The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) articles from February 1994

The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) archives from February 1994

Rocky Point: new island of real estate development.
February 25, 1994... TAMPA Rocky Point, the small island in Old Tampa Bay, is fast regaining its luster among real estate developers, especially those in the residential market. A succession of deals has been struck in the past few weeks. Most recently,...

Roller hockey franchise on its way to the Bay Area. (Tampa Bay Tritons; Tampa Bay Area)
February 25, 1994... TAMPA A group of New York investors, encouraged by the Bay Area's love affair with the Lightning, has put together a professional roller hockey team and is bringing it to Expo Hall in Tampa. The Tampa Bay Tritons is one of 12 new...

Shorts left high, dry by Outback. (Outback Steakhouse)
February 25, 1994... Short sellers, affectionately known as Wall Street's vultures, swooped down and picked up new profits from the recent stock tumble of Checkers Drive-In Restaurants. But their other favorite Bay Area stock, Outback Steakhouse, continues to...

Cellular firm files $85M public offering. (Palmer Wireless Inc.)
February 25, 1994... Palmer Wireless Inc. is tapping the public markets to the tune of $85 million in what observers say could be one of the largest corporate financing deals in recent state history. Palmer, a Fort Myers unit of Palmer Communications Inc., is...

Grocers check out what's new at retail tech show. (Marketechnics Show)
February 25, 1994... TAMPA An automated checkout counter. Test marketing that employs virtual reality. A coupon distribution system that knows your preference for Crest over Colgate. These are just a handful of the technological advances that will be on...

Pharmacy management firm acquires Dunedin operation. (ProxyMed Pharmacy; Service Drugs of Dunedin)
February 25, 1994... DUNEDIN ProxyMed Pharmacy, a Fort Lauderdale-based pharmacy management company, has purchased Service Drugs of Dunedin, a six-store operation, for about $1.08 million in stock. The purchase gives ProxyMed a seven-store toehold in the Bay...

Business leaders debate rebirth of Super Task Force. (Super Task Force for Internationalizing the Tampa Bay Area)
February 25, 1994... TAMPA Dormant since 1991, the Super Task Force for Internationalizing the Tampa Bay Area is hoping for a revival. This ambitiously named, loose consortium of business leaders remains inert. But an effort to reorganize it has surfaced with...

Tribune merges Winter Haven, Lakeland bureaus. (Tampa Tribune)
February 25, 1994... LAKELAND The Tampa Tribune, moving ahead with its cost-cutting strategy, is consolidating its news operations in Polk County and shutting down its Winter Haven bureau. The Winter Haven operation will be merged into the newspaper's...

Renovation wonders: housing programs give contractors business, satisfaction. (Real Estate Month)
February 25, 1994... When the city of Tampa started its program in the 1970s to renovate substandard housing, it worked with 14 contractors and built or renovated about 35 homes a year. Last year, 1,400 homes were built or improved with the help of 205...

'93 absorption figures belie area office activity. (Tampa Bay's office and industrial markets) (Real Estate Month)
February 25, 1994... Recovery was the byword for Tampa Bay's office and industrial markets in 1993. Although Hillsborough County's net absorption finished the year in the red, the office market saw a lot of movement as tenants moved from one building to another....

Business is fun again for area industrial brokers. (Tampa Bay Area) (Real Estate Month)
February 25, 1994... After several lean years, the industrial space market is on the upswing again. Demand for industrial space rose sharply as the Bay Area pulled out of the recession in 1993, brokers said. And if that demand can be viewed as an indicator of...

New technologies cannot replace realtor services. (Real Estate Month)
February 25, 1994... The residential real estate sales professional is rapidly approaching a major fork in the road. The fundamental principles of real estate sales are being challenged by emerging technology and competitive forces. Home sellers rightly demand...

Mortgage bankers battle for local market share. (Real Estate Month)
February 25, 1994... Winning a scant 2% of the Bay Area's hyperactive residential mortgage market is enough to qualify a company for a financial gold medal. The top 20 mortgage lenders for Hillsborough and Pinellas counties had a combined market share of 56.05%,...

Fountain Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 25, 1994... 11201 Concept Blvd., #A, Largo 34643 (813) 392-5300 Fountain Pharmaceuticals is a development stage company organized to develop and commercialize compound encapsulation technologies. Its technologies recently have been applied to a number of...

$800M residential project back on track; Shimberg Cross teams with TECO to develop 2,400 lots. (TECO Properties)
February 18, 1994... RIVERVIEW After six years on the back burner, Shimberg Cross' $800-million, 4,000-plus-acre Fish Hawk Ranch residential community in Brandon is now racing forward with the help of a new joint-venture partner: TECO Energy Inc. Shimberg...

Phosphate finally making a comeback.
February 18, 1994... After five consecutive years of declines, international and domestic phosphate orders are on the rebound -- good news for the Bay Area. Industry watchers predict international phosphate orders will increase as much as 5% in 1994; domestic...

Bay Area HMOs rushing to Medicaid market. (health maintenance organizations)
February 18, 1994... Two Bay Area HMOs have set up shop to pursue the multibillion-dollar Medicaid market, and at least a half dozen others are poised to enter the race. Fueling interest in this market: A new state requirement that all HMOs -- even those that...

Stock soars, but not all are high on airbag sensor maker. (Breed Technologies Inc.)
February 18, 1994... LAKELAND Breed is now trading at 36 times earnings, just 15 months after going public Breed Technologies stock has inflated faster than an automotive airbag in recent weeks, doubling to more than $30. The week of Feb. 7 alone, Breed's...

Through a glass brightly: CEO maps plans to make Anchor more visible to the area. (James Malone; Anchor Glass Container Corp.; Tampa Bay Area) (Focus: Made in Tampa Bay)
February 18, 1994... TAMPA When James Malone took the helm of Anchor Glass Container Corp. last May, his immediate goal was to clear the cans and plastic bottles from his refrigerator. After all, any packaging that competes with glass, Tampa-based Anchor's claim...

Cold War thaw forces local contractors to adapt. (Reflectone Inc.; Martin Marietta Specialty Components) (Focus: Made in Tampa Bay)
February 18, 1994... The Cold War thaw has put the deep freeze on the defense industry nationwide, and the Bay Area is no exception. Companies like Tampa-based Reflectone Inc. and Largo's Martin Marietta Specialty Components have had their military contracts --...

Pinellas manufacturers show yen for Far East. (Pinellas County, Florida) (Focus: Made in Tampa Bay)
February 18, 1994... When President Bill Clinton lifted the 19-year-old trade embargo between Vietnam and the United States a few weeks ago, St. Petersburg's Bill Castoro was ready. Castoro, the executive director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Economic...

Summer buy puts Group Tech into top three rank. (Group Technologies Inc.) (Focus: Made in Tampa Bay) (Directory)
February 18, 1994... An acquisition helped boost Tampa-based Group Technologies from the 12th largest manufacturer in Tampa Bay to the No. 3 spot this year, based on local employees. Group Technologies' jump on the Business Journal's list of local manufacturers is...

Quality Products Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 18, 1994... 3820 Northdale Blvd., #304-B, Tampa, Fla. 33624 (813) 963-1300 Quality Products Inc. is a holding company for a variety of subsidiaries, including a multi-press division, a wholly-owned toy subsidiary, and a consumer products corporation....

Land sales skyrocketing in Bay Area. (Tampa Bay Area, Florida)
February 11, 1994... Residential builders snap up nearly 500 acres in a rush of recent deals Land sales are shaping up as the hottest ticket in today's Bay Area residential real estate market. In just the past few weeks a string of various-sized tracts of...

Region's hospitals stay fit through crosstown alliances. (Tampa Bay Area, Florida)
February 11, 1994... Casting aside traditional rivalries, yet another band of Bay Area hospitals has formed an alliance partly in response to the arrival of one of the nation's most aggressive hospital companies. Once its formation is complete, the Integrated...

Hot topics of '93 still brewing at Tampa General. (Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Florida) (Health Care Month)
February 11, 1994... If 1993 was a year of major upheaval at Tampa General Hospital, then 1994 is shaping up as more of the same. Tampa General President and CEO David Bussone believes he's ready, touting a new strategic plan that lays out the 995-bed,...

Independent druggists struggle with managed care. (Health Care Month)
February 11, 1994... Davis Islands Pharmacy closes at 5 p.m. on Saturdays. But many a Saturday night, owner and pharmacist Bob Bobo is in at 7 p.m. filling a prescription for someone who didn't make it in earlier and can't go without his or her medicine. The...

Developer puts twist on medical building. (Medical Group Services) (Health Care Month) (Company Profile)
February 11, 1994... After the real estate recession hit in the 1980s, a lot of developers diversified into brokerage or asset management. Development became an aside rather than the mainstay it once had been. But Doug Lobel, a medical facility developer in...

Breed Technologies Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 11, 1994... 5300 Old Tampa Hwy., Lakeland, Fla. 33811 (813) 284-6256 Breed Technologies designs, develops and manufactures automotive airbag crash sensors and airbag systems. Annual Meeting: Last held Nov. 17, 1993. Auditor: KPMG Peat Marwick, For...

South Florida HMO moves into Bay Area. (Ramsay-HMO Inc.; health maintenance organization)
February 4, 1994... Its expansion sets the stage for increased competition TAMPA Ramsay-HMO, one of South Florida's largest health maintenance organizations and a nationally recognized name in managed care, has expanded into the Tampa Bay market. Ramsay is...

Storm's Gries turns his eye on the Bucs. (Tampa Bay Storm owner Bob Gries plans to buy Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
February 4, 1994... ST. PETERSBURG The owner of the Tampa Bay Storm, two-time Arena Football League champions, is positioning himself to take a shot at buying the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the worst team in the NFL. Bob Gries, whose family owns 43% of the NFL...

Stacey's formula working wonders on Homestyle. (Stacey's Buffet Inc.; Homestyle Buffet Inc.)
February 4, 1994... LARGO Stacey's Buffet Inc.'s turnaround recipe for Homestyle Buffet is proving to be a hit: Since the two companies merged in December, sales at restaurants converted to the Stacey's format are up 25% to 40%, analysts are covering the...

Polk: a growing asset on banks' balance sheets. (Polk County)
February 4, 1994... Most deposits are now with five banks, but everyone's butting heads over share BARTOW It's a safe bet that Polk County's leading banks have better name recognition than their market areas. Few outsiders, for example, still know much...

Hospitality industry re-discovers riches of Gasparilla. (Gasparilla Festival)
February 4, 1994... Hotel bookings are up again this year after having declined in previous years TAMPA The Gasparilla Festival appears to have made a comeback, with projected attendance by out-of-towners finally at the levels seen before racial discord...

Bay Area chippas choose their executive directors. (health insurance purchasing alliances)
February 4, 1994... Cynthia Sampson, a health care executive with almost a decade of experience working for local insurance companies, has been tapped to head the new health insurance purchasing alliance covering small businesses in Hillsborough County. Meanwhile,...

Architects flock to Tampa's Latin district. (Ybor City, Florida) (Focus: Professions)
February 4, 1994... TAMPA Ask Stephanie "December" Gaines why she moved her architecture firm from Barnett Plaza in downtown Tampa to Ybor City, and she says: "That's simple. Atmosphere and economics." When Gaines refers to atmosphere, she's talking about...

Big Six partners play leading role in Bay Area fabric. (Arthur Andersen and Co.; Coopers and Lybrand; Deloitte and Touche; Ernst and Young; KPMG Peat Marwick; Price Waterhouse) (Focus: Professions) (Company Profile)
February 4, 1994... It doesn't take an accountant to recognize the power of the Big Six. In fiscal 1993, the world's largest accounting firms generated $31.9 billion in revenue, according to Bowman's Accounting Report, an industry newsletter based in Atlanta....

Look who's marketing now. (advertising legal services) (Focus: Professions)
February 4, 1994... Lawyers get their names out using everything from T-shirts to mugs Carolyn Eastman remembers the days when her father was an attorney. Then, clients were acquired through word-of-mouth and personal networking; through socializing and...