Center Street Partners wants to construct a 16-story, 293-room hotel complex at Shattuck and Center streets in downtown Berkeley. Photo: Center Street Partners

A Carmel-based developer and UC Berkeley graduate will submit plans to Berkeley tomorrow to construct a 16-story, 180-foot tall hotel with office space, meeting rooms, and retail space at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street.

The new complex, proposed by Jim Didion and Center Street Partners LLC, will replace the 1970s-era one-story Bank of America building and parking lot, and, if approved, transform one of the most visible corners in downtown Berkeley.

The view from Shattuck Avenue. Photo: Center Street Partners

Once constructed, the new hotel will be kitty corner from a revamped BART plaza and next door to the new Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, which is currently under construction.

The arrival of the new hotel would coincide with the scheduled reconfiguration of traffic patterns on Shattuck Avenue that would see routing both north and south traffic on the streets western artery. It also joins a number of plans under way for about 1,300 new apartments for the area. Numerous new restaurants have also recently opened in downtown, adding up to a noticeable transformation of the neighborhood.

Downtown is going to become much more animated, said Michael Caplan, the director of the citys economic development program. A lot is happening. The downtown infrastructure, like the BART plaza, is very dated. This project (along with the others) will be a huge refreshment of a sense of place, an opportunity to define what the experience of downtown Berkeley is in the 21st century.

The hotel, with 293 rooms, also has the potential to generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for the city, according to Matthew Taecker, a former city planner whose firm, Taecker Planning and Design, has been hired to oversee the entitlement process. The hotel rooms will likely rent for about $200 a night, and will be taxed at 12%.

Its the highest tax rate we get on almost anything, said Caplan. A hotel room a good tax generator.

While the 284,000 square foot hotel tower will be 180-feet tall, the architect of the project, Edward McFarlan, principal of JRDV Architects of Oakland, has designed smaller structures abutting the streets in order to retain and enhance a pedestrian-friendly environment. The faades on Shattuck Avenue and Center Street will be four stories high, essentially the same height as neighboring buildings. A one-story building will stand between the hotel and art museum, providing a visual break. The smaller sections will be clad in reclaimed wood or metal shingles to provide texture and visual interest.

Continued here:
New 16-story hotel proposed for downtown Berkeley

Washington, DC (PRWEB) December 19, 2013

SmithGroupJJR, in collaboration with The JBG Companies, was awarded a 2013 Award of Excellence by the Maryland/DC chapter of National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP), a commercial real estate development association, for its development of the LEnfant Plaza East Retail.

The NAIOP awards program, which each year recognizes outstanding projects in architecture, interior design and real estate in the Washington, DC/Maryland region, was held on Oct. 3, 2013 at the Willard InterContinental Washington, DC. The LEnfant Plaza East Retail project won the award for "Best Retail Project, Dining & Entertainment."

The landmark site in Southwest Washington, DC is an important example of mid-twentieth century modernist urban planning at the mega scale. The existing 1.3 million-square-foot development, originally built in 1968, will be transformed into 3 million-square-feet of mixed use development including office, residential and retail. LEnfant Plaza East Retail, as a refreshed retail destination, was one of the first steps in the plan to create a dynamic neighborhood. Construction of the 215,000-square-foot project was completed in 2013.

In designing the LEnfant Plaza East Retail space, the SmithGroupJJR team transformed a space that previously felt "underground" into a bright and open destination for the 30,000 employees within walking distance of the plaza. The new space offers a mix of quality national brand foods and soft-good retail tenants. The designers created a strong sense of identity for LEnfant Plaza with the introduction of a rich palette of materials and finishes and vibrant environmental graphics.

"SmithGroupJJRs design transformation has greatly contributed to the success of LEnfant Plaza Retail," said Britt Snider, a senior vice president at The JBG Companies.

"The recipe was simple introduce natural light and good artificial lighting, create a dynamic framework through the ceiling and floor design and let the retailers showcase their individuality," said Andrew Rollman, AIA, LEED AP, a leader with SmithGroupJJRs Workplace practice and Design Principal for the LEnfant Plaza East Retail project. Rollman is widely recognized for his expertise in commercial, retail and mixed-use development throughout Washington, DC.

LEnfant Plaza is a mixed-use development owned and managed by The JBG Companies, an investor, owner, developer and manager of office, residential, hotel and retail assets in Washington, DC's Metropolitan Area.

SmithGroupJJR is a national design leader in the workplace, corporate interior and mixed-use markets. Among the firms recent completions is the 120,000-square-foot, 1700 New York Avenue office building for Carr Properties and Sentinel Square at 90 K Street, NE for the Trammell Crow Company. For Cityline Partners, SmithGroupJJR completed Scotts Run Station Master Plan an award-winning, 40-acre mixed-use development plan in Tysons Corner, Va.

SmithGroupJJR (http://www.smithgroupjjr.com) is ranked as one of the nations top design firms by Architect, the magazine of the American Institute of Architects. With 800 employees in 10 offices, SmithGroupJJR is a leader in sustainable design.

Link:
L’Enfant Plaza East Retail Honored with "Award of Excellence" by NAIOP

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This list of largest buildings in the world ranks buildings from around the world by footprint on the ground, usable space (volume) and floor space (area). The term "building" used by this list refers to single structures that are suitable for continuous human occupancy. There are a few exceptions which include factories and warehouses.

This list ranks the buildings throughout the world with the largest usable space sorted by volume.

This list ranks the buildings throughout the world with the largest footprint on the ground.

This list ranks the top 44 buildings throughout the world with the largest amount of floor area. Upon its opening in October 2008, Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport at 1.185 million m (12.76 million sq ft) of floor space surpassed the former leader, the Aalsmeer Flower Auction (990,000 m, or 10.6 million sq ft).

This list of special categories includes a variety of buildings which are the largest of their type.

[10][11]

(Persian: , mojtama'e Khalij-e Fars)

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List of largest buildings in the world - Wikipedia, the free ...

GLASGOW T.J. Health Pavilion got the attention of a national trade magazine for its conversion of a vacant big box retail space into an outpatient services center of T.J. Samson Community Hospital.

The article noting the pavilion and other facilities that are using alternative methods, such as modular, prefabricated construction, and vacant space for outpatient services was one of a group of reports titled Trends in Health Care 2013 in Health Facilities Managements December edition. The reports are also online at hfmmagazine.com.

Jeff Ferenc, senior editor of Health Facilities Management, summarizes the pavilion project in four paragraphs of his report, Doing more with less, which also features a half-page photo of the main lobby of T.J. Pavilion and an exterior image a few pages later. More than half a dozen graphics illustrate construction and other statistics related to the overall report.

Other photos are from facilities in Marion, Va., and New York City.

Ferenc calls the pavilion a success story with regard to its usage of a vacant building.

T.J. Samson Community Hospital, Glasgow, needed to consolidate its physician groups and relieve parking congestion on its main campus, so it built the multipurpose facility a few miles away from the hospital, he writes.

He continues with the fact that the previous retail space was gutted and redesigned.

The result is a contemporary-looking, highly visible, energy-efficient health care facility with a geothermal HVAC system that merges clinical space with community use, Ferenc writes, paraphrasing Paul Edwards with Stengel Hill Architecture in Louisville, which designed the facility, and he adds that Edwards estimates the hospital saved about $5 million and four months construction time by building there.

Were extremely proud of the facility, and its great that we were honored int his article. said Bart Logsdon, hospital marketing liason and spokesperson. We were extremely pleased that we could turn a building that had been vacant for years into a thriving entity. The tenants in the adjacent spaces have continuously thanked us for revitalizing the center.

T.J. Health Pavilion got the attention of a national trade magazine for its conversion of a vacant big box retail space into an outpatient services center of T.J. Samson Community Hospital.

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Pavilion recognized in trade magazine

Topics: big white furniture, sammut bulow, top of town ipswich

IT HASN'T taken too long for someone to breathe new life into an old Ipswich business.

The site of the once iconic Big White Furniture building is set for a major overhaul over the next six months, with Ipswich accounting business Sammut Bulow planning big things for the Top of Town location.

Sammut Bulow partner Martin Sammut said $7 million would be spent transforming about 4800sq m of space into a multi-storey retail and office precinct, incorporating his accounting business, in addition to cafes, shops and other offices.

"Ipswich is definitely booming and these types of developments will only help the city in terms of providing better quality space in which to do business," Mr Sammut said.

Curious CBD shoppers and residents may have noticed a building at the rear of the old Big White's shop being demolished over the last week.

That demolition work will make way for the construction of a two-storey retail and office block, including about 800sq m of shops and offices downstairs and a similar amount of space upstairs.

The design also features courtyards and walkways to Brisbane and Limestone Sts.

The new construction will connect with the existing Brisbane St shopfront, which will be preserved and renovated to accommodate more retail space.

Sammut Bulow has already renovated the old White's house to make more office space - that was after the 93-year-old family furniture business finally succumbed to the changing economic times at the beginning of 2012.

Read this article:
Old Big White site ready for retail redevelopment

CARMEL Five new buildings and a parking garage will infuse Carmel's City Center with more retail, commercial and residential space.

The projects costs ranges $80 million to $100 million and could take four to five years to finish. Construction could begin as early as spring, officials from the city and developer Pedcor Co. said in a press conference Tuesday afternoon

Here is a breakdown on the named buildings:

Wren Tower: 6-7 stories, bottom, parking/commercial: second/plaza commercial; all above, residential.

Holland: 5-stories, bottom, commercial/office/retail: top 4, residential. commercial.

Baldwin & Chambers: 4-stories each, bottom two commercial/retail, top two, residential.

There is a also a parking garage and an unnamed fifth building.

A hotel, long sought by city officials, was not included in the presentation.

Pedcor CEO Bruce Cordingley said it took an alliance of 14 banks to fund the project.

The City Center is the centerpiece of the citys downtown cultural and retail district.

Go here to read the rest:
More retail, residences for Carmel's City Center

By Brock Parker, Boston.com Staff

The Cambridge City Council has approved zoning changes that will allow Boston Properties to build a high-rise with 240 residential units and ground floor retail space in Kendall Square.

The zoning change will allow the construction of a high-rise up to 250 feet tall along Ames Street, where the city is also selling Boston Properties a 20-foot-wide strip of land between Main Street and Broadway for about $2 million.

David Stewart, a senior project manager for Boston Properties, said design work could now move quickly and the developer could seek the special permits for the project in the first half of 2014.

If market conditions remain where they are, this has a very good chance of starting by the end of next year, Stewart said.

The City Council voted 6-2 in favor of the zoning changes last week, but final approval was temporarily delayed when City Councilor Minka vanBeuzekom requested the vote come up for reconsideration Monday, Dec. 16. She has since withdrawn the request for reconsideration, according to a letter vanBeuzekom sent City Clerk Donna Lopez last Wednesday, Dec. 11.

The high-rise is expected to include a mix of studio, one and two bedroom apartments, including 31 affordable units.

Boston Properties made commitments to the city in 2010 to develop a 200,000 square foot residential project within seven years of receiving a certificate of occupancy for the new Broad Institute research facility at 75 Ames Street.

Cambridge City Manager Richard Rossi said the developer sent a letter to the city in April asking if it would consider selling a narrow strip of land along Ames Street next to land controlled by Boston Properties to facilitate the construction of the residential high-rise. The city conducted a request for proposals for the property, and selected Boston Properties proposal in November.

Last week, the city council also voted 8-0 to authorize the city to move forward with selling the property to Boston Properties. Rossi said selling the land will result in the right-of-way on Ames Street being reduced from 100 to 80 feet wide.

Link:
Zoning changes will allow residential high-rise in Kendall Square

Retail mall space has recorded an increase of 39% in fresh mall space supply in 2013 over the last year despite deferment of 18 malls in the year. This was revealed in the latest estimation by leading real estate services provider Cushman & Wakefield.

The total estimated fresh supply of retail mall space was recorded at 4.5 million square feet (msf) in top eight cities of India. Of the total supply, Chennai saw the highest supply of 2 msf followed by Mumbai (900,000 sf), Pune (700,000 sf) and Kolkata (500,000 sf). National Capital Region (NCR) Bengaluru and Ahmedabad did not see any new addition of mall spaces for the entire year in 2013. Vacancy in the mean time has seen a reduction of 2% over last year on account of increased leasing activities in the freshly launched malls, most of which started with high percentage of occupancy. Only Hyderabad stood out as an exception to record an increase of 7% in vacancy while Bengaluru and Ahmedabad recorded the highest and similar reduction in mall vacancy at 4%. The improvement in the vacancy levels has been the result of increased leasing activities especially in the recently launched malls. The fresh mall spaces that have started operations in 2013 have witnessed an average occupancy of over 94%. Most of these malls have demonstrated strong fundamentals of being located in appropriate locations from catchment perspective, offering retailers and customers right retailing environment giving retailers the confidence in starting/ expanding in these malls. Hyderabad was the only location to witness the start of a mall with a lower than average occupancy of 70%, despite it being the first mall in over three years, on account of poor market sentiments due to the recent political deadlock. Sanjay Dutt, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield said, Retail markets have started to show signs of maturity with developers taking interest in creating value out of their projects for all stake holders. Developers are now consciously creating shopping malls that are more suited to the requirements of the retailers as well as consumers. As a result new malls have opened with high occupancy levels with exception of few. Many developers have also deferred their mall projects to align them to their customer requirements to ensure that their future projects are successful. As in the case of hospitality, shopping centres also have a long gestation period therefore investors are interested only in those projects where the fundamentals are strong and can provide sustainable returns and profitability over a long period of time. Sanjay further said There would be a focus on creating USPs for future developments of malls either through location and tenant mix or by creating speciality malls such as luxury retail spaces. Understanding that malls are now more a destination than pure retailing locations, developers are looking at providing holistic family based entertainment opportunities within their malls to both increase their footfalls and conversions for their tenants.

An estimated 9.8 msf of mall spaces have been deferred in 2013 for completion in later times. Of the total a maximum of 7.3 msf of fresh mall supply was deferred in NCR alone amounting to approximately 10 new malls that were expected to get ready for this year but have now been postponed for the future. Pune saw a deferment of 1.1 msf while 900,000 square feet (sf) of mall space was delayed in Bengaluru in 2013. One mall each in Chennai (220,000 sf) and Hyderabad (130,000 sf) have also been delayed. Most of these have been on account of funding issues which have led many developers to slower the pace of construction. MAIN STREETS Main streets have seen a mixed trend in rental changes over the last few years with some micro markets such as AS Rao Nagar (33%) and Punjagutta (29%) have recorded a substantial increase in rentals due to the limited supply and significant demand from the retailers. Most established main street micro markets including Usman Road in Chennai (27%), Park Street in Kolkata (25%), Connaught Place in NCR (17%) have recorded an increase in rentals on account of high existing demand with no fresh supply or churn in these locations. Khan Market in NCR was noted as the most expensive main street in the country but did not record any change in rentals in the last one year. Some key micro market which recorded decline in rentals with Raj Bhavan Road recording the sharpest decline of 14% y-o-y in December due to accessibility issues. Linking Road in Mumbai recorded a decline of 12% over the last year due to price correction. Rentals in Punes Koregaon Park have declined by 10% due to limited demand from retailers.

CITY WISE RETAIL MARKET ANALYSIS Ahmedabad Ahmedabad witnessed no new mall supply during the year because of which the mall vacancies in the city have shown a steady decline of about 4.5 percentage points during the year. This decline in vacancies was primarily due to mall space leasing in mall micro-markets of Vastrapur and S.G. Highway. Despite renewed activities, overall mall vacancies have been high in the city at approximately 29%. Mall rentals across the city have remained unchanged during the year. Despite the limited availabilities in main streets like C.G. Road, Law Garden, Prahladnagar and Satellite Road, the low transaction activity due to limited demand from retailers has kept rentals stable during the year. With shoppers preferring main streets over malls, retailers have followed suit and have shown higher preference for main street locations for expanding operations. Bengaluru With no new mall supply and vacancy reducing by another 4 percentage points over last year, the overall activities in the mall space has seen a rise. However, that has not seen a corresponding reflection in the rental values of malls. Malls in locations like Mysore Road, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Banerghatta Road saw a y-o-y dip in rentals in the range of 5-20% due to poor connectivity in wake of metro construction work, which impacted the businesses revenues making landlords offer competitive rentals in the nearby main streets. Malls in the micro-market of Malleshwaram recorded a rise of 12% owing to robust demand from retailers. Elsewhere, rentals across most malls remained stable over the year. Most main streets in the city recorded stable rentals. Select main street locations like Commercial Street and Vittal Mallya Road witnessed a drop in the range of 3-5% due to non-availability of quality spaces. Chennai In 2013, four new retail malls totalling to 2.01msf of fresh supply started operations. Amongst the new shopping malls which opened in Chennai in 2013, two malls at Velachery and Vadapalani are functioning at almost full occupancy levels. Thus, the overall mall vacancy level during Q4 2013 was recorded at 6.5%, registering a decline of 2.2 percentage points on a y-o-y basis. Categories like apparels, accessories and cosmetics were major contributors to absorption of shopping mall space during 2013. In the submarket of Chennai South, y-o-y increase of 12.5% was seen in mall rentals as construction of good quality malls led to a rental rise in this area in the last one year. While Chennai- Suburbs witnessed a rental decline of 9% for shopping malls on yearly basis due to lower footfalls in wake of the ongoing metro work, mall rentals dipped by nearly 7% in Chennai CBD due to a variety of factors like increasing competition as well as ongoing metro work in front of some shopping malls in CBD. Hyderabad Hyderabad saw the addition of a new mall in Kukatpally in 2013 that increased the mall stock of the city by 430,000 sf. This was also the first mall in a period of three years to see the light of the day and would have been eagerly awaited by the retailers looking for quality space in the city. However, due to poor political conditions and retailers confidence eroding, unlike expected the mall started operations with 30% vacancy pushing the total vacancy of the up by 7%. Almost all malls in the city registered a stable rental trend during 2013, other than those located in NTR Gardens, which witnessed a 17% dip in rentals due to lower demand from retailers. Stable demand and excess supply in prime main streets like Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills have kept the rentals stable over the year. Thus, Hyderabad remained an affordable destination for retailers compared to other Tier I cities. Although, on a whole most main streets have recorded stable rentals, Panjagutta witnessed an increase of 29% on y-o-y basis due to lack of quality retail spaces. Kolkata In 2013, Kolkata witnessed total mall supply of around 500,000 sf recording an increase of over 156% compared to last year. Kolkatas first mall with dedicated zones for luxury brands has become operational in the south central part of the city during the Q4 2013 with around 97% occupancy levels. As a result of a healthy demand, especially in malls of South Kolkata, churn in Salt Lake and Elgin Road and overall moderate supply, the overall vacancy levels in malls registered decline all through the year and fell to 3.9%, recording a drop of 1.8 percentage points on a yearly basis and also registered appreciation in rentals by 11% at malls in Salt Lake and South Kolkata. Other mall micro markets have witnessed stable rentals during this year. Mumbai Mumbai has witnessed just one new mall becoming operational during the year in Thane, admeasuring 940,000 sf. With new supply becoming operational during the year at high occupancy rate coupled with healthy demand for mall space in the western suburbs of Mumbai, the overall vacancy declined marginally by 0.2 pecentage points during the year and was recorded at 15.3% in Q4 2013. With retailers from malls in Mulund moving to better locations in Ghatkopar, vacancies in that mall micro-market have increased resulting in a 20% decline in rental values in 2013. Going forward, low demand from retailers and high vacancy will result in increased pressure on rental values in this micro market. The submarkets of Vashi (17%) and Lokhandwala Andheri (13%) witnessed the highest appreciation in main street rentals for the year 2013 due to high demand for space from retailers. Though Linking Road witnessed a correction of 12% in main street rentals for 2013 due to higher availabilities, availabilities at Linking Road created over the past few quarters have witnessed a steady take-up from the apparel brands at competitive rentals. NCR No new mall supply during the year along with increased leasing in NCR led to a 1.2 percentage points drop in mall vacancy level which was recorded at 13.6% in Q4 2013. Demand was balanced with both main streets and malls witnessing retailer interest.. Re-sizing and relocation of retailing stores was witnessed with a number of national and international brands taking up larger or smaller spaces according to their brand strategy and availabilities. Except Ghaziabad and West Delhi, most prominent mall locations witnessed increase of 7-12% in rental values due lack of new mall supply and limited availabilities. The rental values in main streets have strengthened by 6-15% in select main street locations like Connaught Place, DLF Galleria (Gurgaon) and Rajouri Garden due to persistent demand and limited availability of quality stock. Pune Out of four malls expected to come into supply, only one mall in Hadapsar admeasuring 700,000 sf became operational in 2013. The mall started operations with its anchor tenants of a big box retailer and a movie multiplex in place whilst the other stores are yet to start their operations in due course. The other three malls were deferred mainly due to construction delays resulting from subdued demand from retailers for certain locations. The mall vacancy level increased and was noted at 26.49% in Q4 2013. Many retailers have shown a preference for main streets over malls due to reasons such as relatively poor quality of the malls, issues with management or location, etc. all of which are affecting their revenues. However, some quality malls on Nagar Road are witnessing high demand from retailers. As a result mall rentals on Nagar Road have remained steady while the rest of the city has witnessed a drop of 12-24% over the last year. F&B retailers and youth-centric brands have displayer higher preference for FC Road leading to a yearly rental appreciation of 9%. Main streets in western areas of Pune (Aundh, Baner) have seen an increase in demand from retailers over the year due to the growth of residential catchment leading to a 6% y-o-y rental appreciation. Main streets like M.G.Road, Koregaon Park and Bund Garden Road have recorded a rental correction of 5-10% in rentals due to increasing competition from other main streets and stable demand.

More:
39% rise in new mall supply in 2013: Cushman & Wakefield

Approximately 18.0 million square feet of U.S. retail space was created in the last 12 months, according to Cassidy Turleys 2014 Retail Forecast. In comparison, only 23.2 million sf were added between 2009 and 2012.

Expanded space and redevelopment in the form of urban infill comprised the bulk of retail deliveries this year and account for nearly 60 percent of new product in 2013. Community and neighborhood strip centers experienced the greatest space gains with nearly 10.4 million sf delivered. Nearly all 4.5 million sf of specialty center space added in this was in outlet centers. Malls and power centers added less than 2.5 million sf and 2.0 million sf respectively, according to the report.

Projects currently under construction are following the same pattern. With 6.8 million sf under construction, strip centers account for nearly half of the 14.4 million sf of retail space currently in development, the largest amount in nearly five years. Specialty center construction sits at 3.2 million sf, followed by malls with approximately 2.4 million sf, and power centers with less than 2.0 million sf.

The momentum in construction is expected to continue with 36 proposed projects of 1.0 million sf or greater in the pipeline.

Download the complete report (PDF).

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Retail Construction Returns | CCIM Institute