' Mineola office.

Carmelo Grimaldi named treasurer of Colombian Lawyers' Association of Nassau County.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Carmelo Grimaldi, a partner in labor law firm Kaufman, Schneider & Bianco, was named treasurer of the Colombian Lawyers' Association of Nassau County for the 2005 term. In 2004 he was the organization's recording...

Dennis Sneden named chief executive of DASH Systems.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Former chief executive and president of the Chamber of Commerce Regional Business Partnership in Huntington Dennis Sneden was named chief executive of DASH Systems, which offers personal and business coaching.

Long Island not-for-profits announce staffing changes: March 4, 2005.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The Shelter Island and Long Island Chapter of the Nature Conservancy named Kara Grobert director of communications. She will work to bring public awareness to the conservancy's land acquisition, habitat maintenance...

WordHampton Public Relations announces staffing changes: March 4, 2005.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly WordHampton Public Relations named Nikki Harmon junior account executive and Megan Sullivan publicity assistant. Harmon was previously an intern at WordHampton and graduated from Southampton College. Sullivan...

Pliskin Realty & Development appoints Diane Taback to associate director.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Pliskin Realty & Development appointed Diane Taback to associate director. She will market the sales of investment properties, the leasing of commercial and retail properties and develop business relationships. ...

Long Island technology companies announce staffing changes: March 4, 2005.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Howard Blumberg, founder of electronics company KMH Associates in Smithtown, was named sales representative for Parrot, an automotive telecommunications company. Parrot products, which include GPS, PDAs and wireless...

Long Islanders receive awards and recognition: March 4, 2005.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly Evelyn Ain, publisher and president of Spectrum Publications, was named honoree by Project Residential Experience in Adult Living and will be honored at its 25th Anniversary Inspiration Ball in April. Ain publishes...

Commentary: Should your business be more like Trump's or J.Lo's?
March 4, 2005... Byline: Vikram Rajan It seems as if Donald Trump's name is everywhere: buildings, books games - even water. Jennifer Lopez isn't far behind. She's got CDs, clothing and perfume. And I'm sure her name will be in neon Hollywood lights again...

Interview with the director and a supervisor at Child Development Center of the Hamptons.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Ken Cerini At the Child Development Center of the Hamptons, a unique charter school, children are getting more than the standard K-7 curricula. "We run an inclusionary program where special-education students and...

American Cancer Society launches golf program for women who have had breast cancer surgery.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The American Cancer Society has launched a program that will provide women who have had breast cancer surgery a way to become physically active through golf. "Swing Fore the Health of It" is free for women who...

Long Island Game Farm offers scholarship.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The Long Island Game Farm will award a $1,000 scholarship to a high school senior who plans to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine or environmental science. Applicants must plan on attending a two-or four-year...

Long Island Regional Committee of NY State Coalition Against Domestic Violence receives grant.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The Long Island Regional Committee of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence received a grant of $5,000 from the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls. The grant will be used to fund a bi-county...

Fund-raiser planned in East Rockaway for 7-month-old with Rasmussen's Syndrome.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The family of 7-month-old Brendan Shanahan of East Rockaway needs the community's help to pay for his medical bills. Brendan, who has Rasmussen's Syndrome, a neurological disorder that results in increased seizures...

League of Women Voters of Suffolk County to honor elected women.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The League of Women Voters of Suffolk County will honor 54 women who have been elected to serve Long Island's local government. The "Women Who Won" event will feature speaker Nora Bredes, director of the Susan B....

Family Service League to relocate to Bay Shore.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Henry Powderly The Family Service League has bought a 32,700-square-foot building in Bay Shore, and the organization plans to be relocated by the spring. The new South Shore Family Center will include the Training and...

Mother founds Jacob's Light Foundation to provide care packages for soldiers in Iraq.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Dorine Kenney was a woman on a mission. You might not have known it, watching her navigate through the aisles of National Wholesale Liquidators and drop items into a shopping cart, but she was engaged in much more...

In ripple effect, scandals slow nonprofit recruitment efforts.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Douglas Good, chairman of the board of Nassau-Suffolk Law Services Committee Inc. and a partner at Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, remembers the days when just asking was the biggest challenge in getting people to serve on...

Long Island Fight For Charity raises funds by way of annual boxing event.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik All Jeff Cohen ever wanted was a fighting chance. And he got it. Big time. With the Long Island Fight For Charity, a not-for-profit he founded in 2003 to raise funds for local charities by way of an annual boxing...

Long Island conductor founds The Friends of Locomotive #35 Inc.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Steven Torborg, a conductor for the Long Island Rail Road, spends much of his day living out a childhood dream, riding the train to and from Manhattan. When he steps off the platform, Torborg works on another...

For inactive or dormant not-for-profits, dissolving organization is arduous process.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik The Citizens Advisory Panel, the lone watchdog group of the Long Island Power Authority, ceased operating at the end of 2003 after the Suffolk County Legislature cut off its funds. But because of the arduous filing...

Recalling the early days of Long Island Children's Museum.
March 4, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Six people got together in a restaurant back in 1989 to devise what would become one of Long Island's best-known not-for-profit organizations. "Our kids were little at the time," said Robert Lemle, the former...

Property group operating four LI malls settles lawsuit.
March 11, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff The Simon Property Group, operator of a nationwide portfolio that includes four Long Island malls, has settled a lawsuit, agreeing to pay $125,000 and drop its monthly service charges on gift cards sold in New York. ...

Renewable energy firm to fire up in Baltimore, sell to Europe.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Sofia Kosmetatos (This article originally ran in The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD, another Dolan Media publication). Green Energy Resources, a supplier of wood fiber fuels, has established a new port in Baltimore, where the...

Audit: Massapequa schools pass.
March 11, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff An audit by New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi's office has found that the internal financial controls at the Massapequa Union Free School District are strong but "could be improved in some areas." The audit,...

LI delegation endorses proposal to build Air Force plains at Enterprise Park at Calverton.
March 11, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Rep. Tim Bishop, D-Southampton, has secured the backing of the entire Long Island congressional delegation for a plan to build planes for the U.S. Air Force at the Enterprise Park at Calverton. Bishop has forwarded...

LI-based Frequency Electronics reports net loss.
March 11, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff Blaming a slowdown in overall purchasing of wireless infrastructure, Frequency Electronics Inc. reported a $368,000 third-quarter net loss, down from a $364,000 profit a year ago. Sales at Frequency Electronics...

NY Community Bancorp stock upgraded by Bear Stearns.
March 11, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff New York Community Bancorp's stock was upgraded to "outperform" by investment firm Bear Stearns. It had been at "peer perform." Bear Stearns is the fourth investment group to upgrade New York Community since the...

LI-based OSI Pharmaceuticals stock closes at $50.88 per share.
March 11, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff It was another week on the roller coaster for OSI shareholders. The stock price of OSI Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: OSIP) tumbled 10 percent for the week to close at $50.88 on hopeful news regarding a competitor's...

Commentary: Nassau Legislature needs to make haste in approving development rights for hockey owner.
March 11, 2005... Byline: LIBN Staff The Nassau Legislature is promising a thorough review of the proposed deal that would give New York Islanders owner Charles Wang development rights to the 77 acres surrounding Nassau Coliseum. The facility, the...

Commentary: Social Security Trust Fund: the 'third rail' for politicos.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Martin Cantor Social Security has justifiably been considered the "third rail" of American politics because the political careers of those elected officials daring to tread on the issue have met untimely ends. For President...

Commentary: We all of LI stumble over Roslyn School District's embezzlement scandal.
March 11, 2005... Byline: John Kiernan Last week, State Comptroller Alan Hevesi announced the results of an intensive audit of the Roslyn School District, and his conclusions were both breathtaking and tragic. Hevesi said that the total of fraudulent and...

Commentary: Seems like smooth sailing for NY Dems.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Jerry Kremer Politics is a strange business. It takes odd twists and turns that are totally unpredictable. Today's winners are not guaranteed any future success. Just take a look at the current political scene. It's living proof...

Deduct the sales tax instead of income tax? Not worth it in NY.
March 11, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale A change in the federal tax code this year allows residents to deduct state and local sales taxes in place of deducting state and local income taxes. Unfortunately for New Yorkers, income taxes are so high that the...

IRS: E-filing up.
March 11, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale Out of the 47 million tax returns filed through Feb. 25, 74 percent of them were filed electronically - up from 69 percent the previous year, according to statistics compiled by the Internal Revenue Service. While...

State Bank of LI opening branch in Westbury.
March 11, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale State Bank of Long Island is opening its 16th branch in mid-2005. The branch will be located at 1150 Old Country Road in Westbury. The Jericho-based bank's 15-branch network is spread out throughout Nassau,...

NY Community Bancorp selling stored-value products.
March 11, 2005... Byline: David Reich-Hale New York Community Bank is offering its customers prepaid Visa- and MasterCard-branded stored-value debit cards. The Westbury-based thrift also has begun selling prepaid wireless services cards. All of these...

New tool mingles instant-messaging and Outlook.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Once upon a time, business people stayed in touch by writing on a sheet of paper, stuffing it into an envelope, affixing a stamp and putting it in a mailbox. How quaint. We then moved to the age of faxes, e-mail...

LI-based Computer Associates signs as prime sponsor of Hauppauge Industrial Assn. expo.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter In an indication that Computer Associates' new management plans to maintain its engagement with the Long Island business community, the software maker has signed on as the principal sponsor of the Hauppauge Industrial...

IBM, Oracle execs join LI Software & Technology Network board.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter It doesn't hurt to have some heavy hitters in the lineup. Peter Goldsmith, president of the Long Island Software & Technology Network, has signed on representatives of database giant Oracle Corp. and all-around...

LI-based pulver.com and CMP Media join with Telecommunications Industry Assn. for trade show.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter Melville-based pulver.com and Manhasset-based CMP Media are joining with the Telecommunications Industry Association to produce a new trade show, the trio announced. The event, IP-4-IT, will take place Nov. 14-16...

NASA earmarks $1.7M to upgrade Dowling College's School of Aviation lab.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Ken Schachter The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has earmarked $1.7 million to upgrade the Virtual Systems Laboratory at Dowling College's School of Aviation. Plans call for a virtual control tower, airport and radar...

Tobacco law proponents seek to fire up Nassau County school support.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik The advocates of a law that would raise the legal age to buy tobacco in Nassau County from 18 to 19 are seeking to fire up support among parent-teacher associations to push for the votes they need to pass the bill....

NY Democrat, Ill. Republican unveil Center Aisle Caucus.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Claude Solnik Back in 2001, Steve Israel, a Democratic congressman based in Bay Shore, met Tim Johnson, a Republican from Urbana, Ill., in the House gym. Yes, the House has its own workout area. Over the years, the two legislators...

Brookhaven National Laboratory to build new administrative, support facility.
March 11, 2005... Byline: Nick Anastasi Brookhaven National Laboratory is constructing a new $12.6 million, 65,000-square-foot Research Support Building. The new facility will consolidate administrative and support functions in a single location at the...