BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwire -03/20/12)- Williams Scotsman, a leading provider of modular space and storage solutions in North America, today announced the opening of Atlanta South, its third branch in Georgia.

"Based on a variety of factors including industry analysis and customer surveys, we realized our southeast customers would greatly benefit from another full-service Williams Scotsman branch," said Joseph Vecchiolla, senior vice president of US Field Operations for Williams Scotsman. "There is great demand for our products and services in this area and our Atlanta South branch improves our proximity to many customers in the southern part of the city."

The Atlanta South branch is located at 8105 Williams Road in Palmetto, Ga. The branch officially opened on March 1 and allows Williams Scotsman to operate more efficiently, resulting in better support for its customers.

Williams Scotsman currently has more than 100 locations throughout the US and serves a diverse array of sectors.

About Williams Scotsman Williams Scotsman, an Algeco Scotsman company, offers space solutions for the construction, education, energy, industrial, commercial/retail, healthcare, and government markets, with operations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Williams Scotsman serves customers' modular space and storage needs through a network of nearly 100 locations throughout North America. In addition to its core leasing business, the company manages and develops permanent modular structures. For more information visit http://www.willscot.com.

Algeco Scotsman is a leading global business services provider focused on modular space and storage solutions. Operating as Williams Scotsman in North America, Algeco in Continental Europe, Elliott in the United Kingdom and Eurobras in Brazil, the company and its affiliates manage a fleet of more than 320,000 units, with operations or affiliates in 37 countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States. The company has a reputation for exceptional customer service, flexibility in meeting customer needs, innovative products and services, and efficient business operations. Algeco Scotsman's global scale and local market expertise enable it to provide exceptional value to its customers.

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Williams Scotsman Continues US Expansion

News and Notes on Trends, New Projects and Construction In the Commercial Real Estate Development Pipeline Around the U.S.

Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles is developing a new apartment community in a joint venture with Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI). Independently, Stiles owns and is redeveloping the commercial retail component, the adjacent University Shoppes.

The mixed-use project is located at the northwest quadrant of University Drive and I-595 in the Midtown area. Stiles President Doug Eagon estimates an average of 225 construction workers will work at the job site each month.

Completion of the residential community is expected by June 2013, and the completion date for the retail centers redevelopment is early 2014.

A Stiles partnership acquired the site several years ago, recognizing its potential as a cornerstone location in the city's vision for Midtown, Eagon said.

"We foresee continuing, strong demand for amenity-rich rental residences just steps away from shopping, dining, services and entertainment," he said. The partnership has obtained $40.6 million in construction financing from PNC Bank.

The residential component will be a gated apartment community on a 5.5-acre site, with two 12-story towers offering a total of 321 residences. Stiles Construction is building the residential complex, which is one of Broward Countys first multifamily rental communities designed to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

The commercial component will reconfigure and renovate the existing University Shoppes retail and office center to create a more appealing customer environment with easier access and improved traffic flow. Stiles Architectural Group designed the 65,000-square-foot renovation on a 9.5-acre site just north of the new apartment community.

Less than a year after starting construction, Excell has reached the vertical peak of its $750 million International Gem Tower in Manhattan's Diamond District.

Project team members from developer Extell, AECOMs Tishman Construction Corp., and architectural/engineering firms celebrated the topping out of the building on West 47th Street, expected to be completed by year-end.

Continued here:
In The Pipeline: CoStar Development & Construction News for March 18 - 24

CHICAGO, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --New Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations originally announced in 2010 officially took effect on March 15. Property owners across the country will now be required to meet these expanded regulations for renovation or construction projects, or risk ADA compliance lawsuits. To help owners and operators avoid the potentially millions of dollars in legal fees and civil penalties, the Jones Lang LaSalle Project and Development Services group, together with LCM Architects, a leading national architecture and design firm specializing in ADA-friendly design, offers an ADA compliance platform. This construction management program assists owners in achieving ADA compliance and is particularly focused on the needs of multi-site property portfolios.

The Jones Lang LaSalle and LCM program combines LCM's comprehensive knowledge of the new requirements and the Jones Lang LaSalle network of more than 1,000 experienced construction management professionals. It addresses multi-site and campus ADA compliance through a program that includes amassing data about the facilities, and providing portfolio-wide construction management services. The platform enables project managers to share blueprints, documentation and best practices easily across multiple locations. For a retail or hotel chain with hundreds or thousands of similar locations, the ability to generate consistently accurate real-time status reporting for every location is critical to litigation avoidance.

"Compliance is good business. In addition to avoiding litigation, being proactive in enabling access for everyone builds a positive and welcoming brand image," says Kevin Hughes, vice president of Project and Development Services. "Jones Lang LaSalle has helped hundreds of companies across all product sectors to navigate these changes to ADA regulations and successfully minimize disruption to the operations of hotels, banks and retail environments while delivering cost savings."

In this video, Hughes gives an overview of multi-site construction project management, including an ADA compliance project the firm performed on behalf of a client with more than 5,000 sites.

What's New

The ADA is a complex law that has not previously had any major refinements since it was signed into law in 1990. In the past, charges of non-compliance have led to a number of lawsuits, which have led to fines and civil penalties when plaintiffs were successful.

Properties for which construction was completed before March 15, 2012 fall under the safe harbor provision and are considered to be in compliance as long as they meet the original standard. Conversely, projects for which renovation or construction is completed after the cut-off date will be required to comply with the new rules immediately.

Some of the significant changes to existing regulations include:

In commercial buildings, the ADA applies mainly to areas open to the public. In the past, ADA lawsuits have centered mainly on retail, restaurant and hospitality chains, since these are organizations with many locations that often share similar or identical designs. A non-compliance issue at one location is likely to be repeated at many locations, greatly magnifying the potential liability.

For more news, videos and research resources on Jones Lang LaSalle, please visit the Jones Lang LaSalle U.S. media center Web page. Bookmark it here:http://www.us.am.joneslanglasalle.com/UnitedStates/EN-US/Pages/News.aspx

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New ADA Rules Now In Effect for Commercial Renovation and New Construction

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

From architects and specifiers to contractors and residential painters, the recently launched ppgpro.com website from PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG - News) architectural coatings business helps paint professionals easily find the products, information and resources relevant to their needs.

Organized into five professional segments commercial, new home, multi-family, industrial and residential ppgpro.com delivers to visitors in two clicks or fewer targeted content such as most popular products, key services and support, color tools and ecological solutions.

Professionals can quickly find the products they need at ppgpro.com with a unique dynamic product search tool that offers more than a dozen filters such as brand, substrate and conformance standard. The search tool makes it easy to identify product features and benefits and to find and save Technical Data and Material Safety Data Sheets.

Additionally, sustainable-building professionals can find detailed information about PPG products compliance with governmental regulations, third-party certifications and LEED. The site also offers color tools and services for commercial and residential designers as well as a new intelligent retail locator and the latest PPG Architectural Coatings news relevant to professionals.

With ppgpro.com, our professional customers now have a one-stop shop for all of our products, services and support, said Dori Marks, PPG senior marketing manager. This makes it easier for customers to find specific, relevant and meaningful information.

PPG Architectural Coatings is an industry leader serving professionals and homeowners through a network of company stores and independent dealers across North America under the PPG PITTSBURGH PAINTS, PPG PORTER PAINTS and PPG brands. To learn more about PPG Architectural Coatings and PPG services, or to find a location that sells paints from any of the PPG Architectural Coatings brands, visit http://www.ppgpro.com.

PPG: BRINGING INNOVATION TO THE SURFACE.

PPG Industries' vision is to continue to be the worlds leading coatings and specialty products company. Through leadership in innovation, sustainability and color, PPG helps customers in industrial, transportation, consumer products, and construction markets and aftermarkets to enhance more surfaces in more ways than does any other company. Founded in 1883, PPG has global headquarters in Pittsburgh and operates in more than 60 countries around the world. Sales in 2011 were $14.9 billion. PPG shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol:PPG - News). For more information, visit http://www.ppg.com.

Bringing innovation to the surface is a trademark of PPG Industries Ohio, Inc.

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New PPG Professional Paint Solutions Website Provides Comprehensive Online Tool

19-03-2012 09:58 Ace On the Job Episode 1: Home fire in Holyoke, MA where Gary Brunelle owner of Ace Fire & Water Restoration, explains the situation of that particular home.

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Ace On the Job Episode 1: Home fire in Holyoke, MA. - Video

LONDON It's the past home of Queen Victoria and Princess Diana, the future residence of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge and, it's hoped, a stop on tourists' London itineraries.

Kensington Palace part museum, part royal abode is reopening to the public after a two-year $19-million makeover designed to give visitors a sense of what it is like to live in a centuries-old building that has witnessed both affairs of state and affairs of the heart.

Senior curator Joanna Marschner said she hopes the renovated building will shake up preconceptions about royal palaces, offering both the "big, glorious, golden rooms" that people expect, and a trove of more personal, revealing items from Queen Victoria's baby shoes to Princess Diana's little black dress.

"I hope what we have done will engage people who have always thought 'a royal palace is not for me,'" Marschner said Tuesday. "And for them to realize that these remarkable buildings part of the DNA of the city are for them."

Tucked into Kensington Gardens, a public park in central London, Kensington Palace is a warm red-brick contrast to gray Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II's London home.

It was home to six British monarchs, including Victoria, who spent her childhood here, and now contains several royal "apartments" actually Georgian houses, one of which William and Kate will move into next year.

It also has dozens of rooms that are open to the public. The public side of the palace reopens Monday, in time for a busy tourist season that includes the queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June and the summer Olympics.

Project manager Jo Thwaites, who oversaw the renovation, said the changes involved "peeling back the layers of Kensington Palace in order to reveal much more for visitors to enjoy."

Formerly shielded by hedges and fences that made its public entrance hard to find, the palace is now much more welcoming.

The entrance from the park lies beside a lovely ornamental garden surrounded by manicured lawns on which visitors are encouraged to dawdle. It comes as a surprise to find the signs posted there do not say "keep off the grass," but merely warn people to take care on steep slopes.

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Princess Diana's home reopens to public

New Delhi, Mar 20 (ANI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Roy was sworn-in as the Railway Minister of the country on Tuesday.

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to Roy in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and other cabinet ministers.

Most of Trinamool Congress MPS were also present at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to witness the ceremony.

Roy, who was the Minister of State for Shipping, is a close aide of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and is said to have been her first choice last year for the important Railway berth that she had vacated when she took over as West Bengal Chief Minister last May.

Roy's predecessor Dinesh Trivedi has been lauded by the Prime Minister, Cabinet colleagues and industry for his bold Budget, in which he announced an increase in train passenger fares, the first in nine years.

It was that move that also cost him his job. So upset was his party chief, that she first demanded his removal from the Cabinet and then forced him to resign.

Last week, Banerjee announced Roy's name as Trivedi's replacement, much before the latter had put in his papers.

However, the row over Trivedi exposed emerging differences and perceived erosion of ties between the Congress and its ally TMC.

For the past few months, the TMC has kept the Congress on tenterhooks on various issues of national and state concern, such as the price rise, allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, the issue of establishing the NCTC, and Mamata Banerjee's decision to skip the Prime Minister's visit to Bangladesh last year. (ANI)

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Mukul Roy takes oath as Railway Minister

SYCAMORE GAF and Theisen Roofing & Siding Co. Inc. are partnering with Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County to provide roofing materials and professional installation for the organizations 11th build.

The latest Habitat house is the first the group has done in Sycamore. Installation and material donations are part of a national partnership between GAF and Habitat for Humanity, to match roofing materials donations from GAF with installation services donated by GAF Master Elite and Certified contractors in communities across the U.S.

We are excited to partner with GAF and Theisen Roofing on our first renovation project. We deeply appreciate Theisen Roofings commitment to our community and GAFs sponsorship of this program, said Jennifer Meschner, president of Habitat for Humanity of DeKalb County. This donation will go a long way in keeping with our mission of building decent, affordable housing for families in need.

Theisen Roofing & Siding is one of more than 4,000 GAF Master Elite and Certified contractors eligible to participate in the partnership. The installed roofs will carry GAFs System Plus Ltd. warranty.

We are thrilled not only to be able to offer this contribution to an organization creating affordable housing , but also to be able to reinforce the efforts of our Master Elite and Certified contractors as they strive to support the communities in which they live and work, said Jim Slauson, vice president of certified programs and services at GAF.

We are so pleased to have this chance to work in partnership with Habitat to give back to our neighbors in DeKalb County, said Jeff Theisen, president of Theisen Roofing. We have a great sense of pride in knowing our work is part of a solution that creates affordable housing for families in our area.

Construction is expected to be complete by early summer. Roof installation will begin as soon as the weather permits.

Original post:
Roofing donated to Habitat home

On strikes, Samaras, Venizelos, corruption, Athens center

Re: Seamen's strike

We know so many friends who are not coming to Greece for holidays this year. They are not prepared to risk disruptions such as these.

David Wardle Selia, Crete

Elections

So slithering Adonis has welcomed back five of the MPs he expelled for voting against the second bailout; and just in time for the upcoming elections. Think Tony would have welcomed them back if he was polling at 40%? Of course the much publicised act of voting against the second bailout was offset by the much quieter act of voting for the laws that implement that very bailout. Seems like business as usual in Greek politics. Adonis and the honourable five must really believe the people are that dumb! The upcoming election will show us if they are correct in their assumptions. If charlatans like these get re-elected then the situation is truly futile and there is no hope of salvation for suffering Hellas.

On a positive note, cheers to Olympiakos for a fine run in the Europa.

John Dimitropoulos

Re: Interview with Juncker

I would advise against believing a word this gentleman says. He himself has admitted in an interview once that sometimes it becomes necessary for a politician to lie. He then went on to deny that a secret meeting would take place at a Luxembourg castle only to be later photographed at his arrival there. The saying goes One who lies once will lie again. So, there is no reason to believe him.

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On strikes, Samaras, Venizelos, corruption, Athens center

March 20, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods) Green Bay Bullfrogs FrogVille, Wi- The Green Bay Bullfrogs have announced the roster additions of David Armendariz and Chris Hoo to the 2012 roster. Both players are sophomores at Cal Poly. The Mustangs are off to one of their best starts in recent years at 12-7 and are ranked #33 in the USA Today Division I baseball poll. Both players played significantly as freshman and this year have stepped into prominent roles for Cal Poly. During Head Coach Larry Lee's first nine years at the helm, Cal Poly has had 17 players drafted in the top ten rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft and has qualified for the program's first ever Division I baseball regional.

David Armendariz currently has settled into the middle of the Cal Poly order as their everyday left fielder. Armendariz, a native of Granada Hills, Calif, has appeared in each of Cal Poly's first 19 games, starting 18. In 70 at-bats, Armendariz is currently hitting .271 with one double, one triple and one home run. He leads the Mustangs with six stolen bases. While he has not appeared in any games on the mound for the Mustangs, Armendariz is expected to be a contributor out of the Bullfrog bullpen this summer.

Like many players that have suited up in Green Bay, Armendariz spent the summer following his freshman year playing in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCBL). A member of the league champion Corvallis Knights, the 6'1" Armendariz was named his team's Most Valuable Player and was named first-team all WCCBL on his way to leading the team with 23 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He was rated the 17th best prospect in the WCCBL by Perfect Game following the season and recently was named the 283rd best propect nationally for the 2013 draft by the same source.

Chris Hoo has been Cal Poly's starting catcher in 14 of the team's first 19 games. Hoo is quickly becoming known as one of the top defensive catchers in college baseball. While Hoo is hitting just .184 (9/49) thus far this spring, he is second on the team with four doubles. The Cupertino, Calif. native has thrown out an impressive seven of twelve baserunners attempting to steal as well as already picking off four baserunners. Hoo has been the anchor of a Cal Poly staff with an impressive 3.42 team ERA.

"Cal Poly sent us one of the most talented players in Bullfrogs history last summer in Mitch Haniger," Bullfrogs Field Manager Jordan Bischel said. "Coach Lee and his staff have made a priority of sending some of their very best players to Green Bay for the upcoming summer. We know David and Chris will be extremely talented and well-coached. David will provide a great combination of power and speed in the middle of our order while also being able to give us a low 90's fastball out of the bullpen. Top tier catching is getting harder and harder to find and Chris has proven to be one of the finest catchers on the West Coast. We fully expect him to be one of the very best catchers in the Northwoods League this summer."

The Bullfrogs open up their 6th season in FrogVille, Wisconsin on May 30 at 6:35 against the expansion Lakeshore Chinooks. Please call 920-497-7225or log on to http://www.greenbaybullfrogs.comfor more information. The Green Bay Bullfrogs are a part of the 16-team Northwoods League. The Northwoods League has more teams, plays more games, and draws more fans than any other Summer Collegiate League in North America .

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Originally posted here:
Bullfrogs Sign Pair from Nationally Ranked Cal-Poly