The last time Toronto office developers were this exuberant, Carl Blanchaer remembers it ending badly, he said. Construction on the 57-story skyscraper his firm designed for the financial district halted after just six floors and stood abandoned for 15 years.

The Bay Adelaide Centre tower was scrapped in the 1990s, when a recession that swept through North America crimped demand for space in Canadas largest city. Today, Toronto developers may be overbuilding again and Blanchaer, a principal at WZMH Architects, is seeing the signs.

People have short memories and they think what happened before isnt going to happen to them, said Blanchaer, whose firm designed RBC WaterPark Place, an 885,000-square-foot commercial property set to open this year. Right now its a little bit scary. People are just going, going, going until something happens. Its heady right now and some of our clients are getting a bit cautious.

Rents are projected to slide and vacancy rates almost double in the next three years, according to data compiled by brokers, as seven new office towers open in downtown Toronto. Even with those forecasts, real estate investment trusts and pension funds are pushing ahead with proposals for the most rentable space in more than a decade. The likely losers will be the companies financing the building spree and the owners of older properties that stand to lose tenants, facing lower returns and more empty offices.

Vacancy outlook

Vacancies in downtown Toronto, at about 6 percent this year, probably will rise to 10.5 percent in 2017, the highest since 2003, data compiled by Avison Young Canada Inc. show. That estimate doesnt include the 10 million square feet of proposed offices being marketed for pre-leasing even before shovels hit the ground, which is the most since 2000, according to the real estate services firm.

The seven properties set to open by 2017 have 5.1 million square feet of space and are about 55 percent leased, according to brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Inc. Committed tenants include Apple Inc. in the 30-story Bremner Tower, set to open this year. Sun Life Financial Inc., the countrys third-largest life insurer, will have a new home at One York Street by late 2016. The majority of buildings that are planned or under construction are outside the citys financial core, a five-block stretch of Bay Street thats home to the countrys biggest banks.

While landlords will have to lower their rent expectations, the new towers will fill up as the expanding economy creates more jobs, boosting demand for updated offices, Michael Caplice, senior managing director of office leasing for Cushman & Wakefield in Toronto, said in an interview.

Strong growth

We take confidence with the strong growth weve seen through the last cycle, he said. Every single Canadian financial institution seems to be looking for space.

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Toronto office building spree spurs bust concerns

Developer Cawley Partners said Wednesday that it has broken ground on Legacy Center, a four-story, 175,000-square-foot office building in the Legacy business park in Plano.

The speculative development is being built on 12 acres at the northwest corner of Legacy Drive and Hedgcoxe Road, east of the Dallas North Tollway.

Cawley Partners bought the land earlier this year from Houston-based Hines. Hines and J.P. Morgan Asset Management just sold the seven-story Plaza at Legacy building next door to a unit of Metropolitan Life Insurance.

Morrison Dilworth + Walls Architects designed Legacy Center, and Spring Valley Construction Co. is the general contractor.

Financing was provided by American Bank of Texas.

The development is scheduled for completion next August and will be priced lower than other recent projects in West Plano, according to the builders.

Legacy Center is the building that fills the need for tenants who want a low-cost alternative to current developments being constructed in Legacy without having to give up the amenities they prefer, developer Bill Cawley said in a statement.

Rents will start at $27.50 per square foot, he said.

Cawley Partners is a Dallas-based firm with several projects in the works. The company has a new office building in development on Dallas Parkway just north of Keller Springs.

And the developer proposes to build a 200,000-square-foot office project on Dallas Parkway south of Belt Line Road in Addison.

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Construction kicks off on another Plano office project

A new report from the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) finds overwhelming evidence that office design significantly impacts the health, wellbeing and productivity of staff.

Health, wellbeing and productivity in offices: The next chapter for green building finds that a range of factors - from air quality and lighting, to views of nature and interior layout - can affect the health, satisfaction and job performance of office workers.

The report - sponsored by JLL, Lend Lease and Skanska - also presents a simple toolkit that businesses can use to measure the health, wellbeing and productivity of their buildings and inform financial decision-making.

Understanding the link between workers and their workplace helps to drive the business case for higher quality, healthy and greener buildings, valued by investors, developers and tenants alike.

Salaries and benefits typically account for 90 per cent of an organisations expenditure, so any higher construction or occupation costs are far outweighed by even small improvements in staff performance.

Jane Henley, CEO of the World Green Building Council, said: "The evidence linking good office design and improved health, wellbeing and productivity of staff is now overwhelming. There is unquestionably a clear business case for investing in, developing and occupying healthier, greener buildings.

"Most businesses are already sitting on a treasure trove of information that can have an immediate impact on their two biggest expenses - people and buildings. Understanding the relationship between the two can help businesses achieve significant competitive advantage."

Alex Cutler, CEO of the New Zealand Green Building Council, said there was already solid evidence that green buildings deliver returns through lower operating costs, and greater asset value. Staff-related returns were potentially the most significant, she said. "The biggest business benefit of certified green offices comes through health and productivity gains. This can make a massive difference to the balance sheet - and makes the business case for building green even more compelling. New Zealand tenants, owners and developers are increasingly recognising this," she said.

Claudia Hamm, Head of Strategic Workplace (EMEA) at JLL, said: "Major corporate clients are now recognising the business benefits and productivity gains of buildings which bring out the best in their employees and are increasingly making their strategic real estate decisions with these in mind. This report reinforces the view that a buildings impact on its occupants must be included within financial considerations."

Geoff Dutaillis, Group Head of Sustainability at Lend Lease, said: "Whatever business you are in, you are in the business of people. How a building works for people should be the priority question. This report provides further evidence that workplaces with clean air, natural daylight and engaging and adaptable layouts all contribute to making healthier, happier and more motivated individuals who create stronger, more resilient and profitable companies."

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'Strong link' between green offices and productivity

Tri-City Medical center announced this week that it has taken possession of this 57,000-square-foot medical office building on its Oceanside campus.

Tri-City Medical Center has taken possession of a medical office building on its main Oceanside campus using its eminent-domain powers.

The three-story, 57,000-square-foot facility is central to the public health care districts efforts to attract more patients in an increasingly consolidated and competitive market.

Substantially completed in May 2013 but still without internal tenant improvements, the structure has since sat vacant as Tri-City and the Carlsbad-based Medical Acquisition Co. pursue dueling lawsuits. Amid the ongoing litigation, Tri-City has received court permission to take over the building.

Tim Moran, Tri-Citys new chief executive, said Tuesday that the property is ready for leasing.

We want to fill it with doctors probably a combination of primary care and specialty care. We see family medicine practices as anchor tenants, Moran said.

But interested physicians will have some work to do. At present, the building is whats known in real estate as a warm shell. It has all of the shared amenities installed from elevators and plumbing to utilities and air-handling equipment but no internal walls or final finishes.

Tenants will have to build out the space they lease, or Tri-Citys elected board may decide to complete some or all of the space on a speculative basis.

Moran said the facility is key to Tri-Citys growth plans.

I think this building helps Tri-City stabilize and develop its primary-care base and its referral base and gives us options to work toward building collaborative relationships with other organizations, he said.

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Tri-City takes office building through eminent domain

Up for sale is Gateway Tower, a 1960s office building at One Memorial Drive near the Arch and Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis.

Jones Lang LaSalle has the listing for the 20-story building opened in 1967. Main tenants include ShipWorks, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments and KMOV-TV.

Peter Harwood, who with fellow JLL broker Jim Postweiler hasthe listing, isn't disclosing an asking price but says Gateway Tower is nearly 86 percent leased. City records indicate that Sovereign Partners, a New York-based real estate investment firm, bought Gateway Tower in 2004 for just under $8.5 million.

Downtown's office market is tepid but the good times keep rolling along for the area's residential market. With that in mind, Sovereign Partners did a feasibility study of a plan to build a 16-story residential tower on top of KMOV, which occupies Gateway Tower's lowrise portion. The preliminary plan is for 80 residences ranging in size from 1,200 to 1,500 square feet.

Harwood said today that Gateway Tower will benefit from its nearness to the Arch, whose grounds are undergoing a massive renovation, most of it to be completed in about a year.

Tim Bryant covers commercial real estate, development and other business stories for the Post-Dispatch. He blogs at Building Blocks, the Post-Dispatch development blog.

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Gateway Tower office building for sale

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) A construction workerwas killed in a partial building collapse in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday,officials said.

Two workers at the West 37th Streetsite,where a 22-storyhotel will rise between Eighth and Ninth avenues, were diggingup against the foundation of the office building next door around1:30 p.m.

Then, a slab of approximately 4-by-8 feet collapsed off of the foundation of the adjacent building, trapping one of the workers underneath, cityBuildings Commissioner Rick Chandler said.

The section of concrete weighed about 8,000 pounds, WCBS 880s Alex Silverman, reported.

You could see there was somebody under there, one witness who was lookingdown from a window above told Silverman. All we saw sticking out was hands and arms.

You could see the arm and the hand sticking out from under there, so kind of a brutal sight, John Frandelli told 1010 WINS Sonia Rincon.

1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reports

No other injuries werereported.

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FDNY: 1 Dead In Partial Building Collapse In Midtown

TULSA, Oklahoma -

Work is in full swing at Tulsa's Gathering Place, the massive new park being built along Riverside Drive.

The offices for the construction project have some of the neighbors a little upset. The controversy was over a construction office that's going to go on a lot right next to houses.

Some of the neighbors complained it was going to be too big and too ugly for the neighborhood, and they made their case to the city Tuesday afternoon.

9/19/2014 Related Story: Neighbors Fear Losing 'Peace And Quiet' During Gathering Place Construction

The 31st and Riverside area pretty busy, but there's a quiet neighborhood right alongside it at 31st and Boston Place, where some homeowners worry construction on the Gathering Place will disrupt the quiet and the view.

"We didn't know it would be backing up to our fence. Our dogs will lose their minds, no question, said neighbor Debbie Saunders.

For some it would be right over the back fence, so when the plans came out for the big, but temporary, office building they took their complaints to a public hearing at city hall.

Park neighbor, Dan Simpson said, We'll have a building we may not want to look at, however, it's a temporary building.

The building will be part of "The Gathering Place" project. The Kaiser Foundation said the building would be 7,000 square feet and will be used to coordinate work on the project, then torn down when the work is complete.

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Tulsa Neighbors Take Concerns Over 'The Gathering Place' Construction To City Board

STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Building and Land Technology announced today approximately 75,000 square feet of office leasing activity at Harbor Point, the transformative mixed-use waterfront development in Stamford, including the company's own 10,000-square-foot expansion and relocation within the complex. The new deals are for space in One Harbor Point and Two Harbor Point, BLT's two state-of-the-art Class A office properties located in the Harbor Point Waterfront section of the project, which total more than 400,000 square feet. Carl R. Kuehner III, CEO of Building and Land Technology, owner and developer of Harbor Point, made the announcement.

"This continues to be a great year for Harbor Point, with tremendous commercial and residential leasing activity complementing the continued activation of the restaurant scene and public waterfront over the summer," said Mr. Kuehner, who along with his team has developed Harbor Point into a successful modern waterfront mixed-use project. "Harbor Point's live-work-play concept has proven compelling in drawing new tenants from outside Stamford, and providing existing tenants with a great base for expansion. We're extremely pleased that the market has embraced our state-of-the art office properties, set within this beautifully planned mixed-use environment with outstanding access to transportation and Stamford's thriving waterfront."

At Two Harbor Point (100 Washington Boulevard), XL Global Services, a unit of XL Group plc, now occupies 47,838 square feet of office space. XL is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Kevin McNeil of Weir Real Estate LLC represented XL in the transaction. "In Harbor Point, XL has a central hub that can meet the various technical and operations needs of our complex, global business and we have been able to make it a visual embodiment of our unique brand. That combination is very hard to find and tough to replicate," said Elliott Bundy, SVP Chief Communications & Marketing Officer for the XL Group.

Insight Global leased 7,345 square feet at Two Harbor Point, relocating from Atlanta to Stamford. The company provides long term, short term, and temp-to-permanent technical staffing services throughout the United States and Canada. Jeff Williams and Hollis Pugh of Colliers International represented Insight Global in the transaction. "The live-work-play atmosphere that Harbor Point has created in the South End is a big attraction," said Mr. Williams, who is Executive Managing Director in the Stamford office of Colliers. "Additionally BLT has a great reputation as a landlord, with the proven ability to deliver a first class product on time and as promised."

Eka Software Solutions, the global leader in providing Smart Commodity Management software, leased 10,872 square feet for its new world headquarters at Two Harbor Point. Manav Garg, CEO of Eka Software Solutions noted: "The Stamford area has become a commodity trading hub with a significant concentration of corporations, including several of Eka's customers. We love to be close to our end users, and we will use this office to better serve our customers. This new Stamford building will be a beautiful space to host customer meetings. As a global company, Eka chose this location in Stamford to ensure we can continue to meet our corporate growth goals and attract the best possible talent." Torey Walsh of Cushman & Wakefield of CT represented Eka in the transaction. "Harbor Point's marriage of a premium product in a flourishing community with proximity to the train station attracted Eka Software Solutions to establish its new World Headquarters here," Mr. Walsh said.

In addition to the three deals at Two Harbor Point, BLT itself will relocate its current headquarters from Two Harbor Point to One Harbor Point, expanding its footprint from 23,000 to 33,000 square feet in the process.

The Harbor Point Waterfront neighborhood offers an abundance of restaurant and retail opportunities for the use and enjoyment of office tenants. The food scene features Paloma, celebrity chef Aaron Sanchez's Latin-inspired restaurant, Top This, Bare Burger, Fortina Italian Restaurant, and Corbo's Southside Deli, and retail includes Walgreens, Exhale Mind Body Fitness, Pinot's Palette, and Go Green Dry Cleaners. Popular night spots include Sign of the Whale, World of Beer, Dolce Cubano and Crab Shell. Neighboring retailers within Harbor Point also include Fairway Market, Fairway Wines & Spirits, Design Within Reach, Harbor Point Nails, Style Bar Salon, Harbor Point Dental, Verizon Wireless and First Niagara Bank. Other new eateries nearby include Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Subway, Robeks Fruit Smoothies, Harlan Social, Asian Bistro and Le Pain Quotidien.

Harbor Point is also home to approximately 1,800 luxury residential apartments, with another 500 under construction for completion in 2015. The residential product in Harbor Point offers abundant amenities such as shuttle service, concierge, pool decks with grills and fire pits, fitness center, roof top lounge, billiard room, club room, putting green, child play center, covered parking and a pet friendly environment. Harbor Point residents also enjoy approximately 11 acres of public open space in two parks and two waterfront promenades, as well as a 40 slip marina (accommodating yachts ranging in size from 20 feet to over 100 feet).

The Harbor Point development is strategically located just 35 miles from New York City and offers outstanding transportation links to the entire region. Harbor Point is walking distance from the Stamford Transportation Center, which offers Amtrak and Metro North service to New York, Boston and Washington D.C. Shuttle service is offered throughout Harbor Point, and to the train station and downtown Stamford.

About Building and Land Technology (BLT) Building and Land Technology (BLT) is a privately held real estate private equity, development and property management firm. Founded in 1982, BLT is vertically integrated and has invested, developed, owned and managed over five million square feet of commercial space and over 10,000 residential units. BLT is one of the largest office landlords inConnecticut, and its office holdings include the corporate headquarters for Gen Re, GE Commercial Finance, Diageo, GE Real Estate, Xerox, GE Energy, Kayak Software, AON/Hewitt, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Structured Portfolio Management. BLT is the developer of numerous residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects, including Harbor Point, a transformative mixed-use development inStamford, CT (www.harborpt.com). One of the largest redevelopments on the eastern seaboard, Harbor Point encompasses an entire neighborhood, with a full mile of waterfront, more than 4,000 residential units, and several million square feet of commercial development. BLT's holdings include more than 100 active real estate companies, a majority interest in William Pitt Sotheby's residential brokerage firm with 28 offices and 1,100 agents, a mortgage and insurance company, and numerous private equity investments. http://www.bltoffice.com/

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Building and Land Technology Announces 75,000 SF of Office Leasing at Harbor Point

DETROIT, MI - Construction equipment is not going to leave the Woodward Avenue corridor in Midtown any time soon, Wayne State University is seeing to that as it broke ground Monday on a $68 million development it's calling simply the Medical Office Building.

The university says that the five-story, 153,000-square-foot medical office and parking structure for the Wayne State University Physician Group will replace an existing facility at 3750 Woodward Ave., which has become outdated.

The facility will centralize WSUPGs services from other, nearby Detroit-based locations. WSU says the facility will accommodate more than 200,000 patient appointments each year for primary care.

It will be steps from a planned Martin Luther King, Jr. stop along the M-1 Rail line, the $140 million streetcar project that broke ground in July and has since been tearing up Woodward Avenue.

"This is a conflict for me, because my practice was in that building right there, 3750 (Woodward), so for me to advocate to tear that down you know something much better must be going up," said Valerie Parisi, chair of the WSUPG and dean of WSU's School of Medicine.

Parisi said the new facility will have "five floors of the finest physicians in the nation" when it comes online in early 2016. Development plans also call for retail frontage along Woodward Avenue.

David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter

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Wayne State breaks ground on $68 million Medical Office Building in Midtown Detroit

THE Cebu City Government inaugurated a new four-storey building of the City Civil Registrars Office yesterday.

The P30-million facility located at the back of the City Health Department (CHD) in Barangay Carreta was funded by the supplemental budget of the City in 2010 yet.

This is the realization of the dreams of the mayor who was then the father of the registrars office, Mayor Michael Rama told reporters.

Other City officials who attended the inauguration were Councilors Nendell Hanz Abella and Noel Wenceslao and all department heads of the City.

Efforts

During the inauguration yesterday, Rama thanked lawyer Evangeline Abatayo for her efforts in completing the construction of the building.

The Civil Registrars Office used to share a space with CHD until it initiated efforts to have their own building.

Support

Civil Registrars Office chief Abatayo said the support of city officials, including the former city council, help finish the project.

I also thank the administration of the City Health Department and the Department of Health for allowing us to use the portion of their facility and allowing us to construct the building, Abatayo said in her speech.

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City registrar transfers to new, 4-story building