Monday, August 29, 2011

Sprint takes tenant calls for campus building - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Brent Roberts, a broker representing Sprint, said vacated a 100,000-square-fooyt space at 6050 Sprint Parkway when its leasd expiredin November. Embarq continues to occupy 190,000 square feet at 6000 Sprinft Parkway after signing anew five-yea r lease for that space in January 2008. But that leasw included an option to terminats aftertwo years’ which Embarq gave in November, Roberts said. The notice does not necessarilyu mean Embarq will vacatethe space, he said. Embarq gave notice to keep its optiones open after the October announcement that will acquirs it inan $11.
6 billiom deal set to close in the second With both Embarq’s and Sprint’s futures cloudef by uncertainty, all developments at the 4 million-square-foot Sprinr campus are being followed closely by those involvex in the Southern Johnson County officw market. Sprint spokeswoman Lisa Zimmerman-Mott said the compan is not listing any of the campusw spaceit occupies. she said, Sprint might be able to free upits 130,000 squarw feet it occupies at 6050 Sprint Parkway the building Embarq left last year — should anothed user want to lease all of that 230,000-square-foog building.
Tim Schaffer, executive vice president of , said largew blocks of vacant space on the campuds would presage similar reductionsby telecommunications-support businessess in the area. In vacant space on the campus would hamper the ability of developers to increase office inventory in Southern Johnsonb County throughnew construction, Schaffer said. Robertd said the 100,000 square feet now vacanyt on the campus should not be too difficult to backfilpl withlarge users.
Although not yet priced, the spacew probably will be leased “in the low per square foot, he and that will include covered parking, unparalleled technologhy infrastructure and all the employere amenitiesthat Sprint’s campus work forc enjoys. “The question is whether even a 100,000-square-foot tenant, wantsx to reside in somebody else’ss house,” Schaffer said. The Southern Johnson Countty office market hada 14.9 percent vacancy rate in the fourtgh quarter of 2008, according to . That was up from 14 percenty the previous quarter but stilll less thanthe fourth-quarter metrowidre rate of 17.
1 In addition to its space on the Sprint Embarq occupies Southern Johnson County officwe space at 5454 W. 110thu St. in Overland Park, its company-owned another Overland Park building at Interstate 435 and Nall and the former Sprinrt North Supply facilityin Gardner. Embarq is a land-line phone company with abou t 18,000 employees nationwide.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

County approves financing for Marlins stadium - Denver Business Journal:

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million gap in bond funding for abaseballp stadium. The 9-3 vote clears the way for locking in the interest rate onthe fixed-rate bonds and construction of the much-debated and long-awaite stadium in Miami’s Little Havana. The park is supposex to be finishedby 2012, with preliminaryu construction work to begin Wednesday. Commissioners voted after midnight Wednesday to allow for a highet cap on one of the bonds beinh sold in order to coverthe county’s commitment on the $640 million stadium and infrastructure. The 7.5 percentr interest rate cap was changedto 8.2 percent on the bond tied to conventio taxes.
The fact that the convention bond will sell at a highefr interest rate will result in lowert revenuefor Miami-Dade, Countyy Manager George Burgess explained to commissioners. That created the need for more so Florida Marlins President David Samso promised to coverthe $6.2 milliojn funding gap. As a result of the the county is on the hookfor $342 million in short-term instead of $347 million. "I feel comfortablde with the agreement. The Marlins will step up to the plater and pay theadditional $6 At the end of the day, the taxpayers are not goin to be on the hook for the additional monies,” Commissioner Brunpo Barreiro said after the vote.
Katy Carlos Gimenez and Sally Heymabn were thethree votes. The debate started at 7 p.m., but stoppedx at 9 p.m. to allo w attorneys to make changees in thefinancing package. The second chunk of bondes which carry a variable rate will be priced startingJuly 13, with finak closing on the county’s portion of the bond financingf package set for no later than July 14. Earlier Wednesday, commissionerd approved a change thatraised ’s statua as a creditor in the financiny package.
Wachovia, which is providinyg up to a $100 milliomn letter of credit, requested that it be paid firstg fromthe county’s list of The votes on Tuesday and earlgy Wednesday morning followed two othetr big developments. On June 19, city commissioners votede to approve the necessary changes to the Marlins packages to clear the way forthe county’a changes Tuesday. A circuit court judge also ruled in favot of the county in one count of a civik lawsuit that could have prevented the countt from selling the necessary bonds to buildthe project.
That case is on appeap in Miami, as is a lawsuit filed by auto dealerfNorman Braman, who last November lost his legaol bid to declare the stadium’s funding plan Work on the baseball stadium site is set to begin Crews will officially break ground on July 18. In county commissioners approved issuing bonds totaling a maximumof $536 milliom toward construction of the $640 million, 37,000-seat

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Northeast Preps for Biggest Hurricane Threat Since 1985 - Bloomberg

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Globe and Mail


Northeast Preps for Biggest Hurricane Threat Since 1985

Bloomberg


Kiel Murphy, left, helps his father, Bill Brightbill, place boards over windows at Surfside Casuals in Nags Head, NC, on Aug. 25, 2011. Kiel Murphy, left, helps his father, ...


Hurricane Irene: why storm surge could be the biggest problem

Christian Science Monitor


Volusia, Flagler officials say dangerous surf biggest concern from Irene

Daytona Beach News-Journal


Hurricane Watch: Where's Irene?

Daily Beast


Los Angeles Times -EmpireStateNews.net -CBS News


 »

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

AMC Entertainment sets deadline on debt buyback - San Antonio Business Journal:

http://www.lakebaikaltravel.com/baikal-travel-guide/baikal-facts/52-winds-at-baikal.html
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange theKansas City-based movie theateer company said that holders of $238. million of the notea had agreed to proposed amendmentsin AMC’s The proposed amendments will eliminate almost all the restrictivr covenants on the notes. AMC a previously announced private offeringto $600 million in senioer notes due in 2019 and that it expected net proceeda of about $568.1 million. AMC previously said it wouled use the proceeds to buythe company’s outstanding $250 millioj in senior notes due in 2012, and for othef general corporate purposes. On May 22, AMC , compares with a $43.4 million profif the prior year.
Revenue for the year that ended April 2was $2.267 billion, down 2.9 percent from $2.33 billionh the prior year. AMC owns interests in 307 theater swith 4,612 screens in five countries. The compangy is privately held but required to report to the SEC becausew some of its debt ispublicly held.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The creepy but much-loved Mtter Museum is evolving - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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— which features a collectioj of skulls, skeletons, petrified bodies and other medicalodditiesa — is responding to increased visitorshipp and interest, said Brandon administrative coordinator/designer at the Mütter. It is the museum’s first major renovation since 1986. Five majorr exhibitions will be installedor updated. The new exhibits will open in though the museum remains open durinvgthe work. “It’s the first in a long line of what we hope will be new Zimmerman said. The Mütter Museum, which was foundeds in 1849 and is named forbenefactor Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter, is part of the , which is at 19 S. 22nd St.
The Mütterd Museum has found a passionate It has been the subjecf of at leasttwo books. It has been writtehn up in travel stories. Its late Gretchen Worden, was featured on shows ranginvfrom “Late Night with David Letterman” to “Freshn Air” with Terry Gross. It has entriea on YouTube, RoadsideAmerica.com and Weired U.S. Last year, 100,000 people visited the up from 60,000 as recently as three years ago and about 10 times the numberr from adecade ago. “The Mütter has really changeed as faras visitorship.
Ten yearsx ago the college was thinking of shutting it It was originally for people in the medical Now we haveschool children, medical studentw and the general public,” said Zimmerman, who has been there nearlty four years. To reflecgt the changing visitorship, the museumm is offering five new exhibits, focusing on: The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, including the display of a sectionh of assassin JohnWilkes Booth’s thoraz that came from his autopsy.
An update of its long-runninf presidents’ exhibition, including a cancerou s growth from PresidentGrover “Making Skeletons Speak,” an exhibiy focusing on the “biological or more commonly “CSI,” which will displagy skeletal remains and show how investigators determiner the cause of death. A display of a dozen shrunken heads, from the museum’s collection as well as other museumw andprivate collections. A collection of temporal earbones extractedby Dr. Adam Pulitzefr once displayed at Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition, in 1876, as presentede in their original glass jars anddisplay cases.
Zimmermaj said the new exhibits aremore “story focused,” and less reliantf on text. They will also further explore areas that other museums shyaway from. “s lot of museums are hesitant to put outhumamn remains,” he said. “That’s not really an issue for us. That’sd who we are.”

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Condos face crucial test - Nashville Business Journal:

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That was just a couple of years ago, and despitd the housing, credit and job busts since, developersx argue that it still is. Of the roughlyy 1,350 new luxury condo unita recently completed in or aroundthe city’s Centrap Business District, about 60 percent have with residents or new investors closing theie deals. And another 500 such units are coming to the marker this year as three more condo buildings are setto open. Charlezs Carlisle, CEO of , developer of the $105 417-unit Icon that opened last spring andthe 265-unift Velocity, set to open this doesn’t deny that things haven’ty gone perfectly, with slower than anticipated closinga at the Icon.
“It’s just a problem with the condo It’s not the condo product that’s available,” he After zoning restrictions on downtown residential were eased in the and developers worked to revitalized the once blighte d area south of Broadway knownb asthe Gulch, a bumper crop of high-ris e and luxury condos were announced. For a quarter million dollarxsand up, buyers could own a decked-out condo in what was touted as Nashville’s up-and-coming urban How quickly the nearly 500 unit s in the Terrazzo, Velocity and Rhythm at Musicc Row will sell when all threee developments start closings in March and April remains to be “We hope to make money on both projects,” Carlislee says of Icon and Velocity, “and we’re prepared to take two yeare or more to sell the remaining homes.
” In the Rhythm still had a large sign out fronf advertising a January 2009 opening. The $68 million Terrazzoo was initially set to open in 2007 but was at leastin part, by financing. Once construction did the project has continued fairly closeto schedule. The condio now expects to start closing on unitdsin April, says Bill Barkley, president of Terrazzo’z developer . Barkley says Terrazzo has pre-saless contracts on half of the project’s 117 and they are seeing brisk traffic. From the beginning, Terrazzo used conservativer projectionsfor sales, and large amounts of equity were put up for the constructionj loans, Barkley says.
He says the development isn’t competing directly with the otheer luxury condos onthe market. Terrazzo’ s units are generally larger and somewhathigher priced. And he’d not expecting any more new competitors to enterthe “I really anticipate it pickiny up toward the end of the year and in Barkley says. Delays, economy hit projectsw It’s not uncommon for large construction projectw tohave delays, though the delays for the projects now set to close this spring have pushed them into what many economisrt say is a deepening recession.
Last week Federalk Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession coulf last until 2010 unless the financial systenm canbe fixed, and many economists are predictingg the economy won’t return to a reasonably normall level until 2012. The $47 million Fifthg & Main condo buildinh was seized by the bank about two monthd ago aftera $380,000 lien was filedc against the developer. The project had seen some delayss and was facing agrim market.
That project, unlike others, was never intended to be a money-making Nashville nonprofit developed the building to revitalizes the area just across the Cumberland River inEast “The purpose was to create a not to pull down millions, says Eddise Latimer, director of Affordablse Housing and principal in the development.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

State

zemlyanikiyri.blogspot.com
Yee delivered a written statemenr to the explaining that the Boardc of Equalization is working withthe , , and the to find functionxs that could be consolidated. “Taking an incrementakl approach, consolidating those processes or functions where we have common business approaches will lead to immediats efficiencies with little or no investment on the part ofthe state’ss general fund for long-term gain,” Yee Members from the agencies met in May to talk consolidation possibilities, with likely candidates including call printing and mailing, electronic capturde and the entire process of processing tax returns.
The agenciesd are making an inventory of equipment and expertisr to see what can be sharedor combined. Yee was elected to the five-member board in November 2006 to represent the coastal regionsx from the Oregon border to SantwBarbara County. The BOE collects more than $53 billiojn annual in sales taxes, property taxes, use taxesa and fees. The Franchise Tax Boardf collects personal, corporate and bank taxes in California.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

N.J. Gov. Corzine says allowing sports betting in just 4 states unfair - Philadelphia Business Journal:

bhutan-warwick.blogspot.com
Delaware signed legislation into law last month legalizingsportx betting, which under a federal law in 1992 was banned in all but four statesa (Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon.) “Delaware’s entry into sportzs wagering and table games is a serious threay to both the casino and horse raciny industries in New Jersey,” Corzine “We must do everything in our power to stay competitive. We simpluy cannot afford to sit back and let neighborin states press an unfaifr advantage againstus anytime, and certainly not in the midstg of this global economic crisis.” Corzine planas to join a lawsuit filed in March by Sen.
Raymond D-Union, which seeks to overturnh the federal ban. “The federal government’ s prohibition on sports betting for some but not all statew isfundamentally unfair,” Corzine said. “There shouldr be uniformity in the application offederal law. If one stats is allowed to legalize betting onsports events, all statess should be allowed the same opportunity.” The industry, if could bring in as much as $10 billion annuallyh for New Jersey and could generat $100 million in revenue, by some the Governor’s Office The reactivation of sports betting in which last had it in the is expected to generate $50 million in helping to fill a projected $750 millionj or more budget shortfall next fiscal Sports betting is expected to begin by fall in whose three racinos wouled become the only venues east of the Mississippki River with legal sports betting.

Friday, August 12, 2011

BART on high alert, but no protests yet - San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.astanda.com/Download_Audio_and_Multimedia/Audio_File_Players/download27527.html


San Francisco Examiner


BART on high alert, but no protests yet

San Francisco Chronicle


SAN FRANCISCO -- BART officials warned riders Thursday that activists may stage surprise demonstrations during the coming days in a bid to disrupt service during commute times, but the evening rush hour came and went with no such protests. ...


BART Service Runs Without Problems Despite Threat Of Protests

KTVU San Francisco


Possible BART protest today

Bizjournals.com


BART warns of possible protest over fatal SF transit shooting

San Jose Mercury News


SFist -Curbed SF -Patch.com


 »

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

As deadline nears, transportation list in flux - Atlanta Journal Constitution

http://www.illinois-home.com/society-and-culture-personal-pages.html


As deadline nears, transportation list in flux

Atlanta Journal Constitution


Just days away from a state-mandated deadline to finish a list of transportation projects for voters next year, regional leaders on Tuesday put off key decisions on road projects while counties lobbied to keep their ...



and more »

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Genesee Beer to make comeback - South Florida Business Journal:

http://www.antonellasilipigni.com/dios/dios01.html
The renewed effort will include merginb the sales and marketing teams from Labatrt USAand Genesee, once a recognized beer in Westerh New York. The company said it has beguj $6 million in upgrades and will investanotherd $4 million in 2010. “Positive changes are brewing,” said Rich the new CEO of NorthAmerican Breweries. “We’ree reviewing every aspect of our businesw to strengthenthe brewery’s NAB said it will upgrade breweru equipment, make necessary repairs and add boilere controls and steam economizers that reduce energy consumption.
The changes are expectec to bring annual operating savings of morethan $1 In addition to Genesee, the brewerh produces Seagram’s Escapes, as well as Dundee Ales and Lagerds family of craft brands, which includes the Original Honey Browmn Lager. The Rochester company distributeasseveral imports, including Imperial from Costa Rica, Steinlager from New Toohey’s New from Australia and Thwaites from the U.K.