This week might be a quiet week, at least around Alachua County. It is officially Spring Break for the Public Schools. I know many will be taking their kids to the beach. I hope you all have a happy and safe trip!
As you know, we partnered last year with the AGC of Greater Florida(AGCGF), to produce its Constructor magazine and annual membership directory. The latest issue of Constructor is now available. To view the Spring issue of Constructor, click here, or click on the magazine cover to the right. The spiral-bound Membership Directory closes next week and will be available early June.
Each week, I have shared the latest news from Marty McFall's Caring Bridge Journal. Checking the website that has been following Marty's progress, http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/4martymcfall, we learned that Marty has now been given permission to put weight on his feet. It is amazing to see the progres that Marty has made and our prayers continue to be with him.
Finally, I wanted to share with you all that our Editor and friend, David Greenberg is is going through a difficult period. The matriarch of the Greenberg family, David's mother, is under hopsice care. David's brothers have come to Gainesville and the family is all together during this difficult time. Anyone who knows us knows that David is more than just my editor, he is family. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family during the coming days!
|
|
|
|
www.BuildingEdgeMagazine.com
Our April issue, with its annual spotlight on the Builders of the Parade of Homes™, was due to be online today, and in the mail for towards the end of this week. Due to unforseen circumstances, we are delayed by a couple days. The National Feature is on kitchens. Our Developer Spotlight in this issue is on Deltona Corporation. We will be covering the parades in Alachua and Marion counties. This issue will also include the inaugural Buyer's Guide. Once we finish producing the guide, it will be available through this email and online, as well as in print. Look for this issue to arrive right before the start of the Parades.
Our May issue is now closed and in production. It will feature, The Enclave Apartments developed by Collier Enterprises, and constructed by Davis and Sons Construction. The National Feature will be on Outdoor Living: decking, landscaping, fencing, outdoor lighting, retaining walls, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces.
June is now open for sales. Our feature is on Claeys Construction. The National Feature will be on Doors: entry, interior, patio and overhead. This will be the issue that we recap the Spring Parade of Homes™.
We are excited about these issues, and look forward to your participation.
Our Winter 2008 Commercial issue, featuring Trunnell Construction, is online.
The Spring 2008 issue of Commercial Building Edge has finished printing and will start shipping this week. It will also be online in a few days. 2007 Marion County Small Business of the Year Stentiford Construction Services, led by Paul Stentiford is our cover story. We are also in the process of developing a website for Paul and his team with a hopeful launch date right around the time this issue is published. Bookmark this site at www.stentifordconstruction.net.
In the Summer, we will feature Brian Crawford, owner of Concept Construction of North Florida. Brian is also the president of the Columbia County Builders Association.
HOME™: Living in the Heart of Florida:
Our Spring issue of HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida finished printing this weekend and will start shipping on Wednesday. Distribution is at over 450 locations, including the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce, Ocala Marion County Chamber of Commerce, Newberry/Jonesville Chamber of Commerce, Williston Chamber of Commerce and the Gainesville Regional Airport. If you would like to view the Winter issue online or subscribe to the magazine, please view us at www.LivingintheHeartofFlorida.com. The Spring issue will be online this week. Also, tune in to WCJB TV 20 Tuesday Night, as Paige Beck will be introducing the issue over the air. |
|
|
Paddock Mall Management Plans Renovation
Simon Property Group officials unveiled their plans Wednesday morning to renovate the Paddock Mall. By the end of November, the 28-year-old facility will have a new look inside and out. "Our goal is to create a family-friendly environment," said Paddock Mall Manager Valerie Beaubrun, who spoke at a brief press conference at the interior entrance to JC Penney. "We want to create a nicer, cleaner atmosphere." Beaubrun said renovations will begin in May on the flooring, entrances, restrooms and kiosks. Entrances will feature automatic doors and new landscaping. The food court will be expanded, Beaubrun said, and new seating arrangements - black, khaki and white leather seats surrounding marble-top coffee tables - will be added throughout the concourses. "We want to open things up and give this place a more updated feel," she said. Simon officials hope to complete the renovation before the Christmas holiday rush. They plan to do most of the construction work at night while the mall is closed.
What Lies Beneath
As the Archer Square shopping center is demolished for a new department store, photos that appear to show fossils on the site have come to light. While there is some doubt the photos actually show prehistoric bones, they illustrate the lack of protections for fossils in a region filled with them. The photos show objects found in a sinkhole that opened on the Archer Road site in the early 1980s. An engineer who worked for the shopping center owner took the photos and the negatives were later given to his attorney, Don Reid. Reid, who now lives in Bronson, Mich., said news that the center was being demolished for a Kohl's department store led him to mail the negatives to The Sun. "I just hung onto them and thought you could do something with them," he said. The photos more likely show eroded limestone than prehistoric bones, said Richard Hulbert, manager of vertebrate paleontology collections for the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Click Here
Commission Considering Some Industrial Buffers
Residents living next to proposed industrial sites could avoid some of the sights and sounds associated with heavy industry. Lake County commissioners Tuesday approved on first reading an ordinance that could require business owners with new industrial developments to put up sound barriers, keep their buildings more than 100 feet from property lines, keep dust-generating materials under wraps and pave and water roads on the property to keep down dust. Residents from the Arlington Ridge subdivision, through attorney Leslie Campione and resident Bob Merriam, said the ordinance was not anti-business and in fact made it easier for a business to know exactly what it has to do to get started in Lake County. A nearby cement plant and its operator have been good stewards when it came to requests from Arlington, they said. The new ordinance would make sure all new industrial developments would do the same.
Click Here
McIntosh School Has Eyes Focused on New Facilities
Monday morning's chilly mist didn't stop 100 McIntosh Area School students from forming a circle in the charter school's courtyard for announcements and the Pledge of Allegiance. Standing at attention shortly after 8 a.m., with hands over their hearts, the students sang in unison Monday morning's patriotic song, "God Bless America." The school's principal and director, Shirley Lane, instructed the children to head off to their portable classrooms on land off U.S. 441, just south of the town of McIntosh. It was on this land, from 1927 to 1948, where the brick McIntosh School once stood. It was closed six decades ago when School District officials decided to consolidate schools. Ever since then, the old building sat unused and slowly deteriorated, crumbling into a pile of rubble. In 2003, Lane and Cary McCollum, who is now McIntosh's mayor, joined forces to open a charter school on the property.
Click Here
Close to Home: Housing Market Stable in Gainesville, Fla.
Though it isn't far from the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, Gainesville is an inland city that never saw the scorching highs and deflating lows that have shaken real estate in the state's sandy coastal cities.
The median home price and sales of existing homes have slipped lately, but some positive signs have recently emerged. "I think we're heading in the right direction," says Craig McCall, president-elect of the Gainesville Alachua County Association of Realtors. More buyers, McCall says, are beginning to look at properties, and agents are starting to receive more offers. Gainesville, which lies in north-central Florida, has escaped the waves of foreclosures that have struck many other U.S. cities. Foreclosure patterns have varied widely in Florida, a report issued last month by the University of Florida Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies concluded.
Click Here
UF Habitat Chapter Has Candy House-building Competition
The Reitz Union North Terrace was looking sweet this week, and not just because of candy houses made of graham crackers, gum balls and white gooey frosting. "The Candy HabiHouse Building Competition" displayed these edible creations Thursday as part of Habitat for Humanity's "Act! Speak! Build! Week."
The organization designed the series of events to raise awareness on its main goal of eliminating poverty housing and homelessness. "This is basically a week of hopefully putting our actions where our words are," said Paul Loschak, 21, president of the UF chapter of Habitat for Humanity and a third-year mechanical engineering major. This week's activities started Tuesday with an informational event, known as the Shack-a-thon, and came to a delectable close with the candy housebuilding competition Thursday. Wednesday's event was a silent auction, which raised $2,876, he said.
Click Here
Legislature Muddies Springs Protection
The future of Marion County's legislation to clean up and protect Rainbow Springs and Silver Springs remains murky. The task force that the County Commission appointed to recommend changes to the failed springs protection ordinance was originally supposed to get back to commissioners by the end of March, which did not happen. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, state Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation, has unveiled his own bill to launch a pilot springs protection program around Silver Springs and Rainbow Springs in Marion County. Saunders' bill has caused some heartburn locally. County Commissioner Stan McClain said he supports springs protection, but did not like the "top down" approach coming from Tallahassee.
Click Here
Home Buyer Education Clinic
In celebration of Fair Housing Month, the Alachua County Equal Opportunity Office and City of Gainesville Office of Equal Opportunity are partnering with the Alachua County Affordable Housing Coalition to present a Homebuyer Education Clinic. The free event will be held April 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Santa Fe Community College, Main Campus, Building S., 3000 N.W. 83rd St., Gainesville, FL.
Hourly workshops will be provided in both English and Spanish for homebuyers on topics such as Fair Housing, Steps to Homeownership, Are you Ready to Buy?, and Down Payment Assistance. Professionals will be on hand to help homebuyers determine their buying power. In addition, representatives from local realtors, builders, lenders, not for profit housing agencies, and government agencies will be in attendance to provide information regarding the home buying process.
Click Here
MCBIA Calendar of Events
BANCF Calendar of Events
Click Here> |
USGBC Heart of Florida Chapter
|
|
|
Southeast Building Conference Coming Up
It's time to make your plans to attend the South's largest regional building industry trade exposition and educational event -- the Southeast Building Conference (SEBC) and its co-location partner, GreenTrends, set for July 30-August 2, 2008 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Now in its 30th year, the SEBC is presented by the Florida Home Builders Association while GreenTrends is the annual trade show and conference of the Florida Green Building Coalition.
Click Here>>
Real Estate: Going Green Cuts Costs
When Terri Moore decided to build her company's spec home in Rockledge, she wanted to use green techniques to be sensitive to the environment. What she didn't realize at the time was that those practices would also be kind to the bottom line. "Everyone thinks if you build green, you're going to spend more money," said Moore, managing member of Nautica Realty Group and Nautica Builders on Merritt Island. "I thought the same thing until I got into bidding apples-to-apples." What she found was that not only would environmentally friendly products and techniques save the homeowner in utility and maintenance costs, but some of the construction costs would be lower, as well. She's one of many Brevard County builders and others in the trade who are learning more about green building and becoming committed to the idea.
Click Here
Florida Attempts to Go Green
With Gov. Charlie Crist making climate change one of his signature issues, Florida lawmakers are in a high-stakes debate about reducing air pollution and revamping the state's energy laws. The House and Senate are considering proposals that could have broad implications for utilities, businesses and homeowners. The proposals seek to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, increase energy efficiency and help build more nuclear-power plants. At the same time, some lawmakers and interest groups worry the proposals would drive up electric bills for consumers. Here is an overview of key issues in the debate:
Congress and many states, including Florida, are trying to find ways to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and other pollutants that scientists say are warming the planet. By now, most people have seen the images of Arctic ice melting. But scientists warn that global warming also will cause rising sea levels that could threaten Florida's coastlines.
Click Here
County Commission
Bay County commissioners are trying to help revive the housing market, which has been in steep decline for almost two years. The decision to cut impact fees came after a lot of debate and a little compromise.
The county commission meeting got a little animated today. The topic on everyone's mind was the impact fees for new building projects. The original plan was to cut all four impact fees in half, but Commissioner Mike Thomas was insistent on getting rid of the transportation impact fee because admittedly the county made a mistake. Mike Thomas, District 5 Commissioner, said, "I would like to see that we suspend for 18 months all together, the transportation impact fee, because I do believe, and maybe not the way Mr. Young did that, but the way the county's doing that is wrong." After several minutes of back and forth debate and three votes the commissioners agreed 3 to 2 to approve the lower impact fees.
Click Here
Economist Aims to Jump-start Area Housing
If you look at the list of top employers in the Pensacola Bay Area, it's crystal clear this is a community heavily dependent on local, state and federal government paychecks. At the top of the list, of course, is a military population that ranges between 17,000 and 20,000. Second is local government with 15,790 employees, then 7,400 federal workers and 6,000 state jobholders, according to data compiled by the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. But there's something missing from the chamber's list.
Something big. It's the 12,300-plus house painters, plumbers, brick masons, carpenters, electricians, roofers, materials suppliers and contractors who make their living off the area's home-building industry.
Taken as a whole, it's easily one of the largest private sector industries in the Escambia-Santa Rosa area.
Yet, it's members say they're often overlooked as a major producer of jobs, and as a vital element of the area's economy.
Click Here
House Plan for Tapping Budget Reserves
House leaders Monday dropped their opposition to tapping long-term reserves to help cope with the state's budget crisis but said they would use that option only for an emergency. That could be a hurricane or a further decline in the state's slumping economy, said House Speaker Marco Rubio. It would take only a slight dip in the state's financial situation, though, to trigger the plan Rubio and Rep. Ray Sansom, the House's top budget-writer, outlined. It would let a special legislative panel take up to $1.7 billion from "rainy day" funds if needed to pay the state's bills after the Legislature adjourns in early May. "That money is there for certain times, and we made the determination that those times are now," Sansom said at a news conference. The proposal by Rubio, R-West Miami, and Sansom, R-Destin, is an indication Republican lawmakers, who control both chambers, are running out of spending to cut as they try to balance the budget in the face of declining tax revenues.
Click Here
Palm Beach County Commissioner Wants an Energy Task Force
With a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lessening reliance on fossil fuels and easing home ownership costs, Palm Beach County Commissioner Bob Kanjian is calling for the creation of a county task force to promote energy efficiency and conservation. Kanjian, who owns businesses tied to the housing industry, said Monday that he envisions a panel of architects, builders, county officials, conservationists and developers crafting, among other things, new financial incentives for builders. The Republican commissioner said the proposed task force should consider drafting major discounts on building permit fees for those who design, build or retrofit structures to meet certain "green standards," such as homes that use less electricity.
Click Here
Developer Plans Rental Projects on Two Sites
The real estate market might stink for sales, but a local company is betting big that the rental market remains strong. Phillips Development and Realty, a Tampa-based company, purchased two sites in Brandon and Riverview and plans a pair of projects worth $61-million. "The Tampa-area rental market is growing significantly despite softness in other sectors," said Donald Phillips, managing director of the company, in a release announcing the projects Wednesday. The company plans to build two projects. Phillips Delaney Creek, on 49-acres near the intersection of Progress Boulevard and Falkenberg Road in Brandon, will include three- and four-story buildings housing 290 apartments. The project is projected to cost $30-million. At Phillips Magnolia Park, to be built on a nearby 19-acres, the company plans another 300 units at a cost of $31-million. Both projects are expected to break ground later this year.
Click Here
Economic Panel May End
County commissioners this week discussed plans to dissolve an advisory committee created more than 15 years ago to review and make recommendations on bond issues and economic incentives for new businesses in Lake. In January, economic consultants advised commissioners that the Industrial Development Authority, a 15-member board composed primarily of area business leaders, might be slowing decision-making. Commission Chairman Welton Cadwell said Tuesday that because it is not necessary to keep the board, he would prefer that county commissioners act as the agency themselves. That means they would meet as the IDA to discuss economic matters before deciding on them as county commissioners, he said. "The IDA was set up as a sounding board," Cadwell said. But now, he added, "we don't need two [groups of] people making the same decisions."
Click Here
Largest Fla. Power Companies Need to Increase Electricity Output
Florida Power & Light will need to increase electricity production by 25 percent over the next decade to meet rising demand, the company said Tuesday. In a document outlining its plans for the next 10 years filed with state regulators, the state's largest electric company said it expects to have more than 5 million customers by 2017. Electricity usage will also increase by 16 percent for each residential customer by then.
FPL plans to build new nuclear generators at its Turkey Point facility south of Miami and to upgrade existing nuclear generators there and in St. Lucie County to deal with the growth. The company said it also plans to aggressively pursue alternative sources of energy, including solar power, and is also seeking to build a new natural gas generator at a plant in Palm Beach County.
Click Here
Florida House Speaker Pushes More Tax Cuts
In the face of multibillion-dollar spending cuts contemplated for health care and schools, House Speaker Marco Rubio is pushing a plan that could curtail state and local government spending even more. Rubio, R-West Miami, has assigned House staff to draft constitutional language that would cap government growth, similar to the proposal that the state's taxation reform commission will try on Friday to put on the November ballot. The idea is modeled after Colorado's "Taxpayer's Bill of Rights" and would cap state and local spending at the rate of inflation and population growth, plus 1 percent, and require public votes on any tax increases. For weeks, the West Miami Republican has lobbied members of the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to forward the idea of a hard cap on revenue growth to voters. But the panel has been gridlocked over its potential $1.2 billion state budget impact by 2010.
Click Here
|
|
|
Metal Shines as a Practical Green Alternative for Roofs
More home builders and renovators are saying no to asphalt-shingle roofs, heralding a revival of interest in slate, clay tile, wood shake and other historically popular materials that are considered both aesthetically pleasing and less harmful to the environment. But most of these options are impractical. Slate and clay tile are heavy and may require structural reinforcement. Wood isn't durable and offers limited fire resistance. And next to mass-produced asphalt shingles, all of them cost a small fortune, even on a moderate-size home. There is one asphalt alternative whose resurgence is on a fast track-metal. Most often associated with quaint New England tool sheds and not-so-quaint outlets of the International House of Pancakes, metal roofs are increasingly appearing on new homes and renovations because of their style and relative affordability.
Click Here
Wall Street Opens 2nd Courter with a Band as Dow Rises 391
Wall Street began the second quarter with a big rally Tuesday as investors rushed back into stocks, optimistic that the worst of the credit crisis has passed and that the economy is faring better than expected. The Dow Jones industrials surged nearly 400 points, and all the major indexes were up more than 3 percent. Financial stocks were among the big winners after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Switzerland's UBS AG issued new shares to help bolster their balance sheets. With that upbeat news and a fresh quarter ahead of them, investors appear quite willing to make some bets that the worst of the damage from the nation's credit struggles has been felt. Moreover, the banks' moves buttressed the view that financial services companies are taking aggressive action to improve their capital bases and stave off the potential of a collapse similar to Bear Stearns Cos.
Click Here
The Quad's Not the Only Green Spot on Campus
Although college buildings can be energy-hogs with weekday-only classrooms and offices, the environmental revolution discussed in class is increasingly visible on the outside of the same lecture halls. College architecture, often caricatured as ivy-clad towers surrounding lawns hatched with student walkways, is getting a 21st century makeover. Michelle Moore, senior vice-president of the U.S. Green Building Council, says colleges are at the vanguard of the green architecture movement because they are closely associated with the generation most in tune with environmental issues. "This generation is uniquely nervous about the fact that environmental degradation could make them worse off then their parents," she says. "There is tremendously powerful interest coming from the millennial generation, and colleges understand their green commitment is critical to attract the best students."
Click Here
Senate Takes Up $15 Billion Housing Fix
The Senate began debate Thursday on a $15 billion bipartisan housing relief package that could get a final vote by next week. The legislation was crafted Wednesday by Democratic and Republican lawmakers facing election-year pressure to fast-track a response to the foreclosure crisis. The package has gotten praise from the mortgage industry, but housing advocates say it only offers homeowners modest help and is too generous to homebuilders. The proposed measures include funding to help borrowers refinance unaffordable loans and help boost activity in neighborhoods with properties in foreclosure. Also in the bill is a tax break for homebuilders, as well as a new tax credit and deduction for homeowners and home buyers. The package also contains measures to make loans that are insured by the Federal Housing Administration - which helps borrowers with weak credit or little or no cash for a downpayment - more accessible.
Click Here
Firms Seek to Make Solar Power More Affordable
Turning the sun's rays into energy is an expensive endeavor, so solar companies are cooking up financial products that lower the upfront costs for homeowners and businesses. Foster City, Calif.-based SolarCity is the latest to jump in, launching a lease program Wednesday that would slash the initial outlay for residential customers to as little as 10% of the total installation cost. "One of the most common reasons that people are unable to go solar is because of the high upfront cost," said Chief Operating Officer Peter Rive, who founded SolarCity with his brother, Lyndon, the company's chief executive. "We're hoping that it revolutionizes the way people purchase electricity." Rive said an average four-bedroom home would need a 4-kilowatt solar-electric system, which could cost about $25,000 for equipment and installation. That investment pays off financially, but it's a long wait.
Click Here
Wall Street Shows Optimism That Crisis Is Fading
Stocks started the second quarter with a soaring rally on Tuesday that sent the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 400 points, its best performance in two weeks, as investors found reasons to take heart in a fresh round of mortgage-related write-offs at UBS and Deutsche Bank and a capital infusion at Lehman Brothers, the brokerage firm. Continue to 2nd paragraph. Stocks started the second quarter with a soaring rally on Tuesday that sent the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 400 points, its best performance in two weeks, as investors found reasons to take heart in a fresh round of mortgage-related write-offs at UBS and Deutsche Bank and a capital infusion at Lehman Brothers, the brokerage firm.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 3.6 percent on the strength of a surge in shares of financial services firms. Lehman Brothers, the bond insurer MBIA and the mortgage giant Fannie Mae were among the index's biggest gainers.
Click Here
Senates Leaders Back Housing Bill
Momentum built Wednesday for a bipartisan Senate bill designed to ease the slumping housing market and help millions of families threatened by foreclosure, though economists are skeptical that it will help much. The scaled-back proposal released by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky contains an amalgam of ideas aimed at boosting demand for housing and helping homeowners saddled with subprime mortgages avoid foreclosure. The plan contains $4 billion in grants to local governments to buy and refurbish foreclosed homes, new authority for states to issue bonds to be used to refinance subprime mortgages and a $7,000 tax credit for people buying new homes or properties in foreclosure. But economists across the political spectrum were skeptical the measure would have much practical effect on the wrenching crisis in the housing market and the wave of foreclosures spreading across the country.
Click Here
|
|
|
HOK Hopes Nationals Park Will Hit Green Homerun
Baseball players are hardly alone in experiencing opening-day jitters. Less than a week before the March 30th opening of the Washington Nationals' new home, the first LEED-certified Major League Baseball stadium, scores of bricklayers, painters, electricians, and other contractors were still hard at work. Designed by a joint venture between the international firm HOK Sport, and D.C.-based Devrouax + Purnell Architects, the $611 million ballpark was erected in just under two years. Nationals Park sits on South Capitol Street, a formal axis in Pierre Charles L'Enfant's 1791 city plan, a dozen blocks south of the Capitol's iconic white dome. HOK Sport senior project designer Jim Chibnall says that the cityscape inspired his design and materials palette. Cladding the steel-framed structure are roughly 58,000 cubic yards of the beige precast concrete, which resembles the limestone common in D.C.'s landmarks, as well as glass and metal panels.
Click Here
Marriott's Time Share Launches Corporate Green Initiative
Roughly 1,500 employees in the Westwood Corporate Center, including 900 who work for Marriott Vacation Club International, officially went "green" Monday, February 25. Marriott's time-share division -- the dominant tenant in the five-building office complex across the street from SeaWorld Orlando -- launched a corporate Green Initiative that includes a recycling program for paper, plastic and aluminum products used in the business center. All Marriott employees in the Orlando office are receiving thermal travel mugs to replace Styrofoam cups, and plastic utensils in the break rooms will be replaced by biodegradable equivalents known as "SpudWare" and made from potatoes. SpudWare utensils can be washed and reused, said a Marriott spokesman, who added: "They really smell like potatoes."
Click Here
Bush Stimulus Package Will Benefit ABC Members
President George W. Bush's $168-billion economic stimulus package contains certain provisions that could be a boon for ABC members and the construction industry, particularly small business contractors, according to ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "Most of the focus on the stimulus package has centered on the rebate checks that will be sent to 130 million households beginning in May," said Basu. "But the stimulus package offers more than just rebate checks." Basu pointed out that the package contains a "50-percent Special Depreciation Allowance for Certain Property." Under the new law, a taxpayer is entitled to depreciate 50 percent of the adjusted basis of certain qualified property during the year in which the property is placed into service. This is similar to the special depreciation allowance that was previously available for certain property placed in service generally before January 1, 2005, often referred to as "bonus depreciation."
Click Here
$92M Minneola High School May be Built in Phases
A proposed $92 million high school -- the single most expensive addition in Lake County's planned campuses -- could be built in phases over several years to resolve tough budget constraints and increasing demands for more classrooms. School officials are looking to build four schools at a total cost of about $192 million. The district is expected to come up $20 million short of that amount, but the deficit could extend to $30 million or more because of huge property-tax exemptions created by voter-approved Amendment 1 in January. So the School Board is considering ways to get the most school facilities out of whatever funding they have secured. That likely will affect the high school planned for almost 2,000 students in the massive Hills of Minneola community.
Click Here>>
ABC Florida Gulf Coast Chapter Member Honored
ABC March 26 announced that Jed Dean of Skanska USA Building, Inc., Tampa, Fla., was named ABC's 2007 Beam Club Member of the Year during the association's 2008 National Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico. ABC presents the award each year to the individual who is considered the top membership recruiter. "We are proud to name Jed as the 2007 Beam Club Member of the Year," said 2008 ABC National Chairman Bill Fairchild. "Thanks to the hard work and dedication of members like Jed, ABC has grown into one of the most prominent construction trade associations in the nation. Jed's passion for ABC and his tireless efforts to help build the association serve as an inspiration for all of us."
Click Here>>
Industrial Goes Green
In the last few years, building green has evolved from an idealistic concept shared by a niche group of developers to a mainstream phenomenon in the commercial real estate industry. Most tenants demand energy efficient, sustainable facilities while property owners are focused on improving building standards to keep up with the ever-changing environmental innovation curve. As a result, the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design designation has emerged as the benchmark for environmental development. And industrial developers now are seeking out this certification for their properties. Historically, the perception has been that only build-to-suit office projects were eligible for LEED certification because industrial projects, many of which are speculative, were unable to fit into the narrow certification criteria. However, with USGBC's multitiered approach to evaluation, industrial developers now have a valuable tool kit for obtaining this sought-after status.
Click Here
Nonresidential Construction Remains Strong in February
The U.S. Department of Commerce April 1 reported that nonresidential construction spending increased slightly in February, rising 0.1 percent over January, and was up 11 percent over nonresidential construction spending in February 2007. According to ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu, 14 of the 16 reported nonresidential sectors saw year-over-year gains in February, including lodging (44.8 percent), manufacturing (28.1 percent), and public safety (27.6 percent). The two nonresidential segments generating less spending were religious construction (down 11.8 percent) and water supply construction, which was down 10 percent, a decline Basu said was unlikely to persist given the emergence of water shortages in many American communities. The majority of nonresidential subsectors also reported increased spending on a monthly basis.
Click Here
AGC of Greater Florida Calendar of Events
| |
|
|
|
|
Current Issues |
 |
Residential March 2008
Commercial Winter 2008
HOME: Living in the Heart of Florida
AGC: Constructor Spring 2008
For more information,
Please contact
Scott Costello |
| Advantage Web Design |
|
http://www.gru.com/YourBusiness/ProductsServices/builders.jsp.
|
If you are interested in joining the BANCF and taking advantage of these great opportunities,
Please visit
www.bancf.com |
|
|
