Stability in Action
From the “My-How-Things-Change” department: The top six San Diego-based public companies in 1981, in terms of revenues, were Signal Cos., Wickes Cos., FedMart, SDG & E, Rohr Industries and Oak Industries.
Following Signal’s announced merger with New Jersey-based Allied Corp., Signal will no longer be a publicly traded company; Wickes Co. declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and moved to Santa Monica three years ago; FedMart went out of business; and Oak Industries is at best financially embattled, the focus of an SEC investigation, shareholder lawsuits and three years worth of red ink.
A rundown of the rest of the top 20 public companies from 1981 that are no longer as they were: Nucorp Energy went bankrupt; Kratos fell on hard times and moved to New Jersey; Atlas Hotels went private; IFS Industries was bought by an out-of-town company; Walker-Scott is being acquired by a Los Angeles retailer, and Vagabond Hotels has become Northview Corp., with an increasing emphasis on arbitrage investments.
Crystal T’s Dissolving
Crystal T’s Emporium, the 8-year-old Mission Valley nightclub and restaurant that has attracted a young and wide-ranging clientele, will shut down this summer and emerge 90 days later as a club/restaurant aimed at an older, Yuppie-type crowd.
Business has been anything but booming in the past two years at Crystal T’s, and word among local entertainment aficionados is that officials of Atlas Hotels, which owns the club, want a clean break with the club’s reputation for attracting a racially mixed clientele.
Tom Ryder, director of theme restaurant operations for Atlas Hotels, won’t discuss that aspect of the Crystal T’s change.
However, the new club, tentatively set to open in late October, will target “25- to 40-year-old ‘Yuppies,’ the three-piece-suit, businessman and businesswoman crowd--people who don’t like the jump-and-shout scene,” Ryder said. “It’s a strong market that no one’s tapped.”
Hearing Delayed
That collective groan from the federal courthouse Monday morning was the sound of more than 30 attorneys complaining after a federal judge delayed hearing a controversial motion to consolidate nearly four dozen commingled real estate partnerships at American Principals Holdings Inc.
Because nearly $90 million invested in 44 real estate limited partnerships was so mismanaged and commingled by former officials at American Principals Holdings, court-appointed receiver Ashley Orr has said that it is virtually impossible to trace any single investor’s funds.
Orr wants U.S. District Judge Leland C. Nielsen to consolidate the real estate partnerships but keep 27 equipment leasing limited partnerships separate.
About 30 attorneys packed Nielsen’s courtroom Monday to argue against Orr’s proposal, believing that they can substantiate their clients’ claims to the partnerships.
When Nielsen said that the arguments would be too lengthy to be heard Monday, the nearly 75 lawyers and spectators did little to conceal their displeasure with a loud, almost-in-unison sigh.
Specialists Gathering
When Mac Strobl, the Economic Development Corp.’s No. 2 man for more than seven years, hooks up with Tom Stickel in July to become president of the newly formed T.C.S. Governmental Consultants, he will join several other well-schooled politicos who have linked up with Tom Stickel’s 2-year-old T.C.S. Enterprises.
They include former state Savings and Loan Commissioner Lawrence Taggart, who heads T.C.S. Financial; former Congressman Clair Burgener, a director, and former SDG & E governmental affairs vice president Frank Devore, also a director.
