Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

THIS PAST MAY,the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, was briefly in the public eye for being the first major American museum to reopen after the initial wave of coronavirus-related lockdowns. Come November, the debut of the final component of a $450 million expansion projectthe Nancy and Rich Kinder building, which boasts 164,000 square feet of exhibition space dedicated to international modern and contemporary artcoincided with the onset of what promises to be the pandemics deadliest season yet. Despite the grim winter forecast, museum leadership, armed with the blessing of Governor Abbotts Strike Force team (of which Nancy Kinder is a member) to reopen Texas, blithely pushed through the launch of this game changer for the Houston art world. Thus, a highly curated behind-the-scenes press stratagem competed with Instagram posts by @ChangeTheMuseum that challenged official accounts of virus-free opening weeks and high staff morale with reminders that the buildings security guards continue to work for nine dollars an hour, and that some staff have indeed become infected.

In public remarks, director Gary Tinterow has emphasized the long view, remaining laser-focused on celebrating how the Steven Holldesigned expansionalmost unparalleled in modern timesnearly doubles the MFAHs available exhibition space while also unifying an undeniably impressive fourteen-acre campus that includes two preexisting exhibition buildings, a Noguchi-designed sculpture garden, conservation lab, public plaza, and studio school (also a recent build by Steven Holl Architects). Touted as well is the fact that this massive piece of cultural infrastructure, aimed at an audience that is 92 percent local, was supported entirely through private donations and incurred zero debt. As it stands now, the MFAH is outflanked in both endowment and square footage only by the Getty and the Met. Where it is still sprinting to catch up is in the quantity of its holdings, although a $450 million boost to the endowment from oil heiress Caroline Wiess Law in the mid-2000s has driven a buying spree, especially of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art. Hence the need for the Kinder, whose namesake patrons also drew their fortune from the oil industry, specifically through pipeline and storage developments.

For those not ready to venture indoors, there is much to appreciate from the outside. The facade is a carapace of milky-white half-cylinders in glass, which modulate the climates double-whammy of bright daylight and heat. Small reflecting pools notch the buildings footprint and add visual interest in ways similar to Tadao Andos Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The graceful roof pattern is choreographed by a series of massive concave arcs, as if the building had been embossed by a canopy of low-hanging clouds. Inspired by Texass grand skies, the motif has become a new trademark for Holl, appearing in contemporaneous designs for Princeton University and Franklin & Marshall College. The edifice may be at its most alluring by night, when the glass tubes catch interior light and disperse it as an otherworldly glow, recalling the lantern-like structures that comprise the architects Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Stepping inside, a brilliantly white, three-story atrium that clearly riffs on Frank Lloyd Wrights Guggenheim primes visitors for experiences of aesthetic awe. While the building footprint is technically a trapezoid, the interior impression is of a wedge with rounded edges, an incandescent slice of birthday cake. Eyes are drawn upward by an Alexander Calder mobile and a multipaneled Gerhard Richter painting hanging on the top floor. Both secondhand commissions rejected from their intended homes, they are nevertheless stunning accents that elevate the gaze to Holls enchanting ceiling, which evokes overlapping sheaves of paper. The gaps between the curved planes let in just the right amount of soft radiance, a theme carried throughout the buildings lighting concept, which for the most part achieves a warm elegance. Yet the overzealous addition of glowing panels to the rotunda balconies walls illuminate the artworks opposite them about as appealingly as would an open refrigerator. Gracious touches include handsome wood-tiled flooring throughout most galleries and springy carpeting in the photography, prints, and drawings rooms, while the ground-floor terrazzo thoughtfully quotes Ludwig Mies van der Rohes Law building across the street (now accessible via an art-filled tunnel). Narrow stairwells create pinch points that hurry visitors between the buildings three floors. Statement sculptures and immersive installations occupy the ground level (Kusama, Turrell, and a retrofuturistic Gyula Kosice); the second is divided discretely between curatorial departments, with starkly different display strategies to boot; and the third floor presents a series of themed arrangements of intermixed collections, mostly post-1960.

Unfortunately, with its bland #GetModern-at-the-MFAH marketing campaign, the museum misses an opportunity to trumpet a truly unique success: It now clearly stands as a preeminent institution internationally in its ability to articulate broad-reaching historical and geographic narratives about modern and contemporary art of the Americas that are authentic and deep. How this plays out curatorially in the galleries is invigorating, and honors South-facing local, national, and transnational histories as well as urgent demands to bring more women artists and artists of color into the room. An arresting moment in the twentieth-century European and American art galleries, for example, juxtaposes sorrowful tableaux by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Kathe Kllwitz, and Texas artist John Biggers. Meanwhile, the emergence of geometric abstraction is most commandingly illustrated in galleries devoted to artists working in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela, where that aesthetic flame has arguably held out longest. This provocative recalibration makes the Mondrian hanging back in the European galleries look, well, old. Throughout floors two and three, thoughtfully placed reappearancesof works by Lygia Clark, Hlio Oiticica, Antonio Berni, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Ettore Sottsass, Dorothy Hood, Fred Eversley, Sam Gilliam, Carrie Mae Weems, Viola Freyforge conversations between disparate galleries and mediums.

The Kinders top floor is currently dominated by anodyne formalist arrangementsColor into Light, Light into Space, Line into Space (the latter architected around extensive holdings of works by Gego)whose generic appeal thankfully does not diminish the impact of individual works. The scope and quality of the collection is excellent, and to see so much of it laid out in one place is one of the buildings true unadulterated pleasures. One hopes the inaugural crowd-pleasing installations (including an LOL! gallery) will soon be refreshed with more conceptually probing displays like that found in Border, Mapping, Witness, which includes a room centered on work thematizing the USMexico border. Engrossing photographs of migrant laborers by Alejandro Cartagena and detention and border infrastructure by David Taylor are joined with Camilo Ontiveross gut-wrenching Temporary Storage, 2009/2017, a precariously balanced bundle of all the abandoned possessions of Juan Manuel Montes, Trumps first DACA deportee.

The building is also decorated with a number of spectacular site-specific commissionsby Cruz-Diez, Olafur Eliasson, Ai Weiwei, Byung Hoon Choi, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Cristina Iglesias, and El Anatsui (whose metallic curtain is, as of this writing, still en route from Lagos). Over time, these will securely index the building to its origins in the early twenty-first century. Happily, much of this self-consciously photogenic art occupies exterior and below-ground passageways, which may mitigate against aspirant influencers clogging the galleries. Iglesias is the only woman of the lot, but her kinetic pool, Inner Landscape (the lithosphere, the roots, the water), 2020, is most highly visible in its location at the Main Street entrance. This sculpture-slash-water-feature, which empties and refills roughly by the hour, represents in muddy bronze a rocky pool crisscrossed with roots and decaying vegetation. In essence, it simulates the very geologic processes that over millennia have produced the high-carbon fossil fuels that, since the Industrial Revolution, have enabled anything like modern and contemporary art and its museums to exist. Admittedly I, like most Houstonians who have visited the Kinder, immediately and instinctively loved it, and am thrilled to imagine the kinds of cultural experiences it will enable the citys public to have. I do not, however, love the petromodernity that it glorifies. Here lies the inadvertent brilliance of Iglesiass Inner Landscape, an appropriately ambivalent monument that will literally and figuratively ground every visit to the MFAHs new building with an acknowledgment of the extractive industriesoil, financethat have funded this seemingly debt-free gift to humanity.

Natilee Harren is an art historian and critic and the author of Fluxus Forms: Scores, Multiples, and the Eternal Network (University of Chicago Press, 2020)and Karl Haendel: Knights Heritage (LAXART, 2017). She teaches at the University of Houston School of Art.

Here is the original post:
Natilee Harren on the Kinder building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Artforum

SHABWA You will meet the beekeepers late at night on the roads, stacks of wooden lockers stowed in the back of their pick-up trucks. In war-torn Yemen, with its endless checkpoints and occasional explosions, no one travels as much as the beekeepers migrating with their hives, chasing the flowers.

Honey is a serious business in Yemen. In this sparsely industrialized country, with its dizzying winding mountain roads, this liquid gold is reputed to be one of the best in the Middle East, if not the world. There is no need to engage in the national debate about which region holds the prize for the finest honey.

The soldiers at the roadblocks are clued into the situation: beekeepers can make a very handsome living, but it would be unwise to put a ransom on these farmers. "In any case, they are afraid of our bees. We usually pass by unchecked," laughs Sad Al-Aulaqi, 40, a beekeeper in Shabwa, in the south of the country.

This little man, full of energy and good humor, is eager to take his bees from his region and this valley, a few kilometers from the departmental capital, Atak. The flowering season is over here, so he must bring his hives elsewhere. But, for the time being, "that is not possible ," he says, grumbling. Battles between the army and the Houthi rebels prevent him from taking the road linking Marib, the large tribal town in the north, to the mountains that surround the capital, Sanaa.

"When you're on the move, bees become unpredictable: it's hard to guess what they need," explains Farea Al-Muslimi, a hive owner in Wessab.

Sad Al-Aulaqi has a method for traveling with a bit more certainty: he carries his bees at night while they sleep. If he isn't settled by dawn without having installed them properly, they could flee, disoriented. If he keeps them locked up in the hives, the heat would put their wax to the test.

Beekeepers travel in pairs or trios, but they need to talk to everyone.

The beekeeper stays up-to-date with the situation the war's front lines by way of WhatsApp groups. There is a very strong community spirit in this trade. Beekeepers travel in pairs or trios, but they need to talk to everyone else to find out where flowering is good, whether rain is causing flooding in the valleys, and where it's okay to congregate since the bees circulate between the hives. Al-Aulaqi also warns his neighbors when he gives sugar or medicine to his bees: they will either take advantage of it or choose to move away.

Photo: Mohammed Dahman Xinhua/ZUMA

On his WhatsApp group, Al-Aulaqi dissuades colleagues from joining him in a place where there are already too many of them. Today, he's looking for jujube trees, a thorny tree bearing a kind of bland and chalky type of date fruit.

Farea Al-Muslimi, founder of an independent think tank, the Sana'a Center, and beehive owner in the village of Wessab, says the more time one can stay in the same location, the better you can manage your bees. "But when we move around, the bees become unpredictable: it's hard to guess what they need," explains

In the summer, the beekeepers move to the Ibb Mountains in Dhamar, Al-Bayda. Winter is spent on the southern coast, near the ports of Aden, Moukalla or Bir Ali. In order to find a place that is not too cramped, that is away from livestock and from recent pesticide sprays, Sad Al-Aulaqi and his companion, Adel Saleh Saber, don't speak with political authorities but instead with tribal chiefs. "Travellers are welcome, especially in the North, where tribal traditions are still strong," Al-Aulaqi said. "They are not racist towards people from the South."

The war has introduced new complications for these relationships. At the start of the conflict in 2015, Sad Al-Aulaqi joined the fight against the Houthi rebels, who are originally from the North and who had taken control of Sanaa. They were heading towards his hometown of Assaib in the south and so the beekeeper left everything behind his family, his hives to join the fight on the frontline.

Wounded, Al-Aulaqi was immobilized for many weeks. "I lost 300 bees, they died without my care. It took me two years to recover," he says, lamenting "these useless wars."

Since then, he has been focused on trying to modernize his craft, which he learned on the job with his uncle. He admits he covets the more productive European beehives and is hoping to attain a higher quality honey in the large market of Atak, an important region in the south that enjoys relative peace.

The stings don't even make my skin swell anymore.

Sad Al-Aulaqi's low-grade honey market segment is now becoming crowded. Throughout Yemen, men are leaving the cities, where jobs are scarce, to become farmers and beekeepers. "The market is flooded and our bees don't have enough to eat," says Al-Aulaqi. Prices have fallen by one third since the beginning of the conflict in 2015, according to merchants in Atak. Hei now sells his production at 200 Saudi riyals per kilogram (44 euros), while better quality honey can be exported to Saudi Arabia at up to 130 euros per kg.

On this November day, he and Saber are harvesting their second crop of the year, following the one in early spring. They open their small wooden crates, which they keep out of the sun under a blanket, a carpet, and a braided mat. They keep the bees apart with branches of oiled grass, smoking them with a mat rolled into a stick and set on fire like a big cigar.

Both men work unprotected. "The stings don't even make my skin swell anymore," says Al-Aulaqi, stretching out his uncovered arm. "I'm immune."

At night, alone under breathtaking skies, the two bee business partners talk politics and personal plans. Saber, who is 28, is counting on this harvest to finance his marriage to a woman from the neighboring province of Abyane. Al-Aulaqi, for his part, says he sees his wife and five children only about once a month. But, he adds: "It's better than working in Saudi Arabia."

See more from Food / Travel here

Read more from the original source:
Yemen's Nomadic Honey Traders Face The Sting Of Civil War - Worldcrunch

There is increasing concern that electricity generation from fossil fuels contributes to climate change and air pollution. In response to these concerns, governments around the world are encouraging the installation of intermittent electricity generation projects including Industrial Wind Turbines (IWTs).

But Whoa, Nelly! NIMBYs (Not-In-My-Backyard) around the globe from Germany to Australia, California, New York, and Massachusetts are speaking loudly, and acting, to put a halt to the invasion of noisy wind farms in their backyards. Following numerous reports from Maryland toCanadatoFranceon wind turbine noise, the NIMBYs are becoming energized (no pun intended).

Despite the political obsession for intermittent electricity generated from wind turbines, NIMBYs are alive and well! Here is a sampling of NIMBYs around the globe from Germany to Australia, California, New York, and Massachusetts that are stepping up to stop the installation of those monstrosities in their backyards:

The list of the NIMBY resistance goes on and on at locations likeNew York,Wisconsin, andScotland, etc.

In California, the state with the least reliable electrical power system in the nation, between 2008 and 2017,theGolden State experienced far more individual outageswith almost 4,297 individual outages in the ten-year period, more than 2.5 times as many as its closest rival, Texas. The state continues shuttering most of the in-state natural gas and nuclear power plants that have been providing continuous uninterruptible electricity, in favor of intermittent electricity from wind and solar while adding EV charging loads onto the grid. Power outages are now commonplace in California with more to follow for the Golden state.

Before too hastily pursuing those wind turbines for the generation of intermittent electricity, politicians should read the numerous published reports fromMarylandtoCanadatoFranceabout the effects of wind turbine noise, and listen to their NIMBY constituents that are rejecting those monstrosities in their backyards.

Read the original post:
NIMBY's Are Making More Noise Than Wind Turbines - OpEd - Eurasia Review

Construction has wrapped up on one of Amazons new, temporary office buildings in Crystal City.

The renovation project, part of developer JBG Smiths extensive development plan for the area, helped to modernize the office buildings 273,000 square feet of space while giving the exterior a shiny new glass-and-steel look.

Amazon is temporarily leasing the 14-story building while the first phase of its permanent HQ2 is under construction. Amazon currently leases 857,000 square feet of temporary space in five local JBG Smith buildings, the developer says.

The opening of the newly reimagined 1770 Crystal Drive coincides with the two-year anniversary of Amazons selection of National Landing as the location of its second headquarters and JBG SMITH as its partner to house and develop the project, JBG said in a press release. The building was completed two quarters ahead of schedule and under budget.

The construction started shortly after Amazon announced that National Landing the collective term for the Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard neighborhoods was getting the new HQ2.

The return to productive use of 1770 Crystal Drive represents yet another significant milestone in National Landings ongoing transformation into a vibrant 18-hour neighborhood, said Matt Kelly, CEO of JBG Smith, in a statement. We are thrilled to partner with Amazon and accommodate its growing presence in the region as we continue to make progress on its modern new headquarters.

The building is a short walk from the Crystal City Metro station and has expansive views of the D.C. skyline and the Potomac River from the top floors, the press release notes. It will be part of a new retail district that is expected to feature new stores, buzzy restaurants and an Alamo Drafthouse movie theater.

More:
Construction Wraps Up on Crystal City Building That Will House Amazon Offices - ARLnow

New commercial

OFFICE BUILDING: 2886 NE Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette; Clayton Homes, owner and applicant; description, modular office; self, contractor; $17,000.

OTHER: 705 W. University Ave., Lafayette; Lafayette Consolidated Government, owner; description, City Hall elevator; Trahan Architecture and Planning, applicant; Garden City Construction Co., contractor; $156,800.

STORE: 3822 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, Lafayette; BJT Development, owner; description, interior demolition white box area; Southwest Contractors LLC, applicant and contractor; $5,000.

916 Killdee Lane, Duson; Stellco LLC; $270,000.

217 Gable Crest Drive, Lafayette; Manuel Builders; $225,000.

306 Grassy Meadows Lane, Lafayette; DSLD LLC; $198,000.

508 Greyford Drive, Lafayette Parish; South Louisiana Custom Homes LLC; $477,000.

102 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $211,500.

104 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $180,000.

111 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

313 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

311 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $247,500.

309 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

307 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $243,000.

313 San Marcos Drive, Youngsville; E J Rock Construction; $283,500.

201 Grassy Meadows Lane, Lafayette; DSLD LLC; $270,000.

106 Old Heritage Lane, Carencro; Mitch Higginbotham Construction; $184,500.

148 Gable Crest Drive, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $198,000.

105 Dunmore Court, Lafayette; Baudoin Custom Homes Inc.; $396,000.

103 Rio Ridge Drive, Lafayette; Coast Contemporary Construction LLC; $553,500.

109 Golden Eye Drive, Lafayette; LRZ3 Properties LLC; $513,000.

869 E. Gloria Switch Road, Lafayette; Tim Landry; $75,000.

106 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $198,000.

108 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $243,000.

109 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $247,500.

103 New Trails Lane, Youngsville; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $342,000.

100 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $247,500.

101 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $243,000.

103 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $193,500.

107 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $229,500.

105 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $180,000.

600 N. Montauban Drive, Lafayette; La Consultants LLC; $288,000.

101 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

306 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

312 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $225,000.

113 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

205 Lukes Hollow Lane, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $184,500.

207 Lukes Hollow Lane, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $166,500.

213 Redfern St., Lafayette; Lancaster Construction LLC; $270,000.

116 Tracewood Bend, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $261,000.

127 Gena Lane, Broussard; Hays Homes LLC; 513, 850.

201 Canary Palm Way, Broussard; Triple D's Homes LLC; $301,134.

218 Tennyson Drive, Broussard; Manuel Builders LLC; $193,415.

102 Canary Palm Way, Broussard; Van Alan Homes LLC; $478,773.

303 Canary Palm Way, Broussard; Coastal Custom Builders LLC; $271,771.

Continue reading here:
Who's building where in Acadiana? Here are the building permits issued Dec. 7-11 - The Advocate

The 2020 construction season got off to a slow start because of pandemic-induced restrictions. Overall, though, industry observers here say the season finished better than expected, and 2021 is expected to even better.

About $30 million in public work is expected to continue into next year in the city, Marlene Feist, public works director of strategic development for the city of Spokane says. An additional $50 million in new work is also on the slate, including a $10 million investment package in street maintenance that will be delivered through 2021.

Major projects next year include the replacement of the deck on the Hatch Road Bridge, the next stage of rebuilding Sprague Avenue from Division Street to Grant Street, and work on the Cochran Basin, which will include infiltration of the stormwater in the basin. Water from the basin will be used on the Downriver Disc Golf Course for water features, says Feist. Other improvements will be made to T.J. Meenach Drive and the traditional Downriver Golf Course as part of the project.

The largest continuing project is the $18 million rebuild of the Post Street Bridge. An additional $15 million in water tank installations could also occur on the South Hill and near the Spokane International Airport, Feist says, though those projects are dependent on finding a suitable site and finishing additional permitting requirements.

On the residential side, Joel White, executive officer of the Spokane Home Builders Association, says builders are struggling to keep up with the demand.

Labor continues to be a hurdle, he contends. Construction companies saw a brief shutdown in March that saw several layoffs, and many workers declined to return to the workforce once the industry was allowed to restart work a few weeks following the shutdown, White says.

Additionally, supply chain disruptions made building materials, especially lumber, skyrocket in price in June, he says. Those price hikes drove up the cost of new homes, he says.

Through the first 11 months of 2019, 1,446 single family homes were permitted in Spokane County. This year has seen a marked decline, with 1,182 single family homes being permitted. However, White says, more multifamily buildings and duplexes were built this year than last.

In commercial construction, Cheryl Stewart, executive director of the Associated General Contractors Inland Northwest chapter, says she expects to see a decrease in public works projects as local governments grapple with smaller budgets.

She notes there are several big-budget transportation projects slated to begin this year, including large freeway projects and the continuation of the North Spokane Corridor.

Stewart says she expects to see fewer retail structures being built in the near future, while manufacturing and multifamily work will remain steady or grow.

Jim Frank, founder of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Homes, says in-migration will continue to drive up demand for residential construction in Spokane and Kootenai counties. Frank says he expects to see strength in the medical and office space markets; however, he adds, retail is expected to take a major hit as the pandemic accelerates trends toward online buying.

Read more:
Construction activity likely to be strong in 2021 - Spokane Journal of Business

Bisnow/Jon Banister

The Boro, with the residential buildings in the background and Boro Park in the foreground.

This year has been a tough one for commercial real estate developments. From New York toCalifornia, projects have been stalled as developers grapple with everything from worker safety to uncertainty surrounding the future of the market. But in one Virginia community, development continues to soar.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, developers in Tysons, Virginia, have moved forward with their plans for massive mixed-use projects. The Fairfax County government has ambitious goals to transform Tysons into a more walkable, sustainable urban center that will be able to meet the needs of 100,000 residents and 200,000 employees by the year 2050 a major undertaking considering that the current population of Tysons is around 23,700.

Even during the pandemic, Tysons has been dotted with cranes for commercial and residential developments, said Victor Hoskins, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. This is a concrete testament to the value that developers, businesses and people see in locating in a quickly urbanizing center, and it validates the vision of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to transform this collection of suburban office parks and malls into a walkable, transit-oriented 21st-century city.

The Fairfax County government has been working hard to support local businesses during this difficult time and help keep Tysons expanding.

Read on to learn about some of the major development projects that have been under development in Tysons over the last several months and the key initiatives that have kept the local economy humming.

Capital One Center

In 2018, Capital One opened up a new headquarters in Tysons. Since then, several new buildings have been developed along what has been dubbed Capital One Center, and many of these projects were still under construction during the pandemic. As of August,offices, a hotel and retail space were all under construction, and a Wegmans grocery store opened in one of these spaces last month.

The Mile

This past October, real estate development group Kettler announced that it had broken ground on the next phase of its ambitious mixed-use project known as The Mile. Kettler plans to take 45 acres of unused space northwest of Tysons Galleria andturn it into a mix of residential, office, hotel and retail space totaling 2.8M SF.

The Boro

In October 2019, the first phase of The Boro, a mixed-use development that was cited as one of the first projects in the plan to make Tysons more walkable, was delivered. The development, located at the intersection of Westpark Drive and Greensboro Drive, was designed to feature apartment buildings reaching 32 and 13 floors, a 25-story condo building, a 20-story trophy office tower and a five-story boutique office building.

In May of this year, at the height of the pandemic, The Meridian Group, the lead developer behind The Boro, filed plans for a 1M SF expansion of the project to add additional retail and senior housing to the development.

Tysons Central

Tysons Central is a mixed-use office project under development located close to The Boro and Tysons Galleria. Once complete, this388,206 SF space will feature luxury offices and 18,650 SF of retail space. Developer Foulger-Pratt has yet to announce a signed tenant.

Local Businesses Get The Help They Need

For these new developments to thrive, there needs to be a strong local economy in place to help support them. To keep Tysons local businesses afloat during this difficult time, organizations like the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, the Northern Virginia Pro Bono Law Center and Start Small Think Big have teamed up to create the COVID-19 Pro Bono Collaborative, which isoffering free legal assistance to small businesses in Northern Virginia to help them with federal assistance, grant and loan programs, leases and employment issues.

Local businesses have also been encouraged to contact the Community Business Partnership or the George Mason Small Business Development Center for help applying for small-business grants, or for counseling sessions on steps they can take to support their companies.

Planning For The Holiday Season

To help Tysons residents support local businesses this holiday season, malls and outdoor shopping destinationshave made modifications to make the shopping experience safer.

Tysons Corner Centers retailers are offering shopping by appointment, both in-person and virtually, and many are offering curbside pickup, as are some stores at the Tysons Galleria.

Tysons is in the process of transforming itself, and its not letting the pandemic get in the way. From new office and retail developments to new fire stations and transit centers, theres a lot to look forward to in Tysons.

The rest is here:
The Pandemic Hasn't Stopped the Building Boom In Tysons - Bisnow

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JBG SMITH (NYSE: JBGS), a leading owner and developer of high-quality, mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market, has completed construction of 1770 Crystal Drive, an approximately 273,000 square-foot office building in National Landing. The entire 259,000 square-foot office portion of the 14-story building is now leased by Amazon as part of its HQ2 expansion to Northern Virginia.

The opening of the newly reimagined 1770 Crystal Drive coincides with the two-year anniversary of Amazons selection of National Landing as the location of its second headquarters and JBG SMITH as its partner to house and develop the project. The building was completed two quarters ahead of schedule and under budget.

Amazons offices at 1770 Crystal Drive are part of the initial 537,000 square feet of existing National Landing office space the company agreed to lease from JBG SMITH in November 2018. Since then, Amazon has continued to grow its National Landing leased footprint, which now encompasses 857,000 square feet across five JBG SMITH buildings.

In addition, JBG SMITH is managing the construction of 2.1 million square feet of office space in two sustainably designed towers, 50,000 square feet of community-serving retail, and more than an acre of public open space, representing the first phase of Amazons new headquarters in National Landing.

The return to productive use of 1770 Crystal Drive represents yet another significant milestone in National Landings ongoing transformation into a vibrant 18-hour neighborhood, said Matt Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of JBG SMITH. We are thrilled to partner with Amazon and accommodate its growing presence in the region as we continue to make progress on its modern new headquarters.

Working with Gensler, JBG SMITH has reinvented 1770 Crystal Drive with a striking contemporary design. A floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall and metal panels form the buildings sleek new faade, and a redesigned two-story lobby with high-end finishes create an elevated arrival experience. New outdoor terraces constructed on the upper floors offer expansive views of the DC skyline, Potomac River, and Reagan National Airport, and a double height pedestrian colonnade highlights 1770 Crystal Drives transformed retail spaces and storefronts. The buildings mechanical systems have also been upgraded, and the elevators have been modernized with destination dispatch technology.

1770 Crystal Drive is conveniently located just a short walk from the Crystal City Metro and VRE station and sits adjacent to a recently completed street-level retail project along Crystal Drive.

About JBG SMITH

JBG SMITH is an S&P 400 company that owns, operates, invests in and develops a dynamic portfolio of high-growth mixed-use properties in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Capital region, including National Landing where it now serves as the exclusive developer for Amazons new headquarters. JBG SMITHs portfolio currently comprises 20.7 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily and retail assets, 98% at our share of which are Metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 17.1 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit http://www.jbgsmith.com.

Original post:
JBG SMITH Welcomes Amazon to Newly Renovated 1770 Crystal Drive - Business Wire

(Updated at 2 p.m.) Plans to demolish Alpine Restaurant on Lee Highway have been approved, inching forward the planned construction of The Childrens School daycare facility.

Despite the approval, the permit to demolish the building at 4770 Lee Highway, held by Trinity Group Construction, has yet to be issued.

Once a payment is received, the permit is then issued, said Andrew Pribulka, a spokesperson for the Arlington Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, in an email. Demolition may not begin until permits have been issued and posted.

Trinity has applied for two other permits, one to excavate and anotherto build the facility.

Requests for comment from Trinity and The Childrens School were not returned.

The progress comes two-and-a-half years after theCounty Board unanimously approved a permit to build a three-story daycare facility for children of employees of Arlington Public Schools, to be built where the long-time restaurant has stood vacant for a decade.

The private, nonprofit child care center will oversee no more than 235 children of APS staff between the ages of two months and five years old. This new facility will also be home to Integration Station, a program for kids with developmental or other disabilities.

Both the co-op daycare and Integration Station are temporarily housed in the same Ballston office building at 4420 N. Fairfax Drive. The programs were co-located in the Reed School building in Westover, but were forced out when APS decided to open a new elementary school there.

The Reed School is set to open to students in 2021.

One year after approving the project, the Board approved a request to eliminate off-site parking and modify initial architectural plans.

Most parking is below-ground with some above ground, and the plans now includes a third-story rear play deck and an expanded rear wall to shield neighboring houses from car headlights, a concern from residents.

Alpine Restaurant served Italian cuisine and was in business for 44 years before closing in 2010 upon the owners retirement. It was acquired by the owners of the Liberty Tavern Restaurant Group, which ultimately decided against opening a new restaurant there.

Photo via Google Maps

Read more from the original source:
Demolition of Alpine Restaurant is Approved, Kickstarting Work on The Children's School - ARLnow

Leaders of REBNY, the Building and Construction Trades Council, the Building Trades Employers Association and the New York Building Congress all framed the low number of new project filings as a major threat to the citys economic recovery.

This 10-year low point for new construction activity calls for an all-hands-on-deck response by elected officials and a laser focus on policies that will generate jobs and growth without setting back crucial recovery efforts, REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement.

Brooklyn saw the largest number of project filings during the third quarter at 128, while Queens projects made upthe greatest percentage of total square feet at 38.6%, according to the report.

The largest Queens project was a mixed-use building spanning almost 500,000 square feet at 90-02 168th St. in Jamaica, and the largest Brooklyn project was a mixed-use building spanning about 240,000 square feet at 2700 Atlantic Ave. in Cypress Hills, according to the report.

REBNY's analysisfeaturedmultiple proposals for reinvigorating the city's construction industry. These included prioritizing and expediting major developments already in the pipeline, such as Sunnyside Yards and the remainder of the World Trade Center. The industry group also proposed developing a regionalmaster plan for transportation infrastructure thatwould focus on projectssuch asthe Second Avenue subway extension and the LaGuardia Airport AirTrain connection.

The analysis also recommends doing more to incentivize developmentin life sciences, a sector that has historically been stronger in cities such asSan Francisco and Boston than in New York.It specifically suggests making the Industrial and Commercial Abatement program available for new life science construction projects and creating a new tax abatement program for projects that dedicate at least 40% of their space to life science purposes.

In addition, it suggests allowing for as-of-right conversions of Class Band C office space to residential space as a way of making it easier to create new housing. Ideas around office-to-residential conversionshave become more prominent duringthe pandemicamid lingering skepticism about the resilience of the citys office market in the face of widespread workfrom home.

Investment in construction and large-scale infrastructure projects are what drive a robust economic recovery, BCTC President Gary LaBarbera said in a statement. These projects create thousands of jobs that lead to family-sustaining careers with benefits, and thats exactly whats needed to generate the economic activity and mobility that will help New York City turn the corner on this economic crisis.

See more here:
REBNY report finds New York construction hits lowest level of activity since wake of Great Recession - Crain's New York Business