Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Posted on May 21, 2020 at 12:52 pm by West Sider

By Rene Roden

The public got a first look at a major development project planned for 96th Street and Broadway at a Community Board 7 meeting held on the Zoom video conferencing platform on Wednesday.

Kenneth Lowenstein, speaking on behalf of Extell Development, and Jennifer Cheuck, architect at Stephen B Jacobs group, presented the developers plans for 2551 Broadway, the old site of Gristedes supermarket. Extell Development bought the site in 2017 and then demolished it, filing construction permits for a new building in January.

The buildings application surprised the committee members by only including one affordable unit in a building planned to take up approximately 276,578 square feet.

The site as it looked after demolition.

Lowenstein explained that the building is in R10-A zoning and is completely is an as of right building, meaning that the application does not require the community boards approval to move forward.

The building is under the voluntary inclusionary housing program, which means that, according to zoning rules, the building receives an extra 3.5 square feet of allotted space for every 1 square foot of affordable housing included in the building.

Lowenstein mentioned that the 2551 building is using the bonus space generated by 40 Riverside Boulevard building, which he said did not use all the bonus square footage allotted from its affordable housing units.

Included in the voluntary inclusionary program, the normal building height cap of 210 feet for as of right zoning in the district is increased to 235 feet. Given the steeply graded hill of West 96th Street leading up to Broadway, committee member Ira Mitchneck raised the question of how the height of the building would be measured. Architect Jennifer Cheuck did not give an answer as to the exact height of the building as measured both from Broadway and from 96th Street lobby but said that the 235 feet height is measured from the base plane, which is an average between the highest and the lowest point of the buildings foundation.

The affordable housing unit in the building is a 794 square feet one-bedroom unit, with the same fixtures as the other market-rate units. It will be an ownership unit sold through the HPD lottery. In the voluntary inclusionary housing program, the units remain affordable housing in perpetuity.

The Community Board met via Zoom.

As for the buildings facade, Cheuck said, it will be brick piers with large windows throughout the facade. Its not an all-glass building, it will have a brick facade with a lot of articulation and frames, to be a part of the Upper West Side neighborhood.

The ground floor will have a little over 9,000 square feet of retail space. Lowenstein said the owners wanted it to be a family-oriented, neighborhood-centered building, and hoped the retail establishments would reflect that. No mention of a parking garage was made.

Cheuck said that the firm did a preliminary study and they found no environmental issues. Traffic studies were not done, Lowenstein said.

When pressed on the plentiful construction in that five-block area, Cheuck said they were unaware of construction permits being filed for the neighboring site, 266 West 96th street.

Land Use Committee co-chair Seema Reddy asked about the construction timeline. Lowenstein said that he hoped that they would be allowed to start construction in the fall, and estimated construction would run three years. Cheuck clarified that construction was estimated to take about two years, and they were seeking a foundation permit to start construction as soon as the city is open this summer.

The committee urged the representatives for the new 2551 Broadway building to cooperate with the community, particularly to coordinate construction and traffic flows at the intersection to promote neighborhood safety. Ira Mitchneck asked where the staging area for the trucks for construction would be located and expressed his concern for construction staging taking up precious street space on Broadway.

Broadway and 96th Street and West End between 96th and 97th are consistently shown to be the most dangerous streets for pedestrians in our district, CB7 President Diller added. Diller ended the meeting by calling upon the 2551 Broadway representatives to join with us and Penny Ryan, our expert district manager, to form that construction advisory group.

Read more here:
Proposed 22-Story Building at 96th and Broadway Will Have One Affordable Unit, Developer Says - westsiderag.com

A rendering of the project at 2717 Van Buren Street

A French developer advanced plans to build a 78-unit cluster of rental apartments and townhouses on city-owned land west of downtown Hollywood near city hall.

Hollywood commissioners, in a unanimous vote Wednesday, directed city staff to negotiate a land-sale and development agreement with Prestigia Real Estate FJM Inc. The entity is part of family-owned Prestigia Immobilier International Group, founded in 1989 and based in Reims, France.

Prestigia offered to pay $1.2 million to acquire a 1.89-acre parking lot at 2717 Van Buren Street from the city of Hollywood. A local appraiser hired by the company estimated in October 2019 that the property is worth $960,000.

Our proposal is higher than our appraisal because we really want to develop this project and settle down in Hollywood to become a major actor in the continued renaissance of the city, Jihad Salahdine, COO of Prestigia Real Estate FJM, told commissioners during the meeting.

Prestigia submitted the only proposal in response to the citys request for proposals to acquire and redevelop the underused parking lot that is about two blocks southwest of city hall.

The planned development would have two four-story apartment buildings with a total of 63 units and two three-story townhouse buildings with a total of 15 units. The development also would include 111 parking places and a pool, according to a 108-page development proposal that Prestigia submitted to the city.

Monthly apartment rents would range from $1,195 for 57 one-bedroom, one-bathroom units to $1,570 for six two-bedroom, two-bathroom units. Monthly rents for the 15 townhouses would be about $2,300.

Prestigia is currently developing another South Florida project called Prestigia Pompano, designed as a mixed-use property with 51 residential units. The company, which is waiting for a permit to start construction, paid $800,000 for the development site at 30 Northeast 5th Street in Pompano Beach in a multi-parcel deal recorded Jan. 28, according to property records.

The Prestigia development in Hollywood, designed by locally based Kaller Architecture, would create an urban-village environment with lush landscaping, Raelin Storey, the citys communications, marketing and economic development director, told commissioners. This would be a new housing type for the immediate neighborhood, with high-end exterior and interior finishes, she said.

Prestigia expects to spend $16.8 million to develop the four-building residential complex, which would have about 85,000 square feet of interior space. Financing would include $4.9 million of equity and an $11.3 million mortgage, according to Prestigias proposal.

The company expects to obtain long-term mortgage financing from Socit Gnrale, and a construction loan from Miami-based International Finance Bank. Fort Lauderdale-based Moss Construction would be the general contractor, and Miami-based Lloyd Jones would be the property manager.

Follow this link:
French developer plans to build a cluster of rentals in Hollywood - The Real Deal

There's nothing particularly surprising about the fact a developer wants to build a four-storey, 30-unit apartment building in a residential Ottawaneighbourhood.

Nor isit shocking that the community opposes at least parts of the plan, whichwould see a 12-metre high complex built on Grenon Avenue, just east of the Bayshore Shopping Centre.The project would first require rezoning to allow more intensification on the property, and then an exception to that new zoning so it can be builtcloser to the lot line than usually permitted.

"This application is an effort on the part of the group of investors to exploit a unique and small land parcel in question to its maximum, without having to observe the rules of rezoning and construction," said Lisa Zanyk, a resident living next door,atthe city's planning committee last Thursday.

She's not wrong. The community was being asked not only to accept intensification which delegates said they did not object to but also to accept exceptions to the rules of that intensification.

But without an exemption, argue the developers, a housing complex wouldn't be feasible as it would only be six metres wide at one end.

It's a familiar quandary for the planning committee: should they uphold the agreed-upon rules, or grant an exceptionto fulfil the broader goal of intensification? But this particular conversation took on broader meaning, as it occurred just days after 20 hours of discussion on how Ottawa should grow over the next two decades a debate on the urban boundary that continues Tuesday for the third day.

And, oddly, it's an example that could be used by both sides.

This month, council will decide how to house the additional 400,000 residents forecasted to be living in Ottawa by 2046.

The city recommends adding 1,650 hectares to the suburbs of the 91,000 new homes that will be needed, the city wants almost half to be apartments, but also envisions 23,000 homes in what are now rural areas. Thousands of other homes also need to be squeezed into existing neighbourhoods, ones just like Grenon Avenue.

There appears to be intense interest in this debate, as councillors heard from 100 public delegations last week.

A number of environmental activists, community associations and other non-profits made appeals to hold the line on the urban boundary, positing that many residents are in favour of intensification if it's done well andin conjunction with the community.

Many in the home-building business, meanwhile, called for even more land be made available. One of their key arguments? There's too much community opposition to theintensification that would be needed by not expanding the boundary.

Developers could point to the Grenon Avenue project as a case in point.

In this project, the property owners a firm called Building Investments Inc. reduced the number of proposed units from 34 to 30, and moved all planned surface parking underground.

Staff supportthe proposal in its current form, and capped the maximum height at 12 metres. (Zoning for four-storey apartments actually allows heights ofabout 14 metres.)

There's a three-storey townhome complex next to the site, and a highrise just down the street, so proponents say afour-storey complex should be considered reasonable infill.

But the factsome community members opposed it will surely be used by those who argueintensification is too controversial and hence the urban boundary should be expanded.

Those who want little or even no expansion, however, can also use the Grenon example to bolster their argument. And many councillors on the planning committee did just that.

"If not here, where does this go?" asked InnesCoun. Laura Dudas.

Councillors conceded that the complex,which would be built onlargely open land, would be a significant change for the street's residents. Next-door-neighbours, for example, will be subjected to a long, tall wall once it'sbuilt an unpleasant prospect.

But planning committee members spoke in favour of intensification, despite the challenges.

"The residents of Kitchissippi are keen to see that they're not the only ward in which intensification is going to happen," said Coun. Jeff Leiper, whose own wardhas recently experienced a big jump in density relative to other areas of the city.

"They want it to happen everywhere around the city. We know that this pressure is going to be coming to the wards beyond just the downtown."

Rideau-GoulbournCoun. Scott Moffatt, however,saidthese sorts of imperfect proposals must be considered if the city is "to achieve our intensification targets."

"There's difficulty when we implement this type of stuff, and that's what we're going tosee," Moffatt said. "We've seen it already and we're going to see more of it as we as we move forward with our official plan."

It's a topic that will surely be discussed in more detail Tuesday, when councillors pepper staff with questions about urban growth, debate motions for everything from protected farmland to demands for more information, and vote on once-in-a-decade policy.

As for the Grenon Avenue project: the planning committee unanimously approved it.

View original post here:
How one apartment complex has become a microcosm of the urban boundary debate - CBC.ca

The developer behind a luxury project on Dubai's World Islands said its first homeowners will move in this year and that a desire for isolation could deliver more interest in the coming months.

Kleindienst Group said owners who bought into the Heart of Europe project would begin occupying villas on the man-made islands towards the end of 2020.

The project's 10 'palaces' featuring and private beaches have all been sold to mostly GCC buyers, though hundreds of smaller villas and flats remain under construction.

Chairman Josef Kleindienst said actual sales have dropped off due to the coronavirus pandemic, but there has been a rise interested parties.

We sold enough to fund what we are building. And it is important for us to build only what can be sold

Josef Kleindienst

Our sales dropped more than 50 per cent since corona started, he told The National during a tour of the sprawling island development.

New investors are not buying when they cannot visit."

But he said boats will begin taking investors over to the islands, 4km off the Dubai coast, from June 15.

Development on the World Islands has repeatedly stalled in the years following its construction in 2003 and handover to developers in 2008.

But significant progress on this latest project has been made in the past two years. Today, multistorey apartment and hotel buildings rise up from the low-lying islands.

Half a dozen floating 'seahorse villas' are lined up in a row and beachfront properties near completion.

Mr Kleindienst, an Austrian former police official turned businessman, said he would prove critics wrong.

I guarantee you by the end of 2020, people will have moved into our villas, floating villas and hotels, he said.

If anything, the lockdown that was put in place because of coronavirus has only increased productivity here.

"Nobody was allowed on or off the islands, so we were able to get people to work longer hours and pay them overtime.

Among the flagship properties is a Dh100 million beach palace on 'Sweden Island', now sold, with a price tag that rivals high-end Emirates Hills villas and Downtown penthouses.

Along with wealthy buyers, the project also relies on tourism spend to ensure it is a success.

Mr Kleindienst said the remote location would be attractive to people looking for a holiday, while maintaining social distancing.

Towards the end of the year, when the project is open, there are two possibilities, he said.

Either a solution will have been found for the virus or we will be able to test everyone coming here.

Everyone who is tested, and found not to have Covid-19, will be free to travel to the island and enjoy a holiday.

Portofino and Cote DAzure, the two hotels, together have almost 1,500 rooms, about the same as Atlantis on The Palm.

The global hotel industry is forecast to face significant challenges in the years ahead, but Mr Kleindienst insisted enough of the project has been sold to fund the rest of the work.

This week there were 1,200 workers on site pushed ahead with the hotels and apartments.

Our master plan allows us to build 4,000 bedrooms. We have 2,000 under construction today," he said.

"We sold enough to fund what we are building.

It is important for us to build only what can be sold.

The first of the floating villas sold for Dh5 million, about the same as an upmarket villa in a wealthy Dubai neighbourhood, while the last one to be sold went for Dh20m, he said.

The project has had some setbacks along the way.

It was reported in 2018 that one of the floating villas had sunk near the Burj Al Arab.

Mr Kleindienst said it was an events platform that had fallen into the sea, not one of the prestigious floating villas, as reported by some media, but that it was enough to make buyers think twice about investing.

We lost agreed sales because of that, he said.

We are seeing island destinations doing well globally in lockdown and it does have a USP to be successful. It was not something that was going to pop up overnight

John Stevens

Despite the anticipated economic impact of the pandemic, there were 1,824 property sales in Dubai in April, worth Dh3.62 billion, according to Property Finder. Seventy per cent were off-plan projects that are still to be built.

John Stevens, long-standing property consultant in Dubai, said the Heart of Europe project could arrive on the market at the right time.

"Hotels that were offering packages during the quarantine period in Dubai did amazingly well," said Mr Stevens, managing director of property management firm Asteco, which is not involved in the islands project.

"Some had occupancy levels as high as 70 per cent and there seems to be a move to find nice locations to sit it all out.

"The question is how long will it continue for though?"

He also said private villas on a neighbouring island off Dubai were fully booked out during the lockdown period, which required a permit to leave home and which ended on Friday, April 24.

"This is a huge development with expensive costs, it was never going to be easy to get it off the ground," he said.

"We are seeing island destinations doing well globally in lockdown and it does have a USP to be successful.

"It was not something that was going to pop up overnight."

The World Islands were in the headlines in 2018 when actress Lindsay Lohan announced plans to build her own themed resort there.

The American star of Mean Girls told her followers on Instagram she was planning to build "Lindsayland" in Dubai.

The post received more than 2,000 likes before being deleted soon after.

Updated: May 21, 2020 05:33 PM

Go here to read the rest:
Dubai's World Islands developer insists outbreak will not kill off Heart of Europe project - The National

The phrase, come and sit a spell, invites family and friends to rest and relax in the company of one another. Particularly in the South, a welcoming spot to enjoy this time of reprieve is the frontporch.

Vicksburg Living, as part of the upcoming July/August edition, is searching for families and their front porches to be featured in the magazine.

During the past few months, not only have front porches become a beloved spot to unwind, but they also served as a means of appreciating the outdoors during shelter-in-place orders as part of the communitys response to the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

Vicksburg Post photographer Courtland Wells is scheduling appointments for families wanting to participate in what we are calling a community project. In addition to a photograph of families enjoying their porches; the magazine is asking those families, in their own words, to share what their homes front porch has meant to them during this pandemic.

For more information or to schedule an appointment call 601-636-4545. Those wanting to participate can also use the following link to register. Visithttps://forms.gle/d4E74PNwMFpAAEMu7to select a date and time.

Read the original post:
Vicksburg Living wants to feature community families and their front porches - The Vicksburg Post - Vicksburg Post

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to ourTerms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sentvia e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Go here to read the rest:
The Porch restaurants to reopen in Pittsburgh area - TribLIVE

Share This Story!

Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

There is a type of heroism in those just simply staying home during the Coronavirus pandemic

A link has been sent to your friend's email address.

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Throughout the coronaviruspandemic, IndyStar hasdocumented the heroism of essential workers risking their wellness on the front lines of healthcare facilities, community centers and grocery stores.

But how does onedepict the impact of those who aresimply staying home?

As spring arrivedand thepandemic ragedon, front porches everywherebecame a responsible place to seek fresh air and a bit of distancedsocial interaction.

The front porch is a study spot, a selfie studio, a home gym anda lookout place forfamiliar faces as evening settles.

I took my camera out on warm evenings to photograph everyday people on the porch with their loved ones, an ode to the heroism of staying home.

Follow IndyStar visual journalist Jenna Watson on Twitter @jennarwatson.

Read or Share this story: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/marion-county/2020/05/19/portraits-porch-heroism-staying-home/5205102002/

May 23, 2020, 2:34 p.m.

May 23, 2020, 2:19 p.m.

May 23, 2020, 8 a.m.

May 23, 2020, 2:26 p.m.

May 22, 2020, 4:48 p.m.

May 23, 2020, 4:30 p.m.

The rest is here:
Portraits from the porch: An ode to the heroism of staying home - IndyStar

Photo: Getty / Getty Images

The post-coronavirus pandemic home will have more walls, more porches, more flex rooms and dedicated office areas, plus tiny houses for mom and dad

Your home has been called upon to play many different roles during the past few months of the coronavirus pandemic. Its been an office, schoolhouse, videoconference room, home gym and more.

Often, however, its performance has been lacking, thanks to slow internet service, uncomfortable seating and uncooperative co-workers (i.e. noisy children).

After spending so much time indoors during the pandemic, many people may want to upgrade their living space by rethinking their homes layout. Others may want to renovate their homes to take advantage of outdoor space or move to a new home that does.

Making these kinds of changes is a long, slow process, said Adam Reed, vice president at Ford Powell & Carson Architects & Planners. Were still in the midst of pandemic, so its too soon to know exactly what changes well see yet.

In recent years, the open floor plan, where the kitchen, dining room, living room and den were one uninterrupted, wall-free space, has been falling out of favor. The pandemic may hasten that trend.

In a home with two adults, several school-age children and, as has become commonplace, a boomerang adult child or two all living under one roof, finding someplace private to work has become important.

Many families may need several discrete places to work, architect Stephanie Eugster said. Its lovely that you get to spend most of the day with your family, but everyone needs a place for themselves.

While it is possible to build walls and hang doors to partition off spaces, Eugster said she doesnt see that happening very widely. Instead, the flex room may be the answer. A concept borrowed from office buildings, these are rooms that, with little effort, can be customized to serve multiple purposes.

On ExpressNews.com: The coronavirus will change office design, bringing back cubicles and nixing break rooms

For example, the dining room, long on the outs in new builds, may make a comeback, serving as a workspace during the week and a place to entertain guests when home entertaining becomes a thing again. Or a home office located in a repurposed bedroom might be furnished with an easy-to-move desk so it can quickly be converted back to a bedroom for weekend guests.

With so many people living together, there may be a boom in soundproofing curtains, second walls, composite materials so mom or dad can take a Zoom meeting or conference call while young children are running around, predicted Kathryn ORourke, associate professor of art history at Trinity University.

She also speculated about new housing arrangements to provide a separate space for aging parents or adult children who have lost their jobs. These include more tiny houses or even shipping containers in suburban backyards. She also foresees more houses with wings that can be occupied semiprivately, while still connected to a common kitchen or dining area.

People may be rethinking domesticity in really interesting ways because of this pandemic, she said.

While its still early to know how, or even if, the pandemic will change what homebuyers look for in a new home, Kim Bragman said shes already seeing an uptick in interest in one area.

Couples who both work from home want dedicated office space, said Bragman, the chairwoman of the San Antonio Board of Realtors. Or at least an extra bedroom they can convert into an office.

COVID-19 fears also may result in a shift in the definition of luxury, according to Reed.

It might not mean installing the most beautiful of faucets in the master bath anymore, he said. Instead it might be a touchless faucet with a built-in filtration system.

This wont be the first time a disease has triggered substantial changes in residential architecture.

The tuberculosis epidemic of the 19th century and the 1918 influenza both spurred the creation of large sanatoria open to the outdoors so patients could get plenty of fresh air and sunlight, thought to be key to a patients recovery, ORourke said.

This open-air concept eventually spilled over into residential architecture.

You can see it in those large front porches built into so many homes from that time, she said.

Front porches have long been out of favor with developers. Few homes built since the 1950s have them. But the pandemic may change that as many people rediscover the simple joys of sitting on their porch, watching the world go by.

On ExpressNews.com: The secret pleasures of under-the-radar chats during Zoom video conference calls

After youve been living in your home or apartment for so many weeks, you appreciate being outdoors, even if its only sitting on a porch waving to your neighbors as they walk by on the street, said Ted Flato, partner at Lake | Flato Architects. Its an easy way to add more living space to your home.

Adding a porch to an existing home is simpler and less expensive than adding a heated and air-conditioned extension, such as a bedroom or den. The website Homeadvisors.com, which matches homeowners with contractors, estimates that a 200-square-foot covered porch will cost between $4,600 to $22,000, or an average of $10,500. That works out to $23 to $110 per square foot.

At the beginning of the pandemic, many people sent home to work plopped a computer onto their kitchen or dining room table and declared it an office. But those wholl be working from home for the foreseeable future may want to up their internet game.

Perhaps the best way to do this is to wire the home with Category 5, or Cat 5, cables. These are low-voltage wires that can be run through the walls, the attic or even the subflooring. They connect the router to the devices plugged into the network so you dont have to use Wi-Fi. The connection provides a faster, steadier and more secure signal, so colleagues will be less likely to freeze up during your next Zoom conference.

Weve been seeing a lot more new houses built with Cat 5 in recent years, said Irby Hightower, a senior principal at Alamo Architects, and homeowners are also installing the cables in existing homes.

Cat 5 also makes it easier to install and operate smart home devices that can be controlled over the internet, such as security cameras, lighting and door locks.

As more people work from home, this kind of technology will become a lot more prominent, Hightower said.

Multifamily apartments will pose their own challenges to post-pandemic architecture, said Rick Lewis, assistant professor in practice at the University of Texas at San Antonios College of Architecture, Construction and Planning.

You have between 300 and 500 people living in the kind of developments that have been going up in San Antonio over the past 10 years or so, he said. Social distancing is much harder here, especially in the public spaces.

Lewis said he foresees changes to building codes requiring an enlargement of so-called pinch points where people come in close contact to one another. These include mail areas, hallways and elevator waiting areas. He also said amenities such as party rooms, weight rooms and swimming pools may get smaller or even disappear if residents remain uncomfortable using them.

Therell be a lot of conversation about things like this among architects, urban planners and politicians in the coming years, he said.

Not everyone is convinced the pandemic will result in structural changes in residential architecture.

Weve had viruses in the past and, yes, this one is deeper, longer and with more consequences, architect Paul Franklin said. But Im not anticipating any permanent changes per se. I think this is largely a one-off thing.

And while home shoppers may be looking for different features today than they were four months ago, Bragman said that for most, their bottom line remains the same.

Until I see otherwise, todays buyers are looking for schools and amenities, same as they always have, she said.

rmarini@express-news.net

More:
The post-coronavirus pandemic home will have more walls, more porches, more flex rooms and dedicated office areas, plus tiny houses for mom and dad -...

The weather is great and everyone is outside, but you cant interact like you used to do because of the pandemic and the government-recommended six-foot social distancing rule. But luckily, that rule doesnt mean you have to be socially distant and you can still interact with people as long as youre smart, aware, and give each other some space. Like interacting with an ex-lover or estranged family member. Enter the porch.

Porches are great, theyre public and private at the same time, inside and outside. IF eyes are the window to your soul, porches are the windows to our homes well, windows are the windows, but you get my meaning.

Porches are a silent hero in our neighborhoods during the pandemic as they allow us to interact with passerby without putting ourselves at risk in the street. They operate as a soft edge, or membrane between individuals and the community in which they live and should be celebrated.

The folks over at The Musicant Group (Website) in St. Paul, Minnesota, have come up with a step-by-step process to transform porches and front yards into places that make your community feel more alive. People are converting their boring swaths of manicured grass into more dynamic places that can facilitate safe, neighborly interactions and we cant think of a better time for that to happen than right now.

Click HERE for a Pinterest Board full of fun and amazing ideas to activate your front yards.

It also happens to be Global Porch Placemaking Week from May 30-June 5, and before you yell at us that thats not even a thing, click HERE. Its a self-organized event that encourages people to activate their front yards, porches, or even stoops, with a fun project and to add it to a special Porch Placemaking map. Get some inspiration via their Facebook page HERE.

Continued here:
Stay connected with a friendly front yard - bungalower - Bungalower

BATON ROUGE - One local jazz band is shaking off the rust from the stay-at-home order in a unique way.

Since the band members havent been able to play together in the past two months, The Jazz Souls have started playing, what they call, 'front porch sessions' in the Poets Corner neighborhood of Baton Rouge.

Were the type of people that if were not playing, you get this itch. Its nice to be able to scratch it, upright bass player David Randall said.

That itch had been building for weeks for Randall and the other three members of the band.

We play jazz standards, some might call us an American songbook band, drummer and founding member of the band Dale Harris said.

For two months, the group of 12 years had no gigs to play, and no practice sessions together.

So, we missed that during the outbreak. And Gary says... no, it was my idea. I said, let's get on our porch, thats enough social distancing. And let the neighbors listen if they want but lets practice. I really missed it, Randall said.

We sounded a lot better than we thought we would, having not played together for a while. We thought we were going to sound pretty terrible. But, I dont know, sounded pretty good. The people seem to enjoy it, Harris said.

Thursday night was only their third front porch gig on the corner of Homer and Pericles Street, but theyve already acquired some neighborhood fans.

It was quite a surprise the other day when about 10, 15 people showed up, and actually, threw money in the tip jar. It was sweet. We werent looking for that. Though we did put the tip jar out, Randall said.

Randall says theres a lot of noise surrounding our lives right now, but not the kind you tap your feet to.

We take the masks off when we play. I have it in my pocket, dear, I promise, Randall said, laughing.

Jokes aside, he says this time has given him a greater overall appreciation for his passion for music.

I didnt even realize how much live music there already was in Baton Rouge, and its gonna come back. Slowly, but surely, Randall said.

The Jazz Souls will be playing at least once a week either on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Read this article:
Local jazz band shaking off the rust with neighborhood front porch sessions - WBRZ