Austin Business Journal articles from November 1990

Austin Business Journal archives from November 1990

RTC's loan guarantee may revive real estate. (Resolution Trust Corp.)
November 5, 1990... RTC's loan guarantee may revive real estate The Resolution Trust Corp. answered many prayers with one word last week: financing. The Oversight Board for the RTC approved a proposal for a seller-financing policy, and details are expected...

Austin Chamber into environmental arena. (chamber of commerce)
November 5, 1990... Austin Chamber into environmental arena The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce is bringing together an unlikely collection of Austinites, representing business, environmental and government interests, to try to work side by side on...

Music vendors blowing no blues over Tower Records. (Tower opens in Austin)
November 5, 1990... Music vendors blowing no blues over Tower Records Local record store managers are reacting with more curiosity than dread to the scheduled opening here, on Nov. 21, of the first Tower Records store in Texas. The Sacramento, Calif.-based...

Scientific Measurement reports profitable year. (Scientific Measurement Systems Inc.) (News Briefs)
November 5, 1990... Scientific Measurement reports profitable year Scientific Measurement Systems Inc. (SMS) reported net earnings of $289,000 or 2 cents per share on revenues of $6,363,000 for the 1990 fiscal year, ending July 31. For fiscal year 1989, the...

Pencom to NeXT. (Pencom Software product for NeXT computer system) (News Briefs)
November 5, 1990... Pencom to NeXT Pencom Software has announced plans to port and market the MIT X Consortium's X11.R4 and the Open Software Foundation's Motif 1.1 on the NeXT Computer System. The product will be available from Pencom Software early next...

Software copyright. (News Briefs)
November 5, 1990... Software copyright Congress has approved legislation prohibiting "the rental, leasing, or lending of commercial software without the express permission of the copywriter holder." The Software Rental Amendments Act of 1989 is intended to...

Tracor contracts. (Tracor Flight Systems Inc.) (News Briefs)
November 5, 1990... Tracor contracts Tracor Flight Systems Inc. has been awarded two military contracts, for more than $1 million apiece. A $1.1 million contract was awarded with four option years, totaling $5.5 million by the U.S. Naval Supply Center Naval Sea...

Low-power TV-13 tunes into downtown Austin advertisers. (KVC-Channel 13, Austin)
November 5, 1990... Low-power TV-13 tunes into downtown Austin advertisers KVC-Channel 13 is a little television station with big aspirations. Eventually, Austin's low-power television station wants to reach a core of local viewers by broadcasting straight...

Voice mail risks the callers' ire but reaps big rewards. (Telecommunications)
November 5, 1990... Voice mail risks the callers' ire but reaps big rewards It's hard to say which is more disconcerting when trying to track someone down at work -- leaving a plethora of messages with a multitude of their co-workers, or fighting your way through...

Long-distance carriers scrambling for profits. (Telecommunications)
November 5, 1990... Long-distance carriers scrambling for profits The wide open spaces play a major part in Texas mythology -- everyone can picture a John Wayne stand-in perched atop a hill, arms stretched wide, proclaiming "this is all my land." But in the...

Phone bypass can offer big pluses. (do-it-yourself communications systems) (Telecommunications)
November 5, 1990... Phone bypass can offer big pluses While technical revolutions in telecommunications have put enormous and formerly impossible capabilities in the hands of the end user, most businesses still rely on time-proven methods of communication to...

Workers short on education. (blue collar educational levels)
November 12, 1990... Workers short on education Since the beginning of the automotive assembly line around the turn of the century the work done by manufacturing employees has grown steadily more complex. In the 1990s there is little need for a willing pair of...

Foundations: job salvation. (foundation work for construction companies)
November 12, 1990... Foundations: job salvation When Austin area real estate went bust a few years ago, taking down construction giants like Nash Phillips-Copus Inc., smaller companies trying to survive began scrambling for new ways to make a living. One...

French traders scouting Texas. (state seeks French investment)
November 12, 1990... French traders scouting Texas Using three-alarm chili, music by Gary P. Nunn, and a spate of business opportunities as bait, the Texas Department of Commerce recently courted a dozen French businessmen in an effort to lure French trade and...

Will study change downtown? (revitalization study)
November 12, 1990... Will study change downtown? City officials and business leaders laud the forthcoming arrival of the Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team as a tremendous feat. But in a city with a notorious weak spot for dead-end consulting studies, and...

New president suits up at Scarbroughs. (department store chain, Frank C. Watson)
November 12, 1990... New president suits up at Scarbroughs Scarbroughs president Frank C. Watson, 51, says luck has played an important part in his career as a department store executive. Watson was appointed president and chief operating officer of...

Unemployment persists. (News Briefs)
November 12, 1990... Unemployment persists The state unemployment rate is stagnant, according to figures released by the Texas Employment Commission last month. September's rate was 6.2 percent. The Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area was one of the regions...

Up with Austin. (economic forecast) (News Briefs)
November 12, 1990... Up with Austin The Texas Economic Forecast projects employment in Austin's Metropolitan Statistical Area will grow at a rate of 2.8 percent. That should bring unemployment rates down to 4.6 percent by 1992. While there continues to be an...

A real gas. (first independent retail natural gas fuel station opens) (News Briefs)
November 12, 1990... A real gas Southern Union Gas Co., Natural Gas Resources Inc. and Frank Sapp Texaco have joined forces in Austin to open the first independent retail fuel station for compressed natural gas in Texas. The facility is scheduled to open in...

State's disadvantaged businesses convene. (minority and female business enterprises)
November 12, 1990... State's disadvantaged businesses convene Unity will build political clout for businesses owned by women and members of minority groups. That was the message emphasized by speakers at the first meeting, earlier this month, of the Disadvantaged...

DTM Corp. (Newsmakers)
November 12, 1990... DONAL A. SCOVIL has been promoted to senior vice president of planning and STUART K. HARBOUR has been named as controller at Southern Union Co. L. DWAINE HOUTCHENS has been named treasurer and BRUCE KANE has been promoted to vice president of...

Natural Resources Inc. (Newsmakers)
November 12, 1990... Natural Resources Inc. has been awarded a National Merit Award for landscape construction and a National Distinction Award for erosion control of revegetation from the Associated Landscape Contractors of America.

Art galleries sell here and far. (Austin's art market) (Business & the Arts)
November 12, 1990... Art galleries sell here and far Compared to the rest of Texas, Austin is definitely somewhat Bohemian, and the wealth of art galleries and centers in town is no great surprise. But it's debatable whether the city's popularity as a home for...

Artists hiding out in business clothing. (Business & the Arts)
November 12, 1990... Artists hiding out in business clothing Donald Trump may have glorified the art of the deal, but many local business people who dabble in the more aesthetic arts will get their glory at a citywide exhibit. The exhibition sponsored by the...

Business feeds art, art promotes business. (Business & the Arts)
November 12, 1990... Business feeds art, art promotes business Austin's artistic community, large for a medium-sized city, has both long-established and younger companies vying to present a range of mainstream and alternative arts and performances. ...

Public art teetering on hard times. (Business & the Arts)
November 12, 1990... Public art teetering on hard times Would anyone like to buy a 27-foot-high piece of abstract sculpture weighing several tons? Contact First City Centre. Sources at the downtown office tower report that the facility's current owners are...

Ad ventures. (frozen yogurt advertising)
November 12, 1990... AD VENTURES I Can't Believe It's Yogurt recently introduced a new print advertisement developed by Austin-based Sicola Martin Koons Frank. "Discover the Taste That's Won the World Over," proclaims the ad, which ran in USA Today Oct. 19...

Applied Materials to delay Austin groundbreaking. (Applied Materials Inc.)
November 19, 1990... Applied Materials to delay Austin groundbreaking The groundbreaking for Applied Materials Inc.'s new manufacturing plant at Harris Branch will be delayed by several months because of cost-cutting measures throughout the company. Applied...

SuperSports: big-league outfit. (Oshman's SuperSports USA sporting goods stores)
November 19, 1990... SuperSports: big-league outfit Heads up. Houston-based Oshman's is looking for another home run with the opening in Austin of the second of its SuperSports USA stores. Oshman's prototype SuperSports USA opened in Houston at the end of...

Business in 'combat zone.' (Austin's entertainment district)
November 19, 1990... Business in `combat zone' "It's very hard to be in business on Sixth Street. It's a combat zone," Lauri Goldman, owner of the gift shop Vertigo, said last week. Though business owners say the entertainment district continues to have its...

RTC financier promises service. (Resolution Trust Corp.)
November 19, 1990... RTC financier promises service The acting director of the Resolution Trust Corp.'s Southern Consolidated Office in San Antonio reassured a standing room crowd of approximately 120 people that the RTC was becoming more responsive to the needs...

Reviving the homebuilding industry. (National Association of Home Builders' Martin Perlman)
November 19, 1990... Man with a mission Reviving the homebuilding industry For nearly a year, 57-year-old Houston home builder Martin Perlman has held the dubious distinction of presiding over the national association of one of the country's most...

Austin sales taxes going up for year.
November 19, 1990... Austin sales taxes going up for year Sales taxes across the state are increasing steadily, according to figures for July, August and September, as compared to the same period a year ago. In Austin, however, sales taxes collected...

3M gets environmental clearance for expansion. (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.)
November 19, 1990... 3M gets environmental clearance for expansion The 3M board of directors last week approved construction of 640,000 square feet of new laboratory and administrative facilities at the company's Austin headquarters off RR 2222. U.S....

Manufacturing the 'locomotive' of economy. (Austin's manufacturing sector)
November 19, 1990... Manufacturing the `locomotive' of economy As the Austin area's economy has struggled to try to heat up again, the manufacturing sector has been stoking the fire. Gross quarterly sales for the manufacturing industry in the Austin...

Manufacturers not all giants. (Syntec Inc.)
November 19, 1990... Syntec Inc. Manufacturers not all giants In a city with some 65,000 manufacturing jobs, most of the attention goes to the high-tech leaders who build the mega-plants and provide the big payrolls that drive the local economy. But a...

Takes time, money to turn ideas into top-selling products. (2 Alarm Brands rice)
November 19, 1990... 2 Alarm Brands Takes time, money to turn ideas into top-selling products The birth of a new product is a complex and risky venture and even the most disarmingly simple-looking new item weaves a complex course as it marches from the...

Implants a joint effort. (Intermedics Orthopedics Inc.)
November 19, 1990... Intermedics Orthopedics Inc. Implants a joint effort Designing a hip, a knee, or a shoulder-replacement part for surgical implantation is what they do at Intermedics Orthopedics Inc. in Austin. And quite frankly, it is a joint effort....

Buying it here breeds success for business. (Austin, Texas)
November 19, 1990... Buying it here breeds success for business One way to increase the number of products made in Austin is to get local buyers to think locally when making purchases. And while national and international trends could have a negative impact on...

$20 million claim hits Healthcare International.
November 26, 1990... $20 million claim hits Healthcare International HealthVest has demanded payment of more than $20 million from Austin-based Healthcare International Inc., after a standstill agreement between the two companies expired without a new agreement...

Insurers jittery over governor-elect's reforms. (Texas Gov. Ann Richards)
November 26, 1990... Insurers jittery over governor-elect's reforms The insurance industry has cause for fear and for hope, as a new Legislature prepares for its next session under a governor who campaigned on a promise to fight big insurance companies. ...

Bulls on the hoof put bucks in the bank. (cattle auction)
November 26, 1990... Bulls on the hoof put bucks in the bank Some of the commerce in Central Texas goes back for generations and has roots in the very beginnings of the state, but the money it produces is a real as the income from more modern enterprises. ...

Tax credits, ahoy. (for Texas employers) (News Briefs )
November 26, 1990... Tax credits, ahoy Texas employers will be receiving $300 million in tax credits in 1991 from the Texas Employment Commission. "This is without doubt the best news we have been able to announce in the past six years," said Commissioner...

Execucom wins big. (Execucom Systems Corp. wins computer contract) (News Briefs)
November 26, 1990... Execucom wins big Execucom Systems Corp. announced earlier this month that it has been chosen as part of a team to provide multi-user computer systems and services to the Army, Navy and Defense Logistics Agency. The team will be headed...

Tracor to work for Navy. (Tracor Applied Sciences Inc.) (News Briefs)
November 26, 1990... Tracor to work for Navy Tracor Applied Sciences Inc. has received a $3.36 million contract from the Naval Coastal Systems Center in Florida to provide acoustic simulation and modeling services. The contract is for one year with options...

Bell garners IBM. (Southwestern Bell Telephone wins building distribution system contract) (News Briefs)
November 26, 1990... Bell garners IBM The prime contractor for IBM's new research and development facility in Austin has chosen Southwestern Bell Telephone to build a multi-million dollar building distribution system (BDS). Austin Commercial Inc. awarded the...

Predicting '91 real estate market.
November 26, 1990... Predicting '91 real estate market Some saw clouds, others saw fair weather in the local real estate climate, as a panel of six experts made their forecast for Austin's 1991 market. Most agreed that the Texas real estate market, which is...

West Lake target for $40 million project. (shopping center development)
November 26, 1990... West Lake target for $40 million project Development plans for a $40 million, 420,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a discount department store and a home improvement store were received with some disappointment by the three members...

High-tech sends signal to get fit. (company fitness programs)
November 26, 1990... High-tech sends signal to get fit Trimming the fat has always been a hard-line business phrase, but some Austin companies take that cliche quite literally, offering employees weight rooms, aerobics classes, nutritional guidance, and the...

Insurance pays for fitness. (corporate fitness policy)
November 26, 1990... Insurance pays for fitness For companies without extensive fitness facilities on site or for firms that just want to give their employees more choices, one alternative is to provide discounts on outside exercise opportunities. Often the...

Austin businesses offer offbeat gifts.
November 26, 1990... Austin businesses offer offbeat gifts Owner Brian Capo calls Autosport Motoring Accessories "a toy store for car freaks." "One of the main reasons I started the store is because my wife kept going crazy when it came to getting me gifts,"...

Plant Lady marries. (plantscaping acquisition) (News Briefs)
November 26, 1990... Plant Lady marries Austin's largest interior plantscaping company has been acquired by Orkin Plantscaping of Atlanta. Orkin is a division of Orkin Pest Control, the world's largest pest and termite control company. Tom and Emily Hausler,...

Intelliquest goes Asiatic. (affiliates with Media Research Inc.) (News Briefs)
November 26, 1990... IntelliQuest goes Asiatic Austin-based IntelliQuest Inc., which performs market research for technology companies, has announced its affiliation with Media Research Inc. of Seoul, Korea. "The growing importance of the international...

Hart high achiever. (Hart Graphics' William Hart wins first lifetime achievement award from the Printing Industries Association of Texas) (News Briefs)
November 26, 1990... Hart high achiever William Hart, the chairman of Hart Graphics Inc., last month received the first lifetime achievement award ever conferred by the Printing Industries Association of Texas.

Suppliers meet buyers at Austin's first-of-kind show. (Austin Industrial and High-Tech Trade Show)
November 26, 1990... Suppliers meet buyers at Austin's first-of-kind show Gaskets have come a long way. So have bearings and valves and pumps. In fact, many of the clunky metal parts that could be found in a Model T automobile or any other piece of equipment...