South Florida Business Journal articles from June 1997

South Florida Business Journal archives from June 1997

Assisted living homes seen as a shaky answer for the 'gray wave.'
June 27, 1997... Lillian Tokaji, a lifelong housewife whose family is now spread out across the country, lived alone in her Miami home for 10 years after the death of her husband, until the day she fainted and was too weak to get up by herself. No longer able...

New power center set to challenge Pembroke Crossing.
June 27, 1997... PEMBROKE PINES - Pembroke Crossing, the power center that's been drawing big-box retailers to the corner of Pines Boulevard and Flamingo Road over the past few months, is about to get a run for its money. Developers Kevin Buckley and Randall...

No boom on Brickel Ave. - yet. (South FLorida)
June 27, 1997... New Class A buildings still look to be a long way off The good news is that the Brickell office market is on the upswing after years of being in the doldrums. So why isn't anyone talking about new construction on one of Miami's hottest...

How to choose a computer. (small business computerization)(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... Choosing the right computer for your company involves doing some computations of your own. While the computer needs of a public relations company are obviously different from those of a widget manufacturer, it shouldn't come as surprise that...

HMO drug lists tell doctors what they can prescribe. (health maintenance organization)
June 27, 1997... When Dr. Edward Feller has to write a prescription to treat an ulcer, he relies on more than just his medical knowledge of which drug works best. The Miami gastroenterologist has to turn to a list of drugs approved by his patient's managed care...

Hilton to turn Miami Beach hotels into time shares.
June 27, 1997... MIAMI BEACH - Hilton Grand Vacation Co., a new time-share division of the venerable hotel chain, will fly its flag on Ocean Drive next year with the acquisition of two historic properties. Hilton paid $2.45 million for the Ocean Plaza hotel,...

Groups butting heads on tort reform - again.
June 27, 1997... TALLAHASSEE - The group was put together by House Speaker Daniel Webster to negotiate a compromise on tort reform. But there was little the members seemed able to agree on at their organizational session last week - beyond the fact that they...

How to find a CPA.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... Certified public accountants don't just crunch numbers anymore. Now, they also advise companies on financial problems and tackle tax snafus. And for individuals, CPAs are offering financial advice and estate planning services in addition to...

South Florida companies top state entrepreneur list.
June 27, 1997... When it comes to entrepreneurial success stories, South Florida is full of them. The evidence: five of eight companies honored at Ernst & Young's Florida Entrepreneur of the Year awards gala Thursday night in Orlando were from Dade, Broward...

Study: 'bundling' on federal contracts hurting small firms.
June 27, 1997... WASHINGTON - The federal government's effort to consolidate contracts in the name of efficiency has squeezed thousands of small businesses out of the procurement marketplace and left others with their contracts slashed drastically. A...

How to launch a web site.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... The World Wide Web is now, without a doubt, the hottest new medium of communication since the television. "Surfing the Web" has become a popular pastime - at last count, roughly 35 million American adults were using the Internet. And...

How to reach international markets. (Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... If you're planning to expand your business into foreign emerging markets, the International Trade Administration wants to help. Under the direction of the Commerce Department, the ITA has created the U.S. Export Assistance Center, a...

Congress: U.S. in 'dire need' of more bankruptcy judges.
June 27, 1997... Skyrocketing consumer and business bankruptcies soon could force the federal government to pour more money into the judicial system. With more than 1.1 million bankruptcies filed nationwide last year and another 10 percent increase in filings...

How to choose a phone system.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... So, you're buying a new telephone system? Perhaps you have outgrown your current system or it is no longer reliable. Maybe you are opening a new business or office. What do you need? What about voice mail? Do you need to re-cable? Where do...

How to get an office lease.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... The space that houses a company generally is one of its biggest expenses, so it behooves a renter to craft a lease with care and awareness. To protect themselves, most tenants hire office brokers, specifically tenant representation...

Making Paxson's radio empire part of his own. (Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s acquisition of radio stations)
June 27, 1997... The surprising purchase of Bud Paxson's 46 radio stations brings the total to 169 for Lowry Mays SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Every now and then, employees in the far-flung Clear Channel Communications Inc. empire get the ultimate compliment from...

How to choose office furniture.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... So you've decided the mismatched desks, scratched file cabinets and creaky chairs need to go. But what do you replace them with? Before buying a truckload of trendy office furniture, determine what employees need to perform their jobs safely...

How to plan a trade show booth.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... The first and most important step in planning a successful trade show booth is picking the right show. There are a few things you need to ask a show promoter to find out whether a show is right for you and your business: * What was last...

How to pick medical benefits.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... As an employer, health care costs are probably one of the items of most concern to you when reviewing your bottom line. Making the right decisions when evaluating your existing health care benefits plan or new plan is a complex issue, a careful...

How to choose a bank.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... Finding a bank to provide financial services for your company is more complicated than choosing a personal banker. While convenience and a wide range of services are important for both personal and corporate accounts, business banking...

Why aren't you using some (free) seminars to sell? (sales technique)(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... Picture this: You invite prospects and customers to a seminar/party. You present the same information you use in a sales presentation to a group of qualified, interested people. After the short talk, they are fed well, and because they're in a...

Some hotel phone systems will fry your modem.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... Your hotel room - 7 a.m.. The presentation looks great. You just need to dial into the office and download the financial data. No problem at all. Turn on the notebook computer... insert your PC Card modem... plug the phone cord into the...

How to choose a corporate attorney. (Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... The American Bar Association suggests using several resources to find and retain a corporate lawyer. Its booklet, How to Choose & Use a Lawyer, offers the following advice: The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory has a roster of bar members in...

Transplanted New York lawyer making his own case with Kenco Communities. (housing development firm)(Real Estate Monthly)
June 27, 1997... You'd think practicing law in Manhattan and representing real estate clients would have made Ken Endelson happy. But the entrepreneur liked what his developer clients were doing better, so he closed his practice, bought a single lot and built...

Sales are up, so surf is down for the No.1 retail broker at Grubb & Ellis.(Real Estate Monthly)
June 27, 1997... Commercial real estate broker David Lipp dreams of surfing exotic places, such as the Maldives islands off the coast of India, but he doesn't have time. Thirteen years in the real estate business working in industrial, office and now retail...

A superstar broker turns investor with the goal of 1 million square feet of his own.(Real Estate Monthly)
June 27, 1997... In just three years on his own, Robert Cambo, president of Miami-based Cambo Realty Inc., has made the transition from star broker at Codina Bush Klein to supernova in the exclusive world of top-level real estate investment brokerage. Last...

How to train your staff.(Small Business Strategies)
June 27, 1997... Corporate America can no longer afford to relegate employee training to the discretionary budget items line. Employees need ever-sharper skills to respond effectively to fast-changing business practices, new technologies and increasing...

Courts, juries holding property owners liable when crime occurs.(Real Estate Monthly)
June 27, 1997... Call it another cost of doing business - making sure your property is crime-proof. Over the years, case law has made the landlord-tenant relationship the same as it has been under English common law involving an innkeeper: If a guest is a...

How to renegotiate your office lease.(Real Estate Monthly)
June 27, 1997... In today's environment of low office vacancies, tenants are carefully evaluating their options. Office rents have increased rapidly with the decline of vacancies, which were over 25 percent three years ago and are less than 10 percent today....

Brew pub chain hops to it; Hops Grill & Bar opening 5 new locations in 5 months.
June 20, 1997... Hops Grill & Bar, a Tampa-based chain of restaurant/brew pubs that made a tentative South Florida entry two years ago, will blitz the market this year with five more openings in the next five months. First to open - on July 1 if permitting is...

Most HMOs hit state's sick list; only one-third meet minimum financial requirements. (health maintenance organizations)(includes related articles)(Industry Overview)
June 20, 1997... More of Florida's health maintenance organizations than ever - 26 of 39 - failed to meet a state-required minimum 2 percent return on revenue last year, according to newly compiled state Department of Insurance records. Furthermore, 16 of...

Vento Software: information is power - and profit, too.
June 20, 1997... Using Vento Software products, a senior manager in a bank, retail chain, telecommunications company or other industry can sit down at her desk, turn on the PC and enjoy instant access to the latest customer data in an easy-to-read map or...

West Palm's Phoenix on a buying spree: Phoenix International adds software firm to roster of tech, clothing and building companies. (Phoenix International Industries Inc; Intuitive Technology Consultants Inc)
June 20, 1997... Phoenix International adds software firm to roster of tech, clothing and building companies A fast-growing Florida holding company has snapped up Atlanta-based Intuitive Technology Consultants Inc. as part of a wide-ranging buying spree....

Vitech whets Brazil's 'insatiable' thirst for PCs. (Vitech America Inc exports personal computers)
June 20, 1997... Brazil may be known more for sambas than computer sales, but that hasn't kept Vitech America from riding the technology wave sweeping Latin America's largest market - to the tune of $73.3 million in sales. Vitech is a Miami-based personal...

Citrix rebounds - after a close call with Bill Gates. (Citrix Systems Inc)
June 20, 1997... Talk about dodging a bullet, Bill Gates-style. After strengthening its ties with Microsoft Corp., Citrix Systems Inc. is preparing for significant expansion, including an overseas push and possibly doubling its 190 employee-work force. "The...

Businesses ready to cure Year 2000 threat - but Feds aren't. (computer transition)
June 20, 1997... Expected mini-bonanza for high-tech businesses fails to materialize - agencies just don't have the money Picture this: At the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, the air traffic control system breaks down and the communications system for the...

Even companies off the list are still on the fast track. (fastest growing high technology firms)(Industry Overview)
June 20, 1997... A common element bonds some companies that didn't return to this year's FastTech 40 list: Uncommon growth or recovery. Companies such as IVAX, Magic Box, UCS Inc. and Ocean Bio chemical Inc. each either have suffered their share of woes, been...

A real skin peel. (IMX Corp to market banana-based cream for psoriasis)
June 20, 1997... A Boca Raton businessman slips into exclusive rights for a breakthrough psoriasis treatment extracted from banana peels BOCA RATON - When Bill Forster received a call from a South African businessman looking for someone to distribute a...

Outlook good for Broward shopping center market. (Broward County, FL)
June 13, 1997... Broward County's shopping center market is looking up this year, with lower vacancy rates and far better absorption than 1996 levels. Miami-based Terranova Corp., which compiles such figures annually for Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties,...

Better times: Latin bankers like Florida prospects as second Miami conference looms.
June 13, 1997... MIAMI - Latin America's bankers weren't in the mood for celebration in November 1987 when they last met in Miami for the annual Federation of Latin American Banks. "Latin America was still coming out of its debt crisis," said Marcos Kerbel,...

On-line banking slow to grow, but banks say they are committed.
June 13, 1997... On-line banking is in its infancy, with only 4.5 million users nationwide, according to Jupiter Communications, a New York market research firm. But Jupiter projects that number to rise to 13.1 million by 2000, due to better marketing, more...

Heir apparent. (Wackenhut COO and Pres Richard Wackenhut)
June 6, 1997... Richard Wackenhut's father was rarely home for dinner. After former FBI agent George Wackenhut started his small investigative company in Miami, there always was a meeting to attend, a client to be wooed or a problem to be solved. But one...

Time running short for Sunrise HMO. (Sunrise Healthcare Plan Inc.)
June 6, 1997... FORT LAUDERDALE - Timing is critical for Sunrise Healthcare Plan Inc. When the managed care company bumped owner Don Russakoff's pay from zero to $780,000 while facing a cash shortage that may lead to a state takeover, it was bad timing....

State set to scrap HMO Medicaid bids. (health maintenance organizations in Florida)
June 6, 1997... Plagued and frustrated by lawsuits, the state is days away from trashing attempts to award Medicaid contracts through a competitive bidding process. It's a move that could skew the bottom line of some managed care companies that say they...

Humana may be just what PCA needs. (acquisition of Physician Corp. of America by Humana Inc.)
June 6, 1997... If ever a managed care company needed resuscitation, it's Physician Corp. of America. Bleeding badly after losing millions in its workers' compensation division, the Miami-based managed care company found itself desperately seeking a...

State's doctors weave their web; 600-page Web site soon will list every doctor in Florida.
June 6, 1997... When Philippe and Audrey Cornu moved to Orlando from Switzerland four years ago, they took to the Internet to find a local doctor. While it's estimated that the World Wide Web contains some 10,000 health-oriented sites, the Cornus were...

Dadeland retail is looking up. (shopping centers planned in Kendall, Florida)
June 6, 1997... Kendall shoppers soon might be spending more time on escalators. Spurred by strong demand for retail space and the apparent success of Dadeland Station, developers are planning new vertical shopping centers near Dadeland Mall. Gulfside...

Turnaround artist expects to sell of Rose Auto Stores. (John Grigsby)
June 6, 1997... But some stores may reopen as early as this weekend, he says A week after laying off 400 to 500 employees and shuttering its warehouse and 66 shops, Hialeah-based Rose Auto Stores hired a crisis specialist as its CEO. Rose's new chief,...

Investors buy Fort Lauderdale Ramada for $3.6M, plan renovations.
June 6, 1997... The Ramada Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport, a 37-year-old property at the northwest corner of Interstate 95 and State Road 84, has been sold to a group of South Florida investors for $3.6 million. The buyers, known collectively as MAK Hotel...

Domino's theory: one doctor's newest medical niche - house calls in 60 minutes or less. (AM-PM House Calls)
June 6, 1997... It's 9:30 a.m. and Dr. Ramsey Saffouri is climbing into his green Cadillac headed for Lancelot Hall Apartments in Bal Harbour. His Hollywood office has received a call from Maggie Paul, a regular patient, who is having an asthma attack....

Health care legislation gets workout in '97 session.
June 6, 1997... Though health care reform wasn't a top priority for Florida lawmakers this year, more than two dozen health care-related bills were introduced in the recent session. Several new laws resulted from frustration felt by HMO members over...

The eyes have it: new laser options expand market niches for eye doctors.
June 6, 1997... New laser surgery techniques are easing the way for patients in South Florida who don't want to wear corrective lenses - and the new technology also is fueling a marketing revolution in the field of ophthalmology. Encouraged by the ease of...