Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Tom Liebel, Mark Thomas Architects: Design Challenges
Tom Liebel discusses the design considerations for the Union Mill project.

By: MitsubishiHVAC

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Tom Liebel, Mark Thomas Architects: Design Challenges - Video

Architects of change who shaped the future of India
On the show this week, meet the new builders of India, Prashant Solomon, the managing director of Chintels and Rahul Gaur, CMD, BRYS Group, who are leading t...

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Architects of change who shaped the future of India - Video

Montreal, QC (PRWEB) December 17, 2013

Messaging Architects, a 100% employee-owned global market leader of Integrated Email Management solutions and services, today announced that it has been named one of Canadas Top 50 Small and Medium Employers for 2014 by the editors of Canadas Top Employers.

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Messaging Architects award-winning Netmail platform simplifies the complexities surrounding email management by removing the need to deploy, integrate and manage multiple third-party systems. Netmail consolidates email security and encryption, policy-based email archiving and discovery, attachment management and unlimited email storage into a single web-based platform at a fraction of the cost of other leading solutions.

Employment at the company includes subsidies for tuition and professional accreditation, generous health benefits and matching pension plans, subsidies for health-related programs and transportation, a new employee-referral bonus program, flexible work hours and a leadership manifesto that encourages employees to be bold and remarkable.

Our employees (shareholders) are the heart of Messaging Architects, says Frederic Bourget, Chief Operating Officer at Messaging Architects. We make sure to take good care of our employees so that they in turn take good care of our clients. As we enter new growth markets in 2014, well be hiring new employees so the recognition by Canadas Top Employers is much appreciated."

In its inaugural year of the award, the Top Small and Medium Employers for 2014 is an annual competition organized by Canadas Top Employers. This special designation recognizes private sector small- and medium-sized employers with up to 500 employees that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work, based on criteria like physical workplace, work atmosphere, health, financial and family benefits, and employee communications, training and skills development, among others. The editors official reasons for selecting Messaging Architects for the award are available on the companys Careers page at eluta.ca.

About Messaging Architects Messaging Architects is a 100% employee-owned global market leader of Integrated Email Management solutions and services. For over 12 years, our award-winning Netmail platform has helped hundreds of organizations using a wide variety of email platforms eliminate complexity, ensure compliance and enhance productivity. To learn more about Netmail, visit http://www.netmail.com.

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Messaging Architects Named One of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers for 2014

By Brock Parker, Boston.com Staff

The Cambridge City Council has approved zoning changes that will allow Boston Properties to build a high-rise with 240 residential units and ground floor retail space in Kendall Square.

The zoning change will allow the construction of a high-rise up to 250 feet tall along Ames Street, where the city is also selling Boston Properties a 20-foot-wide strip of land between Main Street and Broadway for about $2 million.

David Stewart, a senior project manager for Boston Properties, said design work could now move quickly and the developer could seek the special permits for the project in the first half of 2014.

If market conditions remain where they are, this has a very good chance of starting by the end of next year, Stewart said.

The City Council voted 6-2 in favor of the zoning changes last week, but final approval was temporarily delayed when City Councilor Minka vanBeuzekom requested the vote come up for reconsideration Monday, Dec. 16. She has since withdrawn the request for reconsideration, according to a letter vanBeuzekom sent City Clerk Donna Lopez last Wednesday, Dec. 11.

The high-rise is expected to include a mix of studio, one and two bedroom apartments, including 31 affordable units.

Boston Properties made commitments to the city in 2010 to develop a 200,000 square foot residential project within seven years of receiving a certificate of occupancy for the new Broad Institute research facility at 75 Ames Street.

Cambridge City Manager Richard Rossi said the developer sent a letter to the city in April asking if it would consider selling a narrow strip of land along Ames Street next to land controlled by Boston Properties to facilitate the construction of the residential high-rise. The city conducted a request for proposals for the property, and selected Boston Properties proposal in November.

Last week, the city council also voted 8-0 to authorize the city to move forward with selling the property to Boston Properties. Rossi said selling the land will result in the right-of-way on Ames Street being reduced from 100 to 80 feet wide.

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Zoning changes will allow residential high-rise in Kendall Square

Retail mall space has recorded an increase of 39% in fresh mall space supply in 2013 over the last year despite deferment of 18 malls in the year. This was revealed in the latest estimation by leading real estate services provider Cushman & Wakefield.

The total estimated fresh supply of retail mall space was recorded at 4.5 million square feet (msf) in top eight cities of India. Of the total supply, Chennai saw the highest supply of 2 msf followed by Mumbai (900,000 sf), Pune (700,000 sf) and Kolkata (500,000 sf). National Capital Region (NCR) Bengaluru and Ahmedabad did not see any new addition of mall spaces for the entire year in 2013. Vacancy in the mean time has seen a reduction of 2% over last year on account of increased leasing activities in the freshly launched malls, most of which started with high percentage of occupancy. Only Hyderabad stood out as an exception to record an increase of 7% in vacancy while Bengaluru and Ahmedabad recorded the highest and similar reduction in mall vacancy at 4%. The improvement in the vacancy levels has been the result of increased leasing activities especially in the recently launched malls. The fresh mall spaces that have started operations in 2013 have witnessed an average occupancy of over 94%. Most of these malls have demonstrated strong fundamentals of being located in appropriate locations from catchment perspective, offering retailers and customers right retailing environment giving retailers the confidence in starting/ expanding in these malls. Hyderabad was the only location to witness the start of a mall with a lower than average occupancy of 70%, despite it being the first mall in over three years, on account of poor market sentiments due to the recent political deadlock. Sanjay Dutt, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield said, Retail markets have started to show signs of maturity with developers taking interest in creating value out of their projects for all stake holders. Developers are now consciously creating shopping malls that are more suited to the requirements of the retailers as well as consumers. As a result new malls have opened with high occupancy levels with exception of few. Many developers have also deferred their mall projects to align them to their customer requirements to ensure that their future projects are successful. As in the case of hospitality, shopping centres also have a long gestation period therefore investors are interested only in those projects where the fundamentals are strong and can provide sustainable returns and profitability over a long period of time. Sanjay further said There would be a focus on creating USPs for future developments of malls either through location and tenant mix or by creating speciality malls such as luxury retail spaces. Understanding that malls are now more a destination than pure retailing locations, developers are looking at providing holistic family based entertainment opportunities within their malls to both increase their footfalls and conversions for their tenants.

An estimated 9.8 msf of mall spaces have been deferred in 2013 for completion in later times. Of the total a maximum of 7.3 msf of fresh mall supply was deferred in NCR alone amounting to approximately 10 new malls that were expected to get ready for this year but have now been postponed for the future. Pune saw a deferment of 1.1 msf while 900,000 square feet (sf) of mall space was delayed in Bengaluru in 2013. One mall each in Chennai (220,000 sf) and Hyderabad (130,000 sf) have also been delayed. Most of these have been on account of funding issues which have led many developers to slower the pace of construction. MAIN STREETS Main streets have seen a mixed trend in rental changes over the last few years with some micro markets such as AS Rao Nagar (33%) and Punjagutta (29%) have recorded a substantial increase in rentals due to the limited supply and significant demand from the retailers. Most established main street micro markets including Usman Road in Chennai (27%), Park Street in Kolkata (25%), Connaught Place in NCR (17%) have recorded an increase in rentals on account of high existing demand with no fresh supply or churn in these locations. Khan Market in NCR was noted as the most expensive main street in the country but did not record any change in rentals in the last one year. Some key micro market which recorded decline in rentals with Raj Bhavan Road recording the sharpest decline of 14% y-o-y in December due to accessibility issues. Linking Road in Mumbai recorded a decline of 12% over the last year due to price correction. Rentals in Punes Koregaon Park have declined by 10% due to limited demand from retailers.

CITY WISE RETAIL MARKET ANALYSIS Ahmedabad Ahmedabad witnessed no new mall supply during the year because of which the mall vacancies in the city have shown a steady decline of about 4.5 percentage points during the year. This decline in vacancies was primarily due to mall space leasing in mall micro-markets of Vastrapur and S.G. Highway. Despite renewed activities, overall mall vacancies have been high in the city at approximately 29%. Mall rentals across the city have remained unchanged during the year. Despite the limited availabilities in main streets like C.G. Road, Law Garden, Prahladnagar and Satellite Road, the low transaction activity due to limited demand from retailers has kept rentals stable during the year. With shoppers preferring main streets over malls, retailers have followed suit and have shown higher preference for main street locations for expanding operations. Bengaluru With no new mall supply and vacancy reducing by another 4 percentage points over last year, the overall activities in the mall space has seen a rise. However, that has not seen a corresponding reflection in the rental values of malls. Malls in locations like Mysore Road, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Banerghatta Road saw a y-o-y dip in rentals in the range of 5-20% due to poor connectivity in wake of metro construction work, which impacted the businesses revenues making landlords offer competitive rentals in the nearby main streets. Malls in the micro-market of Malleshwaram recorded a rise of 12% owing to robust demand from retailers. Elsewhere, rentals across most malls remained stable over the year. Most main streets in the city recorded stable rentals. Select main street locations like Commercial Street and Vittal Mallya Road witnessed a drop in the range of 3-5% due to non-availability of quality spaces. Chennai In 2013, four new retail malls totalling to 2.01msf of fresh supply started operations. Amongst the new shopping malls which opened in Chennai in 2013, two malls at Velachery and Vadapalani are functioning at almost full occupancy levels. Thus, the overall mall vacancy level during Q4 2013 was recorded at 6.5%, registering a decline of 2.2 percentage points on a y-o-y basis. Categories like apparels, accessories and cosmetics were major contributors to absorption of shopping mall space during 2013. In the submarket of Chennai South, y-o-y increase of 12.5% was seen in mall rentals as construction of good quality malls led to a rental rise in this area in the last one year. While Chennai- Suburbs witnessed a rental decline of 9% for shopping malls on yearly basis due to lower footfalls in wake of the ongoing metro work, mall rentals dipped by nearly 7% in Chennai CBD due to a variety of factors like increasing competition as well as ongoing metro work in front of some shopping malls in CBD. Hyderabad Hyderabad saw the addition of a new mall in Kukatpally in 2013 that increased the mall stock of the city by 430,000 sf. This was also the first mall in a period of three years to see the light of the day and would have been eagerly awaited by the retailers looking for quality space in the city. However, due to poor political conditions and retailers confidence eroding, unlike expected the mall started operations with 30% vacancy pushing the total vacancy of the up by 7%. Almost all malls in the city registered a stable rental trend during 2013, other than those located in NTR Gardens, which witnessed a 17% dip in rentals due to lower demand from retailers. Stable demand and excess supply in prime main streets like Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills have kept the rentals stable over the year. Thus, Hyderabad remained an affordable destination for retailers compared to other Tier I cities. Although, on a whole most main streets have recorded stable rentals, Panjagutta witnessed an increase of 29% on y-o-y basis due to lack of quality retail spaces. Kolkata In 2013, Kolkata witnessed total mall supply of around 500,000 sf recording an increase of over 156% compared to last year. Kolkatas first mall with dedicated zones for luxury brands has become operational in the south central part of the city during the Q4 2013 with around 97% occupancy levels. As a result of a healthy demand, especially in malls of South Kolkata, churn in Salt Lake and Elgin Road and overall moderate supply, the overall vacancy levels in malls registered decline all through the year and fell to 3.9%, recording a drop of 1.8 percentage points on a yearly basis and also registered appreciation in rentals by 11% at malls in Salt Lake and South Kolkata. Other mall micro markets have witnessed stable rentals during this year. Mumbai Mumbai has witnessed just one new mall becoming operational during the year in Thane, admeasuring 940,000 sf. With new supply becoming operational during the year at high occupancy rate coupled with healthy demand for mall space in the western suburbs of Mumbai, the overall vacancy declined marginally by 0.2 pecentage points during the year and was recorded at 15.3% in Q4 2013. With retailers from malls in Mulund moving to better locations in Ghatkopar, vacancies in that mall micro-market have increased resulting in a 20% decline in rental values in 2013. Going forward, low demand from retailers and high vacancy will result in increased pressure on rental values in this micro market. The submarkets of Vashi (17%) and Lokhandwala Andheri (13%) witnessed the highest appreciation in main street rentals for the year 2013 due to high demand for space from retailers. Though Linking Road witnessed a correction of 12% in main street rentals for 2013 due to higher availabilities, availabilities at Linking Road created over the past few quarters have witnessed a steady take-up from the apparel brands at competitive rentals. NCR No new mall supply during the year along with increased leasing in NCR led to a 1.2 percentage points drop in mall vacancy level which was recorded at 13.6% in Q4 2013. Demand was balanced with both main streets and malls witnessing retailer interest.. Re-sizing and relocation of retailing stores was witnessed with a number of national and international brands taking up larger or smaller spaces according to their brand strategy and availabilities. Except Ghaziabad and West Delhi, most prominent mall locations witnessed increase of 7-12% in rental values due lack of new mall supply and limited availabilities. The rental values in main streets have strengthened by 6-15% in select main street locations like Connaught Place, DLF Galleria (Gurgaon) and Rajouri Garden due to persistent demand and limited availability of quality stock. Pune Out of four malls expected to come into supply, only one mall in Hadapsar admeasuring 700,000 sf became operational in 2013. The mall started operations with its anchor tenants of a big box retailer and a movie multiplex in place whilst the other stores are yet to start their operations in due course. The other three malls were deferred mainly due to construction delays resulting from subdued demand from retailers for certain locations. The mall vacancy level increased and was noted at 26.49% in Q4 2013. Many retailers have shown a preference for main streets over malls due to reasons such as relatively poor quality of the malls, issues with management or location, etc. all of which are affecting their revenues. However, some quality malls on Nagar Road are witnessing high demand from retailers. As a result mall rentals on Nagar Road have remained steady while the rest of the city has witnessed a drop of 12-24% over the last year. F&B retailers and youth-centric brands have displayer higher preference for FC Road leading to a yearly rental appreciation of 9%. Main streets in western areas of Pune (Aundh, Baner) have seen an increase in demand from retailers over the year due to the growth of residential catchment leading to a 6% y-o-y rental appreciation. Main streets like M.G.Road, Koregaon Park and Bund Garden Road have recorded a rental correction of 5-10% in rentals due to increasing competition from other main streets and stable demand.

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39% rise in new mall supply in 2013: Cushman & Wakefield

Whether your home has suffered a tiny bit of smoke damage or complete fire and water destruction, the cleanup process can leave you overwhelmed. In this week's Angie's List report, Nancy Naeve has more on why you should hire a professional to clean and your restore your home and its' belongings.

"We had little bit of a rain back in May and during that time our sump pump failed and we had about four inches of water throughout the finished basement downstairs," Homeowner Steve Westervelt said. The water damaged Steve Westervelt's drywall and carpet.

"The restoration company that we worked with did an excellent job because they took pictures of everything they were going to take out for repair. That kind of helps because sometimes you just kind of forget what you had and what was taken," Westervelt said.

Cleaning up water and smoke damage quickly is important because if left untreated, the damage can become a bigger problem, costing more money to repair. Companies that specialize in remediation and restoration are staffed with professional technicians who have extensive experience use heavy duty equipment to help remove mold, mildew, smoke and odors from your home and belongings.

"It's very important when you have a major fire or flood and your contents are being packed out of your home that the company doing it does complete photographic inventory, bar coding, scanning of all contents so it can be tracked from start to finish from the home to the restoration facility and back into the home," Restoration Company Owner Kenny Cochran said.

"When going through the items that you might have lost in the fire or flood, you first need to access what their value was, how much it would cost to replace them because that's going to help you make some of these decisions a little easier. Obviously the sentimental things are going to be a lot tougher. But that sofa you paid $1,000 for, if it's going to cost $800 to repair it, you might just want to go ahead and get a new one," Angie's List Founder Angie Hicks said.

A fire or flood can you leave you feeling desperate for help, but homeowners should still research contractors thoroughly and get estimates in writing.

"Finding one before the problem arises is always a good idea because you want to make sure that you do all your vetting because a quick decision could result in more pain and headache down the road then spending a little extra time doing your research," Hicks said.

Most homeowners don't plan for a disaster, but you should. Go room by room in your home and take photos of your possessions. Keep important documents and receipts in a fire safe, waterproof container.

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Angie's List Report: Restoring Water Damage

The Garvin House at Bluffton's Oyster Factory Park on Dec. 16, 2013. Though the structure of the former freedman's home has been stabilized, the effort to restore it has stalled. JAYKARRStaffphoto|BuyPhoto

The town of Bluffton has restarted its push to restore the Garvin House, the earliest-known home owned by a freed slave along the May River.

The town is accepting bids from engineers and architects for a structural assessment and preservation plan for the historically significant cabin, which should be completed in six months, according to town spokeswoman Debbie Szpanka.

The deadline for bids is Jan. 20, the first step in what town Historic Preservation Society president Nick Maxim hopes to be the restoration of the historic home in Oyster Factory Park.

"Of the properties out there right now, this is definitely No. 1 on our agenda," said Maxim, who also serves on the town's Historic Preservation Commission and owns contracting firm Arkbuilt LLC.

"There are voices of concern in the community: 'What's going to happen? ... Is it going to continue rotting?'"

This isn't the town's first attempt to repair the deteriorating piece of history.

In 2009, town planners stabilized the cabin to prevent it from collapsing.

The clapboard structure was rid of termites, supported by heavy beams and covered with a tarp to protect from the rain.

The town then hired the Living History Group of Charleston to create a preservation plan and paid the consultant with a $40,000 matching grant from the S.C. Department of Archives and History, according to town documents.

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Bluffton restarts push to restore ex-slave's home

Published: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 at 5:30 a.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 at 11:29 a.m.

His house along Barring Place was one of 171 homes damaged by a tornado that ripped through sections of Palm Coast on Saturday night. No injuries were reported but several heartbroken homeowners were coping with the emotional aftermath Monday, faced with the daunting and expensive task of cleaning up.

Bispo took a long look at the tree, shook his head and told his wife, I don't want to deal with this.

By Sunday morning, Bispo's despondence was replaced by a sense of purpose. He and his wife knew what kind of cleanup was awaiting them and they got started.

Tree cutters, restoration companies and community outreach organizations began working around the clock Sunday and Monday. The buzz of chain saws reverberated throughout the neighborhoods hardest hit by the storm in particular, the area of Indian Trails and Pine Lakes, which was cluttered with downed trees and house debris. Much of it was shoveled and moved into piles along the road, waiting to be hauled away.

The twister formed shortly before 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Espanola, an unincorporated area in western Flagler County, and swooped into Palm Coast. The storm, confirmed as an EF-1 tornado, included wind speeds ranging from 86 to 110 mph, according to the National Weather Service. It blew out windows, knocked down trees and ripped away roof shingles.

It removed the entire roof from Johnny Coberly's house along Bannerwood Lane. A large chunk of it was lying in the front yard of his neighbor's property across the street.

Unlike the Bispos, who were in Ocala when the storm wrecked their home, Coberly, 77, was sitting on the sofa in his living room. He said he heard booming sounds and headed toward a safer section of his home. Before he could brace

himself, the tornado engulfed his home, knocking him from the hallway into his bathroom.

It was like the highest velocity air-blower you could think of, he said. I thought a bomb went off.

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Tornado cleanup, restoration under way in Palm Coast

Published: Tue, December 17, 2013 @ 12:05 a.m.

By David Skolnick

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Mayor-elect John McNally IV is retaining four current Cabinet members and will decide on the rest of the posts before taking office Jan. 1.

McNally, a Democrat who won the November general election, said Monday that he is keeping Harry L. Johnson III, water commissioner; Fire Chief John J. ONeill Jr.; Sean McKinney, buildings and grounds commissioner; and Finance Director David Bozanich.

Other Cabinet appointments will be made before the first of the year, McNally said.

Bozanich retired Dec. 28, 2012, and was rehired through the end of this year by Mayor Charles Sammarone.

Bozanich will serve as finance director while a search for his replacement is conducted, McNally said. Bozanich wants to leave city government soon, McNally said.

The incoming mayor said he intends to have a new finance director to city council by July 1, 2014. Council must confirm the mayors appointments to finance director under the city charter.

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Youngstown Mayor-elect McNally will keep 4 cabinet members

BERLIN Germany's finance minister on Monday said Berlin will decide quickly on a replacement for a top European Central Bank official who is returning to domestic politics, and praised a senior Bundesbank official who is seen as a front-runner.

ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen is becoming a deputy labor minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's new government. Asmussen, who has two young children, cited personal reasons.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Deutschlandfunk radio that the government "will consider carefully and quickly" who to propose for the influential ECB job.

Asked about media reports that Berlin favors Sabine Lautenschlaeger, the vice president of Germany's central bank, Schaeuble said "that is certainly a good thought." He says she has "great experience" of bank supervision, a job the ECB is taking on.

In other ECB business Monday, Danile Nouy of France was appointed by European Union governments to head the Supervisory Board in charge of banking supervision throughout the 17-nation euro zone.

"The appointment of the Supervisory Board chair marks an important milestone as the ECB establishes a single supervisory mechanism for banks in the euro area," European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said in a statement

"Mrs. Nouy brings almost 40 years of experience in banking supervision. Her appointment will allow the Supervisory Board to take up its work soon and put in place all organizational requirements with the aim of assuming our supervisory responsibilities starting on Nov. 4, 2014."

European Union finance ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Wednesday to try to put the finishing touches on an agreement on how to deal with failing or troubled banks in countries that use the euro currency.

Until recently, the ECB said in a news release, Nouy was secretary general of the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority. She formerly held the positions of deputy secretary general and secretary general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Her appointment as Supervisory Board chair begins Jan. 1 and will run for five years.

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German finance minister pledges quick decision on new European Central Bank executive