South Florida Business Journal articles from January 1995

South Florida Business Journal archives from January 1995

Trump's club: not so fast. (Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Co. loan prevents opening of Donald Trump's private club)(includes related article)
January 27, 1995... Little-noticed agreement blocks opening until developer pays $12 million loan Palm Beach - Earlier this month, construction workers scrambled to complete renovations to the famed Mar-A-Lago estate so that owner Donald Trump could transform...

Fraud case gets new life: investor to press claim against Raymond James. (Warren Tetzlaff; Raymond, James and Associates Inc.)
January 27, 1995... Fort Lauderdale - A securities fraud arbitration against Raymond James & Associates Inc. and one of its local brokers that has been kicking around for more than three years got new life last week. That came when an appellate court said...

Bo knows TV: Miami radio jock getting syndicated TV talk show. (WPOW 96.5 FM disc jockey Bo Griffin)
January 27, 1995... Miami - Bo Griffin, morning deejay on WPOW 96.5 FM (Power 96), is heading for television. The co-host of the "Mindy & Bo" show has signed a contract with New York-based Viacom Inc. to host a talk show. "The ink isn't even dry yet," Griffin...

Lauderdale cops can save on mortgages. (Bank of North America offers mortgage program to Fort Lauderdale, Florida police)
January 27, 1995... Fort Lauderdale - Bank of North America has started a special mortgage program for Fort Lauderdale police officers to encourage them to move into low and moderate income neighborhoods. Officers willing to move into designated neighborhoods can...

HIP launches Medicare HMO in South Florida. (HIP Health Plan of Florida Inc.; health maintenance organization)
January 27, 1995... Hollywood - HIP Health Plan of Florida Inc. has launched its Medicare HMO. The Hollywood-based not-for-profit managed care company joins a crowd of HMOs competing to provide health care benefits to South Florida's elderly population....

PC teachers find profit in training. (computer training company PC Professor)
January 27, 1995... Boca Raton - Diane Clifford, a computer coordinator at Office Depot, is one happy student of PC Professor. "If it wasn't for these guys, I don't think I'd be sitting here," says Clifford. She learned DOS, Lotus, Excel, Microsoft Access and...

Community college heads challenge 25 percent budget cuts.
January 27, 1995... South Florida - Campuses would close and thousands of students would be denied an education. That's what the presidents of South Florida's community colleges predict would happen if the Legislature follows through with budget cuts of 25...

Broward district, Columbia talking lease arrangement. (Broward Hospital District; Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.)
January 27, 1995... Pembroke Pines - In an unusual pairing of public and private health care interests, the South Broward Hospital District may lease Pembroke Pines Hospital from Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. If the deal is completed, Memorial West Hospital and...

College grads lacking in Tri-County area. (Dade, Broward and Palm Beach)
January 27, 1995... South Florida is a tourism destination and transportation center and grows a lot of produce - which is partly why it's no hotbed of academic credentials. In a study of 80 metropolitan areas, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area ranked 58th in the...

Tightening demand may spark construction. (office and commercial space) (Real Estate Monthly) (Industry Overview)
January 27, 1995... Leasing rates are heading up, while supply is going down. And that could spark new construction, soon, but just how soon remains to be answered. That's the basic overview for South Florida's office market, according to several industry...

Bank moves slowly in consolidating operations. (SunTrust Banks Inc.)
January 20, 1995... The name is not the only change at SunTrust Banks - the Atlanta-based superregional also is consolidating its marketing, human resources and finance operations. Bank executives said the name change will give a common identity to an...

Med firm gets infusion; but suit challenges key expansion move. (Southeastern Anesthesia Management Associates Inc.)
January 20, 1995... HOLLYWOOD - A long-time local health care company's efforts to expand have brought it both new capital and a lawsuit challenging its business practices. Southeastern Anesthesia Management Associates Inc. (SAMA) is diversifying by acquiring...

No revenue, no profit, but Panda stock soars. (Panda Project Inc.)
January 20, 1995... BOCA RATON - The Panda Project Inc., a two-year-old computer company with no profits and no revenue, was Florida's best-performing initial public offering in 1994. The company, which develops and licenses products for the computer industry,...

TV's next frontier: Paxson plans infomercial network. (Lowell Paxson)
January 20, 1995... Home Shopping Network co-founder Lowell "Bud" Paxson is getting back into the couch potato business, this time with a television infomercial network. Paxson's company, Paxson Communications Corp., the largest Florida-based radio and TV...

Card processor wins big accounts. (TransGlobal Systems Inc.)
January 20, 1995... FORT LAUDERDALE - A newly formed credit and debit card processing company has signed up some big-name customers since it opened for business about six months ago. TransGlobal Systems Inc. has added Carnival Hotels & Resorts, Cunard Line Ltd....

Lipton tourney's image: get-with-it, MTV-style slam. (Lipton Championships tennis tournament)
January 20, 1995... KEY BISCAYNE - The Lipton Championships tennis tournament wants to change its reputation from a conservative garden party to one of a rockin', MTV-style glam slam. "There's been this feeling that we're not staying up with the modern...

Sports Leisure CEO moves to reduce role in company. (Milton Barbarosh)
January 20, 1995... BOCA RATON - Milton Barbarosh, chairman and chief executive of Sports/Leisure Inc., has engineered a complex series of deals that will reduce his role in the company to a minimum. Barbarosh, a turnaround specialist who has been trying to...

Founder struggled in prior business in Ohio. (Panda Project Inc. founder Stanford W. Crane, Jr.)
January 20, 1995... The last company Stanford W. Crane Jr. founded sought protection from creditors in an Ohio bankruptcy court. Crane himself filed for personal bankruptcy a month later. But investors seem to be undeterred by the business history of The...

Sound Advice Inc. (proxy report excerpts) (Taking Stock) (Company Profile)
January 20, 1995... 1901 Tigertail Blvd., Dania 33004 (305) 922-4434 Sound Advice Inc. is a specialty retailer of upscale entertainment and consumer electronic products, such as home and car audio systems, video products, large screen televisions, cellular...

Stars & diamonds forever? (Hospitality Quarterly)
January 20, 1995... Some South Florida hoteliers say the Mobil and AAA travel guides are gospel to their guests. Others say they're hopelessly out of touch. Diamonds may be a hotel's best friend - and so may stars. But neither means much to Michael Glennie....

City National moves to buy bigger stake in Aventura S&L. (City National Bancshares Corp.; Turnberry Savings & Loan Association)
January 13, 1995... Miami - City National Bancshares and Abess Properties are seeking to double their stake in Turnberry Savings & Loan Association. The two have applied to acquire an additional 20.6 percent of the outstanding shares of Turnberry Savings, a...

Beans to bucks: freight firm readies for coffee trade. (Econocaribe Consolidators Inc.)
January 13, 1995... Hialeah - Econocaribe Consolidators Inc., one of the largest freight consolidators in South Florida, is preparing for Miami's coming designation as a coffee and cocoa exchange. The company paid $3.3 million last month for a...

Booming business prompts new Capital deal. (Capital Factors Inc. stock issues)
January 13, 1995... Factor raises $25 million from securities sale Fort Lauderdale - Capital Factors Inc. has issued $25 million in asset-backed securities, five months after it issued $100 million in a similar private placement. Last July, the company...

MedPartners files with SEC to go public. (MedPartners Inc.)(includes related article)
January 13, 1995... The Alabama company that swept through South Florida last year buying doctors' practices is now trying to raise money from outside investors to acquire even more health care groups. MedPartners Inc., which is based in Birmingham, Ala., has...

Merger creates $100M computer exporter. ($100 million, All Exim Corp. and Dinorall Corp.)
January 13, 1995... Miami - All Exim Corp. and Dinorall Corp., two Miami computer exporters, have merged, forming a $100 million-a-year concern. The merger took effect late last month. "We believe in economies of scale. Our purchasing power is far much...

Noven facing competition in estrogen-patch competition. (Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc.) (Health Care Monthly)
January 13, 1995... Miami - Competition and manufacturing delays may threaten the success of Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s new estrogen replacement patch. Sometime this year, the Miami-based company plans to market the patch, which was approved by the FDA last...

Turf dispute may end; Burger King, franchisee clash drew national attention.
January 6, 1995... MIAMI -- Miami-based Burger King Corp. is said to be nearing a multi-million dollar settlement with a Massachusetts man who claims the fast-food giant ruined his Burger King restaurant by opening another outlet too close to his. The case has...

Good deal turns sour for South Beach investors. (investors in South Florida's Art Deco Charles Hotel defrauded)(includes related article)
January 6, 1995... MIAMI BEACH -- William Pilkington figured he had stumbled across a good thing. With a down payment of $11,800, he could buy two small condos in the Art Deco Charles Hotel on South Beach. "It looked like a straightforward, legitimate deal,"...

Study says Dolphins fans just so-so. (football game attendance)
January 6, 1995... Denver has best; L.A. Raiders have worst Forget last Saturday's sellout at Joe Robbie Stadium. Miami Dolphins fans are just lukewarm when it comes to supporting their team. That's the conclusion of a just-completed analysis of attendance...

More growth ahead for South Florida.
January 6, 1995... Economists are upbeat about South Florida's economy in 1995, projecting more jobs and more people. But the growth the region has seen over the past few years should slow down, according to a recent forecast by the Federal Reserve Bank of...

N.Y. investor seeks more Florida properties. (The Brown Co.s)
January 6, 1995... A New York real estate investment company paid $25 million for four Florida shopping centers -- three in South Florida -- and plans to invest $75 million in the next few years. The deals mark the first time the 25-year-old company has...

This knife saves lives. (Eliminator Industries Inc.'s Excalibur Knife for Life)
January 6, 1995... His own experience made firefighter enter business RIVIERA BEACH -- The reasons many people start their own business -- money, independence, the desire to be one's own boss -- had little to do with former firefighter John Flaherty's entry...

ProxyMed retools with new product.
January 6, 1995... FORT LAUDERDALE -- ProxyMed is restructuring to sell a new product, but executives say it may be a challenge to persuade doctors and managed care companies to buy it. Fort Lauderdale-based ProxyMed recently laid off 45 of its 180 employees...

Free Zone plans $10M expansion. (Free Zone Corp. to increase size of Miami Free Trade Zone)
January 6, 1995... Trade firm will add 240,000 square feet of space MIAMI -- German Leiva bets increased international trade will boost his business, but first he needs more space. Leiva, founder and president of Miami Free Zone Corp. is embarking on an...

Bank's latest conquest to add $2B in deposits. (First Union National Bank of North Carolina buys Coral Gables Fedcorp.)
January 6, 1995... CORAL GABLES -- First Union started 1995 the way it spent much of 1994 -- buying banks and thrifts in Florida to increase its market share. In its latest deal, the North Carolina superregional agreed to buy Coral Gables Fedcorp for $26.59...

Getting the message: local knowledge helped pave way for one marketeer. (interview wiht Barbara Gothard of public relations firm The Gothard Group) (Marketing to Minorities) (Interview)
January 6, 1995... Since Barbara Gothard founded her Miami-based public relations firm, The Gothard Group, in 1988, her star has been rising. Her firm was honored last year as one of the top women-owned businesses in Dade County by the National Association of...

Language, sensitivity are keys to penetrating Hispanic market. (Marketing to Minorities)
January 6, 1995... The great American mass market has disappeared. In its place are many segmented markets. African-American, Asian, urban, suburban, older, younger, and, of course, as we in South Florida well know, the Hispanic market. Numbering more than...

Here are 25 stocks to watch in the coming year.
January 6, 1995... Let's start the new year with some stock picks, courtesy of five South Florida professionals who devote most of their working hours to the market. We're not looking to keep score here; we're interested in giving you a sense of their...