The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) articles from September 1995

The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) archives from September 1995

Raymond James jumps into prototype loan pool. (Raymond James and Associates)
September 29, 1995... It joins a novel effort to establish a market for low-income home mortgages Raymond James & Associates and a consortium of banks have teamed up in an effort to create a secondary mortgage market for affordable housing loans. The effort is...

Golf company plots a new course in Tampa. (Brassie Golf Corp.)
September 29, 1995... Brassie Golf Corp., one of the largest golf course builders and managers in the nation, has moved to Tampa and is hoping to raise millions of dollars in a private offering to finance the acquisition and construction of up to 45 golf courses....

Music-shopping TV network departing. (MOR Music TV)
September 29, 1995... MOR Music TV, a St. Petersburg music-shopping television network controlled by the son of Home Shopping Network cofounder Roy Speer, plans to move to Nashville, Tenn., in late November. About 20 of the 60 employees of Richard Speer's MOR...

Hot listing: independent real estate brokerages. (Tampa Bay Area)
September 29, 1995... Some of the Bay Area's largest residential real estate brokerages have been on a buying frenzy, acquiring small, independently owned competitors in quick succession. Clearwater-based Prudential Florida Realty, the area's largest residential...

Lightning weigh proposals to bolt Lakeland for camp. (National Hockey League clubs encouraged to conduct training camps in Canada)
September 29, 1995... The Tampa Bay Lightning and other National Hockey League clubs based south of the Mason-Dixon Line are being wooed to conduct their training camps in Canada. The Lightning, whose two-year training camp lease with the Lakeland Center expires...

Safety Harbor resort due for facelift. (Safety Harbor Resort and Spa)
September 29, 1995... South Seas Resorts to pay for improvements, to seek ownership The historic Safety Harbor Resort and Spa is no longer. The new management of the property has changed its name to Safety Harbor Resort. It also has hired a California design...

First of America Bank to join annuities sales fray. (First America Bank of Florida)
September 29, 1995... Tampa-based First of America Bank of Florida is gearing up to sell annuities through its chain of 51 bank branches along the Gulf Coast from Inverness to Fort Myers. "We should be able to start selling within the next 60 days," said David...

German group picks Polk for building materials plant. (Ytong Group; business report covering Tampa Bay Area)
September 29, 1995... Munich-based Ytong Group, which makes light-weight concrete building materials, said it will build its fast U.S. plant in Haines City, in eastern Polk County, just minutes away from Central Florida's housing explosion and fine sand used for...

Tyson Foods acquires Jacksonville poultry plant. (Cargill Inc. plant)
September 29, 1995... Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods Inc. acquired a poultry processing plant, a hatchery and a feedmill in the Jacksonville area previously owned by Cargill Inc. as part of a multi-state swap of $50 million in assets between the two companies....

Port of Tampa, TIA team up to promote cruises. (Tampa International Airport)(Hospitality & Tourism)(Column)
September 29, 1995... What do 300,000 cruise line passengers have in common with 300,000 airline passengers? Everything. That's the message being delivered by the Port of Tampa and Tampa International Airport in major U.S. markets to get the travel Wade flying...

The next Silicon Valley? Sarasota now CD-ROM central.(Office Technology)
September 29, 1995... Resort lifestyle, climate team with labor pool, Ringling training to bolster high-tech economy Sarasota, known for its resorts, its retirees and its reverence for the acts, is rapidly developing a reputation of a different sort. The city...

For computer advice, Bay Area's the place to find it. (Tampa Bay Area)(Office Technology)
September 29, 1995... 950 consultant jobs may be added locally within the year After spending thousands of dollars - without success - to get a network of laptop computers communicating, a local company turned to the computer-technology consultants at Oxford &...

Local Web page designers caught up in the Net. (World Wide Web; Internet consulting firms)(Office Technology)
September 29, 1995... Startup, established Bay Area firms market, maintain, design sites during past year Terry Ratliff is a traffic engineer but should his ambitions be someday fulfilled, his job with the city of Largo will come to an end. During his off...

Remember me? I'm the salesman like all the others.(Small Business Enterprise)
September 29, 1995... My cat, Lito, has a business card. She is my corporate mascot, and plays a vital role in my office productivity. Whenever I need an important paper, Lito is lying on it. I give her card out in seminars and training programs for fun and a laugh....

Moving product from the loading dock into the home.(Small Business Enterprise)
September 29, 1995... No single word is subject to greater confusion than the word "marketing." For instance, I've lost count of the number of times that business associates confuse "marketing" with "sales." The best and most simple definition of marketing that I...

Nicholas Financial Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
September 29, 1995... Nicholas Financial provides direct consumer loans and indirect automobile loans for new cars, used cars and light trucks. Its software subsidiary, Nicholas Data Services Inc., designs, develops, supports and sells accounting software to small...

Largo Mall finds potential buyer. (Lincoln National Life Insurance Co.)
September 22, 1995... Sources say offer may come in at $37 million In what is expected to be one of the Bay Area's biggest retail real estate deals in years, the Largo Mall, the largest open-air mall in the Bay Area, is about be sold to, Lincoln National Life...

Greek firms may bid on ferry service. (Arkadia Lines; Attica Enterprises)
September 22, 1995... Plans for a Tampa-Mexico line pick up steam The Tampa Port Authority has received expressions of interest from two Greek shipping companies in response to its requests for proposals to operate a cruise ferry route between Tampa and Calica,...

Devil Rays, Bucs suit up to build: spring training facility may go up near Orlando. (Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball club; Tampa Bay Buccaneers football club; Orlando, Florida)
September 15, 1995... The Tampa Bay Devil Rays may build their spring-training facility on 80 acres of land in Altamonte Springs, north of Orlando. Devil Rays owner Vince, Naimoli and General Manager Chuck LaMar toured that site as well as Osceola County Stadium...

Columbia/HCA plans $65 million Pinellas hospital. (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.; Pinellas County, Florida)
September 15, 1995... Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. has developed plans to spend up to $65 million to open a long-term care hospital in Pinellas County by the year 2000. The health care company revealed its plans in a letter of intent filed with the state earlier...

NationsBank raises stakes in real estate securities market.
September 15, 1995... The bank enters the fray in pursuit of billions in commercial deals NationsBank, moving to snare some of the commercial real estate deals that have gone to Wall Street in recent years, has set up a Florida-based mortgage conduit unit with...

Management firm running 2 Bay Area doctors groups. (PhyCor Inc.; Tampa Bay Physicians Healthcare; Healthsavers Inc.)
September 15, 1995... Associations get help signing up HMO clients PhyCor Inc., a fast-growing health care management firm, has won contracts to manage two Bay Area independent physician associations representing nearly 400 doctors. A PhyCor subsidiary,...

Printing giant buys St. Petersburg multimedia firm. (World Color Press Inc.; Image Technologies Inc.; St. Petersburg, Florida)
September 15, 1995... Bay Area interactive hub seen on the horizon Image Technologies Inc., one of the largest interactive multimedia finns outside of Silicon Valley, has been acquired by New York's World Color Press, one of the largest printing companies in the...

Riscorp begins statewide push of new health plans.
September 15, 1995... Sarasota-based Riscorp, a managed care and insurance services holding company that had $372 million in 1994 premiums, has launched its first group health insurance plans statewide. Its two new products - Premier, a traditional indemnity plan,...

Orlando food company to form venture in China. (Galaxy Foods Co.)
September 15, 1995... Galaxy Foods Co. and China Treasure Inc. said they are forming a food and beverage joint venture in China that will incorporate Galaxy's technology and formulas with an existing Chinese business that China Treasure is negotiating to acquire....

Virginia advertising agency opens office in Tampa. (Barker, Campbell and Farley; Florida)
September 15, 1995... Barker Campbell & Farley, a 40-person, Virginia Beach, Va., ad agency with $28 million in annual billings, has opened a Tampa office in the Rocky Point district. It's BC&F's only office outside Virginia. "The principals and I had been...

SunBank exec brings strong reputation to Bay Area. (Sun Bank of Tampa Bay Chairman and CEO Carl Mentzer; Tampa Bay Area)
September 15, 1995... Carl Mentzer praised as community activist, banker in Miami The debate on how best to bring harmony and consensus to Miami has been ongoing for years. At the Beacon Council - Dade County's economic development arm - the debate has often...

Prudential Preferred Tampa office reports turnaround. (Tampa, Florida)
September 15, 1995... After a year of restructuring, the head of the Tampa office of Prudential Preferred says profits are being made and an expansion is under way. "We have hired eight people so far this year and we have five more behind them," said Prudential...

First Union prepares to offer online banking.
September 15, 1995... In an effort to snare what's expected to be a growing number of online customers, First Union is starting an in-house technology group to bring banking to the Internet. The Charlotte-based, working in conjunction with MCI and Netscape, is...

Hospitals testing lab plan. (Tampa Bay Area)
September 1, 1995... Once again, answering the managed care threat Led by Tampa's St. Joseph's Hospital, a group of Bay Area hospitals is considering jointly operating a central testing laboratory in order to cut costs. Operating the lab would also allow the...

Insurance firms lock horns with employee leasing companies. (Tampa Bay Area)
September 1, 1995... Competitive pressures in workers' comp Faced with a steady erosion of their client base due to competition from employee leasing firms, the Bay Area's independent insurance agents and worker's compensation underwriters are fighting back....

Gateway to get suite hotel. (Tampa Bay Area's first Homewood Suites Hotel)
September 1, 1995... It would be the first in the immediate area Pinellas County's Gateway area has landed the Bay Area's first Homewood Suites Hotel, an all-suite product that targets business travelers. The project may be followed by an even bigger hotel...

Computer consultant wins IBM's loyalty. (Computer Task Group Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Firm may expand Tampa operations The Tampa office of Computer Task Group Inc., a national computer consulting firm, may be expanding soon thanks to a new agreement with IBM. The "preferred-provider" deal puts Buffalo-based CTG in a fairly...

$31 million in Bay Area health care projects proposed. (Tampa Bay Area)
September 1, 1995... Led by Vencor Hospitals South Inc.'s plan to spend up to $15 million to develop a 150-bed, long-term-care hospital, 10 companies have proposed 13 new Bay Area health care projects worth up to $31.2 million. The companies' letters of intent...

Workers' comp judges seek tighter security. (workers' compensation insurance)
September 1, 1995... Workers' compensation judges in the Bay Area and elsewhere in Florida are asking for metal detectors and armed bailiffs to protect them and their staff at offices used to hear workers' comp claims. The extra security is being requested thanks...

BayCare to join Blue Cross Medicare HMO network. (BayCare Health Network Inc.; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc.)
September 1, 1995... Formerly CareFirst, provider expected, to ink deal within weeks BayCare Health Network Inc. will soon become part of the provider network for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida's Medicare and More HMO in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties....

Tech Data bolsters program for OEM customers. (Tech Data Corp.; original equipment manufacturers)
September 1, 1995... Bid desk, authorization program expected to increase pool of resellers by at least 60% Tech Data Corp. has rolled out several upgrades to a year-old program aimed at computer resellers and systems integrators building their own systems....

Membership grows, profit rise slows for HMOs. (health maintenance organizations)
September 1, 1995... First quarter revenues hit record $1.5 billion for Bay Area groups The Bay Area's health maintenance organizations continued to expand rapidly in both membership and revenues in the first quarter, but profit growth slowed as competition...

Mido looks to polish 'diamond in rough.' (Belleview Mido Resort Hotel in Belleview, Florida)
September 1, 1995... Exposure key to making investment pay returns Oliver Kugler likes to say that when he's selling the Belleview Mido Resort Hotel, what he's really selling is history and elbow room. The challenge, said Kugler, who has been sales and...