South Florida Business Journal articles from November 1998

South Florida Business Journal archives from November 1998

Accountants come up short for help.(shortage of accountants in South Florida)
November 6, 1998... Independent firms have plenty of work, but need more bodies By all accounts, CPA firms are at a loss for talent. There's a hiring crisis at South Florida accounting firms, large and small, which are scrambling to recruit, retain and woo...

Ocean Drive with palm view.(magazine chronicling the lifestyles of the rich and famous in South Florida)
November 6, 1998... South Beach's hip magazine brings its approach northward Another publication chronicling the lifestyles of the rich, famous and chic will debut in Palm Beach County this month. Publishers of Ocean Drive magazine, the Miami area's...

Hotel plans abounding in Jupiter.(hotel construction in Jupiter, Florida)
November 6, 1998... Developers are pressing ahead to build four new hotels that would bring 500 rooms to the Jupiter area, doubling its supply - but so far, only two of the projects are a sure thing. Plans call for a 190-room hotel at the Jupiter Yacht Club...

Making The Gardens grow.(The Gardens Mall in South Florida)
November 6, 1998... Malls plans new marketing, eyes younger customers In the world of regional mall retailing, owners must always be on guard even when there's no immediate danger. This survival of the fittest mentality may help explain why The Gardens...

St. Petersburg bank gets 14 offices from NationsBank.(Republic Bancshares of St. Petersburg)
November 6, 1998... Republic Bancshares of St. Petersburg has entered Miami-Dade County by acquiring Bankers Savings Bank and is expanding regionally within months by using 14 former NationsBank and Barnett offices. The steps are keys in Republic's plan to...

Local real estate brokerage affiliates with national firm.(Brenner Real Estate Group; Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates Inc.)
November 6, 1998... Commercial real estate broker Scott Brenner this week signed a deal making his company a franchise of national firm Coldwell Banker Commercial. Brenner said the new affiliation will boost the name recognition and dealmaking potential of...

Health Plans falls, state's fourth HMO insolvency.(Health Plans of America; health maintenance organization)
November 6, 1998... State regulators pulled a sheet over Health Plans of America this week, ending 16 months and $2.5 million worth of resuscitation efforts. The health maintenance firm in Maitland slipped into state receivership after missing a Wednesday...

Temporary agency to build headquarters at Arvida Park.(Careers USA)
November 6, 1998... Careers USA, a temporary employment agency that relocated to Boca Raton from Philadelphia earlier this year, has moved a stop closer to having a permanent headquarters in Palm Beach County. The company, which has been operating out of...

Weston poised to get trio of medical centers.(Weston Regional HealthPark; Cleveland Clinic Florida)
November 6, 1998... Plans for two competing medical centers haven't swayed the North Broward Hospital District from its mission of giving Weston residents the health-care facility they requested. The taxpayer-supported hospital system was planning to break...

Panthers' business plan: diversify, pump up resort jewels.(Florida Panthers Holdings)
November 6, 1998... Whether Florida Panthers Holdings is skating ahead or falling down depends on your perspective. Two seasons ago its namesake team was stuck with a crummy arena lease, but bound for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Ecstatic fans showered the ice...

Voice-activated operator eliminates touch-tone menu.(Registry Magic's voice-activated answering machine)
November 6, 1998... Boca Raton-based Registry Magic is making inroads in selling its new voice-activated answering system to car dealerships and other sales-oriented businesses, company representatives said. It has gained several big customers in recent...

Two new towers add to Boca boom.(buildings constructed by Liberty Property Trust in Boca Raton, Florida)
November 13, 1998... 'Right now, it is a gutsy move,' analyst says, but there are potentially high rewards Like the Energizer bunny, developers eager to own a slice of Boca Raton's high-voltage real estate market just keep building and building and building....

Regulatory OK vital for Nabi.(dependence North American Biologicals Inc's financial recovery on the federal approval for its H-BIG hepatitis B drug)
November 13, 1998... Nabi, a Boca Raton pharmaceutical developer and the nations largest processor of human plasma, is looking to federal drug regulators for a cure to its lingering financial ills. Hobbled by suppressed demand from its plasma customers, Nabi...

NationsBank's president for South Florida steps down.(resignation of Mehdi Ghomeshi)
November 13, 1998... Mehdi Ghomeshi, who directed the Miami portion of the NationsBank-Barnett Banks merger, has resigned as NationsBank's president for South Florida and will be succeeded by Robert Hilson. Hilson, 40, spent the past two years as NationsBank's...

Money grows on trees for some S. Florida high-tech firms.(South Florida's high technology industry)
November 13, 1998... Six local companies receive $41.6 million Despite Wall Street's roller-coaster ride this year, venture capital investment in South Florida continues to pour in at a steady pace and may even surpass 1997's record breaking numbers, according...

Forget 80 days; he does it twice in just 30 days.(appointment of David A.G. Jones as Citrix Systems Inc's vice president for international operations)
November 13, 1998... David A.G. Jones has had a month to get settled in new Fort Lauderdale digs, but he's already been around the world twice. Jones was chosen by Citrix Systems Inc. to take its newly created post of vice president for international...

Ocwen cuts workforce by 20; the West Palm Beach company plans to expand into Orlando in 1999.(Ocwen Financial Corp.)
November 20, 1998... Ocwen Financial Corp., which employs about 1,000 people at its West Palm Beach headquarters and offices throughout the country, has eliminated 200 positions, including the layoff of 150 employees, according to public documents. The company...

A live wire: South Florida company aims to electrify industry.(General Science and Technology Corp.)
November 20, 1998... The banner in his office reads "One Billion In Sales In Five Years." A biomedical engineer for most of his life, Frank Avellanet, president and CEO of General Science and Technology Corp. in Miami, has worked for the biggest and best...

Home builder makes play for Jai Alai fronton.(Royal Castle Development Corp.; Palm Beach Jai Alai)
November 20, 1998... A North Miami residential developer is the latest player to take a shot at buying the abandoned Palm Beach Jai Alai fronton and plans to build affordable housing and stores on the site. Royal Castle Development Corp. initiated talks with...

Citrix founder wins in many ways; Ernst & Young names Iacobucci National Entrepreneur of the Year.(Citrix Systems Inc.; Edward Iacobucci)
November 20, 1998... Ernst & Young's 1998 National Entrepreneur of the Year Edward Iacobucci could have taken any road when he left IBM almost 12 years ago. During an 11-year career at Big Blue, he became senior programmer and bumped shoulders with many chiefs...

Palm Beach World Trade Center gains momentum.
November 20, 1998... Two local politicians working to bring a World Trade Center to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast have joined forces. West Palm Beach Commissioner Al Zucaro and County Commissioner Maude Ford Lee recently met to begin melding their...

Washington Mutual marches on in swift South Florida conquest.(Washington Mutual Bank)
November 20, 1998... Washington Mutual Bank plans to add almost 20 branches in South Florida over the next year, said Gwynn Virostek, its senior vice president and regional manager for the tri-county area. That would give the Seattle-based savings and loan more...

BK's global expansion proven turbulent at times.(Burger King)
November 20, 1998... When the 10,000th Burger King opened last week in Penrith near Sydney, Australia, the company celebrated by giving away cheeseburgers for 10,000 seconds. The milestone, reached far from the company's South Florida roots, has mixed...

Local vendors profit from providing thin-client software.
November 20, 1998... As a way to combat obsolescence, never-ending software upgrades, Y2K problems and the skyrocketing cost of hiring $100-an-hour techies to come in and fix things, several companies in South Florida are looking to cut the fat from their...

For hungry Palm Beach passengers, the price will be right.(Palm Beach International Airport seeks to avoid overpriced airport food)
November 20, 1998... When Hoffman's Chocolate Shoppes opens at Palm Beach International Airport in January, an ice cream bar dipped in chocolate sauce will sell for $2. That's exactly what the snack costs at other Hoffman's stores. A policy of competitive...

Tenet leads list of profitable South Florida hospitals.(Tenet South Florida HealthSystems)
November 20, 1998... South Florida's hospitals cleared $235 million last fiscal year despite steep losses at some facilities, according to reports released recently by the state. Most of the region's medical centers ended in the black: Of nearly 60 hospitals...

They'll shop till they drop; analysts expect no downturn in South Florida's retail sales this holiday season.
November 20, 1998... One surprise retailers likely won't get under their Christmas trees this holiday season is a downturn in sales. Several analysts say they see no reason retail sales this holiday season won't continue at the 5 percent annual growth rate that...

Pitching for NCCI's headquarters: Blue Lake, Peninsula, Quantum among sites bidding for Boca company.(National Council on Compensation Insurance)
November 27, 1998... Peninsula Corporate Center, Blue Lake Corporate Center and Quantum Corporate Park are among the sites being pitched by developers to house the National Council on Compensation Insurance's future headquarters. The high-profile corporate...

Camino Real site to get office space, apartments.(Songy Partners Ltd's acquisition of First Union Bank's building in Boca Raton, FL)
November 27, 1998... An Atlanta-based real estate firm is changing its strategy from buying buildings in Boca Raton to building them. Songy Partners Ltd. signed a deal this month to buy the First Union Bank building in downtown Boca Raton, with approval to...

Outdoor World comes out smoking.(Bass Pro Shops Inc Outdoor World store in Dania, FL)
November 27, 1998... On his way to work last Thursday, Richard Black expected to see a small crowd of curious onlookers. If he was lucky, a handful of eager shoppers, too. After all, the previous night's silent auction for the Boys and Girls Clubs had been a...

Making a connection.(NetSpeak)
November 27, 1998... Boca Raton's NetSpeak stays in touch with its goals despite lawsuit, sliding stock price South Florida's primary developer of telephony software has a new flagship product, president and marketing agreement with Motorola. And if the...

Tiffany planning store in Boca's Town Center.(Tiffany & Co; Boca Raton, FL)
November 27, 1998... Tiffany & Co., the Fifth Avenue jeweler famous for its little blue boxes and six-prong "Tiffany setting," is planning to open a store at Town Center at Boca Raton next year. The store will be Tiffany's second in Palm Beach County, and its...

Ernst & Young expanding West Palm Beach office.
November 27, 1998... Office has grown from 60 to 100 employees during past 5 years Ernst & Young is expanding its operations in Palm Beach County, largely as a result of the area's young, fast-growing businesses. The local office of the Big 5 accounting...

REIT reality: time to sell after binge of buying.(real estate investment trust)
November 27, 1998... Real estate investment trusts are doing something nearly unimaginable a year ago: They're selling properties. Equity Office Properties of Chicago unloaded towers in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach earlier this month. And Highwoods...

Coffee chains buzzing; growth opportunities are hot.(South Florida)
November 27, 1998... Starbucks and The Coffee Beanery Ltd., two of America's java giants, are brewing up more South Florida locations. The chains' sales have percolated here in the past two years, diluting concerns that South Florida's hot climate and established...

He helped banks mesh, now he goes on.(BankUnited's new Pres and COO Medhi Ghomeshi)
November 27, 1998... Ghomeshi charts growth as BankUnited president When Mehdi Ghomeshi joins BankUnited as president and COO Dec. 1, he'll begin work on a 1999 game plan that includes developing small business lending and international banking programs. ...

Bank regulators' warnings affect loans.(South Florida bank loans)
November 27, 1998... You might call bank regulators' recent warnings their version of preventive medicine. They have spent the past couple months sending letters and making speeches warning of the dangers of lending exuberance. South Florida bankers and...

Making politics their business: Palm Beach County consulting firm plays strategic games for a living.(Patriot Games)
November 27, 1998... Palm Beach County political strategists Richard Giorgio and Francine Nelson got the bad news from their boss on April Fools' Day. It was no joke. The doors of the Kara Group, a public relations and fund-raising firm run by political...