Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

A contractor who accidentally caused a fire at a Connecticut home that killed three girls and two of their grandparents on Christmas 2011 has agreed to settle part of a wrongful-death lawsuit by paying the children's father $5 million.

Court records obtained by The Associated Press show that the contractor, Michael Borcina, and his company settled Matthew Badger's lawsuit in Hartford Superior Court on Dec. 10. Badger's lawyer confirmed the settlement amount Tuesday.

The fire in Stamford killed 7-year-old twins Grace and Sarah Badger, 9-year-old Lily Badger and their maternal grandparents, Lomer and Pauline Johnson. The girls' mother, Madonna Badger, and Borcina were dating at the time and escaped the fire.

Authorities said the fire began after Borcina left a bag of fireplace ashes in a bin in a mudroom in the house. Borcina, who was renovating the $1.7 million Victorian home, was accused in the lawsuit of contributing with other defendants to make the house a "firetrap," including failing to install a smoke detection system during the construction.

A lawyer for Borcina didn't return a message Tuesday seeking comment. A phone listing for Borcina could not be found. Matthew Badger and Madonna Badger did not return messages seeking comment.

Richard Emery, a New York lawyer representing Matthew Badger, said the $5 million settlement is the first in the lawsuit, which remains pending against several other defendants.

"It is nowhere near reflective of the ultimate value of this case: three little girls' lives," Emery said. "No money could compensate for that."

Matthew Badger filed the lawsuit in July 2012 against Borcina, his company Tiberias Construction of New York City, the city of Stamford and others. Claims against the city and other defendants remain unresolved.

"The girls died before they could escape the home, which had become a firetrap as a result of months of substandard construction leading up to the fire," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also says city officials knew or should have known that Borcina served as the home's general contractor but didn't have a state home improvement contractor's license. Stamford officials previously denied any wrongdoing in connection with the fire. The city's corporation counsel, Kathryn Emmett, declined to comment Tuesday.

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$5M settlement in fire that killed 3 sisters, grandparents

At its first meeting of 2015, held on Thursday, January 8, the Village Board of Trustees approved nine supplemental work orders for the new senior center project on Golf Club Lane. As a result the original contract price for the project dropped from $450,000 to $439,300. Deputy Mayor Episcopia examined the details.

"What we received from Recreation was a list of costs, both positive and negative. We had deductions and savings with the building of the basement. When you take a look at the original contract and spreadsheet we received from deBruin Engineering, there's $275,000 for the building foundation. When someone takes a look at that, you begin to wonder why it was that much. Was it a lot of overhead, or did it have to do with the gravel, the moving, and roads?" he asked.

Kevin Ocker, chairman of the board of commissioners of Garden City Parks and Recreation, explained that the $275,000 was the price of the bid for the installation of the building's foundation for the contractor. Afterward the project was "value-engineered" to reduce the scope of work for the foundation.

"The total job awarded to the contractor was $450,000. When we backed out the credits or savings we achieved for the foundation, and with all of the small change orders in front of the board this evening, the net effect is that the contract will come in about $19,100 under budget. Most of the items have had to be done already with construction going on," Ocker said.

The credits for revising the original foundation resulted in a supplemental work order for a credit of $60,000, with less excavation, backfilling, shoring, underpinning and concrete work needed.

There was also a credit of $7,600 for concrete and footings of the building's attached porches, which were removed when the building was moved from its former place as the model house for DoubleDay Court Condominiums.

The senior center's drains and drywall were completed on Wednesday, January 7. Two drywells for the stairwell to the senior center's basement is the next step, as outlined by a $1300 supplemental work order.

In addition, with the excavation of the building's foundation an abandoned well was found. To fill the well the contractor needed to use 186 yards of pea gravel and cap it with concrete, for a cost of $8,400. Ocker told the board that work will be charged to the water enterprise fund.

The other supplemental work orders covered the following: $3,500 for dampproofing foundation walls; $1,700 for the installation of columns; $1,200 for the installation of foundation air vents; and

The main outlier with the senior center is a new roof, for which the cost has not been agreed to with deBruin Engineering. The roof was not included as part of the original contract, and Ocker says his department's subcommittee will discuss the options for a renovated roof or a new roof.

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Senior center construction work comes in under budget

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Norms restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard -- considered a model of Googie architecture with its vaulted roof and neon sign -- may face the wrecking ball unless a city commission decides Thursday whether to take up its status as a historic monument.

UPDATE: City commission to review Norms historic and cultural monument status

Owners of the restaurant obtained a demolition permit on Jan. 5 from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, according to online permit records.

On Thursday, the citys Cultural Heritage Commission will decide whether to initiate the process of designating the restaurant a historic monument.

Launching the review process would shield the building from demolition in the interim, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy, which submitted the historic monument application for Norms in December.

Built in 1956, the 24-hour coffee shop was designed by Louis Armet and Eldon Davis, whose Armet & Davis architecture firm rolled out buildings with soaring roofs and kitschy neon lights.

The pair dreamed up blueprints for other Southern California-launched chains such as Dennys and Bobs Big Boy, and corporate expansions took the Googie style national.

But such Googie buildings are exceedingly rare, giving urgency to saving the Norms, said Adrian Scott Fine, advocacy director for the Los Angeles Conservancy.

Theyre really symbolic of Southern California postwar culture, Fine said about Googie buildings.

If the five-member commission decides to start the review process -- which may entail a site visit to Norms -- a second hearing would see a vote on whether to recommend the restaurant as a historic monument.

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Demolition permit for Norms restaurant spurs historic monument campaign

GRANITE CITY Illinois transportation officials will close a stretch of Interstate 270 in both directions Tuesday to demolish one of the old eastbound Chain of Rocks Canal bridges.

It will be the first of three explosive demolitions of the two 50-year-old I-270 canal bridges, which were replaced last year with a new span.

IDOT officials encourage motorists to use another route that morning. The highway will close in both directions at 10 a.m. Tuesday and is expected to reopen within two hours.

Members of the public will have a limited opportunity to view the demolition at the east end of the old Chain of Rocks Road Mississippi Canal Bridge. Parking will be available on a limited basis off West Chain of Rocks Road, west of Illinois Route 3. Spectators will have to walk to the viewing area.

Traffic-control measures will be in place to guide westbound drivers around the closure.

The stretch of I-270 carries nearly 55,000 vehicles a day.

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Demolition of old I-270 bridge will temporarily close highway next week

Demolition specialists Chris Winfield, left, and Adrian Hardesty are heading up the new department at Quinto Crane & Plant Ltd

Shaun Lowthorpe Thursday, January 15, 2015 2:06 PM

A growing Norfolk crane hire company has added a new demolition and dismantling division to its operation.

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Quinto Crane & Plant Ltd has brought in demolition specialists Chris Windfield and Adrian Hardesty to head up the new department.

The move is part of a 2.5m investment into the firms fleet and follows a buyout deal which saw Oliver and Hannah Arnold who run farm contracting business Spring Farm Partnership from Felthorpe, acquiring the firm.

Mr Arnold said more investment into the business was likely and the firm was also set to recruit new staff.

The addition of demolition & dismantling service brings Quinto full circle to its former Pointer glory days when cranes and demolition were run side by side employing in the region of 1,000 people, he said.

There is a construction related synergy between our lifting service, machinery moving and demolition and dismantling operations that will benefit our clients.

The company boasts an annual turnover of 7m, and Mr Arnold has already outlined his desire to take that up to 10m in the year ahead.

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Norwich-based Quinto Cranes adds demolition arm

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) January 15, 2015

Builders Digital Experience, Inc. (BDX) announced that customers of Rockville, MD based Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), the industry-leading Mid-Atlantic region multiple listing service (MLS), now have access to new home construction data. The new home data is compiled solely from real estate agent-friendly builders (builders committed to pay compensation to real estate agents participating in the transaction) and is available via a new integration agreement with New Home Source Professional. New Home Source Professional is the premier web site for real estate professionals to get all of the information that they need about new homes and communities for their clients.

Designed specifically for real estate agents, New Home Source Professional has the largest searchable collection of new homes available anywhere, including plans, builder promotions and community-level data.

MRIS is part of a growing list of MLS organizations across the country that are working with New Home Source Professional to bring this new home data to MLS customers. As part of the agreements, these MLSs have a turnkey, branded new home channel accessible through their MLS interface. MLS customers can search and view builders new home inventory from within their MLS systems through a customized version of NewHomeSourceProfessional.com. This access to new home information allows agents to serve buyers in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

MLS integrations are already active and available for customers of the following MLSs:

Nationally, based on our research of consumers and real estate agents, 48% of agents prefer selling new construction homes and our relationship with MRIS allows them to bring an unprecedented level of new home information directly to their clients, said Tim Costello, Chief Executive Officer, Builders Digital Experience.

MLSs interested in adding new home community and plan listings to their member dashboard should contact Bill Barnes at BBarnes(at)theBDX(dot)com or 954-661-5301. To learn more about New Home Source Professional and MRIS, please visit http://www.mris.com/mris-products/affiliated-services/new-home-source-professional.

About Builders Digital Experience Builders Digital Experience, LLC (BDX) was founded to combine the industrys leading new home resources under one roof and offer builders innovative online marketing options, streamlined customer service and support, and greater value. Capitalizing on over 14 years of building industry experience, BDX operates http://www.NewHomeSourceProfessional.com, the leading new home website for real estate agents, while also providing other services to builders, including advertising and online listings, video production, rich media renderings, mobile search, custom website production and more. For more information, visit http://www.thebdx.com.

About MRIS MRIS is Real Estate in Real Time. Were a leading provider of real estate information technology and services, and are frequently ranked among the most productive Multiple Listing Services (MLS) in the nation, facilitating over $45 billion in system wide sales in 2014. In its core market, MRIS supports over 45,000 real estate professionals spanning the Mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland, Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C. and parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. MRIS provides a portfolio of technology solutions and proprietary databases for real estate professionals, as well as broker and agent software products and an industry-leading consumer portal, MRIShomes.com (formerly HomesDatabase). In addition, the CURE Solutions Group, a subsidiary of MRIS, provides proprietary back-end technology to other MLS systems, serving nearly 120,000 customers each day. Visit MRIS at MRIS.com and our web based TV station, mrisTV.com. Like us on Facebook/MRISonFB, follow us on Twitter, @MRIS_REal_News and be sure to visit MRISblog.com for real-time news and company updates.

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New Home Source Professional Launches New Home Data for MRIS Customers