  
|
BUSINESS BRIEFS -
February '99
ASHLAND
Classic Bancshares, Inc.,
headquartered in Ashland, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Citizens Bank in
Grayson, Kentucky. The transaction, in which Citizens shareholders will receive $75 for
each share of Citizens common stock, is valued at approximately $4.5 million.
Fifth Third Bancorp has received
federal regulatory approval to complete its purchase of Ashland Bankshares Inc., the
parent company of Bank of Ashland.
BOONE COUNTY
The City of Florence has filed a
lawsuit with its neighboring city of Union over 350 acres that both cities want to annex.
Florence wants the property to allow development of a subdivision that will have nearly
1,000 homes. The City of Union is attempting to annex the land in order to block that
development, which city officials say will put overwhelming demands on the existing
infrastructure.
BOWLING GREEN
Huish Detergents has announced
that it will be adding another 550,000 square feet to its Warren County facility. The $60
million expansion is expected to result in some 270 new jobs over the next several years.
Active Services Corp., an
Alabama-based provider of adult day health services, has announced a $100,000 gift to
Western Kentucky University's gerontology program, which will use the gift to help fund an
endowed professorship in the program. Active Services and Western also plan to collaborate
in establishing a national training center for staff development and research.
The Bowling Green-Warren County
Regional Airport will receive nearly $3 million in improvements as a result of an
agreement between the airport board and Cornelius Martin, owner of fixed-based operator
CoMar Aviation. Martin has agreed to build a new three-story terminal, estimated to cost
between $1.5 and $2 million, that will feature leasable space and conference rooms as well
as space for an air traffic control tower. The board, utilizing airport and city/county
funds, will build a new aircraft apron and parking lot.
CALHOUN
The Sons of the Confederate Veterans and
McLean County have applied to the state for a $866,000 grant to be used for a Civil War
museum. If approved, the museum would feature a five-building facility that would also
be utilized to recreate life in the region during the 1860s. The project is an effort to
capitalize on the popular re-enactment of the Battle of Sacramento, which brings some
10,000 people to McLean County each year.
CALVERT CITY
Site work has begun on a $2 million
commercial project in Calvert City that represents the city's largest commercial
development since the 1960s. The 35-acre project, located at the I-24 exit at U.S. 62, is
expected to attract motels, restaurants and retailers due to the high visibility of the
area and the city's proximity to the Western Kentucky lakes area.
COVINGTON
Covington-based developer Corporex
Cos. Inc. has been chosen to develop a 33-acre, $80 million project outside Boston
that will include a Hilton hotel, a Five Seasons Sports Country Club and two Class A
office buildings.
- Omnicare, Inc., a leading geriatric pharmaceutical
care company, has acquired Institut fur numerische Statistik, Dr. Haase Gmbh, one of the
largest privately-held clinical research organizations in Germany.
Regent Communications, Inc., which
owns 34 radio stations in 11 small-to-midsize markets, has acquired three radio stations
in St. Cloud, Minnesota from WJON Broadcasting Company for $12.7 million.
EDDYVILLE
Work has begun on Lyon County's new $5
million Justice Center, which is expected to be complete within two years. The
29,000-square-foot building was designed by CMW Architects & Engineering of Lexington.
Codell Construction Co. of Lexington is handling the construction management of the
project.
HARRODSBURG
Corning, Inc. has informed 35
employees at its Harrodsburg plant that their jobs will be phased out by the end of June.
Corning officials say that although the company overall is doing well, the decreased
demand for the ophthalmic glass manufactured at the Harrodsburg plant necessitated the
need for personnel cutbacks. As more consumers choose plastic lenses over glass, Corning
plans to focus on other products such as liquid crystal display (LCD), of which it is the
world's leading manufacturer.
HAWESVILLE
- A new company, The Hancock County Warehouse, has been
established to provide other companies in the area with a means of storing materials as
well as receiving and sending shipments by rail. The new 200,000-square-foot facility will
have a rail line running through the warehouse, where products can be stored in rail cars
until a customer is ready for the shipment. Area companies are currently having to store
materials either in Owensboro or Evansville, forcing customers to have to wait for longer
periods of time while the goods are trucked in.
HEBRON
HENDERSON
Work is resuming at Period Inc.
furniture plant following an early morning fire in late December that resulted in an
estimated $2-3 million worth of damage. The company has been in business for more than 60
years making institutional furniture for college dormitories and military barracks and
employs a staff of 130. Although company officials estimated that $500,000-750,000 in
finished products alone were destroyed in the blaze, nearly $1 million was safely stored
away from the site.
LA GRANGE
- Oldham County is among the areas being considered by Dynegy
Inc. for a $200 million natural-gas-fired electric-generating plant. The
Houston-based company is one of the largest natural-gas marketers in the country.
LEXINGTON
WLEX-TV(Channel 18) has been sold
to The Evening Post Publishing Co. of Charleston, South Carolina for an undisclosed price.
The J. Peterman Company, well
known for its inventory of unique clothing and accessories, has filed for protection from
creditors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. The company employs some 400 people at
its Lexington headquarters and catalog warehouse.
The Lexington-based public relations and
marketing firm of Preston-Osborne has been recognized by Inside PR as one of
the best in the nation when it comes to public affairs and public issue management. In
addition to its Lexington headquarters, the firm has a business development office in
Tallahassee, Florida and is planning to expand into Indianapolis and Nashville during the
coming year.
Valvoline has acquired Valvoline
Polska, its Polish distributor of TECTYL rust preventive. The acquisition was pursued to
help increase oil and chemical sales in Eastern Europe. Valvoline Polska represents
Valvoline's 11th European affiliate.
Central Baptist Hospital has
opened a new occupational healthcare facility near the Melbourne Industrial Park.
BaptistWorx will provide 24-hour injury care, physical therapy and rehabilitation,
customer injury prevention planning and wellness programs.
The first draft of a report for the
proposed parallel runway project at Blue Grass Airport has been delayed due to a
request by URS Greiner, the Florida consultants hired for the study. The company reports
that more detailed technical data regarding conditions at the airport are necessary to
complete the study. The draft is now expected to be submitted by this fall.
Thomas & King, Inc., which
operates 61 Applebee's restaurants five states, has won the Applebee's Franchisee of the
Year Award. Thomas & King founder & CEO Mike Scanlon opened his first Applebee's
restaurant in 1988 in Lexington.
Man O' War Golf has been named to
the Golf Range and Recreation Association of America's Top 100 Ranges in America
list for 1998. Selection criteria include design, customer service, commitment to teaching
and training and facility management. It is the third consecutive year the facility has
been named to the list.
The law firm of Frost & Jacobs,
which has offices in Lexington as well as three locations in Ohio, is highlighted in America's
Greatest Places to Work with a Law Degree, a compilation that includes only the top
one-half of one percent of legal employers across the nation. Mina Jefferson, a partner
with Frost & Jacobs, says the firm "provides a collegial and informal atmosphere
attractive to new attorneys" and supports an "appropriate balance between the
practice of law, family and personal interests and community involvement."
Wallace's Bookstores, owned by
former Kentucky Governor Wallace Wilkinson, has been awarded a contract to manage the Yale
Co-op Bookstore. Wallace's Bookstores owns or operates nearly 80 bookstores in 23 states.
LINCOLN COUNTY
LONDON
Construction has begun on Renaissance
Bankcard Services' new 50,000-square-foot London facility, where the Oregon-based
company is building a 450-seat facility to handle the processing of credit card
applications. The center will be open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, which will result
in the need to staff three shifts. The center is expected to be complete by this spring.
Work is under way on a new
52,000-square-foot building in the Vaughn Ridge Industrial Park that will be the
new home of H.T. Warehousing and Cold Storage.
The board of directors of The Bennett
Center have signed a lease with the Women's Division of the General Board of Global
Ministries for the use of the former Sue Bennett College campus. The agreement calls for a
two-year lease with a 30-year extension.
LOUISVILLE
Linak, a Danish company that
manufacturers electric linear actuator systems such as those used to raise and lower
hospital beds, has selected Louisville as the site of its first U.S. operation. Linak U.S.
Inc. will be housed in a new 55,000-square-foot building on seven-plus acres in the
Eastpoint Business Center that is expected to be complete by the middle of the year. The
company will initially employ 60-80 people.
Group Technologies Corporation, a
subsidiary of Sypris Solutions, Inc., has been awarded a $9 million contact to manufacture
circuit-card assemblies for Raytheon Missile Systems Corporation.
BellSouth plans to close its
directory assistance facility in Louisville effective this month. BellSouth officials say
the local operators are no longer needed due to increased competition from other companies
and the accessibility of information off the Internet.
Churchill Downs Inc. has acquired
Calder Race Course Inc. in Miami from KE Acquisition Corp., a private holding company, in
a deal worth $86 million. Calder offers live racing and simulcast-only days during two
consecutive race meets that run from late May through early January
Phillip Morris Cos. Inc. has laid
off 130 hourly workers at its Louisville cigarette plant. The company, which employs
approximately 2,000 workers at its Louisville plant, announced last year that it would be
asking for 400-plus employees to take early retirement or face voluntary separation.
Ford Motor Company has announced
that its new Explorer Sport Trac will be made at the company's Louisville Assembly Plant.
The Sport Trac is a new design that combines the features of a sports utility vehicle with
a pickup-type cargo bed. The vehicle is due to be released next year.
With the purchase of North Dakota-based
North County Glass, Inc. and Thomas Construction Inc. of St. Louis in back-to-back
transactions, ThermoView Industries, Inc. has completed its 12th and 13th
acquisitions since becoming a publicly-traded company last April. Company officials say
ThermoView plans to continue its aggressive acquisition strategy within the $7 billion
replacement window/door industry during the coming year.
- The first phase of Louisville's $9.9 million
traffic-management system for the I-65 corridor has been implemented, featuring blue and
white signs installed along the median to provide motorists with more accurate information
as to where they are so that emergency workers can respond more promptly. Called TRIMARC
(Traffic Response and Incident Management Assisting the River Cities), the system is
similar to those in Lexington and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and is designed to help the
region better deal with increasing traffic congestion along I-65.
Brown-Forman has launched a new
marketing campaign for its Old Forester and Early Times brands in an effort to attract a
younger audience. The new Old Forester slogan -- "Serious bourbon since 1870" --
is running in Newsweek, Money, Sports Illustrated, Baseball Weekly,
ESPN 2, and Car and Track in an effort to attract young professionals. The Early
Times brand will be targeted to the 30- to 35-year-old blue-collar group.
MOREHEAD
Lexington's Saint Joseph Hospital
has begun offering air medical service from St. Claire Medical Center in Morehead to
better serve critically ill patients in the northeastern section of the state. The service
will primarily be used for patients needing immediate cardiac intervention/surgery and
major head or multiple trauma patients, said Mark Neff, president and CEO of St. Claire
Medical Center. Saint Joseph also operates CareFlight service from London, Kentucky to
serve patients in the southeastern portion of Kentucky.
NEWPORT
Steiner + Associates, the developer of
Newport's new urban entertainment district known as Newport on the Levee, has
announced that American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (AMC) will build a 21-screen megaplex theater
that will serve as the cornerstone of the development. The 4,400-seat theater, which is
scheduled to open in the fall of 2000, will be the largest in the Greater Cincinnati area.
NICHOLASVILLE
- The Lexington Transit Authority has recommended that LexTran’s
commuter service running between Nicholasville and downtown Lexington be discontinued due
to poor ridership. The service began in October '97.
OWENSBORO
Kentucky Wesleyan College has
received a $400,000 grant from the James Graham Brown Foundation of Louisville. The money
is earmarked to go towards funding a new $4.2 million science building.
Marriott has scrapped plans to
build a 12-story hotel and convention center along the riverfront area in downtown
Owensboro after a $2 million state tourism grant critical to the project's development
failed to gain approval.
The Owensboro-Daviess County Regional
Airport is currently undergoing a $1 million renovation that involves updating both
the terminal space and runway lighting. The airport is also hoping to receive federal
funding that will help provide for a $15 million runway extension that would allow larger
jets to land.
PADUCAH
Dippin' Dots, the Paducah-based
manufacturer of the ice cream and frozen yogurt beads that have become trendy in malls and
amusements parks, has opened a 3,000-square-foot distribution center in Melbourne,
Australia to assist marketing efforts to dealers and attractions in the Far East.
PAINTSVILLE
PIKEVILLE
RICHMOND
Eastern Kentucky University has been
selected as the home for the state's new $15 million Center for School Safety. The
center will serve as a state clearinghouse for information and training on school safety.
The public relations program at Eastern
Kentucky University is one of only 23 in the country to be designated as the nation's
premier college public relations programs, according to a new directory compiled by Bill
L. Baxter, a Public Relations Society of America Fellow and an associate professor
emeritus of public relations at Marquette University. The programs were selected based on
the credentials and achievements of the school's faculty and the course design recommended
by the Commission on Undergraduate Public Relations Education.
UNION
WESTERN KENTUCKY
WILDER
Regal Cinemas, Inc. of Knoxville has
announced that it will build a 20-screen, first-run cinema in next to the Town &
Country Soccer Center located at I-275 and KY 9. The theater will be part of a multimillion-dollar
sports and retail complex that includes both indoor and outdoor soccer facilities and
will eventually feature restaurants and a hotel. When complete, the theater will be one of
the largest in the Greater Cincinnati area.
WILLIAMSBURG
Cumberland College is one of only
87 colleges and universities in the nation to be included in America's Best Christian
Colleges 1999. The institutions included were judged against all colleges (not only
Christian colleges), with selection based upon the high school grade point average and
SAT/ACT scores of the entering freshman class.
Back to
Business Briefs Index
Back to February Issue
|
