By some measures, the office market in Northern Virginia is as bad as its been in 25 years. Fewcompanies are expanding and those that are increasinglychoose from a small pool of buildings that are within walking distance of public transit, restaurants and other amenities.

Other building owners are weighing whether they shouldlower rents, wait until demand picks up or ifthings get really bad consider futuresfor their office buildings other than as office buildings. Among the possible escape clauses one might consider: turning those old office buildings into schools.

About 700 students elementary students began classes last month at6245 Leesburg Pike, a retrofitted officebuilding in Falls Church. Its a unique project in a lot of ways but it may not be for long.

Students in a hybrid theater-library space at Baileys Crossroads Upper Elementary.(Courtesy Cooper Carry)

In the D.C. market, the propertiesthat are Class A, that are near Metro or are in Arlington or downtown, are holding their value pretty well, saidLauren Perry Ford an architect at Cooper Carry. But anything another notch below that really struggles. So people who might not otherwise belooking around are lookingfor partners to see how they can put theirproperty to the highest and best use.

Perry Ford is head of Cooper Carrys education practice group in its Washington-area office. Most of the groups work is for colleges and universities. But because of a confluence of circumstances, she said, one of the fastest growing lines of business is in K-12 education.

Many of these conditions came into play in theLeesburg Pike project. For one, the office market in the area is hurting. As bad as things are in the rest of Northern Virginia, they are far worse in the Falls Church-Baileys Crossroads area. The office vacancy rate is 33 percent, 12 pointshigher than two years ago and two-and-a-half times the rate in the rest of Fairfax County. Space is being vacated far faster than it is being leased up (what the industry callsnegative absorption).

6245 Leesburg Pike (Courtesy Cooper Carry)

But while the office buildings in Falls Church and Baileys Crossroads are increasingly empty, the schools are packed to the brim, thanks to a booming residential population. Last year, Baileys Elementary was 30 percent over capacity, with more than 1,300 students.Overcrowding became such a problem that the school system brought in more than a dozen trailers for expanded classroom space.

Soa deal was struck: Fairfax County bought

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What to do with dying suburban office buildings? Turn them into schools

General News of Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Source: Daily Guide

After nearly three years of denial, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), has finally admitted that the party indeed owns the ultramodern office complex at Adabraka in Accra.

National Organiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Yaw Boateng Gyan made the confession last Tuesday on Accra-based Asempa FM.

This was after several denials by the leadership of the party concerning the ownership of the building. When the issue about the building was first made public, the party's Deputy National Organiser, Joshua Akamba, was among the first people to deny the story.

"The NDC has not acquired any new building, neither are we putting up any ultra-modem office building," was his exact rebuttal on Adom FM's 'Dwaso Nsem' programme in December 2011.

Fast forward to 2014, on the late afternoon political talk show programme hosted by the National Organiser of the NDC, who is seeking re-election, touted the construction of the building as part of his achievements for which he needed to be retained.

"Today, as I talk to you, I am just coming from our new office; we will soon commission the building and when people come and see it, they will realise the work we have done," he posited.

He justified the construction of the building saying they could not continue to rent office spaces for the NDC.

Aside that, he said they could not compare their office to those of their colleague political parties outside the country, claiming theirs looked like a hen coop.

Read more:
NDC admits ownership of ultramodern office complex

ALAN WOOD AND LIZ MCDONALD

Fertiliser manufacturer Ravensdown is spending more than $20 million on new office headquarters and a revamp of its supply line as it concentrates operations in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby.

Construction has begun as it confirms head office will stay outside the central city. Before the 2010-11 Canterbury earthquakes, the manufacturer had about 120 head office staff in the central business district.

Now there are 200 staff at Hornby, which chief executive Greg Campbell says is not a lonely location given the amount of commercial building that continues to take place.

Before the quakes, the farmer-owned co-operative worked from leased premises in Oxford Tce in the central city, after moving its head office up from Dunedin in the late 1990s.

Campbell said building on the land made sense, as it had been under-used and as they wanted to stay in Christchurch. There was also the replacement of older earthquake-compromised storage buildings that had been pulled down.

"The office is only one part, because we are investing in a whole lot of infrastructure across the country. In Hornby, for example, we are looking at new large stores, taking delivery of a new materials handling system.

"We're replacing conveyors and have got a new blending system ... which is the way we handle product on site here ... that increases the load out (by truck) by four or five times faster than our existing one."

Ravensdown supplies fertiliser to the farming community by truck and also by Cresco aircraft through its 100 per cent-owned subsidiary, Aerowork.

The new 1700 sqm single-storey office will be of similar size to the old building and include a customer centre. The site is on Main South Rd.

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Ravensdown to open new Hornby office

Boston Properties is in talks with two potential tenants to take the top floors of its $275 million, 17-story, 888 Boylston St. building under way in the Back Bay.

Were well into discussions and negotiations, confirmed Bryan Koop, senior vice president and regional manager of the real estate investment trusts Hub office.

Koop confirmed the company is targeting boutique financial, private equity, hedge fund and investment management firms.

Boston Properties and signed anchor tenant Natixis Global Asset Management will formally mark construction of the building with a groundbreaking today. Its the Back Bays first speculative office building since Boston Properties finished 111 Huntington Ave. in 2001 in the same Prudential Center complex.

In addition to 365,000 square feet of office space, 60,000 to 80,000 square feet of retail space could accommodate three to four retailers. Weve got really, really exciting retailers in discussion and close to agreement, Koop said.

Boston Properties goal with 888 Boylston city-approved in 2008, but delayed by the economic downturn is to build Bostons most sustainable office building. It is designed to consume 45 percent less energy and 37 percent less potable water than a typical office building of its size. It will produce energy on site through an 85 kW solar array and 14 wind turbines.

Everything about the building is designed first and foremost for the lives inside of the building, Koop said, noting the natural light will allow tenants to turn off their lights 60 percent of the time.

Excerpt from:
New Pru tower to be greenest in city

The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) was asked yesterday to dismiss from office Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Jun-Jun Binay and 20 councilors charged earlier with plunder and graft in connection with the alleged overpriced construction of the Makati Parking Building.

A group mostly young Makati residents belonging to the United Makati Against Corruption (UMAC) trooped to the OMB headquarters in Quezon City City to file the 15-page consolidated reply-complaint.

It said the evidence submitted earlier against the respondents was strong that warrant their immediate ouster from the service.

UMAC spokesman Jhasper Cuayzon said lawyer Renato Bondal and Nicolas Enciso, convenors of the group, were supposed to file the reply affidavit but could make it for security reasons.

The consolidated affidavit also asked the OMB to include in the plunder and graft charges 10 key officials of the Hillmarcs Construction Corporation which put up the controversial 11-storey office-parking building.

They were identified as Efren Canlas, Damian Ramos, Trinitas Canlas, Susan Ramos, Shiela Dayrit, Edoyuard Canlas, Juan Canlas, Christima Elisse Canlas, Hak Jin Kim and Roberto Henson. (Jun Ramirez)

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Dismissal of Jun-Jun Binay sought

Raleigh, N.C. Crews demolishing an office building in Raleigh's Glenwood South district Tuesday morning damaged a neighboring jazz bar.

It happened shortly after 10 a.m. when a wall crashed through C. Grace Cocktail Bar, at 407 Glenwood Ave.

"I didn't know what had happened. It was really scary. Our whole building shook," said Lynn Snow, who was working at a nearby coffee shop at the time.

She went outside, she said, and found bricks and steel beams falling on top of the bar.

No one was injured, but C. Grace owner, Katrina Godwin, said the fall left a gaping hole over one of the bathrooms and a food prep area. A damaged water line caused flooding throughout the business.

The bar, Godwin said, will be closed for at least several days but that it could reopen by the weekend.

William Robertson, superintendent for Choate Construction Co., said he is still trying to find out what went wrong.

Crews began demolition last week on the office building to make way for a 6-story luxury apartment building at the corner of Glenwood and West North Street.

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Demolition crew damages Glenwood South jazz bar

The Coega Development Corporation is seeing a construction ascend with seven companies busy with constructions well underway within the Coega Development Corporations Industrial Development Zone (CDC.)

Construction taking place at the IDZ provides job opportunities for residents living in the Nelson Mandela Bay, about 1800 people are benefitting from the construction-related jobs.

Construction expansion of existing businesses is sign of current investors business growth and an improving economic climate, said CDC head of marketing and communication, Dr Ayanda Vilakazi.

Companies currently under construction include leading gas suppliers Air Product (R300m investment) and Afrox (R300m;) electricity generator Dedisa Peaking Power Plant (R2.2bn;) while cold chain logistics facilitators Vector Logistics investment is valued at (R140m); Digistics expansion (R30m;) ID Logistics (R30m) and UTi Distribution (R30m.)

The slab for the Afrox office building is presently being casted and it aims to have construction completed during the fourth quarter of this year (2014.) Twelve people will be employed once operational.

More than a third of the work is completed on Dedisa Peaking Power Plant. On completion the plant will consist of two open-cycle gas turbines able to produce 335MW of electricity, which is roughly half of Nelson Mandela Bays power requirement. The establishment of the plant will provide value added assistance to a number of growing industries established in the IDZ, estimated to be over 1,000 permanent employment opportunities to be created as a result of the supply of electricity to those industries.

Air Products is firmly on schedule to commission the plant and have gas flowing to customers in the final quarter of 2014. Nine operational jobs and 42 constructions jobs are being created. Vector Logistics started construction in May this year and have created 120 construction jobs and 90 people employed once operational.

Digistics Digital Logistics has outgrown its current 2,285m facility in Zone 1 of the Coega IDZ a space it has occupied for six years in favour of a larger 4,510m facility. Construction of the new Digistics warehouse facility started at the end of May this year. There are 120 construction workers benefitting from the project and once completed 30 people will benefit from permanent jobs.

ID Logistic will create work for 50 people once operational and during the construction phase 200 people would have benefitted from jobs created.

UTi Distribution currently operates from a 2700m building but will be moving to a 2800m building which is currently under construction thus increasing their capacity with a 100m2. The new site is expected to be completed closer to the end of this year.

See more here:
Coega investor construction booming in IDZ

Noe Martinez called out to his 43-year-old brother, asleep on a mattress on the floor, as smoke filled the attic apartment of a Logan Square two-flat that had been illegally converted into nine rental units.

Four months earlier, a Cook County judge had ordered the building's owner, Adolfo Lopez, to stop renting the attic and basement units after months of failing to address a host of building code violations.

Jaime Martinez, a Mexican national who worked construction jobs, died in the early morning fire in October 2012. Authorities determined later that an electric space heater had been placed too close to bedding.

Last week county prosecutors charged Lopez with criminal contempt, a rare charge in connection with building code violations but one that has been brought in recent years against other allegedly negligent building owners after a death.

The two owners of the E2 nightclub, the scene of a stampede that saw 21 patrons killed in 2003, were cleared of involuntary manslaughter charges but convicted of criminal contempt for violating a housing court order to close a second floor because of building code violations in the months before the tragedy. Calvin Hollins Jr. and Dwain Kyles were sentenced to two years in prison, but that sentence was overturned on appeal. The two are awaiting resentencing.

In addition, the owner of an abandoned South Side building that collapsed during a 2010 fire, killing two firefighters, pleaded guilty in May to criminal contempt for failing to fix numerous building code violations, including securing the vacant building and repairing its roof. Chuck Dai was sentenced to six months in jail.

According to the criminal complaint against Lopez, the city first took him to court almost five years before the fatal fire, suing him over 17 separate building code violations, including illegally converting the basement and attic into apartments without adequate exits or working smoke detectors.

Lopez agreed to bring the basement and attic into compliance in August 2009 but failed to follow through, according to the complaint.

The case slowly wound its way through court. In June 2012 a judge ordered Lopez not to rent, use or lease the basement or attic of the building at 1645 N. Central Park Ave.

Lopez last appeared in court 11 days before the fatal fire. Lopez had obtained a permit to return the attic and basement areas back into storage spaces, but a building inspector told the judge that Lopez had failed to schedule an inspection as ordered, according to the complaint.

Read more from the original source:
Building owner charged in 2012 fatal Logan Square fire

PLAINVILLE - The new building replacing the landmark Falk's Market is speeding toward completion and could be open in the spring, owner Jeff Kinney said.

Kinney, author of the Wimpy Kid children's books series, said he expects the retail-office building at East Bacon and South streets to be closed up in a month so interior work can begin.

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Read this article:
STREET BEAT: Author Jeff Kinney expects building on Falk's Market site to be open in spring

Noe Martinez called out to his 43-year-old brother, asleep on a mattress on the floor, as smoke filled the attic apartment of a Logan Square two-flat that had been illegally converted into nine rental units.

Four months earlier, a Cook County judge had ordered the building's owner, Adolfo Lopez, to stop renting the attic and basement units after months of failing to address a host of building code violations.

Jaime Martinez, a Mexican national who worked construction jobs, died in the early morning fire in October 2012. Authorities determined later that an electric space heater had been placed too close to bedding.

Last week county prosecutors charged Lopez with criminal contempt, a rare charge in connection with building code violations but one that has been brought in recent years against other allegedly negligent building owners after a death.

The two owners of the E2 nightclub, the scene of a stampede that saw 21 patrons killed in 2003, were cleared of involuntary manslaughter charges but convicted of criminal contempt for violating a housing court order to close a second floor because of building code violations in the months before the tragedy. Calvin Hollins Jr. and Dwain Kyles were sentenced to two years in prison, but that sentence was overturned on appeal. The two are awaiting resentencing.

In addition, the owner of an abandoned South Side building that collapsed during a 2010 fire, killing two firefighters, pleaded guilty in May to criminal contempt for failing to fix numerous building code violations, including securing the vacant building and repairing its roof. Chuck Dai was sentenced to six months in jail.

According to the criminal complaint against Lopez, the city first took him to court almost five years before the fatal fire, suing him over 17 separate building code violations, including illegally converting the basement and attic into apartments without adequate exits or working smoke detectors.

Lopez agreed to bring the basement and attic into compliance in August 2009 but failed to follow through, according to the complaint.

The case slowly wound its way through court. In June 2012 a judge ordered Lopez not to rent, use or lease the basement or attic of the building at 1645 N. Central Park Ave.

Lopez last appeared in court 11 days before the fatal fire. Lopez had obtained a permit to return the attic and basement areas back into storage spaces, but a building inspector told the judge that Lopez had failed to schedule an inspection as ordered, according to the complaint.

The rest is here:
Building owner charged after 2012 fatal Logan Square fire