Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Naomi Watts could be cast in the latest film directed by Dallas Buyers Club's Jean-Marc Valle.

According to The Wrap, the actress is in talks to star in the movie, alongside Jake Gyllenhaal who is already attached.

The banker begins to tear apart his life in a distraught effort to see where he went wrong but ultimately is rescued by a woman he meets in a chance encounter.

If Watts does join the production, she is set to play a pot-smoking customer service representative working for a vending machine company. The single mother is dating her boss but soon falls for Gyllenhaal's character.

The 45-year-old actress recently signed up to appear in the next three films in the Divergent franchise and has been in talks for Gus Van Sant's Sea of Trees.

Watch Naomi Watts talk about the Diana biopic below:

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Naomi Watts in talks to star opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Demolition

(PRWEB) August 18, 2014

Sierra Classic Custom Homes (SCCH), custom homebuilders in the Central Texas and Houston areas since 1989, will enter the Texas Hill Country real estate market with a 5,335 square-foot model home in Spicewood, Texas. Work is scheduled to begin in mid August on Highway 71.

SCCH is a full-service, custom homebuilder that builds custom plans or adaptions from existing floor plans. The company has projects in Greater Houston, Bastrop, New Braunfels and Chapell Hill. The Spicewood model marks their entry into the booming Austin area real estate market. We entered our 25th year with an impressive track record in the Houston and Central Texas areas, so its a fitting time to enter suburban Austin with one of our most stunning model homes to date, stated Ron Chamberlain, president of SCCH. Spicewood and the surrounding lake areas are some of the states most inviting locations to settle for many reasons we look forward to providing top-quality, beautiful homes in this exciting growth market.

The expansive two-story model will feature a grand entrance with staircase, elevator servicing the homes three floors, covered balconies with stone balusters and a stucco exterior with tile roof. Designed by the Sierra Classic Design Team, the home has an estimated value of $985,000 (inclusive of three acres of land). Projected completion of the model is Q4 of 2014.

Founded in 1989 by Kip Miller and Joanie Ramser, vice president of SCCH, the builder is based in Katy, Texas. SCCH is a member of the National Associations of Home Builders, Texas Association of Builders, the Greater New Braunfels Home Builders Association and the Greater Houston Home Builders Association. They specialize in projects priced in the $250K - $750K range, yet are always open to discuss projects notwithstanding of budget. SCCH also has a team of in-house interior designers who strive to create model homes with Design Centers that reflect the most current trends and products.

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About Sierra Custom Homes Founded in 1989 by Kip Miller, Sierra Classic Custom Homes (SCCH) was born out of the customers desire for larger, more sprawling ranch style homes on acreage properties. What started as a small company (headquartered in Katy, TX) building 20-25 custom homes per year changed in 2002 with an expansion into Fulshear, Bellville and on in to the Hill Country in 2004. As of 2014, SCCH has design centers in Houston and the Hill Country. They specialize in projects from $250K - $750K and provide fixed priced contracts, full turn key service including working with all third parties, utility companies, HOAs, cities and counties, superior standard features, insured subcontractors. For more information, visit sierraclassic.com or call (281) 391-1303.

Excerpt from:
Sierra Classic Custom Homes Breaks Ground on First Property in Greater Austin

New York, NY (PRWEB) August 18, 2014

Turner Construction Company is pleased to announce that construction is underway on a $28 million modernization of Kramer Middle School in Washington, DC, which has not seen a significant renovation since its original construction in 1943.

On this job we are putting more than $17 million in place in nine weeks, which is no small feat, said Kaan Celebi, project manager. He continued, Im confident that we will pull it off for the students, the client, and the community.

Scheduled for completion in phases, planned improvements include installation of a new elevator, build-out of IT and electrical closets, replacement of the buildings mechanical and life safety systems, and installation of upgraded windows, exterior doors, and exterior lighting.

On just the second day of wall and ceiling demolition, the project team began hanging ductwork and piping for the updated mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, by the second week, they had installed steel on the roof to support the installation of mechanical units which arrived shortly thereafter, and by the fourth week they had completed inspections and begun painting and finish work on two floors. Work still ahead includes additional architectural upgrades to hallways, classrooms, bathrooms, the cafeteria and the gymnasium, and the schools entrances.

About Turner Construction Company Turner is a North America-based, international construction services company. Founded in 1902, Turner first made its mark on the industry pioneering the use of steel-reinforced concrete for general building, which enabled the company to deliver safer, stronger, and more efficient buildings to clients. The company continues to embrace emerging technologies and offers an increasingly diverse set of services. With an annual construction volume of $9 billion, Turner is the largest builder in the United States, ranking first in the major market segments of the building construction field, including healthcare, education, sports, commercial, and green building. The firm is a subsidiary of HOCHTIEF, one of the worlds leading international construction service providers. For more information please visit http://www.turnerconstruction.com.

About HOCHTIEF HOCHTIEF is one of the most international construction groups worldwide. The company delivers complex infrastructure projects, in some cases on the basis of concession models. The Group operates in the transportation infrastructure, energy infrastructure and social/urban infrastructure segments as well as in the contract mining business. With nearly 81,000 employees and a sales volume of more than EUR 25 billion in FY 2013, HOCHTIEF is represented in all the worlds major markets. With its subsidiary Leighton, the Group is market leader in Australia. In the USA, the biggest construction market in the world, HOCHTIEF is the No. 1 general builder via its subsidiary Turner and, with Group company Flatiron, ranks among the most important players in the field of transportation infrastructure construction. Because of its engagement for sustainability, HOCHTIEF has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes since 2006. Further information is available at http://www.hochtief.com/press.

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Turner Construction Company Selected to Perform Classroom Modernization Project at Kramer Middle School in Washington ...

City and CSX Transportation maintenance crews did not do a good job responding to repeated complaints from residents about street damage on the Baltimore block that collapsed in the spring, according to the city's transportation director and a report reviewing previous inspections.

The city of Baltimore issued the report Sunday analyzing the April 30 collapse of a stretch of East 26th Street after massive rainfall. The report noted that neither CSX nor city maintenance crews who responded to several resident complaints about the roadway before the disaster had the expertise to identify the surface issues as symptomatic of a larger failure of the street's subsurface.

While the report revealed a lack of coordination between the two entities and a lack of thoroughness in infrastructure inspections, it did not conclusively say what caused the collapse other than an unusually cold and wet winter.

"While we look at available information and discuss possible scenarios, the definitive conditions which ultimately caused the collapse remain inconclusive due to the lack of exploratory information which may not become available even during the extensive excavation of the failure area during the reconstruction phase," the report said.

On Sunday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake met with several of the residents who were forced to temporarily leave their homes in the spring after a 120-year-old retaining wall failed after heavy rainstorms, causing much of the street to collapse. The meeting was to go over the results of the report Rawlings-Blake had ordered from city transportation and public works employees about the history of inspections and repairs to the street and complaints from residents.

"This is about getting to the bottom of what happened and why," Rawlings-Blake said after the meeting.

She said residents were given a timetable for repairs and were told of the changes city officials had made to ensure that streets, bridges and walls are thoroughly inspected.

The changes include sending out engineers to do ground testing of streets that receive more than one complaint and deploying city workers and inspectors to review the city's aging infrastructure after major rainstorms such as the deluge the city saw last week, which flooded some streets, particularly in Southeast Baltimore.

Some residents have hired lawyers to seek reparations from the city and CSX after being forced to relocate to city-paid hotels or making other living arrangements for weeks while structural engineers studied the collapse to make sure their homes were not in danger.

"We saw that the city appears to admit that mistakes were made, and we're happy with that," said Jeff Bowman, an attorney who represents five properties.

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Mayor meets with residents over E. 26th Street collapse

City and CSX Transportation maintenance crews did not do a good job responding to repeated complaints from residents about street damage on the Baltimore block that collapsed in the spring, according to the city's transportation director and a report reviewing previous inspections.

The city of Baltimore issued the report Sunday analyzing the April 30 collapse of a stretch of East 26th Street after massive rainfall. The report noted that neither CSX nor city maintenance crews who responded to several resident complaints about the roadway before the disaster had the expertise to identify the surface issues as symptomatic of a larger failure of the street's subsurface.

While the report revealed a lack of coordination between the two entities and a lack of thoroughness in infrastructure inspections, it did not conclusively say what caused the collapse other than an unusually cold and wet winter.

"While we look at available information and discuss possible scenarios, the definitive conditions which ultimately caused the collapse remain inconclusive due to the lack of exploratory information which may not become available even during the extensive excavation of the failure area during the reconstruction phase," the report said.

On Sunday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake met with several of the residents who were forced to temporarily leave their homes in the spring after a 120-year-old retaining wall failed after heavy rainstorms, causing much of the street to collapse. The meeting was to go over the results of the report Rawlings-Blake had ordered from city transportation and public works employees about the history of inspections and repairs to the street and complaints from residents.

"This is about getting to the bottom of what happened and why," Rawlings-Blake said after the meeting.

She said residents were given a timetable for repairs and were told of the changes city officials had made to ensure that streets, bridges and walls are thoroughly inspected.

The changes include sending out engineers to do ground testing of streets that receive more than one complaint and deploying city workers and inspectors to review the city's aging infrastructure after major rainstorms such as the deluge the city saw last week, which flooded some streets, particularly in Southeast Baltimore.

Some residents have hired lawyers to seek reparations from the city and CSX after being forced to relocate to city-paid hotels or making other living arrangements for weeks while structural engineers studied the collapse to make sure their homes were not in danger.

"We saw that the city appears to admit that mistakes were made, and we're happy with that," said Jeff Bowman, an attorney who represents five properties.

Continue reading here:
Rawlings-Blake meets with residents regarding E. 26th Street collapse

SARANAC LAKE - The town of Harrietstown hopes the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover most, if not all, of the cost of replacement of a retaining wall along the Saranac River behind the Harrietstown Town Hall.

Town officials recently submitted paperwork to the federal agency to reimburse the town $185,000, which represents their first payment to the project's contractor, Luck Brothers of Plattsburgh. Luck Brothers is expected to submit another invoice for roughly $80,000. The company bid $264,000 on the project.

Town Supervisor Mike Kilroy said FEMA has promised to give the town at least $207,000.

The town of Harrietstown is hoping the Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover most, if not all, of the cost of replacement of this new retaining wall along the Saranac River behind the Harrietstown Town Hall. (Enterprise photo Chris Knight)

"As soon as Luck turns in their second one, I'll submit it," Kilroy said. "It's going to be about $80,000 something. They may give us all of it, and I'd be happy if they do. They might also say, 'Here's your $207,000. That's all you're going to get.' I'm just going to keep submitting until they say stop."

The original retaining wall was damaged in April 2011 when the river, fueled by a combination of heavy rain and spring snowmelt, overflowed its banks. Getting it replaced took more than three years. Town officials have said that's because the project required a long list of approvals from numerous agencies including the state Adirondack Park Agency, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Work on the new retaining wall finally started in June. Town Code Enforcement Officer Ed Randig said Thursday that the project was "basically complete" except for some paving work and the installation of a railing.

"We restored the River Walk," he said. "All the bedrock is completed and we're waiting for the grass to grow."

Town officials noted that the wall is much taller than the one that was there before. One board member joked that it looked like a fort.

"The turret and the cannons are coming in next week, and we're going to have a re-enactment of the French and Indian War," Randig quipped.

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H'town banks on FEMA to cover retaining wall project

Beginning inSeptember, Dillard Universitywill offer free job training in hazardous-waste cleanup, green construction, mold remediation, lead abatement and asbestos abatement.

The training initiative, provided by Dillard's Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, receives funding from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences. It last from Sept. 2 until Nov. 14.

Beverly Wright, the director of theDeep South Center, said that 2014 marks the twentieth year that the job-training program has been available to residents of New Orleans. The program began at Xavier University in 1994, Wright said, and moved to Dillard after Hurricane Katrina.

"Following the 2001 anthrax attacks, we began training people in how to treat mold associated with anthrax," Wright said. "So when Katrina happened four years later, we were able to supply many young men and women trained in the techniques of mold remediation."

Graduates of the program have worked in Jamaica, the West Indies, and throughout the U.S., assisting in cleanup efforts related to the BP oil spill and the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, Wright said.

Today, the program is available at universities in New York, New Jersey, Houston, Tex., Detroit, Mich., and Savannah, Ga. Dillard University is the only historically black college to offer it.

Candidates must be at least 18 years old, though they need not have a high school diploma or GED. A stipend, bus tokens (if required) and lunch will be provided to participants.

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Dillard University to offer free job training in hazardous waste management

Fascinating, intriguing, or thoughtful tales about people and places in Coronado History presented by your Coronado Historical Association

It was eminent, dramatic, and in its own evocative way a landmark. But it was also the Coronado hotel that youve probably never heard of.

It was built at the same time as the Hotel del Coronado by the same architect. It offered dazzling views, soaring towers and stylish balconies ... and a fresh-swept tidiness with none of that pesky beach sand.

The Hotel Josephine was stirring and conspicuous as sure to catch the eye in 1887 as it would today. Built of the Eastlake architectural style, the hotel rose three-stories high with offices, shops and 64 rooms (and with a fourth half-story for servants and staff). It stood on the highest point in Coronado on Orange Avenue between Third and Fourth Streets.

Hotel Josephine was the handsome big building you saw when you looked across the bay from San Diego or gazed up from the breezy deck of a Coronado ferry ... not the better-known big hotel on the beach.

From Josephines top floors you could look out toward Point Loma with unobstructed views or peer down on ferries coming and going. The hotel featured a large ballroom, many uncluttered meeting rooms, and large comfortable porches designed specifically to catch the airs.

If Hotel Josephine lived today it would be the center of spirited and, undoubtedly, popular campaigns celebrating a triumph of historical preservation.

To differentiate itself, Josephine advertised its value as a First Class Family Hotel. Businessmen, house builders and long-term residents were just as likely to be seen on Josephines wide and comfortable verandas as vacationers.

As conspicuous as it was, Josephine also benefited from a quirk involving its frontage on Orange Avenue. When the first trolley tracks were laid on Orange from the ferry to the Hotel Del, the grade was considered excessive between Third and Fourth Streets so that area was excavated several feet lower. The result (that can still be seen today) was that buildings on either side of Orange look higher and more prominent.

The first meeting of the newly constituted Board of Trustees of the Coronado Beach Company (Coronados City Council of the day) was held at Hotel Josephine on 15 December 1890. For sixteen years, the hotel acted as the citys first city hall with scheduled meetings of the Board and city committees devoted to Finance, Streets and Sewers, Fire and Water, Parks and Shade Trees, and Waterfront & Public Buildings. The city relocated its city hall to the Coronado Beach Company offices at First and Orange in 1906.

The rest is here:
Field Guide To Coronado History: Coronados OTHER Grand Hotel

Monday, August 18, 2014 1:12 PM EDT

By ERICA SCHMITT STAFF WRITER

NEW BRITAIN Its not surprising that a church founded on unity would welcome people of all ethnicities to its annual events.

And thats exactly how St. Peters Church operates, from Sundays annual summer picnic to its Oktoberfest on Sept. 27.

I love the parishioners here; they have withstood a lot of hardships but are very loyal and welcoming to everyone, Bernadette Janiol, the church secretary and bookkeeper, said Sunday.

The second oldest church in New Britain, St. Peters was established in 1873 by German immigrants. In 1890 they began construction on the church building in Franklin Square.

They started with the cellar and ran out of money, said Franz Kuch, a lifelong parishioner. They raised more money and 10 years later built the upstairs, he continued.

When French-speaking families settled in the area, they looked to form a Catholic church.

They were going to build their own, but didnt have enough money, added Kuch. The priest here at the time spoke German, French and English, so he asked them to join this church.

That would be the Rev. Charles Coppens.

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Picnic reflects church's origins

By Sara Waite

Journal-Advocate managing editor

Rick Weingardt, chair of First Presbyterian Church's property committee, directs longtime members, from left, Jim Williamson, Jenevieve DeSoto, Mary May, James Leh, Warren Brown, Barbara Armstrong and Harry Peterson in the groundbreaking for the church's elevator and Americans with Disabilities Act addition Sunday, Aug. 17, after the worship service. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Members at First Presbyterian Church fill their plates from a potluck buffet after the groundbreaking celebration Sunday. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

"Build up, build up, prepare the way. Remove every obstruction from my people's way."

The passage from Isaiah 57 couldn't have been more fitting as the theme of First Presbyterian Church's "ADA/HC Restoration/Elevator Installation Project Groundbreaking Celebration" Sunday.

After their regular worship service, the congregation gathered outside the church to officially mark the beginning of a project that will provide handicapped access to all three levels of the building.

Several members of the committees involved in putting the project together spoke about the project, which will feature an addition with an elevator and "open the doors to all who wish to enter."

Members of the congregation's youngest generation participate in the groundbreaking celebration for First Presbyterian Church's ADA/HC Restoration/Elevator Installation Project Sunday. (Sara Waite / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

Rick Weingardt, chair of the property committee, thanked those who donated to the fund for the project, noting that it took just six months and 100 individual contributions to meet the goal.

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Church breaks ground on ADA-access project