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The revitalization of Alameda Towne Centre took another step Monday as the Planning Board approved the makeover of the building that currently houses Mervyn’s department store.

The renovation will set the stage for a Kohl’s store to open at the site in March, said Mike Corbitt of Harsch Investment Realty, which owns and manages the shopping mall.

The new store comes as Borders Books Inc. is about to open as an anchor store at the mall — earlier this month the bookstore hosted a job fair for the site.

While the idea of a Kohl’s opening has raised a few eyebrows among bloggers and others who say they’d like a more upscale business, a sampling of shoppers at the mall on Thursday found most people pleased with it.

“With the economy the way it is, I think it’s a good thing when you have a new business opening,” said 58-year-old Glenn Hendrickson, a retired electrician. “How can people have problems with that? It would be a lot worse if places were closing.”

The design that the board approved Monday does not call for the footprint of the building to undergo a drastic change. But a portion of the store floor area — along the east and south sides of the building — will be converted into five smaller shops, eliminating the unbroken wall that currently exists on those sides.

Other changes include expanding the loading dock so that there will be two instead of one, with the entrances to Kohl’s being located on

the north side near the AC Transit bus stop and on the south side facing the interior.

New landscaping, benches and wooden trellises are planned, plus additional bicycle racks.

“I haven’t really shopped at Kohl’s before,” said Alameda resident Dorothy Kirschner, 32, as she was leaving Trader Joe’s. “There just hasn’t been one near where I live. But having one here is a good thing. Landscaping Idea It will give us more choice.”

The changes at the shopping mall have been in the works since at least August 2002, when Harsch Investment Realty submitted an expansion plan to the city that included everything from installing palm trees and the construction of a 7,000-square foot Safeway to securing Trader Joe’s.

It also included the removal of a Chevron service station and the construction of a Walgreens at the same site.

Tags: amp, andscaping Idea, bicycle racks, books inc, department store, drastic change, expansion plan, footprint, greens, harsch investment, Landscaping, Landscaping Idea, new landscaping, planning board, renovation, upscale business, wooden trellises
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BEIJING Beijing opens the doors this week to its latest Olympic creation, a massive glass and steel airport terminal with a graceful sloping roof that will welcome visitors to the summer games.

Fronted by pillars of deep imperial red, Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport boasts polished floors and a high ceiling dotted with triangular skylights.

The huge, airy interior will have 64 Western and Chinese restaurants, 84 retail shops, and a state-of-the-art-baggage handling system. A high-speed commuter train will whisk passengers into the city, while the runway is capable of handling Airbus’ huge A380 superjumbo.

The terminal is a centerpiece project for the 2008 Olympics designed to relieve the overloaded airport’s other two terminals and accommodate expected rapid growth in the number of visitors to Beijing.

.

Six airlines will begin flying into the terminal Friday, while others will switch over from the other two terminals in March. The Olympics start Aug. 8.

On Tuesday, the sound of hammering and the buzz of electric saws could be heard as workers rushed to put finishing touches on shops and other facilities. Glass windows and doors were polished, shelves were stocked and plastic covers were torn off chairs behind check-in counters. Electricians worked on last-minute wiring as signs with airline logos lay on the sidewalk.

Designed by British architect Norman Foster, the building attempts to combine traditional architectural elements with up-to-date technology. Its red columns and muted gold roof are meant to evoke Beijing’s imperial palaces and temples.

It took just under four years to build the terminal, its runway and most of the related infrastructure, a compressed timetable to ensure it was ready for the Olympics, said Dong Zhiyi, deputy general manager of the Capital Airport Holding Co.

The floor space of the terminal and ground transportation center covers 14 million square feet.

The Games are a source of great pride to the Chinese, and Beijing has been turned into a massive construction site over the last seven years as it undergoes a $40 billion makeover.

China’s capital desperately needed a new terminal even without the Olympics, with double-digit economic growth rapidly outpacing infrastructure expansion plans. Dong said he expects the whole airport to receive 64 million visitors this year. That is up from 50 million last year and 20 million in 2000.

Tags: centerpiece, expansion plan, rta, skylights, square feet
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The board of a 136-unit Laurelhurst condominium has struck a tentative deal to sell the entire complex to neighboring Children’s Hospital %26amp; Regional Medical Center for what backers say is more than 2 %26#189; times its market value.

If the $93 million sale of Laurelon Terrace goes through, it would give the hospital room to expand while providing condo owners with a windfall.

Owners of one-bedroom units that have been selling recently for an average of $241,000 would get more than $614,000, said attorney Peter Buck, who represented the Laurelon Terrace board in negotiations with Children’s.

The hospital would pay $729,000 for two-bedroom units that have been selling for about $287,000.

But the sale isn’t a done deal. It hinges on favorable actions by both the state Legislature and Seattle City Council. And it faces opposition from neighborhood groups concerned about Children’s ambitious expansion plans.

Buck said the sale, even if approved by the board, wouldn’t close for at least six months. Lisa Brandenburg, Children’s chief administrative officer, indicated it’s unlikely to happen before next year.

She called the tentative agreement “a very exciting opportunity … this could be a win-win for everyone.”

Laurelon Terrace, built in 1949, is just west of the hospital’s campus.

Children’s has bought more than 20 units in the 19-building complex in recent months. Buck said the condominium’s board approached the hospital about six months ago, thinking units might be worth more to the hospital as a package deal.

The tentative agreement was presented to owners Wednesday night. Several people who were present say no one spoke against it. A straw vote is scheduled Tuesday.

Jim Cole, who has lived at Laurelon Terrace for 20 years, said he supports the deal because it would provide money that older owners could use for retirement and younger owners could use to buy houses.

“Seattle has been kind of crazy pricewise, lately,” he said.

Tags: amp, expansion plan, minis, money
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Suzlon

Energy

CMP: Rs

322

Target Price: Rs

396

Citigroup has maintained a ‘buy’ rating on

Suzlon taking into consideration its acquisition of Hansen Transmission, its

expansion plans and the takeover of REpower.

According to Citigroup,

all these are steps in the right direction at a time when Suzlon is striving to

emerge as one of the one of the world’s top three wind turbine generator

manufacturers. However, the brokerage has slashed its target price to Rs 396 as

a result of the company’s rising depreciation and interest costs.

At the time of its public issue, Suzlon was more India-oriented. If

it had maintained status quo, the company could have maintained higher margins

for 3-4 years with mw sales growing at 10-20%, the report said.

TV Today Network

CMP: Rs

136

Target Price: Rs

182

ICICI Securities has initiated coverage on TV Today

Network with a ‘buy’ rating. The report highlighted the fact that

there has been a rise in TV viewing, especially news programmes, which has risen

to 7.7% in 2006 from 1.1% in 2000.

According to the broking house,

the channel’s advertising revenue has also surged to 12% owing to better

reach, time spent and demographics. However, the genre is likely to witness

fragmentation with the entry of new players. The news genre has witnessed a

deluge of channel launches in the past few years.

Also, many more

news channels are slated to be launched soon. The entry of new players will

expand the market and the genre will grow at a higher rate versus individual

players owing to fragmentation, the report said. “Incremental revenues

from subscription and radio would drive revenue CAGR at 22.9% through the next

two years. We expect TVTN’s net profit to increase from Rs 31.3 crore in

the previous fiscal to Rs 67.1 crore in FY10 at 28.9% CAGR. The stock is also

attractively valued,” the brokerage said in a note to its

clients.

Tags: expansion plan, target
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Roughly 500 of the 5,000 employees here were told by their managers that they would be let go as the company responds to the national chill in homebuilding and a slowing of the overall economy. The company declined to be specific about the types of jobs being cut, but said the impact would be across the organization.

“We have been pretty clear that we are operating in a tough business environment,” said corporate spokesman Ron DeFeo. “We see that continuing in 2008.”

Home Depot has made no significant job cuts at headquarters since shedding 300 jobs in the summer of 2006. Those departing this time will be gone by the end of the week, DeFeo said.

In December, Home Depot announced it was closing three call centers, resulting in lay offs of about 950 employees in Tampa, Chicago and Dallas in January.

Thursday’s news came on the same day that the federal government reported an unexpectedly large jump in the number of new weekly jobless claims, to 375,000 from 306,000. For months, layoffs seemed to be bumping along at modest — or even low — levels. The sudden spike raised fears that the economic slowdown of the past quarter has started to seep into companies’ plans, persuading them to trim costs: And for many companies, the largest cost is the payroll.

Home Depot is one of the nation’s largest retailers, specializing in homebuilding supplies and material for do-it-yourselfers. Corporate-wide, Home Depot has roughly 350,000 employees. The largest single group is at its Paces Ferry Road headquarters. Home Depot is the fifth-largest employer in metro Atlanta, according to the state Department of Labor.

The company reaped large profits from the boom in housing during the first half of the decade. But for more than a year, homebuilding has been in decline. Most experts do not see a reversal in that slide for many months — perhaps not until 2009.

Last fall, Home Depot warned Wall Street the housing market slowdown would hurt. The retailer said its 2007 earnings per share would decline as much as 11 percent from the year before. The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and year-end earnings later this month.

Home Depot in November reported a 27 percent drop in third-quarter earnings. At the time, Chairman and Chief Executive Frank Blake gave a gloomy outlook.

“We started the year with a more pessimistic view of the housing and home improvement markets than many,” he told financial analysts on a conference call. “It turns out we were not pessimistic enough.”

Federal law concerning large-scale layoffs requires that Home Depot pay the employees for the next 60 days — through April 4, DeFeo said. No reductions are planned at any of the company’s 2,200 stores, DeFeo said. Home Depot opened nearly 100 new stores last year.

When reporting its financial results later this month, the company will announce expansion plans for this year, he said.

The 500 jobs being cut make up a tiny fraction of the more than 2 million jobs in metro Atlanta. But the cuts have an outsized impact — for both symbolic and economic reasons, said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University. “This is not trivial,” he said. “Headquarters jobs are usually very well-paying. So any loss like this is magnified.”

In recent years, metro Atlanta has lost jobs at other corporate headquarters, often because of mergers, like BellSouth’s deal with AT%26T, or acquisitions, such as Koch Industries’ purchase of Georgia-Pacific. Delta Air Lines shed jobs when it went through bankruptcy. But Home Depot is the first local corporate icon to blame job cuts on the current economic slowdown.

People who make a decent living spend their money at stores and on housing in metro Atlanta. So each high-paying job indirectly supports about two other jobs in the economy, he said.

The Home Depot cuts are troubling, but after months of woes in homebuilding and sales, the pain was relatively predictable, he said. “This is the first major layoff we have seen from a big Atlanta employer,” he said. “But it’s still related to the housing market.”

Optimists have argued that the housing market’s troubles will be relatively contained. Moreover, they hope for a turnaround in housing within the next year.

Home Depot will be something of an indicator as to how bad the damage will be, Dhawan said.

“This is fall-out from the housing market,” said Dhawan. “They are basically hunkering down. You start with 10 percent. If that doesn’t do the job, you do another 10 percent.”

Tags: amp, expansion plan, money
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MUMBAI: In the largest

commercial property deal in India, the Essar Group has acquired Peninsula

Land’s (PLL) Kurla commercial project for about Rs 1,200 crore. Peninsula

Land sold approximately 9 lakh sq ft of commercial space to Essar Realty

Holdings at its upcoming Peninsula Tech Park project in the Swan Mills compound

at Kurla in central Mumbai for Rs 14,000 per sq

ft.

The deal is slightly bigger

than Reliance Industries’ purchase of convention-cum-commercial space at

Bandra-Kurla complex for Rs 1,100 crore last year. Essar Realty is expected to

use this property to house its group companies. Currently, Essar has several

offices in Mumbai apart from Essar House, located at Mahalaxmi. The group is

planning to consolidate its operations under one roof to save costs. The Essar

Group has interests in shipping, steel, telecom, power and

engineering.

Essar Realty

Holdings CEO Cherag Ramakrishnan confirmed the deal to ET. “We have

acquired the property. We are continuously scouting for more opportunities in

Mumbai and other parts of the country,” he said. PLL vice-chairman and MD

Rajeev Piramal declined

comment.

“As per the

agreement between PLL and Essar Group, PLL will develop and hand over an IT Park

in Swan Mills compound. The payment will be based on the progress of the

work,” a source said.

A

few months ago, PLL had sold 5.75 lakh sq ft in Dawn Mills in Lower Parel to

Alok Infrastructure, the wholly-owned subsidiary of integrated textile company

Alok Industries, for Rs 1,075 crore. Alok Industries paid around Rs 20,000 per

sq ft for the plot.

Industry

analysts pointed out that pre-sales of commercial properties is rapidly catching

up in Mumbai, which is facing an acute space shortage. Developers are selling

properties at bulk rates to raise funds.

Also

read

BSEL

Infrastructure issues GDRs worth $35 mn

Unitech plans

a realty check in south India

Tier-II

cities set for realty juggernaut: Report

Get your

dream house at an affordable cost

Recently, Swan

Mills decided to launch commercial and residential real estate projects in the

city with a total saleable area of 1.85 million sq ft. It had identified a

residential project at Sewri and a commercial project in Kurla. Both projects

have different saleable areas; 9.5 lakh sq ft for the Sewri project and 9 lakh

sq ft for the Kurla project. Swan Mills has tied up with PLL to develop and

market the project to potential buyers. Both are scheduled to be completed by

March 2009.

Similarly, PLL is

also developing office space with a total saleable area of 1.1 million sq feet

in Dawn Mills, which the group acquired two years ago.

PLL now owns around 32 million

sq ft of land and has already developed 5.5 million sq ft in Mumbai alone. PLL

has also extended its presence to Hyderabad, Pune and Goa. The company develops

residential projects under the brand name Ashok and operates under the PLL brand

for office space projects.

The

Indian real estate market is growing rapidly thanks to a booming economy and

surging demand for corporate and residence space. Heavy investment by global

funds and expansion plans of companies have driven up land values, stoking fears

of a property bubble.

According

to property consultant DTZ, Mumbai is the only city facing an office space

shortage among major cities. While 6.4 million sq ft of office space was

absorbed in Mumbai in 2006, the market is expected to absorb 7.5 million sq ft

office space in 2007 against the availability of 6.9 million sq ft this year,

resulting in a supply-demand gap of 0.6 million sq ft, DTZ said.

Tags: developers, expansion plan, rta
0

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• Youth and old heads in quality field
• Youre Credit Report During a Divorce What to Avoid
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MUMBAI: In the largest

commercial property deal in India, the Essar Group has acquired Peninsula

Land’s (PLL) Kurla commercial project for about Rs 1,200 crore. Peninsula

Land sold approximately 9 lakh sq ft of commercial space to Essar Realty

Holdings at its upcoming Peninsula Tech Park project in the Swan Mills compound

at Kurla in central Mumbai for Rs 14,000 per sq

ft.

The deal is slightly bigger

than Reliance Industries’ purchase of convention-cum-commercial space at

Bandra-Kurla complex for Rs 1,100 crore last year. Essar Realty is expected to

use this property to house its group companies. Currently, Essar has several

offices in Mumbai apart from Essar House, located at Mahalaxmi. The group is

planning to consolidate its operations under one roof to save costs. The Essar

Group has interests in shipping, steel, telecom, power and

engineering.

Essar Realty

Holdings CEO Cherag Ramakrishnan confirmed the deal to ET. “We have

acquired the property. We are continuously scouting for more opportunities in

Mumbai and other parts of the country,” he said. PLL vice-chairman and MD

Rajeev Piramal declined

comment.

“As per the

agreement between PLL and Essar Group, PLL will develop and hand over an IT Park

in Swan Mills compound. The payment will be based on the progress of the

work,” a source said.

A

few months ago, PLL had sold 5.75 lakh sq ft in Dawn Mills in Lower Parel to

Alok Infrastructure, the wholly-owned subsidiary of integrated textile company

Alok Industries, for Rs 1,075 crore. Alok Industries paid around Rs 20,000 per

sq ft for the plot.

Industry

analysts pointed out that pre-sales of commercial properties is rapidly catching

up in Mumbai, which is facing an acute space shortage. Developers are selling

properties at bulk rates to raise funds.

Also

read

BSEL

Infrastructure issues GDRs worth $35 mn

Unitech plans

a realty check in south India

Tier-II

cities set for realty juggernaut: Report

Get your

dream house at an affordable cost

Recently, Swan

Mills decided to launch commercial and residential real estate projects in the

city with a total saleable area of 1.85 million sq ft. It had identified a

residential project at Sewri and a commercial project in Kurla. Both projects

have different saleable areas; 9.5 lakh sq ft for the Sewri project and 9 lakh

sq ft for the Kurla project. Swan Mills has tied up with PLL to develop and

market the project to potential buyers. Both are scheduled to be completed by

March 2009.

Similarly, PLL is

also developing office space with a total saleable area of 1.1 million sq feet

in Dawn Mills, which the group acquired two years ago.

PLL now owns around 32 million

sq ft of land and has already developed 5.5 million sq ft in Mumbai alone. PLL

has also extended its presence to Hyderabad, Pune and Goa. The company develops

residential projects under the brand name Ashok and operates under the PLL brand

for office space projects.

The

Indian real estate market is growing rapidly thanks to a booming economy and

surging demand for corporate and residence space. Heavy investment by global

funds and expansion plans of companies have driven up land values, stoking fears

of a property bubble.

According

to property consultant DTZ, Mumbai is the only city facing an office space

shortage among major cities. While 6.4 million sq ft of office space was

absorbed in Mumbai in 2006, the market is expected to absorb 7.5 million sq ft

office space in 2007 against the availability of 6.9 million sq ft this year,

resulting in a supply-demand gap of 0.6 million sq ft, DTZ said.

Tags: developers, expansion plan, rta
0

• Zip off to Mexico for cruise filled with fun food
• Youth and old heads in quality field
• Youre Credit Report During a Divorce What to Avoid
• Your US Immigration Questions Answered
• Your Home Business and Your Kids
• Your Guide To Cleaning Fireplaces
• Your First Apartment
• Your Complete Attention is a Wonderful Gift to Your Kids
• You Need To Avoid Using Certain Carpet Cleaning Chemicals
• You Have One Chance to Raise your Children Successfully

MUMBAI: In the largest

commercial property deal in India, the Essar Group has acquired Peninsula

Land’s (PLL) Kurla commercial project for about Rs 1,200 crore. Peninsula

Land sold approximately 9 lakh sq ft of commercial space to Essar Realty

Holdings at its upcoming Peninsula Tech Park project in the Swan Mills compound

at Kurla in central Mumbai for Rs 14,000 per sq

ft.

The deal is slightly bigger

than Reliance Industries’ purchase of convention-cum-commercial space at

Bandra-Kurla complex for Rs 1,100 crore last year. Essar Realty is expected to

use this property to house its group companies. Currently, Essar has several

offices in Mumbai apart from Essar House, located at Mahalaxmi. The group is

planning to consolidate its operations under one roof to save costs. The Essar

Group has interests in shipping, steel, telecom, power and

engineering.

Essar Realty

Holdings CEO Cherag Ramakrishnan confirmed the deal to ET. “We have

acquired the property. We are continuously scouting for more opportunities in

Mumbai and other parts of the country,” he said. PLL vice-chairman and MD

Rajeev Piramal declined

comment.

“As per the

agreement between PLL and Essar Group, PLL will develop and hand over an IT Park

in Swan Mills compound. The payment will be based on the progress of the

work,” a source said.

A

few months ago, PLL had sold 5.75 lakh sq ft in Dawn Mills in Lower Parel to

Alok Infrastructure, the wholly-owned subsidiary of integrated textile company

Alok Industries, for Rs 1,075 crore. Alok Industries paid around Rs 20,000 per

sq ft for the plot.

Industry

analysts pointed out that pre-sales of commercial properties is rapidly catching

up in Mumbai, which is facing an acute space shortage. Developers are selling

properties at bulk rates to raise funds.

Also

read

BSEL

Infrastructure issues GDRs worth $35 mn

Unitech plans

a realty check in south India

Tier-II

cities set for realty juggernaut: Report

Get your

dream house at an affordable cost

Recently, Swan

Mills decided to launch commercial and residential real estate projects in the

city with a total saleable area of 1.85 million sq ft. It had identified a

residential project at Sewri and a commercial project in Kurla. Both projects

have different saleable areas; 9.5 lakh sq ft for the Sewri project and 9 lakh

sq ft for the Kurla project. Swan Mills has tied up with PLL to develop and

market the project to potential buyers. Both are scheduled to be completed by

March 2009.

Similarly, PLL is

also developing office space with a total saleable area of 1.1 million sq feet

in Dawn Mills, which the group acquired two years ago.

PLL now owns around 32 million

sq ft of land and has already developed 5.5 million sq ft in Mumbai alone. PLL

has also extended its presence to Hyderabad, Pune and Goa. The company develops

residential projects under the brand name Ashok and operates under the PLL brand

for office space projects.

The

Indian real estate market is growing rapidly thanks to a booming economy and

surging demand for corporate and residence space. Heavy investment by global

funds and expansion plans of companies have driven up land values, stoking fears

of a property bubble.

According

to property consultant DTZ, Mumbai is the only city facing an office space

shortage among major cities. While 6.4 million sq ft of office space was

absorbed in Mumbai in 2006, the market is expected to absorb 7.5 million sq ft

office space in 2007 against the availability of 6.9 million sq ft this year,

resulting in a supply-demand gap of 0.6 million sq ft, DTZ said.

Tags: developers, expansion plan, rta
0

• Zip off to Mexico for cruise filled with fun food
• Youth and old heads in quality field
• Youre Credit Report During a Divorce What to Avoid
• Your US Immigration Questions Answered
• Your Home Business and Your Kids
• Your Guide To Cleaning Fireplaces
• Your First Apartment
• Your Complete Attention is a Wonderful Gift to Your Kids
• You Need To Avoid Using Certain Carpet Cleaning Chemicals
• You Have One Chance to Raise your Children Successfully