All Articles Tagged "business development"
Future of D.C. Development Will Be in Ward 8, Gray Says
(The Washington Times) — Nearly six months into his term, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray is striking a firm tone on the economic pillar of his One City plan and looking to rebound from the scandals that have surrounded the John A. Wilson Building. Mr. Gray on Monday announced plans to revitalize the job market, real estate prospects and businesses in key portions of the District, highlighting long-stagnant Ward 8 as the epicenter of new growth. The mayor laid out his economic vision at Yards Park, a part of Ward 6’s Southwest waterfront that is considered a “sign of what’s to come” for the District. A tangible portrait of the effects of the economic recession, the area has been a disappointing work-in-progress to those hoping a vibrant community will emerge around Nationals Park.
Reed Announces Plan for Women Entrepreneur Center
(AJC) — Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said in his inauguration speech that he wanted to be known as the “mayor of the small businessperson.” At a luncheon this week, he announced a plan to help some of the smallest: startup women entrepreneurs. Reed said he wants to provide office and conference room space to 20 women business owners at no charge. The facilities would be located in the former Atlanta Journal-Constitution headquarters in downtown Atlanta. Cox Enterprises, which owns the AJC, last year donated the building to the city of Atlanta.
Size of Eastern Market Neighborhood Development Project Stalls Approval
(Washington Examiner) — A major development planned near Eastern Market that neighbors call too overwhelming will have to jump through a few more hoops before it wins approval from a historic preservation panel. The Historic Preservation Review Board gave partial approval to a development that includes four buildings on one city block on the site where the shuttered Hine Junior High School sits. But developer Stanton-Eastbanc must justify the height of the project, planned to include one of the tallest buildings on Capitol Hill. ”This is time to prove you can make an exception — if not, those floors are coming off,” said the board chairwoman, Catherine V. Buell, referring to the office building planned for Pennsylvania Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets that is 88 feet tall at its highest point.
Downtown Will Face Stiff Competition From Redeveloped ‘Burbs
(Washington Examiner) — The District’s downtown core is bouncing back after the recession, but officials say they’re concerned that its higher office rents will drive businesses to the suburbs. In its annual report released Thursday, the Downtown Business Improvement District said downtown’s rent of $60 per square foot for top-rate office space is second only to New York City’s Midtown district. In terms of value, however, D.C. is tops. According to the report, which uses data from real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, office sales in all of D.C. last year averaged $496 per square foot — $9 more than New York’s Midtown. But with D.C. now averaging nearly twice the cost of suburban office space, officials say there’s a downside.
Stimulating African American Economic Development: Lessons from G.M.
(Washington Informer) — President Barack Obama reached another significant milestone on the long difficult road toward economic recovery of the economy in the United States when General Motors (G.M.) recently launched one of the largest initial public offerings (IPO) in American history. I believe that the proper stimulus investment in the African American business community will also bring a much-needed economic recovery. To the astounded pseudo-economists and near-sighted politicians who vociferously criticized President Obama for using federal stimulus funds to reorganize and stabilize G.M., the fact is the stimulus worked. The investment of taxpayers’ dollars worked to save G.M. jobs and to catalyze a financial rebirth of G.M.
District’s Shaw Neighborhood Preps for $520-Million Hotel
(Afro) — On Nov. 10, Washington, D.C. Chairman-elect Kwame R. Brown, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Mayor-elect Vincent C. Gray and leaders from the Washington Convention and Sports Authority (WCSA) gathered to inaugurate ground in the District’s historic Shaw neighborhood in preparation for the 2014 opening of the Marriott Marquis Convention Center Hotel, located at Ninth St. and Massachusetts Ave., N.W., across from the Washington Convention Center. The site will be expected to fuel the surrounding community with both construction jobs and long-term hotel jobs once construction is completed.
Georgia Fights to Lure Business
(AJC) — Despite a tough economic climate, Georgia last year saw a 2 percent increase in the number of companies coming to the state, along with an 11 percent rise in the number of jobs promised. Still, the Peach State wasn’t one of the top 10 destinations for business relocation. Georgia ranks sixth in overall business climate, according to this month’s Site Selection magazine, which tracks the competition among the states. Every state wants economic development, usually aiming for a mix of home-grown expansions and move-in businesses. But they must pay a price for that development. Getting into the contest means ponying up — money for marketing, for improvements to local infrastructure, for tax breaks.
Could Streetcar, Food Trucks Put ‘Sweet’ Back in Sweet Auburn
(AJC) — When Pamela Joiner first heard Atlanta had won funding for a streetcar that would travel a loop between Sweet Auburn and Centennial Olympic Park, she didn’t believe it. She’s still a bit cautious. Agreeing with streetcar boosters that it could be transformational for Sweet Auburn, she also has seen a lot of good ideas for the area wither. “I thought they were pulling my leg,” said Joiner, manager of Curb Market, a popular dining and food destination on Edgewood Avenue. “A lot of people were in line for that money.”
When You Can’t Go Big, Go Niche
(Entrepreneur) — Not many CEOs can say that they served as a U.S. foreign service diplomat in Leningrad during the Cold War. And certainly, not many CEOs can say they were kicked out of the former Soviet Union for being accused of espionage. But Wild Planet Toys founder Danny Grossman isn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill CEO. When Grossman founded the San Francisco-based Wild Planet Toys in 1993, he knew he had to distinguish his company from larger competitors. To do so, he started by identifying emerging nicheindustry segments. In the process, he discovered something unique about the toy industry.
Developers of Dupont Underground Are Far From the Light at the End of the Tunnel
(Washington Post) — It’s a tough sell: Showcase art or open a restaurant 20 feet below ground in tunnels once used for trolley service and a fallout shelter. It was tried once before, in the mid-1990s with a food court called Dupont Down Under. Within a year that experiment failed. District officials and developers are now moving ahead with new plans to convert tunnels beneath Dupont Circle into art galleries and possibly a restaurant and a winery, akin to several subterranean public parks and retail spaces in Manhattan and France. But officials and artists are skeptical about whether tenants will flock to a space so hidden and removed from the heavily trafficked Connecticut Avenue NW corridor.
