Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

The Kokomo-Howard County Public Librarys Outreach Building is looking good from the outside, but library officials indicated this week theyll need additional funds to complete the project.

Last year, the library board appropriated $875,000 for the new building, which sits just to the east of the Main Library downtown.

Friday, library interim director Peg Harmon said the building project is on schedule and on budget, and said plans are to begin moving into the building this summer.

But board members heard Monday about another $36,000 in proposed additions to the building, items which werent included in the building plans.

The biggest chunk of the additional expenses is for telecommunications infrastructure, including phones, cabling and a Wi-Fi system. Also being considered are $5,450 for shelving and $4,425 for a door access system.

The new building will house the librarys collection management and outreach departments.

Collection management catalogs new materials and prepares them for the librarys public collection, and also culls dated materials from the shelves. Outreach deals primarily with the librarys two bookmobiles.

A large garage where the bookmobiles will be parked is included in the building.

Harmon said the board received information on the additional items Monday, but didnt take any action.

Board members originally hoped to complete both the renovation of the Main Library and the outreach building for a total of $4.5 million.

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Library building costs may rise to finish project

In 1980, John Mendenhall found three 1880 J. R. Scott campaign posters in a home he was restoring. The Commercial-News did a full-page article on Mendenhalls restoration project on the historic house Enoch Newkirk built, but little was written about the politicians competing in the election mentioned on the posters. The posters had been carefully folded. Two were placed in a newel post and the third behind the trim on a kitchen door. They had been there 100 years when John found them.

I have always wondered who J. R. Scott was, and how he did in the election, John told me as he showed me one of the posters in his Danville home. He lives in the Renaissance District and the rooms of his home are furnished with heirlooms from the past. He has a deep appreciation for fine woodcraft of the past, and the expertise to restore it.

The candidates in 1880 were James R. Scott and Joseph Gurney Cannon (Uncle Joe) and they were competing for a seat in Congress. Scott was a wealthy farmer and was representing the Democrats. Cannon was the incumbent Republican and he was running for his fifth term as a U. S. representative.

Scott was campaigning on the issue the Greenback Party backed. That was the printing of paper money by the government rather than a monetary system based on gold and silver. The party believed flooding the market with new greenbacks would allow farmers to pay off their debts with cheaper dollars. Farmers were attempting to recover from a severe recession that followed the Civil War.

Cannons supporters referred to Scott as a democratic greenback puttyhead and noted the incumbent by all means should be sent back to Washington. But Scott also had his supporters and one of them was Danville Medal of Honor recipient John Charles Black. When Black spoke at the Lincoln Opera House on Danvilles Main Street, he backed Scott and the Democratic ticket with a fiery speech that his party cheered. The Republicans cited the address as being as bitter as wormwood and gall.

Campaign events in 1880 werent only speeches by the candidates; there was also entertainment. Nearly every village had a band and they played at these events. Uncle Joe Cannon also was assisted at his engagements by the Rough and Ready Glee Club of Danville.

Scott was a worthy candidate; he was credited with assisting in establishing the University of Illinois and was very active in various agricultural organizations. But Cannon did not take him seriously enough to include him in his memoirs; the election of 1880 was not mentioned. Cannon felt the contest of 1874 was his greatest contest to date, when he was opposed by James H. Pickerel of Harristown. Like Scott, Pickerel was supported by the Democrats and Greenbackers. Cannon recalled they gave him a lot of trouble in that contest.

Pickerel, like Scott, was a wealthy farmer and he had a prize bull, which he took with him to fairs where farmers showed their livestock. Fairs were fine venues for political speakers during the era, and Cannon noted Pickerel used his bull to draw a crowd, and would then deliver a speech.

On one occasion Cannon was speaking and noticed his listeners were drifting away. He then discovered Pickerel had moved his bull near enough for the people to see him and they were going over for a look. He told the crowd, I see there are three candidates here Mr. Pickerel, the bull and me and I would like to know whether you are going to vote to send Pickerel or the bull to Congress in my place. Cannon observed that statement was soon being told all over the district and it ran Pickerel and the bull out of the campaign.

Scott didnt have a bull to draw a crowd, but he did speak often and effectively to large audiences in the county. What has he (Cannon) done? was a question posed by the Democrats. Evidently the voters thought he had done enough, for they sent Uncle Joe back to Congress. But Scott did give him a run in Vermilion County, defeating him in four townships; Blount, Carroll, Newell, and Sidell.

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Posters recall Cannon’s 1880 opponent

Staff Writer

Rob Mauldin is no playwright, but he is hoping to write a third act for a building that has already seen 130 years of Augusta history.

JACKIE RICCIARDI/STAFF

Rob Mauldin, the vice president and principal architect at 2KM Architects, gives a tour of the Phinizy House. The firm is working to restore the downtown complex, built about 1882.

JACKIE RICCIARDI/STAFF

Rob Mauldin shows the detail on an old doorknob. Former mayor Jacob Phinizy built the home.

JACKIE RICCIARDI/STAFF

2KM project manager Michael Grenz, who is trained in art restoration, is studying several murals that were discovered.

It began as the fine home of a wealthy man during Americas Gilded Age. Its second act lasted more than 60 years as the last place thousands of Augustans passed through on their way to a final resting place.

Now workers are restoring the rambling complex on the corner of Monument and Greene streets after it sat empty and crumbling for almost a decade. Mauldin said when he and his partner, Dan King, bought the property in 2010, roof leaks and general neglect had taken a heavy toll.

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Augusta firm is restoring 130-year-old Phinizy home

Compared with some of the projects receiving awards from the Rock Island Preservation Society, Robert Frinks rebuilding of a front porch along 30th Street may seem small.

It is not.

Porches are one of the most vulnerable parts of a homes exterior, and if extensive repairs are needed, owners often simply remove the porch, said Diane Oestreich, a member of the society. When that happens, a home is diminished, as is the entire block on which it sits.

At 2401 30th St., not only did Frink replace the porch, but he also did it right, Oestreich said.

The railings, deck and ventilated skirting under the porch were completely restored with new wood and then stained, and all of the parts are in keeping with the look and scale of the 1920s home, she explained.

Frink said that, for several reasons, he never would have considered removing the porch.

To a lot of people, (the neighborhood) is not that interesting, but to me it is very interesting, he said. Workmens cottages and period homes give the street a nice feel and he wanted to retain that.

Second, regardless of whether one sits on the porch, the structure benefits the homeowner by serving as a sound barrier. There is enough mass in the front that the sound is deadened, Frink explained.

Third, the character of the house needed it (the porch) to stay there, he said.

The porch columns were salvaged with rebuilding, but virtually everything else was replaced with new wood, including the custom-made skirting.

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Historic Preservation Awards: Frink cited for restoration

Almost one year ago, Springfields Hope Institute for Children and Families welcomed a member of outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daleys cabinet as Hopes new president and chief executive officer.

Hope officials had hoped Chicago resident Mary Ellen Caron would be a long-term replacement for Joseph Nyre, who resigned to become a college president after almost eight years at the helm of Hope, a 55-year-old education, health and social-service agency for children with autism and other developmental disabilities.

But after 4 1/2 months on the job, Caron resigned unexpectedly last fall with no apparent job prospects elsewhere, according to Hope spokesman Mark Schmidt.

We went through a large nationwide search to find her, Schmidt said last week. We hated to see her go.

He said Caron decided on her own that the job wasnt a good fit for her.

Hopes chief financial officer, Springfield resident Clint Paul, was named interim president and CEO effective Nov. 1, and Hope officials have begun to look for someone to fill the permanent leadership post.

A search is under way, Schmidt said. The process is active and ongoing.

Springfield ties

Paul, 39, a certified public accountant who previously worked as controller for Bunn Capitol, is being considered for the permanent position.

This is an exciting time to be part of The Hope Institute, and I am pleased to have the support of our directors, trustees and an excellent staff as we move this organization forward, Paul said in a statement.

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Hope Institute seeking second new president in last year

BY JENNIFER V. HUGHES

When it comes to renovation projects, contractors say homeowners often don't (pardon the pun) think outside the box.

MARKO GEORGIEV / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Jennifer Scherer in her new, bigger closet. Her contractor removed a built-in and took space from another room.

Want a closet? You can steal some space from a neighboring room. Want a room? You can repurpose that little-used closet into something more practical. When your contractor takes a peek behind your walls, you might be surprised to find you have usable space you never knew existed.

A savvy contractor can often come up with an innovative solution for home design and construction problems.

"People sort of get tunnel vision," says Richard Graniere, owner of Wayne-based Advantage Contracting. "They work in the existing space instead of working within the outside perimeters of the house. They get blinded by the walls.

'Open things up'

One of the easiest ways to repurpose space is to take down non-load-bearing walls, and Graniere says most walls in your home are non-load bearing. Even a load-bearing wall can be removed, but it requires support beams to be erected in its place.

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Tapping in to your hidden space

26-05-2012 15:59 Window Replacement

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Anderson Full-Frame Window Replacement - Installing Windows - Video

Editor's note: Every Sunday, Fortune publishes a story fromour magazine archives. This week we turn to a 2005 story about Martha Stewart trying to stage a comeback, after the business tycoon served time following charges of insider trading. It has been a bumpy road since, butStewart has proven to be a survivor.Last week, the domestic diva was named non-executive chairman of the media and merchandise company she created, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Stewart had returned to the board last year at the end of a five-year legal ban that prohibited her from serving as a board member or as an executive of a public company. Now back in the helm of the boardroom, she will help set the direction of the business at a time when her brand is under pressure. Martha Stewart Living reported narrower losses during the first quarter. And while Stewart's daily talk show on the Hallmark Channel was recently dropped, it has been picked up by PBS and will air in the Fall. Can Stewart turn things around?

The inside story of how the unsinkable Ms.Stewartstaged her comeback--transforming her board, remaking public opinion, invading prime time. Now the hard part: making it last.

By Patricia Sellers, Reporter Associate Eugenia Levenson

IFMARTHAStewart's troubles have dimmed her self-confidence, you'd never know it from talking with her. When she was offered a starring role in The Apprentice, she tells me one afternoon, "I thought I was replacing The Donald. It was even discussed that I would be firing The Donald on the first show." It's a cold, damp October day, andStewartis holding forth in her tidy, glass-walled office on the 24th floor of her company's Midtown Manhattan headquarters. Her prime-time NBC TV show, The Apprentice:MarthaStewart, has launched with lackluster ratings, but the blame, as she sees it, lies not with her performance or her personal brand being a tad overexposed but with the overexposure of The Apprentice itself. Not until shortly before she "got home," she says--from a five-month federal prison stay--did she learn that Trump's show would remain on the air too. And when did Trump learn that she intended to bump him off his own show? "I don't think he ever knew," she says.

Stewartbetrays no disappointment in her show's numbers. In fact, she describes it as a triumph. "We're getting six to seven million viewers a night," she says. "Guess what? That's damn good. People walk away from the show thinking, 'What a nice company that is,' and 'Boy, do they do good things.'" Would a runaway hit have been better? Of course. But in her view, she is getting prime-time product placement--the product, of course, isMartha--just when she needs it most. Her face is on billboards and buses across the country. It's a tremendous promotional platform, more valuable than millions in ad dollars could buy.

And so the redemption ofMarthaStewart--media mogul, multimedia superstar--continues. Maybe you loathe her. Maybe you love her. Either way, it's hard not to be amazed by her dramatic reversal of fortune. A year ago she was incarcerated at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in the hills of West Virginia, for lying to government investigators about a suspicious stock trade. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,"Stewartsays. "I fell in a hole." Today, at 64, she is ubiquitous. Her flagship magazine,MarthaStewartLiving, has seen ad pages jump 48%; her new advice book, TheMarthaRules, is on the New York Times bestseller list. She's landed a syndicated daytime TV show, a $30 million satellite radio deal with Sirius, a DVD deal with Warner Home Video, a music deal with Sony BMG, even a partnership with KB Home to buildMarthaStewart--branded residential communities. After plunging from a peak of $295.6 million in 2001 to $187.4 million last year, revenues at her company,MarthaStewartLiving Omnimedia (MSLO), are rebounding to an expected $208 million this year; after the company's seven consecutive quarters of losses, Wall Street projects a return to profitability in 2006.

None of it happened by chance. As I learned in the course of a year's reporting and multiple interviews withStewart, she plotted this comeback with her signature painstaking precision--practically from the day she was convicted. While she benefited from America's well-known fascination with celebrity resuscitations, her return may be the strongest evidence yet of her strategic sense and business acumen.Stewarthas installed first-rate management at MSLO: CEO Susan Lyne, the former top programmer at ABC, and chairman Charles Koppelman, the onetime boss of EMI Records North America. (Don't let his role asStewart's smiling, cigar-chomping sidekick on The Apprentice fool you; he's a power in the company.)Stewart's operatic fall and thunderous return speak volumes about the resiliency of this entrepreneur who was America's first self-made female billionaire. She's No. 21 on our2005Most Powerful Women list, and she earned it the hard way.

Make no mistake: Serious risks persist forStewartand her company. She is a convicted felon and, her ongoing appeal and protestations of victimhood notwithstanding, was put away by a jury of four men and eight women who voted guilty on four counts. A Securities and Exchange Commission insider-trading investigation is pending. With her history of going from darling to devil to darling in the public eye, the mood could turn against her once more--and may already be souring. Her company's stock, which doubled during her prison stay, is down 47% since her release in March, reducing the value ofStewart's personal holdings from $1 billion to just over $500 million. Press accounts, once brutal and then ebullient, have turned chilly again. Is she overexposed? Perhaps, but she knows only one way to operate: full speed ahead. She never had a plan B for her comeback. And arguably, she doesn't need one. "I have learned,"Stewartsays, "that I really cannot be destroyed."

In July 2004 I metMarthaStewartfor dinner at Rebecca's, one of her favorite restaurants in Greenwich, Conn. It was just three days after she had been sentenced to five months in prison plus five months of house arrest--a fate she'd hoped to avoid even after her conviction. Advertisers were fleeing her flagship magazine, revenues were tanking companywide, profits were gone, and MSLO stock was trading at $11 a share. (Four years earlier it had been as high as $34). She'd been ridiculed on the front page of the New York Post two days before in a cut-and-paste picture of her in prison stripes.

Given all that,Stewartwas remarkably composed, dining on grilled tuna, enjoying a glass of white wine. "My daughter told me that all this makes me more interesting," she joked. "Great, if only I didn't have to go through it." She was struggling with whether to go to prison then or hold out through the legal appeal process. She called it "my conundrum." When I asked, perhaps foolishly, if she was at all curious about or intrigued by the idea of going to jail, her reply was classicMartha, tough and no-nonsense, delivered with a touch of hauteur: "Curious?! Intrigued?! No!"

Read more from the original source:
Remodeling Martha (Fortune 2005)

A recent Anchorage study reports that our office market is one of the healthiest in the country with a vacancy rate of 6.1 percent, compared to 16 percent nationally. The study was done for the Building Owners and Managers Association by Reliant Advisory Services, a local commercial real estate appraisal and advisory company.

Office vacancy in the city is down about 1 percent from last year, with class A at 5.5 percent and class B at 7.8 percent. But the picture is not quite that simple. The vacancy in the class A market is split. The three newer class A buildings in Midtown account for about half of the vacant class A space in the entire city. The other half of the vacant space is scattered through all the other class A buildings in town.

One of the results of this split is that larger blocks of class A space are only available in the new buildings. The remaining class A space is mostly smaller spaces, sort of like Swiss cheese, scattered among various buildings.

Class B also has a split in vacancy rate but this split is between downtown and the rest of the city. While the overall citywide class B vacancy rate is 7.8 percent, downtown class B buildings show a vacancy of 16.3 percent. The Alaska Railroad has recently remodeled warehouse space on First Avenue into office space that will be occupied by the U.S. Forest Service later this summer. When that occurs, the downtown vacancy rate will drop to 11 percent. Even so, downtown will continue to have a high vacancy rate.

The higher class B vacancy downtown is because downtown class B tenants do not need to be downtown, so downtown landlords are competing with landlords all over town. This situation is not the same for downtown class A landlords, because their tenants are primarily government and legal entities who need or want to be downtown.

Rents are mostly the same as last year. Class A new is about $3 a square foot and older class A is about $2.65. Class B is about $1.85 but varies with the quality of the building.

Elsewhere in town, South Anchorage has about a 6.4 percent vacancy, mostly in the Dimond Center. East Anchorage has been stable, with mostly institutional-type tenants.

Leasing activity picked up some in 2011 and 2012 looks to continue this trend. But overall the activity is nowhere near the previous pace. Most tenants are happy to renew where they are and landlords are glad to have them, avoiding the cost of a vacancy, leasing and tenant improvements.

There is concern in the market that new construction is going to cause a higher number of vacancies, not so much in the buildings constructed but in the buildings vacated by tenants moving into new buildings -- office space musical chairs. Leasing activity is the result of tenants moving around, not of new or expanding tenants.

The new 83,000-square-foot Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium building south of Alaska Native Medical Center will create a vacancy in its current East Anchorage location.

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Anchorage office market a bright spot in the nation

At times I felt like I had wandered into the 19th century, a character out of place in a Currier and Ives greeting card as I drove the rolling hills and picturesque towns of New England.

It was early May 2011, and spring in the Northeast was just starting to show itself from trees in bud to daffodils and tulips in bloom. I drove past wild lilac bushes that promised fragrant purple flowers. The scenery was everything I had imagined. My monthlong New Hampshire adventure had begun.

Earlier in the year, I had joined a website that matches people like me (wannabe travelers with a mean case of wanderlust) with people who need a temporary caretaker for their home and/or pets. Two months later, I got my first job. All I had to do was get from Texas to New Hampshire. It was time for a road trip.

After several days and 2,000 miles on the road, I was ready to unpack and stay put for a while.

The two-lane country road twisted and turned as it cut through thick New Hampshire woods, and I relaxed into a leisurely drive through the countryside. Tall pines stood like sentries along the road. I thought about New England at the holidays when these Christmas trees might be laden with snow.

Eventually, I saw a blinking caution light and the sign that announced Lyndeborough NH.

My destination.

Small town, long history

Founded in 1756, Lyndeborough has more people buried in its two cemeteries, some locals say, than the town's living population of about 2,000. A post office, library, town hall, general store, elementary school and village square make up the center of town. I barely blinked and I had passed through it.

My final turn was only a couple of miles down Highway 31. I began looking for my location markers; several mailboxes posted near a stone driveway that goes over a small hill, leading to a green Cape on the right. It couldn't be seen from the road and I loved that.

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A memorable month in Lyndeborough culminates with Memorial Day