South Florida Business Journal articles from September 1998

South Florida Business Journal archives from September 1998

Witnessing a transformation. (Lane Co. to develop luxury rental apartments in West Palm Beach, FL)
September 4, 1998... Atlanta developer to build luxury rentals near auditorium Jehovah's Witnesses, new owner of the West Palm Beach auditorium, has agreed to sell 23 acres of land to Lane Co. for the development of luxury rentals, according to group officials....

Accounting for change after mergers. (merger of accounting firms Price Waterhouse and Coopers and Lybrand)(Industry Overview)
September 4, 1998... As the Big Eight accounting firms have shrunk to the Big Five, some wonder what it all adds up to. The Big Five firms say they are avoiding price hikes while providing more efficient. and better service. Others say the Big Five are raising...

Wachovia Bank plans to emphasize service. (opens branch in West Palm Beach, FL)
September 4, 1998... Rivals shouldn't expect Wachovia Bank to use acquisitions to build its young South Florida franchise, says Chairman and CEO L.M. "Bud" Baker. "We would like to grow in South Florida but it will be at a measured pace, and our primary goal will...

Admiralty Bank prepares for IPO.
September 4, 1998... Admiralty Bank, a small bank seeking to branch out, plans to raise at least $10.5 million from the sale of 1.1 million shares of stock in an initial public offering. Admiralty is based in Palm Beach Gardens and also has offices in Juno Beach...

Alliance Marketing Group calls it a wrap after 6 years.
September 4, 1998... The Alliance Marketing Group, a Singer Island-based advertising agency with billings of about $1 million a year, closed its doors on Monday. The partners, Bill Haselmire and Jean Kelly, say it's time to pursue other, more laid-back interests:...

Customs' justification for Aerofloral deal stinks, competitors say.
September 4, 1998... U.S. Customs officials said economics fueled a recent decision to give a Miami flower carrier a break, but the company's competitors still call it special treatment. Customs has a longstanding ban on clearing imported air cargo at any site...

Belgian insurer quietly tells regulators it will sell John Alden. (Fortis Inc.)
September 4, 1998... Neighborhood Health Partnership, a profitable 82,025-member health maintenance organization based in Miami, will be put up for sale, one of its owners said in a document filed with regulators. Fortis Inc., which just acquired a half-interest in...

NationsRent expected to announce South Florida sites.
September 4, 1998... Whether it's trash, videos, cars or luxury hotels, H. Wayne Huizenga has a history of consolidating industries. Now he and his family own a third of a publicly traded heavy equipment rental business, another industry historically dominated by...

New theme restaurant emphasizes ancient culture. (Aztec World Cafe, Fort Lauderdale, FL)
September 4, 1998... A restaurant named after a culture known for human sacrifice and cannibalism may seem somewhat peculiar at first. But while the interior of the Aztec World Care, which opened last week in Fort Lauderdale's Las Olas Riverfront, resembles an...

HMOs lost $770 million, study finds: businesses likely to face upward on health-care costs. (health maintenance organizations)
September 11, 1998... Health maintenance organizations suffered their first industry-wide financial loss last year, according to a new national report that mirrors Florida trends and underscores challenges for managed care. Companies representing 96 percent of U.S....

Brewing a fresh strategy, but skeptics question how well Brothers' plan will work. (Brothers Gourmet Coffees)
September 11, 1998... Brothers Gourmet Coffees, which recently sought bankruptcy court protection and saw its stock slide below a quarter, is pursuing a new strategy that includes moving into private label coffee distribution, officials said. The company said it...

Downtown Delray gets three residential plans. (Delray Beach, Florida)
September 11, 1998... Defray Beach's pursuit of residences on East Atlantic Avenue has caught the attention of three multi-family developers, including a partnership led by one of the principals of the Blue Lake Corporate Center in Boca Raton. Using an acre of...

Buy low? companies do just that. (Palm Beach County, Florida, companies)
September 11, 1998... As the stock market tumbled last month, several Palm Beach County companies and its directors followed the example of some individual investors and began "buying the dips." At least six companies announced plans to buy back their stock. A...

Boom box in the sky: Miami company gives private jets an added dimension. (SkyTheater Inc.)
September 11, 1998... Gregg Launer, president of SkyTheater Inc. in Miami, installs custom video and sound systems in million-dollar jets. Since turning his hobby into a career four years ago, his audio-video creations have been installed in corporate jets of...

Andrx will fight lawsuits. (patent infringement and antitrust violation suits)
September 11, 1998... Elliot F. Hahn, president of Andrx Corp. (Nasdaq: ADRX) said the company will fight three class action lawsuits alleging patent infringement and antitrust violations. The latest class action suit, filed in Michigan last week, is the fourth...

Palm Beach port craves to carve chunk of Bahamas counterpart.
September 11, 1998... The Port of Palm Beach hopes to enhance its relationship with the Caribbean's largest port, which recently expanded. The privately owned port, located in the capital of Grand Bahama in the Bahamas, can handle freighters of almost any size,...

Sephora brings 'Candyland' of cosmetics to South Florida.
September 11, 1998... Sephora, France's leading high-end cosmetics superstore, plans to revolutionize the way America sells beauty by first making over the country's three prestige beauty retail strongholds: South Florida, New York and Los Angeles. The interactive...

Magazine publishers use Time to their advantage. (Time Inc buys The Econometric Research)
September 11, 1998... Norman Fosback and Glen King Parker of Deerfield Beach have long had a knack for timing the launch of financial publications, including Mutual Funds magazine. This year, they've shown that savvy in a larger sense. In May, they sold The...

Seeking to score with Palm Beach County fans. (professional sports, Florida)
September 11, 1998... With South Florida's population growth moving northward, Palm Beach County has gained visibility as a market for the region's professional sports teams. Despite the distance, the Marlins, Dolphins, Heat and Panthers are seeking to capture the...

Sunbeam may downsize new office space.
September 18, 1998... Considers reducing lease by 20,000 square feet Sunbeam Corp. is considering downscaling its future headquarters at Boca Raton's Peninsula Executive Center. Officials at CarrAmerica Realty Corporation, which is building the upscale complex,...

Accounting alliances draw mixed reviews.
September 18, 1998... As some big-name financial companies build accounting practices by purchasing CPA firms, South Florida gains an important spot on their search list. Century Business Services is negotiating to purchase McClain & Co. of Miami, which had $4.1...

Reliance Lamp to relocate to Boynton Commerce Center. (Florida)
September 18, 1998... The lights will soon click on inside an empty building in Boynton Beach. Reliance Lamp Co. has signed a five-year deal to relocate its lamp-making operation from Long Island's Hauppauge industrial area to a new 33,600 square foot building at...

Film companies see niche in improving Hispanic ads.
September 18, 1998... South Florida has gained a national reputation for its savvy Hispanic advertising agencies and marketing consultants. But old habits change slowly. Advertising to Spanish speaking people in the U.S. and Latin America is still considered an...

Setting up camp on the Web: Kids' Camp creators find their niche online.
September 18, 1998... Boca Raton entrepreneurs Nancy LaPook Diamond and Kim Bregman offer this advice to anyone searching for information about camps for adults and kids: Let your mouse do the walking. Self-proclaimed workaholics, Diamond, a former producer with MTV...

Republic Security Bank accelerates acquisition pace.
September 18, 1998... Republic Security Bank has picked up its already fast acquisition pace, moving outside South Florida with three purchases of banking offices in Tampa, Orlando and Gainesville. Meanwhile, Chairman and CEO Rudy Schupp said West Palm Beach-based...

Experts say four buildings would be an oversaturation. (office space in Coral Gables, Florida)
September 18, 1998... A Houston developer plans to build 300,000 square feet of new offices in Coral Gables, a proposal that has some wondering how much new development is too much. The new office tower would compete with three other new buildings planned for Coral...

Building a boardwalk to CityPlace: will the plan pass go? (Lane Co.'s plan to build a boardwalk from Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. to CityPlace)
September 18, 1998... Building a boardwalk from Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard to CityPlace sounds like an idea that might stray off the beaten path. But it could happen. That's one of the amenities that Lane Co. wants for the 700-unit apartment complex it plans to...

Pembroke Park project calls for 1.5 million feet of storage. (Florida)
September 18, 1998... Eyeing a strong market for industrial real estate in southern Broward County, two developers plan to build 1.5 million square feet of warehouses in Pembroke Park. Developers Chip Abele and Jose Boschetti have a contract to buy 106 acres west...

Locking in on the target: Saf T lok hopes new gun lock will click with customers.
September 25, 1998... Nine years and several million dollars later, struggling gun lock maker Saf T Lok is ready to focus on selling locks, Chairman Frank Brooks announced this week. The company is also preparing to relocate its headquarters to West Palm Beach from...

Palm Beach realtor groups come together. (Realtors Association of South Palm Beach County and Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches to merge)
September 25, 1998... Palm Beach County's two dominant Realtor associations will merge on Thursday, creating one of the largest associations in the state. Members of the Realtors Association of South Palm Beach County and the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches...

Local architects give birth to a movement. (architects from Miami, Florida setting trends in new urbanism)(interview with architect Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk)
September 25, 1998... New Urbanism, often described as a return to traditional urban lifestyles of 50 years ago, is the latest trend in development, Some examples of the mix of uses found in these self-contained developments are CityPlace in West Palm Beach and Abacoa...

Sunrise firm faces name changes only. (Platinum Equity Holdings to change name of newly acquired Racal Data Group)
September 25, 1998... After Los Angeles-based Platinum Equity Holdings announced last week that it had completed its acquisition of Racal Data Group, the high-tech company said it had no plans to move the operation out of Sunrise. But it will change Racal's name in...

Cyberguard faces up to its questionable accounting.
September 25, 1998... CyberGuard Corp. (Nasdaq: CYBG) in Fort Lauderdale is learning a valuable accounting lesson - the hard way. Since announcing it had to restate its third quarter earnings last month, its stock lost 70 percent of its value, its CEO and CFO were...

Racal's space one of many question marks in Sunrise. (Racal Data Group)
September 25, 1998... The new owner of Racal Data Group likely will continue to rent some of the complex near the Sawgrass Expressway in Sunrise. But it's unclear how much space the tech firm, now owned by Platinum Equity Holdings, will lease. Racal built the...

Teligent says it will offer up to 30% discount on rates.
September 25, 1998... A new phone company is giving a different pitch to businesses when it comes to local telephone service - microwave it. Instead of installing underground lines or leasing circuits from BellSouth, Virginia-based Teligent Inc. puts notebook-sized...

Cassady remains a constant as NationsBank grows again. (president for Broward County James R. Cassady)
September 25, 1998... Think. James R. Cassady, NationsBank's president for Broward County, never loses sight of the word and its importance because he's had it taped on the back of his nameplate since 1971. That's when he began his career with Citizens &...