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1675-6 Loews PRT Choose print destination or operation STANDARD ALTERNATE TO SII TRANSFER CANCEL ❑TRANSFER Choose item to transfer DOCUMENT HEADLINE-LST CURR-ITEM ❑DOCUMENT Enter document number to transfer 04, 5,6,7,12 Pause after every page? YES NO ONO Printing . . . Printing . . . Printing . . . Printing . . . Printing . . . Press [RETURN] to continue or type q to return to Menu: ❑ mh98 LONG-AWAITED LOEWS HOTEL READY TO CHECK IN ON BEACH 12/24/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, December 24, 1998 EDITION: Final SECTION: Front PAGE: lA LENGTH: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: Luckner Hyacinther cleans the sidewalk for today's grand opening of the Loews hotel (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By CYNTHIA CORZO, Herald Business Writer LONG-AWAITED LOEWS HOTEL READY TO CHECK IN ON BEACH It has been the most long-awaited hotel opening in Miami Beach history. And, today, the Loews Miami Beach Hotel finally is expected to open. After four agonizing, anger-inducing delays, the Loews should open its doors at 4 p.m. , the first major hotel built in Miami Beach in 30 years. The opening will occur over two days at the 800-room project. The renovated St. Moritz hotel, an Art Deco remnant with 100 rooms, will begin checking in guests this afternoon. The newly constructed 700-room tower will open on Friday. The hotel is expected to be in full swing by New Year's Eve. About 80 rooms have been reserved for Christmas Eve and more than 100 for Christmas Day. Industry observers say the Loews' delay was not extraordinary. "To be within 30-45 days from the date you originally announced is not bad, " said Stuart Blumberg, president of the Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association. "The delay caused some disruption, but everything worked out. " Construction and permitting delays plagued the Loews for months. When the project broke ground in September 1996, the opening was scheduled for summer 1998. But that was quickly pushed back to Oct. 15. This summer, engineers outlined design flaws at the hotel, saying that hurricane-force winds could severely damage the $135 million structure. Repair work pushed the opening back to Nov. 30. That date came and went because driving pilings under the, building to provide additional support took longer than expected. The opening was then set for the second week of December. But that too was delayed, because of work on heating, ventilation and life safety systems. "A two-month delay for a project of this magnitude, and considering the size of the hotel, is not something extraordinary, " said Taryn Schneider, spokeswoman for the Loews. "In the industry, to open a hotel on the same date that was set forth at the groundbreaking is pretty rare. " The delays at the hotel, at 16th Street and Collins Avenue, have created a scheduling nightmare, however. In early December, the hotel had to relocate 700 would-be guests in town for a medical conference. The Loews also had to reschedule or relocate other meetings and parties. Some groups agreed to reschedule in the hope of getting a future date at the Loews. Others gave up and opted for other venues. On Wednesday, there was a flurry of activity as lawns were laid, brick pavers were finished and staircases were carpeted. Some 700 employees scurried from place to place getting the final details in place for the opening. The finishing touches - stocking linens, towels and mini-bars - on the St. Moritz portion of the hotel were completed Wednesday afternoon. The Gaucho Room, an Argentine-themed restaurant with a beef and South American menu, was ready. Over the past week, several simulations, with hotel employees sitting in as guests, have been held and the kinks have been ironed out. Gourmet foods and gifts were being stocked at the retail shop in the tower lobby, four bronze statues awaited placement on a fountain in the center of the Hemisphere Bar, employees of Preston's Restaurant practiced their service skills on empty tables and workers pressure cleaned the porte-cochere. Miami Beach has been eagerly awaiting the Loews. The city is counting on the hotel to lure business to the nearby Miami Beach Convention Center, which has suffered from the city's lack of a convention-size hotel within walking distance. For three decades, the 1,200-room Fontainebleau Hilton was the only convention headquarters hotel in Miami Beach. Aside from attracting more business to Miami Beach, the Loews also sparked the construction of new properties and the renovation of some older hotels in the area. The Loews has proven to be a tremendous catalyst to the hotel industry, " Blumberg said. "Hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations of other hotels started when the construction began on ;the Loews. It set a higher standard for hotel properties. " CAPTION: CANDACE BARBOT / Herald Staff FINISHING TOUCH: Luckner Hyacinther cleans the sidewalk for today's grand opening. KEYWORDS: MIAMI BEACH HOTEL LOEWS TAG: 9812250130 4 of 113, 37 Terms mh98 LOEWS MIAMI BEACH 12/23/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Wednesday, December 23, 1998 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business PAGE: 3C LENGTH: 93 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: Herald Staff MEMO: FLORIDA LOEWS MIAMI BEACH HOTEL AWAITS FINAL PERMITS THE OPENING OF THE LOEWS MIAMI BEACH HOTEL IS STILL UP IN THE AIR. THE FIRST HOTEL TO BE BUILT ON MIAMI BEACH IN THREE DECADES IS WAITING FOR A TEMPORARY CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY FROM THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH BEFORE IT CAN RECEIVE GUESTS. ON TUESDAY, INSPECTORS FROM THE MIAMI BEACH FIRE DEPARTMENT LOOKED OVER THE HOTEL AT 16TH STREET AND COLLINS AVENUE. BUILDING INSPECTORS HAD SPENT MOST OF MONDAY PORING OVER THE PROPERTY. THE 800-ROOM $135 MILLION PROJECT COMBINES A NEW 17-STORY TOWER WITH THE RENOVATION OF THE OLD ST. MORITZ HOTEL, A 10-STORY ART DECO REMNANT. ONE HUNDRED ROOMS WILL BE IN THE ST. MORITZ AND 700 IN THE NEW BUILDING. CONSTRUCTION AND PERMITTING DELAYS HAVE PLAGUED THE LOEWS FOR MONTHS. ENGINEERS OUTLINED DESIGN FLAWS AT THE HOTEL SHOWING IT DIDN'T MEET SOUTH FLORIDA BUILDING CODES BECAUSE HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS COULD SEVERELY DAMAGE THE BUILDING. THE OPENING WAS PUSHED BACK TO NOV. 30. THE OPENING WAS DELAYED FOR A FOURTH TIME, TO MID DECEMBER, BECAUSE OF WORK ON HEATING, VENTILATION AND LIFE SAFETY SYSTEMS. TRIARC COS. SIGNS DEAL FOR 102 ARBY'S ARBY'S WILL CONTINUE ITS RECORD GROWTH PACE WITH THE OPENING OF MORE THAN 102 RESTAURANTS OVER THE NEXT 12 YEARS IN OKLAHOMA, ARKANSAS, KANSAS, MISSOURI AND TEXAS. THE NEW RESTAURANTS ARE PART OF AN AGREEMENT SIGNED TUESDAY BETWEEN THE FORT LAUDERDALE-BASED TRIARC RESTAURANT GROUP AND U.S. BEEF CORPORATION OF TULSA. THE MAJORITY OF THE NEW RESTAURANTS WILL BE IN THE KANSAS CITY, WICHITA AND LITTLE ROCK MARKETS. SIX RESTAURANTS WILL OPEN NEXT YEAR, STARTING WITH THREE IN OKLAHOMA DURING THE FIRST QUARTER OF 1999. U.S. BEEF CORPORATION ALREADY OPERATES 162 ARBY'S RESTAURANTS AND EMPLOYS MORE THAN 3,500 PEOPLE. THE AGREEMENT WITH U.S. BEEF IS ONE OF SEVERAL MULTI-UNIT DEVELOPMENT DEALS SIGNED BY TRIARC DURING THIS YEAR. THE COMPANY HAS AGREEMENTS FOR 1,000 NEW ARBY'S RESTAURANTS TO OPEN BY 2010. TRIARC RESTAURANT GROUP, A SUBSIDIARY OF NELSON PELTZ'S TRIARC COS. , FRANCHISES MORE THAN 3, 100 RESTAURANTS AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING ARBY'S, PASTA CONNECTION AND T.J. CINNAMONS. CREATIVE STAFFING COMPLETES NETWORK STAFFING DEAL CREATIVE STAFFING ON TUESDAY COMPLETED ITS ACQUISITION OF NETWORK STAFFING SERVICES'S FORT LAUDERDALE OPERATIONS. THE PRIVATELY HELD MIAMI FIRM, WHICH HAS MORE THAN $14 MILLION IN ANNUAL REVENUES, DIDN'T DISCLOSE TERMS OF THE DEAL. NETWORK STAFFING, A UNIT OF A DALLAS COMPANY, HAD ABOUT $2 MILLION IN REVENUES AND 10 EMPLOYEES. CREATIVE STAFFING IS KNOWN FOR ITS WORK IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY AS WELL AS CLERICAL AND OFFICE FIELDS. LAST SUMMER, IT PURCHASED LEGALFORCE, A SPECIALTY STAFFING FIRM. CREATIVE STAFFING'S PRESIDENT ANN MACHADO SAID HER FIRM WILL CONTINUE TO LOOK AT ACQUISITIONS. THE GOAL IS TO EXPAND SERVICES BY -GROWING OUR NICHES, " IN SUCH FIELDS AS FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING, LEGAL AND TECHNICAL STAFFING, SHE SAID. SEAL HOLDINGS PEARCE TO ENTER CLINIC BUSINESS DR. M. LEE PEARCE, A MIAMI PHYSICIAN AND INDEPENDENT INVESTOR, WILL HEAD A PUBLICLY HELD COMPANY THAT'S DEVELOPING OUTPATIENT CARE CLINICS. A PRIVATE FORT LAUDERDALE CONCERN KNOWN AS OH INC. , WHICH PEARCE CONTROLS, IS MERGING WITH SEAL HOLDINGS. OH IS THE HOLDING COMPANY FOR OAKRIDGE MEDICAL GROUP. OAKRIDGE DEVELOPS OUTPATIENT CLINICS OFFERING A MULTITUDE OF SERVICES, INCLUDING CAT SCANS, MRI IMAGING, MAMMOGRAPHY AND OTHER SERVICES. THESE PROCEDURES, WHEN DONE ON AN OUTPATIENT BASIS, CAN OFTEN BE PERFORMED FOR LOWER COSTS THAN IN HOSPITALS. OAKRIDGE CURRENTLY HAS JUST ONE CLINIC, IN FORT LAUDERDALE, ALTHOUGH ANOTHER IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT IN KENDALL. ALTHOUGH SEAL HOLDINGS HAS LIMITED OPERATIONS, IT IS PUBLICLY HELD. THUS, IT WOULD ALLOW THE MERGED ENTITY THE OPPORTUNITY TO ISSUE STOCK IN ORDER TO RAISE EXPANSION CAPITAL. THE SURVIVING COMPANY WILL OPERATE UNDER THE SEAL NAME, AND PEARCE WILL BE CHAIRMAN. PEARCE HAS A LONG HISTORY OF ACTIVE INVESTING, AND HAS EARNED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM HIS POSITIONS IN COMPANIES RANGING FROM FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO AMERICAN MEDICAL INTERNATIONAL. PEOPLES TELEPHONE SHAREHOLDERS OK DAVEL DEAL DAVEL COMMUNICATIONS AND PEOPLES TELEPHONE CO. SAID SHAREHOLDERS OF BOTH COMPANIES APPROVED THEIR PENDING MERGER AGREEMENT AT SEPARATE MEETINGS HELD TUESDAY. THE TRANSACTION SHOULD CLOSE TODAY. THE MERGER CALLS FOR DAVEL TO PAY 0.235 SHARES OF ITS STOCK FOR EVERY SHARE OF PEOPLES TELEPHONE STOCK. THE MERGER WILL CREATE THE NATION'S LARGEST INDEPENDENT PAY PHONE PROVIDER WITH 83,000 INSTALLED PHONES. PEOPLES, BASED IN MIAMI-DADE, SAW ITS STOCK CLOSE UNCHANGED AT $4.433/4, WHILE TAMPA-BASED DAVEL CLOSED DOWN 25 CENTS AT $19.121/2 TUESDAY. ARTESYN TECHNOLOGIES RECEIVES $200M CREDIT LINE ARTESYN TECHNOLOGIES SAID IT RECEIVED A THREE-YEAR, $200 MILLION CREDIT FACILITY THAT WAS ARRANGED AND SYNDICATED BY ABN AMRO BANK AND FIRST UNION BANK. THE COMPANY SAID THE NEW FUNDING WOULD PROVIDE IT WITH THE FINANCIAL STRENGTH TO CONTINUE ITS AGGRESSIVE GROWTH STRATEGIES IN THE COMMUNICATIONS MARKET. ARTESYN IS BASED IN BOCA RATON AND MANUFACTURES POWER CONVERSION SUPPLIES FOR COMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES. ITS STOCK CLOSED UNCHANGED AT $14.75 ON TUESDAY. -FROM HERALD STAFF REPORTS LOEWS MIAMI BEACH HOTEL AWAITS FINAL PERMITS LOEWS MIAMI BEACH Hotel awaits final permits KEYWORDS: TAG: 9812250067 5 of 113, 13 Terms mh98 FOR YOUR CALENDAR 12/21/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, December 21, 1998 EDI1.f1ON: Final SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 11 LENGTH: 44 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: Herald Staff FOR YOUR CALENDAR COLOMBIA * April 13-16, Bogota: Fourth International Exhibition of Equipment & Services for the Oil/Gas Industries. Call 011-57-1-214-8920 or fax 011-57-1-214-8681. SURINAME * March 1-2, Paramaribo: Caricom Heads of Government meeting. Call 011-592-2-69281 or fax 011-592-2-63098. * April 8-11, Paramaribo: Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Development, organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Call 212-635-9530; fax 212-635-9511; or e-mail get2cto@dorsai.org UNITED STATES * Jan. 20-21, Miami: Internet Telephony Latin America, Hotel Inter-Continental. Call 800-882-8684 or e-mail info@igpc.com. * Jan. 20-22, Miami Beach: Third Annual Latin American Private Equity, by World Research Group, at Loews Hotel. Call 800-647-7600; fax 800-717-3237; or e-mail info@worldrg.com * Jan. 20-22, Miami Beach: CMM of the Americas, a packaging/printing exposition. Call 212-615-2200. * Jan. 22-24, Miami Beach: Graphics of the Americas '99, regional/international printing and converting exposition. Miami Beach Convention Center. Call 305-558-4855; or visit www.pafgraf.org on the Internet. * March 23-25, Miami: Wireless Local Loop in Latin America, Wyndham Miami, organized by ICM Conferences. Call 305-358-6666 or fax 305-358-6610. VENEZUELA * April 15-18, Caracas: Franchising Expo, organized by the Venezuelan Franchise Association. Fax 011-58-991-3332. Calendar items were supplied by South America Report newsletter and Herald staff. To submit items, send them to LATIN CALENDAR, Herald Business section, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693; fax to 305-376-2066; or e-mail business@herald.com. KEYWORDS: TAG: 9812240246 6 of 113, 3 Terms mh98 BEACH OPENS 12/20/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, December 20, 1998 EDITION: Final SECTION: Neighbors MB PAGE: 3 LENGTH: 48 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: ALLISON KLEIN Herald Staff Writer BEACH OPENS NEW 803-SPACE PARKING GARAGE Finding a parking spot in South Beach during winter months can sometimes be like finding your way out of a maze. With the 800-room Loews convention hotel on the cusp of opening on Collins Avenue and 16th Street, and the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Hotel project on the way next door, there was potential for a parking disaster. So the city stepped in and created an 803-space parking garage on 16th Street and Collins Avenue. It opened Wednesday. Once the hotels are ready, they can claim a certain number of spaces each day for their guests. The Loews can reserve 560; the Royal Palm 174. Any spaces they don't reserve are available for locals or tourists -- for a fee. The cost is $2 an hour, with a maximum daily rate of $16. Weekends after 9 p.m. , parking costs a flat rate of $10 and the monthly rate is $100. The garage is close to restaurants, night clubs and stores on Lincoln Road, Washington Avenue, Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive. The project, complete with retail shops and a new street in front, cost $18.3 million. The money comes from the city's Redevelopment Agency, funded by city and county taxes. Loews is in charge of leasing out the retail shops inside, the building. The company has already sold just under half of the available 21,509 square feet of space. "Guests at the Loews will make good use of the shops. Any hotel guest can charge purchases in the shops to their rooms, " said John G. Malino, vice president for real estate for Loews hotels. "Guests walking to the convention center will go through 16th Street and pass right by the stores. " Opening soon: Xando (pronounced Zando) coffee bar, Paradizzo apparel shop, Absolutely Suitable bathing suit store and Travel Now or Never travel agency. They have between one year and three months' free rent as compensation for ".tenant improvement work, " Malino said. That includes such things as installing bathrooms, floor coverings, electrical work and other necessary fix-ups resulting from the newly constructed building. Other stores that are expected to open but have not signed leases: Miami To Go gift shop and Fruit Press and Miami Sweets juice and candy store. ''It's going to be kind of an extension of the hotel's retail area, " Malino said. Herald staff writer Allison Klein can be reached by e-mail at aklein@herald.com TAG: 9812250559 7 of 113, 11 Terms mh98 LOEWS MIAMI BEACH HOTEL OPENING NOW DELAYED TILL DEC. 23 12/11/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Friday, December 11, 1998 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business PAGE: 3C LENGTH: 97 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: From Herald Staff and Wire Reports and Bloomberg News LOEWS MIAMI BEACH HOTEL OPENING NOW DELAYED TILL DEC. 23 The new Loews Miami Beach Hotel has delayed its opening for a fourth time. The 800-room hotel is now supposed to open by Dec. 23, spokeswoman Taryn Schneider said. Originally scheduled to open Oct. 15, the city's first major new hotel in 30 years has been delayed by structural and permitting problems. Delays at the new hotel, at 16th Street and Collins Avenue, have created a scheduling nightmare. Last week, it had to relocate 700 would-be guests in town for a medical conference. The hotel is waiting for a temporary certificate of occupancy from the city. We did a walk-through Saturday and developed a laundry list of items they need to work on, " said Assistant City Manager Janet Gavarrete. "They are doing a little section every day. " The list includes work on the heating, ventilation and life safety systems, she said. Once the hotel gets the permit, it must wait five days before it can open its doors to guests. MIAMI BEACH Deal with tourism bureau urged A Miami Beach city committee voted Thursday to urge the City Commission to accept a $2 million offer from the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau that would allow the CVB to continue to receive resort tax revenues for marketing the Beach as a tourist destination. As part of its recommendation, the Finance Committee would require the CVB to immediately pay $900,000 owed to the city for debt underwriting of the new Loews Miami Beach Hotel. It also suggested establishing a time-frame for negotiations to determine if a longer agreement with the CVB is warranted. "This decision addresses two important issues: In the short term the CVB continues to market Miami Beach for the next nine months, and it establishes a process to determine what our long-term goals are and where we want to go, " said Commissioner Simon Cruz, president of the finance committee. The agreement between the Beach and the CVB fell apart last month when Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County could not agree on a deal to help defray the city's increasing cost of maintaining itself as a tourist destination. . The CVB had offered to pay Miami Beach $1.5 million. In an effort to renew the agreement, on Monday the CVB offered another $500,000 to cover Miami-Dade's contribution. MASTEC Financial chief resigns Chief Financial Officer Stephen D. Daniels has resigned from MasTec, becoming the second financial chief to leave the Miami company in the last six months. Daniels will become executive director in the corporate development department of U.S. West, the Bell regional company in Denver and a long-standing MasTec customer. Edwin Johnson, Daniels' predecessor, resigned on June 22 to pursue other ventures. MasTec, which designs and builds telephone and cable television systems, said that Vice Chairman Joel-Tomas Citron will assume day-to-day responsibility for its finance department. Carmen Sabater, former corporate controller and treasurer, will become senior vice president and finance director. The company named Arlene Vargas as vice president and corporate controller. She previously worked as a senior manager with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, with the responsibility for auditing MasTec. 21ST CENTURY HOLDING CO. Buys chain of insurance agencies Plantation-based 21st Century Holding Co. , which owns insurance agencies and finance companies, completed its first acquisition since it went public Nov. 5. The company bought A+ Discount Insurance, a privately held chain of 18 agencies that generated $15 million in insuran±e premiums last year. A+ has five agencies in Miami-Dade, but most are in Orlando. Terms of the cash deal were not disclosed. The acquisition more than doubles 21st Century's agency holdings, bringing the count from 16 to 34. Edward Lawson, 21st Century's chief executive, said the company plans to establish the agencies as financial centers to maximize returns. The company underwrites insurance for cars, mobile homes and homeowners through its Federated National Insurance subsidiary, finances consumers through its Federated Premium Finance and sells auto title loans through its Florida State Discount Auto Title Loans. The company went public last month, offering 1.25 million shares at $7.50. The stock has barely moved since the initial public offering. REPUBLIC INDUSTRIES Names new vice president Maria Bailey was named Thursday to the new position of vice president of AutoRewards at Republic Industries. Bailey, formerly Republic's director of administration, will oversee the rollout of AutoNation USA's AutoRewards program in Denver on Dec. 26. AutoRewards will allow AutoNation USA vehicle buyers to earn points for vehicle purchases, auto repairs and customer referrals. The points will be good for discounts on future purchases, repairs, special customer privileges and free car rentals from Republic's National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car. Before joining Republic, Bailey, 34, had held management positions at The Miami Herald and was interim vice president of development and executive director of the Broward Community College Foundation. KEYWORDS: TAG: 9812120053 12 of 113, 11 Terms Transfer complete. 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