Whether you are redecorating, remodeling or building a new home, you’ll find information pertinent to your project at the 46th annual Tri-State Home Show.

The annual expo sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga and EPB Fiber Optics opens today for a three-day run in the Chattanooga Convention Center.

This huge expo will feature 237 vendors displaying their products in more than 450 booths. Every aspect of home-building is covered, from roofing to basement waterproofing.

Elaborate displays lure visitors with the latest looks in kitchens, baths, windows, flooring, brick work and tile. Landscapers and designers set up impressive vignettes showcasing their creativity.

Teresa Groves, executive officer of the Home Builders Association, said new vendors will include Garage Shapeups, Buff & Coat, Bernina Sew N Quilt Shop, Carpet Wholesale Outlet, Two Sisters & Jane Interiors, ERMC Security Solutions and Integrity Storm Shelters.

Also new to the show are HGH Construction, Cox Interiors, Decorating Den Interiors, Wood Creations & Restorations, Liquid Landscapes Aquatic Design, Landscape Illumination, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives, Osteen Construction and Soot Busters Chimney Sweep.

Groves stressed that the show isn’t just for folks who are remodeling or building.

“A lot of people just want to come and look at what the newest trends are. We have a lot of home accessories and home products that people can buy,” she said.

To entertain children, Groves said, “Star Wars” characters will be on-site Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To entertain their dads, a visit to the “man cave” is in order. Groves said the Home Builders Association is presenting the new man cave: an indulgence in state-of-the-art sound with a TV and pool table.

Groves said a portion of the weekend’s proceeds will benefit Habitat for Humanity of Chattanooga and the American Red Cross’ tornado relief fund. Both nonprofits will have booths in the expo for visitors to learn more about their work.

about Susan Pierce...

Susan Palmer Pierce is a reporter and columnist in the Life department. She began her journalism career as a summer employee 1972 for the News Free Press, typing bridal announcements and photo captions. She became a full-time employee in 1980, working her way up to feature writer, then special sections editor, then Lifestyle editor in 1995 until the merge of the NFP and Times in 1999. She was honored with the 2007 Chattanooga Woman of ...

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More than 450 booths, great giveaways at Tri-State Home Show

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio, Feb. 23, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GE Lighting (NYSE:GE - News) is taking its energy-saving, cost-reducing lighting solutions on the road again with the 2012 GE Lighting Revolution Tour. This tradeshow on wheels is designed to give designers, distributors, architects, contractors, facility maintenance and utility executives a first-hand experience of GE's latest innovations in lighting technology. This year, GE will be hosting commercial users and officials in nearly 50 cities, showcasing new advanced-technology products and solutions in areas ranging from architectural lighting to retail and outdoor lighting.

The tour kicks off in Miami, Fla. this week and concludes in Hendersonville, N.C. on September 20 after stops in 57 cities across North America. End-users are invited to join the revolution at http://www.gelightingrevolutiontour.com to learn about the tour stops and RSVP.

The 2012 GE Lighting Revolution Tour will give designers, distributors, architects, contractors, facility managers and other users a peek at the latest lighting innovations.

This year, on-board exhibits include products in-use, educational information and innovative solutions, all focused on helping lighting customers reduce energy. A new lighting-control solutions section highlights ways to make lighting operations easier to manage by adopting a low-maintenance control format. The latest floating, sleek and stylish 2X2 Lumination LED Edge light fixture will be suspended onsite, along with several new product lines including the GE ConstantColor(TM) CMH(R) Integral PAR 38 lamps, a replacement option that is four times more energy efficient than the Halogen PAR 38 lamp which will soon be eliminated. Refrigerated display case lighting, outdoor signage, indoor LED solutions and more will be featured this year.

In addition to the opportunity to see the latest lighting technology first-hand, visitors will have direct access to onsite GE experts who will be available to analyze specific lighting application challenges and objectives.

"We are excited to spend another year on the road showcasing GE's new and existing lighting technologies. With the new regulations taking effect, GE is setting higher efficiency standards for every platform, whether for retail customers or consumers at home," says Jim Benson, GM of Professional Marketing, GE Lighting. "GE Lighting is offering this tour as a way to engage customers and educate them about the energy-saving, innovative solutions GE has to offer in this new era of lighting."

The 2011 GE Lighting Revolution Tour reached 47 U.S. and Canadian cities last year hosting almost 10,000 total visitors over the course of 10 months.

"We're looking forward to another year of educating people on the most recent lighting innovations and options through this year's tour," Benson says.

For more information about the tour, visit http://www.gelightingrevolutiontour.com.

About GE Lighting

GE Lighting invents with the vigor of its founder Thomas Edison to develop energy-efficient solutions that change the way people light their world in commercial, industrial, municipal and residential settings. The business employs over 17,000 people in more than 100 countries, and sells products under the Reveal(R) and Energy Smart(R) consumer brands, and Evolve (TM), GTx, Immersion (TM), Infusion (TM), Lumination(R) and Tetra(R) commercial brands, all trademarks of GE. General Electric (NYSE:GE - News) works on things that matter to build a world that works better. For more information, visit http://www.gelighting.com

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GE's Greatest Breakthroughs in Lighting Technology Hit the Road

ATLANTA - February 20, 2012 - Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI; "Company"), a market leader in innovative energy-efficient lighting solutions, announced today a total of 10 lighting products, including new LED lamps, luminaires and lighting control software, have been selected by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) to be included in its annual Progress Report. The Progress Report documents significant worldwide developments and achievements in the lighting industry, including new products, applications and design tools.

The innovative and significant new Acuity Brands products selected by IES include:  Acculamp® S-Series LED lamp, Lithonia Lighting® RTLED indoor ambient LED series luminaire, Gotham®  Downlighting DLWLED lensed wall wash luminaire, Lithonia Lighting® Archway(TM) Passage(TM)  LED luminaire, Hydrel®  8100/8200 Series LED floodlight luminaire, Healthcare Lighting®  Surg5(TM) surgical T8 troffer luminaire, Winona®  Lighting Winline(TM) Submersible 607 LED luminaire, Winona®  Lighting Revel(TM) OLED surface mounted general illumination luminaire, Winona®  Lighting Kindred(TM) OLED linear general illumination luminaire, and SensorSwitch®  nLight® lighting control system.  

"Acceptance in the IES Progress Report is acknowledgement from representatives from leading lighting industry manufacturers and design firms that many of our new products and lighting solutions continue to achieve an advanced level of uniqueness and innovation," said Rick Earlywine, Acuity Brands Lighting Senior Vice President, Innovation & Technology. "We are proud to be recognized as a leader making significant advancements in lighting."  
About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. is a North American market leader and one of the world`s leading providers of lighting solutions for both indoor and outdoor applications. With fiscal year 2011 net sales of $1.8 billion, Acuity Brands employs approximately 6,000 associates and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with operations throughout North America, and in Europe and Asia. The company`s lighting solutions are sold under various brands, including Lithonia Lighting®, Holophane®, Peerless®, Gotham®, Mark Architectural Lighting(TM), Winona® Lighting, Healthcare Lighting®, Hydrel®, American Electric Lighting®, Carandini®, Antique Street Lamps(TM), Tersen®, Sunoptics®, Sensor Switch®, Lighting Control & Design(TM), Synergy® Lighting Controls, Pathway Connectivity(TM), Dark to Light®, ROAM®, RELOC® Wiring Solutions, and Acculamp®.

#     #     #

Contact(s):  

Jennifer Manocchio
jennifer@sweeneypr.com, 910.772.1688

Neil Egan
Neil.egan@acuitybrands.com, 770.860.2957

This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients.

The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.

Source: Acuity Brands, Inc via Thomson Reuters ONE
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Acuity Brands, Inc: Illuminating Engineering Society Selects Acuity Brands Lighting Products for Annual Progress Report

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Santana Row in San Jose Friday Nov. 12, 2010. Several years after it first opened, many residents of the development say they love living there. (Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)

San Jose's Santana Row is preparing a fresh expansion of its residential, office and retail space, bolstered by brisk activity such as a recent deal for H&M to take over the old Borders bookstore site.

The South Bay's robust economy has prompted Federal Realty Investment Trust, the principal developer of the upscale commercial and residential complex, to lay the groundwork for new construction on the property.

"Silicon Valley clearly has led us out of recession," Don Wood, CEO of Federal Realty, said in a recent conference call with analysts. "The first bits of strength that we saw and continue to see come out of Silicon Valley."

First up is construction of 212 rental homes in what's described as a

resort-style community near Pasta Pomodoro restaurant. Once these homes are completed in the second half of 2013, Santana Row will have 834 homes, of which 615 would be rentals.

Next, the developers plan a large new office complex at the southeast corner of Winchester Boulevard and Olsen Drive.

Meanwhile, clothing retailer H&M has leased the entire 27,000-square-foot, two-story building that once was occupied by a flagship Borders store.

The deal represents a big expansion for H&M, which will triple its space at Santana Row, where it currently occupies 8,000 square feet.

"Santana Row is doing quite well," said James Chung, a partner with Terranomics, a commercial realty brokerage. "And the H&M deal is a

great sign for the retail market."

Construction on the new residences, designed to evoke a Mediterranean feel, began earlier this month.

"The demand to live on The Row is high and we believe the time is right to increase our residential offerings," said Jan Sweetnam, chief operating officer for Federal Realty's West Coast markets.

Federal Realty executives said a South Bay economy that during 2011 produced 26,000 jobs -- more than half of the 46,000 jobs created in the entire Bay Area -- is the big driver in the development efforts.

"It's why we have now moved forward very quickly on the second residential piece," Wood said. "It's why we got some great traction going on right now" in the retail and office elements.

Santana Row's 645,000 square feet of retail is 94 percent leased, its 100,000 square feet of office space is 100 percent leased and its existing 627 residences are 95 percent occupied.

"If this market continues the way it's going, in the next four or five years we should be built out," Wood said.

Santana Row could add another 200,000 square feet of retail and office space. And beyond the 212 residences now under construction, the project could add 348 more homes, for a potential grand total of nearly 1,200 residential units.

"With so many high-end retailers, you would have thought Santana Row would have struggled. But it's actually been the opposite," said Jake Randolph, a realty broker with Cornish & Carey Commercial. "Like everyone else during the downturn, Santana Row had some turnover. But they have been able to fill their key spaces."

And much as the South Bay has been an island of economic strength amid weakness elsewhere in the state and nation, Santana Row and the adjacent Valley Fair mall appear to have dodged the worst of the sour times.

"Santana Row is a regional draw," Chung said. "The restaurants are always full. You see people shopping. If you looked at Santana Row and Valley Fair, you wouldn't have been able to tell that the rest of the world was falling apart."

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos.

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Expansion under way at San Jose's Santana Row

NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Stuart Dean, a renowned provider of architectural restoration services throughout the United States, will highlight its full circle of interior and exterior architectural restoration solutions at the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Suburban Chicago Expo 2012.  The company will serve as an exhibitor at the event, which is being held on February 29, 2012 in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. 

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120213/NE52388LOGO )

"Stuart Dean is proud that its highly skilled consultants and technicians are charged with polishing and shining many important addresses throughout Chicagoland," said Mark Parrish, president and CEO of Stuart Dean.  "Our restoration work at locations including Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Silver Cross Hospital and the University of Chicago South Campus Housing Center demonstrates the depth and breadth of our experience in the region, and we are excited to showcase our capabilities at this regional BOMA event."

Recognized as the country's preeminent restoration and maintenance company, Stuart Dean offers a complete range of architectural and maintenance services that help extend the life, increase the value, and enhance the beauty of interior and exterior architectural surfaces.  The company specializes in the restoration and upkeep of metal, stone, wood, glass, and tile grout for buildings, retail stores, institutions, restaurants and homes.

Stuart Dean's vast experience gained during nearly 80 years in business enables the company to provide unique solutions to costly maintenance challenges, including cost-effective restoration programs that are custom-designed by the most skilled, knowledgeable and safety-conscious technicians in the industry.

Dubbed as the commercial real estate networking event of the year in the region, the BOMA Suburban Chicago Expo 2012 is expected to attract hundreds of property professionals from across greater Chicago.  More than 80 exhibitors are also scheduled to attend. 

About Stuart Dean
Stuart Dean is the country's preeminent architectural restoration company, specializing in metal polishing, stone cleaning and sealing, wood refinishing, glass restoration, and commercial-grade grout installation.  Thousands of clients entrust Stuart Dean to protect, maintain and restore their buildings, retail stores, institutions and restaurants every day. Stuart Dean offers a portfolio of services to enhance the beauty and retain the value of a wide array of architectural assets. The company has been in business for nearly 80 years, with 22 offices in the U.S. and Canada and over 450 employees.   Major markets served include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, D.C./Virginia, Phoenix, Charlotte, Miami, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Tustin, San Diego, Vancouver and Toronto.  For more information, visit http://www.stuartdean.com.

Contact: Jeff Donaldson, For Stuart Dean 
412-642-7700
jeff.donaldson@elias-savion.com

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Stuart Dean to Highlight Recent Restoration Projects at Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Suburban ...

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The Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino says its revenue soared during the fourth quarter of 2011 on a year-to-year basis, but higher expenses resulted in a loss for the period.

The company, in a regulatory filing Wednesday, said net revenue in the quarter of $20.27 million was up from $14.22 million in the year-ago quarter.

The 2011 quarter’s net loss of $11 million was down from the year-ago period’s loss of $11.4 million.

With the reopening of 1,375 rooms and suites after remodeling and the opening of restaurants and clubs, business picked up but expenses increased for casino, room and food and beverage operations, and for depreciation and amortization.

The Tropicana, in its filing, said a $147 million capital improvement project that began in July 2009 had been completed and that it helped drive a 33 percent increase in casino revenue in 2011 along with a 96 percent increase in food and beverage revenue thanks to the opening of restaurants and clubs.

Room revenue increased 60 percent last year as more rooms were in service, occupancy improved and the average daily room rate increased from $55 to $69.

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Tropicana Las Vegas revenue up on room renovations, restaurant and club openings

FORT LAUDERDALE For the regulars at the Elbo Room, it's like Spring Break lasts forever, and that iconic song by Connie Francis never ends.

If "Where the Boys Are" is a question, the answer is here — right at the end of the bar.

"Is there any better place in the world than right here?" said Steve Geissler, 50, who downed his first beer here in 1979, before his freshman year at New York Institute of Technology in his native Long Island. "Live music, the ocean right there, pretty girls. When I moved here 12 years ago, this was the only place I recognized. It's home."

This week, as the first wave of stressed-out young scholars fans out for alcohol-therapy sessions in Cancun, Panama Beach and Puerta Vallarta, the beaches where an annual college rite exploded will be largely ignored.

And that's just the way city officials and Broward County tourism chiefs want it. The days when up to 300,000 revelers, inspired by the 1960 movie, swung from the lampposts on A1A are long gone.

Yet some of the boys from earlier generations are still here.

Next to Geissler on Wednesday afternoon was a shirtless Eddy Perez, 39, who said he was just 10 when his older brothers dragged him along from their home in Miami. He wasn't drinking then, of course. "I think I had my first beer at 12," said Perez.

On Perez's right was John Fortino, 47, a Fort Lauderdale native who went to Florida State University, brought his friends home for Spring Break, and soon after graduation came home again to begin a career in real estate.

"This place just sucks you in," said Fortino of the city's oldest bar, which occupies a prime chunk of real estate at the corner of A1A and Las Olas Boulevard. "You can stand here and see the ocean, feel the breeze and watch all the tourists go by."

Owner Michele Penrod, whose family bought the Elbo Room in 1981, describes the bar as "flip-flop casual." And that is what Fortino, Geissler, Perez and a handful of other 4 p.m. regulars are wearing: T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops.

They are among a group of 15 to 20 men and a few women, mostly middle age or older, who have stayed connected to their younger selves by turning a famous Spring Break mecca into their neighborhood tavern.

"When I was younger, I was more like a tourist here," said Fortino, a real estate broker who takes a water taxi to the bar from his nearby condo. "Now this is a place where I go to relax with friends."

Opened in 1938, the Elbo Room sits less than 100 yards from the surf. The ocean breeze makes air conditioning unnecessary, and the second-story balcony is perfect for people-watching.

Patrons dressed in nothing more than bathing suits can cross the street for a plunge in the ocean and return 20 minutes later to find their drink on the bar where they left it.

Tourists do wander in, of course, often to revisit a memory they made while in college. Penrod said a middle-aged woman stopped by the other day and found herself in one of the vintage photos framed on the walls next to movie stills of Connie Francis and license plates from all over the world.

"We have never been tempted to change the place," said Penrod. "People do like to come back here and find what they remember."

One of those who dropped in this week for a beer and a shot of nostalgia was Christine Freund, 52, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale, partied here as a teenager, and then moved to New York with her family.

Although far fewer people are on the streets outside, "this is the same atmosphere I remember," said Freund, who now lives in Sea Cliff, N.Y.

Freund had another reason to visit. Her son, Freddy, aka Fast Fingers Freddy, is one of the bar's regular entertainers, a singer-guitarist with a 200-song repertoire of rock, country and reggae tunes.

"I hear a lot of stories," said Freddy Freund, 31. "People walk in all the time and say they feel the same vibe they felt in the 70s."

The bar remains unchanged, except for bathrooms remodeled last year to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. The most recent remodeling before that: 1956.

For Geissler, the Elbo Room offers a daily flashback to the days when he and five friends piled into a white Dodge van and drove straight through to Fort Lauderdale in 24 hours. On that first trip, they parked the van right in front of the bar and slept inside.

"I call this place the church," said Geissler, a technology consultant. "This is my home."

Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.

mwclary@tribune.com

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For some at Elbo Room, Spring Break lasts forever

ORMOND BEACH -- Commercial Coating Pros, a roofing company with 25 employees, has moved its headquarters here to the city's business park, next to Ormond Beach Municipal Airport, from Daytona Beach.

The company, which has customers throughout the state, has added eight workers in the past year and had outgrown the 3,500-square-foot building at 1025 Sixth St., just west of Nova Road, in Daytona Beach that it had been leasing, said Guy Beasley, who co-founded the business in 2008 with business partner Johan Pretorius.

Beasley said the company "utterly outgrew where we were. It's a nice problem to have these days. We wanted to stay in Daytona, but we couldn't find a stand-alone building that wasn't too big."

The company moved last week to 6 Aviator Way, a 9,000-square-foot office/warehouse at Ormond Beach Airport Business Park, just off Airport Road.

Commercial Coating Pros signed a four-year lease for its new space, Beasley said.

Preston Rivers Properties LLC, based in Louisville, Ky., owns the building and recently completed some building improvements to make it more attractive to a prospective buyer or tenant. The building includes a 480-square-foot glass lobby, two offices, storage and equipment rooms, an air-conditioned warehouse, three large roll-up doors and a 1,000-square-foot mezzanine.

Claude Gardner, a broker with Daytona Beach-based Prudential Commercial Real Estate, was the leasing agent.

The building had been empty about seven months because a piping company consolidated operations at another site and vacated the Aviator Way property, said Joe Mannarino, the Ormond Beach economic development director.

"They're bringing jobs here and that's encouraging, and they're looking to expand a bit," Mannarino said of Commercial Coating Pros. "The business park just fits their needs."

Beasley credited the increase in business for Commercial Coating Pro in part to a switch in marketing priorities. The company is now less focused on building new roofs for industrial, commercial and manufacturing buildings and placing a greater emphasis on its products and services to repair and renovate roofs that increase the building's energy efficiency, which can result in a lowering of their electric bills.

"About 18 months ago we refocused the business and it's taken off," Beasley said. "We might do one new roof every six months now."

The company added two smaller offices in other parts of the state in 2010 -- one in West Palm Beach and the other in Englewood. Beasley and Pretorius are traveling to South Africa in two weeks to open an overseas branch office.

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Roofing company moves to Ormond Beach

All-new story storyboarded by manga creator Hiro Mashima himself bundled with latest manga volume

Kodansha began streaming a 95-second promotional video on Thursday for the Fairy Tail original anime DVD that it released on February 17 bundled with the 31st volume of Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail manga.

The DVD — the third original anime DVD to come with special edition volumes of the manga — contains an all-new original story storyboarded by Mashima himself. The DVD's story revolves around the characters Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gray, and Erza, who stumble upon a magic book in the Fairy Tail Guild's storehouse that allows them to travel back in time.

Shinji Ishihira directed the previous two original anime DVDs at A-1 Pictures Inc. and Satelight, just as he does for the ongoing television anime series. Similarly, the television anime's script editor Masashi Sogo and character designer Aoi Yamamoto were also involved in the first two original anime DVDs.

this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history

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Newest Fairy Tail OAD's Promo Video Streamed