— By John Manning — Owners and developers have great intentions when beginning construction projects, but sometimes life happens and those projects get delayed or even get stuck, coming to a screeching halt for unforeseeable reasons. In 2020 other outside challenges have made troubled projects more commonplace such as the economic impact of Coronavirus. If you find your construction project stalled, stuck or otherwise troubled, don’t let time go by idly. Begin what we call the triage process. A properly implemented triage process is key to a successful project …
construction and design
— By Justin Kissinger — Why scissor lifts rise to the top in safety. Whether young or old, short or tall, every employee has the right to be safe while performing tasks on the jobsite, and high-reach work in the construction industry is no exception. Proper ladder usage may seem like common sense, yet according to OSHA, falls remain the Number 1 cause of death in the construction industry. The good news? These falls are almost always preventable. But, it all starts with putting ladders in their place, and …
Chesterfield, Mo. — NewGround, a St. Louis-based innovative architecture, design and project management firm, has promoted Susan Fischer to director of interior design, effective July 27, with Jill Schumaier’s impending retirement later this year. Fischer has 15 years of commercial interior design experience working with clients in the financial, corporate, retail and hospitality sectors. She brings an impressive organizational skill set, excellent client relations and high-quality design experience to succeed in her new management role. NewGround is an industry thought leader in strategy, innovative design and project management. For over …
— By Beverly Raphael Altman — At RCC Associates, we are not strangers to adversity or challenges facing our industry. [EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was intended to run in May 2020 but was sidelined along with many other articles due to the onset of the coronavirus epidemic. We are running it for you here now, as a break from COVID-related material.] There is no shortage of challenges when it comes to being a leading commercial general contractor specializing in restaurant and retail construction. At RCC Associates, we …
Orlando, Fla. — General contractor Williams Company Southeast has completed Phases II and III of the 450,000squarefoot Vineland Pointe retail center in Orlando, Fla. The center’s final phases include a Cheesecake Factory and a new 65,000-square-foot “small-format” Target store that will open in August 2020. This multi-phased project spanned over 2 years of design and construction developed by New York-based O’Connor Capital Partners and its partner, LaSalle Investment Management. Williams Company is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary and is a 100% employee-owned company. The company’s operating units include Williams Company …
Irvine, Calif. — Juice It Up!, one of the nation’s leading handcrafted smoothie, açaí bowl and raw juice chains, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2020, is opening the brand’s flagship “new store prototype” location this summer in Costa Mesa, Calif. This corporate-owned location will be the first to feature the brand’s new store design and will serve as an innovation kitchen for R&D, as well as a training and test center to continually share best practices with franchisees systemwide. The flagship location is opening on Costa Mesa’s 17th …
Pittsburgh — Moe’s Southweast Grill has opened its first ever kiosk-only restaurant. Located in Pittsburgh, the kiosk-only restaurant is owned and operated by Moe’s multi-unit franchisee Mike Geiger, seats 16 and features Moe’s new brand design. The build took approximately 10 months to complete, with the final inspection scheduled for one day after the city shut down due to COVID-19 (March 13). This timely launch provides a more contactless ordering option in the time of COVID-19, as well as additional sanitation efforts have been put in place in accordance with …
Bonita Springs, Fla. — GATES Construction has added Nicole Robinson, CPA, as controller. She will oversee the firm’s accounting staff, including staff and project accountants, and will manage the production and management of all reports and accounting records. As a Certified Public Accountant with over 20 years of diversified accounting experience, Robinson will help guide the firm’s strategic financial decisions. She will be based out of GATES Construction’s headquarters in Bonita Springs, Fla. For over 25 years, GATES Construction has provided award-winning construction management, general contracting and design-build services throughout …
North Miami Beach, Fla. — FRONTIER Building has completed a new Wawa convenience store and gas station located at 530 NE 167th St. in North Miami Beach, Fla. The new 6,119-square-foot outpost is located on a corner lot which formerly housed a Krispy Kreme. It has an outdoor sitting area and six pumping stations. FRONTIER was hired to demolish that store earlier this year and recently completed the ground-up construction of a larger, more modern Krispy Kreme next door to this Wawa. This is the second Wawa FRONTIER has built …
— By Matthew Mabie — While retail & restaurant construction is considered essential business, it’s still a far cry from “business as usual.” The federal government deemed construction an essential industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it hasn’t been business as usual for restaurant, grocery and retail construction projects. In some states and smaller jurisdictions, construction in these particular industries is not considered essential and has been forced to stop. Where construction is permitted, many businesses have been shuttered or are operating under severely strained conditions. Our firm …