Boston Business Journal articles from February 1992

Boston Business Journal archives from February 1992

Membership, profits up for HMOs last year. (health maintenance organizations)
February 24, 1992... Despite a poor fourth quarter, Harvard Community Health Plan (HCHP) continued to hold its dominant position in the state's HMO market during 1991, posting a strong $13.6 million gain on revenue of more than $740 million, while increasing its...

Suffolk gambles on a new image. (revival of the Suffolk Downs race track)
February 24, 1992... Making a silk purse from a sow's ear. The species may be wrong, but the metaphor captures the challenge of reviving thoroughbred horse racing at Suffolk Downs. The practical obstacles to the racetrack's revival--deterioration of the physical...

Poor planning mars city's attempt at curbside recycling: lack of outreach keeps participation low and costs high.
February 24, 1992... Six months after it began, Boston's curbside newspaper recycling program is collecting only about one-third the volume expected and is costing the city more money than it would spend by simply carting the newspapers to a landfill....

Jovan ad puts LRBP on the map. (controversial Jovan Musk television commercial created by Lawner Reingold Britton and Partners)
February 24, 1992... Ron Lawner is basking in the glow of the media spotlight. His new commercial for Jovan Musk is living up to the standard for notoriety set by its predecessor, the "What is sexy?" campaign also created by Lawner five years ago. The Wall...

Jordan Marsh plans for life after bankruptcy. (retail store chain)
February 24, 1992... The bankruptcy of its parent company, Federated Department Stores, has not been kind to Jordan Marsh. The Boston-based retailer has closed six stores representing nearly 25 percent of its outlets during the past two years, while Federated...

Mutual funds covet savings from refinancing.
February 24, 1992... Mutual fund companies hope the refinancing boom will turn into a sales boon for their funds. As scores of homeowners rush to refinance their mortgages at more favorable interest rates, mutual fund companies see a new stream of money...

The state sits; waste disposal costs climb. (Massachusetts low-level radioactive waste generators' disposal costs escalate)
February 24, 1992... As expensive federal deadlines pass unmet and state funding shifts to user fees, Massachusetts' low-level radioactive waste generators are watching their disposal costs escalate. The state missed its most recent deadline in January when it...

Worcester bank turns savings into investments. (Worcester County's Flagship Banks Inc.)
February 24, 1992... In an attempt to ease the credit crunch, help social programs, boost the local economy and garner favorable publicity, Worcester's Flagship Bank has created what appears to be a first-in-the-state investment plan using FDIC-insured passbook...

Buried treasures found for Bay State's coffers. (revenue savings projects of Massachusetts)
February 24, 1992... A little-known collaboration between several state agencies and researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Boston is slowly reaping the state millions of dollars more in federal assistance. Since fiscal 1990, the so-called Revenue...

Carbohydrates seen as a new biotech frontier. (biotechnology industry)
February 24, 1992... It's not for nutrition's sake that a tiny Worcester biotech firm fed doses of complex carbohydrates to 24 human subjects last month. Alpha-Beta Technology is feeding into the $600 million potential market for a carbohydrate-based drug that...

City prepares for traffic twists from the Big Dig. (traffic rerouting due to construction of Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project, Boston, Massachusetts)
February 24, 1992... Parts of Atlantic Avenue and the Surface Artery will be changed to one-way, an artery on-ramp is expected to be relocated, and several downtown streets will see parking restrictions and reduced access as Boston motorists get their first real...

Artery officials vow to keep the juice on downtown. (traffic, public utility and business disruptions due to the construction of the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts)
February 24, 1992... It's time to dig. After nearly two decades of debating, legislating, funding and designing the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel, Boston will finally feel the project's first physical effects as contractors begin relocating the hodgepodge...

Finding flowers in the snow: opportunities are being created in NE. (New England job opportunities)
February 24, 1992... We constantly watch the performance of New England technology companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Larger organizations may get more business press, but we don't think they are a major source of jobs. Over the decade, downsizing has...

John C. Rennie: aiming high. (chairman and CEO of Pacer Systems) (Personnel File)
February 24, 1992... If Jack Rennie didn't exist, Democrats on Beacon Hill would certainly have wanted to invent him: a high-tech entrepreneur willing to take to the hustings for more state spending on public schools. "It's one thing for a Democrat like me to...

HMOs' vital signs affect debate on standards. (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... How healthy are Massachusetts HMOs? Questions about their financial and management stability began circulating last year, while the state's Division of Insurance began formulating new financial standards for HMOs. Incidents at two of the...

Self-insured businesses use the carrot and stick. (includes related article on work-related vision problems) (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... Some employee benefit consultants are urging self-insured clients to require hired-on administrators to offer performance guarantees: If total medical costs come in higher than projected, the administrator is expected to refund part of the fee....

Patient feedback can control medical costs. (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... Doctors at the New England Medical Center contend that a brief and simple form assessing a patient's perception of functional status and well-being could be at the heart of a revolution in health care. The 13-item, self-administered survey,...

Hospital competition carries false promises. (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... Thanks to Gov. William Weld, competition has been inflicted on the hospital industry in Massachusetts. Chapter 495, the new hospital-finance law, has eliminated virtually all state regulation of hospital charges. Proponents claim that this...

Companies plan ahead for retiree obligations. (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... In the past, when health-care costs were lower, many businesses extended coverage under the company medical plan to retirees. But that is changing rapidly as new accounting rules for retiree medical benefits lead local firms to consider greatly...

Home health care faces limits amid rapid growth. (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... Like any other rapidly growing field, home health care faces its own set of challenges and problems. More people than ever need the services home health agencies provide. But many health insurance programs do not cover the full costs of the...

Flex plans popular with the new work force. (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... In recent years, flexible benefit plans have become one of the most attractive fringe benefits employers can offer workers. Flex plans take after-tax expenses and make them before-tax deductions for such expenses as medical costs and child...

Reserving the power to choose treatment. (Focus: Health Care) (Industry Overview)
February 24, 1992... In this election year, Americans have made it clear that the health-care system must be reformed. As the debate intensifies, there remains great disagreement on what kinds of changes are needed--particularly on how we can broaden access to...

XTRA Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 24, 1992... Headquarters: Boston Stock Symbol: XTR Market: NYSE Annual Revenue: $208,898,000 Net Income: $17,142,000...

Biotech firms set to spend 1991's billion-dollar bonanza: public offerings add $900 million for drug R&D and marketing.
February 17, 1992... The Dow Jones Medical and Biotechnology Group may well have skidded nearly 9 percent last month, but local biotech firms are sitting pretty. They have their cash. As biotech investors brace for what might be an even bigger stock market...

Hill, Holliday copes with growing pains. (lack of advertising contracts for Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Inc.)
February 17, 1992... Every advertising agency should have Hill, Holliday's problems. The largest agency in New England and among the top 30 in the country, Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos got invited into at least half a dozen big-time national account...

Cellcor goes public amid cancer therapy questions. (Cellcor Therapies Inc.'s use of autolymphocyte therapy for kidney cancer patients without Food and Drug Administration approval)
February 17, 1992... Cellcor intends to go public with 2 million shares of common stock despite a controversy that blew up last year over its outpatient treatment for kidney patients. The Newton biotechnology company has treated about 500 patients with its...

Steinhauer takes the helm at Lahey. (Dr. Bruce Steinhauer is chief executive officer of Lahey Clinic)
February 17, 1992... Against a backdrop of increasing cost-containment pressures and the recent deregulation of the Massachusetts hospital-finance system, Dr. Bruce Steinhauer probably couldn't have chosen a more demanding time to take the helm of the venerable...

John B. Gregorian: family threads. (owner of Arthur T. Gregorian Inc. which markets oriental rugs)
February 17, 1992... Like the Oriental rugs he sells, John B. Gregorian tells stories. There's the one about the woman who was afraid to walk on the rugs scattered all over the floors of his showroom in Newton Lower Falls. To assure her that the rugs were durable...

Hopes for recovery hinge on first-time buyers. (real estate industry) (Focus: Commercial & Residential Real Estate) (Industry Overview)
February 17, 1992... With the Boston area's residential real estate market displaying signs of renewed vigor, one question on many minds is as cosmic as it is simple: Will first-time homebuyers breath new life into trade-up markets by triggering a trickle-up effect...

Tech/Ops Sevcon. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 17, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Boston Stock Symbol: TO Market: AMEX Annual Revenue: $17,528,000 Net Income: ...

Emperor of the air: news format lifts WBUR to No. 1 ranking.
February 10, 1992... Proving there is a market to be found in news and information, WBUR-FM has become the first station in the National Public Radio network to capture a leading position in a major radio market. In the latest Arbitron ratings, WBUR (90.9 FM)...

$600M up for grabs as state rebids its retirement funds. (Massachusetts)
February 10, 1992... Local firms will have an edge once bidding on contracts begins State Treasurer Joe Malone is putting out to bid the right to manage $600 million of supplemental retirement funds voluntarily set aside by state, county and city employees over...

Chains give hospital biz second look. (chain hospitals for profit; business)
February 10, 1992... Smaller community hospitals are likely to be the first targets should for-profit chains decide to try their luck in Massachusetts' newly deregulated industry, several health-care experts said last week. The dearth of for-profit hospitals in...

Oh, you kid: goat farmers parlay passion into profits. (gourmet goat cheese business) (Industry Overview)
February 10, 1992... Ten kids were jumping like puppies around Dorothy Benedict at breakfast last Tuesday. They cried, tugged at her parka, pushed at her legs and kissed her cheeks as she served up the grub: a pail of warm, diluted goat's milk. The babies--the...

Get that gasoline. (Gulf Oil Corp. forms partnership with Catamount Corp.) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... The Gulf Oil division of Cumberland Farms has formed a limited partnership with Catamount Petroleum Corp. to help restore consistent supply and marketing support to the franchised gas stations. Dealers have recently been left with dry pumps and...

Lawrence Fish. (appointed president of Citizens Financial Group) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Lawrence Fish, former CEO and chairman of Bank of New England, has been appointed president of Rhode Island's Citizens Financial Group. On April 1, George Grayboys, who plans to formally retire next December, will step down, clearing the way...

Edward Buchanan. (president of Massachusetts Bank & Trust Co. to pay $167,560 fines for imprudent investment) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Massachusetts Bank & Trust president Edward Buchanan will pay $167,560 and be barred for 10 years from managing pension plans as a result of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor over charges he abused the bank's employee...

Fred Dellorfano. (charged for defrauding policyholders of Cabot Day Insurance Co.) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Fred Dellorfano of Cohasset was one of five men charged with defrauding 12,000 policyholders of the Cabot Day Insurance Co. Dellorfano was the escrow agent for the Denver-based company, which allegedly collected $5.72 million in insurance...

Computer Corp. of America. (becomes a division of Praxis Inc.) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Employee-owned Computer Corp. of America will now be a division of Praxis International in Cambridge. Praxis will encompass three divisions, including software company Computer Corp. of America, direct-response marketing firm MarketPlus and...

Keane. (to buy Ferranti Healthcare Systems Corp.) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Boston-based Keane agreed to purchase Ferranti Healthcare Systems Corp. of Maryland and some of its assets. Ferranti filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December. The deal must be approved by the bankruptcy judge presiding over the...

Advanced NMR Systems. (to double manufacturing space) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Advanced NMR Systems of Woburn announced plans to double its manufacturing space to 30,000 square feet by next April. Expansion comes in anticipation of increased demand for its Instascan device. Instascan increases the scope of Magnetic...

Organogenesis. (moving to Canton, Massachusetts) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Tissue engineering firm Organogenesis is moving from Cambridge to Canton at the end of this year. It is now constructing a 32,000-square-foot building that will contain the company's headquarters, research and manufacturing operations.

Alkermes. (plans to double rental space) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Biotechnology firm Alkermes plans to double the space it rents at University Park in Cambridge to 30,000 square feet.

Jewels for Chelsea. (Town and Country Corp. to consolidate U.S. manufacturing operations in Chelsea, Massachusetts) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Town and Country Corp. plans to consolidate its U.S. jewelry manufacturing operations in Chelsea, adding 150 employees to that location. Town and Country is consolidating after a slow Christmas season for most of its clients, including retail...

Allied Stores Corp. and Federated Department Stores. (increased sales) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Allied Stores Corp. and Federated Department Stores reported that sales increased last December compared with the same month a year earlier. The announcement comes as the 225-unit department store chain is emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy...

Wedgestone seeks tow from bankruptcy mire. (Wedgestone Financial to merge with St. James Automotive)
February 10, 1992... If all goes according to plan, Wedgestone Financial will go from owning real estate to making roll bars. Under a plan scheduled to be presented to the federal bankruptcy court in Boston late last week, the Newton-based REIT, a bankrupt...

More brews, more sales for Samuel Adams. (Samuel Adams Boston Lager of the Boston Beer Company L.P.)
February 10, 1992... The Boston Beer Company, which brews Samuel Adams Boston Lager, increased its sales to 160,000 barrels last year, a 45 percent increase. One reason for the impressive statistic is that the company's small size allows for plenty of room to...

Big players may signal more office shuffling. (new offices for Fleet Bank of Massachusetts, Recoll Management Corp. and the Putnam Companies Inc.)
February 10, 1992... Boston's real estate community is watching anxiously as three business behemoths--Fleet Bank of Massachusetts, its wholly owned subsidiary Recoll Management Corp. and the Putnam Cos.--shop around for new digs. Between them, the three are...

Lending climate is looking up for Braintree bank. (Braintree Savings Bank) (Company Profile)
February 10, 1992... When the Braintree Savings Bank closed two of its branches last year, it may have looked like the institution was experiencing hard times. But that assessment couldn't be farther from the truth, according to the bank's president and chief...

Ronald R. Dion: poised for action. (president of Greater Boston Real Estate Board)
February 10, 1992... Ron Dion still recalls the recent introduction to a prominent local religious figure who, upon learning of Dion's post as president of the real estate firm R.M. Bradley, gazed solemnly at him and sympathetically asked, "Are you OK?" To Dion,...

Bay State gives credit for research efforts. (tax credits in Massachusetts) (Focus: Corporate and Personal Taxes)
February 10, 1992... As a professional tax adviser, I very often have to trust clients not to "kill the messenger" when we talk about tax law changes. Well, this is the year the big Massachusetts tax change is actually good for many corporate taxpayers....

Group health is costlier at partnerships, S corps. (health insurance; partnerships) (Focus: Corporate and Personal Taxes)
February 10, 1992... Recent studies have shown that Massachusetts residents have the third highest medical insurance costs in the United States. For those who operate businesses as partnerships or S corporations, the cost of group health insurance is even higher....

Cabot Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
February 10, 1992... Headquarters: Boston Stock Symbol: CBT Market: NYSE Annual Revenue: $1,487,955,000 Net Income: ...

L. Joseph Comeau III. (admitted as partner in the Arthur Andersen & Co.) (Banking/Finance) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... L. Joseph Comeau III was admitted as a partner in the Arthur Andersen & Co., the coordinating entity of the Arthur Andersen Organization. Comeau, who specializes in family wealth planning in Andersen's Boston and New Hampshire tax practices,...

ENSR Consulting and Engineering. (appoints Robert Anderson president and CEO) (Manufacturing/Retail) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... ENSR Consulting and Engineering of Acton named Robert Anderson as president and CEO and Richard D. Ziminski as executive vice president. Both executives previously held top management positions within other divisions of ENSR's parent company,...

Seth B. Tower. (appointed president of The Nimrod Press) (Manufacturing/Retail) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Seth B. Tower was named president of The Nimrod Press, a Boston-based commercial printing company. Tower, who succeeds Water T. Tower Jr., joined the company's sales and marketing department in 1979. He most recently served as corporate vice...

Bank of Boston Corp. (Dividends) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... The board of directors of Bank of Boston Corp. declared a quarterly dividend of 78 cents per share on the company's Series A preferred stock, 75 cents per share on its Series B preferred stock and $1.37 per share on its Series C preferred...

Health and Rehabilitation Properties Trust. (Dividends) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Newton's Health and Rehabilitation Properties Trust announced a quarterly dividend of 31 cents per share payable on or about Feb. 25 to shareholders of record on Jan. 29.

Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company. (Dividends) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... The board of directors of Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company declared a dividend of 53 cents per share on the company's common stock. The dividend will be payable on Feb. 14 to shareholders of record on Jan. 31.

Eastern Utilities Associates. (Dividends) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... Eastern Utilities Associates of Boston declared a regular quarterly dividend of 34 cents per common share. The dividend will be payable on Feb. 15 to shareholders of record on Jan. 31.

The Faxon Company. (buys Wennergren Williams Informationservices AB) (High Technology) (Brief Article)
February 10, 1992... The Faxon Company of Westwood acquired the Swedish subscription agency, Wennergren Williams Information-services AB. Based in Stockholm, the firm provides subscription services to corporate clients as well as academic and government...

Investors take big hit on Krupp Cos. Realty Fund II.
February 3, 1992... Crash of fund may augur woe for other public partnerships The Krupp Cos. is tossing in the towel on one of its older leveraged real estate partnerships and liquidating the fund to pay off its debt. The general partners of the Krupp Realty...

Experts question program budgeting.
February 3, 1992... "Program-based budgeting," Gov. William Weld's much-touted tool to reshape the delivery of services by state government, has met with only limited success in private firms and nonprofit agencies that have adopted it, according to local...

Tech council eclipsed by siblings. (Massachusetts High Technology Council)
February 3, 1992... Howard Foley has left Boston -- and taken the Massachusetts High Technology Council with him. The notorious lobbyist moved his 15-year-old business association to Waltham last week to cozy up to high-tech firms along Route 128. It is part of...

Coffee Connection brews a hot deal with Au Bon Pain.
February 3, 1992... George Howell, the owner of the Coffee Connection, is a collector of hot commodities: colorful portraits of Mexican Huichol Indians made from yarn stuck to beeswax and, of course, coffee beans. In his eyes, the two may be equally stimulating...

State Street wins. (State Street Bank Corp.) (Brief Article)
February 3, 1992... State Street Bank Corp. will manage the California Public Employees Retirement System fund along with the more than $1 trillion in assets it manages now. The $64.7 billion fund, the country's second largest, is known as CALPERS. State Street...

Leading Edge Products. (Brief Article)
February 3, 1992... Customers of Leading Edge Products may receive free software to kill a virus the company detected in computers shipped between Dec. 10 and Dec. 27. The virus, called Michelangelo, is designed to destroy all files on March 6, the artist's...

Jordan Marsh. (Brief Article)
February 3, 1992... Jordan Marsh will move its furniture warehouse/distribution center to the former Morse Shoe building in Brockton. The warehouse will employ 200 workers, a portion of them from the Jordan Marsh warehouse which is closing in Quincy.

Sheldon Rutstein. (Brief Article)
February 3, 1992... Sheldon Rutstein has been named to the newly created position of chief financial officer of Raytheon Co. Rutstein will now function as treasurer and oversee corporate financial relations in addition to his previous responsibilities as...

GMAC. (General Motors Acceptance Corp.) (Brief Article)
February 3, 1992... Bay State residents could receive as much as $3 million in refunds in a settlement between the attorneys general from 12 states, including Massachusetts, and the mortgage lender GMAC. The parties settled a 1990 suit which charged that GMAC held...

Lechmere. (Brief Article)
February 3, 1992... The U.S. Supreme Court decided that Woburn-based Lechmere has the right to ban union representatives from handing out leaflets on its property. The court ruled against the National Labor Relations Board's evaluation of a 1987 incident in which...

New England Telephone. (New England Telephone and Telegraph Co.) (Brief Article)
February 3, 1992... The Federal Communications Commission has charged NYNEX subsidiaries New England Telephone and New York Telephone $250,000 each for violating accounting procedures during 1988 and 1989. The charges stem from transactions between the two...

Boston Edison entertaining bids for power.
February 3, 1992... Approximately 50 bidders submitted proposals last week to Boston Edison to supply the utility with additional power. This is the first time since 1989 that the utility has made such a request. The request for 132 megawatts of new power supply...

Posts loss. (Genetics Institute)
February 3, 1992... A fat fourth quarter could not prevent Genetics Institute from posting a loss of nearly $11 million for fiscal 1991. The Cambridge-based biotech company earned $6.5 million, or 32 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of last year. But a...

Locals take sides. (Genzyme Corp. and Serono Laboratories Inc. debate on Orphan Drug Amendment)
February 3, 1992... Two local biotech companies, Genzyme and Serono Laboratories, locked horns over the much-debated Orphan Drug Amendment two weeks ago at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C. The Orphan Drug Act of 1983 provides grants,...

Legal clouds. (Weather Fax files suit against Zephyr Weather Information Services and Alden Electronics)
February 3, 1992... Weather Fax, the North Adams company that provides weather reports and charts to pilots by fax, has filed suit against the former supplier of its weather data for "industrial espionage." The husband and wife owners of Weather Fax claim that...

OK for ISO 9000. (Data General claims to be first company to have its manufacturing operations certified under International Organization for Standardization 9000 standards)
February 3, 1992... Data General claims it is the first U.S. computer systems manufacturer to have its worldwide manufacturing and product distribution operations certified under the ISO 9000 quality standards. It is critical that Massachusetts manufacturers...

116 Huntington's uncertain future. (office building)
February 3, 1992... Vice president Curt Jessup views JMB/Urban Development Co.'s 116 Huntington Ave. office building with the optimistic perspective that the glass is half full. The glass may be half full, but the building isn't. Six months after joining the...

Spring sprint launches race for tourist money. (World Cross Country Championships)
February 3, 1992... When the starting gun fires and some of the world's top cross country runners sprint across Boston's Franklin Park next month, the city will be launching a much longer race of its own. City officials, looking to tourism dollars to pump some...

Banks preparing to check in with imaging service. (BayBanks, Fleet/Norstar Financial Group)
February 3, 1992... BayBanks and all Fleet/Norstar Financial Group banks are about to introduce check-imaging services that will eventually save time, money and wastepaper. The process arranges reduced images of checks on a single sheet of paper. The actual...

Wainwright Bank preparing to branch out.
February 3, 1992... When Wainwright Bank & Trust Co. petitioned the Massachusetts Division of Banks to purchase three branches from Malden-based Pioneer Financial earlier this year, it may have signaled a turning point for the single-office operation....

Hub maintains its rock-bottom rating. (Boston economy)
February 3, 1992... The Boston economy may still be on a downward trend and was given the lowest economic rating in a statistical study by the accounting and management consulting firm of Grant Thornton. The study, called the Grant Thornton Index, considers six...

In '90s, quality wins customers. (advertising agencies) (Focus: Advertising and Public Relations)
February 3, 1992... OK. We know that consumers in the 1990s are smarter, savvier, leaner and meaner. We know that they're looking for value at a good price over "designer" names, and that the era of "image buying" has given way to at least a few years of...

New direct marketing plans reach targets in information era. (Focus: Advertising and Public Relations)
February 3, 1992... "Marketing is everything, and everything is marketing," adman Regis McKenna wrote last year in the Harvard Business Review. What McKenna was announcing was a new era in advertising: the arrival of the information age. From beauty shops to...