ADVANSTAR COMMUNICATIONS

ADVANSTAR COMMUNICATIONS is one of the top 5 publishers of trade journals in the U.S. Its presence in Cleveland can be traced back to HBJ Publications, the business periodicals division of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, a leading publisher of textbooks and periodicals. In a major reorganization early in the 1980s, HBJ established Cleveland as a third corporate headquarters, along with San Diego and Orlando. The headquarters building in Cleveland, at 7500 Old Oak Blvd. in MIDDLEBURG HTS., was designed by Tufts & Wenzel, Architects, and won several awards for energy efficiency and effective design. Together with HBJ Publications, the Cleveland headquarters also housed HBJ's Psychological Corp. (producing materials and services) and Beckley Cardy (managing school and office supplies, sales, and distribution). The latter 2 divisions were moved from Cleveland to San Antonio and Duluth, respectively. On 31 Dec. 1987, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich sold HBJ Publications to Edgell Communications, Inc., for $334 million. Continuing operations in the same building, Edgell eventually went bankrupt and was reorganized as Advanstar Communications in Feb. 1992. Employing 270 workers in 1995, Advanstar published 60 trade journals and was also a major producer of industrial shows and expositions. Examples of its publications include Landscape Management, Pharmaceutical Technology, Modern Medicine, and Hotel & Motel Management.