Congress this month is beginning a 10-year, $752.7 million renovation project on the Cannon House Office Building that will include replacing all of the pipes and plumbing, some of which are more than 100 years old.

The construction is in its first phase now as workers prepare to update plumbing, heating and cooling, preparing for bigger fixes beginning in 2017, when contractors will shut down a wing of the building at a time to fix the marble facade and repair systems that have broken down.

The century-old building is plagued by safety, health, environmental and operational issues that are rapidly worsening, said Bill Weidemeyer, superintendent of the House. Many of the buildings systems are original from the 1908 construction.

Cannon is one of three office buildings to the south of the Capitol itself, and it houses about 140 members of the House. The buildings failings have become grist for social media, with one particularly infamous online video showing staffers collecting buckets of water pouring out of a wall.

Some systems in the building are so old that replacement parts arent available, and workers have needed to build custom parts, Mr. Weidemeyer said.

The construction will be going on at the same time as workers are repairing the dome on the Capitol a project thats projected to last through 2016. The domes exterior is currently covered by scaffolding, while the interior has a protective cushion around the inside of the dome.

The Cannon buildings exterior is also in need of work. Large pieces of the decorative stone around the roof began falling off with such frequency that workers installed netting last year to make sure no one was hurt, Mr. Weidemeyer said.

Restoring the dome is expected to cost $60 million, but the Cannon refurbishment is projected to be $752.7 million. By comparison, the entire underground Capitol Visitor Center complex was built for $621 million.

At 826,465 square feet, the House office building will cost more than $900 per square foot to renovate.

Only about $100 million of the Cannon restoration funds have been appropriated by Congress so far.

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Cannon House Office Building begins $752M renovation

Posted on 01.18.2015 11:52 a.m.

(Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital illustration)

The parking lot immediately adjacent to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital,351 S. Patterson Ave., and its medical office building have been closed to facilitate construction of a new medical office building (to be located closer to the corner of Hollister and South Patterson avenues) that will open next year.

The existing medical office building will remain open.

Vehicle access to the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Emergency Department from South Patterson Avenue is being routed south of the hospital toward More Road on the west side of the complex and then north along More Road. Additional access to the Emergency Department and the medical office building is via Hollister Avenue at More Road.

Valet parking and a shuttle service will be available at the hospitals main entrance off of South Patterson Avenue. Free, self-parking will continue to be available in the large parking lot across the street from the hospital at the corner of Hollister and South Patterson avenues.

Construction continues on the new Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, which will be a two-story facility totaling 152,000 square feet. Improvements will include all private patient rooms, along with expanding the size of the Emergency and Surgical Services departments. Completion is planned for later this year.

Click here for more information on the Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital construction project.

Maria Zateis a spokeswoman for Cottage Health System.

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Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Reroutes Emergency Room Access to Accommodate Construction

SIOUX CITY | From his living room, Charlie Cowell can look out the window and see his office at City Hall.

Cowell, 26, moved last May into a one-bedroom condo in the historic Williges Buildingat 713 Pierce St.

"I'm not a big fan of commuting,'' said Cowell, a city planner. "I like to walk and it's next to my work."

How close? By cutting through an alley, it's a jaunt of 40 yards.

The top floor of the three-story Willegeswas converted into seven upscale lofts with such amenities as granite counter-tops and hardwood floors. Priced between $104,000 and $152,900 depending on the size, the units sold out within six or seven months of completion.

The 1917 Willeges Building -- originally a fur factory and later a women's clothing store -- was saved from the wrecking ball in 2007 by developer Bart Connelly. The lower two floors had previously been converted into offices for a law firm and other tenants.

The Willeges was the latest mixed-use rehabilitation project that Connelly has completed downtown in recent years.

Nearly all the condos and lofts in the two most recent rehabbed buildings -- the United Center, a turn-of-the-century six-story warehouse at 302 Jones St., and the 4th & Jackson, a 1970s-era, six-story office building at 700 Fourth St. -- have been sold or leased and remain full.

With a growing number of prospective homebuyers, from young professionals to empty nesters, opting for downtown living, developers are moving to fix up additional spaces in the central business district.

"I think there's definitely more demand," said United Commercial President Chris Bogenrief, who helped market the Connelly projects. "It's just finding the right properties with the right parking and being able to get them cheap enough to make it work."

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Sioux City historic buildings get new life as housing

By Beth Sharp Thursday 15 January 2015 Updated: 16/01 11:40

Buy photos An artist impression of the office building. (s)

HUNDREDS of new Longbridge jobs could be created if a planning application for a headquarters-style office building is given the go-ahead.

The applicants St Modwen also submitted a separate proposal for up to 215 family homes, off Dalmuir Road, to support the new workers.

If approved, there will be a range of different types and styles of homes suitable for people on all stages of the property ladder, each property will also benefit from its own parking and cycle storage.

The office building application for One Park Square includes 105,000sq ft of grade A workspace over four storeys.

The proposal includes floor to ceiling windows and will overlook the three acre Austin Park.

It will also have a view of the second phase of the 1billion Longbridge Town Centre Regeneration Scheme where the Midlands largest Marks and Spencer store is currently under construction along with a retail, restaurant and cafe space.

The building will have its own car park with nearly 150 spaces and will be aimed at a major corporate occupier.

Mike Murray, St Modwens senior development surveyor, said the submission of the two planning applications marked the next phase of the project.

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Longbridge next phase to bring hundreds of new jobs and homes

Skylights are exposed after decades of being hidden behind a dropped ceiling in Senators' offices at the State Capitol in St.Paul, where construction will alter what visitors see when they visit, photographed Monday, December 30, 2014. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

The leader of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus in Minnesota's House of Representatives joined Republicans in criticizing Senate DFL plans for Capitol office space Friday.

Members of the Senate DFL caucus want committee chairs to have offices in the Capitol building after its renovation next year, in addition to their space in the Senate office building under construction right now.

Republicans, never champions of the office building to begin with, have pushed back -- resulting in a stalemate that's delaying the final phase of the Capitol renovation.

House DFL leader Paul Thissen doesn't have a major role in that decision, but he publicly opposed the Senate DFL plan in a Friday news conference.

"I've never quite understood why... (chairmen) would want to have an office in the Capitol when all the members they work with are over in this other building," Thissen said. "Tom -- Sen. Bakk's -- idea of the Senate office building was that it would create this more collegiality, it would create this ability for people to work together. Having people in that building I think accomplishes what Sen. Bakk rightly was thinking about as a purpose of that building."

House Speaker Kurt Daudt, a Republican, has to sign a deal over Capitol space with Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a DFLer, as well as Gov. Mark Dayton, Attorney General Lori Swanson and Chief Justice Lorie Gildea.

That deal was supposed to be done by Thursday, to allow the final phase of Capitol renovation to begin.

Construction crews can adapt to a delay of up to a week by focusing their work on existing phases of the renovation. But if Daudt, Bakk, Dayton, Swanson and Gildea haven't reached a deal by next Thursday, work crews could leave the project for other jobs. That process could cost the state $680,000 per month.

The $273 million renovation project is expected to be completed in 2017.

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Senate DFLers criticized over Capitol space stalemate

Work on the construction of a new building for the Thuraiyur municipal office on Perambalur Road has been completed at an estimate of Rs. 3 crore. The work which commenced on April 2013 under the Operation and Maintenance Gap Filling Fund scheme has been completed well ahead of schedule.

The new building has a plinth area of 7,762 sq. feet on each floor and has ground plus two floors. The new building will have all basic amenities for members of the public and municipal officials. The ground floor will have tax-collection unit, birth and death certificate issuing unit, and the municipal engineers office. The chairmans chamber and the council hall will come up on the first floor, which will also have an office room for the commissioner.

The present building of the municipal office, though located near the bus stand in the heart of the town, is too cramped, say sources. The building too has been ill-designed. Accumulation of tyres and tubes seized as part of the anti-dengue drive across the town has been adding to the buildings woes, the sources said. The new building will be inaugurated after the lifting of the model code of conduct currently in force in the district.

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Thuraiyur municipal office ready for inauguration

TOPPING OFF.(From left) Dakay Contruction president Ricky Dakay, architect Rolly Mercado, CLI president and CEO Jose Soberano III, CLI COO Jose Franco Soberano and architect Joey Valdez.(Allan Defensor)

THE 19th-storey office building Park Centrale of the Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) in Cebu IT Park was topped off yesterday.

The building will be fully operational by the end of the second quarter this year, according to CLI chief operating officer Jose Franco Soberano.

This will be a busy and exciting year for us as we begin the operation of this building which we envisioned to be the top office building here in Cebu IT Park, he said.

CLI is the first Cebu developer to receive an award from the prestigious Philippines Property Awards 2014, when its flagship office project Park Centrale bagged the Best Commercial Development in Cebu award.

The office building reaped the recognition based on the following criteria design and concept, value for money, sales performance, construction quality and green building standards. Park Centrale qualifies for the South East Asia Property Award, which will be held in Singapore.

50 locators

Park Centrale will house 50 locators composed of retail establishments, law firms, accounting firms, a bank and BPO offices are set to occupy the building.

The retail space at the ground floor will be occupied by Burger King, a convenience store and a major bank.

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Developer tops off Park Centrale in IT Park

Major downtown construction projects such as the ongoing Davenport Grand Hotel and the recently completed Spokane Convention Center expansion, as well as planned historic Ridpath renovations, likely are drawing additional developer interest to the citys core, says Jan Quintrall, the citys business and development services director.

New projects being explored downtown include an envisioned retail and office building at the site of the long-halted Peppertree hotel project northwest corner of Division Street and Third Avenue and a high-rise project near Division Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard. In other projects, initial work on an auto dealership campus master plan is under way on along Second and Third avenues, and developers are looking at redeveloping an office building and parking facility just north of Interstate 90 on Stevens Street.

We sure seem to be seeing some nice projects coming in, and people making solid investment plans, Quintrall says.

Division & Third

Owners of the lot at the northwest corner of Division and Third, where a hotel project came to an abrupt halt during foundation construction in 2009, are exploring a new development option for the property.

On behalf of owners Rita and John Santillanes, Baker Construction & Development Inc., of Spokane, has approached the city with a preliminary concept for a two-story, 16,700-square-foot building with a construction value of $2 million.

Were working with Baker Construction, hoping to announce a project to put retail in there, Rita Santillanes says.

Santillanes hotel company, Spokane-based Peppertrees of Washington LLC, also would consolidate its administrative offices in the building, she says. The company owns and operates Best Western Peppertree Plus hotels in Liberty Lake, near the Spokane airport, in Omak, and in Auburn, Wash.

As envisioned, the building at Division and Third would have 10,700 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor and 6,000 square feet of office space on the second floor.

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Development proposals percolate downtown

Elevator and escalator manufacturer Kone announced it will supply 19 elevators for the Fifth + Columbia project, a 44-story office building to be constructed in Seattle's central business district.

Kone, with operations in the Quad-Cities, said it won a contract to provide six Kone MonoSpace machine-room-less elevators and 13 Kone MiniSpace elevators. The office elevator groupsalso willutilize Kone Polaris Destination Control Systems, including state-of-the-art touchscreen destination operating panels.

The contract was awarded by JTM Construction, the project's general contractor. Financial details were not released.

The developer and owners of the more than $400 million project are Daniels Real Estate and Stockbridge Capital Group.

In addition to more than 500,000 square feet of office space, the tower will include a 184-room four-star hotel and spa and restaurant spaces. The new building's innovative geometric form and natural light glass facade were designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects of Seattle.

It is scheduled to open in 2017.

Kone said its machine-room-less solutions are helping return leasable space to the project owners by eliminating planned overhead machine rooms typically required with conventional elevator models.

"We are excited to be a partner on the most significant office and hotel project in the Seattle skyline,"said Larry Wash, KONE Americas's CEO. "Our local project management team will provide the most productive installation and highest degree of customer service for the Fifth + Columbia property. We look forward to a successful and safe installation."

The order was booked in the fourth quarter.

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Kone to supply 44-story Seattle office tower

Published on January 15, 2015

Published on January 15, 2015

A new partnership between local business and PLFN was announced Thursday morning.

CAROL DUNN THE NEWS

Published on January 15, 2015

A handful of workers were working in the fabrication shop at MacGregors Thursday. During construction season there are many more. This year, theyre expecting to be working on new project, building a band office for the Pictou Landing First Nation. ADAM MACINNIS THE NEWS

Published on January 15, 2015

The old Pictou Landing band office

PICTOU LANDING In December 2011 Pictou Landing First Nation closed its band office because it was in rough shape.

Chief Andrea Paul says the building was making people sick. We had to get out of the building and put people in different buildings, she said. Our band administration office is our focal point, and having employees scattered around created confusion amongst band members.

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UPDATED: Local businesses and First Nation community collaborate on new project