San Francisco housing development in 2022 will be the year of the mega-project.

Even as smaller projects are stuck in limbo due to market uncertainties and astronomical construction costs, the citys colossal multi-phased projects like those at Treasure Island, Mission Rock, Pier 70 and Power Station will steam full speed ahead. Streets are being laid out, sidewalks poured, trees planted, streetlights installed and buildings are sprouting from the ground.

Nowhere is this more apparent than Treasure Island, where, after two decades of planning, the first residents will move into new buildings on both the main island as well as the adjacent Yerba Buena Island in 2022.

On Treasure Island Swords to Plowshares and Chinatown Community Development Center will debut the 104-unit Maceo May Apartments late in the year, apartments that will house some formerly homeless veterans. On Yerba Buena Island, Wilson Meany will open The Bristol, a six-story, 124-unit condo project over looking Clipper Cove and the eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

But the creation of a new 8,000-unit neighborhood on the 400-acre island will only accelerate after the first two buildings open. Treasure Island could see work start on as many as 985 units in 2022, including Tidal House, a 20-story apartment tower. A new ferry terminal will open in January offering residents a 5-minute cruise across the bay to the Ferry Building, according to Wilson Meany Partner Chris Meany.

We cant wait to welcome residents early this spring to become a part of this exciting new residential community, said Meany, whose firm is the master developer for the island.

At Mission Rock, across the Lefty ODoul Bridge from AT&T Park, Tishman Speyer and the San Francisco Giants are rapidly transforming an 11-acre surface parking lot with three new buildings one residential, one biotech and one slated to be Visas new corporate headquarters.

Construction crews pour concrete in a section of the new Mission Rock development near Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The development, a collaboration between the San Francisco Giants, Tishman Speyer, and the Port of San Francisco is building with the impending sea level rise in mind and elevating the ground level.

Construction started December of 2020 on the first two buildings, Visas corporate headquarters and Building A, a 23-story apartment. That was followed by a life science building on Third Street. In 2022 work will start on a fourth building, a 255-unit apartment complex designed by Studio Gang, as well as the five-acre China Basin Park.

We are trying to deliver the park and the four buildings as close together as we can, said Carl Shannon, senior managing director with Tishman Speyer.

All told, work could start on some 3,000 units spread across the citys mega-projects, often former industrial or military properties that require a multi-phase approach and infrastructure work like streets, sidewalks, parks and utilities. About 1,300 units are expected to be completed as part of these projects in 2022, including about 300 units at 5M the 4-acre development next to The Chronicles newsroom at 901 Mission St. and 350 apartments that represent the first phase of a project Local 38 Plumbers and Pipefitters is building with Strada Development at 1621 Market St.

Construction takes place on the steel beams at the top of the 415 Natoma St. office building, part of the 5M development project, in SoMa, San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Feb 5, 2021. The 640,000-square-foot office building recently topped out.

Breaking ground will likely include 708 deeply affordable apartments built at three different public housing complexes 357 at Potrero Hill Annex and Terrace, 183 at Hunters View in Hunters Point, 168 at Sunnydale. At Power Station, a former power plant on Dogpatch waterfront, construction crews are busy restoring the historic 19th century power plant in 2022 grading will be completed and utilities installed.

Our major projects are starting to produce the new homes, open spaces and jobs that weve counted on for years, said Judson True, Mayor Breeds Director of Housing Delivery, who has focused on pushing the mega-projects forward. We still have more to do, but were working with all the City departments closely to help these future neighborhoods take shape.

But while several of the citys largest projects keep on trucking, others are stuck in neutral. The redevelopment of Parkmerced, slated for 5,600 apartments, still has not started, more than a decade after it was approved by the Board of Supervisors. Work at Schalge Lock, on the citys border with Brisbane, has been delayed due to the pandemic, while the 12,000 unit development at the shipyard and candlestick point has been mostly on hold with the exception of one 77-condo building.

And the future for many smaller projects that dont involve public-private partnerships or spread risk out over a decade is even less certain. Stalled projects include an apartment complex slated for 9th and Mission, a tower approved at Market and Van Ness and several mixed-use projects in the South of Market.

While Tishman Speyers twisty, white Mira condo development near the Embarcadero has done well since it opened last year its 70% sold Senior Managing Director Carl Shannon said that the math is not working at the moment for a typical housing project.

Mira condo tower (middle) at 160 Folsom St. seen on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, in San Francisco, Calif.

Construction costs have gone up a lot, and even though rents have recovered somewhat, the generic market rate project in San Francisco doesnt make sense today, said Shannon. You would need rents to go up or construction costs to go down.

John Manning, who heads up commercial real estate financing for Avison Young, said there are very few housing developers looking for debt or equity for new San Francisco projects. Part of that is because sites where projects have been approved are clustered in downtown areas like Civic Center, South of Market and the Tenderloin all neighborhoods that continue to struggle with empty office buildings, vacant storefronts and open air drug dealing.

Neighborhoods that have bounced back more successfully from the pandemic like the Sunset, Haight-Ashbury or the Marina dont have any approved projects ready to break ground.

The areas where development is allowed are, generally speaking, those that have been hit hardest in terms of rental rates and condo values, Manning said. To break ground on a new project would require a vision and confidence that things are going to pop back up to an extent that is hard to imagine right now. Thats not something Im hearing a lot of.

The fact that so many infill projects are not going forward doesnt bode well for housing production over the next few years.

This year the city is on track to open about 4,500 units, most of which started construction prior to the pandemic. Another estimated 5,800 units are under construction, most of which will wrap up in 2022 or 2023. That is a lot less than the high of 10,000 units that were being built in 2016 or 2017. The data suggests that 2022 and 2023 could be lean years in terms of completions, with less than about 3,000 new units a year, according to city data.

Rudy Gonzalez, secretary treasurer of the San Francisco Building Trades Council, said he is optimistic that some of the big projects will help some of the 1,300 union construction workers who are currently out of work. But he said that the fact that downtown office buildings are still largely empty because of the pandemic is hurting plumbers and pipefitters and electricians who rely on tenant improvements in corporate space for about 50% of their work.

Mission Rock is beautiful. Treasure Island is beautiful, he said. But all the (tenant improvement) work generated from the buildings downtown? At the end of the day we are just not seeing downtown come back to life.

Meanwhile housing development battles continue to rage at city hall. San Francisco Board of Supervisors recently made national news for rejecting over 800 housing units proposed for the Tenderloin and South of Market.

Partly in response to that, Mayor London Breed has introduced a charter amendment that would allow some code-compliant projects to bypass the citys famously difficult approval process.

Working people like our nurses, teachers, and even the construction workers who build our homes are suffering because we havent built enough housing for decades, said Breed. Even with the progress on moving large projects forward, we have to make fundamental changes to how we approve and permit housing in San Francisco so families can afford to stay here.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com

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SF has a slew of mega housing projects on track for 2022. Here's what it could mean for the city - San Francisco Chronicle

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the IT industry and investment scenario picks up pace, the first SEZ (Special Economic Zone) building coming up as part of Embassy Taurus TechZone at Technopark phase-III here will be ready by November 2022.

Interestingly, 50 per cent Niagara, the 1.5-million-sq-ft office building, has been leased out even before its completion. Currently, eight out of 11 floors of the building have been built and the construction is going on in full swing to complete it by the deadline.

It is part of the project, Taurus Downtown Trivandrum, a mixed-use development project by Boston (US)-based Taurus Investment Holdings and its partners. The project is expected to be a game-changer for the states IT industry as the building will have several reputed multinational tech firms. Taurus Yosemite, a non-SEZ project, too has been leased out 50 per cent before its construction has even started.

Sources privy of the projects progress say the leasing of Niagara also includes the largest office space deal done in a tier-II Indian city. A twin building, Victoria, will come up near the Niagara building having the same square footage and number of floors. This SEZ building is expected to break ground from November once Niagaras construction is over. The Taurus Yosemite project will have 0.62-million sq ft of non-SEZ office space and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

Besides IT office spaces, there will be a 1.3-million sq ft mall, Taurus Zentrum, which will provide the employees and the public a retail, entertainment and hospitality experience. It is expected to be the largest mall in the region in terms of Gross Leasable Area (GLA) and is likely to be completed in 2024. Asset Taurus Identity, a residential project having service apartments and a 155-keys hotel are also part of the project.

Taurus Downtown Trivandrum is a flagship project of Taurus Investment Holdings in India and is very vital for our future investments in the country. We are excited about the exuberant market response to the project and the pace at which construction is progressing. We are confident of attracting more companies to the city through the project, said Anil Kumar, COO & senior vice-president, Taurus India.

The project will include a world-class water conservation system and a waste management system based on latest technologies. It is being designed as an energy-efficient green infrastructure with a significant part of energy generated from solar power. The buildings will also be equipped with adequate EV charging points. Yosemite and Zentrum have been registered for Gold WELL certification for clean and healthy working environment.

Keystone, an 800-seat incubation facility, is designed to assist businesses with initial work and getting them up to speed, before their office spaces become operational.The first of its kind IT/ITES office facility in Kerala is also the first functional office space building in Embassy Taurus TechZone, the 3-million sq ft SEZ office space being jointly developed by the Embassy Group and Taurus Investment Holdings.

The spaces are equipped with meeting rooms, conference rooms, a cafeteria, fire alarm and fire protection systems, 100% power backup and a building management system for efficient operation. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the Rs 2,000-crore Taurus Downtown project in 2018.

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First special economic zone IT office space of Taurus by November 2022 - The New Indian Express

Joe and Julie Bielawski believe theyve found a permanent home for their business, Knowledge Services.

The software solutions company moved into its new headquarters at 9800 Crosspoint Blvd., Fishers, in January 2021. Months of renovation work preceded the move. The building previously housed the Marsh headquarters.

Fishers residents for decades, the Bielawskis had long planned to move Knowledge Services headquarters from Indianapolis to Fishers, but they didnt know exactly where in Fishers until the building on Crosspoint Boulevard went on the market.

We had identified Fishers as a growing market and had an interest in moving to Fishers, said Joe, the companys president. We originally bought property on I-69 and planned to build a building, but then this became available out of bankruptcy just as we were designing the other building.

This was a faster path and offered a lot more amenities than we wouldve built on our own.

Julie, the companys founder and CEO, said because constructing a new building is expensive, the couple decided to pursue the former Marsh headquarters.

The new building wouldnt have been as large or have as many amenities as this one offers, Julie said. It was built as a corporate headquarters, so its an unusual building. Its not your typical building for office space.

The building has two atriums, which allows light to flood in.

Theyre not usable square footage, but it brings a different perspective of behavior in the building, Julie said. We love that the light comes through, and really wanted to embrace that in the renovation. It gave us an opportunity to be a little different.

However, the renovation was still expensive. The total investment was $27 million. The couple was scheduled to close on purchasing the building in March 2020 on the same day most of the COVID-19 lockdowns began.

We had some sleepless nights, Joe said. We didnt know if the business would survive. We didnt know if 90 percent of the population would pass away. We didnt know anything other than everybody was going to work from home, and we were taking on a debt we never even would agree we would ever do.

So, during a time where most construction projects were put on hold, the Bielawskis took a leap of faith.

As it turned out, it was good timing because a lot of the people we needed, like architects and plumbing and electrical and carpenters, were having other projects cancel and delay, and we were full-steam ahead, Joe said.

No part of the building was left untouched during the 10-month renovation.

It looked like World War III in this atrium, Joe said.

Some renovation work is still ongoing. Knowledge Services moved into its space in January 2021. The 165,000-square-foot building also allows Knowledge Services to welcome other tenants in the spare space. So far, one tenant has moved into the space and a second tenant is in the process of moving in.

The couple still owns the 20-acre property between 106th Street and 116th Street on Interstate 69. They said although it is listed on the market, they are in no rush to sell it.

For more, visit knowledgeservices.com.

One special amenity Knowledge Services new headquarters has is the ability for President Joe Bielawski and CEO Julie Bielawski to create a coworking space on the second floor, which spans 35,000 square feet. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced that decision.

All these big corporations were sending everybody home, Joe said. (In spring 2020), Julie and I worked from home, and Julie was on our kitchen island and Im sitting in our room thats our office. Were thinking, Wow, we live in Fishers and in a nice area, but what houses have two offices for those who have dual income? So, somebodys working off the coffee table or in the basement on a card table. And then theres the engagement. We are humans. We like to talk to people and learn about experiences and build culture.

Youre going to work from home, and everything is one dimensional. We thought this is a great opportunity to share with people in those circumstances.

Branded as The Club at Crosspoint Center, the coworking space will start accepting tenants this month. Besides offering a variety of space sizes scaling from what the Bielawskis call a hot desk in a typical coworking setting to executive suites The Club also provides members access to a fitness center, auditorium, conference space, a recreation room with a golf simulator and concierge-style amenities.

Besides the coworking space, Knowledge Services new headquarters also has other unique amenities, like a mothers suite for employees who are returning from maternity leave. New mothers can bring their babies to work and have a safe, quiet space to nurse or pump breastmilk.

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Permanent home: Knowledge Services owners move business to new headquarters in Fishers Current - Current in Carmel

When we penned the intro for this piece last year, little did we know that in many ways wed still be deep in it by the time 2021s feature rolled around. Amid another holiday season marred by a new variant, seemingly the more things change well, you get the picture.

Surprisingly, however, in spite of the fact that were still very much in the throes of a global pandemic, 2021 hasnt been punctuated by as many high-profile losses in the startup world as the year prior.

Perhaps the first year of the pandemic was simply the final straw for so many companies that were already treading water or maybe an influx of capital sources has kept heads above water. Some companies successfully pivoted and others were born as a direct result of a world forever changed because of COVID-19.

2021 also largely lacked the kind of blockbuster crashes we saw last year, courtesy of names like Quibi and Essential. But even in a non-pandemic year, keeping a startup afloat is still an enormously difficult task, and not everyone managed to make it to the New Year unscathed.

Total raised: $12 million

Image Credits: Abundant

This is a major sputtering in what has been an otherwise remarkable year for robotic startups. In a certain sense, Abundant was ahead of the curve on agtech robotics, which can often be more curse than blessing. Barely two years after rolling out its first commercial deployments, the apple-picking robotics firm quietly closed up shop. Over the years, the company managed to raise $12 million, including a $10 million Series A led by GV (Google Ventures) back in 2017.

Farmers are taking a long, hard look at robotics and automation to help ease the strain of continued labor shortages. Companies like John Deere are investing a lot in homegrown solutions and acquisitions. It seems very much within the realm of possibility that well see more widescale picking robots deployed sooner than later, but the main question at the moment is from whom?

In October, it was reported that Waverly Labs had acquired Abundants IP, meaning that its technology may still live on in some form.

Image Credits: Chanje

In November 2018, TechCrunch reported that FedEx was working with a relatively new and unknown startup as it ramped up its efforts to electrify its fleet of delivery vans. The company announced plans to add 1,000 electric delivery vehicles from Chanje Energy, a California-based and China-backed startup founded in 2015. In subsequent years, Chanje came to be known for its practice of importing electric delivery vans from China and selling them to companies like FedEx, Ryder and even Amazon. FedEx and other customers were left in the lurch when the electric vehicle company reportedly quietly folded sometime this year, The Verge reported on December 15. CEO Bryan Hansel (described by some employees as both charismatic and narcissistic, had partnered with a Chinese company that went bankrupt. Hansel reportedly worked hard to convince investors to buy pieces of that company so that Chanje could keep operating, but to no avail. According to The Verge, he fired the last of Chanjes employees the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

Chanje reportedly still owes many of its former employees months of back pay and promised bonuses, with at least four having filed suit against the startup. Ryder also sued the company for more than $3 million after Chanje did not deliver most of the vans it promised to the fleet company. Meanwhile, FedEx never got the 1,000 electric vans it expected from Chanje from that 2018 deal. That led to the delivery giant being forced to abandon a project to build out charging infrastructure at FedEx depots across California. While FedEx is also suing the company in an effort to get back some of the millions of dollars it had spent on that charging infrastructure, its prospects are bleak.

Image Credits: Dark Sky

In March of 2020, Apple acquired the Dark Sky weather app, which was popular for its hyperlocal focus. Clearly the tech giant was interested in its features, many of which it incorporated into the iPhone weather app. From the get go, Apple had made clear that the Android app would shutter that July. The fate of the iOS app and API service, however, remained fuzzy. (The API service allowed other developers to tap Dark Skys database of weather forecasts and historical weather data.)

By June of 2021, the iOS app and API service officially had expiration dates, with co-founder Adam Grossman writing: Support for the Dark Sky API service for existing customers will continue until the end of 2022. The iOS app and Dark Sky website will also be available until the end of 2022. While this was not an explicit shutdown announcement, it was certainly implied.

Total raised: $2 billion

Image Credits: Katerra

There was a time that Katerra was considered the darling of the construction tech world. Some argue it made prefab construction more mainstream and cool. As it grew, Katerra ambitiously wanted to own the tech stack around a construction project, whether it be office buildings or apartments. But by the end of 2020, signs of serious problems emerged. The startup was said to be on the verge of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy when Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank swooped in with a $200 million bailout. But it was too little, too late. Katerras vertically integrated approach couldnt keep up with rising labor and construction costs and the company was struggling with delays and cost overruns on some projects, while the COVID-19 pandemic delayed others. Irregularities that the company discovered in accounting practices also added to headaches, according to The Wall Street Journal.

So it was not a huge shock when on June 1, 2021, Kattera was reported to be officially shutting down (The Information broke the news) after burning through more than $2 billion in funding. Founded in 2015, Katerra had at one point been valued at $4 billion and employed more than 8,000 people. When it shuttered, it was believed to have had around 2,400 employees. The failure marked the second high-profile SoftBank-backed proptech that struggled in recent years (WeWork was the first). While there were concerns that Katerras implosion might affect faith in the construction tech industry as a whole, the year still saw a number of large fundings in the space.

Image Credits: Alphabet

Alphabets Loon flew high over the course of its nine-year run, only to come crashing back down to earth earlier this year. Two-plus years after spinning off the X graduate, the company grounded the project aimed at bringing internet connectivity to underserved areas via balloon. Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth noted in a blog post that the project simply wasnt able to achieve profitability.

While weve found a number of willing partners along the way, we havent found a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term, sustainable business, he wrote. Developing radical new technology is inherently risky, but that doesnt make breaking this news any easier.

Loon said its technologies would continue to live on, having already been adopted by outfits like Project Taara, another Alphabet X moonshot aimed at delivering high-speed internet through light transmission. In September, Alphabet passed an additional 200 patents along to SoftBank, which plans to execute on them as part of its High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) business. Fellow high-flying moonshot Wing, on the other hand, continues to gain steam.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

Before Houseparty sunsetted, it soared. In the early innings of the pandemic, the social video chat app claimed that it was landing 50 million new signups a month, as humans sought virtual connection amid quarantine. Fast-forward to today, and it seems that Housepartys pandemic bump didnt help the company stay relevant. In September, Epic Games announced that it was shutting down Houseparty in October, a little over two years since it first acquired the company for a reported $35 million.

There are a variety of potential reasons as to why the once-booming app was shut down, from the rise of Clubhouse to the inevitable fatigue from Zoom. In a thread announcing the shutdown, Houseparty CEO and co-founder Sima Sistani hinted it was simply a strategy shift.

The metaverse vision and products were working on at [EpicGames] are also about shared experiences, but in a more rich form than 2D video one thats better positioned to shape the next generation of the internet, Sistani wrote.

Houseparty will live on as the core of Fortnites voice chat and within larger projects in the Epic Games metaverse.

Pearl Automation, an automotive accessory startup, shuttered just a year after launching out of stealth mode. Founded by former Apple engineers, Pearl debuted with a wireless rear-view camera and already began shipping out its products, which cost $499.99.

Once connected, the RearVision app in landscape will show you a full-screen view of what the cameras in the license plate holder is seeing, with a 175-degree viewing angle, reporter Darrell Etherington wrote in a 2016 review of the product. You can toggle between the full fish-eye experience, or a warp-corrected view that fills the display corner-to-corner with the space behind your car. You can also pivot the view up or down to get a better look at more of the sky, or more of the ground as needed.

While Etherington liked the industrial design and minimal software of the product, he noted that it is a premium device which needed upgrades: Its still for a specific subset of users those who value quality and craftsmanship and are willing to pay for it, but who also dont have a modern vehicle with its own backup camera, and dont plan on getting one anytime soon. This year, it seems like that subset wasnt enough to keep the company going.

Per Axios, the shutdown was a result of disappointing product sales and a high burn rate, despite the fact that Pearl Automation had raised $50 million in venture capital funding. Investors included Accel, Venrock, Shasta Ventures and Wellcome Trust, according to Crunchbase.

DALLAS, Feb. 26, 2021 A closed Frys Electronics store is seen in Plano, Texas, the United States, Feb. 25, 2021. U.S. electronics store chain Frys Electronics is permanently closing all of its stores, the company announced Wednesday. The company said in a statement on its website that it made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently because of changing consumer shopping habits and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Frys Electronics had 31 stores across nine U.S. states. (Xinhua/Dan Tian via Getty Images)

Mea culpa. This ones not a startup, but it would still feel weird to do a list without it. The Februrary closure of the Bay Area-based electronics chain left a massive Egyptian (or, perhaps, Mayan) pyramid-shaped hole in the hearts of many who grew up wandering its aisles. For me, it was the Fremont store, whose 1893 Worlds Fair theme didnt make for a particularly exciting exterior, but the indoor Tesla coil did the trick.

In an Amazon-ruled world devoid of Circuit Cities, where RadioShack is a shadow of its former self, its frankly amazing that this strange, beautiful beast held on for as long as it could. At its peak, Frys boasted 34 giant stores across nine states. But ultimately, COVID-19 was the final nail in the already troubling environment of brick and mortars. Its a testament to just how big these big box stores were that their former homes are dealing with zoning headaches in their wake.

Image Credits: Joan Cros/NurPhoto / Getty Images (Image has been modified)

Unlike other pandemic-fueled losses over these past two years, the death of LGs mobile division was a long time coming. The South Korean electronics giant simply couldnt keep up in a market dominated by Samsung, Apple and, increasingly, manufacturers in China. In April, LG announced its exit from phones in order to spend more time with TVs and other smart home products.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

And so rare its vision truly was. When founders Jacob Claerhout and Boris Gordts launched Visionrare, they combined two trends: the gamification of investing and the surging interest around NFTs. The end result was a platform in which users could bid for NFT shares of different startups, stacking up a fake portfolio that they could then compete against others with. It even got some Y Combinator startups on board.

Crypto angle aside, Visionrares pitch was interesting. The fake stock market could get non-accredited investors a track record in betting on startups, and one day serve as a signal for VCs looking for their next hires.

If you think it sounds buzzy, some entrepreneurs and investors had a different word: illegal. Some questioned whether the platform was legal or if it was an investment security, pushback that ended up causing the co-founders to shut down the paid marketplace due to underestimating the legal complexities with selling novelty NFT shares in real startups.

Crypto marketplaces arent controversial, but Visionrares approach to the burgeoning sector rang alarm bells. And that doesnt happen as often as youd think. Nonetheless, the founders promised to relaunch the company soon. Their LinkedIns show that they are continuing to work together, and are building something new.

Nearly a decade ago, Friendsters Jonathan Abrams launched Nuzzel, a social news reading service that highlights headlines that are being read and shared by friends in your network. The simple yet savvy startup soon attracted a loyal user base, especially for Twitter users who wanted a more personalized timeline. According to Crunchbase, Nuzzel had raised $5.1 million from investors, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.

In 2019, Nuzzel was acquired by Scroll, which wanted to bring aggregation and curation to its subscription service. While no one from Nuzzels original team joined Scroll in a full-time capacity, the app continued to function as is until this year, of course. Twitter scooped up Scroll in May and simultaneously shut down Nuzzel. In a blog post that has since been removed, Nuzzels team explained that the product needed to be rebuilt in order to scale with Twitter.

To those of you who love Nuzzel and are disappointed that we cant maintain Nuzzel as-is in the interim, Im as disappointed as you, Scroll CEO Tony Haile said in the now-deleted post. We explored any number of Hail Marys to make that happen and just couldnt get there. Looking to the future, Nuzzels functionality has always felt like it should be a part of Twitter and Im excited to help make it so.

Months later, some good news: While Nuzzel as we know it has ceased to exist, Twitter brought back one of the apps most-loved features, Top Stories, in the debut of its premium subscription service Twitter Blue.

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Remembering the startups we lost in 2021 - TechCrunch

December is drawing to a close, ending an unusual year in Fall River history. It was a time of reckoning for some, a new beginning for others. This was the second year of the COVID pandemic that still has the world in its grip, casting a specter over every aspect of life in the city. And yet there were some positive developments too.

We looked back at the past 12 months of Herald News stories and came up with a list of 10 of the most important issues and stories that affect us all. Lets look at them all briefly and wed like you to choose which are the top three stories of 2021. Vote using our form at the bottom of the story.

In 2020, Taryn Camara, a Kuss Middle School teacher was fired over complaints circulated about a post she published on her Facebook page that some construed as racist. The posting was made during a period of national unrest following the death of George Floyd, and Camaras attorney later said the remarks were meant to be sarcastic. This past year, Camara sued the Fall River School Department, theFall River Educators Association and the Massachusetts Teachers Association and an arbitrator gave Camara her job back, along with back pay. The story sparked conversation about the boundaries between peoples social media accounts and their careers and if that boundary even exists.

Social media boundaries: This Fall River teacher was fired for her Facebook post. Here's what an arbitrator ruled.

This past year was a rough one for former Superintendent Matt Malone. In January, the School Committee disciplined him after an investigation revealed he harassed district staff members, including calling a disabled employee the R-word and using inappropriate language toward female employees. He also faced heat for declining to appear before the school board to discuss capital improvements, exchanging testy emails with City Council President Cliff Ponte in a feud that turned public. In June, Malone resigned effective Nov. 1, ending a career that started in Fall River in 2016.

Schools chief steps down: Embattled Fall River Superintendent Malone announces resignation

Six days into the new year, a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump marched in protest to the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., and caused politically-motivated mayhem on a scale not seen in our lifetimes. Hundreds of people stormed the building, damaging property, ransacking offices, disrupting a joint session of Congress, and threatening lives. Mike St. Pierre, a Fall River grocery store owner, livestreamed himself from Washington participating in the march, and was videotaped hurling an object inside as a door was broken open. St. Pierre was questioned by the FBI. His grocery store has since closed, and he has opened another, similar business.

'Caught up in the moment': Fall River store owner Mike St. Pierre regrets his actions at Capitol riots

In the pandemics second year, not just one but three COVID-19 vaccines were developed with incredible speed, with some form of vaccination eventually rolled out to everyone ages 5 and older. At first with limited supply, vaccines were rationed by age group and medical condition, but by now, vaccines are widely available, some without an appointment, and public clinics are held nearly every day. Thanks to vaccinations and perhaps a seasonal lull, COVID was on the ropes in the summer but with vaccination rates too low and mutations spreading, the virus is raging again as winter starts.

Take your shot: Experts say the COVID vaccine is safe for kids as cases spike across Greater Fall River

Fresh off the release of "Jungleland" in 2020,the cable channel Epix debuted Fall River, a four-part documentary series on a handful of murders in the late 1970s and 1980s, and the Satanic panic that followed. The series won over audiences and critics. Later in the year saw the debut of the Netflix comedy blockbuster Dont Look Up starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, with scenes shot on the Battleship Massachusetts in 2020. The film headed to theaters before finding its way to Netflix for Christmas.

'Don't Look Up' review: Fall River's Battleship Cove looks good, but McKay's film is a smug mix of angry comedy

After a stratospheric rise to power, Jasiel Correia II fell to earth in 2021, facing a four-week trial of fraud and extortion tied to schemes he orchestrated before and during his tenure as mayor. He maintained his innocence in the face of over 30 witnesses testifying to shocking displays of extravagant luxury spending, misuse of investor money, and shameless coercion of business owners into paying bribes, but was convicted and sentenced to six years in federal prison for his crimes. Hes awaiting a date to report to prison.

Tracing Jasiel Correia's fall: From entrepreneur and mayor, to convicted corruption kingpin

Correias trial, involving marijuana businesses, put a crimp in Fall Rivers burgeoning cannabis economy, with Mayor Paul Coogan promising to retool the local licensing process and make it more transparent. We looked at the state of marijuana businesses in Fall River. Meanwhile, Somerset made headlines by hosting world-famous hip-hop stars at a concert sponsored by Solar Therapeutics, a celebration known as the Cultivators Cup.

The deal with dealing pot: As the Jasiel Correia trial winds down, here's the state of marijuana sales in Fall River

The department made headlines in 2021 for the wrong reasons. The city is facing several lawsuits regarding allegations of excessive force by police officers, with one officer facing discipline for filing false reports to protect another officer. In the spring, an officer accidentally published a post critical of murder victim George Floyd on the departments Facebook page, triggering outrage and a suspension. And there was a serious investigation regarding officers mishandling evidence in outstanding cases, including stashing drugs in their desks.

More mishandled evidence?Fall River police investigate boxes found at officer's home

There was a changing of the guard on Elsbree Street, as the 1978 B.M.C. Durfee High School building was shut down for good after decades of leaks, heating issues, mold problems, construction failures and more but the city's new Durfee High opened. The building construction was on schedule for the start of the September school year, wowing students and visitors who attended open houses. The old building is in the process of being demolished.

Peek inside: What does a $263 million school look like? Check out Fall River's new B.M.C. Durfee High

Though his first term was mostly dominated by response to the COVID pandemic, voters gave Paul Coogan another term in office as mayor. The race was often ugly, getting off to a poor start when challenger and City Council President Cliff Ponte derided the job as ceremonial in a memo to his real estate company staff leaked to the press. Coogan officially starts his new term next year, with Ponte ending his tenure on the council to become a private citizen.

Another term: Incumbent Paul Coogan handily wins Fall River mayoral race

Use this form below to cast your vote for first, second, and third place.

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

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What was Greater Fall River's biggest story of 2021? Use this form to cast your vote - Fall River Herald News

The council eventually agreed to let the drinks flow. The Quay Restaurant opened on March 2, 1960, with 110 seats in the main dining room, four banquet rooms and, thanks to the city council, a 60-seat cocktail lounge.

Lunch and dinner will be served, according to The Columbian, and a special late-evening supper menu will be offered dating teenagers.

The place was a hit. By 1962, there were plans to invest $100,000 to add a convention facility that could handle display of large exhibits, stage programs, dinner dancing and party-type activities. By 1965, Goodrich was proposing to add a luxury motel, and in 1971 the Inn at the Quay was expanded to 163 rooms. Two years later, it became part of the Thunderbird/Red Lion chain, a large regional hospitality company that was based in Vancouver until it was sold to Doubletree Corp., in 1996.

According to a 1974 restaurant review, the Quay was one of Vancouvers finest: river view tables, an excellent menu with an accent on seafood, interesting wine list even flaming desserts for the flamboyant. The $7.25 Lobster Cordon Bleu and the $6.25 Scampi stuffed with Crab Florentine came with a choice of soup or salad, a loaf of Quay bread, choice of potato or rice pilaf. For dessert, our reviewer chose Mocha Glo, a flaming dessert of ice cream topped with three liqueurs.

In 1977, Columbian reporter Thomas Ryll interviewed Danny Falco, an assistant manager since the day the place opened. Its the good life I love it, said the man known as Mr. Quay, who talked of serving Hollywood celebrities such as Eddie Albert (Green Acres) and Georgie Jessel.

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Final roar for Vancouver Red Lion Inn at the Quay - The Columbian

Located on approximately 350 acres in Bentonville, Ark., the new Walmart Home Office Campus will comprise more than 30 buildings, including office buildings, service buildings, parking decks, and amenity buildings.

The campus was designed to honor Walmarts heritage and will support the growth happening in the area by utilizing 1.7 million cubic feet of regionally-sourced lumber for the structures, making it the largest mass timber campus project in the United States.

The buildings will all provide ample natural light and incorporate sustainable design strategies. These strategies include energy-efficient lighting and HVAC systems and over 10 acres of lakes for stormwater collection, which will be used for smart irrigation and rainwater reuse. The campus will also feature thousands of trees, shrubs, and grasses to provide habitat for wildlife, shade paths, bike trails, and to reconnect associates with nature. The project was designed and is being built with the goal of creating zero waste, operating with 100% renewable energy, and using sustainable resources and products.

Additionally, the campus will feature expanded food offerings, convenient parking, fitness and wellness options, and a childcare facility.

Gensler is the design architect for the office buildings and is the executive architect for the overall campus design. Walter P Moore is handling the civil engineering, traffic, ITS, and transportation planning, transportation engineering, and water resources engineering.

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Walmarts new Home Office is the largest mass timber ...

The Lakeview Office Building has been designed to be sustainable. Credit: Adam Hunter / LMN Architects.

LMN Architects has completed the construction of the Lakeview Office Building located at the intersection of Lakeview Drive and Lake Washington Boulevard in Kirkland, Washington, US.

The 46,000ftbuilding is said to be the first large-scale mass timber office development east of Greater Seattle.

Designed to be sustainable, the building features a living roof, two levels of office space and two levels of underground parking.

The buildings two first-floor outdoor areas, as well as a landscaped roof-top common room with a deck, offer a west-facing vista of the Olympic Mountains and Lake Washington.

LMN Architects said that the roof, rain gardens and terraces of the development are designed to reduce water run-off and are inspired by the forested hillsides.

Commenting on the development, LMN Architects partner Pamela Trevithick said: Working in close collaboration with our client at Cascade Management and our team of consultants, we set out to design and build the first large-scale mass timber office development in Kirkland.

The building not only meets modern sustainability standards but also creates a new sense of place in the neighbourhood and celebrates the use of wood.

The project features an all-glass curtainwall exterior with operable windows, with textured punched windows and metal panels accentuating the north and east facade.

For the project, LMN Architects partnered with HEWITT on the living roof and with StructureCraft, Sierra Construction and Coughlin Porter Lundeen on the mass timber structure.

LMN Architects partner John Chau said: The design of the building was informed by the contemporary demands of a sustainable modern office building, the nature around the site and our curiosity for construction innovation.

Quarring of Vals Quarzite and Manufacture of Various Natural Stone Products

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Quarring of Vals Quarzite and Manufacture of Various Natural Stone Products

28 Aug 2020

3D Architectural Rendering Software for BIM Professionals

28 Aug 2020

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LMN Architects completes new office building in the US - DesignBuild Network

The second phase of the Bottleworks District project will include a red-brick triangular building at the corner of Massachusetts and College avenues (see right side of rendering) and then a multifacade office building that runs north along College Avenue (left side of rendering). (Rendering courtesy of Hendricks Commercial Properties)

The developer of the massive Bottleworks District along downtowns Mass Ave plans to break ground next summer on the nearly $100 million second phase of the project, with a larger focus on office space than originally planned.

The second phase, which was delayed due to the pandemic, will feature about 250,000 square feet of new leasable spacemost of it for office users. Initial plans for the phase called for about 60 apartment units, but those were converted to office space due to increased demand, according to Wisconsin-based developer Hendricks Commercial Properties.

Weve been pleasantly surprised with the amount of office interest weve hadits kind of been counterintuitive from the narrative thats out there more globally about what the workplace looks like post-pandemic, said Gavin Thomas, vice president of development for Hendricks.

I think a lot of these companies are looking at where they want to be long-term, and were fortunate that a lot of them are looking at Bottleworks, Thomas said.

Hendricks also began to question whether the 60 apartment units were financially feasible.

The second phase will include a six-story, 140,000-square-foot building at the northeast corner of College and Massachusetts avenues. Another 90,000-square foot, multi-facade building is planned for the southeast corner of Ninth Street and College Avenue. The buildings are expected to feature retailers at street level.

Hendricks also plans to double the size of the Bottleworks parking garage, from 274 spaces to about 550. Its expected to be tucked behind phase two and parts of the first phasethus out of view from outside the development.

No office leases have yet been finalized for either of the new buildings, but discussions are ongoing for each available space. Thomas said the first lease could be signed as early as Thanksgiving, with more expected to follow in December.

The smaller office building will have floor plates ranging from 1,800 square feet for the shorter portion of the structure to as much as 13,200 square feet on the upper end. The northernmost portion of the property will be about four stories, with five-story middle and southern sections. Floor plates on the bigger building at College and Massachusetts will be about 21,000 square feet.

Retail spaces on the structures will range from about 1,500 square feet to 5,400 square feet, with 10 openings on the infill property and seven on the corner building.

Hendricks on Wednesday will seek approval for its planned changes to Bottleworks phase two from the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission, largely focused on minor cosmetic changes and a height increase of about six inches to the infill building.

We dont want to anything for granted, but its almost like Wheres Waldo? with whats changed on this, Thomas said. It was more of a structural change where they had to put the steel in differently. So thats that was driving that change more than anything elsejust the practical buildout of office versus residential.

Thomas said the second phase alone is likely to take about three years to build, with construction commencing in mid-2022 at a tentative cost of nearly $100 million. The entirety of Bottleworks was originally expected to cost about $300 milliona figure he said Hendricks is already nearing with its investments in the first two phases.

Its going to bed pushing $100 million investment on [phase two], so were very close to $300 [million] already, meaning it will likely be more than that once we completely build up the site, he said. But full build-out will take another seven to 10 years.

The second phase will begin with the corner building, with work set for the infill buildings along College Avenue about one year later. The staggered approach allows for easier construction amid what Thomas described as challenges with the site pertaining to construction logistics.

Hendricks plans to begin building the residential component of Bottleworks with about 200 apartment units at about the same time that work continues on the latter part of phase two. The apartment buildings would be located north of phase two and west of the existing Garage Food Hall, south of 10th Street.

Eppstein Uhen Architects and Ratio are the architectural firms on the project.

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Bottleworks' second phase moving ahead with no residential but greater emphasis on office space - Indianapolis Business Journal

Bamboo Farm Office: Headquarters of a Prototype Farm Growing Sustainable Construction Materials / Ingvartsen Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. The Bamboo Farm Office is the new headquarters of a prototype farm in Korogwe, northern Tanzania, where different species of bamboo are being grown to assess their suitability for use as construction materials. The Farm Office building showcases different ways to utilise industrial bamboo, including bamboo corrugated roof sheets, doors,cladding and furniture. The project was designed by architects Jakob Knudsen, Hannah Wood and Otis Sloan Brittain, with consultancy from Salum Mshamu and Lorenz von Seidlein, and constructed by a team of builders headed by Kiondo Mgumi.

The project reconnects with the history of bamboo cultivation in Tanzania to explore the potential of this carbon-sequestering material for use in construction today. Bamboo can grow fifteen times the net weight of timber species such as pine over the same timespan and fares well in a hot, tropical climate. This makes bamboo-based construction products a viable alternative in a current construction market currently weighted towards cement, glass, plastic and unsustainably sourced timber.

Finding alternative material options is critical as according to UN projections, Tanzania's population is predicted to more than double over the next 30 years, which will involve significant material resources directed towards the expansion of the built environment. In addition, Tanzania was ranked fifth in the world for the greatest annual average net loss of forest area over the past decade, felling net421,000 hectares year on year.

The Bamboo Farm Office building utilises passive design principles inspired by traditional Asian and African architecture, where construction techniques have evolved for a hot, tropical climate. The timber frame creates large openings with low thermal mass to ensure the inside spaces remain cool throughout the day and night. Ancillary spaces, including a boot store and toilet on the ground floor, are enclosed with rendered locally produced bricks.

The ground floor shared office and first floor bedrooms are clad in agricultural shade net and wire mesh, with split bamboo screening on the upper floors for privacy. A bespoke kitchenette, furniture and doors were constructed locally, and include woven bamboo board facing produced by start-up Eco-Shelter. The roof is constructed using bamboo corrugated sheets fixed to a timber truss. The project is the first of its kind in Tanzania to be constructed from these novel bamboo products and hopes to highlight bamboos potential as a viable material for future buildings in the region.

Excerpt from:
Bamboo Farm Office: Headquarters of a Prototype Farm Growing Sustainable Construction Materials / Ingvartsen Architects - ArchDaily