The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) articles from May 1992

The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) archives from May 1992

TGH debt gets better grade. (Tampa General Hospital's debt rated A by Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Investors Service Inc.)
May 29, 1992... Hillsborough County's teaching hospital is getting good grades: An A and an A- from two debt rating services that could help the hospital save $54 million in a bond refinancing this spring. Moody's Investors Service has given Tampa General...

Dueling cleaners close competitors. (Tender Touch Cleaners and One-Hour Martinizing)
May 29, 1992... There are over 24,000 in America. And Tender Touch Cleaners and One-Hour Martinizing just had to be neighbors. That's right: Two neighboring dry cleaners, both in the Town Square strip shopping center on the southeast corner of Westshore and...

Dallas acquisition will help Paxson go public. (Lowell Paxson buys controlling interest in TM Centure Inc.)
May 29, 1992... Lowell "Bud" Paxson will take a major step toward making his radio stations part of a public company when he purchases a controlling interest in Dallas-based TM Century Inc. sometime this month. In a deal scheduled for completion in early...

City Center feeling brunt of new towers. (Tampa City Center office tower faces competition from Landmark Centre and the C&S Bank Plaza)
May 29, 1992... With the Landmark Centre now open and the C&S Bank Plaza scheduled to open in July, Tampa City Center no longer is considered among downtown Tampa's hottest class-A office towers. Indeed, three large City Center tenants recently announced...

Checkers Drive-In Restaurants. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
May 29, 1992... TRADED NASDAQ-CHKR 600 Cleveland St., Suite 1050, Clearwater 34617 (813) 441-3500 The Company operates a chain of drive-through fast-food restaurants in Florida, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Michigan, Missouri,...

Hurricane survival guide for businesses. (includes related articles)
May 29, 1992... Preparing A Business Defense If You Want Your Business To Survive, Now Is The Time To Prepare For A Hurricane Strike It's not if, it's when." That's the message on the back of Bob Taylor's business card; a message he and other emergency...

Are you prepared? Even though many suffered through Elena, few area businesses have formal hurricane plans. (Hurricane Elena; includes related articles)
May 29, 1992... When John Billiris, owner of Catherine's Linen Shop on the corner of Athens and Dodecanese streets in Tarpon Springs, came home from a football game Sept. 2, 1985, he discovered police evacuating his hometown. It was the weekend Hurricane...

Busier brokers: industrial, business parks see more interest, but caution still reigns. (Industry Overview)
May 29, 1992... If you were to ask Jim Marsh, a leasing agent with Krauss Organization of Tampa, about the Bay Area's industrial and business park market, this is what he may say: "It's OK....But it depends on which day you asked me." Many Tampa Bay...

Concurrency not blocking small developments. (Real Estate) (Industry Overview)
May 29, 1992... After two years of full-blown concurrency restrictions in Pinellas County, some small developments along poorly serviced roads are taking root. Curlew Landings South -- The Beaches, a multi-family development under construction in Indian...

New office space spells little net absorption. (interview with George Bartlett, senior vice president and senior managing officer of CB Commercial Real Estate Group in Tampa, Florida) (Interview)
May 29, 1992... George Bartlett is senior vice president and senior managing officer of CB Commercial Real Estate Group in Tampa. In 1981, Bartlett relocated from a CB Commercial sales office in Chicago to open a Tampa office on the 11th floor of Enterprise...

Real estate outlook - another slow year. (Real Estate) (Industry Overview)
May 29, 1992... Secondary Market For Commercial Properties Could Have Potentially Beneficial Impact Because we are now nearly half way through 1992, perhaps it's appropriate to offer some thoughts on the future of the commercial real estate market....

Barnett/First Florida fallout. (Barnett Banks Inc.; First National Bank of Clearwater)
May 22, 1992... Small Players See Gains; Upheaval Likely In Bay Area Banking Circles Besides First Florida shareholders, at least one other group surely will benefit from Barnett Banks' plan to buy the Tampa-based financial institution, banking experts say....

Trust key to business for First National of Clearwater. (trust accounts)(First National Bank of Clearwater)
May 22, 1992... In the mad, mad world of banking, The First National Bank of Clearwater is a rarity. For 66 years, the bank has managed to stay independent. And with rare exception, it has prospered without changing its somewhat stodgy image. Over the...

Townhomes eyed for Ybor City.
May 22, 1992... Ybor City might soon be getting its first new residential housing in two decades and its first high-end townhomes ever. Heritage Development Corp. of Tampa, owned by Jim Burt of the Burt Cos., proposes to build a 22-unit detached townhome...

Rental firm closing bay headquarters. (Exchange Car and Truck Rental)
May 22, 1992... Tampa-based Exchange Car and Truck Rental is pulling out of the Bay Area and heading to Orlando after being headquartered here the past 10 years. As part of its proposed Chapter 11 reorganization plan, Exchange is consolidating its...

Sign-off date coming for some billboards. (ban on billboards in Hillsborough County, Florida) (Industry Overview)
May 22, 1992... A ban on billboards in unincorporated Hillsborough County goes into effect this July unless the industry can change county commissioners' minds about a 1985 ordinance prohibiting the signs. The law -- which does not pertain to Tampa -- spells...

Who's who in printing. (Focus) (Directory)
May 22, 1992... Brochures, annual reports, advertising inserts, publications... it doesn't matter how creative those written communication tools are if a printing job isn't first-rate. Recognizing the crucial role the printing industry plays in...

Shops & Docs: tourism boosters eye Latin American health, retail visitors. (Tampa-Hillsborough Convention and Visitors Association marketing Tampa Bay Area as destination for Latin Americans)
May 15, 1992... The Tampa/Hillsborough Convention and Visitors Association plans to talk with local health care providers and retailers within the next 30 days on how to market the Bay Area as a health care and shopping destination to Latin Americans....

Swiss dollars finding Bay properties. (Swiss-backed Baron Real Estate Services acquires Shoppes on Sand Key, Tampa Bay Area)
May 15, 1992... The Shoppes on Sand Key, a 3-year-old retail center that was foreclosed on just last summer, is under contract to a group of Swiss investors for an undisclosed price. The transaction is the latest entry in a large real-estate portfolio being...

Securities marriage bucks odd perception. (Robert W. Baird and Company Inc. hooks up with Williams Securities Group Inc.)
May 15, 1992... The odd couple. That's what securities industry wags called the marriage last September of Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co., one of the nation's more conservative brokers, and the younger, brasher Williams Securities Group of Tampa....

Home Depot entering repair business. (launches installed service program for customers)
May 15, 1992... Nation's Largest Do-It-Yourself Retailer Now Willing To Do It For You You don't have to do it yourself any longer at The Home Depot. If it's the hot water heater that's broken -- or a similar household appliance -- a Home Depot-trained...

Retirees yes, Food Lion no. (residents of Largo, Florida favor construction of a retirement community over a Food Lion store in a Walshingham Road vacant lot)
May 15, 1992... Largo Land Deal A church, a supermarket and now an adult congregate living center have all tried to make their home on a 6.5-acre parcel of land on Walsingham Road in Largo. The church moved down the street. And the grocery store never...

Co. sues 11 investors in St. Pete nursing home. (Continental Medical Systems Inc. sue Shore Acres Nursing Homes Ltd. investors)
May 15, 1992... Continental Medical Systems Inc., a Pennsylvania health care company, is suing a Hillsborough County limited partnership to which it sold the Shore Acres Nursing and Convalescent Center in St. Petersburg in 1988. This is just the latest in...

Salomon's secret: the building of a high tech office. (Salomon Brothers Inc.'s new data processing center building in Tampa Bay Area, Florida) (Focus: Construction)
May 15, 1992... From the outside, it is a conventional building: The kind of steel-and-glass construction typical of suburban office parks across the country. It is a structure unlikely to win much architectural praise for creativity. From the inside,...

Cost containment: recession dropped prices but they're now inching up. (Focus: Construction) (Industry Overview)
May 15, 1992... The construction business is coming back to life, say general contractors. And that means the cost of building materials is on the rise. In 1991, when a lot of general contractors hit bottom, the cost of steel, lumber, glass and concrete...

TECO Energy. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
May 15, 1992... TRADED NYSE-TE TECO Plaza, 702 N. Franklin St., Tampa 33602 (813) 228-4111 TECO Energy is the holding company for Tampa Electric and six other subsidiaries in the energy and transportation businesses. Annual Meeting: April 21, 1992...

Slices of SBA pie slim in Tampa Bay. (Small Business Administration's loans; Florida)
May 8, 1992... When it comes to small business loans and the national Small Business Administration, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties don't get their share of the pie. The process involves too much paperwork, officials in Tampa Bay's banking industry...

Stalemate ends; Pinellas land on market. (Pinellas County, Florida keeps development rights to marshlands)
May 8, 1992... A large tract of densely wooded, snake-infested marshland is back on the market in Pinellas County after years of stalemates among its previous owner, nearby neighbors and a Louisiana bank. Two wedge-shaped billboards recently were placed at...

Sam's wants to saturate area market. (Sam's Wholesale Clubs)
May 8, 1992... At least five Sam's Wholesale Clubs will spring up in the Bay Area within the next year, promising not only to shake up the wholesale club scene, but to take a bite out of grocery and auto parts sales as well. Consequently, one of Sam's...

First-run squeeze prompts theater to go $1 per flick. (Floyd Theaters Inc.)
May 8, 1992... For weeks, the movie "Wayne's World" has played in Tampa Bay movie theaters for $5 to $6 a ticket. With such long-running success, you'd think it would continue to fetch market prices. Not. Starting Friday (May 15), Movies at Largo will...

HSN sets high-tech spin-off. (Home Shopping Network Inc.; Precision Systems Group Inc.)
May 8, 1992... Television retailer Home Shopping Network is spinning off one of its subsidiaries, Precision Systems. HSN stockholders will receive one share of PSi common stock for every 10 shares of HSN common stock they own. PSi, which produces and...

Strip neighbors. (World Class Men's Club; Tanga Lounge; Tampa, Florida)
May 8, 1992... New Men's Club Opens Next To The Tanga Lounge, But Owners Swear They're Not Competing Competition is heating up in Tampa's adult entertainment market. Scarlett's World Class Men's Club is scheduled to open right next door to The Tanga...

Salsa makers pin hopes on Publix popularity. (Publix Super Markets Inc.)
May 8, 1992... Sales recently doubled for a 2-year-old salsa maker when Publix Super Markets agreed to buy its products. And the makers of the spicy sauces, Tim Pracht and Fred Lewis, hope the exposure in 130 of Publix's stores will double profits and launch...

Is Magic motion key to success? (Classique Products International's lotion applicator)
May 8, 1992... Tampa-based Businessmen Are Betting Their Lotion Applicator Will Bring Big Bucks In A Short Time Robin Leach might have reason to profile two local inventors of a lotion applicator in the future -- if sun worshippers and arthritis sufferers...

Classical music video may bring sweet dollars. (Classical Video Concepts)
May 8, 1992... Bill Patterson has put a classic twist on music videos. The Tampa Bay entrepreneur claims he's the first to create a classical music video and says he dreams of someday seeing a cable TV channel devoted solely to his idea. Call it a serene...

Tunstall claims clients owe him. (Tunstall Consulting Inc.)
May 1, 1992... Tunstall Consulting Inc. has filed lawsuits totaling $175,251.94 against three of its clients. One of the defendants is Assix, a Tampa company that markets a tire-balancing technology known as Tire Matching. The others are Williams...

Doctors' faces first suit since Chapter 11 dismissal. (Doctors' Hospital of Tampa)
May 1, 1992... A medical equipment leasing company has filed the first of what could be a barrage of suits by creditors against Doctors' Hospital of Tampa. Diagnostic Leasing Inc. filed its suit April 23 in Hillsborough County Circuit Court. The St....

Store brands take aim at name-brand market. (Industry Overview)
May 1, 1992... At a Publix supermarket in south Tampa, six cans of store-brand diet cola cost 48% less than a six-pack of Diet Pepsi. At an Albertson's down the road, a six-pack of Janet Lee diet cola, one of the chains's three "private labels," is 46%...

Chain plans debt swap; income up. (Kash n' Karry Food Stores)
May 1, 1992... Kash n' Karry Food Stores plans to offer a $50-million debt issue to replace notes it issued last January and has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining its financial position. Although Kash n' Karry continues to...

New name newest twist in newspaper battle.
May 1, 1992... The St. Petersburg Times' effort to expand into Hillsborough County hasn't exactly been a secret during the past five years. But on April 26, the newspaper put it in writing -- big writing -- that it wants to conquer the market across the bay....

Medcross. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
May 1, 1992... 3227 Bennett St. N. St. Petersburg 33713 (813) 521-1793 TRADED NASDAQ-MDCR Medcross provides management services to health-care ventures and consulting services to hospitals, clinics and health-care professionals. The businesses that...