Boston Business Journal articles from April 1992

Boston Business Journal archives from April 1992

Head-injury business ailing; HRP Trust battered by links to New Medico. (Health and Rehabilitation Properties Trust; New Medico Head Injury System)
April 20, 1992... Executives at Health & Rehabilitation Properties Trust (HRP) said they are considering several options to reduce the trust's exposure to its largest tenant, Lynn-based New Medico, amid a flurry of negative publicity surrounding that company....

Stuarts execs balking at reorganization plan. (Stuarts Department Stores Inc.'s executives)
April 20, 1992... Stuarts Department Stores and the company's creditors are preparing to go to battle over reorganization plans filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court earlier this month. In a struggle for control and ownership, executives of the Franklin-based...

He's back: Coyle behind Worcester deal. (Steve Coyle; $12 million financing for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park)
April 20, 1992... Steve Coyle is back. No sooner did the erstwhile director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority leave Massachusetts to head up two union pension trusts in Washington, D.C., than he came back to negotiate a $12 million financing for the...

State plans the restoration of Monarch Life. (Massachusetts; Monarch Life Insurance Co.)
April 20, 1992... Springfield-based Monarch Life Insurance may soon emerge from receivership, only a year after the state seized the insurer to insulate policyholders from the financial troubles of its parent company. Massachusetts Division of Insurance...

Legislature limits local control of waste facilities.
April 20, 1992... The bitter jurisdiction fight between Clean Harbors Inc. and the town of Braintree over a hazardous-waste facility has taken another sudden turn. Thanks to a provision in the state's $247 million supplemental budget, which Gov. William Weld...

Better public transit is on the runway at Logan. (Logan International Airport)
April 20, 1992... State Transportation Secretary Richard Taylor has proposed four new schemes for easier public transportation access to Logan International Airport, including a $279 million plan that would reroute the Blue Line directly to a proposed central...

Banks using imagination to sell foreclosed sites.
April 20, 1992... Ipswich Savings Bank gave away prime real estate last week in order to recover its losses. In a creative move, the bank donated 34.6 acres of open space in the Jewett Hill section of town to a local conservation group and agreed to change...

Armstrong goes after rise in asthma patients. (Armstrong Laboratories Inc. to make generic formulations of beta-agonists)
April 20, 1992... Workers wearing white lab coats and mesh caps stepped outside their West Roxbury factory for a smoke one rainy morning last month and gazed at the trees and yellow houses around them. They could take their time. Only one of the factory's six...

Easing of lead-paint law seen likely. (legislators ready to make changes)
April 20, 1992... A combination of high costs, tougher standards and million-dollar court settlements may force changes in the state's tough lead-paint law as soon as July. A recent hearing brought property owners and real estate brokers to Beacon Hill by the...

Out of Ways and Means: Pat McGovern takes a breather. (Massachusetts Senator Patricia McGovern, chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee will not seek reelection)
April 20, 1992... State Sen. Patricia McGovern (D-Lawrence), chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, dropped a political bombshell on Beacon Hill last week by announcing that she would not seek re-election. Voluntarily relinquishing the second most...

Army retreat leaves land up for grabs. (closure of Fort Devens in New England's economic impact on Ayer, Harvard, Lancaster and Shirley) (Focus: Real Estate)
April 20, 1992... After 75 years of service, New England's last active Army installation is scheduled to close its gates in October 1995, taking 9,000 civilian and military jobs and a large hunk of the local economy with it when it goes. A victim of the...

Architects are learning new tricks to beat the recession. (Focus: Real Estate) (Industry Overview)
April 20, 1992... Like most local architectural firms, Cambridge-based ADD Inc. rode to great heights on the back of the 1980s real estate boom, reaching nearly 100 employees at one point by relying almost solely on work generated by the frenzied growth of...

Companies still build amid real estate glut. (Focus: Real Estate) (Industry Overview)
April 20, 1992... Between 15 percent and 25 percent of the commercial real estate in Greater Boston is vacant, depending on which local broker is giving the figures. In downtown alone, Meredith & Grew has more than 100,000 square feet of first-class office...

Housing credits program battles real estate gloom. (Focus: Real Estate)
April 20, 1992... To some financial planners, there are two compelling reasons to shy away from the federal government's 5-year-old affordable housing tax credit program. Not only does the investment rely on a limited partnership vehicle (a highly unpopular form...

The Neiman Marcus Group. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
April 20, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters Chestnut Hill Stock Symbol: NMG Market: NYSE Annual Revenue: $1,744,800,000 Net...

Low-risk funds pay high returns in Q1. (mutual funds performance in 1st quarter of 1992) (Industry Overview)
April 13, 1992... Mutual fund investors had to be choosy in picking a winner during the first quarter of the year. While the economy is on the mend, the stock market was selective on the stocks--and styles--it favored. That finicky attitude extended to the...

CALPERS may force a showdown at Polaroid. (California Public Employment Retirement Sustem)
April 13, 1992... A $68 billion California pension fund plans to vote against Polaroid's board of directors at the company's annual shareholder meeting in May if the camera maker does not meet its demands at a special meeting Friday. The California Public...

Scandals obscure T pension turnaround. (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Fund)
April 13, 1992... Financial markets willing, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Fund will break the $1 billion mark in assets by the end of next month, capping a 10-year turnaround from being the worst-performing public pension fund in the...

PR licensing proposal draws flak. (public relations industry opposes state licensing) (Industry Overview)
April 13, 1992... The public relations industry turned out in force last week to denounce a proposal that would require state licensing of those who make their living massaging the message. The Legislature's Joint Committee on Government Regulations took...

Retailers see recovery in customer behavior. (Industry Overview)
April 13, 1992... Anecdotal evidence from retailers large and small is finally bolstering what various economic surveys have been saying: There is indeed an uptick in the economy. On both sides of the river, from Faneuil Hall to the CambridgeSide Galleria,...

Clean Air Act challenges auto supremacy. (part 3)
April 13, 1992... Third of a three-part series When most people think about ridding urban air of smog, they think of automobiles. And the common solutions focus on cleaner gasoline, better tailpipe designs, even electric cars. But Boston lawyer and Fenway...

Suburban vacancy rate eases under 20 percent. (Industry Overview)
April 13, 1992... Following two brutal years of plummeting rents and countless building foreclosures, the Greater Boston suburban office market seems to be edging toward recovery, several real estate brokers said last week. The upbeat attitude was bolstered by...

In-town office leasing expected to pick up steam. (Industry Overview)
April 13, 1992... Although Boston's office space market showed virtually no movement during the first quarter of 1992--and actually ended the three-month period with more rentable space than when it started--industry observers said last week that the city...

Bruno J. Graizzaro Jr. (resident partner of Campos and Stratis)
April 13, 1992... Figuring out the score It's tax season, but accountant Bruno Graizzaro is no busier than usual. As a forensic accountant, his job is to sift through the wreckage of broken or damaged businesses--not tax returns. His goal is to find...

New tabloid goes after North Shore advertisers. (Headliners) (Focus: Business Communications & Marketing)
April 13, 1992... At a time when local advertising dollars have yet to recover from the recession, The Boston Globe is making a new pitch to businesses with plans to unveil next month an entertainment tabloid, Headliners, and start distribution in 15 suburbs...

Taking shots at competitors can be costly. (comparative advertising) (Focus: Business Communications & Marketing)
April 13, 1992... Comparative ads--you know, "our product is better than their product and here's why" campaigns--have long been common. But lately these bold notices have cost some companies significant amounts of money. Suits brought by the "other" companies...

Tight economy is boon for newsletter service. (Published Image) (Focus: Business Communications & Marketing) (Company Profile)
April 13, 1992... As economic pressures have squeezed budgets, companies have been forced to narrowly focus their marketing efforts. Newsletters have become the answer for many, especially in the financial services industry. The growth of Published Image, a...

Alliances become high-tech strategy. (cooperative marketing in the high technology industry) (Focus: Business Communications & Marketing) (Industry Overview)
April 13, 1992... Cooperation has emerged as a strategic weapon for high-tech industry marketing directors in the 1990s. "There is an expectation from customers that vendors will work together to protect their investment," said Paul Kelly, desktop services...

Intermetrics. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
April 13, 1992... Headquarters: Cambridge Stock Symbol: IMET Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: $55,649,000 Net...

Small banks triumph as first quarter ends. (Stock Watch) (Industry Overview)
April 6, 1992... The first quarter of 1992 was a time for back-to-basics for many investors, who shunned the high tech and highfalutin in favor of the more simple and cyclical. Small banks and a smattering of previously out-of-favor companies led the charge...

Confusion reigns over checking and credit card law.
April 6, 1992... Retailers are still asking customers for outlawed info Many Boston-area retailers are reacting with trepidation to a new state law that restricts the amount and content of information they can request when a customer pays by check or credit...

Hub ad execs optimistic their industry is turning the corner. (advertising business) (Industry Overview)
April 6, 1992... As industries go, it seems an unlikely leading economic indicator. But Boston-area advertising agencies, wracked by layoffs, mergers and closings throughout the recession, are beginning to see economic daylight. And that could be a harbinger of...

Efforts mounting to avoid water bill hikes. (campaign to increase government aid for Boston Harbor cleanup)
April 6, 1992... As water and sewer rates in 60 Massachusetts communities take another substantial jump in July, proponents of efforts to increase government aid for the Boston Harbor cleanup hope their forces will rise too. The Massachusetts Water Resources...

Feds warn companies to police themselves. (sharply increased fines for corporate criminal offenses issued by Sentencing Commission)
April 6, 1992... Corporations are going to have to learn how to be their own whistle-blowers, or face sharply increased fines for criminal offenses committed by officers or employees, thanks to a new set of federal sentencing rules. In cases ranging from...

Drew says Trade Center hotel is on track. (real estate developer John Drew; World Trade Center complex, South Boston)
April 6, 1992... Despite the recent demise of one Boston hotel project and doubts over the fate of another, developer John Drew said last week that plans for a 400-room hotel at his World Trade Center complex in South Boston are proceeding on schedule. In a...

Hospitals become sold on automation as quick cure.
April 6, 1992... Nurse Pat Pratt keeps track of her colleagues in the general clinical research center at Children's Hospital with a software program that spits out a work schedule for nurses in 15 minutes. "That used to be a two-hour job, four-hour job for...

Banks prepare to break down ATM barriers. (converting automated teller machines to become accessible to the disabled)
April 6, 1992... Nearly three months since the Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect, Massachusetts banks are still deciding what changes they will make to comply with the federal law and how they will pay for them. Converting automatic teller...

Douglas B. MacDonald: thirst for change. (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority executive director) (Personnel File)
April 6, 1992... Douglas MacDonald had been executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority for only four days when he took to the podium at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast forum, and he never let the crowd forget it. "Let me...

Collaborative Research. (Proxy Report Excerpts)
April 6, 1992... Headquarters: Waltham Stock Symbol: CRIC Market: NASDAQ Annual revenue: $9,119,707 Net Income: ...