Portman Holdings plans to break ground on its planned new office tower at South College and Stonewall streets in June, the real estate company said Tuesday.

The 19-story building, to be called 615 South College, will be adjacent to the Westin Charlotte Hotel, which Portman also owns. The office building, first announced in May 2013, is set to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2016, Portman said.

This city continues to be a desirable, high quality office market and an attractive lifestyle destination, so were naturally thrilled about this office development, said Portman CEO Ambrish Baisiwala, in a statement.

The building is one of several new office towers planned for uptown, after the recession and subsequent slow recovery:

Last week, the Goodyear auto repair shop at South Tryon and Stonewall streets closed, making way for a 27-story mixed-use tower called Tryon Place that Crescent Communities plans to build.

A 25-story office tower is set to break ground at South Tryon and Third streets later this year, developed by Spectrum Properties.

And Trinity Capital is planning to build a 14-story tower at Morehead and South Tryon streets.

The 615 South College building will total 370,000 square feet of Class A office space. The building is aiming for a LEED Gold energy efficiency certification, and will include flourishes such as two-story outdoor balconies on the corners, floor-to-ceiling windows, a fitness center, locker rooms and a conference center.

The developers will be able to build quickly because Portman is building atop an existing parking deck, the company said.

Travis Garland of Portman and Charlotte-based Trinity Partners will market the building. This building will offer unmatched branding opportunities for large tenants, provide efficient floor plates, and it will be a distinct landmark in the Charlotte skyline, Garland said in a statement.

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Office tower construction next to Westin to start in June

Mansfield, TX (PRWEB) October 28, 2014

Ramtech Building Systems, Mansfield, Texas has announced that the City of Austin, Texas has awarded the company a contract to provide an 8,064 square foot modular office building for the city's Watershed Protection Department. The new facility will provide space for 14 private offices, a conference room, a large training classroom, and restrooms with showers and adjacent locker areas. The project will also incorporate a number of sustainable features into the building's design and construction, beginning with the use of Ramtech's traditional permanent modular construction approach. This construction method results in substantially reduced materials waste and improved air quality by utilizing a factory controlled manufacturing environment that segregates the building materials from the exposure to inclement weather. The use of a simultaneous offsite and on-site construction process also minimizes the disturbance to the environment by reducing the number of vehicles and equipment that are required at the building site. Other sustainable features that are incorporated into the building's design include a white reflective TPO roof that reduces heat island effect, water use reduction strategies for the restrooms, and optimized energy performance that builds on the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code. This includes heating and cooling with the use of Lennox "L" Series high-efficiency zoned rooftop HVAC units, but because the building will incur infrequent high occupancy loads only during training sessions in a small section of the building, CO2 sensors and energy recovery ventilators will also be installed to meter the flow of outside air in order to match the usage demand during peak and off peak periods. The building will also include several 10 inch Solatube Day Lighting skylights to increase the natural light in the interior spaces, as well as provisions to incorporate photovoltaic panels into a field constructed south facing awning and sunshades over all window openings. The interior will be finished out using low VOC emitting materials including Altro CS, a PPC-free sheet vinyl floor covering.

The City of Austin's Watershed Protection Department was established in 1991 to manage the city's creeks, drainage systems and water quality programs. The city is relocating the Watershed Protection Department personnel from an outdated and smaller facility that the city had been leasing, to the new modular building which will be located at the department's Dalton Lane location. Ramtech anticipates completion of the project by June 30, 2015.

About Ramtech Building Systems Since 1982 Ramtech Building Systems has been providing innovative modular buildings for government agencies, healthcare providers, Fortune 500 companies, and educational institutions throughout the Southern United States. As a design-build construction company, Ramtech offers full in-house design, a manufacturer direct product, and complete site construction services all within a single-source solution. The City of Austin project will be manufactured at Ramtechs Mansfield, TX headquarters, part of a 20-acre development located in the southern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Structured as a vertically integrated design-build construction company, Ramtech provides space planning, design services, manufacturing, site construction and finish-out on every project they produce. By emphasizing a value engineering approach, Ramtech has successfully completed over 3,000 diverse projects of all sizes. For more information, visit the company's website at ramtechmodular.com.

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Ramtech Awarded Contract from the City of Austin (TX) Watershed Protection Department for Sustainable Modular Office ...

Take-up of office space in the Dublin office market for the third quarter of 2014 stood at 41,450sq m almost a third higher than the second quarter. Photograph: Eric Luke

The latest Dublin office review from DTZ Sherry FitzGerald confirms last weeks record returns reported for the sector by IPD.

Dublins central business district (CBD) office market has entered a new phase in the recovery cycle, according to the DTZ report, as a shortage of space is fuelling double digit rental growth up 33 per cent so far in 2014.

Occupier demand within Dublins CBD strengthened during the third quarter of 2014 as office leasing activity rose to its highest level since the final quarter of 2007, says Marian Finnegan, chief economist at DTZ Sherry FitzGerald.

Total take-up in the CBD stood at 83,600sq m in the year to date, up 93 per cent on the corresponding period in 2013. A further 21,800sq m was signed and is awaiting occupation.

Demand for office space in the capital remains largely concentrated in the CBD with lettings in this area in the year to date accounting for 47 per cent of overall take-up in Dublin. This compares with pre-crisis levels of 33 per cent.

There is an acute shortage of available Grade A office space in the CBD market capable of accommodating large scale office requirements, says Ms Finnegan. The last remaining large office building measuring in excess of 10,000sq m [Grand Canal Square, Block 5] was reserved during the third quarter.

Further analysis of the figures shows there was 57,350sq m of Grade A space unoccupied in the CBD, but 73 per cent of this is either signed or reserved. This highlights the critically low levels of top Grade A1 accommodation available in the city, according to the report, and could potentially compromise Dublins attractiveness to corporate occupiers, both domestic and overseas.

Meanwhile, there is just 22,500sq m of new office space under construction in the CBD at the end of September, equivalent to 1.3 per cent of overall stock. As a result, its of little surprise that DTZ is reporting that rental growth accelerated in the CBD area during the third quarter of 2014. Prime headline rents in the CBD stood at 468 per sq m at the end of September, up 33 per cent since the beginning of the year. Rents are forecast to rise to 520 per sq m in 2015, according to the agency.

Take-up of office space in the Dublin office market for the third quarter of 2014 stood at 41,450sq m almost a third higher than the second quarter. A number of significant occupations took place, including William Fry occupying almost 9,000sq m at 2 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, and Amazon taking 6,500sq m at Burlington Plaza, Dublin 4.

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Office leasing rises to highest level since 2007

After the Corporation approved construction on a new applied math building, designs are being finalized and foundation work is kicking into full swing over the next few weeks.

The Corporations Committee on Budget and Finance gave the go-ahead at its meeting this month for construction to begin. The structure will be built in the parking lot next to Barus and Holley close to the current home of the Division of Applied Math at 182 George St. Construction is set to begin next month and finish December 2015, The Herald previously reported.

Architectural Research Office, the architecture firm responsible for the Friedman Study Center and the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, will design the building, while landscape architecture firm Gustafson Guthrie Nichol will map out the placement of the new structure and ensure the landscape design of the site match(es) with the design of the University campus, said Stephen Maiorisi, vice president for Facilities Management.

The new building is currently undergoing a design build process that allows construction to start before the design is complete, Maiorisi said. Foundation work is set to start within the next month, while the buildings exterior and interior designs are still being finished and will then await the Corporations approval.

The driver was the engineering building, Maiorisi said of the new applied math construction.

At the moment, some of the departments faculty members and graduate students are located in two historic houses that must be torn down to clear space for the new engineering building, Maiorisi said. Construction on the new engineering complex will begin once the faculty members and students settle into their spaces in the new applied math building.

Collaboration between University administrative teams involved in the building plans and the Division of Applied Math has been key to the efficiency of the designing and planning process, Maiorisi said. We work very closely with the faculty to make sure that whatever is being proposed is something thats going to enhance their program.

Hongjie Dong, associate professor of applied math and head of the undergraduate program, said the new building will offer more benefits for the graduate program than for the undergraduate program.

I think for graduate students, they will definitely benefit from the new building because it will be a much more renovated building, Dong said. They will probably get more space for their offices, and the common room will be a bit larger than the current one.

Though the new applied math facility will have a modern aesthetic, its design will contrast with that of the engineering building, Maiorisi said. The scale of the buildings are very different the applied math building is planned to be 13,000 square feet and the engineering building over 90,000 square feet so the designs must take this into consideration, he added.

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Construction to commence on applied math building

Building construction is the process of preparing for and forming buildings[1] and building systems.[2] Construction starts with planning, design, and financing and continues until the structure is ready for occupancy.

Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking. Normally, the job is managed by a project manager, and supervised by a construction manager, design engineer, construction engineer or project architect. For the successful execution of a project, effective planning is essential. Those involved with the design and execution of the infrastructure in question must consider the zoning requirements, the environmental impact of the job, the successful scheduling, budgeting, construction site safety, availability and transportation of building materials, logistics, inconvenience to the public caused by construction delays and bidding, etc.

Building in this article is used as a noun as "...that which is built; a structure, edifice...".[3] The distinction between a building and a non-building structure is not always clear but is sometimes determined if the structure has walls or by its size or use. The Oxford English Dictionary includes that structure may be used for a large or imposing building.

Construction is a very general term meaning the art and science to form material or immaterial objects, systems or organizations,[3] and comes from Latin constructionem (from com- "together" and struere "to pile up") and Old French construction.[4] Construction is used as a verb: the act of building, and a noun: how a building was built, the nature of its structure.

Construction is often used as a synonym with building in its verb tense. As a noun, Russell Sturgis distinguished between architecture as being artistic structure, where a building is unadorned and can be "...poor...commonplace, ugly, insufficient, or otherwise of small importance; "[1] and the use of the word construction as meaning built using scientific principles in a highly skillful way.

This article is about building construction. Other construction topics are covered in many other articles.

In general, there are nine types of construction:[citation needed]

Each type of construction project requires a unique team to plan, design, construct and maintain the project.

Building construction is the process of adding structure to real property or construction of buildings. The vast majority of building construction jobs are small renovations, such as addition of a room, or renovation of a bathroom. Often, the owner of the property acts as laborer, paymaster, and design team for the entire project. However, all building construction projects include some elements in common design, financial, estimating and legal considerations. Many projects of varying sizes reach undesirable end results, such as structural collapse, cost overruns, and/or litigation. For this reason, those with experience in the field make detailed plans and maintain careful oversight during the project to ensure a positive outcome.

Commercial building construction is procured privately or publicly utilizing various delivery methodologies, including cost estimating, hard bid, negotiated price, traditional, management contracting, construction management-at-risk, design & build and design-build bridging.

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Construction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Responding to a damning city audit of a sewer office building that tripled in cost, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is proposing a public report to track cost increases on any contract or construction project that goes before City Council.

The chart would be color-coded, like the terrorism alert system once used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But the city's color palette would warn how much the the price tag of a project had risen from the original estimate.

"It would be really hard for any City Council to say, 'Gosh, we didn't know about this,'" saysspokesmanDana Haynes.

The proposal is Hales' latest response to a Bureau of Environmental Services office building that rose in cost from $3.2 million to $11.5 million. But he is backing off his idea this spring that such reforms be cemented in city code.

A city audit released last week showed bureau officials ignored instructions not to increase the contract for the architect of the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant support facility. City Commissioner Nick Fish placed BES director Dean Marriott on paid leave while the city hires outside investigators.

In April, WW reported that on five occasions between 2010 and 2012, the council agreed to keep spending more money on the building, and did so without debate.

Hales ordered in May that all contract increases over $1 million be immediately taken off the City Council's consent agenda, where items considered routine are passed without debate. He also said he wanted a full policy discussion on changing city code to make these reforms permanent.

WW asked the mayor's office Oct. 22 whether Hales was still seeking those code changes. Hales' office responded today by releasing the color-coded chart. (You can download it here.)

The tracking system flags cost increases with colorsyellow for a 5 percent hike, orange for 15 percent, and red for 25 percent.

Haynes now says that city finance chief Fred Miller convinced Hales that code changes were overkill. Miller showed all city commissioners the proposed tracking system Oct. 24.

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Mayor Charlie Hales Proposes Color-Coded Chart to Track Cost Increases on City Projects

Responding to a damning city audit of a sewer office building that tripled in cost, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is proposing a public report to track cost increases on any contract or construction project that goes before City Council.

The chart would be color-coded, like the terrorism alert system once used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But the city's color palette would warn how much the the price tag of a project had risen from the original estimate.

"It would be really hard for any City Council to say, 'Gosh, we didn't know about this,'" saysspokesmanDana Haynes.

The proposal is Hales' latest response to a Bureau of Environmental Services office building that rose in cost from $3.2 million to $11.5 million. But he is backing off his idea this spring that such reforms be cemented in city code.

A city audit released last week showed bureau officials ignored instructions not to increase the contract for the architect of the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant support facility. City Commissioner Nick Fish placed BES director Dean Marriott on paid leave while the city hires outside investigators.

In April, WW reported that on five occasions between 2010 and 2012, the council agreed to keep spending more money on the building, and did so without debate.

Hales ordered in May that all contract increases over $1 million be immediately taken off the City Council's consent agenda, where items considered routine are passed without debate. He also said he wanted a full policy discussion on changing city code to make these reforms permanent.

WW asked the mayor's office Oct. 22 whether Hales was still seeking those code changes. Hales' office responded today by releasing the color-coded chart. (You can download it here.)

The tracking system flags cost increases with colorsyellow for a 5 percent hike, orange for 15 percent, and red for 25 percent.

Haynes now says that city finance chief Fred Miller convinced Hales that code changes were overkill. Miller showed all city commissioners the proposed tracking system Oct. 24.

Originally posted here:
Mayor Charlie Hales Proposes Color-Coded Database to Track Cost Increases on City Projects

Liberty Property Trust plans to spend $900 million putting up Comcast's second tower over the next three years. That works out to about $600 a square foot to build.

Last week, the owners of 2.0 University Place, a year-old green-roofed building west of the Drexel campus, put it up for sale at $46 million, or $469 a square foot.

That's not quite as much as the Comcast tower - but roughly three times what the city's dominant landlord, Brandywine Realty Trust, was paying for central Philadelphia office towers just a few years back.

When the price of existing buildings approaches the cost of new construction, that can get builders and civic boosters excited. How long until someone decides it makes sense to build more office towers?

At least in University City, where rents landlords are asking for Class A office buildings averaged $44.88 per square foot, highest in the Philadelphia area.

The regional average is $27.51, a couple bucks higher in Center City, mostly lower in the suburbs, according to NGKF, the broker offering 2.0 University Place for sale.

With Drexel University, Penn Medicine, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia all expanding, with new apartment towers crowding Market Street, the office vacancy rate in the neighborhood was reported under 6 percent, less than half the rate for any neighborhood in Center City, and just a third of what's empty in some suburban markets.

But on the other side of the Schuylkill, the data and the prospects aren't so good, says Glenn D. Blumenfeld of tenant broker Tactix.

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PhillyDeals: Are more towers on the horizon?

BUILDING PERMITS

PMT2014-03543 4635 Nautilus Court S; $366,926.40; Gunbarrel Properties; CCM Construction Management Inc.; Interior tenant remodel of office and warehouse space. Scope also includes addition of loading dock and addition of new front entrance.

PMT2014-03562 6880 Winchester Circle; $102,936.60; Northrim Properties; Silver Contracting LLC; Interior tenant remodel of MMJ grow facility. Scope includes adding two bloom rooms and one vegetation room.

PMT2014-03722 2681 Fourth St.; $825,000; Michelle Snavely; Morningstar Homes; New two story single-family dwelling with basement. Scope to include five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and associated MEPs. Dwelling to have a front covered porch and a rear patio, and will be connected to detached garage (PMT2014-03723) by a breezeway.

PMT2014-03723 2681 Fourth St.; $25,000; Michelle Snavely; Morningstar Homes; New detached garage connected to new single-family dwelling (PMT2014-03722) by breezeway.

PMT2014-04049 1600 28th St.; $742,690.01; Charlotte Ball; Retail Resources Inc.; Suite 1292. This is a permit application to remodel an existing Staples store to reduce the tenant space. Scope of work includes associated MEPs. No exterior work included. Change of scope: exterior scope of work includes new store front, doors and modification to canopy. See ADR2014-00163 for supplemental information.

PMT2014-04098 1500 Pearl St.; $71,530.12; Boulder Boulder; Duggan Construction LLC; Tenant interior remodel to convert retail space into sandwich shop/restaurant. Scope includes electrical and plumbing work and no mechanical scope.

PMT2014-04170 2523 Broadway, Unit C; $144,473.12; 2523 Broadway; Rosewood Construction Inc.; This is a building permit application to remodel a tenant space. the scope of work is for 1,892 square feet and includes associated MEPs.

PMT2014-04423 1235 Pine St.; $68,500; First Baptist; Blue Spruce Design & Construction; Addition of a LULA elevator, a Denlar exhaust hood and induction range in the kitchen, a new accessible restroom on the lower level, and two new accessible drinking fountains. All work will be on the interior of the building. No change in use of occupancy. Work associated with PMT2014-00449.

PMT2014-04512 2100 28th St.; $180,000; Columbia Crossroads; Peak Contractors; Unit D Interior, non-structural tenant finish to commercial business space (European Wax Center). Includes associated MEPs.

Original post:
Boulder County building permits: Oct. 27, 2014

Societe Generale is scheduled to move to Canary Wharf in 2019.

LONDONCanary Wharf Group plc and Societe Generale have agreed a pre let of around 280,000 square feet in a new 700,000-square-foot office building to be constructed by Canary Wharf Group plc at 1 Bank Street, Canary Wharf in London.

Societe Generale will occupy the ground and first to seventh floors in this 26-story building on a 25-year lease at a rent of about $76 (47.50) per square foot and 36 months rent free commencing from the summer of 2019. Societe Generale also has an option to hand back a floor of approximately 31,000 square-foot at year 10 as well as options to take additional space on levels 8 and 9.

Work commenced on this site earlier in 2014 and the remaining space in the development will be marketed to potential office tenants as construction progresses.

The building will be one of the most striking, modern office buildings in London, benefiting from three state of the art trading floors, upper floors all linked by a spectacular atrium with interconnecting staircases and a large terrace at the base. This building will enable Societe Generale to consolidate their London operations from its three current locations into one.

George Iacobescu CBE, chairman and CEO of Canary Wharf Group plc, says, We are pleased to welcome Societe Generale, one of the most important European institutions, and to be able to provide them with a technologically advanced building which responds to their new requirements. This pre-let demonstrates the enduring attraction of our high quality office space and infrastructure to a broad range of world class organisations. Societe Generale will join over 105,000 people already working at Canary Wharf with companies providing a range of services in diverse sectors.

Richard Archer, head of leasing and marketing at Canary Wharf Group plc commented:

Were very proud to announce this material pre let today. Working closely with Societe Generale, we will ensure that the new building at One Bank Street both meets the requirements of their core London businesses and provides a dramatic new addition to Canary Wharf comprised of the type of high quality office space existing and prospective tenants expect from us.

DTZ acted for Soc Gen and CBRE, JLL and GM Real Estate acted for Canary Wharf Group.

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Societe Generale to Lease at Canary Wharf