South Florida Business Journal articles from August 1999

South Florida Business Journal archives from August 1999

Ready, set, grow.(joint launching of Miramar Centre by Jones Lang LaSalle and Country Lakes)
August 27, 1999... Jones Lang LaSalle, Country Lakes join Miramar boom Soaring interest in southwest Broward County is prompting the first major commercial development west of I-75 in Miramar - $125 million in office and industrial space plus a...

Ungodly sight.(Archdiocese of Miami's lawsuit against Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church contractor)
August 27, 1999... As it deteriorates, a Miami church sues its architect, contractors Termite droppings on the altar. Puddles in the pews. The Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in South Miami-Dade recently won a design award for its modern and angular...

G.L. Homes leads land rush west of Delray.(Florida)
August 27, 1999... G.L. Homes is becoming one of the hungriest home builders grazing for land in the Agricultural Reserve, South Palm Beach County's final frontier. Coral Springs-based G.L., which controls more than 1,000 acres in the reserve, recently...

State describes Miami Beach a top Y2K offender.
August 27, 1999... When the new millennium comes knocking Dec. 31, Ocean Drive will shine as one of the world's hottest party spots. But Miami Beach may prove to be an irresponsible host, according to a state study due out Monday that ranks the city as...

Going up.(Harbour Centre building in Aventura, Miami, Florida)
August 27, 1999... Aventura finally to get some needed office space Two Miami-Dade developers plan to break ground on Aventura's first major office projects in nearly a decade. The biggest building, Harbour Centre at Aventura, is to rise on 3.9...

Jeanne Becker sells PR firm to Weber/RBB.(Becker Consulting Services Inc.; public relations)
August 27, 1999... Becker Consulting Services Inc., an 11-year-old Miami public relations firm, has merged its practice with Weber/RBB, Florida's largest PR agency. Jeanne A. Becker, who founded her firm in 1984, has developed a niche in Internet-related...

New PPO at HMO prices is 'fabulous,' HR chief says.(Pollo Tropical Human Resources Manager Sally Throckmorton; health maintenance organization; preferred provider organization)
August 27, 1999... Pollo Tropical Human Resources Manager Sally Throckmorton uses such words as "fabulous" and "awesome" to describe her new health insurance plan. It's a PPO at HMO prices, which makes her bottom line happy, but also includes an...

Big boost available for small businesses.(US Bank's entry into South Florida)
August 27, 1999... One of the nation's leaders in U.S. Small Business Administration lending enters South Florida U.S. Bank/SBA Division, one of the nation's leaders in U.S. Small Business Administration lending, entered South Florida this week by opening...

Ensuring a better future?(banking industry in South Florida)
August 27, 1999... South Florida banks are cautiously joining national trend to offer insurance More and more South Florida banks and savings and loans plan to sell insurance, following the recent enactment of a state law that clarifies their rules. ...

Banks and thrifts under Friedman's microscope.(Security analyst Martin Friedman)
August 27, 1999... Even though securities analyst Martin Friedman is 900 miles away in Arlington, Va., he still has perhaps his industry's closest view of banks and savings and loans in South Florida. Friedman is director of research at investment bank...

Blue Dot buys first South Florida company.(Lindstrom Inc.)
August 27, 1999... Lindstrom acquisition enhances company's HVAC consolidation effort After a prolonged cooling-off period, things are beginning to heat up for Blue Dot Services of Sunrise. On Monday, the privately owned HVAC (heating and...

Point Blank dilemma.(Point Blank Body Armor bulletproof vest maker)
August 20, 1999... Bulletproof vest maker outgrows Oakland Park facility With military and law enforcement contracts shooting in, Oakland Park-based Point Blank Body Armor finds itself bursting at the seams. The bulletproof vest company protects a...

Hollo's hunch.(real estate developer Tibor Hollo)
August 20, 1999... After 32 years, pioneer of Omni-Venetia may watch dream come true For 32 years, the experts whispered he was crazy. The heyday of the Omni-Venetia area has passed, they said. No one wants to plant their roots in a neighborhood...

Boynton company shows it cares.(healthcare company CyberCare)
August 20, 1999... CyberCare acquisition opens doors to a new way of treating patients When it completes its acquisition of CyberCare next week, a South Florida company will be poised to become a leader in Internet-based health care. Not Internet...

Stop the presses.(National Enquirer)
August 20, 1999... The Enquirer aims to become credible A spokeswoman who looks suspiciously like Diane Sawyer stands inside the National Enquirer's Lantana newsroom reporting on the cover story in that week's issue. It's part of a $50 million TV ad...

Internet firms find that missing link.
August 20, 1999... South Florida has won national recognition as the preferred home base for Latin America-centric Internet businesses. But as a local industry that's investing millions of dollars here, it's had virtually no cohesion among the players. ...

Not the end of the world.(downsizing at Pratt and Whitney)
August 20, 1999... Pratt & Whitney job cuts are a blow, but not a fatal one, to South Florida's high-tech industry Despite concerns that it will deliver a crippling blow to Palm Beach County's economy, local political and business leaders say the job cuts...

Miami's trade center going in new direction.(relocation of the World Trade Center Miami)
August 20, 1999... The Miami World Trade Center has relocated to the third floor of the Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel's Merchandise Mart, and added new benefits and amenities. The timing is good. The center's membership rolls have declined in the past few...

Trade center expected to have Palm Beach flair.(World Trade Center of Miami)
August 20, 1999... Fort Lauderdale World Trade Center licensee Fred Frankel once was adamantly opposed to a new center in West Palm Beach. He even made sure to tell the eventual winning bidder - West Palm Beach City Commissioner Al Zucaro - that he feared a...

Venture Forum presenters connecting to cash.
August 20, 1999... Presenters at the 1999 Florida Venture Forum have raised a total of $29.2 million in venture capital, according to preliminary funding results. Presenters who received funding after making a presentation at the 1999 conference include...

Smaller airlines flying higher on Journal's list.(Business Journal)
August 20, 1999... Although big-name airlines still dominate the skies over South Florida, more than a dozen smaller companies have spread their wings in the highly competitive passenger market. American Airlines, Delta and USAir retained the top three...

Link Worldwide pushes the envelope; to compete, Deerfield company shuffles management, quadruples space.
August 13, 1999... Link Worldwide in Deerfield Beach delivers relatively few packages, so it plans to deliver many changes. In July, Link shipped only 9,000 units from South Florida, while UPS, for instance, sent 3.8 million units from the region. To...

Picturing big success.(Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival)
August 13, 1999... Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival aims to reach the next level The founders of the first Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival aim to turn their cerebral gathering of artists and audiences into the Sundance of its genre. Held last month...

California REIT lands Miami's airport business.(real estate investment trust AMB Property Corp.; Airport Business Center)
August 13, 1999... After one month on the block, New York Life Insurance Co. recently sold Miami's Airport Business Center for $25.6 million. The 530,000-square-foot industrial park marks the first local Class B property for AMB Property Corp. (NYSE: AMB),...

Home Depot competitor opens fifth branch in South Florida.(Lowe's Companies Inc.)
August 13, 1999... Lowe's, the home improvement chain aiming to take a slice out of Home Depot in South Florida, recently signed a contract to buy 16 acres on Woolbright Road at I-95 in Boynton Beach, real estate sources say. The deal sets the stage for...

Mew Yorker buys valuable Brickell site.(parking operator and developer Jacob Sopher; Brickell Avenue, Miami, Florida)
August 13, 1999... A New York parking garage mogul has snapped up nearly 1.5 acres that may represent one of the last underutilized sites on Miami's Brickell Avenue. Jacob "Hank" Sopher, a Manhattan-based parking operator and developer, declined to reveal...

Seattle bank thriving in South Florida.(Washington Mutual)
August 13, 1999... Washington Mutual business increases consumer lending Washington Mutual has expanded its South Florida customer base more than 15 percent since mid-1998, and Chairman and CEO Kerry Killinger expects ongoing strong expansion of its...

Fraud spotlight on Miami-Dade County clinics.
August 13, 1999... U.S., state, local agencies crack down on bigger billings A rare partnership among federal, state and local medical agencies has been formed to crack down on Medicare fraud in Miami-Dade County medical clinics. The U.S. Health Care...

HMO fined for low, slow pay to ER doctors.(health maintenance organization Physicians Healthcare Plans Inc.; emergency room)
August 13, 1999... State officials have fined Physicians Healthcare Plans Inc. $26,500 for paying emergency room doctors too little and/or too late. The Agency for Health Care Administration fines were announced July 22 in a letter from Florida's managed...

Plastic surgery office rule adopted - for now.
August 13, 1999... The latest incarnation of the office surgery rule that has kept the Florida Board of Medicine busy for two years is in its final form. At least for a while. Prompted by reports in the Sun-Sentinel that as many as 18 people have died in...

Doctor fined for eye-disease treatment ad.(Richard C. Davis)
August 13, 1999... Dr. Richard C. Davis, a Tampa physician who has promoted a costly, experimental blood-cleansing therapy to treat a blinding disease, has been fined $10,000 by the Florida Board of Medicine. Under the consent agreement with state medical...

Area firms soaking up venture capital loans.(South Florida)
August 13, 1999... Six South Florida companies received venture capital totaling $55.4 million during this year's second quarter, helping Florida stay on pace for its strongest venture capital year since PricewaterhouseCoopers began tracking that activity in...

Loans to small businesses boosted by SBA's backing.(Small Business Administration)(Statistical Data Included)
August 6, 1999... TOP LENDERS IN SBA'S SOUTH FLORIDA DISTRICT (SBA-guaranteed 7(a) loans for nine months ended June 30,) VOLUME LENDERS LOANS ($ IN MILLIONS) 1. Newcourt Small Business Lending 84 31.2 2. ...

West Palm Beach bank tops SBA's list of lenders.(Republic Security Bank)(Small Business Administration)(West Palm Beach, FL)(Statistical Data Included)
August 6, 1999... FRIENDLY TO SMALL BUSINESS Rank In Bank Headquarters Florida 1 Republic Security Bank West Palm Beach 10 Community Bank of Florida Homestead 25 Security...

Banking on Brickell's boom.(Espirito Santo Bank of Florida's plan to build 35-story tower in Brickell Avenue, FL)
August 6, 1999... Portuguese financial cements plans for 35-story tower It might have been providence. Or it might just have been bad plumbing. One of Portugal's most powerful banking conglomerates has seized the chance created by a six-floor flood in...

IBM may be big in Boca once again.(Boca Raton, FL)(IBM's plan to build facility in South Palm Beach or north Broward, FL)
August 6, 1999... North Broward also vies for 1,500-employee site IBM looks to put down real estate roots again in South Florida. The computer giant, which built and gave birth to the personal computer at the sprawling Boca Raton complex now known as...

Forging ahead.(Miami Beach, FL's The Forge restaurant)
August 6, 1999... Restaurateur aims, and achieves, the impossible - pleasing everyone It's 8 p.m. when he enters - smooth, sleek and dressed in black. He greets every person like a long-lost relative. He makes eye contact, extends warm handshakes,...

State puts Blue Cross under scrutiny.(Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida Inc.'s alleged coercion and intimidation practice)
August 6, 1999... A hotly contested contract rider has caused the 17,000-member Florida Medical Association to ask for a state investigation of insurance powerhouse Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida Inc. The doctors' group says Blue Cross is violating...

Medicare cuts to Florida hospitals under review.(planned reform of the Balanced Budget Act)
August 6, 1999... With U.S. budget surplus, reimbursement cutbacks are getting a second look With hospitals across Florida looking to lose almost $4 billion in Medicare reimbursements if the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 continues, hospitals and...

Music hath charms.(Boca Raton, FL's Tavern in the Greenery restaurant)
August 6, 1999... It soothes so many diners Boca hidden restaurant thrives As Boca Raton restaurateur Stephan Geson well knows, change is a constant in the restaurant business. That's why, when sales started to flatten out a year ago at his popular...

Some area hospitals are costlier than state average.(South Florida)
August 6, 1999... The state's hospital report card is in. Not everyone is making the grade. In its second consumer guide on hospitals, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration compared actual 1996 costs with expected costs in 16 medical...