South Florida Business Journal articles from April 1997

South Florida Business Journal archives from April 1997

Black doctors say HMOs shut them out. (Florida; health maintenance organizations)
April 4, 1997... Some say the issue is simple: The color of their skin Florida's black doctors have launched a two-pronged attack on a managed care system that they say is discriminatory. The doctors say they can't get managed care contracts because the...

Stealing homes. (Republic Security Services; electronic security business)
April 4, 1997... Republic Security quietly aims to filch the top spot in electronic security biz While all eyes in the business world are glued on H. Wayne Huizenga's attempt to revolutionize the auto industry with his car dealership shopping spree, there has...

Republic Security locks up AutoNation. (Republic Security Services; security system for car dealerships)
April 4, 1997... High-tech auto security gizmo to be featured - where else? - at Republic's own car dealerships Robert Guerin has seen the brave new world of auto security, and it looks like a transmitter the size of a couple of videocassettes that links a car...

Ad execs launching entertainment radio.
April 4, 1997... HOLLYWOOD - Two self-proclaimed marketing magicians hope to cast a spell on leisure junkies with the May launch of a 24-hour entertainment radio station. Jack Mark and Robert Rose, partners in the Hollywood advertising firm Marketing Magic...

Vacancy rate hits 5-year low for Dade shopping centers. (Florida)
April 4, 1997... Despite the loss of several anchor stores and a lack of new retailers to take their places, a new survey from Terranova Corp. of Miami suggests that Dade County's shopping centers are enjoying their lowest vacancy rates in five years....

Builder seeks charter school. (charter school in a new housing development; Fernando J. Zulueta)
April 4, 1997... Bid to put school in new Miramar development gets tentative OK Fernando J. Zulueta, president of Miami-based Excel Development Corp., wants the School Board of Broward County to let him do something no Florida builder has done before: Build a...

Merger to be a shot in the arm for generic drug maker Royce Labs. (Royce Laboratories Inc.)
April 4, 1997... Shareholders will be asked later this month to approve the acquisition of Miami-based generic drug maker Royce Laboratories by rival Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. Last December, Royce announced Watson's intention to purchase it in a deal valued...

New boss ousts eight Grubb & Ellis brokers. (James Fried, district manager of Grubb and Ellis of Florida Inc.)
April 4, 1997... After James Fried was named district manager of Grubb & Ellis' South Florida office in mid-October, he told the firm's commercial real estate brokers they had six months to meet his expectations or find a new place to do deals. As of last...

Med/Waste's deal part of taking one-truck firm to regional influence. (Med/Waste Inc.)
April 4, 1997... Med/Waste Inc. slowly is working its way up the Eastern seaboard in its quest to become one of the region's largest medical waste companies. This week, the Opa Locka-based company took another step in that direction by purchasing a 40 percent...

Congress warms to venture capital program. (Small Business Investment Company)
April 4, 1997... After losing millions, failures are down, appropriations are up for Small Business Investment Companies WASHINGTON - The federal government's program to back venture capital firms investing in small businesses, has lost millions of dollars in...

Legislators aim to cut Enterprise Florida - but won't be killing it.
April 4, 1997... TALLAHASSEE - There's a lot of wiggle room between what state legislators are saying about their $42 billion appropriations bills now and what will ultimately become the budget for the 1997-1998 year that starts July 1. In either case, early...

Simple state land bill now loaded with projects. (Florida)
April 4, 1997... Proposal grows from 1 1/2 pages to 26, allowing logging, drilling and other money-making activities on state land TALLAHASSEE - It started out as a simple enough proposition: Require the state water management districts to get appraisals on...

Nursing a new business. (home accessories storeowner Renaye Mansfield)
April 4, 1997... A former nurse trades life and death in the E.R. for the tears and trauma of running her own retail business It had been a year of planning, punctuated by delays and yards of red tape, and former nurse Renaye Mansfield finally was ready to open...

Sales strategies for the ground-level business player in Latin America.
April 4, 1997... Latin America is quickly emerging as one of the world's most important regional markets, yet many U.S. firms have failed to take advantage of this new reality. Despite rising demand for U.S. consumer goods and services, free market policies and...

Re-facing the mistakes. (plastic surgery)
April 4, 1997... Plastic surgery isn't just for specialists any more - but retouching botched nose jobs and other flawed work is As baby boomers increasingly turn to plastic surgery to keep them looking young, a new business niche has sprung up for doctors who...

Stiles plans new Las Olas tower. (Stiles Corp.; Florida)
April 18, 1997... After hitting a home run with Las Olas Centre, Fort Lauderdale developer Terry Stiles plans to put up a second speculative office building next door. Stiles Corp. President Douglas Eagon said the new structure would be at least as big as the...

Sub-prime auto lenders facing shaky future. (National Auto Financial Co.; NAL Financial Group Inc.)
April 18, 1997... Once considered as alluring as a spiffy new sports car, the business of making auto loans to risky borrowers has been sputtering like an aging rustbucket. Two South Florida companies are among the players caught in the industry's slide....

Master of your own domain? Not in Internet's name game. (Internet name sellers)
April 18, 1997... WASHINGTON - The potential for reaching throngs of new customers via the Internet has spawned a new generation of electronic brokers - domain name sellers. Companies looking to hop on the net call them Internet name scalpers, while trademark...

Managed care tries to fill gap in kid insurance. (Florida)
April 18, 1997... Faced with an estimated 1.3 million uninsured children in Florida, some managed care companies are starting to offer products designed to fill the void. "It's a niche product, but one that could quickly become popular," said John Erb, a health...

Direct patient access plan getting under HMOs' skin. (Florida)
April 18, 1997... Florida's health maintenance organizations have unleashed a campaign to defeat a proposed law that would give patients direct access to skin specialists. The would allow those enrolled in HMOs to bypass their primary care physicians and head...

Undoing drugs: setting up a drug-free workplace program easier than ever. (Florida)(Human Resources Quarterly)
April 18, 1997... A decade ago, a few large South Florida companies pioneered mandatory drug testing to combat a persistent and annoying cost of doing business - drug abuse among workers. Today, an increasing number of enterprises of all sizes are making drug-free...