Refunds sought in the raffle of downtown loft

Attorney general says organization breached state laws. Read more

How to make a loft livable

Any open plan requires creative ways to deliver privacy and visual transitions without walls. Read more....

Company backs out of loft deal

A planned 10-unit loft development at the Hilliard Lyons building, which represented 40 percent of the city's Downtown grant program, will not happen. Read more...

Carving up loft will reduce living space

High ceilings, large windows add volume. Keep kitchen open but invest in upgrades. Read more...

The room planners: how to transform a loft into practical space

Paula and Phil Robinson, an interior design team, offer space-saving solutions, architectural advice and style tips. This week: how to transform a loft into practical space. Read More

Furniture business lures couple out of retirement

ALGOMA TOWNSHIP -- They thought they were done working. Knock on wood.

Instead, two pioneers of Amish furniture sales are back in business on M-57.

"Hayseed" Bob and "Grandma" Betty Truesdale have taken over The Hay Loft two years after selling it. Read More

Loft Development Falls Through

There's no future for the loft development planned for the Hilliard Lyons building in downtown Evansville.

An attorney for the developer, CEEM LLC of Evansville, says his client backed out because of economic concerns.

The 10 unit project accounted for 40 percent of the city's downtown grant program. Read more...

You Call This a Loft?

They started out as bohemian art spaces in low-rent places. Now they're crafty conversions and bold new construction—and they aren't cheap anymore. Read More...

New Busch Stadium Photos

New Busch Stadium is something all St. Louisans have been looking forward for a long time. It has been a long time coming but you will be surprised by it's progress. Go to http://www.babybrains.net/busch_011106/

How to make a small space feel bigger....?

Brandon and Cory have just moved into a newly built two-story loft in the heart of the city. While the couple shares an artistic sensibility _ Brandon is a photographer and Cory is a makeup artist _ their loft did not reflect their creativity. The ground floor of the space was bland, underutilized and a real mishmash of furniture and styles.

When they purchased the place, they thought their hip digs would be big enough to both live and work in, but now they are worried they might have chosen too small a space for their multitasking needs.

I knew that with some proper design and reorganization I could make the space work, but I had two big challenges before me. The first was to maximize the smallish, horizontal room and turn it into a functional loft for living, working and entertaining clients. The second was to produce a harmonious balance of contemporary and casual. While they are Eastern city slickers now, Brandon and Cory are originally from the west coast and wanted their space to incorporate a cool, laid-back feeling.

Read More

Lofty trends is coming to Tucson

TUCSON - Downtown Tucson is seeing a revival many urban planners can only dream of: a steady stream of loft and condominium developments that is changing the downtown scene.

Projects converting old industrial buildings and a courthouse and even a convent into loft-style apartments are under way. Run-down buildings too far gone for renovation, like the old YMCA building, are being razed to make way for the hot new dwellings.

One of those set to be finished soon is the conversion of an old federal courthouse annex into a high-end loft condominium project. The $8 million project is scheduled to be done next year.

Read More

THE MODERN URBAN REVIVAL

Downtown Colorado Springs has rocketed back as a hip place to live after two decades of hemorrhaging residents, a new study for the Brookings Institution found.

Nobody would mistake it for a city that never sleeps, but downtown Colorado Springs is looking good compared with a couple of decades ago. The area saw a mass exodus during the 1970s and 1980s, when the population decreased by 38 percent, leaving only 3,401 people living downtown.

That trend reversed during the 1990s as the population grew by 1,634 people, an increase of nearly half. Downtown populations nationwide grew by 10.4 percent on average during the same period.

By the end of the ’90s, Colorado Springs boasted a larger downtown population than many other cities, including Denver; Austin, Texas; Cincinnati; and Des Moines, Iowa, according to the study entitled “Who Lives Downtown.”

Read More

DMG World Media Aquires SOFA New York

The ninth annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art: SOFA NEW YORK 2006 will run under new owners. The arts exposition was recently required by DMG World Media, an international exhibition and publishing company based in London.

Read More

High-end furniture is solution for success

Oggi Modern Furnishings in Kansas City doesn’t just sell furniture.

“We sell environments and solutions in the form of furnishings,” said Guy Merola, who with his wife Kathy owns the downtown Kansas City business in the huge brick building at 600 Central St.

Oggi offers contemporary, stylish furniture as well as accessories such as carpets and rugs, wallpaper, dinnerware, glassware, stemware and related items. Among the lines you can find there are some by well-known designer Todd Oldham.

While many consumers might flock to mega furniture stores to outfit their homes, Merola said those who buy from him are looking for uncommon unique furnishings.

About half of his customers are urban dwellers, Merola said and almost an equal number are suburban folks who live in neighborhoods where some form of exterior conformity is required. That means the interior of their homes is where they make their statement or where their personalities and character can stand out.

Read More

China lures overseas furniture producers

INTERNATIONAL furniture makers are heading into China as the country moves to become the world's largest furniture production base and sales market.

Among them, Ashley, the world's second-largest furniture manufacturer, opened its doors recently in Shanghai — the company's first outlet in the Chinese market.

Featuring mass-produced, medium priced goods, the US-based furniture maker said it is set to compete with local companies by targeting the city's middle-class and upscale consumers.

"Compared with European furniture producers, Ashley's prices are lower as much of its furniture is mass-produced in China," said Chen Haibo, deputy general manager of Shanghai Expocasa Furniture Co Ltd, which is Ashley's dealer on China's Mainland.

The dealer used to sell only European furniture that was double the price of Ashley's products.

Read More:

St Louis: Bruce sets new tone for Beaumont Telephone Building

Bruce Development Co. purchased the Beaumont Telephone Exchange and plans to turn the 103-year-old-building into rental lofts.

The six-story brick building at 2654 Locust is just west of Jefferson Avenue. Preliminary plans call for the rehabilitation of the building into 75 market-rate and affordable rental lofts with ground-floor office space. It will have a mix of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms with rents ranging between $600 and $900 and units ranging between 500 and 900 square feet. The cost of development is estimated to be $10 million.

Read More

St Louis 4-unit Benton Park townhouse development for sale

The site of a former parking lot in the Benton Park neighborhood is now the location for four townhouses made up to look like a firehouse.

The development firm Derrick, Inc. is putting the finishing touches on the Lemp Firehouse Loft Townhomes at Lemp Avenue and Lynch Street.

The 2,000-square-foot, three-story, loft-style attached townhouses are selling for $349,000 to $389,000, said Derrick Thomas of Derrick, Inc. Each unit has an attached garage underneath, three bedrooms and 2-1/2 baths.

Read More

West Elm moving in

Center City gets yet another new furniture- shopping option with this week's opening of the West Elm store on Chestnut Street. The 19,000-square-foot store takes over the entire first floor of the long-vacant former home of Woolworth's.

Known for its budget-priced modern pieces, West Elm was launched as a catalog venture in 2002 by Williams-Sonoma Inc., which also owns Pottery Barn. A push to build retail locations began last year, and with that new direction came a new look for the West Elm brand - whose dark, blocky furniture and limited color palette once seemed aimed at just-out-of-college types furnishing their first lofts.
Read More

Urban transitions - The time may have come for a Manhattan lifestyle in Orange County.

Todd Nelson savors the memory of last Christmas Eve. He was sitting on his balcony, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, as a fire truck rumbled up the street, its sirens blaring.

Gone were quiet nights. Gone was floating on his back in a swimming pool, staring at the night sky filled with stars from his three-story house in the North Tustin hills.

But Nelson wouldn't change a thing about his new life in a Santa Ana loft, where he has less privacy but also a greater sense of community than in the suburbs.
More here

Furniture giant adds some zip: Ikea offer has wheels

No wheels for a holiday haul at Ikea’s new Stoughton megastore?
For Zipcar Inc. car-sharing “members” and Ikea employees, the trip just got a little cheaper — provided they don’t mind driving “advertising vehicles.”

Under a new partnership, Zipcar wrapped six of its cars in the Swedish retailer’s trademark bright blue and yellow colors and logo.

The cars are available to Zipcar members for $6 an hour — $2.50 off the normal rate — which includes gas and insurance.
Read More