Fairfield County Business Journal articles from August 1992

Fairfield County Business Journal archives from August 1992

Borrowers apprehensive over auction of loan pools of failed Bridgeport banks.
August 3, 1992... BRIDGEPORT -- The massive number of loans left in limbo by Connecticut bank failures should begin shrinking soon as some of the forlorn funds hit the auction block. In the process, however, some local borrowers, who are barely keeping their...

Greenwich group applies for bank charter, citing needs of small-business community.
August 3, 1992... GREENWICH -- Despite Connecticut's reputation as having one of the worst banking climates in the nation, a Greenwich group hopes to open a bank to serve credit-hungry small businesses. The proposed Commonwealth Bank of Greenwich applied to the...

Smith Corona's border-hopping renews dispute. (Smith Corona Corp. relocates in Mexico)
August 3, 1992... NEW CANAAN -- Smith Corona slashed nearly 900 jobs and will transfer work done at an upstate New York typewriter factory to Mexico in a cost-cutting move the company blamed on unfair trade practices by competitors. But those competitors...

Wittek convicted on two counts of bank fraud. (real estate developer Kurt Wittek)
August 3, 1992... Kurt Wittek, a former high-flying real estate developer who said resembled a young Donald Trump, was convicted in North Carolina recently on federal bank fraud charges. However, Wittek's attorney believes the 32-year-old Norwalk resident...

Earnings rise at Society for Savings. (Society for Savings Bancorp Inc.)
August 3, 1992... HARTFORD -- Society for Savings Bancorp. Inc. (NASDAQ: SOCS) reported a strong increase in earnings for the second quarter and first half ended June 30, a significant decline in non- performing assets, and a further strengthening in capital...

Northeast Bancorp reports $39.87 million second-quarter loss. (Northeast Bancorp Inc.)
August 3, 1992... STAMFORD -- Northeast Bancorp Inc. reported a loss of $39,874,000, or $5.49 a share, for the second quarter, compared to a loss of $15,388,000, or $2.12 a share, for the second quarter of 1991. For the first six months of the year, the company...

Shareholders accuse Crystal Brands of fraud. (Crystal Brands Inc. Izod LaCoste Carolina)
August 10, 1992... Three investors claim troubled clothing maker deliberately misled them SOUTHPORT -- Crystal Brands, a Southport-based sportswear maker, is the latest public company accused of deception by shareholders, who claim the company defrauded them by...

Business waits to learn price of Disabilities Act. (American with Disabilities Act)
August 10, 1992... WESTPORT -- The jury is still out on what effect the new American with Disabilities Act (ADA) will have on the bottom line of businesses seeking to comply with the federal law's requirements to bring the "disabled" population into the workforce....

Nine West puts its best foot forward, but Wall Street doesn't want to dance. (Nine West Corp.)
August 10, 1992... STAMFORD -- Raising new capital on Wall Street has become a tough sell as recession-wary investors look with a jaundiced eye on every public offering pitch. For Nine West, the Stamford-based women's footwear company, the faltering IPO market has...

Oxford Health Plans searching for new space. (Oxford Health Plans Inc.)
August 10, 1992... DARIEN -- Oxford Health Plans of Darien is scouring Fairfield and Westchester County for a new corporate headquarters site. The health maintenance organization, ranked 57th on Inc. magazines' list of fastest growing public companies, is looking...

In the frugal 1990s, debt is out - and debit cards are in.
August 10, 1992... In the mid-1980s, Peoples Westchester Savings Bank of Hawthorne, N.Y., was one of only a handful of institutions offering a "debit" card -- a type of automated teller machine card that allows users to pay for goods at certain stores by making...

The Entrepreneurial Center is ready to take on the world.
August 10, 1992... After five years of conducting business under the wing of Manhattanville College, the Entrepreneurial Center is venturing out on its own. Beginning Sept. 1, the Entrepreneurial Center Inc. will be located at The Center at Purchase, 1...

Transamerica Leasing looking for new quarters: search for more space extends into Connecticut. (Transamerica Leasing Inc.)
August 17, 1992... WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- The corporate relocation duel between Westchester and the state of Connecticut involves more than bragging rights to which of them hosts a greater number of the Fortune 500. With the Northeast economy in disarray, both...

State moves to jump-start a stale economy: tackling credit crunch a priority for economic development agency. (Connecticut Department of Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... Under the direction of Joseph McGee, the state Department of Economic Development has become -- to a degree -- the "guiding hand" in Connecticut's struggle to revitalize its sagging economy. Purists who cling to the conservative economic theory...

Business groups press for cap on state budget. (Committee to Cap State Spending)
August 17, 1992... Business groups throughout Connecticut are joining forces to support passage of a state constitutional amendment that would cap each year's state budget at a level tied to income and consumer price increases. The question will appear on the...

Conflicting visions threaten to disrupt development of Stratford theater site.
August 17, 1992... STRATFORD -- Come early September, nine members of a special selection committee appointed by the state Department of Economic Development could grant one developer the right to build a multimillion-dollar performing arts complex on the site of...

$12 million theater project highlights local opportunities, Bridgeport official says.
August 17, 1992... A multimillion-dollar land sale in Bridgeport is the impetus for the largest local construction project undertaken since the Wright International Office Tower was completed two years ago. National Amusements of Massachusetts purchased a...

Alliant Technologies, Olin sign exchange agreement. (Alliant TechSystems Inc.; Olin Corp.)
August 17, 1992... STAMFORD -- Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis and Olin Corp. have signed a definitive agreement for the exchange of Olin's Ordnance Division and Physics International Co., including approximately $65 million in debt, for 2.82 million shares of...

Economic development fueling the fires of recovery. (New York Metropolitan Area) (Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... IBM downsizes operations. W.R. Grace heads to Virginia. UPS moves from Greenwich to Atlanta. Nestle leaves Purchase for California. While the headlines may have surprised many in the New York metropolitan area, they underscored the realities of...

Orange County is on the rebound after recession staggers economy. (Orange County, New York) (Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... Only a few years ago, New York's Orange County ranked No. 14 on Fortune Magazine's list of most desirable places to live in the United States. Affordable housing prices and low land costs made the area one of the fastest growing counties in the...

New Jersey sticks to basics, meeting one-on-one with corporate chieftains. (Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... The state of New Jersey extends for hundreds of miles along the Atlantic coast, offering a rich variety of natural resources and diverse communities. The state's economy runs the gamut of commerce, from heavy industry and chemical plants in the...

Business partnership plays a key role in Westchester's economic development. (Westchester Business Partnership, Westchester County, New York) (Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... When the recession began to pull down the region's economy, and the real estate markets with it, efforts to attract fresh corporate blood to Westchester were left solely to county government. If there is an upside to the downturn it is that...

Dutchess County targets high-tech firms by offering a low-cost environment. (Dutchess County, New York) (Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... Like most economic development programs, Dutchess County's Economic Development Corp. did not become a pro-active marketer of the region until four years ago. Gerald McDonald, president of the group, said the rise in importance of his...

New York City gaining ground in fight to keep companies in the five boroughs. (Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... The bleeding may be over for New York City, thanks to the lowering of a number of key variables important to business. Rental lease rates, especially in the lower East Side, have stabilized, the crime rate has fallen, and the successful...

New Long Island Partnership promotes aspects of life rarely covered in media. (Economic Development)
August 17, 1992... Once considered a bedroom community to New York City, Long Island has developed into an independent economic region with some 85,000 companies ranging from large multinationals to small entrepreneurial ventures. In an effort to promote the...

New England economy slowly pulling out of a very deep hole.
August 17, 1992... WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Although business is slowly improving in the Northeast, a weak national and international economy is impeding further growth, according to Peter Kozel, assistant professor of finance at Babson College in Massachusetts. "New...

Westport publisher files libel lawsuit against weekly Fairfield newspaper. (Westport, Connecticut; B.V. Brooks sues Jim Motavalli, editor of Fairfield County Advocate, and New Mass Media)
August 24, 1992... WESTPORT -- The classic newspaper headline is "Man bites dog." But an even more enticing banner, "Newspaper bites newspaper," describes the libel suit filed by a Westport publisher against the rival paper which wrote about him. B.V. "Dexter"...

Scinto, Bridgeport deal clears path to develop 200-acre Trumbull site. (real estae developer Bob Scinto; Trumbull and Bridgeport, Connecticut)
August 24, 1992... TRUMBULL -- Developer Bob Scinto has built more than two million square feet of Fairfield County office space over the past decade. Through boom times and bad times, Scinto's persistence has paid off. That same quality of never giving up has...

Norwalk manufacturer studies the bottom line. (Norwalk, Connecticut; Howe Furniture Corp.; economics of doing business in Connecticut)
August 24, 1992... NORWALK -- Change is the constant in today's Fairfield County economic landscape. Many individual companies, across the spectrum of industries, are struggling to pull through today's tough times, seeking to emerge at the other end of the current...

Clients look to Wahlstrom for green light before advertising in the Yellow Pages. (Wahlstrom and Company Inc., Stamford, Connecticut's oldest and largest advertising agency)
August 24, 1992... STAMFORD -- If you let your fingers do the walking, they might get lost. With almost 7,000 Yellow Pages directories out there, Americans face a huge pool of information about where to eat, sleep, and who can unclog their drains. At least...

It's off to tax auction for Hi-Ho Center: D'Addario mall among hundreds of properties for sale in Bridgeport. (F. Francis D'Addario's shopping center in Connecticut)
August 31, 1992... BRIDGEPORT -- Bolstered by good news from the capital market, city officials are preparing to sell several large commercial and residential properties in an effort to recoup millions of dollars in delinquent taxes. The most well-known of the...

Development tops agenda of Shelton's 'impatient' mayor. (Mayor Mark Lauretti)
August 31, 1992... SHELTON -- Mark Lauretti, the 37-year-old mayor of this city along the Housatonic River, makes no effort to hide his disdain for the normal pace of change in government. "I'm impatient," said the first-year mayor, who owns two restaurants in...

Corporate Business Council in Greenwich decides to head off trouble before it starts. (Connecticut)
August 31, 1992... GREENWICH -- Panic is not rampant along Greenwich Avenue's famed retail strip. Major corporations located in Fairfield County's premier business district aren't loading the office furniture into trucks for a mass exodus. But the nationwide...

Design can make or break a campaign. (marketing consultancy firm Welch Inc.) (Company Profile)
August 31, 1992... "Design," says C. William Welch of Welch Inc. in Ridgefield, "is the primary thing in communication, probably the most important thing." Though he's a former journalist and a writer who has operated his own marketing communications business...

International Remarketing barters goods worth a quarter-billion dollars. (Focus: International Trade/Finance/Advertising) (Company Profile)
August 31, 1992... "One-third |of the~ people absolutely go into seizure when you mention bartering," according to Ted Demmon, president of International Remarketing in Greenwich. He attributes this knee-jerk response to the Carter administration's "witch-hunt"...

The world's finest beers pass through Stamford offices of Guinness Import. (Guinness Import Co.) (Focus: International Trade/Finance/Advertising) (Company Profile)
August 31, 1992... STAMFORD -- Sitting in the comfort of a neighborhood pub, patrons today can select from a dazzling variety of beers originating from breweries around the world. A beer for every taste is available for the asking as import companies bring...