South Florida Business Journal articles from April 1998

South Florida Business Journal archives from April 1998

Spinoff speculation dims at Republic; company targets solid waste acquisitions. (Republic Industries)
April 3, 1998... Republic Industries has talked about possibly spinning off its solid waste division to shareholders someday, but being poised to make acquisitions appears to be the more pressing matter. With competitors Waste Management and USA Waste planning...

Wackenhut buys into controversial financing trend. (Wackenhut Corrections' Correctional Properties Trust ventures into real estate)
April 3, 1998... When applied to Wackenhut Corrections' new real estate venture, "captive" has nothing to do with prison inmates. It has everything to do with a controversial trend. Wackenhut, the Palm Beach Gardens prison operator, belongs to a growing...

Upgrading downtown: luxury apartments could serve as model for region's downtowns.
April 3, 1998... Mention CityPlace and talk of trendy eateries and upscale shops usually follows. But jetting above the project's proposed 600,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space could be CityPlace's strategic ace: a built-in customer base. In...

Adolfo Henriques says Union Planters keeps a community bank mind set while expanding. (president and CEO of Union Planters Bank of Florida)(Interview)
April 3, 1998... With this week's $110 million acquisition of 24 California Federal branches, Union Planters Bank continued its expansion in South Florida. The deal doubled the Memphis, Tenn.-based bank's Florida deposit base, from $1.5 billion to more than $3...

Failing to comply with disabilities act can hurt hotels.
April 3, 1998... Before President George Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990, the hotel industry fought: first against the legislation and then for what it wanted from the new regulations. Now, eight years later, the industry is...

Airlines wake up to smell gourmet coffee aroma. (Alterra Coffee Roasters Inc. caters to Midwest Express Airlines Inc. flights)
April 3, 1998... Gourmet java maker Alterra Coffee Roasters Inc. wants to save the consuming public from junk coffee by getting its products served on Midwest Express Airlines flights. "We like selling in traditional places where bad coffee has been served,"...

Take the friendly route with your travel agent.
April 3, 1998... Like many of the decisions faced by small- and medium-size businesses, choosing a travel agency comes down to personal relationships. "Small businesses need to use one firm only, to establish trust and a long-term relationship," said Michael...

Travel agencies face airline commission cuts. (commission cutbacks)
April 3, 1998... Area travel agencies continue to struggle to cut costs and tap new markets as major airlines have lowered the percentage commission they pay these firms for domestic ticketing. In 1995, Delta Airlines led the charge, capping the standard 10...

From Asia to Latin America, via Miami: Southeast Asia crisis opens door to opportunities.
April 3, 1998... It may be the "Asian flu" everywhere else, but for South Florida, the cash crisis of the far East may actually end up looking like a vitamin boost. Much of the stratospheric growth in the 1990s Asian economy has come from intra-Asian trade....

Here's a tip: service providers expect something. (tipping tips)
April 3, 1998... Gratuity is a personal choice but there are unwritten rules Michael Militello doesn't speak for restaurant employees in an official capacity, but the owner of the Bijou Grille in New York likely could get elected emperor of the restaurant world...

Office Depot's loss becomes job fund's gain. (incentive for business expansion offered by Palm Beach County, Florida)
April 10, 1998... Palm Beach County's job incentive fund looked like it was nearly empty, but now has an unexpected $900,000 that was earmarked for Office Depot. Already three companies have lined up for the newly available cash from the Job Growth Incentive...

S. Fla. a magnet for health-care software firms. (South Florida)
April 10, 1998... South Florida is turning into a test center for doctors, hospitals and managed care companies that develop computers and software to track costs and care. The region is popular for testing because it has more managed care providers than other...

Hooked on auctions: Sloan's helps make shopping interesting. (Sloan's Auction Galleries in Miami, Florida)(Company Profile)
April 10, 1998... When two brothers inherited a house full of antiques they agreed to split the valuables and turn them into cash - including a pair of 18th century French commodes. But they failed to agree on how to liquidate the merchandise. One brother had...

Entrepreneurs pay lofty prices for Clematis Street office space. (West Palm Beach, Florida)
April 10, 1998... What a difference three years makes. As recently as 1995, office space on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach leased for $4, maybe $5, a square foot. Today, the latest attraction on the energetic street is office lofts leasing for $15 to $20 a...

Deconstructing criticism. (public admonition over Tom Ireland's project, NorthPort Marketplace)
April 10, 1998... Despite public admonition and low tenant interest for his NorthPort project, Tom Ireland remains optimistic Visitors to the recently opened Planet Hollywood in Fort Lauderdale likely won't face a crowded parking lot and long lines. NorthPort...

Four firms finalists for port design project. (cruise terminal and office complex at the Port of Palm Beach)
April 10, 1998... A West Palm Beach architectural firm and three others with local offices are on the short list to design an $8 million cruise terminal and office complex at the Port of Palm Beach. Schwab, Twitty and Hanser, a West Palm Beach firm whose recent...

Cosmetic competition. (Aesthetics Medical Management Inc. signs contract for its first clinic in south Florida)
April 17, 1998... Company seeks surgeons, offices in South Florida South Florida's lucrative cosmetic surgery market is attracting a Connecticut-based physicians practice management company that plans to have offices in all three counties by year's end....

Community bank not endangered, but mascot is. (First Bank of Florida uses sea turtle for its advertising campaign)
April 17, 1998... Say hello to banking in the 1990s, when ATM transactions are replacing in-bank visits, a Mastercard will cover overdrafts, and one South Florida bank is betting that a loggerhead turtle will have more drawing power than a toaster. First Bank...

Apartments going next to Polo Club. (Related Group of Florida to buy 14 acres for residential development from Palm Beach Polo and Country Club)
April 17, 1998... For rent: Upscale apartments. Golf course view. Prince Charles and Tommy Lee Jones frequent neighborhood visitors. That's how an ad for the newest development being planned for a 14-acre sliver of Palm Beach Polo and County Club in Wellington...

Attorney shows how to win government incentives for your company. (Thomas D. Angelo, partner at law firm Eckert, Seamans, Cherin and Mellott)
April 17, 1998... Don't call it beginner's luck. This week, Thomas D. Angelo, partner in the Fort Lauderdale office of Eckert Seamans, won one of the largest public incentive packages for a company in Florida. It was his first try at this type of an effort. But...

Bank merger creates new opportunities in Miami. (NationsBank to merge with BankAmerica)
April 17, 1998... The biggest impact to South Florida's from the NationsBank-BankAmerica merger likely will be on the international front, where both institutions have Miami operations with Latin American orientation. Rival bankers aren't looking for layoffs at...

BE Aerospace gears for takeoff despite setbacks. (acquires Aircraft Modular Products)
April 17, 1998... BE Aerospace is piloting its stock to recovery after last year's free fall. The Wellington company, which makes airplane seats, galleys and entertainment systems, also is on a buying spree. This week, BE Aerospace said it would pay $118...

Roadhouse Grill turns up the fire.
April 17, 1998... With a new CEO, newfound profitability and an infusion of $15 million in investment capital, Fort Lauderdale-based Roadhouse Grill has raced into fourth place in the mid-priced steakhouse niche. After going public in 1993 with 31 restaurants,...

U.S.A. Floral rearranges flower imports.
April 17, 1998... It's Andres Kiger's third decade as a Miami flower importer. Even with stiff competition from more than 100 Miami flower businesses, he built Sabana Farms into a $10 million-plus concern. It's been only a week since Sabana was acquired with...

Icon & Landis moving into Northcorp. (Icon and Landis International leases office space at new office building in Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
April 24, 1998... Icon & Landis International, a market research company in West Palm Beach, will be the first anchor tenant in a new two-building office complex at Northcorp Center, the Palm Beach Gardens commerce park where Wackenhut Corp. is headquartered....

Levenger's new chapter. (mail-order firm doubles retail space at its Delray Beach headquarters)
April 24, 1998... Catalog company considers free-standing stores In a move that might foreshadow aspirations to build stores, Levenger has doubled retail space at its Delray Beach headquarters, adding a coffee bar and books to its signature assortment of tools...

Centex among those vying for City Place. (Centex-Rooney Construction Co. eyes contract for West Palm Beach mixed-used development project)
April 24, 1998... Will $300 million construction contract be put out for bid? While developers of CityPlace and West Palm Beach officials might be ready for the project's ceremonial groundbreaking on May 1, they aren't ready to start building. The $300...

Smelling a golden opportunity. (Golden Brew Inc. signs licensing agreement with Maxwell House)
April 24, 1998... Cooper City coffee company brews unprecedented deal with Maxwell House Dan Chiodo quickly woke up to smell an opportunity when he was asked to manufacture a Gold Tone Permanent coffee filter for Krups. But only when Golden Brew Inc. recently...

These friends really won't like a hangup. (Tel-A-Nation Inc.)
April 24, 1998... This time it's not lotions, potions, vitamins or makeup. It's that humming sound commonly referred to as a dial tone. A young Fort Lauderdale start-up business is selling discounted local telephone service to small businesses and households...

Miami's Micro Holdings thinking expansion.
April 24, 1998... PC distributor goes public with $11 million IP0 European Micro Holdings, an independent Miami computer distributor, is tapping the stock market to raise $11 million in an initial public offering. The company sells PCs, memory modules, disc...

Court battles stall Equity One's IPO.
April 24, 1998... But real estate investment trust says it will go public soon Seven months after announcing plans to trade publicly, the only place Miami Beach shopping center owner Equity One has gone public is in court. The private real estate investment...

Public hospitals want Medicaid care network. (Browar, Miami-Dade counties)
April 24, 1998... Broward, Miami-Dade hospital systems join in application with state Public hospitals systems in Miami-Dade and Broward counties want to lead a Medicaid reform project that would make some hospital and doctor groups more like health maintenance...