South Florida Business Journal articles from October 1996

South Florida Business Journal archives from October 1996

Blockbuster weighs dumping Broward for move to Dallas; hundreds of jobs, millions in charity would be lost. (Blockbuster Entertainment Corp.; Dallas, TX)
October 4, 1996... Broward County officials are cringing at the thought of Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. moving its headquarters - and 850 jobs - to Dallas. And not-for-profit organizations that have benefited from Blockbuster's corporate largesse are worried...

NYC luring Pan Am to quit Miami. (New York City's Port Authority; Pan American World Airways Inc.)
October 4, 1996... Broward also enters race to land airline MIAMI - The first flight of the reborn Pan American World Airways last week brought a flurry of fanfare. But the news for Miami, site of Pan Am's headquarters for now, might not be all blue skies....

New Latin satellite service beams 200 jobs to Homestead. (Sky Entertainment Services Latin America Inc.; Homestead, FL)
October 4, 1996... HOMESTEAD - A new $570 million Latin American direct-to-home satellite television service will likely set up in Homestead with plans to buy three or more acres of land and hire 200 workers by year's end, company executives say. South Florida's...

Burdines unplugged: store drops electronics department after national discounters short-circuit sales. (Burdines Inc.)
October 4, 1996... MIAMI - Burdines, Florida's largest department store chain, is pulling the plug on electronics. TVs, VCRs, sound systems and other such gear - long a staple in Burdines stores, catalogs and advertisements - will disappear from the 47-store...

Former partner sue Max, Rapoport; investors are claiming that they didn't get what they ordered. (restaurateurs Dennis Max and Burt Rapoport)
October 4, 1996... Dennis Max and Burt Rapoport, creators of Prezzo, Max's Grille and other popular South Florida restaurant concepts, are being sued by their former partners in Max's South Beach. A group of investors who sank $460,000 into the short-lived...

Filling a medical cavity: Miami Super Store supplies S. American dentists and doctors. (Henry Schein Super Store)
October 4, 1996... MIAMI - Dental chairs line the showroom floor. Drill bits and latex gloves line the shelves. "It's like a Service Merchandise for health care professionals." That's how Stanley Bergman describes his company's 25,000 square-foot retail outlet...

InnoPet enters dog-eat-dog world of pet food. (InnoPet Brands Corp.)
October 4, 1996... FORT LAUDERDALE - A Fort Lauderdale company wants to raise $9 million to help it bite into the competitive premium pet food market. InnoPet Brands Corp., which brought Thirsty Dog and Thirsty Cat - beef- and fish-flavored sparkling bottled...

Sunshine Network changes may include new name.
October 4, 1996... New sports shows, graphics showing Fox Sports influence Changes are coming to the Sunshine Network, the state's largest sports television network. A new alliance between Sunshine Network's part-owner Liberty Media and Fox Sports will alter...

Discovery Channel set to launch Latin kids network.
October 4, 1996... Discovery Communications has ninos on its mind. Hoping to attract young viewers and their families in Latin America, Discovery will launch Discovery Kids Latin America from Miami Beach on Nov. 4. The new network will operate under Discovery...

Making an honest living in financial PR. (public relations firm International Buying Power Corp.)(includes tips on avoiding scam)(Small Business Strategies)(Company Profile)
October 4, 1996... Boca's International Buying Power seeks to sidestep scammers in promoting IPOs Terry Ritchie knows that her business is filled with dubious characters. Ritchie's Boca Raton company specializes in pitching little-known companies to...

New Atlanta air cargo center to compete with Miami, Lauderdale. (Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport)
October 4, 1996... Miami, Fort Lauderdale and other Southeast airports could soon face new competition for cargo business if plans for a $30 million facility are approved at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport. The Atlanta Economic Development Corp. is...

Holiday retail prediction: so-so; Halloween sales heading from 'boo' to boom. (forecast for Halloween business in South Florida)(Industry Overview)
October 25, 1996... Once considered the holiday season's trick to retailers, Halloween has become a full-blown moneymaking treat that ranks second only to Santa. "As a trend, we're seeing big growth in this area, not just from kids but from adults throwing more...

Some stores plan gimmicks to lure holiday shoppers. (South Florida retailers try new Christmas promotions to attract consumers)(Holiday Retail Prediction: So-So)(Industry Overview)
October 25, 1996... 'Tis two months before Christmas, five weeks before Hanukkah . . . and South Florida retailers aren't sure what to expect from this holiday season. Last year's holidays were weak or worse for many stores, with meager gains in some cases and...

Boat industry flies the 'fair weather' flag. (South Florida)(Industry Overview)
October 25, 1996... Boating is big business in South Florida, and it looks like clear sailing for an industry easily rocked by economic heavy seas. As the nation's largest boat show prepares to get under way in Fort Lauderdale Thursday, the numbers tell the story:...

Miami's foreign trade zone may team with Atlanta. (Miami Free Zone Corp. begins talks with Anderson Properties)
October 25, 1996... The successful Miami foreign trade zone is talking with the owner of the underutilized Georgia foreign trade zone near the Atlanta airport about a possible joint venture there. Foreign trade zones offer companies ways to avoid or pay greatly...

The big deal. (Las Olas Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... Las Olas Centre was South Florida's Deal of the Year FORT LAUDERDALE - When Terry Stiles paid $2.4 million for a downtown lot in 1994 and announced plans for a 200,000-square-foot office building, even his own employees wondered about the...

No. 1 Marketplace: an urban retail turnaround. (Miami shopping center)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... In the early 1990s, the future looked bleak for No. 1 Marketplace, a decaying shopping center at 11000 NW 7th Avenue, Miami. The center's anchors, Zayre's and Ames discount stores and a flea market, had folded, one right after the other. The...

Helping AIDS patients - and doctors - manage. (Clinical Partners Inc.)(includes corporate profile)(Company Profile)
October 25, 1996... California disease-management firm plans expansion into Florida market A San Francisco-based disease management company specializing in AIDS-related illness is reaching cross country, with Florida next on its target list for expansion....

Mergers giving Adler Group 'more tentacles.' (merges with Waas-Philips Construction Co.)
October 25, 1996... Construction arm joins with Waas-Phillips; brokerage division may link with Colliers Lehrer MIAMI - The wave of merger mania washing through the real estate industry has hit the Adler Group. Adler Group Construction merged with Miami-based...

Emergency room contract may be DOA for Coastal. (Coastal Physician Group loses bid to run Memorial Healthcare System's emergency rooms)
October 25, 1996... HOLLYWOOD - For nine years, Coastal Physician Group has staffed and run Memorial Healthcare System's emergency rooms. That's about to change. The North Carolina-based company has placed third in a competitive bidding war over its multimillion...

Precision Response converts flea market to call center, warehouse. (signs lease for retail site near its Dade County headquarters)
October 25, 1996... Precision Response Corp., a fast-growing telemarketer that went public in July, has signed a lease for a beleaguered 140,000-square-foot retail site near its Dade County headquarters. Precision Response will convert the facility at 1313 NW...

For International Corporate Park, success was just a matter of timing. (business park in Miami, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... MIAMI - When you're developing 4.1 million square feet on 300 acres, a few unpleasant surprises are almost a certainty. But in the case of Easton-Babcock & Associates' International Corporate Park, the unexpected has largely been positive. The...

Palm Beach Gardens HQ suits Wackenhut Corp. just fine.(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... When Wackenhut Corp. started eyeing Palm Beach Gardens as the site for its new headquarters, company officials planned to lease existing office space. But Catalfumo Construction & Development and Tambone Real Estate Development Corp. quickly...

Arch Aluminum facility was built right on time. (Arch Aluminum and Glass Co.'s factory in Tamarac, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... When Arch Aluminum signed Butters Construction to build its new manufacturing facility in Tamarac Business Park, it did so with a major caveat: Absolutely no delays. Otherwise, the nation's third largest glass and framing manufacturer faced...

Brokers: complexity, uncertainty lower price of IBM's Boca site. (IBM puts on sale its 548-acre facility in Boca Raton, FL)
October 25, 1996... The uncertain future of IBM's 548-acre site in Boca Raton could be driving down the price bidders are willing to pay, observers say. IBM's bid deadline is next month, and Big Blue hopes to be rid of the property by the end of the year. While...

Developers, lenders liked untested Dadeland Station concept. (Miami shopping center)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... MIAMI - Jeff Berkowitz is going where no retail developer has gone before in Miami - up - with a three-story power center worth more than $40 million, in one of South Florida's highest density markets. Contractors are putting the finishing...

Il Vilaggio bet paid off for developer. (condominium building in Miami Beach, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... MIAMI BEACH - For years, developers looked at the 2.2-acre property at the northern end of South Beach's Lummus Park with a mixture of lust and fear. The lust was inspired by the site's location as a prime oceanfront parcel, with the added...

Swerdlow skirted obstacles to get Oakridge project moving. (Michael Swerdlow Cos.' housing project in Hollywood, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... Unhappy neighbors, an archaeological site and a golf course stood in the way of one of the first major housing developments in Hollywood in years. But with some design changes, the Michael Swerdlow Cos. were able to succeed with the$12.3...

Good relationship paid off in pricey Beacon Park sale. (Miami industrial park)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... MIAMI - AMB Institutional Realty Advisors didn't submit the highest bid for Beacon Industrial Park. But it did offer Codina Group the best deal, said Codina Bush Klein broker Pedro Garcia. "Codina Group is a relationship-driven company," Garcia...

Beacon West turned into a big deal for Fritz Co. (warehouse in Miami, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... MIAMI - When executives of Fritz Co. started looking for 350,000 square feet in Miami's Airport West market, they planned only to combine operations from two Miami locations. Little did they realize that when they paid Codina Group $6.2 million...

Reincarnated streets of Mayfair gets set to welcome shoppers. (shopping center in Coconut Grove, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... In the late 1970s and early '80s, when Miami was flush with wealthy Latin American tourists, the Mayfair mall seemed like a good idea. Developer Kenneth Treister opened the fountain-filled shopping enclave in downtown Coconut Grove 18 years...

Public/private cooperation helped Loews Miami Beach get off the ground.(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... Three years ago, the City of Miami Beach was in a quandary: Its newly renovated $100 million convention center was big and glitzy enough to handle some of the nation's premier gatherings, but its hotels weren't. In fact, Miami Beach hadn't...

Royal Palm Center filled Ryder System's needs. (office building in West Dade, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... Over the past decade, Ryder System Inc. was forced to lease space in several West Dade office buildings to accommodate its corporate growth. But last April, Ryder was able to consolidate its outlying space by leasing the entire Royal Palm...

Do-it-yourself decor feathers empty-nesters' sky-high condo. (Gerald Gaston's condominium unit in Deering Bay, FL)(Real Estate Deal of the Year)
October 25, 1996... Gastons strive to achieve 'casual elegance' He calls himself "the most boring person in Miami," but Gerald Gaston is just being modest. After all, how could this CEO of American Bankers Insurance Co. - South Florida's ninth largest public...

Tourist tax-break boosting boating business. (South Florida)(Industry Overview)
October 25, 1996... South Florida boat industry officials say that 1996 has been a good year, emphasizing that their prosperity is due in large part to a tax break the Florida Legislature granted to out-of-state boat buyers in 1995. Since Oct. 1, 1995,...

More marine lenders float loans for boats.(Focus on Boating)
October 25, 1996... You've found the boat you've always wanted. Now how are you going to pay for it? Unless you're riding a wave of cash, you'll need a marine loan. Many South Florida bankers and specialized lenders are ready to offer you financing. In...

Your ship hasn't come in? Try renting a boat.(Focus on Boating)
October 25, 1996... Costas Liatsos dreams about sailing to distant ports in a 45-foot Freedom cruiser. The reality: He doesn't want to spend the $200,000 to buy and maintain his dream boat. So the 38-year-old Boca Raton banker takes vacations and day-long trips...

What to ask before you buy that boat.(Focus on Boating)
October 25, 1996... People in Florida love the water. They love to swim in it, sail on it and fish in it. Before you take your maiden voyage, here are some frequently asked questions: QUESTION: Where should I keep my boat? ANSWER: More than half of the boats in...