![]() In a bid to alter and improve its retail profile, Sears, Roebuck and Company has announced plans to open a series of what it is calling “smaller format” stores. While typical Sears department stores have measured around 160,000 square feet on average, and the company’s Grand Stores have been as large as 225,000 square feet, the smaller stores are expected to come in at anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 square feet. The new format will emphasize the goods that made the more than 100 year-old chain famous in the first place: tools, home furnishings, and appliances. The initial stores are also going up in the kind of mid-sized markets that Sears has for decades dominated: Anchorage, Alaska; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Overland Park, Kansas. “We are here to serve these communities and this is a part of our strategy to maintain a presence in markets where we have right-sized our footprint,” said Peter Bourtours, the chief brand officer for Sears, in a statement. How many of the new small format stores will be built, and where they will be located, has not yet been announced. Ironically, the new Overland Park store, which is being built out in a shopping mall space that once belonged to a furniture store, is in a city that once had a traditionally large Sears store. That 209,000 square foot space was built more than fifty years ago, but was closed in 2017 as one of the more than 500 stores shut down by the company. The structure has since been sold. The new smaller format stores in Anchorage and Lafayette are also being built in refurbished shopping mall space. By Garry Boulard
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![]() A company that has won a national reputation for its filtrated milk has announced plans to build a 300,000 square foot production and distribution plant in Goodyear, Arizona. The project will go up inside the city’s thriving 1,600-acre Palm Valley 303 Business Park. The Chicago-based Fairlife LLC, founded in 2012, produces a number of popular dairy-based products that are distributed by the Coca Cola Company. With an existing production facility in Coopersville, Michigan, the company has become known for its popular Core Power beverage, which is marketed to appeal to athletes; as well as the chocolate drink Fairlife Yup! and Fairlife Smart Snacks with Honey and Oats, among other offerings. The company, processing milk through a series of filters that removes 99 percent of the lactose, produces a product that also has 50 percent less sugar than regular milk, but substantially more calcium and protein. With annual revenues in excess of $100 million, Fairlife has in recent months been engaged in an effort to not just to find a location for its new plant, but to enter into partnerships with area diary farms that understand its ethic. In a statement, Tim Doelman, chief operating officer for the company, said Fairlife settled on the Goodyear area because it has farms that are “willing to follow Fairlife’s responsible animal care and sustainable farming practices, while producing the highest quality milk.” Work on what will ultimately be a $200 million facility is expected to begin later this year with an anticipated late 2020 completion date. By Garry Boulard ![]() The largest city in Colorado with the largest infrastructure system in the state is thinking about creating its own transportation and infrastructure department. As proposed, the new department would provide oversight to a multi-modal transportation system and would be tasked with planning, designing, and constructing specific individual transportation projects throughout the city. The department’s mandate would also include the operation and maintenance of new and existing transportation systems. City officials additionally say that the current Department of Public Works would be folded into the larger Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. By so doing, there would be a better coordination between such tasks as repairing existing sewers and building new roads. The idea, which will require a change to the city’s charter, now has to go to the Denver City Council, which will decide whether to put it on this November’s ballot. In a statement, Eulois Cleckley, executive director of the city’s Public Works Department, said a new and comprehensive department addressing the bike, car, and transit needs of the more than 700,000 people who live in Denver just makes good sense. Combining public works with infrastructure and transportation into one agency, said Cleckley, would create an enhanced “project delivery approach that takes transformation and infrastructure projects from concept to completion in a more integrated, sequential, and coordinated manner.” By Garry Boulard ![]() Architects on average make around $88,000 annually, says a new report just issued by the Washington-based Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compiled by the bureau’s Occupational Employment Statistics division, the report places New York architects on the top of the salary rankings, making an average of $109,000. Architect salaries in Utah were ranked the lowest at $67,000. In the West, both Colorado, with an average architect salary of $73,000, and New Mexico, where the average was $72,000, were ranked in the bottom ten states. Arizona was ranked slightly highest with an average architect salary of $95,200. But the Grand Canyon State scored higher in a separate category as the state with the biggest increase, at 21 percent, in architect salaries from 2016 to 2017. In looking at these numbers, Forbes magazine says everything is context: “It’s not particularly surprising to see states such as Massachusetts, California, Alaska, and New Hampshire rank high because they are also among the top 10 states with the highest median household incomes.” “However,” the magazine continues, “states like Alabama and West Virginia have median incomes of $46,472 and $44,061 respectively, which are among the lowest in the country; yet architects in these two states earn on average $91,380 a year and $89,200 a year, respectively.” The New York-based Architect’s Newspaper also urges caution, noting “It’s no secret that even in the highest-ranking states on this list, New York, junior and interns, or up-and-coming designers usually under the age of 30, receive significantly less money until they earn their licensure.” Even then, adds the publication, “those newly-minted architects aren’t given promotions or raises. It depends on the ethics and goals of the firm in which they work.” The report additionally notes that there are currently about 103,100 architects working in firms in the U.S. By Garry Boulard ![]() Members of the Tucumcari City Commission have given the green light to a project that will see the building of a new apron at the Tucumcari Municipal Airport. The apron will allow for additional space to load and unload aircraft, and will also provide a place for turning planes around. The project is expected to cost just over $111,000 to build. The airport, located at 6352 Quay Road, roughly six miles to the east of downtown Tucumcari, is also planning to add onto a building that is used for housing a snow-removal and sweeping truck. Airport officials say the current structure is not long enough for a truck with attachments. The addition to the structure will cost some $100,000 to build. The vast majority of the funding for the projects is coming from the Federal Aviation Administration, with smaller amounts made up by the City of Tucumcari and the New Mexico Department of Transportation. The airport, which hosts around 11,000 aircraft operations yearly, has previously received FAA funding to the tune of $475,000 for the rehabilitation of a portion of its terminal parking lot, as well as another $135,000 for the installation of an emergency generator. By Garry Boulard ![]() A series of one-story brick structures that are more than 60 years old will soon be demolished in a growing section of Denver to make way for the construction of a modern new apartment complex. The project belongs to the Akron, Ohio-based RB Dexter Five LLC, and will go up at the border of Denver and Glendale, a separate enclave in the greater metro area. Glendale has increasingly become a haven for apartment dwellers in recent years with rents for one-bedroom units generally averaging between $1,500 and $2,500. As announced, the project would see the construction of a single five-story building housing just over 100 one- and two-bedroom units. The project site is in the 900 block of Dexter Street, just down the street from several multi-story apartment complexes, and six miles to the southeast of downtown Denver. RB Dexter Five purchased the parcels making up the site last fall for a combined $3.5 million. Project designer is the Denver-based OZ Architecture, which specializes in residential and retail work, among other areas. By Garry Boulard ![]() Despite predictions of a slight downturn in the national economy, one industry forecast is expecting to see a 3 percent increase in total engineering and construction spending for the rest of 2019. The FMI Corporation, an industry analysis firm with offices in Denver, among other locations, notes in particular that “Spending growth in 2019 is expected to be led by public investment across both nonresidential buildings and nonresidential structures.” Although the predicted 3 percent increase is good news for the industry, says the FMI’s North American Construction Outlook, it is slightly off from the 4 percent total engineering and construction spending recorded last year. The segment charted to see the most growth for this year is transportation, which will, says the FMI report, be up by 9 percent, followed by public safety projects with a 6 percent increase, and both educational and manufacturing facility work, up by 5 percent. Categories slated for spending decreases this year include religious institutions, down by 5 percent; multifamily projects, also off 5 percent; and lodging projects, down by 2 percent. The report is additionally predicting a 5 percent jump in highway and street spending due primarily to increases in state and local revenues, and a 2 percent increase in sewerage and waste disposal projects spurred by the passage of the federal Water Infrastructure Act late last year, as well as the reauthorization of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. By Garry Boulard ![]() Court buildings throughout New Mexico are in line for a series of facility upgrades as a result of legislation approved by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Overall, Senate Bill 280 provides for more than $900 million in funding for a variety of projects including upgrades to senior centers, new roads, and flood control infrastructure. But the legislation, with spending scheduled for fiscal years 2019 to 2023, is also providing nearly $1.8 million for the planning, design, and construction of extra space at the busy Second Judicial District Court in downtown Albuquerque. The money for that project, which will also pay for equipping the new courtroom, will additionally see the demolition of an existing courtroom space on the building’s third floor. Lawmakers also approved $1.5 million for general facility and technical upgrades at all magistrate courts and judicial district courts in New Mexico, funding that will also be used to purchase and install security systems. An additional $800,000 will go for the planning and construction of facility improvements and new telephone systems at the Fourth Judicial District Court in central New Mexico, and the Ninth Judicial District Court on the eastern side of the state. The Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court is also slated to received $230,000 in state funding to purchase and install upgrades to its existing security access control systems, an effort that will include both software and hardware upgrades. In signing the legislation, Lujan Grisham, noting the large number of infrastructure projects that will be funded by the bill, remarked, “New Mexican individuals and families deserve that we do our best to allocate capital resources to projects that meet the needs of local communities and prioritize our most significant need and common goals.” “Viewed as a whole,” the Governor continued, “this legislation furthers those ends.” By Garry Boulard ![]() The City of Las Cruces may see the construction of a new skateboard park. Skateboard enthusiasts in the city say the existing 20 year-old skate park at 151 N. Walnut Street is not up to current skateboard park standards. That park, roughly 2 miles to the east of downtown Las Cruces, was built at a cost of $300,000. Attending a recent meeting of the Las Cruces City Council, those enthusiasts prompted council members to promise to consider options for designing and building an entirely new skateboard park. That park could be built at a new site in Las Cruces, or may entail a reconfiguring of the existing Walnut Street park. It has also been suggested that a handful of smaller skateboard parks could be constructed at various locations in the city. The number of skate parks built nationally since the construction of the Walnut Street park has exploded and now totals around six hundred. According to the nonprofit, skateboard Tony Hawk Foundation, such parks on average measure just under 12,000 square feet. The largest parks are seen in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, among the other Mountain region states, measuring on average around 16,000 square feet. The average cost for such parks nationally range between $134,000 and $315,000. By Garry Boulard ![]() Newly constructed and existing airport facilities could see a 13 percent increase in the incorporation of smart technology measures between now and 2026. So says a report issued by Transparency Market Research, a market research and analysis firm based in Albany, New York. “The global smart airport market has gained huge traction in the last couple of years,” notes a press release for the report, adding that there is “a huge demand for modernizing old airports.” While acknowledging that the smart airport movement is worldwide, the report also predicts that North America is likely to see the most growth in the sector due to the large number of high tech, information systems, and transportation construction companies in the region. Smart airport technology includes everything from self-boarding gates to check-in kiosks and self bag drops. Industry analysts say the growth in smart airport technology is partly reflective of the growth in airport traffic itself. According to the International Air Traffic Association, the number of global air passengers has increased from 2.5 billion in 2008 to around 4.4 billion last year. At the same time, passenger complaints regarding ticketing, baggage, and flight disruptions have more than tripled, a sign that many airport facilities are overloaded and not using technology to its best advantage. Among the many smart technology advances that airports both nationally and internationally may adopt, says the Transparency Market Research report, are enhanced security systems due to the “high demand for biometric devices in airports for checking and identification processes.” By Garry Boulard |
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