Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

NORWALK Window replacement will begin at West Rocks Middle School this summer as part of a number of major overhauls to Norwalk Public Schools over the next several years.

West Rocks phase one will be worked on this summer, said Michael Barbis, chairman of the Norwalk Board of Education Facilities Committee. Theyre doing half of windows this year and half of them next year. The windows were almost falling out. In the facilities study that was identified as the single-largest thing that needed attention at that building.

The Common Council allocated nearly $1.03 million in Norwalks 2017-18 capital budget for the first phase of the door-and-window replacement at the 61-year-old building at 81 West Rocks Road.

Were going to have windows that are not that old single-pane glass where you dont have that much protection from the elements, said West Rocks Principal Lynne Moore. Its really going to be an enhancement to the building.

Moore said window replacement on the front of the building will begin June 15 and be done by the start of school this fall. Windows on the Aiken Street side will be replaced in summer 2018.

Major construction on two other Norwalk schools is expected to be start by early 2019.

In April, the council approved $41.9 million in capital funding to build a new South Norwalk School next to the former Nathaniel Ely School site, which Columbus Magnet School will move into, and a $43.4 million to reshape Ponus Ridge Middle School into a pre-K through 8 STEM-themed magnet school.

The council advanced all three projects this month by authorizing the filing of grant applications for state reimbursement. June 30 is the deadline to apply for reimbursement, which Barbis anticipates will cover 32 percent of the construction costs.

The city will file the grant applications and learn early next year whether the reimbursement has been approved.

The State Bond Commission meets and votes in January, Barbis said. They have to review, they have to approve it. They bond it and then we get notified that its been approved by the state and then we move forward. In the meantime, we will put this out to an architect.

Officials would like to see construction start on the new South Norwalk school and new Ponus Ridge Magnet School by 2018 but that may not happen until early 2019, according to Barbis.

The goal is to have the classrooms up and running by September 2020 but that would be very ambitious, Barbis said.

The South Norwalk and Ponus Ridge Middle School projects are part of the school boards $172.8 million five-year capital plan.

Kevin Schultz contributed to this story.

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Improvements to begin with window replacement at West Rocks Middle School - Thehour.com

Locations: 8900 Wicker Ave., St. John; 9900 191st St., Mokena, Ill.

Brett Davis, retail sales manager for Schillings, explains that the Best of the Region award helps the staff to raise their expectations higher.

Every year, we set a bar with our goals, Davis says. When we are recognized for our excellence, it makes us want to try harder, to see if we can improve even more.

Quality brands such as Andersen, Silver Line, Therma Tru, and Velux provide customers the knowledge that they are buying the best door and window products available.

Knowledgeable staff is another important asset to the business, according to Davis.

Marketing director John White explains that Schillings places its emphasis on retaining customers and having them return for all of their home improvement needs. The combination of great prices and brands, and thorough product knowledge contributes to Schillings Best of the Region win.

Locations: 3488 Eagle Nest Drive, Crete, Ill.; 1877 E. Summit St., Crown Point

Phone: 708-668-4010 (Crete), 219-306-4702 (Crown Point)

Location: 235 Ridge Road, Munster

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Best Door & Window Replacement - nwitimes.com

The Courier-Journal

Louisville neighbors band together in an ecovillage to make a difference The Courier-Journal A fourth installed a geothermal system that taps the consistent underground temperature of about 55 degrees for heating and cooling. These neighbors are intent on making a difference despite a seemingly overwhelming challenge: transforming the global ...

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Louisville neighbors band together in an ecovillage to make a difference - The Courier-Journal

PLAQUEMINE It was only supposed to take a few weeks and cost around $2 million to upgrade the air conditioning system at the Iberville Parish courthouse, but it hasn't turned out that way.

Nearly a year later, the courthouse still looks like a construction zone, and Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso this week revealed a new structural issue that has complicated matters and could nearly double the costs to keep the building safe.

"It has been one thing after the other with that courthouse," Ourso said. "But we have to spend what we have to to make it safe."

The parish had to completely shutdown the courthouse for 12 days in July and temporarily relocate people working there to satellite offices after asbestos was discovered in the courthouse's 30-year-old heating and cooling system as contractors prepared to install upgrades.

PLAQUEMINE The Iberville Parish Courthouse is shutting down for about 12 days beginning Tu

The building houses the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office, Clerk of Court, Assessor's Office, District Attorney's Office and some of the parish administration.

Iberville Parish Finance Director Randall Dunn said it cost the parish another $1 million to hire a contractor to perform asbestos abatement at the courthouse.

Once that work was done, work on upgrading the building's cooling system resumed but had to be done in phases to ease the burden of having to relocate so many offices that were dealing with local and state elections and conducting day-to-day court operations during the upgrades.

The HVAC system work has been done floor-by-floor and section-by-section since last fall. Contractors just recently finished upgrades for the Clerk of Court's Office, Dunn said, and are set to begin with the Sheriff's Office soon.

But just as work on the project appeared to be winding down, Mitchell revealed to the Parish Council the recent discovery of a new problem that's adding to the headaches.

"One of the contractors noticed on the west side of the building that the parapet was cracked," Ourso said.

The parish currently has closed the parking lot on the west side of the building and has installed fencing to prevent anyone from entering of exiting from that side while they work to secure another contractor to repair the roofing on the building.

"We haven't nailed down the price yet but it's probably going to take around $800,000," Ourso said.

There's no timeline yet on how long it will be when that work gets started.

"This courthouse is kind of like a big motel that we manage but it belongs to the taxpayers," Ourso said. "The public shouldn't take it for granted. It takes a lot of money to keep this thing up and running."

Follow Terry Jones on Twitter, @tjonesreporter.

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Iberville Parish courthouse upgrades proving more costly, time consuming than expected - The Advocate

My husband and I really did our homework when it came time to remodel the entire first floor of our... read more house (kitchen, bath, dining room, living room, windows, doors, and floors). We spent numerous time researching and meeting with contractors for ideas and estimates. With a flexible work schedule, we had time to meet with many. The moment we met Robert from Royal Kitchens and Baths, we knew he was the one. Robert showed the patience and understanding of what my husband and I were trying to accomplish and he had wonderful ideas for those details that we were indecisive about. To make the decision process even easier for us, his pricing was extremely fair and attractive. Once we signed and the work began, his crew was outstanding. They were professional, clean, and talented. Another thing we were impressed about during the construction was that Robert was often at our house monitoring the work and, at times, even performed some tasks. The project was completed in a timely manner as Robert explained to us prior. The quality of work was beautiful. My husband and I are so happy with the results and was fortunate to have no issues. Robert remained patient with us and accommodated us throughout the project as, at times, we requested some changes in the original plans. Our friends and family that were familiar with how our house looked before the construction can't believe it is the same house. And for all our friends and family who came to our house for the first time after the construction, each and everyone of them made compliments about its beautiful looks and design. Thank you, Robert!!!

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Kitchen Remodeling - Royal Kitchens & Baths

Makers Quarter, the five-block gentrifying section of East Village, is already making its mark.

The Coliseum, where Archie Moore once boxed, is turning into a hipster hangout with eight bowling lanes, two karaoke setups, craft cocktails and scratch food.

The first housing project, seven-story, 265-unit Broadstone Makers Quarter due to open early next year, will include a high proportion of studios and one-bedroom apartments to appeal to single millennials on the hunt for affordable urban living.

And most significant, construction has begun on downtowns first major multi-tenant office building in a decade. A formal ground breaking is scheduled May 30. Called Block D, the 60,000-square-foot project, opening next year, will feature automatic sunshades, rollup garage doors on each floor and no parking.

People are bailing their cars for Uber and FRED, said project planner Stacey Pennington, the last, a reference to the Free Ride Everywhere Downtown shuttle service.

Makers Quarter, a makeover of the Jeromes Furniture family property holdings, is south of City College and bounded by Broadway and G Street, 14th and 17th streets. Developed by Lankford & Associates, Hensel Phelps and HP Investors, it is masterplanned to include about 979,448 square feet of office space, 140,158 square feet of retail and 808 housing units. It lies within the larger I.D.E.A. District that aims to promote a new live-work-play hub for innovation, design, education and the arts.

Mark Cafferty, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., calls Makers Quarter pretty bold, grounded as it is in the makers movement people making things and developing new ideas. It includes such amenities as an urban farm, charter school and, in the future, East Village Green park. Looking over an aerial rendering by the BNIM architectural firm, Cafferty compares it favorably with New York City.

We recognize that when we compete with other places that do well, theyre ahead of us, he said, when it comes to developing neighborhoods for urban-minded residents and workers. He called the development a real leverage play in attracting and retaining talent.

The Block D office building has plenty to offer in the way of innovation. Its a concrete, not steel, structure to take advantage of the natural heating and cooling attributes of concrete, said BNIM architect Matthew Porreco.

It will incorporate a series of red sunshades that move with the weather. When the marine layer blankets downtown, theyll fold up. When the sun shines, theyll open out to block the glare. The effect from surrounding streets will be a building facade constantly in motion.

Other design elements will offer maximum flexibility, such as locating the elevator core to one side of the building so that tenants can spread out over uninterrupted work space. Balconies and stairways will make it easy to move around the building and collaborate with fellow workers. The rollup garage doors will let in plenty of natural air and reduce the need for air conditioning.

It was about human-centered design, which is really about making workplace environments that are much more stimulating and engaging, Porreca said.

CBRE broker Matt Carlson said he has been collecting letters of interest from potential tenants but does not expect to sign leases until later this year. He called Block D a catalyst building that will touch off growth in downtowns office base, which has been largely static for years.

Its a billboard for the neighborhood to say this is the next employment hub, Carlson said. Theres office here. Companies are thriving here and right across the street we can accommodate larger users (in future buildings). This is really the start of office happening.

Sumner Lee, 40, is one of the early office pioneers in Makers Quarter. He moved his Fuse Integration defense contracting firm from Liberty Station to the Midway area. Then he and his 28-member staff moved in 2015 to a funky downtown warehouse at 1425 E Street.

Inside its far from the sleek, shipshape workspace typical of the defense industry. At this one, graffiti art fills the walls and wood pallets divide internal offices.

Its a very atypical defense contractor workforce and that is my goal, he said. By being an atypical engineering and design firm, Im going to be able to inject some creativity.

The neighborhood is still not pristine or polished, he agreed, but it has improved in the last two years. And there are microbreweries and one-of-a-kind restaurants all around to enjoy.

I really like the way being downtown connects myself and the rest of my employees to an environment that is an engaging environment, Lee said.

Denver developer Robert Thompson said the Coliseum building, a boxing club from 1924 to 1974 at 1485 E, was the only place he could imagine opening what will be the 11th Punch Bowl Social restaurant in San Diego.

When we can get our hands on a historic building like that big barrel-roof historic boxing arena, thats just about as good as it gets, Thompson said.

He said his clubs attract a millennial crowd, what with its combination of hip food and drink; darts, bowling and karaoke; and the urban setting. The 25,000-square-foot project is due to open by the end of the year.

Just because weve cracked this millennial code, I dont think anybody feels uncomfortable outside that set, he said.

Alliance Residential also has tailored its seven-story, 265-unit Broadstone Makers Quarter apartment project, due to open early next year at Broadway and 16th Street, to the millennial maker population.

Thats exactly the demographic were going after, said the design director Jonas Bronk. We think were on the front wave and its going to be great for the neighborhood and great for us.

Project architect Joseph Wong said the project will offer elements unseen in other Broadstone developments: coworking space on the second floor and a housing mix aimed at urban-minded students and young workers unburdened by excess stuff and thus needing less space carrying lower rents. To celebrate the maker vibe, the leasing office will feature metal work fashioned by designer Paul Basiles studio.

I think its going to be transformative to the area, Wong said.

Another residential project, Streetlights Makers Quarter, is due to start construction on 225 apartments later this year at 15th and F streets. High-rise office buildings are planned later at 15th and Broadway and 14th and E.

And to add to the neighborhood party scene, 10 Barrel Brewing is due to open next week at 1501 E.

Block A

Location: 15th-16th-Broadway-E

Use: 227,200 sq.ft. office; 42,600 sq.ft. retail; 248 homes

Status: Future phase

Block B:

Location: 16th-17th-Broadway-E

Use: Broadstone Makers Quarter, 265 apartments; 4,945 sq.ft.retail

Status: Under construction, open 2018

Block C

Location: 14th-15th-E-F

Use: 700,000 sq.ft. office; 28,700 sq.ft. retail; Coliseum converted to Punch Bowl Social, 24,571 square feet

Status: Punch Bowl Social opening 2018; remainder in future phase

BLOCK D

Location: 15th-16th-E-F

Use: Block D 52,248 sq.ft. office; 10 Barrel Brewing, 9,000 sq.ft.

Status: Office under construction, open 2018; 10 Barrel opening this month

Block E

Location: 13th-15th-F-G

Use: East Village Green park

Status: Construction begins 2018

Block F

Location: 15th-16th-F-G

Use: Streetlights Makers Quarter, 295 apartments; 19,893 sq.ft retail

Status: Construction to begin this year

roger.showley@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-1286; Twitter: @rogershowley

Excerpt from:
Makers Quarter: Sunshaded offices, hipster hangouts - The San Diego Union-Tribune

By Michele Lerner Special to The Washington Post

What ended with a 1950s- and 1960s-themed party for an entire neighborhood began with a simple desire to upgrade a tired kitchen.

When Silver Spring, Md., residents Amy Dibner and her husband, Bruce Marshall, expanded their small Cape Cod house to accommodate a larger kitchen and dining area, a sunroom and a patio with a landscaped backyard, they thanked their neighbors for living through the six-month construction period by throwing a midcentury modern party in keeping with their home's aesthetic.

Dibner and Marshall moved to the Washington region from Cleveland a decade ago, attracted to what they considered the perfect neighborhood: a cluster of small, single-family homes nestled along tree-lined streets within walking distance of downtown Silver Spring.

"We love it that we can walk to restaurants and shops and the Metro, but at the same time, we live in a quaint neighborhood," says Marshall, a Unitarian chaplain who works at Riderwood Village, a retirement community in Silver Spring, and who is the author of "Meaning and Spirit in Aging."

The couple, who share a love of midcentury modern furnishings and decor, found that the 1933 house worked well for them even when all four of their grown children visited, but after six or seven years, they realized the kitchen needed updating and that storage was a challenge.

"We talked to a contractor about just updating the kitchen, and that company pointed out that we had space behind our house to expand our living space and bring in more light," says Dibner, a commercial architect with the DLR Group in Washington. "We love the huge willow oak tree in front of our house and the weeping cherry tree in the back, but we were craving more light."

With the help of Tahani Share, an architect with Landis Architects/Builders in Washington, and Jeffrey Potter, a horticulturist with J&G Landscape Design, the couple added 475 square feet to their main level along with a flagstone patio and landscaped yard for outdoor living space. The couple paid $625,000 for their home in 2007, and the addition, completed in late 2015, cost $440,000, including a master bathroom renovation, a new patio, fencing and professional landscaping. The existing house had 1,000 square feet on the first level, which included a living room, two bedrooms, a full bathroom, a kitchen and a dining area. The house also has a finished lower-level family room and a dormer level with a master suite.

"Amy and Bruce wanted to enlarge their kitchen and dining space and create a sunroom, but they also wanted to stick with the simple design of their home," says Share. "We were able to maintain the appearance of the front of their house and expand the back of the house by 13 feet across its entire width."

***

Dibner and Marshall were clear on what they wanted: an addition that would complement and not overpower their home.

"Tahani designed a space that works as an interpretation of midcentury modern style," says Dibner. "It was such a pleasure for me to be on the client side of the table and yet also understand the process and the cost of different decisions."

Share used a 3-D design program to show Dibner and Marshall their existing home.

"We used drawings and 3-D modeling to design the addition right from the beginning, including space to accommodate the furniture they have and what they wanted to buy," says Share. "Technology makes the process easier and even helped us create a demolition plan and a construction plan."

The main goal was to create an uninterrupted flow of space in the kitchen, dining area and sunroom.

The original kitchen and dining area are now devoted to an open dining area and a wall of pantry shelving and closets.

"Tahani designed the pantry and the kitchen cabinets to match, with a band of glossy white cabinets and a band of matte wood cabinets," says Dibner, who enjoys the fact that even 18 months after the project was completed, they have yet to fill all their shelves.

"We wanted to keep the window from the exterior of the house to bring in natural light to the bedroom," says Dibner. "Tahani designed shelving and put in frosted glass so that the bedroom has both light and privacy. The cool thing is that it creates silhouettes on the bedroom side of whatever you have on the shelves in the sunroom."

Share says the initial plan was to design the sunroom with glass on the side wall as well as across the back, but the homeowners wanted to have that side closed off so they could use that wall for some of their furniture.

***

While the footprint of the addition covers what was a deck with a hot tub, Marshall and Dibner say they feel they have more space to enjoy outdoors now that the yard has been redesigned and the exterior of the house as well as the fencing on three sides has been improved.

"J&G even designed a pole to hang our bird houses that fits in with the rest of the house," says Dibner. "They also landscaped everything so it blooms sequentially and added four raised garden beds to our portion of the alley because that's where we get the best sun for vegetables and flowers."

The home's back lawn was originally sloped, so the landscape plan included leveling it and putting in a central pea gravel walkway that leads to a gate to the alley, where the couple has a detached one-car garage. An apple vine climbs the side wall of the garage that extends into the backyard.

Continued here:
Cape Cod house gets update via midcentury modern throwback - Peoria Journal Star

Patch.com

Get Home Improvement Questions Answered Patch.com As a homeowner, you will need to obtain a permit if you are building an addition such as a room or sunroom, making an alteration to your home such as windows, siding or basement remolding, if you're building a shed, detached garage or deck or if you're ...

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A quick look at what's to come at Mile of Music in 2017. Photos: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Wochit

Clockwise from top left: Bradford Loomis, Sam Trump, Johanna Samuels and Austin Lucas.(Photo: Photos courtesy of Mile of Music)

APPLETON - With another round of artist additions, the lineup for the fifth annual Mile of Musicnow stands at 115.

The latest batch of 35 performers includes 18 newcomers and 17 acts returning for at least a second time.

By the time the Aug. 3-6 festival comes around, the lineup is expected to feature more than 225 artists. They'll play upwards of 1,000 sets in about 70 venues in downtown Appleton.

Here are the just-announced 18 newcomers:

And the returning guests:

Of the 115 announced artists so far, 27 states and three countries are represented.

The remainder of the lineup will be rolled out in the weeks and months leading up to opening day. Same goes for specifics on the First Songs concert, the Mile Jam tribute show and the performance schedule.

For more on what's to come at Mile 5, check out our story from the April event announcing the first 50 performers and other details.

Shane Nyman: 920-996-7223, snyman@postcrescent.com or on Twitter @shanenyman

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Here are 35 more acts playing Mile of Music - Appleton Post Crescent

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

House Whisperer listens in Deutschtown Pittsburgh Post-Gazette By that time, the house had two rear additions, Mr. Waraks believes. Structurally, it was fairly solid when his partner bought the three-bedroom, ... the three bedrooms, which range in size from 15 by 10 feet to 24 by 13 feet. The second-floor ceilings ...

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House Whisperer listens in Deutschtown - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette