Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

The Port of San Diego went public yesterday with a draft Environmental Impact Report on a proposed expansion of the San Diego Convention Center and the neighboring Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel.

The convention center project, if completed, would add about 220,000 square feet of exhibit hall space, 101,000 square feet of meeting rooms, 78,000 square feet of ballroom area, and up to 42,500 square feet of visitor-serving retail space. Upgrades to the Hilton would add a new hotel tower with up to 500 guest rooms, plus a 10,000 square foot spa, 2,500 square feet of retail, and about 55,000 square feet of additional meeting space. Additional components include a five acre public rooftop space above the convention center expansion, relocation of the existing Water Transportation Center, and necessary infrastructure improvements.

Included in the report were a host of issues brought forward by the public during a comment period that ran through January. Of four concerns regarding the impact on neighborhood aesthetics and visual quality, all were dismissed, with the reports authors ICF International finding that no mitigation would be needed.

Implementation of the Proposed Project would not substantially degrade the existing visual character or quality of the site and its surroundings, the report says, also stating that there would be no glare created from the new buildings that would harm water views and that there would be no impact on Pacific Highway, designated a state scenic road.

In order to control air quality and dust during construction, a number of fixes are suggested, including implementing a policy that delivery trucks that would be waiting for a period more than three minutes shut off their engines rather than idle, and that the site be watered down twice daily, with any dirt tracked out from trucks entering or leaving the site to be removed within 30 minutes. For longer term pollution impacts, the study suggests altering the Regional Air Quality Plan growth projections to simply allow for more pollution than is currently permitted.

Another issue raised through the public input process is impact on native bird species. During construction, the report suggests creating barriers between construction and nesting habitats, but debates whether the removal of trees used by birds for nesting is consequential when interpreting the language of pertinent law.

Under the [Migratory Bird Treaty Act], take means only to kill; directly harm; or destroy individuals, eggs, or nests; or to otherwise cause failure of an ongoing nesting effort, the report reads, making the argument that proposed mitigation efforts would be sufficient despite the removal of mature trees from the site. Further efforts are proposed to limit the number of birds harmed from collisions with reflective surfaces that may be incorporated into the design of the new buildings, such as stepped back building design, protruding balconies, recessed windows, and mullioned glazing systems.

With regard to other natural features including sea life and plant life on and near the site, the report concludes that contribution to cumulative biological resources impacts would be less than cumulatively considerable.

It is also suggested by the studys authors that a qualified archaeologist and paleontologist be employed to monitor excavation of the site both before it begins and throughout the digging process to identify items of significance worth preserving, as were discovered when construction was taking place on the Hiltons parking garage, which led to the designation of the land as a significant historical site.

Should any fossils or artifacts from early native society be discovered during the course of excavation, construction could stop or be diverted for a period in order to allow for the qualified removal of such items.

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New Standalone Store to Showcase the Samsung Ecosystem

MISSISSAUGA, ON, May 17, 2012 /CNW/ - Samsung Electronics Canada today announced that construction has commenced on the first Samsung branded store in Burnaby, B.C. Located in the Metropolis at Metrotown, the Samsung store is designed to help Canadians pursue their passions with an exciting new way to experience and interact with Samsung's line up of mobile, personal computing, and consumer electronics products, in a standalone retail location.

"Samsung is excited to bring a new level of retail experience to Canadians," said James Politeski, President of Samsung Electronics Canada. "Our vision is to provide an immersive space where consumers can interact with our products in totally new ways and enjoy unprecedented service levels."

With unique design elements and a broad product offering, the Samsung store will provide Canadian consumers with a premium retail experience. The store will showcase Samsung's technology leadership and enable consumers to experience firsthand the power of sharing content across multiple products.

"The launch of our Burnaby location is part of a larger retail strategy designed to offer Canadians an extraordinary environment to interact with the Samsung products they're most passionate about," added Politeski.

Samsung's dedication to industry leading customer service and in-store education will be led by fully trained Samsung experts utilizing the in-store education area, Smart Table technology and a tablet-based point-of-sale system. The stores will also feature accessories to complement the product offering.

The Samsung store is slated to open Summer 2012.

For more information about Samsung, please visit http://www.samsung.com

About Samsung ElectronicsCanada Samsung ElectronicsCanadadelivers unrivalled consumer experiences. Samsung enables Canadians to pursue their passions by offering a broad range of award-winning digital consumer electronics, IT, telecommunications and home appliance products. The Canadian arm upholds Samsung's global mission to provide consumers with innovative digital convergence products that possess exceptional technology, quality, features, performance and value. As a result of its commitment to innovation and unique design, Samsung has become one of the most decorated brands in the electronics industry. The company was ranked #17 in BusinessWeek/Interbrand "100 Best Global Brands" and was named as one of Fast Company's "50 Most Innovative Companies of 2011."

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First Samsung Store to Open in Canada

NEW YORK (AP) A new deal between the Bloomberg administration and a group of developers including the owners of the Mets calls for the remediation and redevelopment of a 20-acre area of the blighted Willets Point neighborhood next to Citi Field, adding retail and ultimately new housing in a time frame that extends past an initial proposed 10-year plan, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press.

The person requested anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter ahead of an announcement.

Under the agreement, the developers, Related Companies and Sterling Equities, would clean up the area and construct retail stores, including a mall in the Queens neighborhood. Then, no later than 2025, they would start construction on a mixed-use component that would include housing and measure anywhere from 1.3 million square feet up to 4.5 million square feet. The founders of Sterling Equities are Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, the owners of the Mets.

The redevelopment of the area, currently populated by auto-repair shops and junkyards and lacking infrastructure as basic as sewers, has long been a goal of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's. In 2007, he announced a 10-year initiative that would bring homes and commercial space to the area.

The new agreement extends past that period, but the person speaking to the AP said that by the original end point of 2017, much would have been done including the vital first step of cleaning the area up and construction of some of the retail spaces.

The person said that in conversations with potential developers, it was made clear to the city that the way to make the area somewhere that people wanted to live was by building the retail and other commercial space initially, that ''first you have to make it into a destination that people get used to visiting. Then over time you can convince people to come and live there.''

The person speaking the AP said remediation could start in the area in early 2014.

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AP source: New deal for area near Mets stadium

Posted: 4:17 pm Wed, May 16, 2012 By BurlGilyard Tags: Mall of America

The Mall of America is planning to build an addition on the north side of the complex in Bloomington, between the Sears and Nordstrom stores. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Owners of the Mall of America in Bloomington have been touting a Phase II expansion almost since the day the mall opened nearly 20 years ago. But now it appears that the plans will unfold piece by piece, rather than in a single large expansion of the mall.

Mall executives have plans for $200 million to $225 million addition on the malls north side, which will add another hotel, medical office space and more retail space.

This is part of the Phase II development Radisson Blu was part of Phase II, said Kurt Hagen, senior vice president of development with Triple Five Worldwide, the Edmonton, Alberta-based owner of the mall. The 500-room Radisson Blu hotel is under construction on the malls south side and slated to open in March 2013.

The latest expansion plans will combine retail, hotel and office space into a single building with two towers. The retail space will be on the lower three levels. Plans call for adding 135,000 square feet of retail space, about 140,000 square feet of medical office space and an as-yet-undetermined number of hotel rooms.

In 2009, the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic announced that it had signed a letter of intent for inclusion in the malls second phase. But no deal has been finalized. On Wednesday, a representative of the Mayo Clinic could not be reached for comment.

We are hopeful that Mayo would be the anchor of that [medical] office building, but we anticipate there will be other tenants in that office building, Hagen said. We think its a great fit.

Hagen said the retail mix for the space will emerge after the hotel and medical office plans take shape.

We think these would be higher-end retail tenants, Hagen said.

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Mall of America plans hotel/medical/retail addition

COLUMBIA, S.C., May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CMARK International, Inc. (CMIT.PK), a global provider of facility and logistic support services for government and commercial institutions, issued a shareholder letter.

Dear Valued CMARK International, Inc. Shareholders,

As we approach the second half of 2012, it is with great pleasure that I write this letter to share some recent corporate developments with you and thank you for your continued support, loyalty and belief in us through the years.

There have been significant changes for the better in the last year and you will find a summary of these developments but most of which should give you some immediate insight into the substantial progress we are making.

We have successfully achieved an up-listing on the pink sheets to Pink Current Information with a goal this year to become Fully Reporting. This was our first priority and commitment to you, our valued shareholders, to achieve this, so you have the transparency you deserve when evaluating your continued investment in CMARK.

Secondly, and equally important, we have made significant strides with our senior lender in overall debt restructure and fully completed in December of 2011 a complex conversion of approximately 80% of our debt to favorable equity, thereby reducing the senior debt on the balance sheet from over $11 million to $2.5 million. This has made many of those involved in the Company, much more comfortable in continuing a business association with CMARK overall.

Our senior lender also confirmed its long-term support by offering a working capital loan of $500,000 with favorable terms allowing us to execute on major business development activities and complete work in progress.

Operationally, I have personally negotiated with several of our top vendors for better net terms, freeing up some working capital for necessary human capital preservation and other vital ops issues. These relationships are now on solid footing.

Further to my personal operations management process we have reduced overhead over the past three years by approximately 70% including the consolidation of various physical office locations into one corporate office. As a function of this we have eliminated a lot of redundancy in those various offices, significantly reduced the costs of infrastructure and streamlined the corporate staffing accordingly to effective and efficient levels.

In our highly competent sales and marketing department, we have significantly narrowed our focus on certain product groups providing a more efficient marketing and sales effort, along with more concentrated engineering and design oversight. This has had a major impact on our team who are now thriving in this carefully cultured work environment! Additionally, we have substantially increased efforts in alternative energy projects, and our private brands offerings in food service equipment and furnishings.

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CMARK International, Inc. Has Issued a Shareholder Letter

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Toilet and Cabinet Locks

Units: About 183,000 toilet locks and 685,000 cabinet locks

Importer: Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG) Inc., of Columbus, Ind.

Hazard: Young children can unexpectedly disengage the toilet locks and gain access to water in the toilet, posing the risk of drowning. The cabinet locks are being recalled because young children can disengage the lock, posing the risk of injury from dangerous or unsafe items stored in the cabinet.

Incidents/Injuries: DJG has received 110 reports of toilet locks that did not adequately secure the lid, including eight reports of children, under the age of two, who were able to disengage or break the lock. In addition, DJG has received 278 reports of cabinet locks that did not adequately secure the cabinet, including 71 reports of children between the ages of eight months and five years old who were able to disengage the cabinet locks. In one of the reported incidents, a 13-month-old boy swallowed small, toxic beads from a craft kit. The child was admitted to the hospital, observed overnight and released the next day.

Description: This recall involves Safety 1st Sure Fit toilet locks with model numbers 48003 and 48103. The toilet lock is attached to the tank behind the lid and is intended to prevent a childs access to the toilet bowl. This recall also involves Safety 1st cabinet slide locks with model numbers 12013 and 12014. The cabinet slide lock is attached to cabinet knobs or handles to prevent access to the contents of the cabinet. Model numbers can be found on the back of the locks.

Sold at: Bed, Bath and Beyond, Burlington Coat Factory, Great Beginnings, Home Depot, Target and Walmart from January 2005 through April 2010 for between $8 and $20 for the toilet locks, and from January 2000 through March 2009 for between $2 and $11 for the cabinet locks. Amazon.com sold both locks through April 2012.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately remove the recalled locks and contact DJG for a free replacement lock of a different model. When removing the recalled locks, consumers are urged to immediately store dangerous items out of reach of children and to prevent unsupervised access to bathrooms.

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Safety 1st Toilet and Cabinet Locks Recalled Due to Lock Failure; Children Can Gain Unintended Access to Water and ...

Robert Foley is considered the most prolific killer on Kentucky's death row after being convicted of six murders. Now, he needs a hip replacement, leading to heated debate among prison officials, hospitals, and surgeons about how to balance the needs of inmate care with the need for security and $56,000 price tag on the procedure.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. A condemned killer's fight to receive surgery for agonizing hip pain pushed Kentucky officials into an uncomfortable debate over security, politics and even the possibility of inviting scorn from Fox News pundits.

Emails and memos obtained by The Associated Press show corrections officials struggling for a year to reconcile their duty to provide medical care with the political ramifications of spending tens of thousands of dollars for surgery on a man they plan to execute. A key problem would turn out to be security issues that led several hospitals to balk at treating inmate Robert Foley, who still hasn't had the surgery.

"Hip replacement for an inmate who has exhausted all appeals and will soon be executed?" Kentucky State Penitentiary warden Phil Parker wrote in an email on Nov. 22, 2010. "I can see this making Fox News on a slow news day, maybe even on a busy news day. In fact, I bet (Fox News host Bill O'Reilly) would love to put this in his `Pinheads' commentary. Just a thought to consider before it goes too much further."

Prison officials also made contingency plans to call off the surgery if Gov. Steve Beshear set an execution date, and they considered whether to consult with him about the procedure.

"I think it is that important and all this may have political consequences," Parker wrote a year before Beshear's re-election. Ultimately, Beshear's spokeswoman said he wasn't contacted about it.

Foley, 55, was convicted of killing six people in eastern Kentucky in 1989 and 1991, making him the most prolific killer on the state's death row. His status as an extremely dangerous prisoner was a key factor in the state's difficulty finding a surgeon and hospital, according to the documents obtained through a public records request and a lawsuit filed by Foley.

Foley still hasn't had the surgery, with Parker lamenting in an email they had no options after an exhaustive search.

State officials deny that politics played a role, and there's no evidence in the documents that political considerations prevented the surgery.

A spokeswoman for the Kentucky Justice Cabinet which oversees corrections and law enforcement declined to comment because of the pending lawsuit.

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Robert Foley's Death Row Hip Replacement Debated Among Kentucky Prison Officials

More than 800,000 Safety 1st cabinet locks and toilet locks that are intended to keep children from danger are being recalled after hundreds of parents reported that they don't work, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced.

This comes just two months after the same company recalled 900,000 Safety 1st Push N Snap cabinet locks, also due to lock failure.

Dorel Juvenile Group, the parent company of Safety 1st, says it received 278 reports that cabinet locks either didn't properly secure cabinets and another 110 reports that the toilet locks didn't work right. Among those were reports of dozens of small children who were able to open the supposedly childproof locks.

Generally, companies are required by federal law to immediately report product failures with the potential to lead to serious injury. Consumers can report potential product defects on the government's SaferProducts.gov site.

The products being recalled are:

The recalled products were made in China and sold at Bed, Bath and Beyond, Burlington Coat Factory, Great Beginnings, Home Depot, Target and Walmart. The toilet locks were sold from January 2005 through April 2010 for between $8 and $20 and the cabinet locks were sold between January 2000 through March 2009 for between $2 and $11. The CPSC said Amazon.com sold both locks through April 2012.

If you have any of the recalled products, you are asked to remove them - and any dangerous contents from the cabinets - and contact Dorel to get replacement locks.

For more information, call Dorel at (877) 416-8105 weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time or go to their website.

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Safety 1st cabinet locks and toilet locks recalled after hundreds fail

ANTIOCH, Ill., May 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Antioch Hotel & Suites is celebrating the completion of a major renovation, remodeling and rebranding as a full-service BEST WESTERN PLUS hotel. The Lake County community is invited from 6 -- 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22nd for complimentary hotel tours, a 6:30 p.m. ribbon cutting with Antioch Mayor Lawrence Hanson, as well as live music and complimentary hors d'oeuvres.

The Antioch Hotel & Suites Best Western Plus is in the heart of Lake County, IL, overlooking Lake Antioch. It is in close proximity to Chain O' Lakes State Park, the Port of Blarney, and the area's other popular recreational facilities. It is less than a one hour drive from both downtown Chicago and Milwaukee.

The multi-million dollar renovation included all 68 guestrooms and suites as well as the hotel's lobby, the indoor/outdoor pool and Jacuzzi, the addition of a state-of-the-art exercise room, and new mixed-use meeting and banquet space located off of the lobby. The hotel also added Antioch's only lakefront lounge, Fox's, with its fabulous 2,000 square foot outdoor patio, large all-season fireplace and fiber optic lighting.

The 2500-square foot indoor heated swimming pool & Jacuzzi tub has also been completely remodeled with expanded outdoor sundecks that can be cross-utilized as function space. Inside the hotel, the new decor is sophisticated and welcoming incorporating natural stone and warm colors. Guests are greeted in the lobby by a beautiful grand porcelain surround fireplace and seating area. The new breakfast bar opens to the lobby and creates a comfortable place to enjoy breakfast or a meal throughout the day. Each of the guestrooms and suites includes new 37 inch flat screen TVs, new plush pillow-top bedding, updated bathrooms, contemporary furnishings including a work and seating area, and an in-room coffee maker, mini-fridge and microwave.

The BEST WESTERN PLUS Antioch Hotel & Suites offers a wide array of amenities, including a complimentary hot breakfast, complimentary wireless access, local telephone calls and long distance access, a business center, and an onsite laundry.

The BEST WESTERN PLUS Antioch Suites & Hotels is located at 350 West Highway 173, Antioch, IL . It is owned by New Midwest Hotels Antioch, LLC. For information and reservations visit: http://www.AntiochSuites.com or call: 847.395.3606.

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The Best Western Plus Antioch Hotel & Suites Completes Re-Branding and Renovation

A new tower is taking shape on Hamiltons industrial skyline.

ArcelorMittal Dofascos $120-million No. 6 galvanizing line will eventually be 65 metres tall and will be clad in high-strength steel produced in the plant.

It is state of the art. It has all the bells and whistles in terms of fuel efficiency and it will allow us to create a greater product range, said Tony Valeri, vice-president of corporate communications and public affairs.

No. 6, which is replacing No. 2 galvanizing line, will enable the development and production of a range of advanced high-strength steels that are in high demand in the auto sector, said Valeri.

Its the key steel product to (original equipment manufacturer) car designers because it adds less vehicle weight but improved safety, said Valeri.

We want to be the supplier of choice. Its a high-value product.

The flat sheets of steel are dipped in zinc, travel up one side of the tower to be annealed (a heating process that brings hardness and consistency to the coated steel) and then travel down the other side of the tower to be cooled, strengthened and levelled.

The tower design will improve the quality, consistency and reliability of the steel, said Valeri.

The tower controls the final thickness of the coating on the steel and also cools the steel strip in a controlled manner. A vertical tower is more efficient compared to a horizontal arrangement, the company said.

The project is about halfway completed. The line is fully designed, the majority of engineering is done and most of the equipment has been manufactured. What remains is equipment installation, commissioning and startup, the company said.

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Tower taking shape at Hamilton steelmaker