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What a difference six months can make. Before the coronavirus pandemic forced Gov. Steve Sisolak to close all nonessential businesses including casinos, restaurants, and bars in March, Las Vegas was on a high, ready to open new convention space, dining establishments, and lounges to feed the 42.52 million tourists that visit every year.

Now restaurants, reopened with dine-in service in May, struggle to keep afloat at 50 percent capacity. Sisolak reclosed bars in July, and while those that serve food can stay open, bar tops cannot, taking away valuable tabletop games that provide a much-needed revenue stream. Casinos were allowed to reopen on June 4, but some remain closed. Park MGM and NoMad Hotel reopen on September 30, and the Four Seasons returns on September 25. Planet Hollywood Resort and The Cromwell remain closed on the Strip, as do the Rio and the Palms on westside, and Main Street Station in Downtown Las Vegas.

Other projects remain on hold. Wynn Las Vegas planned to open the supper club Delilah in May and TAK Room from Thomas Keller in the fall. Neither have opening dates now. With conventions, a lifeline of revenue for casinos and restaurants, canceled, Caesars Entertainment held off on opening the 550,000-square-foot Caesars Forum to the east of The Linq Promenade. Virgin Hotels, in the process of remodeling the former Hard Rock Hotel, planned to open on November 6, but will push that date back. But in good news, its still opening.

The future still holds promise. Arias Din Tai Fung, the xiao long bao specialist that planned to open in April, has a new debut date this fall. Area15, the entertainment complex west of I-15, opens portions of its venue, including a bar and an ice cream shop, this week. And Circa even pushed up the opening of its first five floors in Downtown Las Vegas on the Fremont Street Experience to October to debut restaurants, bars, and a year-round pool early.

Thats just a taste of whats to come. Find out about 13 of the biggest openings in Las Vegas in fall 2020.

Location: Aria

Projected Opening: October 19

Din Tai Fung takes over the former Aria Cafe, 5,580 square feet with a view through the massive tilted windows looking out onto Nancy Rubins Big Edge canoe sculpture and Vdara. Aria allocated an estimated $2.2 million in construction costs alone to renovate the dining room and an open kitchen that gives diners a glimpse of the handiwork involved in preparing xiao long bao, steamed pork soup dumplings, precisely made with 18 lucky folds, 16 grams of meat, and 5 grams of dough.

All Coverage of Din Tai Fung [ELV]

Location: 3215 S. Rancho Drive

Projected Opening: September 17

Only portions of the the 200,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center west of I-15 open with live events and art installations, with the remainder debuting in early 2021. Ice cream shop Emack & Bolios and cocktail and coffee bar Oddwood, highlighted by a 23-foot Japanese maple tree replete with twinkling LED lights, debut for fall.

All Coverage of Area15 [ELV]

Location: 8 Fremont St.

Projected Opening: October 28

The 1.25 million-square-foot Circa casino and resort plans to open the first five floors along with a parking garage ahead of schedule on October 28. The resort plans to be an adults-only experience, open only to those 21 and older. When it opens its first five floors in late October, it becomes the first casino and resort to ban underage visitors. Circa replaces the rundown, former Las Vegas Club with a glitzy, 21st century resort. The remainder of the resort opens in December.

Opening in October:

Barry S. Dakake returns to the Las Vegas dining scene with Barrys Downtown Prime, a vintage steak and seafood restaurant. The clubby restaurant features dark wood and a long and glowing bar. Aside from steak and seafood, Dakake promises table-side presentations with some dishes.

Michigan restaurateur Paul Saginaw opens Saginaws Delicatessen with a roster of Reubens, matzo ball soup, onion rings, salads, latkes, chopped liver, breakfast specialties, and more.

Victory Burgers & Wings Co. from the family behind the 102-year-old American Coney Island anchors the three-story screen in Circas sportsbook and features its own radio booth. Five specialty burgers including a half-pound Victory Burger that uses a blend of short rib, brisket, and Angus beef in the patties and the Michigan Olive Burger a beef patty topped with a mixture of mayonnaise, chopped olives, and olive brine make the menu along with an array of chicken wings, fries, and beers.

And Project BBQ from chef Rex Bernales brings Carolina-style barbecue dishes such as pulled brisket, pork, chicken. That restaurant features a patio on the Fremont Street Experience with picnic tables and an outdoor bar.

Vegas Vickie, the kicking cowgirl who sat outside Glitter Gulch, now hangs inside the three-story atrium at the resort. The bar features seasonal cocktails and retro lighting.

Mega Bar, a 165-foot-long bar with flair bartenders, 40 TVs, 120 beer taps, and bar-top gaming, arrives in October.

The three-level sportsbook includes Overhang Bar sitting on the top floor of the venue. Circa owner Derek Stevens, a native of Detroit, created the bar as an ode to Tiger Stadium.

Circa Bar with flair bartenders, 24 varieties of frozen cocktails, and a blue wall behind it, opens at the front of the resort on the Fremont Street Experience.

Circas new year-round pool dubbed Stadium Swim features a multi-level pool amphitheater with a massive screen for showing games and entertainment, two swim-up bars, and a deejay booth for spinning tunes.

All Coverage of Circa [ELV]

Location: 1214 S. Main St.

The Players: Justin Kingsley Hall and Kim Owens

Projected Opening: Fall 2020

The former chef at the Kitchen at Atomic brings a comfort food restaurant to the Arts District. The restaurant has kept a tight lid on details, although chef Justin Kingsley Hall has done a few popups to showcase potential dishes. A preview dinner showcased hop-smoked stuffed chicken wing; torched wagyu skewer paired; oxtail empanada; and chocolate pot du creme in waffle cone with torched marshmallow.

All Coverage of Main St. Provisions [ELV]

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3100 Las Vegas Boulevard S., Las Vegas, NV 89101

3131 Las Vegas Blvd. S. , Las Vegas, NV 89109

8 Fremont St. , Las Vegas, NV 89101

Fremont Street Experience, Las Vegas, NV

8 Fremont St. , Las Vegas, NV 89101

7945 S Rainbow Blvd Ste B, Las Vegas, NV 89139 (702) 888-3110

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The biggest restaurant and bar openings in Las Vegas this fall - Eater Vegas

The Big Biscuit is adding a new restaurant in the Sonoma Plaza shopping area just east of I-435 along West 87th Street Parkway. The owners hope to open by March 2021. Photo courtesy The Big Biscuit.

The Big Biscuit is opening its first location in Lenexa.

Coming soon to Sonoma Plaza, a developing retail area just east of I-435 along West 87th Street Parkway, The Big Biscuit is a local breakfast and lunch restaurant company with multiple locations in Johnson County and the Kansas City metro area.r

The new restaurant will be located between Starbucks and McKeevers Market grocery store. Framework construction on the building that will house The Big Biscuit is already coming along.

Chad Offerdahl, who co-owns the company alongside David Offerdahl and Jay Carpenter, said they hope to open the new restaurant in late winter or early spring, perhaps by March.

Weve been targeting Lenexa as an area that we thought we would do well in for quite some time, but weve really just been holding out for a location that really, we thought, made sense for us, said Chad Offerdahl. Weve been seeing all the impressive growth just on the other side of 435, with all of the new Lenexa City Center area. When this opportunity came up to be in the new Sonoma development in front of McKeevers, we just couldnt pass it up.

The Big Biscuit is growing operations across the metro area and just opened its newest location in Westport last week. Offerdahl said the Westport location has a new design and refreshed look with new elements and an open ceiling. The Lenexa location will sport a similar new look and feature a covered outdoor patio on the east side of the building.

For anybody living in the Lenexa area thats familiar with our Shawnee location or other nearby locations, this is going to be a much different look than what theyre used to, he added.

The Big Biscuit will begin the approvals processes through the city of Lenexa once they complete architectural blueprints.

Hours of operation will be 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day of the week.

See the rest here:
The Big Biscuit breakfast and lunch restaurant bringing its first location to Lenexa - Shawnee Mission Post

Willis Smith Construction's Nathan Carr feels comfortable about making a dinner reservation for next spring.

He expects to be dining at Waterside Place in Lakewood Ranch.

"We all will be coming here with our families," Carr said.

Carr supervises Willis Smith's project managers and he notes that Waterside Place project manager Angel Ortiz has everything running smoothly and right on schedule.

The Lakewood Ranch construction company was awarded the Waterside Place contract late in 2016 and broke ground in October of 2018. Carr and Ortiz said last week that the contracted work should be completed on schedule by March 1, 2021.

Willis Smith construction was celebrating a project milestone last week after capping all 11 of the buildings that will make up Waterside Place. All the metal trusses are set.

"That allows the interior work to commence," Ortiz said. "It allows us to do the build-out of the common areas, finish the drywall, do the trim."

Reaching such milestones on time is more impressive considering COVID-19 had slowed down many construction projects.

"We have rolled with the punches," Carr said.

Those punches includedelays in needed materials. Ortiz and his workers kept everything moving forward. Fortunately, the hired contractors have not had many cases of COVID-19 to shelve the workers.

"I'm proud of our team," Ortiz said. "These guys have been working hard and they've faced a lot of challenges."

Waterside Place is taking shape as it advances to its opening in the spring.

While many projects consisting of 11 buildings would be done in phases, Willis Smith is building Waterside Place simultaneously. For example, if a roofer is finishing all the buildings at the same time, he has to have the manpower to get it done. COVID-19 could have affected the availability of the workforce, but didn't.

Ortiz said he hopes everything continues to go smoothly, but Mother Nature plays a role.

"I don't have a crystal ball to predict natural delays," he said. "We can't operate lifts with rain and lightning storms."

Potential weather delays aside, developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch has been thrilled with Willis Smith's progress.

"Fortunately, everything has gone smoothly," said Kirk Boylston, the president of SMR's Lakewood Ranch Commercial."We have not had a lot of COVID impacts. There is so much detail in this project, but Willis Smith has been diligent and outstanding."

Carr said the Waterside Place project is Willis Smith's biggest undertaking in terms of numbers of buildings. Booker High School's construction included 11 buildings as well, but one of Waterside Place's 11 buildings Building C is actually three buildings connected by two walkways.

"It takes a lot more coordination," Ortiz said of managing such a project.

When Willis Smith finishes its role, more construction will be needed. Boylston said the biggest restaurants that sign for Waterside Place will need to build out their space, which basically will be a shell, and that could take four to six months for the larger restaurants.

Boylston said Waterside Place will experience a staggered opening. However, he said the office, retail and entertainment hub will have enough businesses opening together in the spring that the public will be drawn there. Then during the rest of the year the major restaurants will follow.

Ten leases have been signed at Waterside Place, which is built on a 36-acre peninsula and will include seven park areas, and Boylston said he is in negotiations with four more, including one for office space, one for retail and two for restaurants. He categorized one as a major restaurant.

Ortiz is excited about finishing off the project, especially when he sees the businesses take over their spaces.

"I love seeing the owners' smiles," he said.

Willis Smith's Nathan Carr and Angel Ortiz say their workers overcame many challenges to keep on deadline to finish Waterside Place.

See the original post here:
Another Waterside Place milestone by Willis Smith in Lakewood Ranch - YourObserver.com

September 17, 2020 Community News, Restaurant/Bar News

Reade Street between Hudson/Greenwich and Duane between Hudson/West Broadway will be closed to traffic as part of the citys Open Streets program that extends till Oct. 31 to benefit restaurants.

Restaurant Marc Forgione is listed as the partner in the Reade Street closing. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 4p to 11p. Khe-Yo is the partner in the Duane Street closing and the street there will be closed seven days a week between noon and 11p.

The departments criteria require that a neighborhood group OR a group of three restaurants apply for the program in the case of Reade Street, I would guess Forgiones application was in conjunction with Reade Street Pub and maybe Jacks? On Duane, Khe-Yo has Weatherup on one side and Sushi of Gari on the other. The partner restaurants as a group are responsible for collecting trash during those hours, notifying neighbors about the closure and setting up and removing the barriers.

Now, if Duane is closed as an east/west thoroughfare, it is a major mystery why the city would not also close Duane between Greenwich and Hudson, especially when there are five restaurants in that stretch that would benefit. The Friends of Duane Park applied for the program back in May, and the city is just taking this action now four months later. Tokyo Bay is already gone, and The Hideaway is on the edge all for what? To wait until it is almost too cool to eat outside and for when the traffic starts to pick up?

Too little, too late is the conclusion here.

See the original post here:
Parts of Reade and Duane will close to traffic - Tribeca Citizen

SALT LAKE CITY A new online tool from the Salt Lake Chamber is aiming to help business owners stay current on Utahs relative economic health as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on residents physical well-being.

The Chambers Road to Recovery dashboard collects some of the states leading economic indicators which, while among the highest-performing in the nation on many fronts, are still showing areas of commercial activity that are in extremely rough shape.

In its September debut, data on the dashboard reflects a handful of positive trends, including a near nation-leading 4.1% unemployment rate, taxable retail sales volumes that are well ahead of 2019 levels and unemployment claims that have been heading back toward pre-pandemic levels since an early May peak. Also, the Utah construction industry is booming with jobs in that sector up some 7% over 2019.

But other statistics reflect a bleaker side to the states fiscal health just over six months since the first case of COVID-19 appeared in Utah.

Jobs in the leisure/hospitality industry are down almost 17% since a year ago. Unemployment claims, while significantly reduced since this spring, are still north of 35,000 and about four times the pre-COVID-19 rates. The states powerful travel and tourism industry, one that accounts for 1 in every 11 Utah jobs, has been decimated and isnt expected to recover for years. And local retail and service industry businesses without their own fiscal resources could be facing the hardest chapter yet as federal help has run dry and Congress has stalled on efforts to re-up emergency funding options.

At a Monday virtual press event for the new online tool Natalie Gochnour, chief economist for the Salt Lake Chamber and director of the University of Utahs Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, called the recessionary impacts of COVID-19 a standout in the nations history of economic downturns.

I have had eight recessions during my lifetime, Gochnour said. The COVID-19 recession is the most severe ... in terms of the biggest and fastest drop.

Salt Lake Chamber President/CEO Derek Miller said the dashboard data, which will be updated regularly, is provided to help business owners make informed decisions on strategies to navigate ongoing fallout from COVID-19.

Salt Lake Chambers primary objective with the new Roadmap to Recovery is to empower the private sector to create jobs and opportunity for individuals and families throughout Utah, Miller said in a statement. In that effort, we are just beginning. We need to see beyond the horizon to view opportunities as they are manifest, so our businesses can make decisions accordingly.

While the effects of COVID-19 will be felt for years to come, and we are concerned by the current increases in the number of Utahns testing positive with the virus, from an economic perspective we know that in Utah we have a solid foundation upon which to rebuild.

Downtown Alliance Executive Director Dee Brewer said Salt Lake Citys downtown has been hit with a trifecta of losses thanks to restrictions brought on by the novel coronavirus. Brewer noted the citys commercial core, and state economic epicenter, is driven by three major groups of customers: those who commute to work downtown; those who travel to Salt Lake City to attend conventions and meetings; and those who visit the city for sports and cultural events.

The tens of thousands of daily downtown commuters? Brewer said that volume, as of last week, was around 23% of its usual. The 700,000 who annually attend conventions and gatherings in Salt Lake City? Essentially evaporated amid the pandemic with occupancy rates in the convention core just 30% of last years. Jazz games, ballet, opera, theater and cinema engagements? Once at a standstill and now, most venues, if open at all, offering very limited programming.

Still, even though downtown businesses may be well short of thriving, Brewer noted the many ways in which the capital citys commercial sector is finding ways to survive.

Downtown Alliance data shows 135 downtown restaurants and bars are back to offering take-out and/or dine-in service, an increase of 69% since May 12 when just 75 restaurants were open for limited service. And 90% of downtown retail stores are open with operators reporting that traffic continues to grow each week. While customer numbers are down over last year, the alliance reports some stores are seeing sales closer to last years performance.

There are fewer shoppers but a high percentage of those shoppers are purchasing products, one downtown merchant said.

Brewer said the Downtown Farmers Market, while operating on an abbreviated basis, has proven a boon for local farmers and specialty item merchants.

We made the market a little bit smaller and re-organized it, Brewer said. But the farmers who are participating are doing better than ever.

Brewers group also launched a downtown Open Streets event last weekend that will be running through Oct. 10. Open Streets closes down a section of Main Street to automobiles from 6-10 p.m. each Thursday-Saturday, turning part of the street into an open market for merchants, restaurants and entertainment.

Brewer said the events debut weekend featured different musical acts every half-block and restaurants and retailers expanding their venues to the outdoors. He said they were still gathering information but reports from downtown businesses suggest the effort was a hit.

It appears to have been a huge success, Brewer said. The Salt Lake Arts Council brought in some of their Living Traditions performers to Exchange Place, we had buskers performing up and down Main Street.

One restaurant reported their sales were up 30% ... and were hoping to build momentum over the next three weekends.

See the article here:
Utah on Road to Recovery, but plenty of pain remains, economist says - Deseret News

In oversized brewery news, New Belgium is taking over the massive new space from Little Creatures in Mission Bay. The Australian brewery, named after the mini organisms in their floral brews, was able to sell a few crowlers in the spring, but went dark over the summer. A tipster spotted a sign indicating a change of ownership in the Little Creatures window, which a representative for New Belgium the company has confirmed. The cherubic beer brand is officially taking wing and departing San Francisco.

Little Creatures was the first U.S. outpost for the Australian brewery, opening only last summer at an ambitious 6,300 square feet. New Belgium, of course, is the Colorado-based brewery known best for its bicycle theme. But this is not a sad tale of small breweries struggling during the pandemic; its actually a brand merger, which was already in the works. New Belgium insists this takeover is, in effect, keeping it all in the family, as both breweries are now owned by the same parent company.

Both Little Creatures and New Belgium are owned by Lion in Sydney, which is a subsidiary of Kirin in Japan. (As an aside, Anchor Brewing, our 100-year-old historic brewery, is owned by Sapporo, another Japanese giant.) New Belgium was acquired at the end of 2019, after several decades as an employee-owned operation. Lion is now rolling it up into a group called Little World Beverages, which includes New Belgium, Magnolia, and Little Creatures. And while local beer fans were excited to try Little Creatures, far more are familiar with New Belgium, making it the stronger fit for San Francisco, the company says.

Still, it may be a sad closing for some. Little Creatures was a serene industrial space, washed in blues and drenched in sunlight. It received solid reviews in the short half-year that it was able to have doors open, under the unfair circumstances. And there are surely fans who will miss the arugula-peppered steak sandwiches, beer-steamed mussels, and sticky toffee pudding, as well as the several dozen beers on tap, a few specifically crafted on site by brewmaster Dennis Stewart.

This is New Belgiums first full-service restaurant, aside from its taprooms in Fort Collins and Asheville, which feature a few food trucks. The brewery isnt just slapping on a fresh coat of paint: it is under construction for a full renovation and will be debuting a totally fresh menu and space. They are currently narrowing down a shortlist of chefs and brewmasters, and plan to feature existing beers, as well as introduce a few specifically brewed on site. True to the brand, expect its usual bicycle decor. The pandemic keeps pushing back the timeline, but New Belgium is hoping to open by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021.

By coincidence, that might be when the Warriors are finally back in action at the new Chase Center. What might be most remarkable now is how time seems to have skidded to a stop in the neighborhood. A year ago, when the new Chase Center burst wide open, Mission Bay saw a rush of new restaurants, inside the stadium, outside the stadium, and in the surrounding neighborhood, from outrageous underground wine vaults to a deluge of soup dumplings. Little Creatures was one of two massive new breweries to land in the area, with Seven Stills opening its huge new flagship location only a few months later.

A representative for Chase Center confirmed that of the dozens of food and drink vendors previously opened and announced, only one is in action right now Dumpling Time. Thrive City has still been hosting its farmers market, attracting regulars from the neighborhood, as well as a few healthcare workers from neighboring Kaiser. The Warriors have been coming in for individual workouts and just started mini camp group practices last week, in the hopes that the next NBA season will tip off in December as promised.

But in the meantime, the $1.4-billion-dollar Chase Center stands mostly empty, waiting for thousands of sports fans and concert goers to return for craft beer and fried chicken sandwiches.

One Mission Bay 1000A 3rd Street, SF, CA

Originally posted here:
New Belgium Takes Over Little Creatures Brewery in Mission Bay - Eater SF

Reid R. Frazier is an energy reporter for The Allegheny Front, a Pittsburgh-based public media outlet covering the environment in Pennsylvania. His work has aired on NPR and Marketplace.

Updated: September 21, 2020 | 9:26 am

Reid R. Frazier / StateImpact Pennsylvania

The site of a proposed ethane cracker in Belmont County, Ohio.

At a marina in Moundsville, West Virginia, Dan Williamson looked out across the Ohio River at a quiet stretch of land on the other side.

Theres a little activity going on, said Williamson, a spokesman for PTT an oil and gas company based in Thailand that wants to build an ethane cracker on the far side of the river, in Dilles Bottom, Ohio. But really were kind of in between phases right now.

The plant would turn the regions plentiful natural gas into plastics. Its taken years to develop, and a final decision on whether the company would build the plant was due this summer. But then came the pandemic.

It just kind of changed the game for all industries, including this one. And so they have had to put off their announcement of a decision, Williamson said.

For years, industry boosters in Appalachia have promoted the idea of a building boom for petrochemical plants like the PTT ethane cracker.

Oil and gas backers have said theres enough gas in the region for four or five chemical plants like this. But so far, only one of those plants is a go Shell, with the help of $1.65 billion in state tax breaks, is building a giant plastics plant in western Pennsylvania.

But other projects have either been dropped or put on hold, and now the pandemic has left some some communities in the Ohio River Valley wondering if those plants will ever get built.

A project in West Virginia was canceled last summer when its Brazilian owners backed out. A planned $84 billion Chinese investment in West Virginias gas and chemical industry has yet to materialize. And PTT has watched as potential partners backed away from the project. Matsubeni, a Japaneese company, initially signed on as a partner but was out of the picture by 2016.

In July, Daelim, a Korean chemical company that had agreed to invest in the PTT plant, cited the pandemic when it backed out of the project, which could be the largest of its kind ever built in the U.S. according to PTT.

Williamson says PTT is still looking for investors, but he says the real barrier for the plant is simple: COVID-19.

I believe and the project leaders believe that if not for the pandemic, it would be under construction right now, Williamson said.

Some arent so sure.

Dont believe company announcements believe the ribbon cutting, said Kathy Hipple, an analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, a left-leaning think tank that works toward sustainable energy.

She says Daelims decision to pull out of the PTT project is a red flag.

We view this as a market signal that the project has possibly become far too risky for them to continue, Hipple said. The other possibility is that the economics of building a petrochemical complex have changed tremendously.

Hipple said the price of plastic has fallen by around 40 percent since PTT first announced its interest in the site five years ago, pushed down by new supply from new plants built on the Gulf Coast. She thinks a wave of environmental policies around the globe like bans on single-use plastics could threaten the industrys bottom line.

Steve Lewandowski, an analyst at the research firm IHS Markit, thinks there will still be demand for plastic in the next few decades.

But he also wonders if delays in the Ohio project might be a sign that the $10 billion plant is looking too expensive for investors.

If it was such a compelling case to build there, that cracker would have been approved under construction and then it probably would be another one on top of that and its not, Lewandowski said. So theres something going on that is causing companies to say, Thats probably not the right place to be.

Lewandowski said Northern Appalachia has advantages Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania sit atop the Marcellus Shale, the biggest natural gas formation in the country. And its close to East Coast and Midwest manufacturers that would use the plastic. But he thinks companies might want to keep their production centered on the Gulf Coast, where dozens of similar plants have been running for decades.

Were assessing that the cost to build (in Ohio) is higher than on the Gulf Coast. And we would we would argue its probably going to be a bit more expensive to operate only because theyre not really in a cluster of industry.

If a part breaks down at a plant in Louisiana, theres a better chance that a supplier nearby will be able to replace or repair it than there would be in Ohio, he said.

But closer to the proposed Ohio plant site, there are fewer doubts. In August a senior Trump administration official visited the site and said it would boost the Ohio River valleys economy.

Reid R. Frazier / StateImpact Pennsylvania

Shadyside, Ohio, a few miles from where PTT has proposed building an ethane cracker in Belmont County, Ohio.

That has people like Matt Coffland confident.

Im 100 percent positive that this will be a go, Coffland said. No doubt about it.

Coffland is a big proponent of the PTT project and its easy to see why. He owns Matts Tiger Pub a tavern in the town of Shadyside, Ohio, a few miles from where thousands of hungry construction workers could one day build the project.

I mean, its three miles away from my doorstep. And youre talking an influx of close to ten thousand people at one point, Coffland said.

Coffland sees the plant as a good thing not just for his restaurant but for his part of southeastern Ohio which he says has been neglected by the state in favor of the three Cs Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus.

I think we deserve it by now, he said. Finally, something is going to land right here in our lap. You know, its about time.

Someone else whos hoping the project moves ahead works in a school building a few blocks away.

John Haswell is superintendent of the Shadyside Local School District.

On the wall of his office hangs a set of drawings showing what a K-12 school complex would look like.

If PTT builds its chemical plant, the company agreed to pay for the new building.

Any time that I can build something or we can build something for $30 million and it does not cost our taxpayers a cent thats a pretty good deal, Haswell said.

The districts 700 students are in a school built 1932, and Haswell says a new building is badly needed. Uncertainty over whether the PTT project will go forward or whether hell have to ask taxpayers for more money to build a new school has made him anxious.

I would really love to get really busy on a building project, but until we have that final investment decision, I cant do anything but sit. Sit and wait and wait and wait, Haswell said.

Reid R. Frazier / StateImpact Pennsylvania

The proposed Shadyside, Ohio school complex would be paid for by PTT, the Thai company which has proposed building an ethane cracker in Belmont County, Ohio.

If the delay has made Haswell antsy, its been a reprieve for Amanda Petrucci. She and her husband live with their four children and seven goats on a hillside across the Ohio river in Moundsville, West Virginia.

On a recent afternoon, she pointed out a few landmarks a hilltop across the river where a well owned by an ExxonMobil subsidiary blew out in 2018, releasing 60,000 tons of the potent greenhouse gas methane, a natural gas processing plant a half-mile from her front door, which flares gas at all hours, and a Superfund site just down the hill.

The site used to house a chemical plant. In the 1990s, the U.S. EPA declared it a superfund site, and began a cleanup. Around that time, her family endured a spate of health problems her son developed a rare blood disorder, her husband was diagnosed with asthma, and she developed Tourettes syndrome and migraines.

Petrucci blamed dust from the Superfund site for their health problems. (The EPA says dust levels at the site never endangered human health.) She worries about the oil and gas infrastructure that ring her property, and isnt happy about PTTs proposed ethane cracker a mile from her house.

I think were going to get hit with more toxic air. How many more layers can we throw on everybody in the community? Petrucci said.

She says shes been thinking about moving somewhere where the air and water are clean, and theres no oil and gas. But she hasnt found anywhere that fits that bill just yet.

So it was welcome news for her when she heard PTT was delaying a final decision on its ethane cracker.

I (felt) like I could kind of just hang out here for a little bit longer and enjoy life here, she said. I feel relieved and feel like I can enjoy my property a little more.

See the original post here:
In the Ohio River Valley, with the pandemic's help, the petrochemical boom is on hold - StateImpact Pennsylvania

Three years after its first steps into smart irrigation systems, Orbits B-hyve brand is back with its most advanced smart watering hardware yet. The new B-hyve XR is stuffed with features, so lets dive into it.

For starters, the hardwarea beefy device that weighs more than two poundsis designed for either indoor or outdoor installation, with no additional housing required. (That said, the device is clearly not fully waterproof, so Id advise giving it some level of protection if youre mounting the XR outside.)

A row of connectors beneath a removable panel supports up to eight valves (or 16 valves for the next model up, which costs an additional $30) and includes room for a rain or freeze sensor. Unique to the smart irrigation space, the XR includes no external power brick (which is one reason why its outdoor friendly); the transformer is instead built into the main housing. This also helps to explain its overall size and weight.

The Orbit B-hyve XR relies on the typical clips to secure your sprinkler systems wiring, but it takes quite a lot of force to shove the leads in (16-zone model shown here).

As with most smart watering systems, your valve leads attach via simple wire clips. (The previous B-hyve required wiring to be attached with tiny screws.) I initially tried inserting my leads into these clips and thought they were connected, only to find that when I ran a test watering run, nothing happened. After some trial and error, I found that the XR requires fairly long wiring leads, and those leads need to be inserted with a significant amount of force in order to hold. I ended up trimming and re-stripping my wiring to improve the connection, after which everything worked fine.

With the B-hyve XR powered up, youll quickly notice its most interesting feature: A panel of three tiny, color LCD screens built into the hexagonal design pattern on the housing. These micro-displays give you some basic information about your system, including the current weather and the time and date of your next scheduled run time. Strangely, the weather report only includes the overall condition (sunny, raining, etc.) but not the temperature, which would have been a bit more useful.

While its a monstrous hardware device, the B-hyve XR offers a number of new features you wont find on competing water controllers.

Once your hardware is configured, its time to use the B-hyve app to connect the system to Wi-Fi. Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks are supported, and I had no trouble bringing the XR online, after which I could begin configuring my watering zones. Like most modern sprinkler controllers, the B-hyve XR offers both manual and smart watering programs, the latter setting up what it thinks is an ideal watering schedule based on answers you provide about the size, condition, and composition of your lawn or garden.

You can set up to four separate watering programs, or let B-hyves smart watering system decide for you.

After telling the app about the soil, plant types, sprinkler heads, ground slope, and sun condition, my system suggested a somewhat strange smart watering schedule: two 18-minute soaks, one right after the other, running once every three days. I dont know if this is really the ideal way to water my plants, as I know a smaller amount of water every day tends to work best in my garden. The total amount of water being delivered over the course of a week, however, was just about right.

If you want to fine-tune things, B-hyve supports catch cups, wherein you physically measure the actual amount of water your system is putting out, and then use that information to tweak its programming. As well, if you have a Flume water-leak system installed, a new partnership with that company lets you use its data to measure exactly how much water each zone is using. If the numbers suddenly jump, thats a sign that theres a leak or break somewhere in your irrigation tubing. This feature is available now, but Orbit says it wont be fully implemented until the end of the year.

If you dont like B-hyves smart schedule, its easy to disable. The system includes four manual program schedules that you can customize, and all five of these schedules (including the smart schedule) can be turned on and off individually or all run simultaneously. If your municipality has watering restrictions, you can include this information as a sort of master override over all programs to prevent water from flowing during certain days or times.

If your water utility issues restrictions as to when you can irrigate, you can input that information into the B-hyve app.

The system includes configurable push notifications, but only for warnings and when watering is finished, not when it starts. Alexa and Google Home are both supported and fairly robustly, letting you use your voice to run on-demand watering programs, delay an upcoming schedule, and more.

B-hyves app is reasonably intuitive, but its biggest flaw is how it presents future and historical watering information. A daily calendar gives you a look at the watering schedule past and present, but it can only fit a few hours of a single day on the screen at a time, which means youll need to scroll up and down and do a lot of switching between days to get a good sense of whats going on. Theres also a watering history function deep in the settings menu, but this only shows you the last time that water was run, not a true history of watering events. If B-hyve overhauls the calendar to be more functional, itll go a long way toward enhancing its overall usability.

The B-hyve XR also includes onboard controls that let you do a lot of things by interacting with the hardware, sans app, but this is largely a missed opportunity: Theres only a single button on the front of the XR, and you use that to do everything, through combinations of short presses and long presses of that one button. Figuring this out isnt easy, so B-hyve includes an exhaustive cheat sheet on the inside of the flap that covers the wiring leads. But its written in tiny type, so youll need to remove it entirely to make any use of it. And frankly, all of this is really convoluted; its much easier to just use the app rather than futz with the button.

At $150 for an 8-zone unit, the B-hyve XR is a good value, if not quite an insanely great one. The product works well and the learning curve is less steep than with competing hardware; as such, its definitely worth serious consideration for just about any environmentespecially if you need a unit that you can mount outside.

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Orbit B-hyve XR sprinkler timer review: One of the best smart irrigation systems - TechHive

Global actuator sensor interface marketsize was US$ XX Bn in 2019 and is expected to reach US$ XX Bn by 2027, at a CAGR of 4.8% during the forecast period.

The report study has analyzed the revenue impact of COVID -19 pandemic on the sales revenue of market leaders, market followers, and market disrupters in the report, and the same is reflected in our analysis.

Market Definition

The actuator sensor interface, also called AS-interface or ASi, is an intelligent industrial networking system generally used to replace the traditional hardwiring system of field devices. It is designed to connect simple I/O devices such as on-off switches, actuators, and sensors, push buttons. Also, it is widely used in automation applications such as DCS, PLC, and PC based automation systems.

Market Dynamics

A surge in the adoption of AS- interface networking system in industrial automation applications such as packaging machines, bottling plants, elevators, conveyor control, process control valves, and many other automation applications is a major driving factor behind the growth of the market. A growing market for industrial automation across the globe, increasing demand to reduce the complexity of the wiring system, introduction of advanced ASi-3 and ASi-5 communication and transmission technology, rising applications of ASi in home and factory automation system and growing demand of cost-effective and easy installation based industrial networking solutions are expected to improve the growth of the market during the forecast period. AS-interface system provides some benefits such as cost-saving, compatibility, reduction in installation errors, and best networking opportunities, which are ultimately propelling the growth of the market.

However, more complexity of smart sensors consists of actuator and sensor than the simple sensor is a major restraining factor that could hamper the growth of the market.

Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market: Segmentation Analysis

By application, the material handling segment dominated the market in 2019. However, the building automation segment is projected to witness fast growth at CAGR of XX% during the forecast period. Growing adoption of AS-interface in building automation applications because of its benefits such as a high degree of flexibility, cost-saving, and simple installation is attributed to the growth of the market. Surge in the adoption of building automation, home automation and factory automation system across the world and wide-scale dependence on AS-interface installation system by various companies for applications such as heating and cooling ceilings, controlling smoke and fire damper systems and in shutter drives is impelling the growth of the market.

According to study, MMR found that, at present, nearly 18 million devices in the market are using the AS-Interface system and there are about 2 million users of AS- interface worldwide. The growth of these worldwide users and AS-interface based devices is dramatically increasing because; the AS- interface technology or system is freely available to all device developers and manufacturers across the globe.

Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market: Regional Analysis

Region-wise, North America held the largest market share in 2019 and is expected to maintain its dominance at CAGR of XX% during the forecast period. The US and Canada are major key contributors to the growth of the market. The growth is attributed to the high adoption rate of home automation, building automation, and factory automation systems in the US. Growing applications of AS-interface in mining, shipbuilding, and automobiles industries is propelling the growth of the market.

Well established infrastructure and economic development in the region, domestic and international export and import, consumption and production of actuators, and sensors and the massive presence of leading AS-interface manufacturing companies across the region is further impelling the growth of the market.

The objective of the report is to present a comprehensive analysis of the Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market including all the stakeholders of the industry. The past and current status of the industry with forecasted market size and trends are presented in the report with the analysis of complicated data in simple language. The report covers all the aspects of the industry with a dedicated study of key players that includes market leaders, followers, and new entrants. PORTER, SVOR, PESTEL analysis with the potential impact of micro-economic factors of the market have been presented in the report. External as well as internal factors that are supposed to affect the business positively or negatively have been analyzed, which will give a clear futuristic view of the industry to the decision-makers. The report also helps in understanding Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market dynamics, structure by analyzing the market segments and projects the Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market. Clear representation of competitive analysis of key players by Application, price, financial position, Product portfolio, growth strategies, and regional presence in the Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market make the report investors guide.The Scope of Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market

Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market, By Component

AS-interface Slave AS-interface Cable AS-interface Gateway AS-interface Power Supply OthersGlobal Actuator Sensor Interface Market, By Application

Building Automation Material Handling Drive Control OthersGlobal Actuator Sensor Interface Market, By Industry

Pharmaceuticals Automotive Metal and Mining Food & Beverages Chemicals Paper Oil & Gas Water & Wastewater Treatment OthersGlobal Actuator Sensor Interface Market, By Region

North America Europe Asia Pacific South America Middle East & AfricaGlobal Actuator Sensor Interface Market, Key Players

Global Players

Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH ABB Group Baumer Electric AG Bihl+Wiedemann GmbH IFM Electronic GmbH Siemens AG Schneider Electric S E Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. Kg Emerson Electric Co HanKun (Beijing)Fluid Control Technology Company Ltd Allen-Bradley Turck Omron Eaton Festo XX XX

North America

StoneL Corporation Anixter XX XX

Europe

Bosch Rexroth AG Valmet Corporation XX XX

Asia Pacific

Katlax Enterprise Pvt Ltd Harithaa Power Engineers Wenzhou Tychen Fluid Equipment Co., Ltd. wuhan grat control valve co. ltd XX XX

South America & MEA

Rotork Africa XX XX

Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market Request For View Sample Report Page : @https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/request-sample/67005

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Global Actuator Sensor Interface Market Industry Analysis and Forecast (2019-2027) By Component, Application, Industry, and Region. - Telecast 99

This question was taken from a Voltimum webinar covering Amendment 1 of BS 7671 - 18th Edition Wiring Regulations.

Question:

Can you purely just use an isolating transformer supply method within the D.C earth monitoring? Is there a new section for testing all EV charging?

Answer:

We assume the question relates to use of the protective measure of electrical separation. Use of this protective measure for electric vehicle charging installation is permitted by the 18th Edition, provided the requirements of Section 413 of Chapter 41 and Regulation 722.413.1.2 of Amendment 1 are complied with. Guidance on Supply and earthing arrangements for Mode 4 DC EVSE can be found in Annex K of the IET Code of Practice for Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment Installation, 4th Edition. Inspection and testing of the EV charging should be carried out in accordance with Part 6 of the 18th Edition (BS 7671: 2018, including functional checks that the equipment is operating correctly, due account being taken of the manufacturer's instructions.

- John Bradley -Chairman of JPEL/64 and Schneider Electric UK Standards Manager.

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Can I use an isolating transformer supply method within D.C earth monitoring? - Voltimum