The commercial properties in the Iron Horse district, sitting along streets like Iron Horse Drive, have never held the same pizzazz as places on Main Street or at the mountain resorts.

There are some shops and a restaurant, but the district has long been seen as being one of Park City’s more utilitarian areas. The properties, though, taken together, represent one of the most valuable blocs of real estate under single ownership in Park City.

The owner is a firm called Wintzer-Wolfe Properties, and one of the key figures is Mary Wintzer. She is now seeking a spot on the Park City Council, campaigning on a diverse platform that includes maintaining the ambiance that brought Parkites to Park City.

There have only been sporadic mentions of Wintzer’s real estate holdings since the campaign started last summer. It is highly unusual, though, for a City Council candidate to have such expansive interests inside Park City.

The firm in 2012 held properties with a combined taxable assessed value of a little more than $14.3 million, according to a report City Hall released earlier in the year detailing the top property-tax payers in Park City. Wintzer-Wolfe Properties ranked No. 9 on the list, accounting for .22 percent of the overall taxable assessed value in Park City.

The City Hall report shows the Wintzer-Wolfe Properties holdings performed well over the past 10 years. The value rose from a little more than $10.4 million in 2003, at the time .32 percent of the overall taxable assessed value. The taxable assessed value increased 37.8 percent over the period between 2003 and 2012.

According to Wintzer, the firm’s holdings are spread over 22 commercial spaces in the Iron Horse district as well as three apartments that are rented at below market rates. A mini-storage facility is also under the umbrella of Wintzer-Wolfe Properties. The firm owns approximately 120,000 square feet of leasable space between the properties. Wintzer said another upward of 300,000 square feet could be built without the ownership needing to seek an involved City Hall approval known as a master planned development.

Wintzer and her husband, Park City Planning Commissioner Charlie Wintzer, have a 50 percent stake in Wintzer-Wolfe Properties, she said, meaning that the couple’s share of the properties would be valued at a little more than $7.1 million. The Wintzers are the general partners, meaning they oversee the day-to-day operations of the properties.

Wintzer said in an interview the couple has had an ownership stake for 30 years and built the commercial buildings over 20 years starting in the mid-1980s. Wintzer said the firm does not presently plan to further develop the eight acres of land.

“It’s been built out to our satisfaction,” Wintzer said.

She said Wintzer-Wolfe Properties could make improvements to the buildings now standing as well as further landscaping the property.

The Iron Horse district houses a diverse list of businesses, including a restaurant, an automotive shop, a guitar store and a commercial laundry operation. It has long been a popular place for businesses seeking lower rents than those paid along Main Street. The buildings have appeared to have solid tenant interest over the years.

The Wintzer-Wolfe Properties holdings sit close to some of the land under the control of Mark J. Fischer, the lead Bonanza Park developer. Fischer has ambitious ideas to remake his patchwork of properties into a hip new area of residences, retailers and restaurants. He has been in talks with City Hall since prior to the recession about Bonanza Park, and it seems that the major redevelopment of his properties would not start for at least a few years.

There are ongoing discussions, broad in nature, about the sorts of development that will be allowed in Bonanza Park in the likely scenario of City Hall redoing the rules in that area. The Wintzer-Wolfe Properties holdings would be subject to the redone rules. The Bonanza Park developer, not Wintzer-Wolfe Properties, has lobbied for changes. Wintzer has been critical of some of the ideas for Bonanza Park. She would almost certainly be prohibited from participating in the discussions or casting a vote based on City Hall’s conflict-of-interest rules if she was elected.

“It’s on record that as a citizen and as a property owner I have spoken out for lesser development” in Bonanza Park she said, noting that she is concerned about the height of buildings in the Iron Horse district and Bonanza Park.

She acknowledges that changes in City Hall’s development rules sought for Bonanza Park would apply to the Wintzer-Wolfe Properties holdings as well. If Wintzer-Wolfe Properties sells the holdings, the new owner would be able to pursue development under the redone rules. Wintzer said her family’s stake in the firm is not on the market and the family has no plans to sell its 50 percent.

“This has been my career as a small business owner for the last 25 years, developing the shopping district,” she said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A median with trees and green space, improved pedestrian crossings and parallel parking could all one day become reality on MacCorkle Avenue in Kanawha City, under a local consulting firm’s plan.

In addition, 50th Street could resemble more of a park setting with the addition of a “green spine” consisting of trees and landscaped space.

The plan, dubbed the “Kanawha City Corridor Study,” was commissioned by the city of Charleston and was first publicly presented at the annual Kanawha City Community Association meeting Thursday night.

Charleston-based GAI Consultants created the plan based on a year’s work of research, said David Gilmore, a land development services manager with GAI. GAI is the same consulting firm that developed a recently released plan to put bicycle lanes along Kanawha Boulevard West and assisted with Imagine Charleston.

For now, the plan is just that – a plan.

None of the ideas proposed are funded, Charleston Planning Director Dan Vriendt said. But, the plan will go before city council for approval, and if it passes, it can be used to apply for federal and state grants for the next decade or two.

“We can’t make an application unless we have a plan,” he said.

The MacCorkle Avenue and 50th Street improvements are all possible without the city obtaining any additional land.

Gilmore said the city-owned rights-of-way in Kanawha City are huge – 80 feet for Mac-Corkle Avenue and 100 feet for 50th Street. That means the city has great flexibility when considering improvements.

“It really frees us up to do a lot of interesting things,” Gilmore said.

Historically, he said, Kanawha City was planned around pedestrians and slow-moving vehicles – not modern automobiles.

Once use of the automobile became mainstream, the consultants said, MacCorkle Avenue became one of the main thoroughfares into Charleston from the south before the interstate system. That traffic load caused the neighborhood to lose some of the walkability it had originally.

“Those ideals are still there, they just need to be resurfaced,” Gilmore said.

The plan also divides Kanawha City into districts, beginning with the Medical District around CAMC General Hospital on the northern end of the neighborhood. The districts then transition into the “Village District,” the “Professional District,” “Main Street” (50th Street) and the “Retail District,” which includes much of the large retail stores at the southern end of the neighborhood.

Gilmore said each district could have its own vibe and unique decor, if that’s what the city decides. There could also be different changes to MacCorkle Avenue depending on the district.

For example, parallel parking and formal parking lots – all in areas the city already owns – could be added along parts of MacCorkle with a higher density of shops or restaurants. In other areas, MacCorkle Avenue could remain the same as it is now.

Residents present at the meeting were largely supportive of the plan, but wanted to make sure other problems – like parking – would be created by the plan.

“We’re not trying – and we don’t want to – push traffic into those neighborhoods,” Gilmore said of areas east and west of MacCorkle.

Gilmore said the plan will soon be available online at the city’s website for public review. In order to become an official development plan for the city, the plan will have to be introduced in city council, pass one or more city council committees and then be brought back to council for final approval.

It’s that time of year again. The pumpkin spice lattes are steaming and you may have the irresistible urge to break out the sweaters and your favorite soup recipes. Fall is officially here.

We hit a few midstate stores and stopped by the Home Design Remodeling Expo at the State Farm Show Complex earlier this month to get the latest on fall trends for your home. Whether you’re looking to do some seasonal decorating that will last through Thanksgiving or you’re planning some home overhauls in time for the holidays, we’ve got what’s hot for autumn.

Bringing fall indoors

Was it too hot this summer to even think about burning anything but citronella candles? Now that fall is here, it’s a great time to break out some autumnal scents around the house. The scents fill your home, and the vibrant fall colors add an accent all their own.

Soften up your home’s living spaces with vibrant throws, pillows and draperies. Think scarlets, rusts and yellows for the best pop of color.

Another great way to highlight the season is by bringing fall to your dining room table. Swap out your everyday dishes for place settings in shades of pumpkin or eggplant or pickup some fall-themed serveware for your next get-together. Don’t forget to use it for Thanksgiving, too.

If you don’t feel like shopping for new dishes, make a fall-themed centerpiece for your table or mantel. Check out Better Homes and Gardens slideshow or Pinterest for ideas.

Get seasonal outside

While your summer blooms may have died off, there’s still a great way to work in some color among the evergreens in your flowerbeds. Add fall accents such as gourds and pumpkins and small hay bales next to your evergreens outside. Instant fall landscaping!

Nothing says fall like mounds of mums, so hit up your local greenhouse and take your pick of their colorful selection of this fall favorite.

• Ashcombe Farm Greenhouses in Monroe Township

• Stauffers of Kissel Hill in multiple locations

• Frey’s Greenhouse in North Cornwall Township

Renovate with the season

Fall is a time when many homeowners start thinking about renovations they’d like to do before their extended family descends for the holidays. Popular rooms to upgrade are kitchens — think dark granite countertops — and baths — time for a new stone-look surround?

It’s not too late to think about the outdoors, too. Fall is a great time to add that patio that you didn’t have time for this summer. The weather is still warm enough and the endless parade of summer activities is finally over … well, unless they’ve been replaced with kids’ school activities.

Don’t think that you’re limited to paver designs. There are also stamped concrete and stone options that may better suit your home. You’ll increase your entertaining space and your home’s value.

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 14
–>

Several of the commissioners also noted that donors who contributed to the development of Barnum Park in 2009 were repeatedly reminded of those guidelines.

“I’m a little concerned about the process and the precedent of an individual who has money determining something to go in a public park,” Commissioner Rackeline Hoff said at the meeting. “If he wants to give the money as a gift, that’s one thing. But to come up with an idea on his own, and to get to the point where he’s picking out the rocks that are going in, it seems to me it progressed too far before the commission got involved.”

A PASSION FOR PARKS

Lasser was in France for business Monday and unable to attend the meeting. Here’s how he describes the project in his letter:

“The design of the garden will be Japanese-inspired. It will contain stone paths; a dry stream; hills formed by boulders; specimen conifers, Japanese maples, ground cover, and oriental grasses; boulder and rock groupings conforming to principles of Japanese garden design; and Japanese granite ‘lanterns.’ There will be no water.”

City Commissioner Tom McDaniel, an accomplished gardener himself, said he became involved in the project 6-7 weeks ago and actually looked at the boulders Lasser wanted to purchase. He also walked the park with him.

McDaniel said Lasser has a lot of good ideas for the city’s park system. A possible future donation, for example, would be for a foot bridge over the Rouge River to connect Linden Park and Linn Smith Park.

“He loves Birmingham and he has a particular eye for a lot of our parks,” McDaniel said.

Over the past year, Lasser has donated 40 trees to the city which were planted at Linden Park. He planned to purchase the rocks and boulders from American Aggregate at a bargain price of $10 per ton. The conifers would have been purchased from vendors that have existing accounts with the city.

Birmingham residents Patricia Bordman and Anne Bray also spoke up at the meeting, against the project. Their main concern was the planting of non-native trees and shrubs in the park.

Bordman pointed to the city’s master park plan and how it emphasizes the planting of “native Michigan plants.” The reason behind that is sustainability: the local insect population lives off the native plants, which in turn provides nourishment to other creatures along the Rouge corridor.

“The fewer the native plants, the fewer the insects, the fewer the birds, frogs and toads,” Bordman told the commission.

Bray also talked about the efforts to bolster the Rouge Corridor with native plantings. She even took exception to some of the non-native trees Lasser donated to Linden, and suggested the city remove them.

Overall, the tone of the meeting was appreciative. But commissioners – and residents – stood firm in their belief that a process was in place which needs to be followed.

It’s just a matter of principle.

When budgets are squeezed the office greenery is the first thing to get axed. But is this just? Kenneth Freeman explains why entrepreneurs ought to be spending their cash on plants for the office.

There is plenty of evidence to show that well-being at work affects efficiency and productivity. We know, from research literature, that physical and psychological comfort has a direct impact on it, and it’s influenced by the management of space in the workplace.

Well-being is a difficult concept to define. We probably have an instinctive idea of what well-being feels like, but how do we quantify it and know how it is composed? Martin Seligman, a well-known psychologist, has broken the concept of well-being down into five distinct elements of positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and achievement.  It is not inconceivable to recognise that all five of those elements, and especially the first three, can be can be affected by the way workplaces are managed.

So, what has all this to do with interior plants? One way to improve well-being is to ensure the working environment is designed and managed in such a way as to encourage people to thrive, and an effective way to do that is to bring together some ideas developed over the last few years by psychologists, biologists, architects and designers.

Research carried out by Craig Knight and Tom Postmes at the Universities of Exeter and Groeningen has shown that enrichment of spaces with items such as plants and art, or even fragrance, enables people to realise a sense of their own identity, which brings about improvements in productivity, engagement and well-being. Furthermore, a degree of choice by office workers in the way that such enrichment is implemented raises productivity, engagement and well-being even more. 

Independently of this research, work carried out in the 1980s and 1990s by Roger Ulrich has shown significant health and well-being benefits (mainly in terms of recovery from illness) when people are exposed to scenes of nature or views to gardens or plant displays. We also know from this, that enrichment of the environment with nature (plants, scenes of nature, views into gardens) is more effective at increasing well-being than enrichment and empowerment with abstract objects. There is a huge body of scientific literature showing that complaints associated with symptoms of sick-building syndrome (SBS) are reduced when interior plants are brought into buildings. Such effects were initially thought to be related to the physical characteristics of plants, but the main benefits seem to be psychological.

Simple pleasures such as a walk in the woods or a visit to a park have been shown to reduce stress and feelings of anxiety. Anti-social behaviour in inner cities has been linked to the lack of access to open green space (so-called “Nature Deficit Disorder”) and doctors are even prescribing walks in the countryside as part of a healing regime. In the built environment, such connections with nature can be re-built through the use of landscaping in and around buildings.

Our need for nature was identified by the American biologist, Edward O Wilson, who developed a hypothesis called Biophilia, which he defined as “the innate affiliation people seek with other organisms and the natural world.”  

Wilson’s research shows that, when given complete freedom to choose the characteristics of their ideal environment, people gravitate towards a location that combines three major features: positioned at height, overlooking the landscape (with open terrain and scattered trees), and being close to open water, such as streams or lakes. Effectively, what has been described is the landscape of our distant ancestors from the African plains, and that is the sort of landscape where we instinctively feel at home and safe: Humanity’s natural habitat. Other features frequently also included as key elements in the choice of an environment are refuge, use of natural and local materials, dynamic and diffuse daylight, visual connections between the interior and exterior and natural odours and scents.

Wilson’s ideas have been adopted by architects and designers for some time. In a book by Stephen Kellert, Biophilic Design, we see how architects have used the principles of biophilia to make their buildings more humane and connected with nature. However, there are easier ways than designing new buildings that can bring biophilic design into the workplace. By using combinations of plants, art, lighting and sound effects as well as a more naturalistic style of design it should be possible to make significant improvements to well-being and employee engagement at a very low cost.
Creating a healthy and nature-connected working environment can pay huge dividends in terms of well-being, productivity and business effectiveness – a real return on a relatively small investment in interior design.

Kenneth Freeman is the head of innovation at office landscaper Ambius

Image Source

ACCESS DENIED

---

We are sorry to inform you that you have been temporarily blocked from this website.

Your IP Address or perhaps someone from the same geographical area as you has been tracked
visiting one or more websites and requesting large amounts of content in a short amount of time.
This has caused your IP Address to be flagged as a possible bot, spider, crawler, spyware, or some other malware.
In general, we do not allow bots, spiders, or crawlers to access our websites.

This is not meant to accuse you of anything.
If you are a legitimate user and feel that you have reached this page in error, please complete the form below.
Our staff will review the information that you provide and determine what options are available.

You are browsing this site with:

Your IP address is:
184.172.176.60
(184.172.176.60)
<!–



Referring URL:

–>

---