Wednesday, July 27, 2011
ARCO completes $10M Visteon facilty in Eureka - Business First of Columbus:
that will supply Chrysler's St. Louis North Assembly Plantf with interiorfinish products, the companuy announced Friday. Global automotive supplied (NYSE: VC) is leasing and operating the 217,000-square-foot office, manufacturing and distribution facilityg in EurekaCommercial Park. The new facilityg will help Visteon's manufacturing capabilities meet Chrysler'sx production schedule at Chrysler's North Assembly Plant in nearby Mo. The plant has 14,50 0 square feet of office spaceand 202,500 square feet of manufacturing/distribution The plant's employees, expected to be about 240 people, will produce cockpit modules, door trim and instrument panels.
Visteon, located in Van Buren Mich., designs, engineers and manufacture s products forvehicle manufacturers. Joining ARCO on the projectf areGateway Homebuilders, developer; GMA Design Groupo Inc., architect; Cole & Associates Inc., civil engineer; McNealy structural engineer; Kaemmerlen Electric Co. and Kaiserf Electric Inc., electrical engineers; Icon Mechanical, mechanicall engineer; Kent Plumbing plumbing contractor; Fire Tech LLC, fire suppression and CB Richard Ellis, commercial real estate St.
Louis-based ARCO Construction specializesin design-build office warehouse distribution centers, speculative warehouse health-care and medical development and construction, retail cold storage warehouses, commercial housing projects and light industrial projects.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Educating innovators and entrepreneurs in Nigeria - Washington Post (blog)
Educating innovators and entrepreneurs in Nigeria Washington Post (blog) Nigerians read newspapers on April 20, 2011, at a newspaper stand in Kano in northern Nigeria. (SEYLLOU DIALLO - AFP/GETTY IMAGES) Two new innovation centers are in the works in Nigeria. Both will offer prospective entrepreneurs a ... |
Friday, July 22, 2011
Hope Solo's delivers a kick that dunks George Lopez - USA Today (blog)
Hope Solo's delivers a kick that dunks George Lopez USA Today (blog) When Hope Solo's soccer career is over she shouldn't have any trouble finding carnival work. The goalie of the US women's World Cup team appeared on Lopez Tonight last night and answered George Lopez's challenge to drop him into ... |
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Big 12 football: Analyzing media poll - NewsOK.com (blog)
NewsOK.com (blog) | Big 12 football: Analyzing media poll NewsOK.com (blog) The Big 12 preseason media poll was released Wednesday, and no surprise at the top or the bottom. OU No. 1, Kansas No. 10. The Sooners drew 41 of the 43 first-place votes; Kansas drew 35 last-place votes, unless someone(s) voted the Jayhawks above ... |
Monday, July 18, 2011
First American affiliate buys Attleboro site - Portland Business Journal:
million. First American, on behalfr of an affiliate, bought a 5,650-square-foot buildintg called Building 5 anda three-story manufacturing facility called Buildinb 12. The Attleboro Corporate Campues was previously owned and occupied by and isa 300-acre mixed-usr office and industrial campus located just off Interstat 95 in Attleboro. Building 12 is leased to as it’s global manufacturing headquarters. Building 5 is leased to The BOCGroup Inc., a worldwide distributor of industrial gases and its The Linde Group. Preferred Unlimited Inc. is a 15-year-old commercial real estate firm which started as Preferred Real EstateInvestmentzs Inc. The company is headquartered in Pa.
First American Realty Inc. is a privately held investmen t and management firm basedin Mass. which acquires industrial and medicalpoffice properties.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Roberts backs KU Cancer Center's push for NCI designation - Kansas City Business Journal:
Roberts, R-Kan., spoke at The ’sa Westwood medical building. He said that it now takes 10 year to 17 yearsand $1 billion to bring a new drug to which Roberts called a “national disgrace.” The Nationapl Cancer Institute said in Novembert that the KU Cancer Center has a 25, 2011, application date for its efforts to get an initiakl five-year designation as an NCI cancer The months-long application processd for institutions seeking new designations begins with submission of documentation that sometimes exceeds 1,000 pagee and includes a site visit and othetr steps. The earliest that KU Cancef Center’s application could be approved is the springof 2012.
64 cancer centers receive Cancer Center Support Grants to support research to reducethe incidence, morbidity and mortalityt rates of cancer. Therw are 23 cancer centers and 41 comprehensivcancer centers. The KU Cancer Center is part of , whichb is the medical research and education arm of the Universityhof Kansas. NCI designation — KU’s No. 1 priorithy — typically is granted to academicmedical centers. KU Medical Center is the entitu that will apply forNCI • Increased regional patient access to cutting-edge clinicalk trials. • More than $1.
3 billiob in annual economic benefits inthe • An increase in KU Cancer Center’s annual NCI financinf from the current $7.5 million to about $40 NCI-affiliated institutions also attract world-classd researchers who bring NCI grantw with them, and part of the estimated increas is based on that. Many of these researchers doubldas clinicians, adding expertise and depth in various cancer-care sub-specialties.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Bill OKs MARTA food, drink sales - Atlanta Business Chronicle:
Lawmakers unanimously passed legislation that would let the transigt agency sell food and drinks at stationsw alongthe system, a proposal that could generat several million dollars a year. The bill already passed the whereit originated, so it heads next to Gov. Sonny Perdude for his signature. The other MARTA funding bill’s prospects are more complicated. The Senatw overwhelmingly passed legislation last month allowing MARTA to use all of its salees tax money for Undercurrent law, the agencyg must divide those tax receipts 50-50 betwee operations and capital The House then took a position much closed to the status quo than the voting to let MARTA steefr 60 percent of its salees taxes into operations but requiring it to set asidw the other 40 percent for capitalk costs.
MARTA General Manager and CEO Beverly Scott that withouft fullfunding flexibility, the system could be forced to eliminatew service one day a week or on
Monday, July 11, 2011
Kruglak brothers bring customer service to the security business - Business First of Columbus:
That year a story aboutg Glen andAlan Kruglak’s LLC in the Washingtob Business Journal — now framed and one of the firsf things visitors see — includeds a photo taken at the bottom of the stair s in Glen’s house because the company didn’t have an officd yet. Seven years later and settleds into an office in Genesis Security Systems has grown to 40 people androughly $15 millionb in revenue. Its sweet spot is serving companies of 100 or more peoples who need more security than the standardx key cardaccess systems. Clients include , CB . and USA Business is off a bitthis year. Roughlhy 25 percent of work comes fromnew construction, whichy is slow.
Yet the Kruglaks report a stronhg Apriland May, largely becausre they got more aggressive with sales and also negotiaterd lower rates with suppliers. This isn’g the Kruglaks’ first go-round in the securityh business. The brothers grew up working intheir parents’ downtown D.C. musid store during the 1960s and ’70s. That businessw eventually morphedinto GIC, a security systemss integrator, which the Kruglaks sold in 1995. The brothersw were enjoying a nice early retiremen t when they received visits from twoformer employees, Chria Foster and Ed Simon, in 2002.
They all felt that person-to-persobn customer service in the security industry was decliningg because the big corporations taking over the industrwere unwieldy. Service calls were taking too long. Proposals would take weeks to land ona client’s Could they start their own business The answer came as word leaked out to former GIC Genesis had its first client beforw the company opened an office. Foster and Simohn are now partners. A secret to theirt success, learned at GIC and applied to is to treat customers with the retaipl mentalityof “How can I help you?” Traditionally, security companies functionec more like contractors.
Clients outlineed their needs, then asked for bids. But “sometimes clients don’t really understand the solutionm tothe problem,” Glen says. Back on thosw Saturdays in the music the brothers had become information sources for customerx looking for updates on the latest records hittingthe shelves. They wanted theid sales team to function thesame way. “We’rwe in a relationship business, and a relationship business focuseson service,” Alan says. “If you take care of they staywith you. It’ws really not that complex.” Roughly four years ago, Genesid landed AARP as a customer.
The organization for retireews dumped its previous supplier over customeerservice problems. Larry Lupo, AARP’es safety and security manager, liked one thing in particuladrabout Genesis. The owners are directlg involved, not because they have to be, but becaus they seem to enjoy it. Founders set the visionm of where they want a companyto go, he “If they’re good at it and they’re successful, they’ve implemented that into their compan y and their people.” The importance of customer service is just one the lessonsz the Kruglaks have learned along the way. They also got an educatiohn in finances.
Their firsft company ran into debt problems inthe 1980s, something they have vowedx to never repeat. The Kruglaksx say Genesis is debt free and maintains atleastf $1 million in cash reserves at all times. The Kruglaksw also learned to seek recurring revenue streames and becomemore efficient. By keeping all of the company’w trucks fully stocked, Genesis can quickly dispatcy nearby technicians to bringmissiny parts, with the help of a GPS system that constantlh tracks all its vehicles. Keep an unrelentingy focus on the company’s customers.Becomed more efficient by standardizingyour operations.
What it Security system design, installation, monitoring and maintenances
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Why now is a great time to start up - bizjournals:
But for those who study entrepreneurship andthose who’ve started businesses during a recession — a downtur n provides great opportunities. It requires, common sense and a great idea that has a chanceof “During a boom time, when there’s plenty of moneyg available for everyone, good ideas and projectss can be competed into mediocrity,” said Bob an associate professor at Santa Clara University’s Leave School of Business and a specialist in entrepreneuriall finance. But in a downturn, Hendershott said the positives in starting a business can outweighthe negatives, in part because the opportunity to move up in a positionb or find a new job is lower.
“Spends time getting stuff out there that a potential user can he said. “Focus on whether you will have the resources to do what you set out to do and provwthe concept. It doesn’t make sense to try to sell Sun an idea if ittakee $3 million unless you have access to thosw resources.” Tom Gallatin and his co-founders at started theitr Milpitas-based network monitoring company for far less than that in 2002. The six partnerws — all technology industry veterans — chipped in about $10,00 0 each and joined what Gallatincalls “thde working wives club,” because the men relied on theif spouses’ salaries to survive.
To meet theirf space needs, they worked out of the cornedr of a contract manufacturing business that needesd help paying its utility The venture capital community wanted nothinfg to dowith them. “Wer tried about 35 VCs up and down Sand Hill and we were rejected by all of them becausw of the choice of markets we weregoiny after,” said Gallatin, who started his career at Hewlett-Packard Co. in the 1970 and went on to do stints atIntel Corp. and Tandem Computers. “Wd had a wonderful business plan, and everyone said we were goin g to make a tonof money, but we just didn’ t fit the model.” Gigamon shippeed its first product in 2005.
Now, Gigamon’sa data access systems are deployed atthe country’z largest telecom companies, including AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nexte l Corp.; cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Cox Communicationss Inc.; and hundreds of manufacturing, industrial, medical, utility and government networkss in more than 40 The businessis profitable, cash-positive and needs new office space. It plans to expans its current head count of32 “We stayed cheap, we didn’gt try to do anything fancy, and we leveragef our Rolodex resources,” Gallatin said.
“Ibn a down economy, people are out there with time ontheifr hands, and we found highly skilled peoplr at the end of the layofv cycle who were readyu to come in and take a chance because they knew In San Jose, President Jeff Kerr launchede his business placing ATMs in hotels and airportw in 1996, but decided to spin it into a franchisew business in 2002. Even after the dot-com bust and the terrorisr attacksof Sept. 11, 2001, the business wasn’ty hit hard because Kerr ran it Rents decreased as a result ofthe economy, and that helpesd Kerr find Class A officr space in downtown San Jose.
Low interest rates allowed him to buy andfinancde equipment, while the unemployment rate enabled him to hire a talentex marketing department. ACFN has sincre sold 128 ATM franchises inthe U.S. and Canada, and it becamee one of the fastest-growing companies in the listedin Inc. “The biggest advice I give people is to stay he said. “Be financially responsible and watch your use controlled growth and make sure what you do makez sense in thelong term.
” Ann managing director of Hummer Winbladr Venture Partners, started her first company in 1975, when “wed had 11 percent unemployment, people were waiting in line to get gas, the presidentf had resigned and the Vikings lost the Super she said. She launched , an accounting softwarwe company, for $500, and she sold it six years latet for morethan $15 Winblad co-founded the venture firm that bears her name in 1989. She said a downtur gives entrepreneurs acompetitive advantage, especiall if they can find investorws or get funding because “the pond is “In reality, any time is the rightg time to start a good company, independent of the Winblad said.
“It does take time to build and marcgh intothe marketplace, but you have to have a valuw proposition.”
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Southlands shopping center reopens 2 days after tornado - Houston Business Journal:
Most Southlands stores reopened atnoon Tuesday, although “somse retailers and restaurants may still remain closed,” the shoppingb center said on its website. Cleanup and damages checks have been under way atthe 1.7 million-square-foor retail complex since Sunday, when a tornado touched down nearbgy at 1:49 p.m. The twister caused moderate damage at locatedat E-470 and Smoky Hill Road. Rooftop venting and air-conditioning units were damaged, windowsz were broken, and a car was Natural gas leaks alsowere noted, and authorities shut down gas servic e for a time. Southlands, which opened in 2006, is the Denvedr area’s largest shopping center by retail space.
It consists of severap freestanding buildings connected by pedestrian corridorszand streets. The complex is owned by Granitse Southlands Town Center LLC and managed by Foresf City CommercialManagement Inc. Four other tornadoes were spotteds north and east of Denver Sunday and large hail strucksome areas. As many as 3,000 Xcel Energg customers were without power for a time in parts of Auroraand
Monday, July 4, 2011
DOT considers headquarters conversion - New Mexico Business Weekly:
The study will also evaluatw how toredevelop NMDOT’s District Five office in Santa Fe. “Thixs initial analysis by experts inthe public/privats partnership arena will provide us with valuabl information on how we can best redevelopo the two department-owned properties in Santa Fe,” said Gary deputy secretary and tansportation secretart designee. “Based on the studies, we will determin e whether to proceed with these projectsor not, and if the interestsd of the department and the state are well protectef if we decided to move The RFP was issued Dec. 16 and will be publishedr in the , the , the , the and the . Proposales are due by March 23, 2009.
NMDOy has nearly 24 acress at its sites and in 2007 considered a development that would have included a new headquarters office buildinbg forits staff. The plan was shelved by Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed an oversight committee comprised of secretaries from the GeneralServicexs Department, the Department of Finance Administration and the Departmeng of Transportation — which will coordinate and oversee the new studg process and make recommendations to the .
The RFP seeksd proposals from individuals, firms or teams of consultanta with demonstrated experiencein public/private or public/public
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Price Chopper shoppers can save money at Sunoco - South Florida Business Journal:
region can now save on gasoline for theitr car when they spend money in thesupermarket chain. Price Choppe has teamed up with more than 70 stationsx to offerFuel AdvantEdge, a progra m that has been available for more than two years in other areas serviced by the grocery Consumers can save 10 cents per gallonj at participating Sunoco stations for every $50 of qualifiedd groceries they purchase. The points/dollars can be accumulatedx overa 90-day period and spent on up to 20 gallones of gas. Sunoco customers in othed areas have saved upwards of 50 cent to 60 andeven $1 or more per through the program, according to Jeff Hassman, channel marketingv manager for the gas stations.
The numbet of participating stationswill grow, said Neil Golub, president and CEO of Pricwe Chopper. Customers must use their Price Chopper AdvantEdge card to qualifyg forthe savings. The supermarket automatically tracks the purchases that can be applied toward the fuelsavings program. Certain restrictions For instance, purchases of alcohol, gift cards, lottery tickets, video rentals and some other items don’t count toward the $50 total.