Weekly interest and loan rates | Home values Northwest stock contest 2004 | Consumer affairs

Business Digest
Developer Benayora buys prime piece of real estate

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive

SEATTLE — A prime piece of downtown real estate, once planned as part of an ambitious full-block redevelopment around the former Camlin Hotel, now belongs to developer Larry Benaroya.

Benaroya bought the parking lot at the northeast corner of Pine Street and Eighth Avenue for $12.3 million, but said he has no specific plans for the land. Any development will have to wait several years until Sound Transit is finished using the property as a staging area for light-rail construction.

"Since we don't exactly know when we will be getting control of the site, it is a little hard for us to have a plan," he said.

Benaroya first eyed the property six months ago. A company wanted to move its offices there, but that deal fell apart when Sound Transit stepped in, he said.

Deal reached to lease office, lab space to 'Hutch'

SEATTLE — Alexandria Real Estate Equities said it has reached an agreement to lease about 100,000 square feet of lab and office space to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at 1616 Eastlake Ave. E.

The "Hutch" will occupy the fourth and fifth floors and use part of the second floor of the 165,000-square-foot building. Scott Rusch, the center's vice president for facilities, said the new space will let the center consolidate its HIV/AIDS work from three buildings into one and be a few minutes away from the main campus at South Lake Union. It plans to move in the fall.

The Alexandria property has also been outfitted to house Accelerator, a collaboration between venture capitalists and Leroy Hood's Institute for Systems Biology to start new companies.

Kirkland firm Print raises $7.4 million to fund growth

BELLEVUE — Kirkland company Print, which helps its customers manage printing, copying, faxing and imaging equipment, said yesterday that it raised $7.4 million in private equity to fund its growth.
 
ABS Capital Partners led the round, with Concert Capital Partners participating. ORIX Venture Finance also loaned Print an additional $4 million. Ian MacLeod, a general partner at ABS Capital, and Peter Nanula, managing partner at Concert Capital, will join the firm's board.

Singapore's Tiger Air will lease Airbus A320s

SINGAPORE — Tiger Airways, the low-cost carrier being started by Singapore Airlines, will lease four new Airbus A320 aircraft and take delivery of the planes in the second half of the year.

Tiger is the fourth budget carrier in the Asia-Pacific region to choose Airbus single-aisle planes over Boeing's 737 aircraft. India's Air Deccan, Singapore's Valuair Pte and Australia's Jetstar, a unit of Qantas Airways, also have chosen the Airbus A320 aircraft.

Mines Management begins American exchange listing

SEATTLE — Shares of Spokane-based Mines Management began trading yesterday on the American Stock Exchange, a move the 57-year-old mining company hopes will raise its visibility among investors.

Mines Management, whose major asset is the Montanore silver and copper project in northwest Montana, applied last month to move its listing from the OTC Bulletin Board.

The company is working to develop the Montanore project, acquired in 2002 after the previous owner abandoned it, into a working mine. The company's only revenue last year was $6,038 in royalties from some old oil wells in Kansas.

Mines Management, which trades under the symbol MGN, fell 22 cents yesterday to close at $7.30. A year ago, the shares were trading for $1.61 on the Bulletin Board.

Micron Technology narrows 2nd-quarter loss

ATLANTA — Micron Technology, the second-biggest maker of computer-memory chips, said it had a narrower second-quarter loss as sales rose 26.2 percent and manufacturing expenses fell.

The loss narrowed 95 percent to $28.3 million, or 4 cents a share, for the period ended March 4 from a loss of $619.2 million, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier. Sales rose to $991 million from $785 million, the Boise, Idaho-based company said.

The loss beat analysts' estimates of a 7-cent loss, the average estimate of 21 analysts in a Thomson First Call survey.

Nation/World

OPEC to consider increase in crude-oil production

JAKARTA — OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the group will discuss the possibility of raising crude-oil production during its meeting next week.

"Price has continued to rise sharply, so the likelihood is that we may have to increase supply," Purnomo said. "We don't want prices being too high. If prices are too high, we're not happy."

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which will meet in Vienna Wednesday, is implementing a planned output cut for April 1.

OPEC, which pumps a third of world supply, agreed in Algiers, Algeria, last month to stop producing above self-imposed quotas and lower the quota by 1 million barrels a day as of next month.

14 ex-execs of HealthSouth might testify against ex-CEO

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — At least 14 former HealthSouth executives could testify against fired CEO Richard Scrushy at his August fraud trial, prosecutors revealed in court documents made public yesterday.

The list of likely witnesses includes all but three of the 17 former HealthSouth workers who have reached plea deals in a wide-ranging federal probe of the rehabilitation giant.

Among those the government expects to testify are all five of HealthSouth's chief financial officers and Emery Harris, who is already serving a five-month term in federal prison for his role in the scam.

The government released the names in response to a request by attorneys for Scrushy, accused of making millions off a scheme to overstate HealthSouth earnings to meet Wall Street expectations. Scrushy has pleaded not guilty. He is free on $10 million bond.

Roy Disney wants info on how employees voted

LOS ANGELES — Roy Disney, a former Walt Disney Co. director, asked the company to disclose how many shares voted by employees who participate in its retirement plans didn't back Chief Executive Michael Eisner's re-election to the board.

Roy Disney made the request in a letter sent two days ago by his attorney, David Robbins, to the Disney board, the second-biggest U.S. media company. The letter was distributed yesterday in a news release.

Roy Disney and former director Stanley Gold are campaigning to oust Eisner as chief executive of Disney. Eisner failed to receive the backing of 43 percent of shares voted for his re-election and relinquished the title of chairman to George Mitchell.

Eisner's opponents blame him for a 24 percent decline in the company's shares over the past five years.

Italian judge rejects request for expedited Parmalat trial

ROME — A Milan, Italy, judge yesterday rejected requests for expedited trials in the fraud case surrounding dairy giant Parmalat, court officials in Milan said.

Prosecutors are now expected to refile charges under normal judicial procedures, which can be a slower process.

Judge Guido Piffer rejected the requests filed by prosecutors last week for a fast-track trial for 29 people, including Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi and several former executives, court officials said.

The Milan prosecutors had also sought indictments for three institutions linked to the scandal — Bank of America, Deloitte & Touche and the former Italian branch of Grant Thornton.

Compiled from Seattle Times business staff, Reuters, Bloomberg News and The Associated Press

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company