Developers weathering market

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Several major projects that either came on the marke t recently or are under construction are helpingy push vacancy rates higher and leaserates That’s good for tenants, bad for ownerw and developers. But it’s not just an oversupplgy of space coupled with a shortage of tenanytdemand that’s hurting property High construction costs, including for interior tenanf finishes, and worried lendersx are also weighing on the said Michele Laumer at . From a developer’s “You’ve got the perfect storm,” Laumer said.
In Cincinnati, they are already having a tough time leasing newly completed offics buildings such as Redstonein Kenwood, Columbiwa Square in Columbia Tusculum and Keystonse Park in Evanston. With the economy sinking, no additiona projects are expected to get under way withoutysubstantial preleasing. That means “every bit of 50 if not more,” said Scott a broker at who is tryinb to line up tenants for aproposedc 300,000-square-foot office tower for the Banks. “Cincinnati has weatheredc the stormfairly We’re not at a point where we’re significantlu overbuilt,” Yards said.
If a large corporation or law firmwanted 100,00o square feet, it’s tough to put together that much desirabld space. “There’s not a lot of alternatives for big blockszof space,” he said. At not at the moment. Lurkintg on the horizon, however, is ’s Queenb City Square skyscraper, which opens downtown in 2011. The 840,000-square-footf office tower has about 300,000 squarre feet still available. And the 530,000 square feet that’x preleased by will create an exodusd out ofthat company’s current quarters at 580 Walnuyt and 525 Vine.
Add in the proposedx Banks office space, impending consolidationas by the other kind of and a few othersmaller projects, and the markegt is clearly shifting in the directionj of “overbuilt.” Dave Neyer, CEO of , said no one is doinf speculative office developments in this environment, but projects can be done if a tenanty commits up front for a sizeable chunj of space. “A user-driven project makee sense,” he said. The initial office buildinyg at Neyer’s Linden Pointe office park in Norwooed is about 90percent leased, he said, and a seconc building could get under way if it had a 50,000-square-foog anchor tenant.
Neyer is also renovatiny the 150,000-square-foot former Hennegan Printing building at West Thirdr and Central Avenue downtownfor ’as new headquarters. The rapidly expandinbg joint venture is expected to move inthis summer. Laumer citer other bright spots, too, such as relocation to the former Gruejn Watch building onEast McMillan. It more than doubledd its space. “There are deals being transacted, and thers are businesses that are Laumer said.
Still, landlords are happily accepting offeres now that they would have cringed at only a few monthzsago – including lowered lease early termination rights and rent In the past they’d have “Why would I do this Laumer said. But they’re quicklyt coming around to the realizationthat “irt might be the best deal you’re going to get for threde years.” Several major projects are changing the officw space landscape in a tough time.
Western Southern Financial Group's Queen City Square openxs in 2011, and an office tower is planned forthe

Woods left frustrated - Clubcall

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Woods left frustrated Clubc »

Small businesses find live people still best option for answering phones - Business First of Columbus:

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Just ask real estate agentt Jill Rudlerof . "I needed to duplicatee myself, have a person in the officw who could answer questionzs while I was meeting with Since 1987, Rudler has made it a policy to have a persomn answer phones. In the beginning, Rudler relied on secretariex to answerthe phones. As it turned out, returning so many calls after a day of client meetings meant many late night phone calls which became difficult to Success came when Rudler stopped trying to do itall "I hired a Realtor to handle the office while I was on appointmentsz and really saw the business she said.
Small-business owners start by doingit all, but as salesz increase, they're faced with the dilemma that they can' t do everything. The pace of today's business world requiresz immediate answers. Customers lack patience and are a Googled search away from findingyour competitors. Yet, peoplwe still prefer personal interactions. Even in today's technology-dependentr environment, 73 percent of peoplew prefer to dealby phone, 24 percent prefefr e-mail as a method of interacting and 4 percen of customers would choose live chat, according to the 2007 Aspec Contact Center Satisfaction Index conducted by , in Chelmsford, Aspect Software handles more than 125 millionh customer-company interactions annually at thousands of contact centers arounfd the world.
, a Columbus technology and software has found a way tosatisfy customers' immediate need for answers through a phone routinbg system. The system routes calls to available employees insteaed of to avoicemail system. After business hours, the phone system routes callsto employees' cell phonesx for support. "Customers preferred to talk to someone that could take saysMatt Scantland, president of Innova Partners. "Customeras get support folks who can help crucial tocustomer service. Some of our customers need problemsfixed now. Those problems can happe n at any time, 24/7.
" Investment in a telephone routingy system can require buying telephone systenm softwareand hardware. If that isn't a good fit, a specialize d answering servicemight be. The , a tradew association, recommends doing some legwork before investing in an answering The association recommends looking ata company's employee turnover. If the servicwe is not retaining employees for more thana it's a red flag. The association also advises companiezs to set up telephone numbers on theitr own and not have the answering serviceprovidd them. This way, if a business owne r wants tochange providers, she won't have to changes numbers, too.
Before choosing an answeriny service, evaluate the types of clients it Many answering services have found theirown niches, such as providing bilingual servicesd or specializing in a market segment. One such localp firm is in New This firm provides traditional answering services and specializes in handling callsw for small businesses that sell their products throughonline stores. "A live person can keep a customefr from hanging up and moving on to the next busines s onthe list," says Janene Jaroscak, founder and president of Trending Solutions.
"Ourt representatives have a customer servicde background and do more than just take Jaroscak conducts client screenings prior to taking that first phonee call and learns things abourprospective clients. "I know their history and can answer questions fromtheier perspective," she says. Most answering servicews charge per minute and sell serviced in blocksof time. At Trending Solutions, Jaroscak chargee per call, enabling her team to focuss on service. If customers need it's provided without the clocmk running. To effectively offer phone service sthis way, Trending Solutions conducts tests measuring how long average calls are and sets pricingg based on them.

City of Raleigh Named Finalist for National Sustainability Award - Raleigh Chronicle

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City of Raleigh Named Finalist for National Sustainability Award Raleigh Chronicle The US Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) and Siemens Corporation have announced that the City of Raleigh is a finalist for the 2011 Siemens Sustainable Community Award. Now in its fourth year, the Siemens Sustainable Community ... and more »

Unemployment rate falls in Allegheny, Beaver counties - Washington Business Journal:

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and Industry released seasonally adjustee unemployment figures forthe state’s counties and metropolitanh statistical areas on Tuesday. In Allegheny County, the unemployment rate fell from 6.6 percentt in March to 6.5 percent in Beaver County’s went from 8.2 perceny in March to 7.9 percent in April. The improvements in Allegheng andBeaver counties, however, were not enough to boost the seven-county Pittsburgh MSA, whic saw its seasonally adjustede unemployment rate increase from 7.2 percentt in March to 7.3 percent in Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate held steady at 7.8 percent.
When makingg comparisons, the Department of Labor and Industry uses seasonally adjustee figures in order to account for cyclical hiring differencesthat don’ft reflect changes in the overall Employment in the seven-county Pittsburgh area continues to be stronger than many other areas. In addition to besting the stated by half a percentage unemployment in the Pittsburgh MSAis 1.6 percentage points lowe than the United States as a which has seasonally adjusted unemployment of 8.9 Here is the breakdown across the State College: 5.7 percent Lebanon: 6.7 percenyt Altoona: 7.2 percent Pittsburgh: 7.3 perceny Philadelphia: 7.9 percent York-Hanover: 7.
9 percent Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton: 8.3 percen Erie: 8.4 percent Scranton-Wilkes-Barre: 8.6 percentr Johnstown: 8.7 percent Reading: 8.7 percent Withibn the Pittsburgh MSA, unemployment ranged from 6.5 percenty in Allegheny County to 9.8 percent in Armstrong Here is the breakdown by Allegheny: 6.5 percent Butler: 7.3 percent Washington: 7.6 percen t Beaver: 7.9 percent 8.1 percent Fayette: 8.9 percent Armstrong: 9.
8 percent

A&R Development picked for $17M Jonestown project - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The project falls into the city’xs aims to remake Central which has seen a wave of new developmengt in recent years building off the succesd of nearbyHarbor East. A&R, led by Anthony hopes to builda mixed-use developmen t including 107 rental apartments, 18,00 0 square feet of retail space and 156 parkinb spaces. said Tuesday it awarded the firm exclusive negotiating rightse forthe city-owned land at 110 S. Central Ave. and 1120 Granb y St. The properties combine for about 29,00 0 square feet. The BDC, the city’xs economic development arm, offered the and two others, up for redevelopmentt in August 2008.
“Thes properties give the city the opportunity totake vacant, underutilizes properties and have them renewef as private enterprises that will generate taxee and enhance the Jonestown/Washington Hill community,” BDC President M.J. Brodie said in a statement. The city also tapped Miteu LLC to negotiate for a second siteat 1301-130o E. Lombard St. Mitey is a real estatd company formedby Gerry’s Tire Service, whicn hopes to use the property to expand its adjacent Mitey plans to use the 4,518-square-footg property in the short term as a temporaryt parking lot for its business and would expand onto the city-owne d property in the future.
The city is reservinv the rights for thethirc property, at 130 S. Central Ave.

BFC Financial, Woodbridge to merge - Dallas Business Journal:

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In a joint press release Monday, the Fort Lauderdale-based companieds said they entered into a mergert agreement whereinWoodbridge (Pink Sheets: would become a whollyh owned subsidiary of BFC (Pink BFCF). BFC currently controles majority voting stakes in both Woodbridgeand (NYSE: BBX). BFC lost $58.9 million on revenue of $487.5 million in 2008. Woodbridger owns , which is building Traditionh Florida inPort St. and has investments in various companies includingfand . Woodbridge lost $140.3 million on revenus of $25.5 million in 2008.
In its first quarterr earnings report, Woodbridge warned that Core Communities coulxd default on the loans for Tradition Floridz if its lenders demand that it put more equitycapital down. Under the merger deal, all shareholders of Woodbridgre Class A common stock except BFC wouldreceivew 3.47 shares of BFC’s Class A common stockk per share. With shares of BFC openingv at 40cents Monday, it equals nearlty $1.39 a share for each sharew of Woodbridge, which opened at $1.10p Monday. Levan and Abdo are chairman andvice respectively, of both companies. The merger woulcd save between $1 million and $2 million in professional fees and SEC reportinv costs forthe companies, Levan said.
It would also reduc the taxes Woodbridge would pay on its earningxs once it returnsto profitability, he said. Currently, Woodbridgwe pays taxes on its earnings, and then BFC pays taxed on the portionof Woodbridge’s earningsz that it counts on its balance The move will not cause any staff Levan noted. Woodbridge will continued operate independently. The agreement would include all currenyt board members of Woodbridgeon BFC’s new boarfd and add Woodbridge President Seth Wise and BankAtlanticc Bancorp President Jarett Levan to BFC’s 12-member board, as well. Wise wouled also become executive vice presidentof BFC. The deal is expectedc to close before the endof 2009.
BFC share closed unchanged at 40 cents. The 52-weekl high was 95 centd on Sept. 2. The 52-week low was 6 cents on Feb. 5. Woodbridger shares closed down 2 centsto $1.08. The 52-weel high was $6.60 on Aug. 21. The 52-wee low was 2 cents on Oct. 24.