Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

BY SHERRI LONON Special Correspondent

Published: January 13, 2014 | Updated: January 21, 2014 at 11:02 AM

TOWN N COUNTRY Edith Traina isnt fond of stereotypes that lead others to believe seniors fritter away their time rocking on front porches.

Thats why Traina, 92, and other members of the Town N Country Senior Stars take it upon themselves to break all those rules, she said.

One of the most recently added activities is powerlifting. The Stars team is called The Record Breakers, and consists of several seniors who work out regularly to keep fit and challenge themselves to break their own personal weightlifting records.

Traina can lift about 130 pounds. Other seniors boast personal best records of more than 160 pounds.

We just enjoy it, Traina explained.

Founded in 1987 as a way to bring seniors together for a tone-and-stretch class, the group has since grown to include more than 300 members, 200 of which are active on a regular basis. While that exercise class is still very much a part of the groups offerings, the Stars continue to expand options to make sure a variety of interests are represented. The lineup of undertakings includes arts and crafts, lunch outings, day trips, line dancing and much more, Traina added.

While the activities bring local seniors together for fun and camaraderie, member Patty Dombrowski, 75, said those who take part often find lasting friendships.

Its friends getting together with friends, she said of Stars events.

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Town ‘N Country retirees become powerlifters

Smyrna GA Bathroom Remodeling Contractor -- Southstar Construction
Click here now: http://www.southstar-remodeling.com/atlanta-bathroom-remodeling.asp or call 404-587-1910 now to schedule an appointment. Bathroom remodeling ...

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Smyrna GA Bathroom Remodeling Contractor -- Southstar Construction - Video

Planning to remodel a bathroom this year?

Think shower, not tub. And bring in the light lots of it.

Those are two of the trends that turned up in a recent survey on bathroom remodeling projects by Houzz (www.houzz.com), the home design and remodeling website and phone app. Houzz invited its newsletter readers to share their remodeling plans, and 7,645 responded, said Liza Hausman, the companys vice president of community and marketing.

This was Houzzs first bathroom trends survey, so its impossible to use the findings to make specific comparisons to the past. But the study does show whats hot right now in bathroom design.

One of those trends is what Hausman called the amazing shower.

Showers are getting bigger and more elaborate, she said. More homeowners are installing two-person showers with multiple sprays, sometimes outfitted with accessories such as seats or shower heads that simulate rain.

Apparently some homeowners are making room for a bigger shower by eliminating a tub, which Hausman found surprising. Forty-three percent of respondents said theyre choosing to forgo a bathtub, even in the master bathroom.

The older the homeowners, the less likely they are to want a tub, although Hausman isnt sure why. Maybe theyve been around long enough to know how infrequently garden tubs and jetted bathtubs get used. Or maybe theyre opting for accessible showers that require more space, she speculated.

Those showers are almost always enclosed in all glass, especially in the master bathroom. Frameless glass is popular, with 54 percent of homeowners choosing it for the master bathroom and 37 percent for other full baths in the house. Glass block is out, Hausman said, but shower curtains are still showing up in 10 percent of master baths and 33 percent of other full baths.

The preference for glass enclosures is probably related to the popularity of light in bathroom remodeling projects. People are bringing in light in abundance through windows, skylights and even shower heads with LED lights that seem to change the color of the water, she said, and clear glass enclosures let that light shine through. Hausman said maintenance wasnt raised as an issue by survey participants, so apparently people are willing to squeegee their shower enclosures religiously or else, she said with a laugh, theyre willing to live with the water spots.

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Bathtubs get the boot as bathrooms get brighter

Brentwood Builders - Church Construction In Dayton, OH

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Brentwood Builders - Church Construction In Dayton, OH - Video

(Image courtesy Pilgrim Church)

A historical image of the church.

By Patrick D. Rosso, Boston.com Staff

The red brick Pilgrim Church in Dorchester has been accepted onto the National Register of Historic Places, permanently recognizing its significance and opening it up to funding sources specifically designed for historic structures.

Construction of the church, at 540 Columbia Road. in Uphams Corner, began in 1890. It was designed by Stephen Carpenter Earle, who also designed the University of Massachusetts Amhersts Old Chapel and Memorial Hall in Canton, among a number of other notable structures.

Its really great that the federal government is saying that a building in Dorchester is important to the nation, said John Odams, the reverend of the Pilgrim Trinitarian Congregational Church. Its an important building that should be preserved. The registration will hopefully open it up to a lot more funding sources.

Highlighted for its age, design, and architect, Odams said the church, which still has regular services, is a marker for when the neighborhood of Dorchester switched from a rural community to suburban neighborhood of Boston.

When he [Stephen Carpenter Earle] began his work in Dorchester it was just becoming a street carriage suburb of Boston, Odams said. What would have been considered a downtown church was being built right in the suburbs, which was unusual for the time.

Although the announcement is exciting for the congregation of 20 that call the church home, Odams said its biggest impact will be helping raise money for its restoration.

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Pilgrim Church accepted onto the National Register of Historic Places

This sealed copper box, 10 inches long by 8 inches wide by 8 inches tall, was discovered at a construction site in Berkeley last week. Photo: Bill Schrader Jr.

A construction crew taking its first steps to prepare an old community church for demolitiondiscovered a time capsule from 1948 hidden inside the wall behind the church cornerstone last week.

The sealed copper box initially stumped its finders, said Scott Allen, site superintendent at 2024 Durant Ave., the location where anew apartment housing development calledThe Durantis slated to be built.

Last Monday morning, Jan. 13, at about 11 oclock, Allen said the crew was just beginning work on the first day of the project to demolish the old church, Durant Avenue Presbyterian. Developer Bill Schrader Jr. had given firm instructions to remove the church cornerstone, which includes the buildings name and construction date, to save the granite marker for inclusion on the new project site.

Wewanted to get that out and protect it and keep it safe so we didnt have any complications later, said Allen, who works for Sacramento-based Brown Construction. When we removed it, there was a copper box on the back. Wewent to knock it off, or pull it off, and it wouldnt move.

At first, everyone was perplexed. The box was soldered shut, and had no visible damage.

Allen said no one was really sure what the box was or what to do with it, when he suddenly remembered hed seen something similar once before during a demolition project in New Zealand. Allen said a time capsule had been found on the back of that buildings cornerstone. But he said he hadnt seen anything like it stateside during his 12 years in construction.

He told the group what he thought, and there was an immediate reaction.

Everybody was excited from myself to Bill Schrader to the building inspector to the guys, the demolition crew that was there, said Allen. Most of these people had never seen this before. It came as a shock to most of them.

Removing the name plate for the church, to the left of the doorway, was the first step in the process. Photo: Scott Allen

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Time capsule discovered during church demolition

John Acord didn't start out as an appliance repairman.

He was working on oil rigs in Saudi Arabia for Standard Oil when he and his wife decided to move back to California for the sake of their young son's schooling. Fixing broken washing machines and the like was a sideline he'd picked up overseas, filling a need and teaching himself as he went along.

Acord says a friend gave him the idea of starting his own repair business when he returned the the United States, and that's exactly what he did. In 1963, he set up shop on Calderon Avenue in Mountain View, took out a few newspaper ads (he'd missed the deadline for the Yellow Pages) and put up his card in local laundromats. For the next 50 years, Acord's Appliance Service did a steady business from referrals and repeat customers, he says. His motto: "All of your appliances in Acord."

"I started doing a considerable amount of business for apartment owners, and it grew and grew," he said.

Now, after half a century in Mountain View, he's retiring.

"When you get to be 85, it's time to stop," he says.

A long-time member of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, his business has always been based in Mountain View, although he lives across the border in Los Altos. He gave up his office space a few years back, but kept his Mountain View business license.

He still loves the work, but it's gotten harder since his back surgery, he says. An inveterate tinkerer, he says he'll probably still take on a job or two. "I love fiddling," he says. Acord and his wife Charlene have a motor home and a love of state parks, he says, and plan to put his new-found free time to good use.

He contacted the Voice about his retirement because he wanted a way to say thank you to his customers.

"It's been a good business. We never got rich, but the good Lord will supply," Acord says. "Mountain View has been very good to me."

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MV fix-it man hangs up tools after 50 years

GLENDALE, Colo. (CBS4) The investigation into a massive fire in Glendale in December continues and its still not clear if it was arson.

The flames caused millions of dollars in damage to an apartment building that was under construction. The fire is still classified as undetermined, but sources say early into the investigation several gas canisters were found near the fire scene. That evidence is currently being tested in a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lab.

(credit: CBS)

Sources say two gas canisters were found in a parking structure north of the raging fire off Cherry Street. A third gas canister was also found in an alley way. Investigators also found a backpack and gloves.

Sources say arson dogs were brought onto the scene, which is typical of a fire investigation and hits for accelerants were picked up by the dog.

The fire was so intense it melted cars across the street at an apartment complex and siding on the building.

The developer of the burned apartment building, MKS Residential, is now rebuilding and moving forward with construction of their 341-unit building. The site was released back to them by investigators. Solana Cherry Creek will be a four-story apartment complex.

It could be several weeks before forensic information from the ATF lab is released.

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Investigators Found Gas Cans Near Scene Of Massive Glendale Fire

Construction is starting on the final $8.2 million phase of a south Richland apartment complex.

And plans are in the works to begin the first phase of a 642-unit apartment complex near Cottonwood Elementary School in Kennewick's Southridge area.

The out-of-state developers for the apartment projects are adding units that may help meet the demand for more Tri-City rental housing.

While the area's rental market has improved, thanks to about 15 new apartment projects in the past three years, real estate experts say there remains a demand for more rental housing in the growing area.

The Tri-Cities' apartment vacancy rate was 4.6 percent in March 2013, a definite improvement from the tight vacancy rate of 2 percent and less that made apartment hunting difficult for Tri-Citians in 2010 and 2011.

But developers aim for a 5 percent vacancy rate, which allows time for maintenance and repair, according to experts.

The city of Richland recently issued building permits to Bender Development LP of Hillsboro, Ore., to add eight stucco-sided apartment buildings to Belle Vista Apartments.

The second and final phase of the Belle Vista Apartments will add 106 units just east of the current complex, said Rick Simon, Richland's development services manager.

The two-story buildings at 2101 Steptoe St. will include 86 one-bedroom units and 20 two-bedroom units, according to city documents. The new residents will share the recreational building and swimming pool that is already in use by residents of the complex, which was built in 2004 and includes one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.

Belle Vista Apartments is one of eight apartment complexes in Washington and Oregon owned by Bender Equities, owned by Fred and Kevin Bender.

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Apartment projects could help fulfill some Tri-City rental demand

The architectural drawings and pictorial slides on display at the public meeting Tuesday evening in the auditorium of the Buffalo History Museum had an assured and settled-in look, as if the three-story mixed-use retail and apartment building they depicted in the heart of the Elmwood Village were already standing there.

If all goes well, it will be standing there about a year from now, tucked tightly into a double lot at 766 and 770 Elmwood Ave., currently a parking lot between the Globe Market and the 7-Eleven store at the corner of Elmwood and Auburn Avenue.

The preliminaries are almost complete, but before the project goes to the citys Planning Board, the developer The Benchmark Group and the architect Karl Frizlen of The Frizlen Group needed to hear what people in the neighborhood think.

About three dozen braved the single-digit temperature to voice concerns about parking, the appearance of the building and its impact on nearby streets and businesses.

Martin J. DelleBovi, director of real estate for Benchmark, which also owns the former supermarket building across the street at 765 Elmwood that houses Spot Coffee and Panera Bread, said the new structure would include four small retail shops on the ground floor and 24 one- and two-bedroom apartments upstairs, all with balconies and underground parking.

Several residents expressed concern about how trucks and other construction activities would disrupt that block of Elmwood. DelleBovi assured them that the construction schedule had been stretched from 4 months to 9 months so that only two contracting companies would be working at the same time. Trucks, he said, would park in the Spot Coffee/Panera lot across the street.

Frizlen, who also designed new mixed-use buildings at 504 Elmwood and 448 Elmwood at Bryant Street, talked about how he made modifications to his original plan to soften the facade, which includes precast limestone and lap siding panels, to reflect the character of the neighborhood.

Several residents criticized the look of the building as too modern, too flat or too much like the building at Elmwood and Bryant.

Dan Sack took Frizlen to task for the pre-cast limestone. Its not limestone. Its made to look like limestone. Its a cheap imitation, he contended.

He also cited a wall of concrete blocks facing Grenway Alley at the rear of the building. Its a street, he asserted. Concrete block is not allowed to be visible from any street.

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Elmwood Village residents voice concerns about proposed building on parking lot site