The Wichita Eagle from Wichita, Kansas • 15

uviiuywuyju -r tm (HjcttMUaCaglc 7B BUSINESS FARM 7i 4 PV ha THURSDAY December 23 1993 1N3 Dm WUM E0 and Bmohi MMIng Ool Morning Line BUSINESS IN BRIEF Ritzy movie Art deco-style opening planned for next Christmas By David Algao The Wichita Eagle Coming to west Wichita soon: an $8 million first-run movie theater with staff adorned in white gloves and tuxedoes cappuccino and other delicacies at the cafe 10 screens flanked by the finest sound systeihs In the Midwest and some of the coziest seating this side of your favorite armchair filU Warren president of Wichtta-based American Entertainment as well as American Cinemas plans to build the luxury theater complex at 1200 Maize Road he announced Wednesday Construction of the art decostyle theater will begin In early spring and conclude by next Christmas sold Chris Darnell a spokesman for the companies Wichita residents may know Warren and hb American Entertainment and American Cinemas companies as the developers and owners of the twin Palace Theatre complexes on East and West Kellogg The massive pink buildings offer $150 movies on a total of 18 screens The new complex will have little In common with the pink Palaces It even be pink Darnell said "The Idea behind the new theater to provide without sounding too dramatic an unbeforeseen level of luxury In first-run he said "The Idea to bring back the excitement of first-run movies This what it's going to take to get people back out to first-run movies" In the age of the videocassette recorder people increasingly are staying home "People still have a need to get out among other Darnell said "Nobody wants to be locked up In a room at home with a television all day Once In a while you've got to get out of the house and go out and have some The proposed building on the eight-acre site will house 10 theaters each with thickly padded chairs high-tech THX sound systems and ac cess to an art-deco malt shop dell and cappuccino bar A traditional snack bar with popcorn and soft drinks also will be available One of the auditoriums largerand more opulent than the rest will be graced with marble columns and a full-fledged stage In off hours the building will serve as a community center Warren said Despite the glitz ticket prices will be at or below present first-run prices Darnell said Tickets to first-run movies In Wichita generally cost $550 to $6 So how will the upscale complex pay for UseU? "1ft the same basic philosophy that the Palaces or Wal-Mart go by: If you give people a good value they will Darnell said "We feel we can charge prices at or below current prices because we are offering more than anyone else" SPSH Architects of Wichita designed the theater EW Johnson also of Wichita will build It American Entertainment was incorporated in 1979 and entered the market with the Westway Theater hi the Westway Shopping Center The company later built Cinemas East at Central and Rock Road and Cinemas West at Central and Tyler Road It sold both in 1981 In 1988 American Cinemas was Incorporated A year later in conjunction with American Entertainment It developed the eight-screen Palace Theatre West at Kellogg and Ridge Road The ltocreen Palace Theatre East at Kellogg and Greenwich Road was built in 1991 Looking for work Two Kansas thrifts among 61 put up for sale by the RTC Two Kansas savings associations are among 61 in 23 states for which the Resolution Trust Corporation will solicit bids One is the Franklin Federal Savings Association in Ottawa which has deposits of about $8919 minion Bids for Franklin and for 19 other large institutions will be taken in Washington The other Kansas institution is the Pioneer Federal Savings and Loan Association in Prairie Village with deposits of about $95 million Bids for Pioneer will be taken by the RTCs office in Overland Park The RTC was established by Congress In August 1989 to contain manage and sell failed savings Instt-t tutlons and to recover taxpayer funds through the management and sale of the institutions' assets The RTC has closed or sold 680 savings Institutions and collected more than $348 billion Food Bam talks continue The key issues in Food Bara bankruptcy case have been postponed until next year as the company continues to talk to its unions and to potential buyers according to the Kansas City Star Henry Kahn Food bankruptcy attorney said that the supermarket chain is negotiating with its unions to obtain wage and benefit concessions The company also is talking to companies interested in buying all or some of its stores Food Bara which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year withdrew Its proposed reorganization plan in October after the company's unions tweeted wage and benefit concessions Food Barn based in Kansas City Mo owns 45 stores in western Missouri and eastern Kansas including nine stuns in Wichita The company has about 500 employees in Wichita i Paramount recommends Viacom bid Paramount Communications reversed Itself Wednesday and agreed to a $10 union merger with QVC Network a potentially fatal blow to efforts by friendly suitor Viacom and Paramount chairman Martin Davis The formal recommendation by board at last puts the 3-month takeover battle for the entertainment and sports conglomerate into the hands of shareholders But the recommendation I not binding on them and Viacom could increase Its $96 billion offer U5 economy better than estimated The US economy grew at a moderate IS percent annual pace in the third quarter better than earlier estimated and Is advancing even mote strongly as the year draws to a dose Previously the Commerce Department had estimated seasonally adjusted growth in the gross domestic product the sum of goods and services produced within UJL borders at 17 percent The latest rate reported Wednesday is more than double the anemic 14 percent growth recorded in the first half i Analysts said the economy was undergoing a further pickup reflecting a revival in housing construction improved consumer spending and heavy Invest ment in new equipment by businesses Air Force looking at 442 F-22 fighters In a decision that still needs approval from the Pentagon US Air Force officials have proposed buying 442 F-22 fighters or about 200 fewer than Lockheed Corp officials had hoped The F-22 which will be the Air top-line lighter during the earfy 21st century would be manufactured at Lockheed's plant in Flat Worth and in Marietta Ga The Air Force proposal was reported In the newsletter Defense Week i Delta offering cut-rate Christmas fare Delta Air Lines said Wednesday that it offering fare discounts for passengers who may want to visit relatives Christmas Day but not stay too long Travel imust begin on Dec 25 and return travel must commence before midnight Dec 25 The Atlanta-based carrier posted round-trip tares ranging from $79 to $129 to almost any Delta destination In the 48 contiguous state! Passengers can travel as many as 500 miles Ah' $79 501 to 1000 miles for $99 and over 1000 for $129 All the fares are round-trip require no advance purchase and are nouetandabfe Judge rejects Lorenzo appficatxxi Frank Lorenzo's hopes of operating a new airline were dealt a setback Wednesday as a Transportation Department administrative law Judge recommended that the proposed carrier be denied a license The recommendation by Judge Richard Barton Jr goes to department officials who are expected to approve the decision Barton said the proposed discount carrier ATX Inc tailed to meet the fitness standards the department demands Barton on Sept 8 said that ATX should be denied a license Transportation Department officials ordered him to take a second look at the case Lorenzo proposed In March to launch the airline along the East Coast He controls 77 percent of the new carrier ATX proposed to fly between the Balti-moreWashlngton area Boston and Atlanta In the 1980s Lorenzo ran Eastern and Continental airlines under the umbrella of Texas Air Corp ooce the nation's biggest airline operator Unions led the effort to deny bid to start up the new carrier portraying him as a greedy destroyer of airlines Yean before Lorenzo acquired Eaton he took Continental Airlines into bankruptcy I court where he was able to void union contracts AsKxiattdPrem Employee buyout wins UAL board approval Associated Press CHICAGO Directors of United parent company on Wednesday approved an employee buyout of the company endorsing a deal to trade a controlling stake for wage and benefit concessions union and company sources said The buyout would create the largest employee-owned company and allow UAL Corp to undertake a bold restructuring aimed at competing against such low-fare airlines as Southwest The deal would give employees a 53 percent stake that could be increased to 63 percent depending on the stock's performance Labor and management valued the deal at $515 billion or $173 per share but Wall reaction had been mainly negative since negotiators for Cbicagjobased United and Its pilots and ground-crew unions announced the tentative deal Dec 15 As the board met at an undisclosed New York location Investors bid up the recently sagging shares UAL rose $425 Wednesday to $14850 on the New York Stock Exchange The deal also would require approval of members of the Machinists union at United and a positive vote by the Air Line Pilots governing board as well as UAL shareholders Officials have said it could take another six months for the deal to be finalized Employee ownership and accompanying cost reductions at one of the nation's largest airlines could force restructurings at other major carriers I Other airlines have given employees minority stakes In return for concessions The UAL board's approval marked a stunning reversal of -a deal that appeared dead a month ago after the airline sold kitchens that prepare food for passengers and employ about 5000 Machinists members However the two sides resumed their talks after Machinists were able to secure severance payments for kitchen workers UAL has lost more than $12 billion since 1991 although it recorded a $15 million profit through the first three quarters of this year The wage and benefit concessions by UALt 60000 employees would be implemented over six yean Japan men examine Job-offer pamphlets at a public employment office in downtown Tokyo A new phenomenon Unemployment affects white-collar workers in Japan Associated Press as 5 percent to 8 percent Loath to break the tacit promises they feel they have made Japanese companies still try to avoid layoffs In the past that practice has often obligated them to retain superfluous workers Unemployment may be a new phenomenon for Japanese whitecollar workers but union organizers say they are only discovering what blue-collar workers women and foreigners at smaller companies have known all along: that lifetime employment was limited to a handful of top companies that employ only a small fraction of the 50 million-plus labor force Smaller firms have always flourished and languished in tandem with business cycles depending cm a ready supply of temporary and seasonal workers In tin of plenty The recession has hit those workers the hardest Companies have frozen hiring or let go their female employees and other workers not eligible for the full health and retirement benefits given to permanent employees on their payrolls "Tm at a said Masatoshl Kurane a Job seeker at an employment office In Tokyo Kurane said he was fired In June from hb Job as a driver for an Insurance company that trimmed lb fleet of chauf-feured cars to cut costs Kurane in a suit tie and Immaculate shoes even though he had no Interview scheduled said he was supporting hb family of three with unemployment Insurance checks worth about three-fourths of hb former salary Those run out In February going to get any better" he said nearly 50 now so It's really unlikely find anything permanent" Japan's Jobless rate still modest by Western standards: The Management and Coordination Agency said recently that the unemployment rate in October rose to 17 percent the highest level In 5K yean Private economists said that If the legions of underemployed and surplus workers still on the payrolls were Included the real Jobless rate would be as high TOKYO Like most Japanese white-collar winters Yasushl Horlguchl wakes up early boards a train packed with sleepy commuters and heads downtown Horigucfaft dally destination however ta symptomatic of the worst recession to hit Japan In decades: the unemployment office been doing tab nearly every day for two he said pretty tough to find Fired after working two years in the office of a major industrial pump manufacturer Horlguchl 26 began hb career expecting the guarantee of lifetime employment usually offered by major Japanese firms That tradition which was limited mainly to the biggest and strongest companies depended on a fast-growing export-based economy As the recession stretches into Its third year and a stronger yen bites Into exports even the biggest firms are finding they cannot afford to carry extra hands Hibbard Brown lawsuits to be tried in Kansas I EARNINGS Investors have to go to New Jersey Bob Cw Wichita Eagle Four Kansas Investors won't have to take a road trip to press their lawsuits against the high-pressure penny stock brokerage Hibbard Brown Co The New York-based firm which had sought to have the lawsuits moved to a federal court In New Jersey has consented to trying the cases In Sedgwick County District Court Hibbard Brown relented after a federal Judge ruled that two simi lar cases could be tried in state courts The news was welcomed by Wichita attorney William Kluge who is representing ail four investors "We certainly did not want to go to New Jersey to try our he said The four investors two from Wichita and two from Reno County filed lawsuits against Hibbard Brown in the Wichita court in September alleging that the firm's high-pressure sales tactics violated Kansas law They claimed that Hibbard Brown agents made false and misleading sales pitches to entice them to Invest In exit tremely high-risk stocks In which they ultimately lost about $70000 Hibbard Brown as It had In three other Kansas cases and numerous others nationwide sought and received court orders transferring the suits to US District Court The company then received a second order transferring them to federal court In New Jersey where they were to be consolidated Into a class action Kluge counterattacked and asked US District Judge Patrick Kelly to order that the cases be sent back to state court on the grounds that the Kansas investors never alleged any violations of federal law Kelly was to have held a hearing on the motion on Tuesday But on Dec 16 Judge Anne Thompson of the US District Court to New Jersey ruled against Hibbard Brown and ordered that lawsuits by two Pennsylvania investors be returned to that state's courts In October a federal Judge Jn Kansas City had issued a similar ruling against the company Hibbard Brown's Wichita attorney Tom Docking said his client is disappointed In the New Jersey ruling but will defend Itself against the charges ConAgra of Omaha has announced earnings for its fiscal second quarter of $134 million or 56 cents per I share compared with earnings of $1276 million or 52 cents per share in the same period a year earlier Sales rose to billion from $556 billion CsaqM him Eagfs news services and stag raports a a 1 1 -1 1-- 1 fn- riti riurna in.