Boston Business Journal articles from August 1992

Boston Business Journal archives from August 1992

Recoll, TRG near downtown deals. (Recoll Management Corp.; Telesector Resources Group)
August 3, 1992... Two of the biggest real estate leases up for grabs in downtown Boston's struggling office market this year are all but signed, according to members of Boston's real estate community. Although a final decision is reportedly at least a month...

Modern Continental's Marino: he's got the vision thing. (Modern Continental Construction Co.; Lelio Marino)
August 3, 1992... Lelio Marino wants to build a Las Vegas-style hotel and entertainment facility near Medford Square. Some people may think he's crazy. But it's not the first time the owner of Modern Continental Construction Co., one of the state's biggest...

A change in direction keeps Interleaf from falling. (Company Profile)
August 3, 1992... At a time when Prime Computer is pulling out of the hardware business to the tune of 400 layoffs, another Route 128 company has survived the same transition into software. Interleaf's profits are soaring again after the company abruptly pulled...

Room service includes MDs at high-end hotels. (Inn-House Doctor)
August 3, 1992... Luxury hotels in Boston are known for providing every imaginable convenience to guests. But getting a doctor to make a "hotel call" in the middle of the night was long a service even the finest couldn't guarantee. That's where Walter Krause...

Lotus sticks with its current product lineup. (Lotus Development Corp.)
August 3, 1992... Senior software engineer Ruth Seltzer does not need to worry about inventing the next blockbuster for Lotus Development Corp. Seltzer has spent the past five years at Lotus (NASDAQ: LOTS) perfecting Freelance, a presentation graphics program....

SEC undercuts state effort to help firms go public. (Massachusetts)
August 3, 1992... A state program designed to help small businesses attain public financing suffered a major setback when federal regulators announced last week that private companies would be allowed to sell up to $1 million in securities without having to...

Bantam managers profit from pension fund boom.
August 3, 1992... It was a banner year for municipal pension funds in the Bay State. The bull market of 1991 set the stage for unprecedented returns, up an average of 19.28 percent, according to an investment report from the Massachusetts division of the Public...

Samuel J. Gerson: bargain hunter. (chief executive oficer of Filene's Basement Corp.)
August 3, 1992... Mone Anathan 3rd--reserved, well-dressed and soft-spoken--sat in his office recently, praising his friend Samuel Gerson. "He's charismatic, he's animated. . . . He's a touchy-feely guy. . . . He is music. And he's the typical emotional...

BankWorcester Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
August 3, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Worcester Stock Symbol: BNKW Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: $6,527,000 Net Income: ...

Cellcor therapy under fire. (efficacy of autolymphocyte therapy in treating kidney cancer)
August 10, 1992... Several prominent medical experts harshly criticized the Newton-based biotechnology firm Cellcor last week, claiming that the company's kidney cancer treatment does not work. Dr. Arnold Relman, former editor of the New England Journal of...

Bank of Boston shakes up culture with new hires; bank fills three top management posts with outsiders. (Edward A. O'Neal; Newton Merrill; Michael Simmons)
August 10, 1992... When the Bank of Boston late last month hired Edward A. O'Neal, senior executive vice president at Chemical Bank in New York, to replace the retiring Peter Read, it marked the third time in two years the once-staid bank turned its back on its own...

Discounter may be no bargain for investors. (CES Corp.'s All For A Dollar stores)
August 10, 1992... All For A Dollar has turned a soft economy, depressed real estate values and a hot IPO market into one of the highest-flying retail chains in New England. But whether the discount store is a get-rich-quick scheme for its founders or a solid...

Moakley bags $8.5M for Roxbury Park. (Rep. John Joseph Moakley)
August 10, 1992... U.S. Rep. J. Joseph Moakley (D-Mass.) has steered an $8.5 million funding package through the House of Representatives for a proposed South End facility designed to attract, nurture and retain start-up companies in Boston. The dean of the Bay...

No help for jobless seen in new mortgage bill.
August 10, 1992... When a state legislative committee last month approved a bill that would allow homeowners to rework with their banks the terms of mortgage agreements, the intent, according to state Rep. James Brett (D-Dorchester), was to help the unemployed from...

BioBrush puts new spin on tooth-care market. (MBA Group of Braintree's new toothbrush with rotating bristles)
August 10, 1992... The MBA Group of Braintree is taking on consumer giants Procter & Gamble and Gillette with a new toothbrush that has a sliding head with rotating bristles in the center. The product, called BioBrush, has been selling since May in national...

Tocco creates paid post for biotech advocate. (Secretary of Economic Affairs Stephen Tocco; facilitator to woo biotechnology companies to Massachusetts)
August 10, 1992... The state Office of Economic Affairs announced it will soon hire a "facilitator" to recruit biotechnology companies to Massachusetts and convince local firms to build their manufacturing plants here. As many as a half-dozen other industries,...

Need for results creates a $25 billion industry. (direct marketing business) (Focus: Direct Marketing) (Industry Overview)
August 10, 1992... In today's harsh economic climate, businesses are increasingly preoccupied with tangible results. And more enterprises are turning to direct marketing as a way to boost name recognition, cultivate customers and increase sales. "More...

Pepsi turns to PDS to reach a million customers. (Pepsi-Cola Co.; PDS/Worldwide) (Focus: Direct Marketing)
August 10, 1992... When Pepsi wanted to pit its diet colas against their main competition at Coke, the creative minds at Dallas ad agency Tracy-Locke Direct came up with a unique plan. They would identify 1 million Diet Coke drinkers through consumer surveys filled...

Computer Telephone has perfect pitch. (Focus: Direct Marketing) (Company Profile)
August 10, 1992... To a consumer, telephone costs are straightforward: The only problem is in deciding which carrier to use to cut the long-distance bill. To a business, selecting the proper telephone service involves sifting through a myriad of options and making...

Alkermes. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
August 10, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Cambridge Stock Symbol: ALKS Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: $1,656,442 Net Income: ...

Welfare dept. mulls plan to buy and run small businesses. (Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare)
August 17, 1992... Program's aim is to replace benefits with jobs and a paycheck The Weld administration is studying a radical welfare reform plan that would use existing welfare funds to purchase and operate businesses to be staffed by people receiving public...

Minorities upset by biased Recoll rules. (Recoll Management's discrimination against minority-owned firms)
August 17, 1992... A coalition of African-American property managers and other minority groups said it has "serious concerns" that Recoll Management's criteria for selecting companies to manage its properties discriminate against minority-owned firms. "It is a...

ITT Sheraton prepares to flex its domestic muscle. (files gaming licenses in Las Vegas, Nevada and Atlantic City)
August 17, 1992... Boston-based ITT Sheraton, the hotel company dubbed a "sleeping giant" in the 1980s as it held back from the frantic, speculative development sweeping U.S. markets then, is finally waking up. While competitors struggle with bankrupt properties,...

Tenants may swallow water bills. (Greater Boston Real Estate Board seeks to overturn Massachusetts law requiring landlords to pay for water rates of tenants)
August 17, 1992... The Greater Boston Real Estate Board is expected to file a lawsuit next month seeking to overturn a state regulation that requires landlords to pay for tenants' water rates. Spiraling water rates resulting from the $6 billion cleanup of Boston...

Real estate broker DeWolfe shrinks from IPO. (DeWolfe New England; initial public offering)
August 17, 1992... A busy IPO market has spawned 30 publicly traded companies in the Bay State so far this year, but concerns about the soft real estate market in New England have forced The DeWolfe Cos. out of the pack. Investment bankers, daunted by the...

Fleet to require pollution coverage with loans. (Fleet Financial Group Inc.)
August 17, 1992... Fleet Financial Group has announced that it will require commercial real estate borrowers to purchase environmental insurance as protection against both past and future pollution liabilities. The requirement, which will be implemented at Fleet...

Colonnade marks its 20th with a face lift. (Colonnade Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts)
August 17, 1992... The Back Bay's Colonnade Hotel is marking its 20th anniversary with a multimillion-dollar renovation and an aggressive marketing strategy aimed at boosting its share of the corporate and weekend traveler market. The repositioning, which began...

NY group gobbles shares of Diet Workshop owner. (New York; Noel Group; Health Management International)
August 17, 1992... A New York-based investor group announced plans late last month to exercise an option to purchase 787,500 shares of stock in Health Management International (NASDAQ: HMII) and take a majority ownership in the Andover-based firm. Noel Group...

Growing market guides high-tech mapmaking. (use of geographic information systems by Massachusetts companies) (Focus: Computers for Home & Office) (Industry Overview)
August 17, 1992... As computer mapping has become increasingly popular in the past two years through new developments in software, some Massachusetts companies have found success consulting in mapping software and applications. Harvard Design and Mapping in...

PC software makers find their way home. (personal computer) (Focus: Computers for Home & Office) (Industry Overview)
August 17, 1992... There was a time when major software makers such as Lotus Development Corp. and Microsoft avoided the home computer market as if it were a sucking bog. But in the past two years a combination of factors has induced the firms to take a more...

AutoBike giving another shot to automatic shifting. (Focus: Computers for Home & Office) (Company Profile)
August 17, 1992... A South Easton company is marketing and distributing a patented bicycle with gears that change automatically. And while the idea is not new, the technique is. The question, however, remains: Will it catch on? AutoBike's design--the only one...

EG&G. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
August 17, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Wellesley Stock Symbol: EGG Market: NYSE Annual Revenue: ...

HMO Blue reports a $10 million loss at six-month mark; industry remains in the black as revenue tops $1.3 billion. (managed care product of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts) (Industry Overview)
August 24, 1992... HMO Blue, the new managed care product that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts hopes will carry it to the forefront of the health insurance industry, lost more than $10 million during the first half of 1992, according to figures filed...

Deal with IBM was last straw. (Wang Laboratories Inc.'s contract with IBM to improve cash position) (The Wang Bankruptcy)
August 24, 1992... International Business Machines, last year's savior of Wang Laboratories with a $25 million cash infusion, is looking more like a vulture since Wang filed for bankruptcy last week. In hindsight, critics say, IBM skimped on its deal with the...

For vendors, the pickings are still good. (lucrative repairing and upgrading of Wang Laboratories Inc's installed computers) (The Wang Bankruptcy)
August 24, 1992... The bankruptcy of Wang Laboratories last week spells bad news for shareholders, bondholders and employees, but third-party vendors are sitting pretty. Local repair shops, used-Wang computer dealers, licensed resellers and software houses are...

Cabot PR staff jump ship on Eskandarian. (Arnold Fortuna Lane and Cabot's Chairman Ed Eskandarian's reaction to resignation of personnel to form new office)
August 24, 1992... Four staffers and $250,000 worth of billings, including the Veryfine Products account, will follow former Cabot public relations head Bill Hoop to Cambridge to open up a local office for Ruder Finn, a New York-based public relations agency, later...

NE Electric plugs into Malaysian rain forest. (New England Electric System's contract to manage tree felling project in Borneo)
August 24, 1992... When Peter Calvert, New England Electric System's principal fuel planner, explains his new project in Borneo to utility colleagues, he gets some funny looks. "You get used to having people's jaws drop and |them~ saying, 'What are you doing?'...

Asset-based lenders gain from timidness of banks. (profitability of commercial finance companies) (Industry Overview)
August 24, 1992... When Victor Kiam's Remington Products of Bridgeport, Conn., got a $45 million loan from an asset-based lending office in Boston last week, the deal signaled an increasingly popular alternative for companies unable or unwilling to get a...

Sexual harassment bill takes a soft approach. (legislation reguiring employers to provide sexual harassment education and sensitivity training to workers)
August 24, 1992... A bill that would require businesses with six or more employees to provide sexual harassment education and sensitivity training has drawn mixed reviews on Beacon Hill and in the private sector. But one reason many lawmakers and businesses may...

Impatience returns over workers' comp backlog. (failure of reform legislation on workers' compensation to prevent piling up of cases)
August 24, 1992... The continuing backlog of more than 6,000 workers' compensation cases has left business groups and others wondering just how effective the Weld administration's much-touted reforms are going to be. State Rep. Suzanne Bump (D-Braintree), House...

BOB lending drive hits $761 million in pledges. (Bank of Boston's financing services to small businesses)
August 24, 1992... Frank Wdowiak needed to jump-start his tire business in Ludlow, but his local bank said it did not have the resources to lend him money to build inventory. He heard about Bank of Boston's Credit Initiative and the rubber hit the road. His...

Task force on non-group insurance bogs down. (Commission on Non-Group Health Insurance Reform)
August 24, 1992... Despite two months of intensive effort, a panel formed to address rapidly rising costs in the state's non-group health insurance market will at best provide only limited, short-term relief, several members and observers have predicted. "I...

Little spinoff has a big idea: creativity tools. (Synectics Inc.'s MindLink Problem Solver software)
August 24, 1992... A small Cambridge spinoff of the consulting firm Arthur D. Little has entered the growing market for "brainstorming" software with its new program, MindLink. MindLink counsels business users to ignore convention, open themselves to crazy ideas...

Franklin Loew: animal logic. (dean of the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine)
August 24, 1992... A dozen goats trotted across their pen to bleat at visitors and jostle for attention. Dean Frank Loew reached through a hole in the wire fence to scratch their knobby heads. "Hello, give me some positive feedback, guys," Loew told the goats....

Long reach of sales tax hits architects' firms. (clients' tax liability for reimbursed blueprint and model expenses) (Focus: Architecture & Engineering)
August 24, 1992... When is a tax not a tax, and how can it be applicable to a tax-exempt institution retroactively to 1966? These are questions architectural firms across the state are asking the Department of Revenue, and they are getting very frustrated with the...

The Pru tries to get it right the second time. (rehabilitation of Prudential Center in Boston, Massachusetts)
August 24, 1992... By today's standards, the Prudential Center could be seen as the spot where the space invaders landed, took over the abandoned railroad tracks and left behind a sprawling complex with what was, at the time, the tallest building in town. "The...

Sound pros turn down the rattles and hums. (acoustical engineers' services) (Focus: Architecture & Engineering)
August 24, 1992... Some local engineering firms hope the products they work on will go quietly unnoticed--at least in terms of the noise they make. Working in the field of quiet product design, acoustical consultants redesign consumer products ranging from air...

BayBanks. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
August 24, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Waltham Stock Symbol: BBKS Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: ...

Bay State Health Care losing $5M a month. (Bay State Health Care Insurance Co.)
August 31, 1992... Bay State Health Care reported last week that its losses for the first six months of 1992 totaled $14.6 million, and that it continues to lose money at the rate of $5 million a month. One week after reporting in a restated audit that it was...

Forgers cashing in with color copiers. (crime against Massachusetts businesses)
August 31, 1992... The ubiquitous color laser copying machine is making it easier and cheaper for amateur crooks to forge their way into Massachusetts businesses. One of this summer's victims was Jordan Marsh, which caught three women who shoplifted $5,000 worth...

Barrett a mystery man to most hub business leaders. (new Boston Redevelopment Authority director Paul Barrett)
August 31, 1992... Mayor Raymond Flynn's appointment of fellow Southie resident Paul Barrett as director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority was greeted with muted praise from most business leaders, who were hoping a nationwide search would bring someone with new...

FCC forces WILD and WMEX to tune out simulcast deal. (Federal Communications Commission; WILD-AM 1090; WMEX-AM 1150)
August 31, 1992... Static over ruling leaves both stations pondering the future A recent rule change by the Federal Communications Commission, designed to help jump-start the nation's slumping radio industry, has killed a deal to simulcast WILD-AM 1090...

Deregulation gives push to hospital mergers. (Massachusetts hospitals)
August 31, 1992... Five major hospital mergers have either been announced or are in serious negotiations across the state, as health care providers scramble for an edge in the newly deregulated marketplace. Concrete agreements include the fusing of Framingham...

Chemical lobby sets up beachhead in Bay State. (chemical industry; Massachusetts)
August 31, 1992... A new chemical industry lobby is opening up shop in Massachusetts, in a sign of the industry's growing exasperation with what it considers anti-business initiatives and a poor public image here. "There was a need felt to have representation and...

New discount chain goes beyond window dressing. (K.T. Scott Ltd.) (Company Profile)
August 31, 1992... Two former Zayre Corp. executives are bringing the discount chain treatment to the mom and pop business of window and wall decorating. Malcolm Sherman, current CEO of Morse Shoe, and his partner Stephen Wener are the founders of K.T. Scott, The...

Harbor sludge may be dumped in ocean area. (plans to dump contaminated soil into Massachusetts Bay)
August 31, 1992... Environmentalists have voiced strong objections over plans to dump contaminated soil, included in millions of cubic yards of material to be dredged from Boston Harbor, into Massachusetts Bay. Although the critical $34.5 million dredging of...

Boston firm brings spot advertising to cable. (National Cable Advertising)
August 31, 1992... Bob Williams and Boston-based National Cable Advertising are bringing direct marketing to television. Williams is the 45-year-old founder of National Cable Advertising, one of the nation's only spot cable advertising firms. Using new...

Socially responsible investing gets new respect. (Boston, Massachusetts' money managers) (Focus: Investing) (Industry Overview)
August 31, 1992... Not long ago, the notion that investors could help shape an environmentally conscious and socially responsible corporate America aroused snickers in the bottom-line world of money management. Now, with a groundswell of investors--both...

Estate tax change calls Bay Staters to come home. (Massachusetts citizens) (Focus: Investing)
August 31, 1992... The Legislature has done the right thing for citizens of the commonwealth by adopting estate tax reform, signed into law by Gov. William Weld on July 20. Now all of our Massachusetts expatriates can come up from the hot sands of Florida and call...

Real estate firms are managing a new role. (buying general partnership interests in real estate limited partnerships) (Focus: Investing) (Industry Overview)
August 31, 1992... In a depressed market for real estate, some Boston real estate firms are taking a new route to making money. They are buying general partnership interests in real estate limited partnerships. The general partner is responsible for running the...

Mutual fund brokers claim fixed fees help small investors. (Boston, Massachusetts' mutual fund industry) (Focus: Investing) (Industry Overview)
August 31, 1992... Boston's mutual fund industry is unhappy about a proposal to deregulate its front-end sales loads. "It's one of the most ludicrous proposals out of Washington in years," said Louis Harvey, president of Dalbar Financial Services, a Boston...

Proteon. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
August 31, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Westwood Stock Symbol: PTON Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: ...