All the things we have, lined up with what they needed, Mr. Lynn said. They will represent a large part of our business.

Tech companies are nothing new for Cupertino. Apple has called the city home for decades, and Hewlett-Packard had a campus in Apples new spot, employing 9,000 people. The surrounding towns have been remade as well in the last decade, as giant tech companies have transformed Silicon Valleys real estate into some of the most expensive in the country.

But city officials and residents say this project is like nothing theyve seen before. It is even bringing tourists.

Onlookers snap pictures of the spaceship from the streets. TV helicopters circle above. Amateur photographers ask residents if they can stand on driveways to operate their drones, hoping to get a closer look at Apple Park.

I just say, Hey, go ahead, said Ron Nielsen, who lives in Birdland, a Sunnyvale neighborhood across the street from the spaceship. Why not?

Drone operators want that coveted aerial shot while pedestrians want to get an eyeful of the curved glass building before the headquarters become hidden by a man-made forest.

The campus is one of the last major projects started by Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple, who died six years ago. Just a few months before his death, he went before the Cupertino City Council and laid out his vision for a futuristic circular house of glass that would foster creativity and collaboration. Two years later, the Council unanimously approved the plans for the campus.

The main center features the spaceship ring, the Steve Jobs Theater, a 100,000-square-foot gym and a visitors center in a woodland setting with two miles of running and walking paths. An orchard, a meadow and a pond are inside the ring.

The entire project shows off Apples obsession with details. The custom windows were made in Germany and are considered the worlds largest panels of curved glass. One pair of glass doors is 92 feet high. The finish on the underground concrete garage, said David Brandt, Cupertinos city manager, is so shiny it is almost like glass.

Mind-blowing, mind-blowing, mind-blowing, the mayor, Savita Vaidhyanathan, said about her visit to the site. I saw the underground 1,000-seat theater and the carbon-fiber roof. The roof was made in Dubai, and it was transported and assembled here. I love that its here and that I can brag about it.

Many of the public views will soon be going away. Apple Park will eventually have 9,000 trees, filling in much of the big open spaces. The public will instead have access to a visitors center with a cafe, a store and rooftop observation views.

It will be a separate glass structure and be set in an old-growth olive tree grove, said Dan Whisenhunt, Apples vice president of real estate and development.

Not all of these changes have thrilled everyone. Residents of Birdland, an 877-home neighborhood, have been particularly vocal. They have complained about early-morning construction rigs that beep and rumble along major streets, unpredictable road closings, unsightly green sheeted barriers and construction potholes that result in punctured tires.

When her car was covered with construction dust, Sheri Nielsen, Mr. Nielsens wife, contacted Apple. The company sent carwash certificates.

Mr. Whisenhunt said the company strove to answer every complaint it received, and if the issue is serious enough, I will personally visit to see what is going on.

In the design phase, he said, Apple hosted more than 110 community gatherings for feedback. Birdland was addressed in late 2012 and early 2013 and was given information about what would be happening over the next three years of construction. Apple published community mailers five times and sent them to 26,000 households.

Homestead Road, the thoroughfare that separates Apple Park from Birdland, became its own subject of debate. Cupertino officials wanted to construct a tree-lined median to calm traffic. Apple offered to cover the costs.

But homeowners objected. Residents complained that the island would eliminate one lane, backing up the heavy traffic even more. When 20 or so neighbors approached a Sunnyvale town meeting in solidarity, the city ended up siding with the residents.

The price of property in the neighborhood has also become a source of some worry. Sunnyvale and Cupertino, like many other Silicon Valley towns, have had an extended real estate boom, as the tech industry has expanded. Prices in the area really started to rise, real estate agents and residents said, after Apple released its plans.

A three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,400-square-foot ranch-style house that cost $750,000 in 2011 has doubled in price. Since Apple said it was moving into the former Hewlett-Packard site, prices have moved up 15 to 20 percent year after year, said Art Maryon, a local real estate agent. Today, bidders usually offer 20 to 25 percent over the asking price.

Birdland is already drawing Apple employees, replacing homeowners who have cashed out to move to quieter regions. Those who remain are realizing that life will not be the same when all 12,000 of the Apple workers go in and come out on a daily basis. People in the neighborhood dread the increased traffic and expect workers to park in front of their homes since there will be fewer available spaces in the company garage.

Apples answers to concerned residents will continue, Mr. Whisenhunt said.

When you tell people what is upcoming, some of the anxiety they have calms down a lot, he said.

And yet, he acknowledged, you dont make everyone happy.

A version of this article appears in print on July 5, 2017, on Page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: Apples Eye-Catching New Home Disrupts Silicon Valley.

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Apple Disrupts Silicon Valley With Another Eye-Catcher: Its New Home - New York Times

CHARLESTON, W.Va. The goal is to reopen Building 3 at the State Capitol Complex in Charleston later this summer.

We hope to have all of the agency tenants in place by August, said Diane Holley-Brown, spokesperson for the state Department of Administration.

In all, the building will house more than 500 employees from the Department of Commerce, the Division of Tourism, Workforce West Virginia, the Office of Economic Opportunity, Division of Labor, the state Development Office and the Division of Personnel.

The University of Charlestons Laidley Field lot will be used as an overflow parking lot to employees working for those agencies.

Were now going to be having them in a state-owned building on campus, so were going to have a lot more people on campus. Thats for sure, Holley-Brown said.

Crews with Paramount Builders, the contractor working on the project, are finishing the final tasks.

The floor plan of the newly renovated building is very open, Holley-Brown said. Theres more partisans rather than closed office spaces, but we have the furniture that are being installed and once that furniture is in place, a wiring will be completed.

The project has been 10 years in the making. The initial proposal for the building were presented in 2007.

The Division of Labor moved in June 16. The Department of Commerce will move in July 7-9. The Division of Personnel moves in Aug. 1. Tourism and Workforce West Virginia will settle in after that.

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Construction on Building 3 nears completion - West Virginia MetroNews

Washington Business Journal

Building a block: Inside the massive effort to build The Boro in Tysons Washington Business Journal In Tysons, six construction cranes and enough concrete to fill 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools are laying the outline of what will be The Boro, a massive mixed-use development from The Meridian Group and Kettler. The $485 million construction project ...

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Building a block: Inside the massive effort to build The Boro in Tysons - Washington Business Journal

When Eric Dzhakhpevych found a construction job at Moscows Luzhniki Stadium, he entered the jobsite each morning past a statue of Vladimir Lenin below an unlit fluorescent light that curved into the words Dobro pozhalovat the Russian phrase for welcome.

But for many of the migrant workers renovating Luzhniki Stadium, where soccer fans will gather to watch the opening match of the 2018 World Cup, the entrance can lead to dangerous jobsites managed by exploitative employers.

Dzhakhpevych, 31, left his home country of Kyrgyzstan for construction work in Moscow. His boss at Luzhniki Stadium promised to pay Dzhakhpevych and his coworkers when they finished a two-month job insulating ceilings. But at the end of the gig, their employer disappeared without paying.

They said they would pay tomorrow, then they said it would be next week. And then a month went by, Dzhakhpevych said. But they still never paid us. The people we worked for just ran away.

Stories of frequent wage theft at Russias World Cup sites now threaten to tarnish the worlds most popular sporting event. Russia has already spent $11.4 billionon World Cup infrastructure in 11 host cities that required new stadiums or extensive renovations on existing venues like Luzhniki Stadium. The projects have attracted thousands of workers from throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics, many of whom have experienced severe labor violations.

At least 17 workershave died working on Russias World Cup sites, according to researchers with the global trade union Building and Woodworkers International in Geneva. A new reportby Human Rights Watch also documented widespread instances where construction workers laboring at Russian stadiums, many of them migrants from Central Asia, were cheated out of wages by construction companies.

Theres a pervasive system of worker exploitation on Russian construction sites, said Jane Buchanan, associate director of the European and Central Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.

Dzhakhpevych came to Russia hoping to send home enough money to pay his fiances family a kalym,a traditional dowry,throw a nice wedding when he returned and finish building his house. Dzhakhpevychs home consists of a two-story structure with open windows that the elements blow through in the Kyrgyz city of Osh, about 2,350 milessoutheast of Moscow.

A university graduate with a law degree, Dzhakhpevych says he can earn four times more on Russian construction sites than he did back home. But despite the potential benefits of working in Russia, many migrants meet few of their goals.

Dzhakhpevych and four friends from Kyrgyzstan found work at Luzhniki Stadium insulating ceilings for a company called Stroi Kachestvo. Their boss paid them each just $60 a week to get by. When they finished the job, Stroi Kachestvo owed the group about $2,000, according to Dzhakhpevych. He says the employer promised to pay them several days later, but instead their boss disappeared and his phone number stopped working.

Russian labor law requires employers to provide foreign workers with a signed contract specifying the terms of the job, but many fail to comply. The practice leaves migrants with few options for holding unfair employers accountable.

Foreign workers laboring on Russian construction sites commonly become victims of wage theft. But Dzhakhpevych says the reasons migrants get tricked by Russian bosses even a trained lawyer like himself are complex.

Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tajiks theyre mostly Muslim, Dzhakhpevych said,and they take a person for their word. So when a boss promises them something, they believe it and do the work. And at the end of the job, they don't get paid.

Workers at five of Russias World Cup stadiums have gone on strike over unpaid wages. Other workers said they were forced to labor in freezing winter temperatures without adequate protection. And in one case, workers from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were even arrested and deported from Russia for complaining about problems with their contracts.

Many workers at Russias stadiums said their bosses threatened to fire them for speaking about the working conditions. And workers arent the only ones who face retaliation. A researcher with Human Rights Watch was arrestedand threatened by police for investigating labor conditions at a stadium in the Russian city of Volgograd.

The atmosphere of control and intimidation and secrecy was something that we had neverencountered before in Russia, Buchanan said, so there is a real concern about what those responsible for the World Cup have to hide.

Soccers governing body, FIFA, has regularly inspected labor conditions at the stadiums for the first time ever in the lead up to a World Cup. FIFA has admitted publiclythat there have been problems, but FIFA hasnt stated what sorts of specific labor violations they found. In response to an interview request, FIFA sent a brief email maintaining that the working conditions at Russian stadiums areparamount.

The construction companies that have abused Russias World Cup construction workers, despite the inspections by FIFA, often violate a number of Russian laws. Public records revealed that Stroi Kachestvo, the company that failed to pay Dzhakhpevych, was located in a Moscow office building with no phone number. The company listed a starting capital of just $200, a common practice of Russian shell companies.

Workers who do experience employment-related abuses in Russias soccer stadiums have few avenues for demanding payment from their bosses. Advocates say that exploitation of migrant workers in Russia often persistsbecause, simply, many Russians just dont want foreigners in the country.

People think that immigration is bad for the economy, that immigrants take away their job or that maybe migrants can be terrorists, said Varya Tretyak, director of a program that provides legal aid to migrants at the Moscow nonprofit Civic Assistance Committee.

On a summer afternoon in the committees offices, Tretyak investigated a construction company that owed $2,000 in unpaid wages to a worker from Uzbekistan. Tretyak did a quick online search and learned that the construction company wasnt properly registered.

Tretyak used this information when she called the workers boss to intimidate him to pay. When the boss answered the phone, an accusatory tone replaced Tretyaks friendly demeanor. But the employer insisted he had never heard of the worker. Tretyak hung up the phone and vowed to take legal action if he still neglected to pay after several more calls.

Construction workers at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow say that wage theft is so common throughout the Russian construction industry that a culture of complacence has evolved. When a problem occurs, migrants usually just move on to another jobsite. The immediate pressure to send remittances back home, and the necessity to put a roof over your head, usually outweighs the time it would take to hold employers accountable.

Exploitation at construction sites often traps many migrants in Russia for far longer than they planned. Dzhakhpevych again, a trained lawyer simply left Russia.

We have a proverb that says, its good to be a guest, but its better to be at home, Dzhakhpevych said. Here in Russia you just go to work in the morning, come home at night to sleep.

Dzhakhpevych left Russia without saving enough money to finish his house in Kyrgyzstan. And, he saidvia email, he hadnt even gotten married, yet.

Dzhakhpevych said he'ddecided one thing: He planned to go back to Russia soon to find work at another construction site.

Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed reporting to this piece.

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Many migrant workers building Russia's World Cup sites are getting stiffed - PRI

Downtown Austin is transmogrifying before our eyes as it turns into (Caution: columnist exaggeration ahead) Manhattan-on-the-Colorado.

The signs are everywhere, helping us sort out which building will be what. There are hotels, office buildings, condos and all kinds of stuff that rich real estate investors think will make them even richer real estate investors.

Eager to get in on the downtown crane craze, the University of Texas System is pretty far along on the 19-story building that will replace several downtown office buildings that long have housed system officials. Move-in at the new building begins Aug. 1. Congrats to UT Systemites and best wishes on your new home.

READ: University of Texas System building $102 million headquarters downtown

The sign in front of that new building identifies the replacement office building as the Replacement Office Building. Heckuva name. I like it. Hey, you going to the meeting at the ROB?

The name also seems to have caught on with DPR Construction, the folks building it. Its website identifies the 330,000-square-foot building as The University of Texas System, Replacement Office Building.

So thats it. Now and forever its the Replacement Office Building, just like the sign says. Done. Finito.

Nope, insists UT System spokeswoman Jenny LaCoste-Caputo.

The building itself actually has this inscribed on it: The University of Texas System Administration, she told me.

Not trying to get picky here, but the inscription actually says The University of Texas System. Either way, is that the name of the building or the name of the agency in it? Shouldnt the building have a distinctive name maybe a famous persons name as do the buildings the Replacement Office Building is replacing?

To my knowledge, LaCoste-Caputo reported, there have not been discussions about a different name for the building.

Karen Adler of the systems Office of External Relations told me Replacement Office Building is sort of internal speak and not the buildings name.

Its simply an identifier. Its who we are, she said. We are the University of Texas System.

And she joked that it could be the Ken Herman University of Texas System Building for a $100 million donation. I told her it takes me three years to earn that kind of money. (And Im aware some readers would be willing to contribute if it would be the Ken Herman Memorial University of Texas System Building.)

Perhaps the UT System needs a Your Name Here campaign aimed at wealthy donors.

RELATED: UT fund drive ends with $3.1 billion in gifts, pledges

At the new building, UT will be on six floors, others include parking and leased space. It replaces two buildings knocked down at the site on West Seventh Street, between Lavaca and Colorado streets. Those buildings unimaginatively were known as the Lavaca Building and the Colorado Building.

The three other nearby UT System buildings that are being replaced have peoples names on them, though only one of the three is readily recognizable and another is a Confederate guy.

You know the story about for whom the O. Henry Building is named. (Its a short story.) That structure was sold by the UT System to the Texas State University System. And the UT folks have signed a ground lease with Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co. for the site of the systems current Ashbel Smith Hall and Claudia Taylor Johnson Hall.

That latter one is a building named for someone everybody knows but not under the name by which everybody knew her. Claudia Taylor Johnson was Lady Bird Johnson. What if we would have rechristened Town Lake as Claudia Taylor Lake? Just not the same.

And by getting out of Ashbel Smith Hall, the UT System is cutting ties with the Confederacy. In addition to other stuff (Republic of Texas secretary of state and ambassador to the United Kingdom and France, first UT System Board president), Smith (1805-1886) was a celebrated physician and a colonel in the army of the Confederacy.

Even his name is kind of Gone with the Wind-ish. Oh, Ashbel! (Not to be confused with O. Henry.)

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Post-Civil War, Smith did lots of good stuff for our state, serving in the Texas House and becoming a major advocate for education, including helping to establish Prairie View A&M University for African-Americans.

Trammell Crow will develop the property on which Smith and Johnson halls now stand. The lease requires preservation of the southern and western facades of Johnson Hall.

So whos got ideas for a good name for the new UT System administration building, something UT appropriate? FYI, there was a time when I thought if he had led the Horns to another national title or two we might have renamed our Capitol as the Vince Young Statehouse. Alas, all we got was a steakhouse.

How about we name the new UT System building for former state senator and Texas Supreme Court Justice James Wallace?

Yeah, I know hes a University of Arkansas alum, but I like the idea of the UT System housed in something named Wallace Hall, reminding all in perpetuity of the recent regent who spent a lot of time investigating, suing and being a general nuisance to the system.

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Herman: Move-in day nears for UT System Replacement Office Building - MyStatesman.com

By Pamela Johnson

Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Robbie Hoff, 3, plays in the dirt with a shovel Thursday after a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Larimer County Building in Loveland. Robbie is the son of Kevin Hoff, project manager for Haselden, the contractor constructing the new building. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

In the empty field where a two-story Larimer County office building will be constructed over the next year, county commissioner Steve Johnson described "a facility that works for today and for tomorrow."

Larimer County and Loveland officials gathered at First Street and Denver Avenue for an official groundbreaking for the $19.5 million county office building in Loveland, a project on which construction will begin Wednesday.

"This represents an opportunity for folks in the south part of the county to receive the same level of service as folks in the north part of the county, the county seat," said Tom Donnelly, commissioner who lives in Loveland and who pushed for the new building.

He and other county and city officials lauded the staff that provides human services, health department and clerk and recorder services out of an "inadequate" facility at Sixth Street and Cleveland Avenue. They said that with the new office, the building will match the "superb service" already provided.

"Our community is growing," said Johnson. "The facility on Sixth Street was probably pretty great when it opened, but we have mothers sitting on the staircase with children as they wait for service.

"This new building is going to be pretty great."

The two-story, 46,000-square-foot building will house all of those existing services as well as the Workforce Center, the elections department and a southern hub of the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. The parking lot will hold 229 vehicles, and the 8.9 acres offers room to grow.

Though there were some issues to work through in the planning and the decision of where to build, Johnson, Donnelly and Loveland Mayor Cecil Gutierrez said construction would not be happening without cooperation between the city and county. Together, they celebrated the new building that they described as a great addition for all residents of South Larimer County.

The $19.5 million project is being paid out of money the county saved from a previous voter-approved sales tax along with a $1 million grant from the Department of Local Affairs and about $700,000 in fee waivers from the city of Loveland. Donnelly touted the fact that the county planned ahead and saved for the project and is not taking on debt to build the new facility.

"It's going to be paid for entirely with cash," said Donnelly.

Recently, Donnelly looked back over citizen surveys from the 1980s and one of the top priorities, even 30 years ago, was upgrading the facilities in Loveland. He joked about the wheels of government turning slowly, then stressed the excitement that this project has become a reality through tenacity and several years worth of planning and work.

The tax money was initially earmarked to upgrade the existing building, but in 2013, voters agreed to let the county use the money for a new building instead, leading to the search for a site. The county bought the land at First and Denver in 2016.

The design by the Architect Studio looked to current and future needs, and the site is large enough for future expansion, Donnelly noted. Plus, the county and city will continue to work on phase two, a future expansion of probation facilities at the Loveland Police and Courts Building.

Haselden Construction will begin work on the building at First and Denver on Wednesday, and the offices are expected to be complete late summer or early fall of next year.

Gutierrez said he, as a Loveland resident, looks forward to having the new facility open for those who live in the south end of the county.

"Having this building down here in southern Larimer County will be very, very crucial to meeting the needs of our citizens," said Gutierrez.

Pamela Johnson: 970-699-5405, johnsonp@reporter-herald.com, http://www.twitter.com/RHPamelaJ.

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Ground breaks on Larimer County offices in Loveland - Loveland Reporter-Herald

Denver Business Journal

Sneak peek: The view from downtown Denver's 40-story office tower ... Denver Business Journal The tallest office tower to be built in decades in Denver will reach its tallest point in mid-July, stretching 40 stories into the air at 15th and Lawrence streets. and more »

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Sneak peek: The view from downtown Denver's 40-story office tower ... - Denver Business Journal

A $100 million-plus project developing the old Brea hospital property is gaining momentum nearly five years after it was approved.

Central Park Village, a 15-acre, mix-use development at the former site of the Brea Community Hospital has completed a small portion of the townhouses slated for the site and recently began construction on the apartment and medical office buildings.

JH Real Estate Partners project, which will also include a 1-acre privately managed park, parking garage and commercial space, was approved by the City Council in 2012. The hospital was demolished in 2006.

The economic markets ups and downs slowed the progress of the project, Community Development Director David Crabtree said.

I would have certainly thought that it would had been implemented earlier than now, he said. Thats the part that is out of the citys hands.

Central Park Village, a 15-acre mix-use development at the old Brea Community Hospital site has completed a small portion of the townhouses slated for the site and recently began construction on the apartment and medical office building. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

Construction continues at the Central Park Village, a 15-acre mix-use development at the Old Brea Community Hospital site. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

A portion of the townhouses at the Central Park Village in Brea have been completed. The site is a 15-acre mix-use development at the old Brea Community Hospital site. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

Central Park Village, a 15-acre mix-use development at the old Brea Community Hospital site has completed a small portion of the townhouses slated for the site and recently began construction on the apartment and medical office building. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

A community area near the townhouses at the Central Park Village in Brea overlooks construction that continues at the site of the old Brea Community Hospital. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

Construction continues at the Central Park Village, a 15-acre mix-use development at the Old Brea Community Hospital site. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

Central Park Village, a 15-acre mix-use development at the old Brea Community Hospital site has completed a small portion of the townhouses slated for the site and recently began construction on the apartment and medical office building. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

Central Park Village, a 15-acre mix-use development at the old Brea Community Hospital site has completed a small portion of the townhouses slated for the site and recently began construction on the apartment and medical office building. (Anthony Mendoza, Staff)

Completed are about 25 of the proposed 100 townhouses, which are now occupied, Crabtree said. The other townhouses are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Construction of the three-story medical office building, the apartment complex and the parking garage the buildings will share has broken ground. Crabtree expects those structures to be completed by the end of 2018.

JH Real Estate Partners officials could not be reached for comment.

Folks are finally seeing stuff happening out there. Things are coming out of the ground, which is always exciting, Crabtree said.Its been a bit unusual since it was entitled in 2012, but its taken this long. People move in and out of town and there was a buzz back in 2012, but that buzz has faded over the years.

The commercial space, which is about 30,000 square feet, is looking for an anchor tenant, Crabtree said. A Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was once planned, but the European grocer that rapidly grew into the western United States began closing all of its U.S. stores in 2013 and filed for bankruptcy two years later.

Crabtree said the city and developer have met to revisit the plans. Office buildings at the site of where the commercial space is intended will remain in place until a new anchor tenant is planned and construction begins.

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Construction on Central Park Village to develop old Brea hospital gains momentum - OCRegister

Dive Brief:

Kansas City is not the only municipality to look at its underutilized waterfront and see significant investment opportunity. Tampa, FL,developers recently announced details of their plans to build a $3 billion, mixed-use project on the city's downtown waterfront along Garrison Channel, which is one of the Port of Tampa waterways.

The project, a joint venture between Bill Gates' Cascade Investment and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, will take up 57 acres 9 million square feet and feature a combination of 1,400 condominiums and apartments, hotels,retail and a University of South Florida's medical facility. The project will also bring downtown Tampa its first office building in 25 years.

Earlier this month, the San Diego Unified Port District board and Chula Vista (CA) City Council announced they had signed a developer agreement for a $1 billion resort hotel and convention center for the Chula Vista waterfront. Houston-based RIDA Development will build a 1,450-room Gaylord Hotel and 275,000 square feet of convention space, which officials said will generate 3,100 construction jobs and $390 million in annual economic benefit for the local area.

Gramor Development also announced this month that it had secured a $42.5 million construction loan allowing work to move forward on a $1 billion waterfront project along the Columbia River in Vancouver. WA. The company said it completed necessary infrastructure work, and next up is a seven-story office building and a 63-unit, luxury apartment building, both of which will have ground floor restaurants and retail. Ultimately, the project will deliver 3,300 residential units and 1.3 million square feet of office space, along with additional retail, a hotel and dining space.

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Kansas City, MO officials reveal riverfront development plans - Construction Dive

A rendering of Akridge's planned 190K SF office building at 2100 L St. NW

Thetrophy office building planned at the corner of 21st and L streets NW will not deliver for at least two years, buta major tenant is already in talks to lease its top four floors.

Law firm Morrison & Foersteris in negotiationsto anchor2100 L St. NW, the 190K SF building being developed by Akridge, COPT and Argos Group, according to a CBRE market report.

The lease continues a trend of law firms flocking to the top of trophy office buildings, leaving the lower floors vacant. Of seven office buildings currently or soon-to-be under construction in D.C.'s core submarket, 1.5M SF has been leased in the top stack of the building, with 1.1M SF still available on the lower floors, according to CBRE.

Goodwin Procter is movingto the top three floors of JBG Smith's 1900 N development, as the developer looks to lease the bottom six floors. That project, also in the Golden Triangle BID, broke ground in April once the lease was signed and is also slated for a late 2019 delivery.

Clearly Gottlieb is set to take the top five floorsof Skanska's 2112 Pennsylvania Ave. NW when it delivers next year, as the bottom five floors remain available.

Most of these are law firms, and it's a matter of status and branding that they have a tendency to go to the highest-quality building in the best space, CBRE research manager Wei Xie said. Some of them have been in their previous space for years, so this is a chance to upgrade to the latest and greatest space with the best view and branding opportunities.

Tenants looking to lease the lower floors of these buildings can see up to a 10% discount from the top-floor rent, according to CBRE. But law firms typically don't want to share a building with another law firm, Xie said, so the lower floors of new buildings tend to attract nonprofits, creative companies or co-working tenants.

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With New Law Firm Leases, DC's Office Buildings Are Getting Top-Heavy - Bisnow