The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 27

The Orlando Sentinel 4600 4S50 4500 4450 4400 4350 4300 4250 4200 4150 4100 Strong economic report gives slight pause to stocks, C-10 SATURDAY, June 24, 1995 F5) 0 Market listings, C-2 fl I I I I I I I I I I I 7 14 21 28 5 12 1 26 2 18 23 APR. MAY JUNE Competitors don't fear new parks ,4. I ft ri ft 'J! 7M 1 sr limn jf 1 Wtl mat Upcoming projects from Disney and Universal may hurt their rivals but could "re-energize" Orlando. By Christine Shenot OF THE SENTINEL STAFF With Disney and Universal Studios gearing up to build new theme parks by the end of the century, Central Florida's tourism community is buzzing with speculation about what is in store for rival attractions. The consensus is that there will be some pain, but few mortal wounds.

The battle was joined when Walt Disney World announced plans this week to open Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom in the spring of 1998. Universal is set to open its new park, Islands of Adventure, the following year. The two companies also plan to open new restaurants and nightclubs on their property. And Universal plans to build hotels and other resort amenities, in effect becoming the same sort of one-stop vacation destination that Walt Disney World has been for years. Against that scenario, the future looks more competitive than ever.

But most observers stop short of predicting grim times for smaller attractions and parks, such as Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, that feature animals, the theme behind Disney's new park. Tourism officials acknowledge that Disney and Please see DISNEY, C-9 nil JOE BURBANKTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Joe Rohde (left), creative director of Disney's Wild Ani- centerpiece to CEO Michael Eisner and Vice Chairman mal Kingdom, shows a model of the park's planned Roy Disney after the park's announcement Tuesday. Robinson St. Shaq's World: Idea scores with O'Neal Possible Lincoln site Financing still a foe to projects Proposed entertainment complexes have obstacles between here and reality. j1 Proposed Bourbon Street project Central Blvd.

II Pine Ave. bon Street developers who described their negotiations with O'Neal as a "done deal." not true at all," Tracey said. "This is something Shaq's wanted since the beginning of last sea Church St. Jaymont property CHURCH STREET Jackson St. By Jim DeSimone and Jack Snyder OF THE SENTINEL STAFF O'Neal South St.

-J3 Develorjers of the nroDosed Bourbon THE ORLANDO SENTINEL The Magic star has given his name to the project His money could be next as details are worked out By Gene Yasuda OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Shaquille O'Neal wants to create his own world. And since the big fella usually gets what he wants, this wish may not be far-fetched. In fact, the Orlando Magic's 7-foot-1 superstar is in negotiations to create Shaq's World an entertainment, restaurant, retail centerpiece for the proposed Bourbon Street complex across from Church Street Station. "Shaq came up with the idea of a theme restaurant and an area you could buy Shaq merchandise. Shaq's World is just a working name for it, but it does have a nice ring to it," Dennis Tracey, O'Neal's personal assistant, said Friday.

But Tracey disputed comments made earlier in the week by Bour- THE MARKETS Dow Jones industrials 4,585.84, down 3.80 549.71, down 1.36 MidCap index 199.50, down 0.67 NYSE index 294.17, down 0.76 Nasdaq index 938.87, down 1.22 AM EX index 493.48, down 2.49 Dow Jones bond index 103.66, up 0.52 Gold, Comex close $390.70, up $0.50 Silver, Comex close $5.35, unchanged Dollar, Fed index 81.48, down 0.60 Prime rate 9 Mortgages, 30-year fixed 7.125-8.00 1-yr. Treasury index as of June 19 5.66 Consumer Price Index, May 152.2 CONSTRUCTION HUGHES SUPPLY an Orlando-based supplier of construction materials, said Friday it has signed an agreement to acquire Moore Electric Supply a Charlotte, N.C., distributor of electrical supplies. The transaction is expected to close by July 31. Hughes Supply has 179 locations in 13 states in the Southeast and Midwest. TECHNOLOGY THE NAVAL Air Warfare Training Systems Division Friday executed a change of command as Capt.

William Mark Yerkes took the helm. YeTkes succeeded Capt. Christopher L. Addison, who has led the Orlando-based organization since June 1992. Addision has been reassigned to the Pentagon as director of the Navy's Office of Training Technology.

Yerkes was previously the Navy's deputy program manager in the Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The Naval Training Systems Division, located at Central Florida Research Park, employs about 1,100 with an annual payroll of $51 million. MANUFACTURING MINOLTA a Japanese maker of office equipment and cameras, said Friday it has asked its union to consider voluntary retirement for 400 workers, or 6.7 percent of its workforce. The sharp appreciation of the yen and Minolta's resulting need to shift more production overseas are major factors behind the proposal, the spokesman said. The union is expected to answer by the end of the month, he said.

ENTERTAINMENT TIME WARNER INC. unit Warner Music was sued by fired Chairman Douglas Morris for $50 million. Morris, who was fired Wednesday, claimed in the suit that his employment contract provided for a $50 million payment if he was terminated without cause. The lump-sum payment the contract allegedly called for included salary, benefits and bonuses through the agreement's end in December 1999. The damages Morris is seeking include becoming vested in stock options the company paid him.

Further, Morris accused Warner Music of failing to "particularize or even identify the supposed the company referred to in a letter it sent him on June 22. The company said, "Mr. Morris's termination for cause is appropriate. Now that it's in litigation, we won't comment beyond that." BANKING INTERCONTINENTAL BANK said Friday it is in talks about possibly being acquired by NationsBank the big banking company based in Charlotte, N.C. Intercontinental Bank, which has about $1.17 billion in total assets and 24 branches in Florida, said terms currently being discussed would value its stock at $30 a share.

The two companies are negotiating a definitive merger agreement, Intercontinental said. NationsBank had about $170 billion in assets at the end of 1994. ONLINE SERVICES APPLE COMPUTER INC. is upgrading its eWorld online service with expanded access to the Internet. The company planned to release the new version of eWorld on Monday, the service's one-year anniversary.

The new version of eWorld lets Macintosh users get information from UseNet newsgroups, electronic bulletin boards on which people can post messages on a huge array of subjects. The new eWorld also lets subscribers get software available over the Internet. Access to the World Wide Web should be available next month. BEVERAGES BROTHERS GOURMET COFFEE is looking for a buyer for its national chain of 250 coffee shops. The company, based in Boca Raton, has 22 Brothers Gourmet Coffee Bars and 228 Gloria Jean's Gourmet Coffee stores the second-largest coffee shop chain in the nation after Starbuck's.

Company representatives announced Thursday that Brothers would focus on its wholesale business. Brothers coffee is sold in more than 8,000 grocery stores and military commissaries in the United States, Europe and Japan. Compiled from staff and wire reports son, but we're just talking right now." However, Ty Christian, a spokesman for Church Street West Bourbon Street's developers, said again Friday that talks had progressed further. "We're working out the final details." Although Christian would not say whether O'Neal would be an investor, he added: "Mr. O'Neal has given us the rights to his name." According to the developers, Shaq's World would occupy 20,000 to 40,000 square feet inside the complex that features retail, restaurant and office space.

Preliminary designs for Please see SHAQ, C-9 Street complex in downtown Orlando hope Shaquille O'Neal will help them make the restaurant, retail and office project a reality. With the potential marquee name, as well as a firm deal to lease half the office building, Bourbon Street appears to have the edge over other groups seeking to build similar projects near Church Street Station. Lincoln Property Co. and Jaymont Realty Inc. have announced equally ambitious plans, including a 24-screen theater complex, but neither has moved beyond sketches of what they want.

All three face substantial hurdles foremost of which is financing. "As a general rule, these tend to be difficult properties to finance," said Ed Timberlake, ex- ecutive vice president of commercial lending for Barnett Bank. "They are new, without any track record to lend on." The key to getting money is manifold. Hindering Bourbon Street's progress, for example, are negotiations with Orlando to buy a city-owned block bounded by Church Street, Hughey Avenue, Jackson Street and Bryan Avenue. In addition, developer Church Street West Inc.

is trying to work out a long-term lease on parking spaces in a public garage across the street from the proposed complex, said Tom Kohler, executive director of the Downtown Development Board. Please see DOWNTOWN, C-9 I U.S., Japan agree to talk into weekend i COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS GENEVA Japanese and U.S. negotiators agreed early Saturday morning to keep talking through the weekend in an effort to head off the imposition of $5.9 billion in sanctions against Japanese imports that loom just four days away. But officials from each country said neither side gave much ground in a day and night of intense talks. Negotiators set a new session for 1 p.m.

(7 a.m. EST) today, Japanese negotiator Yoshihiro Sakamoto said. The late-night meeting, the third in a last ditch bid for an accord before a June 28 deadline, broke up after more than five hours. The Japanese and U.S. teams argued over the demands from Washington for fundamental changes in the way Japan regulates its economy and organizes Please see TRADE, C-9 Teens try their stock skills, learn to earn Students played the market, investing an imaginary $100,000 for 10 weeks and ranking high in a state contest.

By Suzy Hagstrom OF THE SENTINEL STAFF What does it take to pick a winning stock portfolio? A lot of research and a little guesswork. That's what Eric Senn decided after spending his final weeks at Lake Howell High School playing the Florida Stock Market Game. The game, used by schools statewide to help teach economics, challenges students to invest an imaginary $100,000. The Florida Council on Economic Education in Tampa estimates that nearly 36,000 students participated in the 10-week contest "At first, I thought we would do really bad because I didn't know what we were doing," said Senn, 18. "But, as the game went on, we grasped the concept." He and teammates Erin Gerber, Tammy Zegledi, Jeff Ambrosini RED HUBERTHE ORLANDO SENTINEL Lake Howell High School's winners are (front row, from left) Eric Senn, Emily Hogle, Jeff Ambrosini, Tammy Zegledi and Erin Gerber; and (back row, from left) Krista Carpenter, Michele Dolph, Carl Perrone and Maggie Williams.

Many Central Florida companies are riding high with the stock-market rally, posting double-digit returns for thousands of investors. In a special, 10-page report, Central Florida Business' Corporate Scorecard 1995 tracks dozens of local companies and details their success. Leaders include a and Emily Hogle focused on the technology industry, which seemed to be faring well in the bull market. They chose Intel Corp. and Applied Materials Senn said, after noticing those companies were posting increases in sales, profit and stock prices.

While holding those two stocks the entire game, the students watched their portfolio grow to $150,346. That gain made the students re gional winners among high schools in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties. They also ranked 21st statewide. A rival team at Lake Howell captured second place in the region and emerged 30th in Florida. Economics teacher Richard Hillman coached both groups by suggesting they consider high-quality compan- Pease see INVEST, C-9 Ml I I 0 manufacturer of smart modems for the military and a company whose products can be found in most stereo cabinets.

Look for it in Central Florida! Business..