Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

By J.O. PARKER joparker@dmreg.com

The Montezuma weight room improvement project will soon be completed.

The Montezuma Board of Education approved a total bid of $57,059.81 to complete the project.

The board, which met on Wednesday, March 19, accepted the following bids:

Ogan Enterprises, $46,832.78; A-One Boring, $6,375; and Winegarden Hardware, $3,852.03 for a total of $57,059.81 to finish the work.

The work includes adding footings to the new addition, pouring a sidewalk, installing new windows and doors, framing the restroom, finishing inside of the building and adding siding to the outside of the building.

The State Fire Marshals office halted the project in July 2012, after it was discovered that the proper paperwork had not been filed. It was also discovered that two restrooms were to be included in the new addition.

Since that time, the district has received a waiver and is only required to install one handicap restroom in the new addition.

Staff

In business related to staff, the board: Approved the resignations of secondary science teachers David Brondyke and Carrie Weber.

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Monte Board OKs finishing weight room addition

FOR PEOPLE of a certain age who appreciate a certain genre of motion picture, nitroglycerin played a frequent role.

Nitro, stored in glass jars and protected by cotton wadding in a rickety crate in the back of a buckboard, provided a thrill in the stock scene: The wagon goes out of control, putting some precious cargo in terrible danger.

If that nitro got bumped too hard, or if the wagon careened over the cliff . . . BOOM!

Chip Kelly is driving the wagon.

His Eagles have cast DeSean Jackson as an expendable malcontent . . . after he completed his best season, and did so with a minimum of insubordination.

The most stable player on the team, Evan Mathis, a modestly underpaid guard, reportedly asked for, and was denied, a raise . . . even as two linemates had their contracts extended.

And, now, the Eagles have replaced the most controversial quarterback in league history with the second-most controversial quarterback on the East Coast. They agreed to terms with Mark Sanchez in a QB swap with the dysfunctional Jets, who lured Michael Vick with the chance to steal Geno Smith's starting job. Vick was easy to lure.

Sanchez was in town last night so the Eagles could make sure his bad arm wasn't going to fall off when OTAs start next month. Sanchez joins 2013 fourth-round pick Matt Barkley as Nick Foles' backups.

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Room on Kelly's wagon?

CLINTON, Tenn. (WVLT) Inside the new addition at the Anderson County Jail, computer systems control almost everything.

Captain Larry Davidson explained "It makes officers safe, it's also safer for the staff here. And for the inmates."

Overcrowding is a major problem at the current detention facility-- and at one point was on the verge of losing state accreditation.

At times, 30 inmates are housed in on area-- violent and non-violent criminals together.

But, the new addition adds 212 room, putting the facility back up to state standards.

"We'll be able to separate inmates according to their classification which will be much safer," said Captain Davidson.

The new facility is designed with a pod layout, meaning all inmates can be watched 24-7.

Davidson said, "This will be what we call direct indirect. Not only will it be cameras, but the officer will also be present walking in and out of the pods."

All of these renovations come with a price tag of more than 10 million dollars. It is all being paid for by the taxpayers.

Emily Parfitt said, " It will make me feel more safe. You don't have to worry about anyone breaking out of the jail. It's just better for the community. I don't mind paying extra."

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Anderson County Jail addition opening soon

The Shining came back in big way last year, with the theatrical release and subsequent Netflix availability of Room 237, a documentary on some of the fan theories that have gathered around Stanley Kubrick's psychological horror classic since its 1980 release. According to the interviewees, The Shining could be anything from a retelling of the mythological tale of Theseus and the Minotaur to Kubrick's apology for having helped fake the moon landing, but what most of them have in common is an insistence that the decor of the fictional Overlook Hotel has a lot to do with what the director really means. No surprises there, given that the Overlook is iconic enough to inspire architecturally focused tributes.

Though the Overlook presented in The Shining is actually a set built at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, England, it was inspired by a number of real-life hotels. Aerial shots of Oregon's Timberlane Lodge were used in the film's opening scene, as well as a few establishing shots that follow, but it was the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park (pictured above) that served as a template for much of the Overlook's interior.

Like any classic Alpine resort in America, the Ahwahnee incorporates plenty of designs inspired by Native American artwork; tapestries, carpets, and the like. When these made their way into the Overlookwith the addition of a large Navajo-style mural that Jack Nicholson's writer's block-tortured Jack Torrance likes to bounce a tennis ball off ofthey helped inspire journalist Bill Blakemore to write a 1987 article for the Washington Post entitled "Kubrick's Shining' Secret: Film's Hidden Horror Is The Murder of the Indian."

Image via IWDRM

How did Blakemorewho elaborates on his theory in Room 237jump to that conclusion, based on a few Mojave saddle blankets? The Shining incorporates a few other pieces of Native American iconography, including cans of Calumet baking powder embossed with the silhouette of a man in a feathered headdress, but it was a few lines of dialogue that got Blakemore connecting the dots. There's Jack's first conversation with Lloyd, his possibly ghostly, possibly nonexistent bartender: "You set 'em up and I'll knock 'em back Lloyd, one b'one. White man's burden, Lloyd my man. White man's burden." There's the horror story trope, inserted into two lines at the beginning of the film, about the Overlook being built on an Indian burial ground. But it's the decor that inspired the associative heavy lifting that turns a story about supernaturally induced cabin fever into one about the genocide of the Native Americans.

The geometric 70s-era carpet pattern in the upstairs hallway is easily the most iconic and theorized-upon decor element in The Shining. In Room 237 alone it's said to stand for a "beehive hexagon, but down the whole corridors of history" representing "the family of man," as well as the overhead shape of Launchpad 39A, the starting point of America's moon landing mission. (This, combined with the fact that Danny is wearing an Apollo 11 sweater in one scene, provides particularly juicy fodder for 237 subject Jay Weidner's moon landing theory.)

This hexagonal pattern is the backdrop for a turning point in the film, right before Danny enters the forbidden room 237, a moment that kicks off the family's downward spiral. Much is made in the documentary about an inconsistency between two shots, where the same tennis ball that Jack plays wall-ball with rolls to Danny, leading him to a room 237 whose door is mysteriously ajar. As laid out by Room 237 interviewee Juli Kearns on her website, a cut between two shots reveals a seeming continuity error, with the carpet flipping its orientation under Danny. If Kubrick threw this inconstancy in on purposewhich a few of Room 237's subjects pretty convincingly arguethe seeming suggestion is that, as Kearns, the proponent of the labyrinth-and-minotaur theory, puts it, now that "the hexagon is closed, it's almost like he's been closed in."

Photo via MoviefoneThe meaning behind the Overlook ballroom's abundance of gold is another point where the superfans diverge. Naturally, the color scheme lends itself nicely to Blakemore's theory, signifying the gold rush that drove the American settlers West. According Rob Ager, a Shining obsessive with a 21-chapter analysis up on his website and a personally produced six-volume DVD set called Kubrick Decoded, the inclusion of this room makes the film a polemic against the U.S. government's de-pegging of the dollar from the gold standard. All of that hinges somewhat precariously on the final shot, which shows Jack in an old picture taken at the hotel in 1921, which Ager asserts that he looks a good deal like Widrow Wilson in. Erm... yeah.

Photo via Clockwork BrothersJack's second trip to the Gold Room leads him to the most out-of-place interior in the Overlook, a harshly modern bathroom done up in a startling shade of red (which has inspired more than a few tributes over the years). It's where Jack finds Grady, the old caretaker who suggests he "correct" his family. Taken as an instance of Kubrik using color to suggest the inner workings of his characters, this room is generally agreed upon as a kind of "direct projection of Jack's violent mind." That one's simple enough, but then again, it doesn't even touch on the school of thought based primarily on how Kubrick portrays bathrooms.

The Shining could mean a lot of things. One takeaway to add to the list: watch what you do with your interiors, because you can't always control what people read into them.

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Hotels Week 2014: Exploring the Fan Theories Inspired by The Shining's Decor

Pardon our dust: Construction goes on apace into the new year

Highland Community News photos by Charles Roberts - Taking shape. The In-N-Out restaurant on Greenspot Road is taking shape, expected to open in March.

Civic Center Plaza, across the street from City Hall, is getting a new face. Most businesses are open during construction.

Final grading is being constructed at the Chevron station next door to In-N-Out.

Posted: Thursday, January 5, 2012 12:00 am

Pardon our dust: Construction goes on apace into the new year By Charles Roberts, Editor Highland Community News HighlandNews.net |

Big plans and big hope are ushering Highland into the new year with several projects under construction and more waiting in the wings.

The long-awaited In-N-Out restaurant is expected to be serving burgers and fries at its new Highland location in March, with the next-door Chevron station expected to open by then.

A new small office complex is under construction at the corner of Greenspot Road and Church Street.

The new Dairy Queen is now training its 22 employees and is expected to open in about a week.

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Pardon our dust: Construction goes on apace into the new year

Houston, TX /PRNewswire-iReach/ - Level Construction, a full-service general contracting and construction management firm specializing in hotel construction, recently broke ground on a 5-story, 94,091-square-foot Holiday Inn located at 18616 Kenswick Drive, near George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Construction is anticipated to last 12 months and will provide the area with one of its largest hotel.

Level Construction has already successfully completed a Quality Inn & Suites, Best Western Plus, and a Baymont Inn & Suites in this region, and is currently working on a Holiday Inn Express, Baymont Inn & Suites, and a Marriot Springhill in the same area.

The 144-room hotel will feature amenities such as a conference room, restaurant, fitness room, and a bar. This Holiday Inn is representative of the continued commercial boon seen in the greater Houston region, with developments sprouting up throughout the area due to emphasis on North American oil production and investment.

"Our ability to break into such an exciting and competitive market here in Houston is a testament to our professional approach and the consistency of our work," said Alex Johnson, Level Construction Managing Partner. "Texas as a whole is teeming with opportunities, and I'm happy we have a presence in its largest city."

Level's success within the hotel industry is due to its full-service capabilities, including procuring property, cost-effective budgeting, working collectively with architects and engineers, as well as project implementation. "Our goal is to ultimately build prominent, high-profile hotels," said Johnson. "The process we've created for these projects has been successful and I hope we can continue influencing the construction landscape in the Houston area."

About Level Construction Level Construction is a full-service general contracting and construction management firm with offices in Houston, TX and Chicago, IL. Level specializes in various commercial construction disciplines, including franchise construction, health care, hotels, office and retail build-outs, and education facilities. Level Construction provides consistent, detail-oriented construction services while maintaining open lines of communication with their clients. Level's all-inclusive approach has led to over 1000% growth since 2005, and they've continued to expand into new markets. For more information on Level Construction please contact their Chicago office at 773-930-4695 or Houston office at 832-242-3456, or visit http://www.levelconstruction.net.

SOURCE: Level Construction. Inc.

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Level Construction Continues Increased Presence In Houston Market With Construction Of Holiday Inn Hotel In Houston, TX

5:45 p.m. update: A pump used to pour wet cement malfunctioned on the 16th floor of a downtown construction site Tuesday evening, causing some of the material to fall and hit a man sitting at a nearby restaurant, an official said.

Joe Garza, the regional safety manager with DPR Construction, said that workers were using a pump to pour the wet cement into a column when pressure built up, causing it to overflow and fall. He said the company is still investigating the incident, but that it is considering putting up more nets on the construction site and to coordinate times for when workers pour wet cement so they have a spotter in place downstairs to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Police said Tuesday night that the man was sitting at the Market, 319 Colorado St., when the incident happened.

Earlier: A man who was hit by wet cement Tuesday evening had been sitting at a nearby restaurant, officials said.

The incident occurred about 6:40 p.m. near the site where the Colorado Tower is being built at 303 Colorado St. The man was taken to a hospital with bleeding to the head, but his injuries were described as minor, an official with Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services said.

Construction is being performed on the mixed retail/office space by DPR Construction. Workers had been pouring cement into a column when some fell onto the man, an official said.

Were in the process of investigating it, said Joe Garza, regional safety manager with DPR Construction.

Further details were not immediately available.

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Pump malfunction caused wet cement to fall from building, official says

Ken Grassi looks over rsums for a new wait staff at the new Grassis Ristorante and boutique Monday in the space formerly occupied by Affairs Cafe & Bakery on Bridgeport Way in University Place. Grassi moved his longtime restaurant and boutique near UWT to University Place, where he already has deep community connections. PHOTOSBYDEANJ.KOEPFLER/STAFFPHOTOGRAPHER

After closing his restaurant and boutique near the University of Washington Tacoma, Ken Grassi figured it would take another six months to open a new edition in University Place.

It took almost double, he said last week.

He cited negotiations, permits, indoor construction and exterior improvements planned during winter weather.

Where his downtown ladies boutique occupied 1,000 square feet, the new Grassis fills 1,500, and it is in a space next door but separated from the restaurant if only so the Italian aromas of garlic and onions do not cling to the cottons and silks.

The restaurant occupies the space that formerly housed Affairs cafe and truffle emporium at 2811 Bridgeport Way. So well-remembered is Affairs that Grassi said of owner Gay Landry, She had a great reputation. We love her. She left such a heritage. Were grateful for what she did here. Well have a blessing ceremony, and I am going to ask her to that.

Gone is the case where the truffles were, and in their place sits a counter where the specialty will be wine. The dining room remains, upgraded to embrace an air of the Italian countryside.

A portrait of Grassis father, Julio, graces one wall so intensely that the son said, I feel like hes watching me.

Uncle John looks across the room from a sepia-tinted photo, and theres another that records the wedding of Grassis sister, Bonnie. Wife Kim and daughter Melanie look across from a hutch.

The wine counter is supported by a brace of ancient radiators, and an Italian accordion stands beside a lamp made to resemble a vertical bouquet of hydrangeas. Nearby, cherubs watch over a burbling fountain. Windows circa 1850 hang from the ceiling near an elderly Hotpoint electric range.

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New Grassis sets sights on April opening dates

Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) March 28, 2014

Uncle Maddios Pizza Joint, the original and fastest-growing fast casual pizza chain in North America, will open the 19th unit on March 27th in Auburn, Ala. at the Heart of Auburn complex at 339 South College Street, Suite E. To celebrate the newest Uncle Maddios Pizza Joint opening, the restaurant will serve free 9-inch, any three topping, fully-customizable pizzas to all customers in line from 11:00 a.m. through the afternoon on Saturday, March 29th. One patron in line will be awarded PIZZA FOR A YEAR!

The Auburn Uncle Maddios location marks the first of five planned Uncle Maddios restaurants in Auburn, Montgomery and Prattville, Alabama. Led by owner operator Troy native Michael DiChiara and several partners, including Auburn University graduates and Auburn, Alabama residents Ernest Lee, Jr. and Clint Wilson, along with Troy, Alabama native Will Hudson, the new Uncle Maddios franchisees bring a combination of restaurant, legal, real estate and construction experience. Hudson is a multi-unit owner of restaurants in Alabama, while Lees company Colvin Evans Construction is building its five Uncle Maddios units.

I have strong ties to the Auburn community and there is no other place I would rather open an Uncle Maddios than here, said franchisee owner Michael DiChiara. Uncle Maddios offers a different kind of pizza restaurant experience where everyone can have a personal pizza made exactly as they want it or select a salad or panini. I cant wait for the students and residents of Auburn to create their own favorite pizza and experience the Served with Love philosophy for our customers.

Opening its 19th location in three years, Uncle Maddios is growing faster than any other fast casual pizza brand. With 175 units in development, Uncle Maddios is attracting multiple unit operators due to the popularity of pizza, the quality of Uncle Maddios products, and an executive management team that offers more than 50 years of experience in the restaurant industry including Uncle Maddios CEO Matt Andrews who was the co-founder of Moes Southwest Grill. Many current Uncle Maddios franchisees are in the process of opening their second and third locations.

Uncle Maddios offers a made-from-scratch 9-inch individual pizza with up to three toppings, baked in 6-minutes, for $6.99. Guests choose one of three crusts, including whole wheat and gluten-free options, and have the choice of 48 toppings - six sauces, 27 vegetables and 15 meats. Guests can also order one of the chains chef-prepared pizzas for $7.99, along with take and bake options for the Uncle Maddios experience at home.

Additionally, the menu features create-your-own salads and signature salads, such as Greek, Tuscan Antipasto, and Santa Fe. Toasted panini sandwiches round out the Italian-style menu.

For those with dietary restrictions or specifications, Uncle Maddios serves up a huge selection of healthful options like whole wheat and gluten free crusts, hormone-free chicken, fresh local vegetables, Daiya vegan cheese and organic greens.

We are thrilled to open our first Alabama and college town location, says Founder and Chief Pizza Maker Matt Andrew, an industry veteran. This is just the start to our great partnership with Michael as we expand into Alabama.

For more information on Uncle Maddios Pizza Joint, visit http://www.unclemaddios.com or http://www.unclemaddios.com/franchise-info/.

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Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint Opens 19th Restaurant, First in Alabama

Published: Thursday, 3/27/2014 - Updated: 18 hours ago

BY MATT THOMPSON BLADE STAFF WRITER

With the final city approval expected today for the Costco project in Perrysburg, a city official said the company would not begin construction for a year.

The holdup appears to be because of the needed approval for rerouting an underground natural gas line which cuts diagonally across the 28-acre horse farm site near the southeast corner of State Rt. 25 and Eckel Junction Road.

Demolition of the buildings on the site is to occur in the next few months, but construction of the store won't occur for a year, said Brody Walters, city planning and zoning administrator. From what he was told by Costco representatives, he said, the delay stems from the pipeline owned by Columbia Gas Transmissions. He said he did not have details of the problem.

The store construction postponement is significant, as Costco told city officials in November that it wanted to have the store opened by this fall, in time for the Christmas shopping season.

After getting approval on Tuesday by the Perrysburg City Council for a needed special approval use permit, the project needs one more city approval. At 7 p.m. today, the Planning Commission is expected to decide on the final site plan to allow the 154,300-square foot store, a 16-pump gas station and two outlots which are expected to be a bank and a fast-food restaurant. Also, shown on the plan are 720 parking spots.

Costco had expected to get city approval on its needed special approval use permit and its site plan in December, but delayed city consideration of those items as it tried to work out an agreement with Columbia Gas Transmissions. The pipeline company said it would not allow Costco to put a parking lot over the 4-foot deep pipe because it would hinder monitoring the line for leaks and in making repairs. Costco said last month it had reached an agreement to reroute the pipeline along the edges of the parking lot, but Columbia Gas Transmissions said this week no such accord is in place.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would have to approve the rerouting. To move the pipeline, an application must be submitted to the federal agency for a "certificate of public convenience and necessity," said Tamara Young, a FERC spokesman. The agency's staff conducts an environmental review and then the commission decides, a process that typically takes a year to 18 months, she said.

The Costco project was given the council's approval on Tuesday in a 4-2 vote. But first there was a 3-3 vote to approve it with some conditions, including adding another through lane on Eckel Junction at the main entrance to the store. Mayor Mike Olmstead cast the tiebreaker against the the proposed conditions.

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Costco construction stalled