(Updated 7:07 p.m.) The Office of the Ombudsmans Special Panel of Investigators on Friday filed criminal and administrative charges against Vice President Jejomar Binay, his son Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Junjun Binay and 22 other Makati City government officials in connection with the alleged overpriced construction of Makati City Hall Building II.

The Special Panel of Investigators filed charges of graft, malversation, and violations of the Government Procurement Reform Act against the Binays and the others.

The complaint was filed following months of case build-up and evidence gathering by the Special Panel composed of field investigators, the Office of the Ombudsman said.

In addition to the criminal charges, the respondents, except for Vice President Binay, also face administrative charges for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

The Special Panel of Investigators also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to issue a preventive suspension order against them pending the result of the investigation.

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VP Binay, son to face probe over overpriced Makati City Hall Building II

(Updated 7:07 p.m.) The Office of the Ombudsmans Special Panel of Investigators on Friday filed criminal and administrative charges against Vice President Jejomar Binay, his son Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Junjun Binay and 22 other Makati City government officials in connection with the alleged overpriced construction of Makati City Hall Building II.

The Special Panel of Investigators filed charges of graft, malversation, and violations of the Government Procurement Reform Act against the Binays and the others.

The complaint was filed following months of case build-up and evidence gathering by the Special Panel composed of field investigators, the Office of the Ombudsman said.

In addition to the criminal charges, the respondents, except for Vice President Binay, also face administrative charges for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

The Special Panel of Investigators also asked the Office of the Ombudsman to issue a preventive suspension order against them pending the result of the investigation.

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VP Binay, son to face prelim probe over overpriced Makati City Hall Building II

State of Maine Office Building - story behind the project
Newscast/Feature story of the State of Maine Office Building completed in record time. 88000 s.f. of new construction in 286 days!

By: Landry/French Construction

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State of Maine Office Building - story behind the project - Video

Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute is constructing a new office at the intersection of Bucklin HIll Road and Mickelberry Road.

image credit: Chris Tucker / staff photo

Silverdale eyecare facility Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute will move into a new 14,000-square-foot office building located at the intersection of Bucklin Hill Road and Mickelberry Road this summer.

The business has served Silverdale for 14 years and currently has an office half a block to the north at 9951 Mickelberry Road.

According to manager Jenny Stepper, their current office is 4,800 square feet in size but the business needs more space. Kenaston Corporation is doing the construction work on the new building, which should be open by the end of June.

Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute performs cataract surgery and Lasik outpatient surgeries. They have three doctors on staff locally. The company has 17 clinics in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska and New Mexico.

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Pacific Cataract has its eye on the future

David Cunningham is director of development/construction for Plano-based Granite Properties.

SOUTHLAKEGranite Properties recently announced that its bringing a big project to Southlake. The Plano-based firm will develop a seven-story, 160,733-square-foot office building adjacent to Southlake Town Square (SLTS). GlobeSt.coms Anna Caplan recently caught up with Granites director of development/construction, David Cunningham, who has been working with the city of Southlake for a number of years to bring the project to fruition.

GlobeSt.com: How did Granite's involvement with the project come about?

Cunningham: We have targeted a Southlake presence for over 10 years, and have always preferred to be co-located in the Southlake Town Square because of its rich amenity base. SLTS is the heart of activity for this area, and we have talked with Cooper & Stebbins many times over the years about being the class A office partner in Town Square. The recession and the massive Highway 114 road construction project which started in 2009 shut Southlake off for five years, so we are just now back to where we were in 2007 when we were last working on this project.

GlobeSt.com: How will the new project be similar to other Granite buildings?

Cunningham:It will be very similar in quality, design and finishit will just be a bit smaller at 160,000 square feet in the first phase.

GlobeSt.com: What is it about Southlake that makes this project an attractive deal?

Cunningham: Southlake is a great place to live and to work. It has a super-high quality of life, the highest per capita income in the Metroplex, its home to hundreds of decision-makers and has one of the top school districts in the state. Its also starving for true class A office space, which is what Granite specializes in.Having said that, its a small market, and the Southlake Town Square will be the best location for this limited marketplace.

GlobeSt.com: How will the office building impact Southlake Town Square in terms of traffic/how will it complement the area?

Cunningham: In terms of traffic, not at all. The office components will be located on the Highway 114 frontage. Traffic to and from the office buildings will have direct ingress/egress to Highway 114, with no need to load other areas of the district or any city streets.Once there, Granites occupants will be able to walk to over 1 million square feet of hotels, restaurants, retail shops, doctors offices, dentist officesand if you so choose, you can buy a brownstone and live there as well.Its a true live/work/play placea suburban, urban node desired by most tenants. In terms of benefits, it will deliver up to 500,000 square feet of class A professional office space to a market wanting and needing it. Thats 2,000 jobsand restaurant patrons, hotel patrons, shopping patrons, etc.

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Q&A: David Cunningham, Granite Properties

The Montgomery County Council has set aside plans to renovate its aging office building, following protests from the school board president that the $31 million proposal sends the wrong message as the county attempts to secure more school construction money from Annapolis.

Council President George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) said Tuesday that the matter has been pulled from the agenda of a government operations committee meeting scheduled for Thursday. He said the item was removed not because of school board opposition, but because there is no council consensus on how to proceed.

He said that for the moment the council is one vote short of the six members needed to approve appropriations that do not originate with the county executives office. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) is opposed to the plan.

[Montgomery leaders urge support for school construction funding]

Asked if the measure would be back on the table this year, Leventhal said it was too early to say.

Renovation of the councils Maryland Avenue headquarters in Rockville has been under discussion in one form or another for several years. Officials say the facility parts of which date to the 1940s is overcrowded and decrepit.

The plan would replace heating and air conditioning systems, lighting and windows, and expand office space for council members and its research arm, the Office of Legislative Oversight. It also calls for renovation of the buildings first-floor auditorium. About $25 million of the estimated $31 million total cost would be covered by proceeds from the sale of general obligation bonds. An alternative proposal calls for renovating the Grey and Red Brick Courthouses for new council offices, also primarily with bond funds, at a an estimated cost of $36 million.

The plans prompted Board of Education President Patricia ONeill to contact Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Montgomery), sponsor of a bill that would provide the county with $20 million a year in state funds to leverage issuance of $700 million in school construction bonds. ONeill expressed concern that the council renovations could undermine the bills chances, although King said it would likely have no impact and added that the bill has little chance of passage this year.

Leventhal alerted council members Friday that the school system intends to campaign against appropriations for council facilities.

In the school systems view, 100 percent of the budget should be available for school construction, he said. Their plan is that any available dollar should go to school construction.

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Montgomery council sets aside office renovations after school board protest

Kestrel House, Clanwilliam Place: to be redeveloped for a new seven-storey block with a glass faade and an internal floor area of 4,738sq m (51,000sq ft). Photograph: Eric Luke

office building at Clanwilliam Place in Dublin 2. Mr Kavanagh is also believed to be looking at a number of other potential projects.

The new seven-storey block with a glass faade and an internal floor area of 4,738sq m (51,000sq ft) will be more than three times larger than Kestrel House, a 1980s building overlooking the Grand Canal, which is to be demolished to make way for the new 19 million block. Kestrel House was bought in an off-market deal from quantity surveyors Bruce Shaw Partnership for around 10 million.

Hardwicke has formed a partnership with Ardstone Capital, an independent investment management company, to get construction under way this summer with the intention of having the building ready for occupation towards the end of 2016.

Hardwickes reappearance on the construction front will be widely welcomed at a time when there are relatively few development companies with the resources or the necessary experience to embark on major office projects.

There are already fears that a shortage of new office space in the Dublin area later this year could hamper direct investment.

John Moran, managing director agents JLL who will be the letting agents for the Clanwilliam Place building, said it would be Hardwickes first development in Ireland since they completed 2 Burlington Road in 2001. It was successfully let to the EBS.

The Kestrel House deal is an example of a new feature in the Irish market where local developers are being used as a delivery platform for overseas capital, in this case from Ardstone/CBRE investors. This is a welcome development, matching local construction skills with overseas equity, and helping to deliver both offices and residential units where there are currently acute supply shortages.

Donal ONeill of Ardstone said they were delighted to be working with Hardwicke, a developer whose reputation and experience were widely respected. It is the right time in the Dublin office market cycle to deliver grade-A office properties to suit the occupational needs of tenants seeking city centre accommodation.

Brian Owens, the Hardwicke chief executive, said that along with Ardstone and a first-class design team they would be bringing forward another Hardwicke building which would help alleviate the obvious pent up demand for prime office space in Dublins central business district.

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Hardwicke in 19m canal development

The county's financial advisor says Ward County will collect enough money in the ten year life of its half-cent sales tax to pay for construction of a new jail, the new office building, renovations to the existing courthouse, and highway projects, if there is enough growth in sales tax collections.

That was the message today to the Ward County commission.

Financial advisor Myron Kuntson provided figures to commissioners showing that, if tax revenues grow at a four percent rate, the county would collect about 84 million dollars in the ten years the tax is in force.

That would fund all the building projects, and provide ten million dollars for highway and road projects - as approved by voters in two recent elections.

Knutson said even if tax receipts are unchanged from current levels, there would be enough to pay off the loans for the building projects, although there would not be enough money for the highway funding.

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Tax Should Cover County Plans

Published: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 4:36 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 at 4:36 p.m.

A growing roofing business is moving its headquarters to become the second tenant in the Jonesville Crossing Office Park.

Gulf Coast Supply and Manufacturing, a residential metal roofing manufacturer, will move its sales team, marketing team and other administrative functions to Jonesville from its manufacturing facility in Horseshoe Beach, a town of around 170 people about an hour away.

About 30 employees will come into the newly constructed 7,000-square-foot office space that will open on March 9.

Jonathan Sherrill, president of Gulf Coast, said that the move inland from Dixie County will bring the company closer to its customers and that it will be easier to recruit employees near a larger city like Gainesville.

Its difficult to attract talent in the Horseshoe Beach area. Not too many people want to live out in the woods in that direction, Sherrill said.

Sherrill said the company has hired around six people from the Jonesville area to work in the new facility and he said he hopes to hire more professionals from the Gainesville area as the company continues to grow.

The company has four stores across Florida, including one in Alachua. Sherrill said that Gulf Coast has hired 75 new employees since 2010 and has seen its revenues double in the same period.

We are on a good trajectory of growth and expect it to double in the next couple of years, so we need to be in an area conducive to that growth, Sherrill said.

Gulf Coast reached out through brokers to Shey Associates Inc. to build an office in the park and construction began Nov 1.

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Gulf Coast Supply moving from Dixie to Jonesville

Tensions between the Montgomery County Council and the school system are a staple of annual budget deliberations, but a proposal to spend $31million to renovate the councils aging office building has turned into more of a schoolyard brawl.

Board of Education President Patricia ONeill on Monday called out the council and accused members of exercising poor political timing by considering the project when school officials are trying to win additional construction money from state lawmakers to address overcrowding.

We have 9,300 children in [classroom trailers], ONeill said. We have children sitting in some classrooms with coats on because of poor heating systems.

Those comments followed an e-mail that Council President George Leventhal sent to council members late Friday warning that the school system intends to campaign against appropriations for council facilities. On Monday, he said ONeill and the board were being unreasonable.

In the school systems view, 100percent of the budget should be available for school construction, he said. Their plan is that any available dollar should go to school construction.

Sen. Nancy King (D-Montgomery) has sponsored a bill that would provide $20 million a year in state funds to leverage the issuance of $700million in school construction bonds. She said Monday that the councils renovation plans likely would have no impact on her measure, which has no better than a slim chance of passage this year.

Schools take up about half of the countys operating budget, and education officials routinely press for millions more than County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) or the council are willing to provide. Council office renovations are one of this years flash points.

The council is weighing a plan to amend its capital improvements budget to modernize its headquarters on Maryland Avenue in Rockville. Parts of the facility date back to the 1940s. The plan would replace heating and air conditioning systems, lighting and windows, and expand office space for council members and its research arm, the Office of Legislative Oversight. It also calls for renovation of the buildings first-floor auditorium.

About $25million of the total cost would be covered by proceeds from the sale of general obligation bonds.

An alternative proposal calls for renovating the Grey and Red Brick Courthouses for new council offices. The Grey Courthouse is vacant with the opening of the new south tower of Montgomery County Circuit Court on Jefferson Street last year. The cost is an estimated $36million, which would also be financed with bond funds.

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In Montgomery, council office renovation proposal draws fire