When I was a child growing up in Atlanta, the Lenox Square Shopping Center opened. At the time, it was one of the most remarkable retail centers in the southeast. There were two department stores–Rich’s, which was still owned by Mr. and Mrs. Rich, and Davidson’s, which is now Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. There was also …
When we made the decision to trade our offices in a corporate environment for a 16-acre campus, a garden was part of our plan. We saw a garden as part and parcel to the building, a place of beauty where we would all learn to eat a bit better. Beyond the fruits and vegetables that …
We are currently involved with the rebuild of a major United Way campus. This involves bringing an existing multistory office building constructed in the 1950s to current standards, including a new skin. Most of our projects that have a new curtain wall as a component are structural steel frames, but this project is reinforced concrete. …
I am fortunate to be a part of the Master’s of Real Estate Development (MRED) program at Auburn University. It’s a 2-year tract targeted at people who have been out of school and working for a while. The focus is “training a new generation of executives to build places that matter.” I enjoyed sitting on a …
In some ways, current retail direction mirrors retail of the past, with a renewed emphasis on neighborhoods, the storefronts where we live and “the experience.” It seems retail is becoming more focused on community, creating spaces where people spend time with friends and family. Shopping is part of the experience, but not the only goal. …
We have been fortunate to participate in a number of adaptive reuse projects over the years, with the most recent being the conversion of a former industrial warehouse into commercial office space. We’re now in the early stages of converting an abandoned school into a company’s primary office. We’ve learned a lot along the way, …
If there is one constant in life, it’s change. When it comes to habits, things swing one way, then another, before finding the equilibrium for a while. Then the cycle starts over. We’re starting to see that trend in retail. For years, we’ve heard “brick and mortar retail is doomed,” but it seems the pendulum …
I think it’s safe to say that all the lighting and HVAC systems on our projects these days are high-efficiency and have some kind of “smart” element, from lighting controls to building automation systems. We’ve recently been working more with PoE (Power over Ethernet) systems. Oversimplified, the network not only controls the lighting and comfort but powers …
Natural light “sells.” Whether in an office or education environment, people will always perform better in the presence of natural light. We’re also seeing natural light play a bigger role in our projects, from both a productivity and an energy savings perspective. “Daylight harvesting” is the idea of using natural light to offset energy consumption. …
Since the first of the year, there has been lots of buzz about Opportunity Zones. Many know the program as part of the Tax Overhaul Act of 2017, developed to encourage private investment in economically distressed communities in exchange for a break in capital gains tax obligations. In this program, investors may fund a variety of …
Next month, we will be starting another conversion, this time transforming a vintage Greyhound bus station into cool office space, maintaining classic bus station features. Our customer is having fun with the project and has purchased two vintage buses to park outside, as if ready to load passengers. They might be used as conference rooms …
This morning, I was in a meeting with a customer where we discussed the adaptive reuse of a 100-year-old machine shop into 40,000 sf of Class-A offices. It’s in the right place and now is the right time. Our architect friend asked about historic tax credits, and my customer quickly said, “No way.” He was responding …