Major downtown construction projects such as the ongoing Davenport Grand Hotel and the recently completed Spokane Convention Center expansion, as well as planned historic Ridpath renovations, likely are drawing additional developer interest to the citys core, says Jan Quintrall, the citys business and development services director.

New projects being explored downtown include an envisioned retail and office building at the site of the long-halted Peppertree hotel project northwest corner of Division Street and Third Avenue and a high-rise project near Division Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard. In other projects, initial work on an auto dealership campus master plan is under way on along Second and Third avenues, and developers are looking at redeveloping an office building and parking facility just north of Interstate 90 on Stevens Street.

We sure seem to be seeing some nice projects coming in, and people making solid investment plans, Quintrall says.

Division & Third

Owners of the lot at the northwest corner of Division and Third, where a hotel project came to an abrupt halt during foundation construction in 2009, are exploring a new development option for the property.

On behalf of owners Rita and John Santillanes, Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, has approached the city with a preliminary concept for a two-story, 16,700-square-foot building with a construction value of $2 million.

Were working with Baker Construction, hoping to announce a project to put retail in there, Rita Santillanes says.

Santillanes hotel company, Spokane-based Peppertrees of Washington LLC, also would consolidate its administrative offices in the building, she says. The company owns and operates Best Western Peppertree Plus hotels in Liberty Lake, near the Spokane airport, in Omak, and in Auburn, Wash.

As envisioned, the building at Division and Third would have 10,700 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor and 6,000 square feet of office space on the second floor.

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Development proposals percolate downtown

Elevator and escalator manufacturer Kone announced it will supply 19 elevators for the Fifth + Columbia project, a 44-story office building to be constructed in Seattle's central business district.

Kone, with operations in the Quad-Cities, said it won a contract to provide six Kone MonoSpace machine-room-less elevators and 13 Kone MiniSpace elevators. The office elevator groupsalso willutilize Kone Polaris Destination Control Systems, including state-of-the-art touchscreen destination operating panels.

The contract was awarded by JTM Construction, the project's general contractor. Financial details were not released.

The developer and owners of the more than $400 million project are Daniels Real Estate and Stockbridge Capital Group.

In addition to more than 500,000 square feet of office space, the tower will include a 184-room four-star hotel and spa and restaurant spaces. The new building's innovative geometric form and natural light glass facade were designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects of Seattle.

It is scheduled to open in 2017.

Kone said its machine-room-less solutions are helping return leasable space to the project owners by eliminating planned overhead machine rooms typically required with conventional elevator models.

"We are excited to be a partner on the most significant office and hotel project in the Seattle skyline,"said Larry Wash, KONE Americas's CEO. "Our local project management team will provide the most productive installation and highest degree of customer service for the Fifth + Columbia property. We look forward to a successful and safe installation."

The order was booked in the fourth quarter.

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Kone to supply 44-story Seattle office tower

Published on January 15, 2015

Published on January 15, 2015

A new partnership between local business and PLFN was announced Thursday morning.

CAROL DUNN THE NEWS

Published on January 15, 2015

A handful of workers were working in the fabrication shop at MacGregors Thursday. During construction season there are many more. This year, theyre expecting to be working on new project, building a band office for the Pictou Landing First Nation. ADAM MACINNIS THE NEWS

Published on January 15, 2015

The old Pictou Landing band office

PICTOU LANDING In December 2011 Pictou Landing First Nation closed its band office because it was in rough shape.

Chief Andrea Paul says the building was making people sick. We had to get out of the building and put people in different buildings, she said. Our band administration office is our focal point, and having employees scattered around created confusion amongst band members.

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UPDATED: Local businesses and First Nation community collaborate on new project

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Flat Roof Repair Companies Southeast Edmonton|780-800-7295|Flat Roofing Services NE Edmonton - Video

LEOMINSTER -- The City Council approved a bond of approximately $3.2 million for the replacement of the roof at Northwest Elementary School Monday night during its regular meeting.

"This is a high-quality project at minimal cost," Superintendent of Schools Jim Jolicoeur said about the roof replacement and how the Massachusetts School Building Authority, using its Accelerated Repair Program, will reimburse the city nearly 72 percent of the construction cost.

Once the project is completed, the city will have paid about $909,767 for the $3.2 million repair.

The leaking is damaging the roof's supporting structure and could potentially damage the wooden parquet floor in the school's gymnasium, Jolicoeur said when first describing why the project was necessary.

Jolicoeur was before the council Monday night with district Facilities Director Anthony Sciabarrasi to answer questions from councilors about the project.

During their brief presentation, Jolicoeur said that while consulting engineers were designing the repair project, an additional issue was raised -- channeling the water that runs off the areas of the roof that are sloped.

"It's definitely a problem that needs to be addressed," Sciabarrasi said about the water and the ice that accumulates in the winter, especially in the building's entrances and doorways.

"It creates a serious hazard," he said, adding that custodians often must chisel ice out of doorways when the temperatures drop.

The repair will cost about $81,000 and will create a drainage system that will channel the runoff directly into underground storm water pipes around the school, which is at 45 Stearns Ave.

The $81,000 project does not meet the criteria for the MSBA Accelerated Repair Program, so Jolicoeur said the city will have to bear its full cost.

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Bond for long-leaking school roof OK'd in Leominster

Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 08:12 AM.

At the meeting of the Cleveland County Schools Board Monday, Jan. 12, members heard a report from the Rev. Lamont Littlejohn, a member of the Diversity Committee.

Littlejohn, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Shelby, updated board members on the recent activities of the committee, which meets several times a year.

Littlejohn said that minority hiring has increased in Cleveland County Schools, along with an awareness of cultural diversity. He noted that it's not just service hires, but also more administrators, teachers and teacher assistants, who are the most hands on with students.

Littlejohn also said student achievement in the classroom is the main focus, and those goals are being achieved. He talked about current programs that encourage parental involvement with the education of their children and their home environments.

In other business:

- The board recognized students from West Elementary School who led the pledge of allegiance. They also recognized the senior representatives from Crest, Kings Mountain, Shelby, Cleveland Early College, Shelby and Burns high schools.

- Superintendent Dr. Stephen Fisher recognized North Elementary principal, Amy Moss and West Elementary principal Heather Pagan for recent awards to their schools.

North Elementary School has been named a National Title I Distinguished School by the North Carolina state department of education. North Elementary School is one of two schools in North Carolina out of nearly 100 schools throughout the country that is being nationally recognized for exceptional student achievement in 2014.

West Elementary received national recognition as a 2014 Exemplary High Performing School and earning National Blue Ribbon School recognition. West Elementary was one of only five schools in North Carolina achieving an academic level worthy of being named a National Blue Ribbon School.

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Schools board hears reports, approves improvement plans and calendar change

The City Council Tuesday in a 5-2 vote approved a $475 million five-year capital plan, including $34.85 million in city money to accommodate the Tech Center research park and potential Jefferson Lab expansion, about $13 million of which to be spent in fiscal year 2016.

The Tech Center funding will come back to the council for consideration later this year after the bond authorization is in place, City Budget Director Lisa Cipriano said.

Councilwomen Pat Woodbury and Saundra Cherry voted against the proposed plan, citing concerns with transparency about the Tech Center project, and other projects cut or delayed in the plan, such as overdue re-roofing and HVAC replacements at schools, rebuilding Huntington Middle School and the Grissom Library and Denbigh streetscaping.

"I find it to be very unbalanced," Woodbury said. "We can't always say 'build it and they will come.' They may not. And then what?"

Cherry said, "I do believe that if we, as a city, are to do anything worth doing, and desire support from its residents, that there must be very clear transparency. Making out all the costs as much as possible for all phases of a project and how the project will enhance the quality of life for all of its residents."

City Manager Jim Bourey defended the plan and emphasized the potential economic benefits of Tech Center.

"At build out, projected revenues coming from the entire Tech Center development would be estimated at $8 million to city revenue every year," Bourey said. "Please be assured that the money in the (capital plan) is not going to be given to the developer."

The $34.85 million in Tech Center city funding would go toward unnamed infrastructure improvements and relocating the school division's bus facility, which would need to be moved if Jefferson Lab is chosen to receive an expansion. In addition, the city is also seeking about $7.7 million in federal and state grants for the job. In the plan passed last year, $18.4 million in city funding was included for the project.

Nearly a dozen residents and officials came to address the council about the proposal, many expressing concerns about the city's transparency, several referencing meetings in summer 2013 when the project was presented, where John Lawson, president and CEO of Tech Center developer W.M. Jordan, said the project would require no city funding.

Lawson has since said he was speaking only about the 44-acre retail and residential portion of the project, which is under construction now and privately financed.

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Newport News council approves capital plan with $34.85 million in Tech Center funding

Sparks were flying inside WesBanco Arena on Tuesday as welding work continues for the downtown Wheeling venue's brand-new $850,000 videoboard system.

Components of the new system - which includes digital ribbon boards and a high-definition center-mounted videoboard - began arriving Monday. Wiring work is well underway, along with installation of new steel beams to support the scoreboard.

Arena Manager Dennis Magruder said he received a progress update Tuesday morning, and everything appears to be on schedule for installation sometime next week.

Photo by Ian Hicks / Welding work continues in the rafters at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, in preparation for the venues new videoboard system to be installed.

"I fully expect we'll be up and running (Jan. 23) as we've told people," he said.

The Wheeling Nailers host the Fort Wayne Komets that evening, the first of two home games on consecutive nights for the hockey club. After that, the Nailers won't play in Wheeling again until Feb. 6.

Although Magruder expects the videoboard will be ready to debut next weekend, he acknowledged that anything could happen, as plenty of work remains to be done.

"You've got all these different contractors coming together, and they're trying to get everything done while we're still having events," he said, adding setup begins today for the OVAC wrestling tournament Thursday through Saturday. "This is a huge undertaking."

WesBanco Arena has hosted three Nailers games since removal of the old center-mounted scoreboard. Magruder said the smaller, auxiliary scoreboards at both ends of the arena will remain in place until the new system is operational.

City officials have identified enhancing the fan experience as a major goal of an overall $5.6 million improvement project at the arena.

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Magruder: Videoboard Installation on Schedule at WesBanco Arena

Boulder, CO (PRWEB) January 13, 2015

ISONAS Inc., a leading Pure IP access control system manufacturer that has revolutionized the security industry, has been awarded the 2014 Security Innovation Award Municipal Sector, for its work with the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut. This coveted award recognizes the most impressive collaborative project involving the lead integrator, participating security vendors, and the end-user client. ISONAS shares the honor of this award with The City of Bridgeport and the following participating Technology and Service Vendors: A+ Technology & Security Solutions, Inc., IPVideo Corporation, Axis Communications, and Milestone Systems.

ISONAS offers a proven access control solution that provides network-based Pure IP panel-less access control technology. Its network-based PowerNet IP Reader-Controller offers a patented technology that easily integrates with Windows-based software to deliver more simplicity, greater value, and total flexibility over physical access-point security. As a premier partner of A+ Technology & Security Solutions, ISONASs scalable and cost-effective access control solution was the right choice for integrating multiple sites throughout the city, states Rob Mossman, ISONASs CEO. We are extremely honored to be receiving this award along with the prestigious technology and service vendors who participated in the projects success.

The City of Bridgeport installation involved integrated security solutions to protect properties throughout the city, including historic Pleasure Beach, a recently re-opened public park with close proximity to many high-target security risks, as well as the citys 40 public schools. State-of-the-art technology used in the installation included thermal imaging cameras, wide dynamic range cameras, active deterrent systems, wireless video transmission, solar-powered arrays, and video management systems.

Im the father of four kids who were born and raised in Bridgeport. And, Im proud to say that our city is safer and stronger today than any other time that I can remember, said Mayor Bill Finch. Thanks to our partnership with A+ Technology & Security Solutions, we are using state-of-the-art technology to ensure the safety of kids and families in our parks and schools.

Jorge Garcia, Bridgeports Director of Public Facilities, explains, Bridgeport is getting better every day, and we are fortunate to be working with A+ Technology & Security Solutions, as well as so many outstanding technology partners such as ISONAS, to ensure that our citys security needs are being met in a way that creates a safe and vital community today. We are honored to receive the Security Innovation Award, which recognizes our use of leading edge technologies to make this success possible.

The City of Bridgeport is a prime example of how a well-designed, integrated security solution is far more powerful and effective than the sum of its parts, and A+ Technology & Security Solutions is proud to have applied our expertise in technology convergence toward bringing this award-winning project to fruition, said David Antar, President of A+ Technology. We look forward to continued work with Bridgeport as we create a centralized Security Operations Center that will rely on C3fusion software from IPVideo Corporation to tie everything together.

The Security Innovation Award with presented by Secured Cities and Security Technology Executive Magazine at the Secured Cities Event in Baltimore on November 10, 2014.

About ISONAS Inc.

Since 1999, ISONAS Inc. has been leading the security industry and has changed the game in access control technology. ISONAS has raised the bar by being the first access control company to design and manufacture a cutting-edge, IP-to-the-door solution that eliminates needless complexityincluding inconvenient control panels, separate power supply, and dedicated hard-wiring. Our network-based PowerNet reader-controllers offer a patented technology that easily integrates with Windows-based software to deliver more simplicity, greater value, and total flexibility to go places you never thought possible. With 25,000 readers installed worldwide across a broad range of vertical markets, ISONAS provides a proven IP solution that is revolutionizing the industry. For more information visit: http://www.isonas.com

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ISONAS Honored for Large-Scale City Wide Security Project in Bridgeport, CT