South Florida Business Journal articles from January 1998

South Florida Business Journal archives from January 1998

Miami Film Fest comes up $50,000 short. (15th Annual Miami Film Festival)
January 2, 1998... This year's festival is OK, but shortfall may threaten 15-year-old event's future Four weeks away from launching the 15th annual Miami Film Festival, the event's organizers are still looking for a few good corporate sponsors. Actually, they...

Two Dade temp firms merging. (Career Xchange and Contemporary Personnel Services)
January 2, 1998... Career Xchange will absorb Contemporary Personnel Services Personnel agency owners Sue Romanos and Nick Alonso cringed at the thought of selling to one of the national companies that are gobbling up small firms like theirs - so the two...

Mutual Fund Channel using Web technology to make its big 'push'. (Internet broadcasting)
January 2, 1998... New Internet broadcasting 'pushes' fund information directly to subscribers' home computers Brad Levine thinks the Internet has some fundamental problems and that web sites are simply "grandiose brochures that are essentially becoming huge...

Miracle Mile starts making its way back. (shopping district)
January 2, 1998... Business Improvement District starts work as more holiday shoppers are counted More than six weeks into her new job, Renee Verhoff is content with the little progress that already has come to Coral Gables' Miracle Mile shopping district....

Boca firm experimenting with magnetic bone-healing device. (Alpha Electronics (USA) Inc.)
January 2, 1998... Alpha Electronics to test and market electromagnetic machine from Germany A Boca Raton company hopes to break into the multi-million-dollar wound therapy market with a German electromagnet device some say stimulates healing. The Alphatron's...

Palm Beach visiting nurses group will have to sell. (Visiting Nurses Assn.)
January 2, 1998... Merger with Vero Beach nurses fails, so the group will have to be acquired by a for-profit agency Competition for health-care contracts could soon mean the end of Palm Beach County's oldest charitable home nursing agency. Unable to merge...

Welcome, new year welcome, peril. (computer date problem)
January 2, 1998... This may be a happy New Year, but how glad are your computers going to be to greet the Year 2000? You may have gladly greeted the New Year this past week, but what happens when the clock strikes midnight to ring in Jan. 1, 2000. You welcome...

A road to run? (staying healthy)
January 2, 1998... Staying healthy when work sends you on the road is a matter of making the right choices about eating and exercise Luxurious road trips with buffet-laden business meetings and healthy-sized expense accounts can be tasty perks of the working...

Survey: most business travelers don't fit stereotypes.
January 2, 1998... Some of us hate it and some of us love it, but everybody has an opinion about traveling on business Contrary to the stereotype of the burned-out road warrior who would be happy never to go out of town on business again, many frequent travelers...

Consumers go for broke; Palm Beach bankruptcies soar more than 25 percent.
January 9, 1998... Palm Beach County's personal bankruptcy figures climbed by nearly a quarter in 1997 as a record number of consumers sought shelter from overwhelming debt. An estimated 6,435 people filed for relief or reorganization of their debts, which was...

Study: not enough tech workers here. (Palm Beach County, FL)
January 9, 1998... A shortage of technically trained workers in Palm Beach County could pose a serious threat to the growth of the county's economy, according to a soon-to-be released study. The study, commissioned by the Business Development Board of Palm Beach...

Paper profits: Edwards Paper is carving a niche in the competitive paper products industry. (Edwards Paper Co.)(Small Business Strategies)(Company Profile)
January 9, 1998... Toilet paper manufacturer Eduardo Flores aims to build his company into a big player in the second tier of paper makers. That's an ambitious goal for a company that launched in 1991 with just Flores and his wife on the payroll. But Flores has...

Merger will double Computer Products. (merger with Zytec Corp.)(Interview)
January 9, 1998... Boca Raton-based Computer Products Inc. (Nasdaq:CPRD) and Zytec Corp. of Eden Prairie, Minn., are officially married. And they both changed their name. The newly created Artesyn Technologies is one of the largest worldwide power supply...

Retailers still wearing smiles from big holiday sales.
January 9, 1998... South Florida shoppers with loose purse strings and generous spirits helped retailers have a joyous holiday season. Bloomingdale's CEO Michael Gould said his company's strongest holiday sales were in Florida. "Palm Beach Gardens saw almost a...

Realtors a target for savvy scammers.
January 9, 1998... Janet Munro was fairly certain that the sharply dressed twenty-something guy who came to her realty office a few months ago was a legitimate buyer of a high-end home. He wore a pricey watch and expensive shoes. He had an attractive young lady...

Marketplace Dental joins Dental Care Alliance in $1.3M deal.
January 9, 1998... Marketplace Dental Inc. of Lake Worth merged into Sarasota-based Dental Care Alliance Inc., putting South Florida on the fast track of dentistry's budding movement toward physician-like practice management. In a transaction announced Dec. 30,...

Wilt Chamberlain's eatery purchased for $1.8 million.
January 9, 1998... Even for basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain, launching a nationwide chain of sports bars was a tall order. But his stalled dream may get a jump start after a New Jersey partnership bought his prototype Wilt Chamberlain's Restaurant in suburban...

Warehouse demand getting stronger. (Palm Beach County, Florida)
January 30, 1998... Expert: 'Somebody ought to be building something big in Palm Beach' Owners of industrial buildings in Palm Beach County enjoyed falling vacancies and rising rents last year. The question for this year: When will developers start putting up...

Home Depot launches Expo in Boynton. (Boynton Beach, Florida)
January 30, 1998... America's do-it-yourself leader has chosen the sandy soil of Boynton Beach to launch an experiment that will land penny-pinching do-it-yourselfers in the same parking lot as free-spending designers. In April, Home Depot starts construction on...

A new shot for Todhunter: West Palm Beach liquor distributor expanding from bulk sales to high-end bottles. (Todhunter International)
January 30, 1998... West Palm Beach liquor distributor expanding from bulk sales to high-end bottles Todhunter International founder and CEO A. Kenneth Pincourt Jr. had a 30-year-old company that was doing quite fine distilling, distributing and bottling liquor....

Service brings ringing success: free loaner phones, house calls and other personal touches boost Genesis Communication Systems.(Small Business Strategies)
January 30, 1998... Free loaner phones, house calls and other personal touches boost Genesis Communication Systems Emergency or not, a snapped cellular telephone antenna sometimes requires prompt expert attention. But a 40-mile house call? All Beth Azor did was...

Michael Adler's new team has eye on industrial parks - including MICC. (real estate developer's plan to purchase the Miami International Commercial Center)(Interview)
January 30, 1998... A deal between deep-pocketed New Yorkers and Miami developer Michael Adler could put Miami International Commerce Center back in Adler's hands. Adler's father launched the mammoth warehouse park in the late '70s. In 1993, Adler Group and Met...

Headhunter for hire: Omni hits new recruiting target. (Omni Partners)
January 30, 1998... Corporate headhunters make sports agents look tame. They command hefty chunks of candidates' salaries - 20 percent to 30 percent - and they often demand their fees up front. But a new breed of headhunter offers a less expensive, less extensive...

Projects resurrect downtown Lake Worth. (Lake Worth, Florida)
January 30, 1998... The land at the northwest corner of Lake Avenue and Dixe Highway, across from Lake Worth City Hall, has been on the market for more than 10 years. A few weeks ago, developers went before the city's planning commission to propose a deal to...

Low-tech ventures become the talk of Venture Capital show. (Florida Venture Capital Conference)
January 30, 1998... From handing out shoes to showing off tropical fish, entreprenuers seek backers Amid the slew of start-up technology companies at the Florida Venture Capital Conference were a few companies that could fit into an "other" category. One...

Three Palm Beach resorts expanding meeting space. (Palm Beach County, Florida)
January 30, 1998... The three largest resorts in Palm Beach County, striving to keep pace with the needs of their corporate customers, are expanding their convention and meeting space to offer grander and better-equipped facilities. The Boca Raton Resort & Club...

Unemployment tax saves businesses a bundle.
January 30, 1998... TALLAHASSEE - Florida businesses will save $162 million this year thanks to a cut in the state's unemployment tax. A bill passed during the 1997 legislative session cuts the amount businesses must pay into a state unemployment trust fund, while...