This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of Sacramento, California- Construction Equipment Rental Sacramento

Scholarships to Students Choosing a Construction Related Career

The Architecture, Construction and Engineering Mentor Program (ACE Mentor Program) was an idea of the principals of leading design and construction firms. The program seeks to encourage students to consider a construction related career and provides mentoring opportunities for designers and constructors of tomorrow.

ACE Sacramento has been quite active in the program and has helped 800 students at 11 area high school. More than 75 architecture, construction and engineering companies in the area had been participating in the program and provided 96 mentors.

ACE has now planned an event for high school students and their parents at the Aerospace Museum of California in North Highlands for March 9 to highlight career opportunities in the construction industry. Scholarships of more than $12,000 will be awarded to graduating seniors entering a construction-related trade school or college program.

Sacramento developer David Taylor, whose projects include the Sheraton Grand, Sacramento City Hall, 1201 K St., Esquire Tower and U.S. Bank Tower, will be the keynote speaker at the event.

The event is expected to attract more than 300 students, parents and industry leaders and details can be obtained at http://www.acementor.org/.

This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of Phoenix, Arizona – Construction Equipment Rental Phoenix

Phoenix is seeing a Dramatic Turnaround in Construction

The increase in construction activity in Phoenix, on-going and planned, is nothing short of dramatic. More than six million square feet of industrial space was absorbed on a net basis in 2011, a record since 2005. Demand for an additional eight to ten million square feet of space is expected from distributors and e-commerce providers in the Phoenix area.

It is not just industrial space that is seeing a revival in activity. 5,000 or more apartment units are under construction or are being planned. These include Alliance Residential Company’s 270-unit community at the south-eastern corner of Camelback Road / Esplanade Lane in Phoenix and a 264-unit block at the north-western corner of Scottsdale Road / Lincoln Drive in Scottsdale. Seven housing projects are currently under construction in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.

Developers have also purchased a number of sites while several are under escrow for new apartment construction. Many developers are buying former office, restaurant and retail sites to demolish existing buildings and construct apartments. Just a year ago, practically no new apartments were being built.

Major developments are however taking place in the industrial market. This market saw both leasing of existing large distribution and warehouse space as well as construction of new space.

Online retailer Amazon.com leased 400,000 square feet of distribution center space at 6585 W. Buckeye Road in Phoenix. Catalog retailer Cornerstone Brands leased 340,000 square feet of space at 7210 W. Van Buren Street.

On the construction front, Intel Corp. is setting up a 1.2 million square feet Fab 42 semiconductor plant in Chandler while First Solar is putting up 1.2 million square feet solar panel manufacturing plant in Mesa on the former proving ground site of GM.

The increasing demand is making some developers consider speculative development of industrial space.

This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of New Orleans, Louisiana - Construction Equipment Rental New Orleans

Rebuilding New Orleans Destroyed by Katrina

The City of New Orleans has given itself the target of razing down 40,000 homes abandoned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The areas are being cleaned up before redevelopment into habitable neighborhoods.

Presently, people are unwilling to come back and rebuild their old homes because their neighbors are not there. The few who want to come back find weedy wastelands where there was once a community they had become members of. Neighborhoods such as Lower Ninth Ward, Pontilly and Lakeview have become just that.

According to a 2010 census, 25 per cent of New Orleans homes are lying vacant. The city administration headed by Mayor Mitch Landrieu is now on a mission to tear down abandoned and uninhabitable homes. 1589 homes were demolished during 2011.

The declared objective of the exercise is to recreate the famed racial and social mosaic that characterised the city along the Mississippi River. The city had subsidized the building of 1038 new homes and renovation of 168 during last year.

However, financial and political roadblocks can hinder the administration’s goal of redeveloping 10,000 properties by 2013. Louisiana also has to contend with its property ownership rules that guarantee property rights of descendants.

The cleared properties might be auctioned off to developers or private and non-profit developers might be offered incentives to build homes and apartments for low and moderate income persons on the property.

Questions are being asked about the final outcome of the campaign. Will New Orleans end up as a city with a different complexion? Many fear that the original New Orleans with a diverse social fabric will get transformed into a smaller upscale city with more white people.

This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of Edmonton, Alberta – Construction Equipment Rental Edmonton

Edmonton Expands its Airport to Deliver Superior Customer Experience

The Edmonton International Airport has expanded its U.S.-only departure lounge by three times its original area by adding 11,000 square meters of space.  The new terminal can handle 10 million passengers a year and boasts of several great features.

It has six new gates for U.S. flights, and four each of new restaurants and shops. It will also have cushioned play areas and video game stations for children. An expanded U.S. Customs and Border Protection area will occupy four times its original space.

The new structure features terraced roofs that maximize natural lighting and views of the landscape, reportedly making finding one’s way “intuitive.” Specially commissioned art and sculpture add to the ambience of the terminal.

The design (by Stantec and partners, MMM Group and PCL Construction) incorporates more “green” elements. A “Living Wall” of hydroponically-fed plants enhances indoor air quality and is reportedly the first of its kind in any airport terminal.

CEO of the airport, Reg Miley, said:  “A world-class city deserves a world-class international airport, and that’s what this is all about.”

This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of Dallas Fort Worth, Texas -  Construction Equipment Rental Dallas

Incentives for new Housing Construction in Dallas

At a meeting of the Dallas City, Community Development Director John Locke highlighted the fact that the city had issued just 13 single-family residential permits during the whole of 2011. He also pointed to an earlier proposal to waive some System Development Charges (SDC’s) to boost housing construction.

At a meeting in late January, the City Council resolved to reduce SDC’s to boost the dismal housing construction activity. A recent newsletter from City Manager Jerry Wyatt states:  “The Council approved temporarily waiving certain System Development Charges (SDCs) for single family home construction until October 1, 2012. In order to provide an incentive for new home construction, the City will waive the sanitary sewer SDC ($3,834) on all single family dwellings and half of the water SDC ($1,876) on dwellings under 1700 square feet. This means a new house under 1700 square feet would see a reduction of $5,710 in the SDCs and a home over 1700 square feet would enjoy a reduction of $3,834.”

Certain concerns were indeed raised about the proposal. It was felt that it will lead to a glut in the housing market that will adversely affect those planning to sell their houses.  Realtors might also have to face a scenario not to their liking.

As to the revenue loss that the City will suffer, it was decided that these will be recovered through taxes on the new homes.

This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of Boston, Massachusetts – Construction Equipment Rental Boston

A $165 Million Construction Project in Boston

The Boston Development Group (BDG) hopes to start on a $165 million project, The Merano, soon. The project involves construction of 230 apartments and a hotel above retail shops, restaurants and 184 parking spaces.

The plan has been approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority recently along with a project for construction of 60 apartments in three adjoining buildings on Melcher Street in the Fort Point Channel neighborhood.

The Merano project involves construction on state-owned land across TD Garden. Bounded by Causeway Street to the north, Medford Street to the east, Valenti Way to the south, and Beverly Street to the west, the property is on land formerly occupied by the elevated Expressway.

BDG had actually got approval in 2008 to build two hotels, office space and stores on the same property.  That project did not make any progress, however.

CBT Architects is responsible for designing The Merano.

The Melcher Street project involves building 60 apartments, including 27 smaller and more affordable innovation housing units for renters in the neighborhood. The project is planned to start with renovation of 63 Melcher Street and then move to 49 and 51. The 49 and 51 Melcher constructions will have retail shops and/or entertainment at lower levels.

Parking will be available to residents at the adjacent Necco Street Garage.

Designed by architects Bargmann, Hendrie & Archetype, the Melcher project will be undertaken by a team that includes Archon Group, Goldman Properties, Melcher Street Holdings LLC, and Gerding Edlen Development.

This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of Baltimore – Maryland – Construction Equipment Rental Baltimore

Baltimore Area Ranked No 92 in Construction Job Losses

According to Associated General Contractors of America, Baltimore area lost 22 per cent of construction jobs as of December end 2011 compared to December 2006. It had only 67,100 construction jobs in 2011 as against 86,300 in 2006.

The report ranks the areas with highest job losses at the top and Baltimore was at 92 among the 337 areas included in the analysis. Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale in Arizona was at the top of the list with 53 per cent of jobs lost over the five years. The area had lost 93,600 jobs in total.

Bismark, N.D., was ranked last with a gain of 400 jobs, i.e. 11 per cent, since December 2010. Only six areas had job gains in the U.S. during the period, the others being Lawton in Okla., Longview in Texas, Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux in LA, Waco in Texas and El Paso in Texas. All of these areas reached their peaks in December 2011.

This construction equipment blog post sponsored by Volvo Rents of Austin, Texas – Construction Equipment Rental Austin

Solar Energy Case Study

Solar energy industry group in Austin, Solar Austin, is trying to persuade Austin Energy to go for rooftop solar panels for electricity generation instead of expanding the utility’s existing natural gas-fired power plant. The arguments and counter arguments serve as a good case study for solar energy versus conventional and other renewable energy sources.

While Solar Austin is emphasizing the clean energy and job-creation advantages of solar energy, Energy Austin is looking at the costs and other issues on the ground.

Solar Austin points out that the industry has been able to generate 6 megawatts of power and create 615 full time solar energy jobs since 2004 when rebates began to be offered for installation of solar panels. They want Austin Energy to generate 300 megawatts of power through rooftop solar panels by 2020.

Austin Energy officials say that the 300 megawatt solar power is an unrealistic goal considering the funding required.  To generate that much power, 15% of Austin rooftops, including consumer and commercial, would have to install solar panels. According to Austin Energy, a more realistic option for 300 megawatts would be to go in for utility-sized solar farms.

Industry advocates point to the case of CPS Energy, San Antonio’s power utility that is planning to generate 400 megawatts of power using solar energy.  The plan is expected to create at least 800 new jobs with an annual payroll of $40 million, in addition to powering 80,000 homes.

Austin Energy contends that Austin cannot be compared with San Antonio, which sells double the quantity of electricity compared to Austin. According to them, CPS energy has an additional $110 million available to spend on solar incentives because they depend on less expensive fuels such as coal and nuclear energy. Austin has been de-emphasizing these sources.

Austin Energy also points out that other clean sources of energy such as wind and biomass must also be considered. Wind generation in West Texas is cheaper than solar power, as is natural gas based generation. Austin Energy is committed to generate 35% of its energy through renewable sources and have no plans to reduce solar funding.