South Florida Business Journal articles from June 1998

South Florida Business Journal archives from June 1998

Faison to take big bite at Quantum: Boynton Beach park will get first big warehouse in Palm Beach since the 1980s. (Quantum Corporate Park)
June 5, 1998... Boynton Beach park will get first big warehouse in Palm Beach since the 1980s A multi-tenant warehouse and distribution complex hasn't been built in Palm Beach County since the real estate crash of the 1980s, but Charlotte-based Fatson is...

Boca Research gets back online; modem maker refocuses with TV box for Internet.
June 5, 1998... Boca Research, whose fortunes dimmed on Wall Street during a price war in the modern market, has developed a three-pronged strategy to reconnect with investors. The Boca Raton company's goal is to reduce costs and expand brand recognition for...

Jobs fund handing out unused funds.
June 5, 1998... Replenished by a $900,000 grant left unused by Office Depot, Palm Beach County's job growth incentive program is back in business, County Commissioners this week gave the nod to hand over $132, 250 to three separate companies for the creation...

Driving 'em sane; Miami company provides counseling to commuters and other people on the run. (The Psychology Network Inc.)(Small Business Strategies)
June 5, 1998... Maybe it's the way stop-and-go traffic massages the nerves. Or perhaps the edification that comes from honking and changing lanes without signaling. Whatever the reason, Coral Gables psychologist Kimberly Kiddoo reports that busy executives stuck...

Boca Raton company creates a hot product. (HotOffice Technologies Inc.)(Technology Showcase)
June 5, 1998... Intel recently purchased an undisclosed amount of equity share in HotOffice Technologies Inc., a Boca Raton-based Internet solutions company. HotOffice's latest product, the Virtual Office Service, instantly creates a secure virtual office...

Sounds good. Coral Gables company aims to be the Dolby of the 21st century. (True Dimensional Sound Inc.)(includes related article on the TDS)(Technology Showcase)
June 5, 1998... Don't go upgrading your stereo system yet - it may just need a tune up. True Dimensional Sound Inc. of Coral Gables, which specializes in sound enhancement technologies, has invented a box that'll do it for you, without the extra wires,...

Trammell Crow, Faison merger would impact South Florida. (Faison & Associates)
June 5, 1998... A rumored merger between two out-of-state commercial real estate firms would reverberate in South Florida. The pending marriage of Trammell Crow Co. of Dallas and Faison & Associates of Charlotte, N.C., has been a topic of speculation for...

Digital systems save space and boost office productivity.
June 5, 1998... When computers became the office tool of choice, pundits forecast that paper was a thing of the past. Everything would be done on computer; thus, we would have no need for paper. Think again! Paper is still here and in some cases it...

Race is on to create a 'Chinatown' in South Florida. (includes related article on Asians in South Florida)
June 5, 1998... Eddy Wang dozes but the door buzzer shakes him awake. He better not get used to too many naps at his month-old Chinese video store in North Miami Beach. The area is drawing an increasing number of Asian businesses. Wang has empty shelves...

Mall redesign is sea design. (Palm Beach Mall, Florida)
June 12, 1998... Towers will help reinvigorate Palm Beach Mall Three 60-foot towers and a seaside motif will help define a new look for Palm Beach Mall. Mall owner Simon DeBartolo Corp. moved the planned renovation at the West Palm Beach mall a step further...

Irradiation plants planned for ports. (Miami-Dade and Broward ports of Florida)
June 12, 1998... Boca Raton firm takes lead in developing three centers An investment group, led by Boca Raton-based Florida Environmental Technologies Inc., said it has raised $35 million and is vowing to build three irradiation facilities at Miami-Dade and...

CyberGuard vice president helps safeguard our information superhighway. (interview with CyberGuard Co. Vice Pres Katherine Hutchison)(Interview)
June 12, 1998... Protecting data from hackers is a big business these days. According to a 1998 survey by the Computer Security Institute and the FBI, computer crime and other information security breaches are up 16 percent this year. CyberGuard Co., a Fort...

Natural born prodessional. (Cullen Medical Supplies founder William McCormick)
June 12, 1998... Cullen Medical Suppliers' founder has never taken work lightly As a high school student in Pelham, Ga., William McCormick was a well-regarded football and baseball player with enough talent to win a full scholarship to Florida Memorial College....

Business duo likes to advertise secrets of its success. (Green Beech Advertising and Design Group owners Rene Belmaseda and Leah Garnet)
June 12, 1998... The chance to create an original advertising product drives Rene Belmaseda and Leah Gernert, owners of Green Beech Advertising and Design Group in Fort Lauderdale. Owning and running their own business is another driving force. The firm...

'Never give up.' (McKinley Financial Services Pres. Jim McKinley)(Company Profile)
June 12, 1998... Central Ohio State had the football but was losing to Kentucky State with three seconds left in the game. The ball was resting on the 50 yard line and Central's coach, Jim McKinley, called for a long pass play. It worked, Central won the game...

Alternative medicine called cheaper than regular care. (Bienestar)
June 12, 1998... Bienestar, a New York company that promotes consumer access to alternative medicine, hopes to penetrate South Florida's managed care industry with its growing network of practitioners. Less than a year after opening an office along Miami's...

Possible suitors for TeleNoticias: CNN, Fox, TV Azteca.
June 12, 1998... Patience for losses at Miami-based CBS/TeleNoticias appears to be wearing thin with the corporate parent, media giant CBS Corp. The 24-hour, Spanish-language cable TV news network with more than 10 million subscribers in 22 countries, is...

Paramount expecting $20,000 profit per machine. (Paramount Automated Food Services)
June 12, 1998... George... Jane... Judy... Elroy... Astro... it's time to punch up dinner. Paramount Automated Food Services, a Pompano Beach-based vending machine company, is delivering a device that seems to have come straight out of Jane Jetson's...

Marketing downtown. (West Palm Beach to start public relations campaign for its central business district)
June 19, 1998... West Palm Beach to seek proposals for $300,000 campaign City ana business leaders are gearing up to launch a $300,000 marketing and public relations campaign for downtown West Palm Beach. The marketing program will be paid for by the city,...

Tabloids suffer after Di's death. (American Media Inc.)
June 19, 1998... American Media seeks help from market research firm Lantana's American Media Inc., publisher of supermarket tabloids National Enquirer and Star, hopes to shake off the ghost of Princess Diana's death with a new marketing campaign. American...

It's a small world. (Corrales Group Architects)(Company Profile)
June 19, 1998... For a smaller firm, Corrales Group Architects sure handles plenty of projects For Palm Beach County architect Peter Corrales, building a better firm didn't necessarily 'mean building a bigger one. So he opted to hold the line on staffing and...

No end in sight? (optimism over commercial real estate development in southern Florida)(Commercial & Industrial Real Estate Guide)(Industry Overview)
June 19, 1998... South Florida's office development boom may be in its final phase The wildly cyclical commercial real estate industry never has been known for restraint. Now, in the midst of a real estate boom that's encouraging new office development in...

PrimeCo president calls for growth in the South Florida market. (Lowell McAdam)(Interview)
June 19, 1998... PrimeCo, a personal communication service (PCS) provider, is a contender in the competitive South Florida digital telephone market. And Lowell McAdam, the company's president and CEO, plans to keep it that way. PrimeCo is positioned as a...

Al's execs: is there life after Dunlap. (Al Dunlap, former chief executive officer of Sunbeam Corp.)
June 19, 1998... A month after Al Dunlap introduced dozens of recently hired executives to shareholders at Sunbeam Corp.'s annual meeting, the chairman and CEO responsible for hiring most of them is gone. Dunlap, who was fired by Sunbeam's board of directors...

Telefactor Corp. sees the brain as minefield.(Company Profile)
June 19, 1998... More than 25 years ago, John B. Chatten decided to start his own electrical engineering firm to design telefactors, devices that were meant to be operated at a distance in places too remote or hazardous for humans to go. Places such as...

Design hub enters a new phase; expansion makes it world's largest center. (Design Center of the Americas' new building)
June 26, 1998... Dania, once known as the tomato capital of Florida, will be home to the world's largest pure interior design center. The Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA) plans to build a new 220,000-square-foot building that will give the center 750,000...

Biotech firm makes a strategic move; South Bay company aims for the next stage in Riviera Beach. (Biotech Resins)
June 26, 1998... Biotech Resins, a South Bay company that spins sugar cane byproducts into wood-like materials, is relocating its headquarters to Riviera Beach as part of a corporate retooling. The company, which will keep its South Bay plant open, had hoped to...

A real estate magnet. (Miami, Florida)
June 26, 1998... Miami attracts vacation, retirement apartment shoppers A handful of Brazilian real estate firms are taking advantage of low U.S. mortgage interest rates, South Florida's great climate and Miami's Latin American flavor to sell residences to...

Asset manager tells investors to keep their eyes on the global economic crisis. (Ralby Asset Management President Michael Ralby)(Interview)
June 26, 1998... For much of the 1990s, investors have enjoyed a stock market so forgiving that it makes just about any trade look brilliant. But as the turmoil in Japan and the rest of Asia tests the U.S. economy, it's getting tougher to look smart. "A lot...

Boca company hears the call of magical voice recognition. (Boca Raton, Florida's Registry Magic)
June 26, 1998... The "virtual" receptionists at Registry Magic ask for about $600 a month, can answer up to 12 calls at the same time and never call in sick. In fact, they work 24 hours a day, never take a vacation and are always. pleasant to customers. They can...

South Florida law firms state their case in Latin America. (Steel Hector and Davis; Greenberg, Traurig, Hoffman, Lipoff, Rosen and Quentel)
June 26, 1998... Steel Hector Davis and Greenberg Traurig take different approaches Two South Florida-based law firms are helping their clients cash in on the wave of privatizations and project finance deals that are sweeping through Latin America. "We...

All aboard capitalism: RailAmerica gets on track in Chile.
June 26, 1998... RailAmerica gets on track in Chile RailAmerica hopes to ride a monopoly on freight service in northern Chile to profits. In February 1997, Boca Raton-based RailAmerica and a Chilean partner paid the Chilean government $12 million for Empresa...

KSL Recreation plans facelift for Doral. (KSL Recreation Corp.)
June 26, 1998... New clubhouse, golf course part of the plan Four years after rescuing the Doral Golf Resort & Spa from the debt and tax burdens of its former owners, KSL Recreation Corp. is about to invest up to $20 million to improve the resort in western...

Sharing the wealth; development bank seeks South Florida partners. (Inter-American Development Bank)
June 26, 1998... A Washington agency dedicated to development in the Americas and Caribbean is finally taking its business recruitment program on the road. First stop: South Florida. The Inter-American Development Bank, which each year makes $7 billion in...