The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 82

2-G THE TAMPA TRIBUNE, Friday, October 4, 1985 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE rare Bernice Stengle Bankers want to pull plug on PBA On Develnnmpnt The banks want PBA removed from court protection so they can collect $18 million. Unless a major new investor could be found to bail out PBA, the 36-year-old airline would fold, he said. Gregg and Story said PBA has been regaining its financial health since the airline filed for reorganization March 13. The company has kept up its monthly payments to the banks without skipping a beat "It's certainly a lot stronger than when we filed (for Chapter 11)," Story said. But the lenders Southeast Bank of Miami and the Bank of Boston apparently are nervous about the invasion of Piedmont Airlines.

On Tuesday, Piedmont launched Its Piedmont Shuttle, a Jet-served commuter operation blanketing 10 Florida cities. Many industry observers believe the massive in-state effort, which will grow over the next few months, could do serious harm to PBA and other commuter carriers. "I think it shows the banks' lack of confidence in our ability to compete with Piedmont," said Story. Story said the banks also are worried that PBA's attempted sale of $5 million worth of aircraft has stalled. The proceeds would have been turned over to the banks.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Alexander Paskay will hold a hearing on the question Nov. 11. Harley Riedell, PBA's bankruptcy lawyer, said he thinks a compromise can be worked out with the banks. "I think it's a matter of, we're still talking," Riedell said.

"We may work it out." Even If no compromise is reached, Gregg said he thinks Paskay will reject the banks' request. The fact that PBA has kept up its monthly payments will weigh heavily on the judge's decision, Gregg said. Russell Bogue III, the banks' lawyer, could not be reached for comment. Ironically, the banks' court maneuver tomes at a time when PBA is showing signs of life. The airline has completed a successful summer season in the New England vacation markets a traditional source of a large chunk of PBA's profits.

The company could be back in the black by the third quarter of this year, Story said. PBA posted a $7.27 million loss for the first quarter of the year. That followed a $7.2 loss for the fourth quarter of 1984. The loss for all of last year was $3.8 million. The company was headed for a banner season last year until Nov.

10, when the Federal Aviation Administration revoked PBA's license for numerous safety violations. The airline was allowed to resume flying two weeks later. But on Dec. 6, a Tampa-bound PBA plane crashed in Jacksonville, killing all 13 people on board. Passenger traffic plummeted.

On Feb. 1, control of PBA passed from the founding Van Arsdale family to Culverhouse, the multimillionaire owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Culverhouse was granted control by co-signing some desperately needed loans for the airlines. Six weeks later, the company filed for Chapter 11. By DALE KASLER Tribune Business Writer Provincetown-Boston Airline's bankers want to pull the plug on the struggling airline.

The banks have asked a judge to remove the court protection PBA has enjoyed since filing for reorganization In U.S. Bankruptcy Court last spring: If the judge agrees, PBA would almost certainly go out of business, airline officials said Thursday. PBA owes its major bankers more than $18 million. Since filing for Chapter 11 in March, the company has been paying more than $100,000 a month to retire the debt, under an agreement with the banks. PBA has been allowed to use the rest of Its incoming cash to run the company.

Now the bankers are saying they want all the cash. "That means you don't operate. They're forcing you into a liquidation posture," said Steve Story, a PBA director and the lawyer for the airline's financier Hugh Culverhouse. "It would be a real body blow," said Bill Gregg, chairman of the Naples-based PBA. 1 1 AP photo PBA officials say if they lose court protection, it could be the end.

Waterfront zoning ordinance in works I if UnTTflif'H I '-n i Merchant builders defended They have been blamed for building office and retail space without regard to demand for space. They have also been singled out for causing land prices to soar rapidly. But one builder this week defended the new industry of merchant builders. "Although we end up being criticized, we did not create these conditions," said, John Joyce, president of TRECO Realty Group of Jacksonville. "The buyers created these conditions." Merchant building has become a specialty industry of the '80s.

They are called "merchant builders" because they sell to Investors everything they construct office buildings, shopping centers and apartments. And In recent years, they have poured into Tampa's hot real estate market to fill investor demand. "Merchant building," Joyce said, "was created by syndications and pension funds who were looking for properties for their portfolio." Joyce was in Tampa for the opening of Reflections, a $3 million, building that TRECO recently completed in Sabal Park. The structure is TRECO's first commercial building in Tampa. It is one of two planned for the nine-acre site TRECO owns in Sabal.

Once the total project is completed, Joyce said, it will be offered for sale. TRECO Realty is a subsidiary of Sunstates, a $100 million company created earlier this year with the merger of TRECO Inc. of Jacksonville and Sunstates Corp. of North Carolina. TRECO Realty began to follow the trend of merchant builders two years ago when a syndication offered to purchase a building TRECO had Just completed.

TRECO officials had planned to syndicate the building themselves, Joyce said, but the offer was too lucrative. Sensing an opportunity, they decided to abandon the expensive process of syndication and, instead, build for sale. Joyce agrees that merchant builders may cause land prices to rise. Since the builders don't have to worry about the expense of holding unleased properties for long periods of time or shopping for permanent financing, Joyce explained, they often can afford to pay more for the property. But he bristled at the suggestion that merchant builders are responsible for the nation's oversupply of space.

"To call us a bad guy for putting 40,000 square feet of space on the market would seem to be a misnomer," Joyce said, "when you've got developers like Lincoln and Paragon putting 1 million square feet in one building." By BERNICE STENGLE Tribune Business Writer A proposed zoning ordinance for downtown's waterfront will be presented this month at a public workshop, the director of Tampa's Downtown Development Authority said Thursday. Andrew Ham told members of the DDA In a regularly scheduled meeting that work on a proposed zoning ordinance will be "wrapped up" in time for the workshop set by the Tampa City Council for 1:30 p.m. Oct 17. The DDA last spring appointed a committee and hired a consultant to study development In downtown to make recommendations to the city council for a proposed zoning ordinance. The issue of waterfront development In downtown Tampa recently has drawn publicity in a dispute over construction of high-rises along the river.

In August, the Paragon Group, a major developer in downtown Tampa, revealed plans to build a 1 million-square-foot tower along downtown's waterfront. The development would be the second high-rise on the Hillsborough River. NCNB Corp. last year received city approval to build a 33-story tower currently under construction on a waterfront site downtown. But members of the City-County Planning Commission, who opposed construction of the NCNB building, said they are concerned that future skyscraper developments will create a "wall" that would block the river view from downtown Tampa.

The commission voted to ask the city council to approve a central, business district plan that would, allow only low-density development along the Hillsborough River. The city council subsequently scheduled the workshop to study alternatives to towering waterfront development At Thursday's meeting, Ham said he does not know yet what the DDA will present during the workshop. Tribune photo by AUGUST STAEBLER Work has begun on the new NCNB tower, to be located at Ashley and Kennedy, along the Hillsborough River. Coca-Cola to plant 25,000 acres of citrus in Belize said it would be impossible to develop a new grove In the state because the land is not available. Janice Gibson, a spokeswoman in the firm's Houston headquarters, said the Belize deal was made ble by the change in the country's, government last December to morg pro-United States and pro-Western leadership.

In addition, the company will gain federal tax benefits under the next 12 years as part of the Caribbean Basin tax initiatives. Officials said they did not know how much See CITRUS, Page 3G and freezes let us." In addition to the acreage lost to freezes, Coca-Cola lost its Highlands County nursery last month when canker was discovered there. The firm was forced to destroy the nursery's entire stock and 200,000 trees transplanted in its groves. Truitt said it may take three years for Coca-Cola to recover from the loss of its nursery, depending on how long a state-imposed ban on the movement of citrus trees remains In effect. Coca-Cola's largest Florida groves are 5,000 acres and officials By JOHN KOPPISCH Tribune Staff Writer Coca-Cola Foods said Thursday it will plant 25,000 acres of citrus in Belize over the next seven years, more acres than are contained in the firm's 70 Florida groves.

The company, Florida's largest citrus grove owner, said it also may build a juice processing plant in Belize in five years. Coca-Cola, which produces Minute Maid orange juice, said it purchased 50,000 acres and a 30 percent share in 550,000 additional acres in the Central American coun risen 20 percent" Jonathan Parker, executive vice president of operations, said In a prepared statement "To make up for this shortfall, our company has been forced to import Brazilian concentrate. Although we have replanted about 2,000 acres of frozen groves since 1983, we anticipate that many formerly productive groves can never be restored." Truitt said that the Belize planting will not affect the company's Florida operation. "It doesn't have any impact. We will continue our present course of replanting acreage and bringing our groves up to maximum productivity as far as canker try.

The deal involves two partners and a total of 700,000 acres and reportedly is valued at $6 million, although Coca-Cola declined to confirm the figure. Coca-Cola has 22,000 acres of groveland scattered throughout central and south Florida, but 4,000 acres of trees have been lost to freezes over the last several years, according to George Truitt, senior vice president of citrus development in Auburndale. "In the past five years more than 200,000 acres of groveland in Florida have been lost to freezes while U.S. consumption of orange Juice has REPORT TO ADVERTISERS: The Markets Tribune Wires olsin is-ci- MARKET REPORT (dis-a-plan) n. system of rules Mn.ttWVIVIV AVI 111 nf Activity over the past 30 trading days 1380 linilMIIITTT 1370 1360 Dow JonM Awtg High: 43 Low: 1,323.61 Oom: 1,333.11 Chmo 1350 Wednesday.

The federal funds rate, the Interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 7 percent unchanged from late Wednesday. Dollar drops; gold up NEW YORK The U.S. dollar fell to its lowest levels in nearly 1 lA years In foreign exchange trading Thursday in the United States after turning in a mixed performance in Europe. Gold prices rose. Republic National Bank in New York quoted a bid for gold at $329.25 a troy ounce as of 4 p.m.

EDT, up $5.25 from Wednesday's after-hours bid. On the Comex in New York, gold for current delivery rose $5.70 to $329.90 an ounce. Silver rose in London to $6.21 a troy ounce from $6.06 late Wednesday. On the Comex, silver rose 33.5 cents to $6,385 an ounce. mi 1340 1330 1300 fc 1290 September October August At regular intervals, ABC makes an independent audit of our circulation activities then issues reports on our progress.

Facts, without opinion, in an easy-to-read format. Before you buy any advertising, ask to see a copy of the latest ABC Audit Report. We'll be pleased to show you ours. To place an ad call: Retail 272-7455 Classified 272-7500 National 272-7450 Dow slips .56 to 1,333 NEW YORK The stock market was little changed Thursday at the close of an erratic session. Stocks involved in takeover news and rumors provided most of the action as the market strugged to recover from Wednesday's selloff in health-care Issues.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials slipped .56 to 1,333.11. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange tailed off to 127.54 million shares from Wednesday's 2 -month high of 147.33 million. Gainers slightly outnumbered losers In the daily tally on the Big Board. The exchange's composite index added .16 to 106.52. Nationwide turnover in NYSE-listed Issues, Including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and In the over-the-counter market, totaled 150.01 million shares.

Standard Poor's Index of 400 industrials rose .31 to 206.16, and 500-stock composite index was up .30 at 184.36. The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market gained .26 to 281.41. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value Index closed at 224.00, up .01. Bond prices slip NEW YORK Bond prices slipped Thursday In advance of Friday's report on September unemployment. In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term maturities were off 3-32 point intermediate maturities were off by between 5-32 point and point and long-term Issues were off by as much es 10-32 point Discipline in gathering news and reporting the facts is the rule in our newsroom.

It's also the rule in our sales efforts our advertising rates are based upon accurate circulation information. The rules of conduct are laid down by a self-governing body and recognized throughout the industry. We're proud that our newspaper measures up to the standards of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a not-for-profit organization whose nearly 5,000 members represent all areas of the advertising and publishing industries in the United States and Canada. AP graphic according to the Investment firm of Salomon Brothers Inc. Salomon Brothers said among corporate Issues, Industrials and utilities fell Vi point in light trading.

In the municipal market the Investment firm said general obligations and dollar bonds rose point in moderate activity. In secondary trading of short-term Treasury securities, yields on three-month Treasury bills fell 4 basis points to 6.96 percent A basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point. Yields on six-month securities rose 3 basis points to 7.25 percent and yields on one-year Treasury bills were up 4 basis points at 7.42 percent. Yields on 30-year Treasury bonds rose to 10.59 percent from 10.56 percent late Investment yields Representative rates of return for high-quality securities: Six-month Treasury bills: 7.26 percent Five-year Treasury notes: 9.72 percent. Twenty-year Treasury bonds: 10.74 percent Five-year high-grade, tax-free bonds: 7.30 percent Twenty-year high-grade, tax-free bonds: 9.30 percent The above rates are supplied by Williams Securities Inc.

They are not meant as an offering of securities. MkU Att llllll Ctrnlrtitu THE TAMPA TRIBUNE.