DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170444

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   77 lines

LOCAL SCENE

CHESAPEAKE

DAMUTH MOVES TO LARGER NEW BUILDING: Damuth Services Inc. has moved its facility to 1112 Cavalier Blvd. The air conditioning systems provider is building a 50,000-square-foot facility in the Cavalier Industrial Park, scheduled to be completed in January. Of this space, 20,000 square feet will be warehouse space, and The Trane Company residential division will also be a part of the facility. Damuth is the Hampton Roads commercial franchise for The Trane Company.

NORFOLK

FHC OPTIONS BUYS OUT PARTNER: FHC Options, a mental health managed care company, has bought out its partner in a Massachusetts Medicaid venture, Options announced Wednesday. The sale ends a legal impasse involving Norfolk-based Options and the giant Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. Options' partner, Value Behavioral Health, is being sold to Columbia/HCA. Options officials worried that the new arrangement would violate Massachusetts conflict-of-interest policies. Columbia is a large hospital company. State policy says that the partners managing the Medicaid contract can't have a financial interest in hospitals that treat Medicaid patients. A Massachusetts court agreed and last month stopped the merger with Columbia until the matter could be worked out.

MEDIATION CENTER RELOCATES: The Mediation Center of Hampton Roads has relocated its offices to 424 W. 21st St. The center provides comprehensive mediation services to individuals, groups, and businesses involved in disputes including contractual matters and neighborhood controversies.

ACCOUNTING FIRM PROMOTES EICHMAN AND NICHOLS: Goodman & Company promoted Todd E. Eichman and Bradley W. Nichols to senior managers with its certified public accounting firm in Norfolk. Eichman nas been with the firm since 1988 and Nichols since 1986.

JOHNS BROTHERS ACQUIRE ELECTRICAL/MECHANICAL COMPANY: Johns Brothers Inc. said it acquired R.F. Scott Electrical and Mechanical Contractors in Carrollton. With the acquisition, Johns Brothers will continue its expansion of services into the communities in northern Isle of Wight County, Smithfield, Suffolk, Surry and the Peninsula. R.F. Scott, a family-owned heating and air conditioning specialist, has been established since 1972.

VIRGINIA BEACH

JUNKER APPOINTED VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER AT 360 COMMUNICATIONS: 360 Communications appointed Philip Junker to vice president and general manager for the company's Mid-Atlantic region. He will be responsible for all aspects of the company's sales and customer service operations in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. He has been with the company or one of its former parent companies since 1989. He was most recently director of strategic marketing at 360 in Chicago.

SUFFOLK

QVC EXPANDS CENTER: Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held at QVC Inc., yesterday, in the Wilroy Industrial Park complex for the cable-television shopping channel's distribution center. The 258,000-square-foot addition increases the size of the Suffolk facility to more than 1 million square feet. QVC sales in 1996 reached $1.8 billion.

VIRGINIA

CHESAPEAKE CORP. RESTRUCTURES: Chesapeake Corp. in Richmond said Wednesday it plans to restructure its specialty packaging and merchandising services unit in a move that will close down Display & Packaging unit's Sandusky, Ohio, plant, and its Color-Box unit will close its Buffalo, N.Y., facility. Two hundred jobs will be eliminated. Chesapeake said it will combine three divisions - Chesapeake Display & Packaging Co., Color-Box Inc. and Chesapeake Europe SA - and will rename the unit Chesapeake Display & Packaging Co. The Color-Box name will continue to be used for marketing in a specific product category. Chesapeake named Andrew J. Kohut president of Chesapeake Display & Packaging. Kohut had been group vice president, Specialty Packaging & Merchandising Services. ILLUSTRATION: Junker

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