Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

As Montana enters the next phase of re-opening from "Stay At Home" restrictions, Hamilton's Pharaohplex Theater on the northeast edge of town will being showing movies again Friday, May 22. Owner Joe McLean said the social distancing guidelines will be followed, with a 50 percent capacity in the theaters and $3 admission prices for the "legacy" movies on tap this weekend - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Despicable Me, Aquaman, The Hunger Games and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Check their website for showtimes. During the shutdown, the theater has been undergoing some remodeling and refurbishing, along with final planning for a brand new theater - outdoors.

Construction has begun on a new drive-in movie theater at the Pharaohplex, which will be located on the northeast corner of the theater complex (see photo). Joe said the 50-foot screen will be installed on the side of the existing building and the viewing area will include room for about 200 cars, along with a grassy area for lawn chairs. Concessions and rest rooms will be easily accessed in the main building. Sound will be broadcast to the cars on a low-power FM signal. He expected construction to be mostly complete by the end of June. It will be the first drive-in theater in the Bitterroot Valley since the Starlite Drive-in closed in the 1980s.

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Hamilton's Pharaohplex Theater Opens, Drive-in is Planned - klyq

Victory Brands, the group behind popular Atlanta restaurants like LLoyds and Victory Sandwich Bar, is gearing up to reopen its six establishments over the next month, starting with its freshly rebranded coffee shop in Inman Park.

Dekalb Athletic Club reopens today on Dekalb Avenue as Victory Coffee and Calamity. Victory Brands year-old coffee shop, located next door to the groups throwback restaurant LLoyds, now includes a retail pop-up selling Victory merch and local goods from companies such as motorcycle gear shop Brother Moto.

Owner Ian Jones tells Eater Atlanta the rebrand of the coffee shop was planned prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and better aligns with the groups bar-oriented restaurant, Victory Sandwich Bar in Inman Park and Decatur.

Doing coffee, but more in the Victory family, was a no-brainer. We should have done it a year ago, Jones says. This allows you to get all the great Victory feels, but in a more daytime-specific environment. Since its not open at night, we also have the ability (once we actually can) to use the space for events, markets, etc. in the evenings.

Like its short-lived predecessor, the menu at Victory Coffee features coffee and coffee drinks from Avondale Estates-based Radio Roasters, grab-and-go gas station biscuits, and beer and wine to-go. The latter is temporarily permitted under a COVID-19-related order, which Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms just extended for restaurants through June 30.

People enter the open garage doors out front and place orders inside, then grab their food and drinks at the pick-up window outside. Orders can also be placed in advanced online.

Victory Brands temporarily closed its five restaurants and Dekalb Athletic Club in March at the start of the city and statewide shutdowns, including Little Trouble at Westside Provisions District and S.O.S Tiki Bar in Decatur. The closures saw the group lay off more than 100 employees.

Jones and his team have spent the last few weeks planning for the reopening of Victorys restaurants, which he says takes time to do properly and safely.

Restaurants across Georgia are permitted to reopen for dine-in service, but must comply with 39 state-mandated guidelines. Among the COVID-19 safety requirements for restaurants to follow, the most notable limits dining capacity to ten patrons per 300 square feet.

We expect most of our stores to open some time in June. Obviously, we cant just open them all on the same day, so were going to phase them in over the month, Jones tells Eater. There is a considerable expense to reworking things in order to make the customer feel safe and sanitary.

The group is adding more outdoor seating, remodeling the restrooms to be as contactless as possible, and installing public hand-washing stations at each restaurant.

LLoyds covered patio will be completely reconfigured and include more outdoor seating in front of Victory Coffee. Jones says theyre also developing a drive-in component for LLoyds, in addition to reworking the dining room and bar inside to adhere with COVID-19 social distancing guidelines.

He expects to begin serving a fast food-style lunch for takeout from LLoyds in the next week or two, leading up to the restaurants reopening in June. People place their orders in person at Victory Coffee or order food online prior to pickup.

As for Victory Sandwich Bar, the majority of the dining at the Inman Park location will now be done outdoors. In an effort to hire back the staff of S.O.S Tiki Bar until it can safely reopen, the bars cocktails and employees will pop up at Victorys parking lot container bar. Reconfiguring the less flexible seating arrangements at Victory-Decatur includes working around a busy sidewalk and a parking lot shared with neighboring businesses.

Unlike Victory and S.O.S. Tiki Bar in Decatur, the seating at Little Trouble is proving less challenging to reconfigure. A corridor divides Little Troubles bar from its lounge area at Westside Provisions District. Jones says hes working with Jamestown Properties, which manages the Howell Mill Road mixed-used complex, to provide more outdoor dining space for the bars patrons.

Like everyone else, were figuring out how to do all of this on the fly, Jones says of reopening the restaurants. It isnt remotely easy, but it does bring back a little excitement to a game weve been playing for the last 10 years. Feels like starting out all over again for better or worse.

Stay home if sick. Check the Georgia Department of Public Health website for guidance and updates on the latest number of reported COVID-19 cases. Numbers are now updated three times a day.

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Atlantas Victory Brands Behind LLoyds Lounge and Victory Sandwich Bar Opens Victory Coffee and Hopes to Reo - Eater Atlanta

Anabella Smith, Louis Archambault, Scott Goldstein

At Zyscovich Architects headquarters in downtown Miami, returning to work will be a little different.

Guided by arrows, employees and guests will enter the office one way, and exit another. Packages will be rerouted to a room on a separate floor to be unpacked and disinfected. And workers will be encouraged to eat their lunches at their desks.

Like going to a restaurant or entering a residential building, going to work after two months of sheltering in place will include new health and safety guidelines. Employees will have to enter wearing masks, and forget about working out at the buildings gym, or hanging out in the conference center.

In South Florida, companies are slowly beginning their return to the office building. Unlike going to a store or a restaurant, where you may spend an hour or two, going to the office for the full day may cause more anxiety for employers and their employees.

Zyscovich, though considered an essential business, has had most of its employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, said Anabella Smith, partner and director of interior design. The architecture and design firm has been preparing for weeks to bring people back to the office, remodeling the restrooms and kitchen, marking where people can be seated in conference rooms and in the workspace, and making sure there are hand sanitizer stations near restrooms and elevators.

(Click to enlarge)

We want them to come back to work feeling safe, Smith said.

The company, led by Bernard Zyscovich, is getting calls from clients asking about redesigning their spaces and projects for a post-coronavirus world. Yet, Smith said that some developers are very positive this is temporary, and we have to keep living our lives.

Publicly, most developers are still moving forward with plans to build new office projects in South Florida. But brokers and lawyers agree that there will be opportunities for tenants to negotiate new lease terms, and for buyers to pick up distressed properties.

For now, office workers throughout South Florida will be required to wear masks upon entering buildings. Deliveries will be handled differently, with some buildings requiring employees to meet their deliveries in lobbies or at the entrances to properties.

Cervera Real Estate is back at work as of Wednesday, with the exception of one office housed inside a Coconut Grove hotel, according to a spokesperson. The brokerages new office policy requires masks at all times, six feet of social distancing, and provides hand sanitizer at all entrances. Cervera is also capping the number of sales associates and customers that can be inside its offices or sales centers at any given time.

Though tenants are starting to trickle back into some buildings, theres still a lot of concern, obviously, about going back to an office at this point, said Scott Goldstein, executive managing director at Colliers International South Florida, who focuses on tenant representation. The office is where most workers spent the majority of their wakeful time prior to coronavirus, he said.

Theres still a real fear, so employers are giving the opportunity for their employees to work from home until the end of the year in some cases, Goldstein said. Companies are creating shift schedules and modified in-office working hours, providing personal protective equipment and spacing out desks. Gone are the days of unassigned workspaces. Twitters announcement that it will allow some employees to work from home forever sparked intense debate about the future of the office market, he said.

Buildings are also keeping their amenities areas closed, such as gyms and shared conference centers, which have been increasingly prevalent for the last five years. Some will have temperature checks upon entering buildings.

Goldstein believes that the impact to the office market will affect tenants and landlords in the short term, until a vaccine exists.

Theres a lot of talk about how many people are going to be working virtually, he said. Ive been working virtually for two months now, and Im frothing at the mouth to go back to the office.

Coronavirus is forcing office users and providers to address the impact that another pandemic can have, so that the market is better prepared for the next one, Goldstein added. Property owners have been installing touchless technology in their buildings and improving disinfecting and cleaning protocols.

Colliers is offering a service in which someone shoots video of a tenants space, and then creates customized recommendations within 48 hours on how the space can be safer and cleaner, which some clients have started using.

Landlords and tenants will have to take precautions to avoid any liability moving forward, said Louis Archambault, a partner with Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr. He advises his clients to follow state and local guidelines, in addition to those put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus is potentially weaponized in individuals coming into your property. What did those individuals do to protect themselves? Did they wear masks? Archambault said. We all have to be mindful of what were doing to protect each other.

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Theres a lot of concern about going back to an office: how companies are returning to work in South Florida - The Real Deal

Rally Pizza hasnt gone through as extreme of a transformation as La Bottega, but it has added a pantry-items tab to the online ordering system. Baked goods like thick round loaves of sesame semolina bread, bake-at-home oatmeal scones and blondies are available. Rally also offers housemade items that arent normally available: granola; Oregon blackberry, strawberry-rhubarb and other fruit jams; and a pizza kit with dough, sauce and hand-pulled mozzarella. Customers can also buy Reister Farms eggs, Shepherds Grain flour and Water Avenue Coffee online and pick it up at the restaurant.

Primarily, we wanted to offer our customers the ability to reduce their grocery store trips (and amount of potential exposure) by carrying pantry staples like flour and coffee at a low cost. The added bonus is that selling more of those items also allows us to keep buying from our local purveyors, like Shepherds Grain and Water Avenue Coffee, so its a win-win, Rally Pizza owner Shan Wickham said.

Wickham and her co-owner and spouse, Alan Maniscalco, just started making bread, granola and jam for fun and decided to sell them to customers. They created the DIY pizza kits as a project for kids who were home from school, but they turned out to be popular with customers of all ages.

Other places, like Cest La Vie and Rusty Grape Vineyard, have created weekend markets packed with pantry items and take-and-bake meals.

Cest La Vie holds its weekly Petit Market from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Owner Keri Buhman said the line starts to form at 8:15 a.m. Only two people are allowed in at a time one in the store and one in the restaurant. Inside the store, Buhman typically stocks local goodies, wine and cheese. At the bottom of the cheese case, she has added new items, like date-night charcuterie boards filled with sliced cheeses, meats and accompaniments.

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Groceries now on the menu at Clark County eateries - The Columbian

Adding a deck to your home is a great way to make outdoor dining more feasible and enjoyable. And when it comes to putting in a deck, you have a number of choices. You can opt for a classic wooden deck, or go with a composite material like Trex that looks similar to wood but is virtually maintenance-free.

But not everyone likes the look of composite decking or the price tag involved. While wood generally costs $15 to $25 per square foot, composite material can cost $30 to $45 per square foot. For a larger deck, that's a huge difference.

As such, you may be inclined to choose a wooden deck, even if that means signing up for more maintenance. But don't kid yourself -- you'll really need to perform that maintenance to avoid problems with your deck. That maintenance includes, but may not be limited to:

That may seem like a lot of work, but if you don't perform these maintenance tasks, here's what might happen:

In the grand scheme of things that could go wrong with a wooden deck, this is really the least of your problems. But aesthetically speaking, putting off staining or painting your deck can lead to it turning into a major eyesore.

There's a reason you're supposed to sand and seal your deck regularly. If you don't, it can splinter, causing injury to anyone who tends to walk on it with bare feet (say, your kids). The same holds true for your deck's railings; someone can put a hand on a railing and wind up hurt.

Rotting wood doesn't just look bad; it can make your deck structurally unsound. When wood rots, it weakens, which means it has the potential to break. That's dangerous for any type of deck, but it's particularly hazardous for a deck that's many feet off the ground.

Wooden decks require commitment -- namely, you'll need to perform the above-mentioned tasks, tedious and time-consuming as they may be. If you're really not willing to do that work, you may be better off with composite decking. Though it'll cost more up front, it will cost a lot less to maintain through the years, and then you won't have to put in the time or sweat necessary to keep a wooden deck in top shape.

If you buy a house with a wooden deck attached to it already and you're not keen on maintaining it, you have a few choices:

Wooden decks can be a great home feature, but they need care and attention. Keep that in mind before you install one so you don't wind up regretting your decision.

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3 Things That Might Happen if You Don't Maintain Your Wooden Deck - Motley Fool

Because it was involved in so much of the states early history, San Augustine calls itself the Main Street of the Texas Republic. Platted in 1833 deep in what is now called the Piney Woods, the town was once a busy stop on El Camino Real de los Tejas, an early trail network that linked Mexico with Louisiana. During the nineteenth century, streams of American settlers passed through the area or even put down roots. Although the towns population has dwindled over time from a peak of 2,930 in 1980 to about 1,900 today, tourists still stop by to admire the historic churches and handsome Greek Revival homes. With its brick storefronts and hand-painted signs, San Augustines charming commercial district, centered around the 1927 limestone courthouse, seems to have been frozen in the first half of the twentieth centurywith one glaring exception.

Right across from the courthouse, wrapping around and atop a modest single-story 1935 home on Broadway Street, lies something genuinely perplexing: a three-story assemblage of observation decks, pointed Gothic arches, and, somewhat disconcertingly, sharp wooden spikes. Some of the spikes, which are between one and six feet long, hang down like fangs, while others jut sideways, as if they were spears ready to stab the air. On the second level, a ten-foot-tall white cross, also rather spiky, is situated next to a statue of a black panther. Beneath the decks, mounted to the windows of the home itself, are hand-drawn portraits of people who seem to stare at passersby. A life-size statue of Jesus Christ, nailed to a plain wooden cross, stands permanently on the lawn beside the house. The material used for the Saviors skin makes him appear scalded, his face obscured by a crown of thorns.

Gary Brewer, a 61-year-old artist and carpenter, owns and resides in the house and has been constructing the tower of decks above it for the past fifteen years or so, adding a board here, a few nails there, when he can afford to buy new materials. His work isnt complete yet. Brewer plans to build a fourth and final level, looming about 55 feet high, which will eclipse the height of every other building for many miles, not least the venerable San Augustine County Courthouse.

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Though the project has its admirers, not everyone is a fan. When word got out last fall of Brewers intention to build a fourth floor, city manager John Camp intervened. I just want to be careful about letting it become a more imposing feature of the town than the courthouse, Camp says. If it gets much higher, people are going to be really mad if I dont say anything. And then people will think they can build whatever they want right on the square.

San Augustine has never had any sort of height restriction ordinance; it never occurred to anyone that one was needed. But with Brewers creation threatening to disturb the contours of the towns modest skyline, that changed. Last December Camp placed such an ordinance on the city councils agenda. Brewers plansalready sky-highwere suddenly up in the air.

Brewer in his home studio.

Photograph by Brian Goldman

Betty Oglesbee is sometimes described as San Augustines matriarch. A go-getting fund-raiser, the 85-year-old received a 2017 Governors Award for Historic Preservation from the Texas Historical Commission for her leadership in preserving the towns historical buildings, including the local library, courthouse, and old jail. When Betty wants a project, I tell you, you have a choice, said John Crain, the historical commissions vice chair, during remarks at Oglesbees award luncheon. You either give or you move out of the way.

Oglesbee is not a fan of Brewers decks. Last April, a tornado blew through town, uprooting stately pines, obliterating more than forty homes, and razing the white gazebo on the courthouse lawn. Everybody thought, Lord, maybe it blew away, she says of Brewers construction. But it didnt, she adds with a sigh. Of course, it was just the Rock of Gibraltar.

Oglesbee knows Brewer well and considers him a friend, as does nearly everyone who knows him in this tight-knit town. Her late husband, John, often hired him for carpentry projects, including replacing the doors on their home and repairing the camp house they owned outside of town. Hes a wonderful artist. Hes smart and good, but hes different, Oglesbee says. I dont want to bad-mouth him, because hes not a bad person. Tammy Barbee, who owns the Texas Star Retail Store & Boutique, just around the corner from Brewers home, admires his craftsmanship and keen eye for detail. His photorealistic, seven-foot-tall pictures and paintingsmostly depicting women, and one of Jesuswere recently displayed in a jam-packed side room of her store. He makes the frames for his pictures and everything, she says. Hes very talented in all areas. But shes a bit tired of fielding bewildered questions about the decks. Out-of-town people come in, and they think its weird, she says. Its beautiful work, but I really wish it was out in the country.

Brewer, though, has no interest in doing what he does anywhere but in San Augustine, where hes lived most of his life. He was born in nearby Lufkin and raised in San Augustine, enjoying a typical rural Texas childhood of shooting BB guns, playing baseball, and splashing in creeks. An aunt who painted landscapes praised his sketches when he was a boy, but it was years before he got the artistic bug. He spent much of his twenties traveling throughout Texas, working in construction. Brewers specialty was structural ironworkerecting and connecting steel beams, girders, and columns that form the skeletons of tall buildings. In 1985, when he was 26, he and his wife and their two-year-old son, Vincent, moved to a mobile home on his mothers land ten miles west of San Augustine. I wanted to have a home that I knew was a good place for Vin, he says. Following the move, Brewer abandoned his former profession. Nobody needed tall buildings in San Augustine, so he became the next best thing: a carpenter. These days, he and Vindeemed essential workers during the pandemicare busy building porches and garages.

And in his spare time, he builds the tower (he bought the house on the town square in 2006). He began to draw in earnest in his mid-thirties after teaching himself to do it. I never did do anything until my wife and I divorced, Brewer says. So then, when I wasnt cooking and stuff, I began to sit down and draw and sketch a little bit, most often when Vin was asleep.

Was creating art cathartic, something that helped him through a difficult or lonely period in his life? No, not anything like that, he says.

He doesnt know how he developed an aesthetic so radically different from that of his neighbors either. He cant name any artistic influences and doesnt know how to describe his style, although he isnt crazy about the fact that everyone calls his work Gothic (because, he says, he never wears dark eyeliner or black nail polish). Nor, despite the abundance of Christian imagery in his pieces, does he burn with more religious fervor than many of his neighbors in San Augustine, where theres one church for about every 95 residents.

Brewer built the first deck in 2006 so he could walk straight from his back door to a hot tub hed installed behind the house. When he dreamed up a bigger vision for the tower one nightoriginally topped by a steeple that would stand seventy feet tallhe sketched it out and started building shortly afterward.

The plans changed radically over time, though Brewer cant specify why that is. The addition of the spikes that bother so many? I like spikes, he says, noting that theyre easy to cut with the Porter-Cable and Makita circular saws that he owns. Beyond that, he cant explain his motivations for making them such a prominent part of his home. I just like the way they look.

While Brewers vision for the decks will be complete after he builds the fourth floor, its not hard to picture him tinkering with them indefinitely. He hopes to rent the upper levels for events down the line, and he might also charge people $5 to have a look around.

He knows that some San Augustine locals dont appreciate his attention-grabbing hobby. Hes also aware that his tastes clash with the historical character of the downtown district, which the town has invested a great deal in. The Classical Revival courthouse was extensively restored a decade ago through a combination of $4.3 million in state funds and local fundraising efforts by Oglesbee and others. The newly beautified courthouse, rededicated in November 2010, kicked off a downtown restoration movement.

Locals like Oglesbee are also proud of the historic Mission Dolores, which was named a state historic site four years ago. Established by the Spanish in 1717, the site is undergoing extensive renovations to its museum and visitor center half a mile south of the courthouse square. A museum in the countys old jail, built a century ago, houses Texana collections and artifacts from the regions history of law enforcement. And the Lewis Railroad Hotel, a two-story former boardinghouse that housed African American railroad workers during segregation in the early twentieth century, is in the process of a gorgeous restoration with a sturdier foundation and new paint, in addition to a rebuilt chimney and roof that became urgently necessary after a tree fell on the building during Hurricane Harvey.

One reason locals have worked so hard to preserve the town, perhaps, is that San Augustine has not always been portrayed in a flattering light. Richard Linklaters 2011 film Bernie (based on Skip Hollandsworths 1998 Texas Monthly story about Bernie Tiede, a funeral director turned killer) labeled San Augustine the Squirrel Hunting Capital of the World, populated by cousin-counting rednecks with more tattoos than teeth. In a June 2018 article about the closing of the towns only Dairy Queen, the Houston Chronicle quoted a Nacogdoches resident as saying that San Augustine was the armpit of East Texas. Even further back, a 1978 Texas Monthly article portrayed it as isolated and awash in social and racial inequality.

Brewer believes his structure should be regarded as part of the towns self-improvement, and he wishes his neighbors would see it the way he does. The truth of the matter is, they want everything in the downtown area to be restored to an old-timey look, so my place is a thorn in their side, he says, his mouth widening into an ornery grin. Ive been told there were petitions, and someone went to the fire marshal to get him to declare it a fire hazard. On another occasion, he says, a San Augustine resident offered to give him free retail space for his artwork if he would just cut down the spikes. He refused.

Its clear that Brewer enjoys the attention the decks bring. In January he built an elaborate wooden throne (replete with spikes, naturally) and placed it on the top deck, where he can sit like a king and enjoy his sweeping view of San Augustine below. I am one who for the most part is quiet, in a crowd I am silent, almost unseen, it has been said, one who is hard to figure, but inside is an intensity that I cherish and hold dear, he wrote to me in a text message. I play out triumphant scenarios in my mind depicting a glorious day when after years of ridicule and opposition I am seen on my handmade throne by all who opposed me. While joking about his sense of indulgent grandeur, he also noted that the meek would inherit the earth, according to his savior, the Most High. Soon, if everything went according to plan, there would be nothing in San Augustine higher than his throne.

A panther perched on the deck.

Photograph by Brian Goldman

Brewer long felt that he had one ally in his push against small-town strictures: city manager John Camp. To me, it gives the town something that nobody else has, Camp says. And we should be capitalizing on those things rather than trying to sell only history, which doesnt sell, frankly. Still, the increasing pace and scale of Brewers decks made Camp nervous. I have no doubt Gary is the quintessential deck builder, but the city is going to be held liable if the damn thing falls and kills somebody, he says. (Im a reputable builder, and nothing I do is going to fall, Brewer insists.)

So in December Camp asked the San Augustine City Council to impose a 35-foot height limit on new structures. Anything taller would require an endorsement from a licensed structural engineer, plus a vote of approval from the city council.

On December 17, 2019, members of the San Augustine City Council met to debate and vote on the ordinance. But first, they received updates on a recent playoff run by the high school football teamgo Wolves!and on the towns Christmas parade. Oglesbee and six other members of the Main Street Advisory Board received engraved ink pens for their volunteer service. Brewer, clad in a camo baseball cap, black leather jacket, and paint-stained blue jeans, slid into a chair at the back of the room.

Not to pick on Mr. Brewer, said alderman Mark Liepman, once the height ordinance came up for discussion, but he does seem to have the tallest thing around. We just want to make sure the darn thing will stay up there under normal circumstances.

Brewer chimed in from the back row, a break in decorum the aldermen took in stride. I do intend to get my drawings legally stamped, and anything I do further will be just as sound, Brewer said. I believe my corner brings progressiveness and diversity to this little town. In the past, folks said they want this to be a retirement town. I believe this would be a good

Camp nodded, cutting him off. Im not trying to get into that, he said.

The motion passed unanimously. Afterward, the aldermen and attendees greeted each other warmly. Even Brewer smiled.

Over scrambled eggs and toast the next morning, Brewer told me he was confident that his building would gain the approval of a structural engineer and the city council. Artwork for people around here is landscape paintings or portraits of notable people of town, he said. Anything extreme or different is just viewed as silly and worthless.

Brewer doesnt begrudge those who have opposed his project, though. They are all good people I have known all my life, he says, noting that he does hope they will eventually be more accepting of the progressive change he brings to town.

On April 27 Brewer presented a hand-sketched blueprint of his decks to a state-registered structural engineer in Lufkin, who gave the plan his seal of approval on one condition: that Brewer double the number of studs, beams, and cross-bracing supports holding up the top level, which he agreed to do. That left one hurdle to clear. The San Augustine City Council would still have to grant permission for Brewer to exceed the towns brand-new height ordinance. On May 19, the council did just that, voting unanimously to approve his request for a variance.

Barring any obstacles or delays, he expects to complete his masterpiece in the next year or two. Then members of the public will be welcome to join him in the sky above San Augustine. Its like somebody said one time, Brewer notes. If you build it, they will come.

This article originally appeared in the June 2020 issue of Texas Monthlywith the headline The Gothic Carpenter of San Augustine. Subscribe today.

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For Years, an East Texas Carpenter Has Been Building a Gothic Contraption of Decks and Spikes in a Historic Square - Texas Monthly

Although observation decks remain shuttered across New York City (the newest and most dizzying in town was effectively shut down the day after it opened due to the coronavirus outbreak), the thirst for vertiginous ticketed attractions in the Big Apple hasnt subsided. And RFR Realty, new-ish owner of the citys 1,046-foot Art Deco landmark, the Chrysler Building, is happy to oblige.

Earlier this week at a virtual public hearing, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission signed off on plans to build-out a glass panel-enclosed public observation deck on the terraces of the skyscrapers 61st floor near its iconic silver eagles. Gensler was tapped by RFR to design the space.

And to be clear, this wont be the first observation deck at the Chrysler Building, which turns 90 later this month. The 71st floor was once home to an observation deck dubbed the Celestial that was in operation for 15 years until closing in 1945 per the New York Post.

RFR honcho Aby Rosen has also expressed interest in reviving the Cloud Club. This legendary, long-running lunch club famous for its Dover sole, bread-and-butter pudding, and decidedly eclectic decor catered to big spenders on the 66th through 68th floors up until 1979. In addition to throwback sky-high clubs, Rosen wants to bring other retail and dining venues to the building as well.

I see the building as a Sleeping Beauty: It needs to be woken up and revitalized, Rosen told the Post last year after purchasing the for-sale building, once the tallest in the world for a hot minute in 1930/1931, for $150 million.

A timeline for the new observation deck has not been revealed.

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Chrysler Building public observation deck gets the go-ahead - The Architect's Newspaper

The Cardinals outfield depth chart illustrates the extremes that exist in any minor-league system, where top prospects range from on deck to on the distant horizon. Three of the Cardinals leading outfielder prospects personify this spectrum.

Fletcher, newly 19, is considered a project and several years away, as is his teammate Jhon Torres, 20. Meanwhile, Uber-prospect Dylan Carlson is, as one executive put it, basically a phone call away from the big leagues.

When Fletcher and Torres come into view, Carlson, 21, will be a prominent fixture in the Cardinals lineup if the current forecast holds.

Thats the future, for now.

In an eight-part series that begins here, with outfielders, the Post-Dispatch will examine and identify the future at every position for the Cardinals, from outfield to infield, starters to closer. In addition to using scouts and scouting reports to illuminate the depth of the organization, the purpose will be to spot the next star ready to arrive or the next hole that must be filled.

I think when you look at it from a high level, not at one specific position and consider the whole system, almost every position has somebody that you could project as a major-league contributor through a lens of two or three years from now, said John Mozeliak, the Cardinals president of baseball operations. It becomes a question of who will make an impact. In the outfield, you have young players, but theyre exciting in different ways with different performances at different places in their development.

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From imminent to impact, Cardinals have Carlson on deck and duo with 'raw' potential for future outfield - STLtoday.com

Live pitch competitions featuring the future of technology are one of the most exciting elements of what happens in Austin each March at SXSW. While we were unfortunately not able to provide an interactive forum to showcase all the great startups this season due to the events cancellation by the City of Austin in March, we are excited to share presentation decks from the 2020 finalists from SXSW Pitch and SXSW Release It as well as the opportunity for companies to request introductions to finalists.

SXSW is a champion of startups, and our goal is always to promote and celebrate amazing entrepreneurs, said Chris Valentine, SXSW Pitch and Release It Event Manager. This year, due to the cancellation of SXSW, we are focusing on digitally showcasing our SXSW Pitch and Release It finalists and alternates. By providing their presentation decks on the SXSW Pitch and SXSW Release It webpages, we are excited to share our incredible finalists for 2020 with the entrepreneurship and investment community.

Over the past 11 years, SXSW Pitch has played a pivotal role in shaping the early-stage venture ecosystem, giving promising companies from Siri to Klout the resources they need to succeed. Of the 503 past participants, 75% have received funding totaling to $6.6 billion and 16% have been acquired.

Explore pitch decks from each of the innovative tech finalists and alternates that have opted-in to share their 2020 presentation from SXSW Pitch across its 10 categories and SXSW Release It.

Our finalists represent some of the most ambitious talents in the world with the creative new ideas to change it. We not only want to showcase the great work they are doing to a larger audience but also connect these startups with any interested companies. If you are a company that would like to be introduced to a finalist, please complete this Introduction Request form.

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Congrats again on all the amazing work from our 2020 SXSW Pitch and SXSW Release It finalists and alternates. We wish everyone good luck as you move forward with your startup!

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Presentation Decks from 2020 SXSW Pitch and Release It Finalists - sxsw.com

CBS All Access is making the most out of the final frontier with a handful of original Star Trek shows. Star Trek Discovery kicked off the latest era of the franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek: Picard brought back the beloved captain from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will spin-off characters from Discovery. But theres one other Star Trek project in the works at the CBS streamer that may be the most original: Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is a new animated series from Rick and Morty writer and Solar Opposites co-creator Mike McMahan that focuses on the members of the lower decks of a starship crew instead of the higher ranking officers on the bridge. Many Star Trek fans have worried about a full-fledged animated comedy within the world of Star Trek turning into a parody of the franchise itself. But when we asked McMahan about how he intends to bring humor to the franchise, it sounds like his head is in the right space (no pun intended), and the series wont use Star Trek or its fans as a punching bag.

I had the opportunity to speak with Mike McMahan about his animated series Solar Opposites on Hulu (read our review here), and our conversation turned to Star Trek: Lower Decks. McMahan had previously said that he hoped to create an animated series that had plenty of laughs but still respected Star Trek canon and didnt belittle the franchise. I asked him how he intended to do that, and he had quite the eloquent and thoughtful response. McMahan started:

Im a huge Star Trek fan, and nobody needs a Star Trek comedy that made fun of Star Trek or punched down on Star Trek, nor was I interested in doing that that. I was interested in writing a Star Trek that could be canon, that follows the rules of other Star Trek shows that I loved, and has everything that you love about Star Trek, including the way you tell stories. But Im a comedy writer. Im never gonna write a serious Star Trek, so the way that we handled it is its on a ship that isnt the capital ship. Its not about the bridge crew. Its about the lowest officers on that ship. But when were breaking stories for the lower decks, every episode also has a proper Star Trek episode thats happening to the bridge crew, and our lower deckers arent involved in it. However, you cant have a big sci-fi thing happening on a starship and not have it effect them because thats their whole world. So if youre watching Lower Decks, youre getting a full Star Trek episode from the perspective of people who are having their own social and emotional stories and their own sci-fi stories, but they just arent on the bridge. They dont have the information the bridge is getting, and they dont have the responsibility.

The mere premise of seeing the less exciting stuff the lower decks crew has to deal with while the bridge is having a full-on space adventure is funny in itself. But a lot of comedy will come from the dynamic between the characters at the center of the series. McMahan added:

A big thing that was important to me was figuring out how do we comedically access these characters. How can these characters be funny and not break Star Trek? You cant have a Morty [from Rick and Morty] in Star Trek. You cant just have a stupid person in Starfleet, otherwise it breaks the aspirational paradigm of what humanity is like in Starfleet. So our leads are foils for each other, but theyre very much ingrained in Star Trek.

More specifically, McMahan dived into the two leads of the show and how their clashing will be a source of comedy:

You have Ensign Beckett Mariner, who is sort of like our Tom Cruise/Maverick, where shes amazing at Starfleet stuff, and shes incredibly knowledgeable, but she just hates following the rules and she bristles at the military structure. She wants to do whatever she wants. Shes kind of like Captain Kirk if Kirk wasnt a captain and didnt have the power. Kirk would follow his gut, and she followers her gut.

Then, Ensign Brad Boimler also knows everything about sci-fi stuff, and is also an amazing Starfleet crew member, but hes so by-the-book and so burdened by following the rules that he cant follow his gut. So the comedic friction there is that they both want the same thing, theyre both good at this stuff, but emotionally and from a human level, theyre completely different about how they do it.

Finally, for anyone concerned that a Star Trek comedy series may be a step in the wrong direction, McMahan also said:

Star Trek has always had comedy in it. Every series of Star Trek has funny characters, funny episodes, and those always live in the B-stories for the most part. That, to me, is what I love about Star Trek. So its really taking that aspect of it and letting that shine. I cant wait for you guys to see it, because its one of my favorite things Ive ever made. It feels like it fell out of another dimension in the 90s where they were making a funny Next Generation era show.

Knowing Mike McMahans nerdy comedy sensibilities combined with everything he said here, Id say Star Trek: Lower Decks sounds like its in perfect hands. We wont know for sure until the series arrives on CBS All Access, which is slated to happen sometime later this year. Stay tuned for our full interview with Mike McMahan, coming soon.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks Details: Finding Comedy in the Final Frontier - /FILM