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tabloidtoc · 4 years

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Star, October 19

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Denise Richards: Lies, fights and seducing Brandi Glanville

Page 1: Rebel Wilson’s Prince Charming -- funny lady Rebel gets a taste of romance courtesy of her handsome new boyfriend Jacob Busch

Page 2: Contents, Matt Damon and Jodie Comer on the set of The Last Duel

Page 4: Mariah Carey’s memoir shockers -- haunted by a violent childhood and a controlling marriage Mariah reveals all in a powerful new book

Page 5: Country greats Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton recently got together to commiserate and celebrate what it means to be a woman in the music business, for more than a decade Britney Spears has been subject to a legal conservatorship headed by her father Jamie Spears that dictates virtually every aspect of her life but now she seems to be inching back into control of her own life as pending a judge’s approval Bessemer Trust Company is expected to take over for her estate from her dad

Page 10: Star Shots -- Puppy Love -- Jon Hamm and his new rescue dog Splash, Venus Williams and her dog Harold, Gavin Rossdale brought his dog Chewy for a tennis game, PLEASE ADOPT, DON’T SHOP

Page 12: Eva Herzigova was ready to walk the runway for Milan Fashion Week, Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Allison Holker and Derek Hough and Addison Rae cut a rug recreating a TikTok dance on Ellen

Page 13: Danny Trejo teamed up with the Everest Foundation to hand out Trejo’s Tacos to homeless veterans, Olivia Jade and boyfriend Jackson Guthy during a dinner date, Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly at the release of his new album

Page 14: Gwen Stefani at a shoot for her new line of eyewear, Ariel Winter shows up at a party at a pal’s house, Kit Harington spread the good vibes after wife Rose Leslie announced they’re expecting their first child

Page 15: Serena Williams had a difficult start at the French Open, Chris Rock kicked back while having lunch at a SoHo park in NYC

Page 16: Naomi Watts during a kayaking trip in Canada, Nev Schulman doffed his motorcycle helmet before heading into rehearsal for Dancing With the Stars, Josie Canseco flashed some leg modeling wedding gowns during a photoshoot

Page 18: Normal or Not? Ireland Baldwin during a trip to the salon -- normal, a layered up Helena Bonham Carter shopping in London -- not normal, Florence Pugh encouraged fans to register to vote by promising to prepare a tasty dish on social media -- not normal, Jon Bon Jovi devoured New York City pizza old-school style while filming a segment for Barstool Sports -- normal

Page 20: Fashion -- stars sparkle in rich jewel tones -- Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Kate Beckinsale, Hailee Steinfeld

Page 21: Angela Bassett, Charlize Theron, Florence Pugh

Page 24: Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake’s new troubles -- is Justin choosing his career over his family?

Page 25: Newly single Demi Lovato seemed to send a message to her ex-fiance Max Ehrich with a new song called Still Have Me -- Max has been begging Demi for another chance but Demi is listening to her gut, Kanye West is desperate to save his rocky relationship with Kim Kardashian going so far as to make an eyebrow-raising proposition because Kanye knows Kim’s been frustrated about their lack of intimacy so he offered her the chance to be with other guys if that helps them stay together but Kim has already been planning her exit from their union and Kanye’s suggestion didn’t help, nobody was more surprised by Lana Del Rey calling things off with Sean Larkin after six months together than the Live PD star himself -- Lana gave him the it’s not you it’s me excuse and promised to explain but still hasn’t and the two were discussing marriage and babies before she abruptly called it quits

Page 26: Cover Story -- Denise Richards craziest Housewife ever? What really led to Denise’s dramatic exit from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Page 30: In a revealing interview Jennifer Aniston admits that she’s ready to turn her back on Hollywood

Page 32: Perez Hilton tells all -- the blog master gives the scoop

Page 34: They Lost Millions -- just because you’ve made a bundle doesn’t mean you get to keep it; these celebs frittered away their dough -- Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp

Page 35: Natasha Lyonne, Teresa Giudice, Stephen Baldwin, Kim Basinger

Page 36: Style -- Vote 2020 -- JoJo

Page 38: Health -- fitness fix -- Venus Williams

Page 40: Entertainment

Page 48: Parting Shot -- Lea Michele and husband Zandy Reich and their newborn son Ever out for a walk in Santa Monica

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jerseydeanne · 6 years

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SHOCKINGThe Hollywood Followers of Nxivm, a Women-Branding Sex Cult

Its founder, Keith Raniere, was just arrested in Mexico. But the controversial cult Nxivm has also attracted many rich and famous followers over the years.

AMY ZIMMERMAN

03.30.18 5:15 AM ET

From a Smallville actress turned alleged top recruiter to heiresses and billionaires, the cult Nxivm has cycled through a host of famous and influential followers.

Formerly known as Executive Success Programs, Nxivm is the brainchild of Keith Raniere, who was just arrested in Mexico on sex trafficking charges. As The Daily Beast previously reported, Raniere has been accused of creating DOS, a “sorority” in which female “masters” recruited “slaves” who were reportedly branded with Raniere’s initials and, according to FBI official William Sweeney, “considered [Raniere’s] sex slaves.”

Sweeney continued, “He allegedly participated in horrifying acts of branding and burning them, with the cooperation of other women operating within this unorthodox pyramid scheme.”

According to the AP, “Investigators said Raniere preferred exceptionally thin women, so ‘slaves’ had to stick to very low-calorie diets and document every food they ate. As punishment for not following orders, women were forced to attend classes where they were ‘forced to wear fake cow udders over their breasts while people called them derogatory names,’ or threatened with being put in cages.”

But long before Raniere was arrested—before ex-followers alleged branding rituals in The New York Times, leading him to flee upstate New York for Mexico—Keith Raniere was just a sketchy “executive coach” hawking his courses to an impressive list of acolytes.

A 2003 Forbes profile of Raniere reported that “some 3,700 people have flocked” to Executive Success Programs. “Prompted by a potent word-of-mouth network, they include Sheila Johnson, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television; Antonia C. Novello, a former U.S. surgeon general; Stephen Cooper, acting chief executive of Enron; the Seagram fortune’s Edgar Bronfman Sr. and two of his daughters; and Ana Cristina Fox, daughter of the Mexican president.” Emiliano Salinas, the son of the former president of Mexico, likened Raniere’s courses to “a practical M.B.A.”

“Why should we pay attention to this psycho factory? Because it has well-placed, well-heeled members and appears to be actively pursuing an entrée into political fund-raising...”

Salinas is listed as “VP Ethics” on Executive Success Programs’ website; his bio notes, “A member of ESP’s Executive Board since 2009, he is involved in helping to maintain the company’s standards and responsible for leading its sales force.”

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While Raniere appears to have long courted wealthy and high-profile followers, there’s a wide range of involvement, from those who took Executive Success Programs to long-term believers who are alleged to have been involved in Raniere’s more nefarious machinations. A 2010 Observer articlecalled out a few high-profile dabblers, including billionaire businessman Richard Branson. Branson reportedly “has hosted an intensive NXIVM course on the Caribbean island he owns” and was “listed along with Sara Bronfman as one of the two ‘benefactors’ of the 2008 Albany A Cappella Innovations conference, the culmination of Mr. Raniere’s brief obsession with a cappella singing.”

According to a Virgin Management spokesperson, “Sir Richard Branson has never heard of Keith Raniere, he has never met him and there is no association between Sir Richard and the NXIVM group. Necker Island is available for hire by members of the public and Sara Bronfman hired Necker Island several years ago. Sir Richard believed the booking was for Sara Bronfman’s family and friends.The booking was not in the NXIVM name and Raniere was not listed as a guest on the island.”

Forbes was cited in 2003 court filings, in which Raniere said “we have been called by MSNBC and Forbes who are contemplating running stories based on the false information.” Later on in the filing, Raniere complained that, “Goldie Hawn cancelled her engagement with us next week because of the false press.” This cancellation was cited in a 2009 op-ed in the Daily Gazette, which argued that the Dalai Lama ought to cancel an upcoming trip to Albany in light of the fact that it was sponsored by a Raniere-founded group, the World Ethical Foundations Consortium. The writer argued, “In 2003, Keith Raniere roped actress Goldie Hawn into speaking at Vanguard Week, an annual NXIVM event. When Hawn learned about the controversies surrounding Raniere, NXIVM and ESP, she canceled her appearance. If Goldie Hawn has the sense not to appear at an event sponsored by Keith Raniere, then cancellation by the Dalai Lama, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, should be a no-brainer.”

While the Dalai Lama did initially cancel his visit, according to a 2010 Vanity Fair expose, “What happened next is something of a mystery.” The article continued, “People believe that Sara and Clare [Bronfman] flew to Dharamsala, India, to plead with him. And, if so, it’s possible they were just extremely persuasive—because His Holiness changed his mind. But the Dalai Lama Trust, registered in New York State just two days before the Dalai Lama’s appearance in Albany, raised eyebrows. Calls to the trust were not returned. The Bronfman money, it was said, might still be able to buy a lot of things, but not respect.”

Although the aforementioned Bronfman sisters may not be Raniere’s most A-list associates, various reports have made them out to be an invaluable resource to Raniere.

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The Bronfmans, heiresses to the Seagram’s fortune, made an appearance in the 2003 Forbesprofile, which featured allegations that Clare Bronfman had “lent” $2 million to Raniere’s program. Allegations against Executive Success Programs were made by none other than the Bronfman’s own father, Edgar Bronfman. While Bronfman once participated in an Executive Success Programs course, Forbes reported that, “He hasn’t talked to his daughters in months and has grown troubled over the long hours and emotional and financial investment they have been devoting to Raniere’s group.” Bronfman even went so far as to call ESP a cult.

The subsequent Vanity Fair piece, “The Heiresses and the Cult,” delved much deeper into the Bronfman sisters’ financial backing of Raniere’s dubious endeavors, alleging that, “According to legal filings and public documents, in the last six years as much as $150 million was taken out of the Bronfmans’ trusts and bank accounts, including $66 million allegedly used to cover Raniere’s failed bets in the commodities market, $30 million to buy real estate in Los Angeles and around Albany, $11 million for a 22-seat, two-engine Canadair CL-600 jet, and millions more to support a barrage of lawsuits across the country against Nxivm’s enemies.”

In 2012, Albany’s Times Union published a list of high-profile Nxivm-ites entitled “NXIVM courts rich, powerful and influential.” It cited Roger Stone, who was allegedly employed by Nxivm. A 2007 New York Magazine articleasked, “Why should we pay attention to this psycho factory?” continuing, “Because it has well-placed, well-heeled members and appears to be actively pursuing an entrée into political fund-raising. Stone, paid by NXIVM, had funneled at least $20,000 to the state GOP; the heirs to Seagram’s fortune are devotees; and, per the Post, Richard Mays—a Clinton friend and one of Hillary’s top fund-raisers—is an ‘Espian’ as well, having taken so-called intensive classes with Raniere.”

The Times Union piece also named a contingent of actresses, including Linda Evans, Nicki Clyne, Allison Mack, and Kristin Kreuk. Grace Park, best known for roles on Hawaii Five-O and Battlestar Galactica, took part in “Keith Raniere Conversations,” a collection of “informal thoughts on civilization, ethics & humanity.” While the conversations featuring Park appear to have been taken down, remnants of Park’s participation can still be found on the internet.

Raniere fled for Mexico after The New York Times published its shocking Nxivm report in October, complete with testimonies from former members. The article featured Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg, whose daughter India was initiated into the sorority. In a statement following Raniere’s arrest, Catherine Oxenberg wrote, “For months, I have worked to expose Keith Raniere and NXIVM, and today’s arrest vindicates my efforts. I want my daughter to know I love her and that I want her back in my life.”

As The Daily Beast previously reported, allegations have swirled around Mack, the former Smallville actress who is now rumored to be a top Nxivm recruiter. Mack has written openly about her involvement with Nxivm and Jness, a Nxivm women’s group of which Raniere has deemed himself the “conceptual founder,” and can be seen in Jness video testimonials, as well as ones interviewing Raniere himself.

Frank Parlato, a businessman and reported former Nxivm publicist who is involved in an extended legal battle with the Bronfman sisters, has spoken out about Nxivm on his blog, The Frank Report.

In a 2017 blog post, Parlato wrote at length about Mack’s alleged involvement in DOS: “Both women’s groups, Jness and DOS are based on the teachings of Mr. Raniere. Both require members to keep the teachings secret. Jness is open to females who want to take entry level self-improvement courses on female empowerment. A beginner is not told about the higher level teachings until she proves qualified…Since Miss Mack has assumed control of both organizations, Jness is evolving into a training ground and recruitment camp for women who may qualify for the teachings of DOS. The ‘cream’ of Jness women are invited to join DOS, and the ‘cream’ of DOS women are invited to join Mr. Raniere’s harem [subject to his approval].”

Mack is further alleged to be one of the women who was living with Raniere at the time of his arrest, who “chased the car in which the defendant was being transported in their own car at high speed.”

On Wednesday, Parlato told the New York Post that Kristin Kreuk actually introduced her Smallville co-star Allison Mack to Nxivm. “Kreuk had come first, sometime around late 2005, early 2006,” said Parlato, although she allegedly left the group in 2012. Parlato further claimed that, “Allison was used, as was Kristen, as a lure to bring in other women because of their celebrity status.”

UPDATE:

Kreuk tweeted out a statement acknowledging her affiliation with Nxivm, writing, “During my time, I never experienced any illegal or nefarious activity.” The actress insisted that she left the program “about five years ago” and that, “The accusations that I was in the ‘inner circle’ or recruited women as ‘sex slaves’ are blatantly false.” Kreuk went on to share her disgust with “what has come out” about DOS, and described herself as “deeply disturbed and embarrassed” by her former ties to Nxivm.

Amy [email protected]@thedailybeast.com

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.

#NXIVM #branson

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orbemnews · 3 years

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The Googleplex of the Future Has Privacy Robots, Meeting Tents and Your Very Own Balloon Wall MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google’s first office was a cluttered Silicon Valley garage crammed with desks resting on sawhorses. In 2003, five years after its founding, the company moved into a sprawling campus called the Googleplex. The airy, open offices and whimsical common spaces set a standard for what an innovative workplace was supposed to look like. Over the years, the amenities piled up. The food was free, and so were buses to and from work: Getting to the office, and staying there all day, was easy. Now, the company that once redefined how an employer treats its workers is trying to redefine the office itself. Google is creating a post-pandemic workplace that will accommodate employees who got used to working from home over the past year and don’t want to be in the office all the time anymore. The company will encourage — but not mandate — that employees be vaccinated when they start returning to the office, probably in September. At first, the interior of Google’s buildings may not appear all that different. But over the next year or so, Google will try out new office designs in millions of square feet of space, or about 10 percent of its global work spaces. The plans build on work that began before the coronavirus crisis sent Google’s work force home, when the company asked a diverse group of consultants — including sociologists who study “Generation Z” and how junior high students socialize and learn — to imagine what future workers would want. The answer seems to be Ikea meets Lego. Instead of rows of desks next to cookie-cutter meeting rooms, Google is designing “Team Pods.” Each pod is a blank canvas: Chairs, desks, whiteboards and storage units on casters can be wheeled into various arrangements, and in some cases rearranged in a matter of hours. To deal with an expected blend of remote and office workers, the company is also creating a new meeting room called Campfire, where in-person attendees sit in a circle interspersed with impossible-to-ignore, large vertical displays. The displays show the faces of people dialing in by videoconference so virtual participants are on the same footing as those physically present. In a handful of locations around the world, Google is building outdoor work areas to respond to concerns that coronavirus easily spreads in traditional offices. At its Silicon Valley headquarters, where the weather is pleasant most of the year, it has converted a parking lot and lawn area into “Camp Charleston” — a fenced-in mix of grass and wooden deck flooring about the size of four tennis courts with Wi-Fi throughout. There are clusters of tables and chairs under open-air tents. In larger teepees, there are meetings areas with the décor of a California nature retreat and state-of-the-art videoconferencing equipment. Each tent has a camp-themed name such as “kindling,” “s’mores” and “canoe.” Camp Charleston has been open since March for teams who wanted to get together. Google said it was building outdoor work spaces in London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York and Sydney, Australia, and possibly more locations. Employees can return to their permanent desks on a rotation schedule that assigns people to come into the office on a specific day to ensure that no one is there on the same day as their immediate desk neighbors. Despite the company’s freewheeling corporate culture, coming into the office regularly had been one of Google’s few enduring rules. That was a big reason Google offered its lavish perks, said Allison Arieff, an architectural and design writer who has studied corporate campuses. “They get to keep everyone on campus for as long as possible and they’re keeping someone at work,” said Ms. Arieff, who was a contributing writer for the Opinion section of The New York Times. But as Google’s work force topped 100,000 employees all over the world, face-to-face collaboration was often impossible. Employees found it harder to focus with so many distractions inside Google’s open offices. The company had outgrown its longtime setup. In 2018, Google’s real estate group began to consider what it could do differently. It turned to the company’s research and development team for “built environments.” It was an eclectic group of architects, industrial and interior designers, structural engineers, builders and tech specialists led by Michelle Kaufmann, who worked with the renowned architect Frank Gehry before joining Google a decade ago. Google focused on three trends: Work happens anywhere and not just in the office; what employees need from a workplace is changing constantly; and workplaces need to be more than desks, meeting rooms and amenities. “The future of work that we thought was 10 years out,” Ms. Kaufmann said, “Covid brought us to that future now.” Two of the most rigid elements in an office design are walls and the heating and cooling systems. Google is trying to change that. It is developing an array of different movable walls that can be packed up and shipped flat to offices around the world. It has a prototype of a fabric-based overhead air duct system that attaches with zippers and can be moved over a weekend for different seating arrangements. Google is also trying to end the fight over the office temperature. This system allows every seat to have its own air diffuser to control the direction or amount of air blowing on them. If a meeting requires privacy, a robot that looks like the innards of a computer on wheels and is equipped with sensors to detect its surroundings comes over to inflate a translucent, cellophane balloon wall to keep prying eyes away. “A key part of our thinking is moving from what’s been our traditional office,” said Ms. Kaufmann. Google is also trying to reduce distractions. It has designed different leaf-shaped partitions called “petals” that can attach to the edge of a desk to eliminate glare. An office chair with directional speakers in the headrest plays white noise to muffle nearby audio. For people who may no longer require a permanent desk, Google also built a prototype desk that adjusts to an employee’s personal preferences with a swipe of a work badge — a handy feature for workers who don’t have assigned desks because they only drop into the office once in a while. It calibrates the height and tilt of the monitor, brings up family photos on a display, and even adjusts the nearby temperature. In the early days of the pandemic, “it seemed daunting to move a 100,000-plus person organization to virtual, but now it seems even more daunting to figure out how to bring them back safely,” said David Radcliffe, Google’s vice president for real estate and workplace services. In its current office configurations, Google said it would be able to use only one out of every three desks in order to keep people six feet apart. Mr. Radcliffe said six feet would remain an important threshold in case of the next pandemic or even the annual flu. Psychologically, he said, employees will not want to sit in a long row of desks, and also Google may need to “de-densify” offices with white space such as furniture or plants. The company is essentially unwinding years of open-office plan theory popularized by Silicon Valley — that cramming more workers into smaller spaces and taking away their privacy leads to better collaboration. Real estate costs for the company aren’t expected to change very much. Though there will be fewer employees in the office, they’ll need more room. There will be other changes. The company cafeterias, famous for their free, catered food, will move from buffet style to boxed, grab-and-go meals. Snacks will be packed individually and not scooped up from large bins. Massage rooms and fitness centers will be closed. Shuttle buses will be suspended. Smaller conference rooms will be turned into private work spaces that can be reserved. The offices will use only fresh air through vents controlled by its building management software, doing away with its usual mix of outside and recirculated air. In larger bathrooms, Google will reduce the number of available sinks, toilets and urinals and install more sensor-based equipment that doesn’t require touching a surface with hands. A pair of new buildings on Google’s campus, now under construction in Mountain View, Calif., and expected to be finished as early as next year, will give the company more flexibility to incorporate some of the now-experimental office plans. Google is trying to get a handle on how employees will react to so-called hybrid work. In July, the company asked workers how many days a week they would need to come to the office to be effective. The answers were divided evenly in a range of zero to five days a week, said Mr. Radcliffe. The majority of Google employees are in no hurry to return. In its annual survey of employees called Googlegeist, about 70 percent of roughly 110,000 employees surveyed said they had a “favorable” view about working from home compared with roughly 15 percent who had an “unfavorable” opinion. Another 15 percent had a “neutral” perspective, according to results viewed by The New York Times. The survey was sent out in February and the results were announced in late March. Many Google employees have gotten used to life without time-consuming commutes, and with more time for family and life outside of the office. The company appears to be realizing its employees may not be so willing to go back to the old life. “Work-life balance is not eating three meals at a day at your office, going to the gym there, having all your errands done there,” said Ms. Arieff. “Ultimately, people want flexibility and autonomy and the more that Google takes that away, the harder it is going to be.” Google has offices in 170 cities and 60 countries around the world, and some of them have already reopened. In Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan and Vietnam, Google’s offices have reopened with occupancy allowed to exceed 70 percent. But the bulk of the 140,000 employees who work for Google and its parent company, Alphabet, are based in the United States, with roughly half of them in the Bay Area. Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet, said at a Reuters conference in December that the company was committed to making hybrid work possible, because there was an opportunity for “tremendous improvement” in productivity and the ability to pull in more people to the work force. “No company at our scale has ever created a fully hybrid work force model,” Mr. Pichai wrote in an email a few weeks later announcing the flexible workweek. “It will be interesting to try.” Source link Orbem News #balloon #Future #Googleplex #Meeting #Privacy #Robots #Tents #Wall

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californiaprelawland · 4 years

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Small Businesses In The Bay Area Targeted By Quadriplegic Lawyer

By Kevin Duong-Le, Loyola Marymount University Class of 2020

December 6, 2019

Over the past few years, Scott Johnson, a quadriplegic lawyer, has been filing lawsuits which target small businesses regarding ADA Compliance Laws. The American Disability Act, enacted in 1990, requires businesses to have certain specifications to prevent discrimination against individuals with disabilities. [1] Although the act has noble intentions, Johnson has found a way to abuse the act to gain money for his benefit. Unfortunately, this comes at the detriment of family-owned businesses.

In January of 2018, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Hotel Avante, located in El Camino. The lawsuit entailed that “the three-star hotel doesn’t have adequate handicapped parking spaces [... and wheelchairs] aren’t distributed among the different classes of available accommodations and there aren’t wheelchair-accessible rooms with two beds, violating the ADA.” [2]While Hotel Avante did have wheelchair accessible rooms, Johnson targets small details, such as not have a wheelchair accessible room with two beds, to make his case legitimate in the eyes of the law. Johnson’s group “seek damages under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, including actual damages and a statutory minimum of $4,000 for each time the plaintiff visited the business and observed the violation.” [2] Michael Welch, a Sacramento lawyer who has fought countless cases against Johnson, states that “Johnson drives around, visiting businesses and documenting violations. If he visits a restaurant or hotel nine times, then files a lawsuit, the business can be forced to pay him more than $36,000.” [2] However, a business can rack up a much higher cost in attorney fees to fight the case. Johnson knows this and forces businesses to settle and pay the demanded amount in order to avoid the attorney fees.

An article dating back to 2017 brings to light more evidence regarding Johnson’s immoral actions. Mel Vail, a real estate developer, has been sued on account of “seven properties [...] and sued more than once on a couple.” [3] Johnson has formed a company called Disabled Access Prevents Injuries, where his employees have instructions to “drive by, find violations, drive off, then sue and collect damages.” [3]Catherine Corfee, an attorney who has represented four of Johnson’s employees who sued him for sexual harassment, states that “He gave them maps every day of where to drive and where to go [...] He told them how many complaints they have to file in a work week.” [3] These ADA violations are nearly insignificant requirements which unknowing businesses do not abide by. Blackseth, an ADA consultant explains that “Technical violations could be a sign that’s a few inches too small or a ramp that’s a few degrees too steep.” [3] Since Johnson’s company is private, there is no way to know how much money he is making a year. However, Blackseth estimates that the lawsuits could total up to millions in profit for Johnson. [3]

The actions of Scott Johnson, while being legal in the eyes of the law, is extremely controversial. There are people who support the work of Johnson, stating that it is the business' responsibility for ensuring that all the ADA standards are met. In a perfect world, these conditions would be met. However, the reality of it is that there are various small requirements that do not hinder a disabled person from performing daily duties that Johnson is extorting to garner a massive profit for himself and his company. San Jose’s Time Deli owner, Donald Bergh, explains that he does not have enough money to restructure his business as the building has been there since 1949. Instead, he is forced to close his deli and find a new occupation. [4] As more ADA lawsuits are filed and businesses are forced to close, it will be interesting to see whether the U.S. Department of Labor diminishes the restrictions of the ADA compliance in an attempt to aid small businesses.

________________________________________________________________

[1] “What is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?” National Network, https://adata.org/learn-about-ada

[2] Levitsky, Allison. “Serial ADA litigant strikes hotel” Daily Post, 28 Jan. 2018, https://padailypost.com/2018/01/28/serial-ada-litigant-strikes-hotel/

[3] “Small Businesses Targeted By ADA Lawsuits” CBS SF BayArea, 2 Jul. 2017, https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/07/02/small-businesses-targeted-by-ada-lawsuits/

[4] Utehs, Katie. “San Jose's Time Deli to close after being sued over ADA compliance” ABC 7 News, 12 Jul. 2017, https://abc7news.com/news/san-joses-time-deli-to-close-after-being-sued-over-ada-compliance/2211438/

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presssorg · 5 years

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Fred's store closings 2019: Discount chain shuttering 159 stores

Fred's store closings 2019: Discount chain shuttering 159 stores Discount chain Fred's is joining the growing list of retailers shuttering stores amid slumping sales. The Memphis-based company announced Thursday that it would close 159 underperforming stores by the end of May with "going out of business" sales starting Thursday as it looks to reduce its store footprint and "evaluate strategic alternatives." The retailer said in a statement that it retained investment banking advisory firm PJ Solomon to assess its options "to maximize value" and hired liquidation firms Malfitano Advisors and SB360 Capital Partners "to help manage the process and ensure a seamless experience for customers." When companies announce they are considering "strategic alternatives," it often involves a potential sale or restructuring. The closing stores represent nearly 29% of Fred's 557 stores and are located in 13 states, with Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee losing the most stores. Sales at Fred's stores open at least a year fell 4.9% in the first nine months of 2018, compared with a year earlier. "After a careful review, we have made the decision to rationalize our footprint by closing underperforming stores, with a particular focus on locations with shorter duration leases," Fred’s CEO Joseph Anto said in the statement. "Most of these stores have near‐term lease expirations and limited remaining lease obligations." Shares of Fred's were down nearly 5.8% at $1.97 in midday Thursday trading after the announcement. Store closings 2019: Payless, Gymboree and Victoria's Secret are just some of the brands closing locations The start of a new Sears era?: The retailer announces openings, not closings

Discount chain Fred's is joining the growing list of retailers shuttering stores amid slumping sales.

The liquidation

Also Thursday, SB360 Capital Partners, which is managing the closing sales, announced the firm was launching “Total Inventory Blowout” clearance sales at an additional 360 Fred's stores. Discounts are 5% to 20% off the lowest ticketed price with some exclusions at both the closing locations and stores holding clearance sales, SB360 officials told USA TODAY. “Fred’s stores bring the everyday necessities closer to home, and they do it at discount prices,” said Ziggy Schaffer, an executive vice president with SB360. “The store closing and total inventory blowout events will bring value on top of value.” With most of Fred’s stores in smaller communities, Aaron Miller, an executive vice president with SB360, said they’re expecting “a pretty strong response from the customers.” “Fred’s has a loyal following and we’re expecting increased traffic,” Miller said. “The merchandise will go quickly.” SB360 has managed liquidation sales for more than 50 years and is an affiliate of the Schottenstein family, which also owns DSW Inc. and American Eagle Outfitters. It recently handled the Charlotte Russe liquidation. Fred’s will remain “a one-stop shop with continued replenishment of food staples,” Miller said, noting milk, eggs, beverages and frozen items would be restocked throughout the sale. Only 37 stores, or 7%, of stores are not included in either the clearance or liquidation sales.

What happened

In 2017, a deal for Fred's to acquire hundreds of Rite Aid or Walgreens stores collapsed when a mega-merger between the pharmacy giants deteriorated. Months later, Fred's announced it was considering "strategic transactions and alternatives for certain non-core assets," including real estate and specialty pharmacy business. Last September, Fred’s reached an agreement to sell the pharmacy patient prescription files and related pharmacy inventory of 179 Fred’s stores located across 10 southeastern states to Walgreens for $165 million. . With Thursday's announcement, Fred's said it is "continuing to pursue the sale of its remaining pharmacy assets as part of its previously announced plan." Fred's is part of a wave of recent retail closures. Based on figures from global marketing research firm Coresight Research, bankruptcy filings and company earnings reports, more than 6,500 stores are slated to close locations in 2019. The brick-and-mortar downturn is expected to continue, according to a new report released this week from UBS Securities. Investment bank analysts said 75,000 more stores would need to be shuttered by 2026 if e-commerce “penetration rises from 16% currently to 25%.”

What's next for Fred's

In Fred's statement Thursday, the company said PJ Solomon would do a "thorough evaluation" of the company's plan and look for alternatives. "There can be no assurance that the strategic review will result in any specific action, or any assurance as to its outcome or timing," the statement said. The number of employees affected was not immediately available. “Decisions that impact our associates in this way are difficult, but the steps we are announcing are necessary,” Anto said. “We will make every effort to transition impacted associates to other stores where possible.” There are no plans to close a majority or all Fred's stores or to file for bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Stores closings

Liquidation is getting underway at 159 Fred's stores in 13 states with discounts ranging from 5% to 20% on most items with some exclusions. The stores are expected to close by the end of May.

Alabama

Anniston: 1544 Greenbrier Ln Branchville: 13254 Hwy 411 Center Point: 1683 Center Point Pkwy Centre: 710 Cherokee Plz Enterprise: 621 Boll Weevil Cir Florence: 321 N Court St Florence: 4150 Florence Blvd Foley: 1200 N Mckenzie Street Guntersville: 1477 Sunset Dr Hoover: 3317 Lorna Rd Hueytown: 3056 Allison Bonnett Memorial Dr Lanett: 622 Cherry Dr Marion: 1549 Highway 5 S Monroeville: 1318 S Highway 21 Byp Roanoke: 3077 Highway 431 Russellville: 13150 Highway 43 Sylacauga: 212 W Fort Williams St Talladega: 65364 Hwy 77 Tuscumbia: 1401 Woodmont Dr

Arkansas

Bryant: 3395 Highway 5 N Cabot: 207 S 2nd St Conway: 245 Oak St Conway: 1125 Morningside Dr El Dorado: 430 S Bradley Ave Forrest City: 2227 N Washington St Harrison: 617 Highway 62 65 N Hope: 535 N Hervey St Jonesboro: 2308 S Caraway Rd Mena: 1201 Highway 71 S Mountain Home: 509 Hwy 62 E. Newport: 1705 Malcolm Ave Osceola: 1324 W Keiser Ave Paragould: 1723 W Kings highway Prescott: 1426 W 1st St N Russellville: 3303 W Main Pl Searcy: 2706 E Race Ave Stamps: 1110 E Antigo St West Memphis: 606 E Broadway St

Georgia

Adel: 1014 S Hutchinson Ave Bainbridge: 1602 E Shotwell St Barnesville: 790 Veterans Pkwy Blakely: 800 Columbia Rd Brunswick: 5485 New Jesup Hwy Calhoun: 325 Curtis Pkwy Se Camilla: 500 Us Highway 19 S Cedartown: 550 N Main St Cleveland: 156 Wanderway Dr Cordele: 102 E 14th Ave Covington: 6179 Highway 278 Ne Dillard: 7230 Highway 441 N Hinesville: 767 Veterans Parkway Jasper: 970 E Church St Kingsland: 925 E King Ave Mcdonough: 1550 S. Zach Hinton Pkwy Quitman: 1315 W Screven St Ringgold: 1426 West 1st North Riverdale: 94 Upper Riverdale Rd Sw Rome: 1916 Redmond Cir Nw Royston: 411 Smith St Swainsboro: 501 S Main St Thomasville: 2730 E Pinetree Blvd Tunnel Hill: 3593 Chattanooga Rd Zebulon: 9215 Highway 19 N

Illinois

Benton: 215 Bailey Ln

Kentucky

Hopkinsville: 3129 Canton Pike Murray: 928 S 12th St Princeton: 300 Hwy 62 W Russell Springs: 2385 Lakeway Dr

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: 10710 Greenwell Springs Road Bossier City: 5751 Shed Rd Carencro: 806 Veterans Dr Franklin: 1801 West Main Street Gonzales: 228 W Highway 30 Hammond: 125 Hwy 51 North Jonesboro: 310 E Main St Lafayette: 2490 W Congress St Monroe: 2350 Sterlington Rd Natchitoches: 400 Dixie Plz Pineville: 4628 Highway 28 E Shreveport: 5907 Old Mooringsport Road St. Martinville: 1114 South Main Street Westlake: 1514 Sampson Street

Missouri

Cape Girardeau: 121a South Sprigg Street Poplar Bluff: 441 Highway 53

Mississippi

Aberdeen: 107 N Meridian St Brookhaven: 218 S Whitworth Ave Byram: 7261 S Siwell Rd Cleveland: 306 E Sunflower Rd Coldwater: 520 Central Ave Columbia: Hwy 13 Northgate S/C Columbus: 304 5th St S Columbus: 201 G Alabama St Florence: 2932 Highway 49 S Forest: 237 Woodland Dr Gautier: 1693 Highway 90 Greenville: 7616 Highway 80 Greenville: 1600 S Colorado St Greenwood: 813 W Park Ave Hattiesburg: 1000 Broadway Dr Holly Springs: 148 W Van Dorn Ave Horn Lake: 3031 Goodman Rd W Jackson: 225 Meadowbrook Rd Jackson: 540 Raymond Rd Leland: 302 North Main St. Magee: 1700 Simpson Hwy Meridian: 626 22nd Ave S Ocean Springs: 3176 Bienville Blvd Pascagoula: 2511 Ingalls Ave Pearl: 235 George Wallace Dr Philadelphia: 714 Pecan Ave Terry: 422 W Cunningham Ave Tupelo: 809 Varsity Dr Tupelo: 1776 McCullough Blvd West Point: 26591 E Main St Yazoo City: 1200 Jerry Clower Blvd

North Carolina

Dunn: 988 Erwin Rd. Marion: 1155 N Main St Spruce Pine: 11931 S 226 Hwy

Oklahoma

Wagoner: 700 E Cherokee St

South Carolina

Anderson: 122 E Shocky Ferry Rd Chester: 109 Cestrain Sq Clinton: 105 B Jacobs Hwy Hodges: 4905 Emerson St Iva: 9710 Highway 81 S Ladson: 119 College Park Rd Landrum: 213 W Rutherford St Liberty: 315 W Front St North Augusta: 401 W Martintown Rd Orangeburg: 1180 Five Chop Rd Pickens: 310 Hampton Ave

Tennessee

Brownsville: 337 E Main St Clarksville: 390 Highway 149 Collierville: 450 Hwy 72 West Dayton: 260 16th Ave Decherd: 1755 Decherd Blvd Dyersburg: 805 Pennell Ln Gallatin: 420 W Main St Hartsville: 230 Broadway Jackson: 1688 S Highland Ave Jasper: 3600 Main St Lebanon: 230 E Gay St McMinnville: 912 N Chancery St Medina: 211 Three Oaks Drive Memphis: 4280 Getwell Rd Memphis: 5016 Old Summer Rd Mt. Pleasant: 700 North Main Street Murfreesboro: 1664 Middle Tennessee Blvd Newport: 122 Five Rivers Plaza Way Paris: 850 Volunteer Dr Portland: 114 W Knight St Pulaski: 1670 W College St Selmer: 399 Mulberry Ave Woodbury: 1130 S Mccrary St

Texas

Gladewater: 601 Broadway Ave Kilgore: 605 N Henderson Blvd Lindale: 1601 S Main St Mc Gregor: 1000 S Main St Tyler: 1803 E Gentry Pkwy Whitehouse: 1123 State Highway 110 N Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko Fred’s agreed to sell patient prescription files and related inventory in the 185 stores to Walgreen Boots Alliance Inc. for $165 million. Michael Schwab/USA TODAY NEWTWORK - TENNESSEE Read the full article

#fred's #retailers #supersale

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nightmare-afton-cosplay · 5 years

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Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million

Heidi Gutman/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images; ALLISON SCOTT/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Billionaire Ken Griffin, who is becoming almost as known for his prodigious purchases as he is for his investment acumen, has closed on a New York penthouse for roughly $238 million. The deal sets a record for the highest-priced home ever sold in the U.S.

The purchase is the latest in a string of record-breaking acquisitions by the Citadel hedge fund founder. Earlier this year, Mr. Griffin bought several floors of a Chicago condominium for $58.75 million, setting a record for the most expensive home ever bought in that city. He snapped up a penthouse in Miami Beach’s Faena House in 2015 for $60 million, setting the record for a Miami condo. Since 2012, Mr. Griffin has spent close to $250 million assembling land to build a mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., according to public records. And earlier this month, he acquired a London home for about $122 million in one of the priciest deals ever done in that city, according to people familiar with that deal.

The spending isn’t limited to real estate. In 2016, Mr. Griffin paid entertainment mogul David Geffen’s foundation $500 million for a pair of paintings by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning in one of the art world’s largest private art deals. In 2017, he donated $125 million to the University of Chicago to support its Department of Economics—one of the largest gifts in the university’s history.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Griffin confirmed the purchase. She said Citadel is expanding its presence in New York with its new office at 425 Park Avenue, and Mr. Griffin was looking for a place to stay when he’s in town.

Mr. Griffin is a well-known hedge-fund manager. The billionaire founder of Citadel began investing at 19 in his Harvard dorm room, graduated early and quickly earned a reputation as a gifted convertible-bond trader. He started Citadel in 1990 while still in his early 20s, making billions buying distressed assets from now failed hedge funds.

Mr. Griffin’s latest penthouse purchase breaks the previous record set in 2014, when hedge-fund manager Barry Rosenstein paid $137 million for a home in the Hamptons. Industry veterans believe Mr. Griffin’s deal may also be one of the priciest real-estate transactions ever closed in the world, nearing records set in markets such as Hong Kong and Monte Carlo. The priciest residential deal ever closed worldwide was the roughly $361 million sale of a home at the Peak, one of Hong Kong’s priciest neighborhoods, in 2017, according to Christie’s International Real Estate.

The Griffin unit is in 220 Central Park South, an under-construction supertall high-rise located between Seventh Avenue and Broadway. Designed by Robert A.M Stern Architects, it has already attracted a number of high-profile buyers including billionaire hedge-fund manager Daniel Och of Och-Ziff Capital Management and musician Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.

The apartment spans roughly 24,000 square feet, and is being delivered unfurnished as a white box, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Vornado Realty Trust the company building the tower, was represented by Deborah Kern of the Corcoran Group, while Mr. Griffin was represented by Tal and Oren Alexander of the Alexander team at Douglas Elliman.

The project comprises an 18-story “chalet” fronting the street and a 79-story tower rising behind. The interiors were designed by Thierry W. Despont. The exterior is clad in Alabama Silver Shadow limestone, and amenities include private dining rooms, an athletic club, a juice bar, a library, a basketball court, a golf simulator and a children’s play area.

A spokesman for Vornado didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company is set to make roughly $1 billion in profits from sales at the project.

Mr. Griffin first signed a contract to buy the New York unit in 2015. Closings only recently commenced now that the building is nearing completion.

— Rob Copeland contributed to this story.

The post Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/billionaire-ken-griffin-buys-americas-expensive-home-238-million/

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valoansdallastx · 5 years

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VA Loans in Sunnyvale Texas

Contents

Mortgage financing options

1 living-unit homes

Venture equity investment

Whitewright texas. wink texas fha

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VA Loans in Sunnyvale Texas CVE is highly supportive of the Verification Counselor Program as it provides a valuable service to Veterans who are going through the Vets First verification application process. cve provides responses to counselor inquiries as a means to inform applicants about the Veterans First Contracting.

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Stories were circulating Tuesday that Trump was considering moving Energy Secretary Rick Perry over to VA. But the former Texas governor, speaking after a Senate hearing, indicated no job swap was.

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Eligible Texas Veterans and Military Members have an opportunity to purchase a home with a competitive, low-interest loan with little or no down payment. Veterans, Military Members and their spouses may receive up to $484,350 on a fixed-rate loan for 15, 20, 25 or 30 year terms*.

VA Funding Fee: The VA Funding Fee is paid to the VA to help fund the program and varies depending on type of service, loan amount, down payment and subsequent VA Loan usage. This fee can be paid in cash at closing, but most borrowers choose to roll this cost into their monthly payments.

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The post VA Loans in Sunnyvale Texas appeared first on VA Loans Dallas TX.

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#Dallas VA Home Loan #VA Home Loan Requirements in Dallas #Dallas VA Loan Rates #VA Home Loan Rates in D

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computerguideworld-blog · 5 years

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betaworks VisionCamp introduces seven new AR/computer vision companies

New Post has been published on https://computerguideto.com/must-see/betaworks-visioncamp-introduces-seven-new-ar-computer-vision-companies/

betaworks VisionCamp introduces seven new AR/computer vision companies

More than ten years ago, betaworks launched to foster an ecosystem of startups focused on the intersection of media and consumer behavior. While the mission hasn’t changed, the structure has seen some tweaks. The company has introduced its own venture arm, led by Matt Hartman, as well as the more recent launch of betaworks Studios.

But nestled gently between the two are betaworks Camps program. Camps are a sort of hyper-specific accelerator program, within which a small cohort of early-stage startups build out their products within a certain theme, complete with the full resources of betaworks (marketing, legal, space, etc.) as well as a small investment.

Camps first launched with BotCamp, followed shortly by VoiceCamp, and today the graduates of VisionCamp are showing off their wares for the first time at Demo Day.

Camera IQ

Camera IQ calls itself a camera experience manager. The company works with brands and publishers to develop virtual worlds for customers, with partners including Spotify, Neiman Marcus and Viacom. The technology integrates AR toolkits and mobile OSes with brands native apps to offer different experiences for consumers. Camera IQ was founded by Allison Wood and Sonia Tsao. The founders say that the camera represents the next great consumption experience, as well as the next great transaction experience. The company hopes to sit at that intersection.

Facemoji

Livestreaming and FaceTime are now accessible to everyone, but not everyone wants to show their face on these platforms. Enter Facemoji. The startup offers 3D avatar webcams that streams your facial expressions via the avatar without ever showing your real likeness. The company was originally focused on gamers who stream on Twitch, with plans to expand to video chat. Facemoji was founded by Robin Raszka and Tom Krcha.

Leo

Originally called Surreal, Leo offers a vast marketplace of AR objects, stamps and artwork so that users can change the world around them. Leo has raised $1.5 million in seed and has relationships with upwards of 2,000 artists on the platform. The company, which was founded by Dana Loberg and Sahin Boydas, makes money by sharing revenue with artists who create objects for the platform.

Numina

Nearly half of land area in cities is made up of streets, sidewalks and parks, and cities have no data or insights on these spaces. Numina partners with cities to place computer vision sensors on light poles in these areas and offer anonymous flow data about pedestrians in these spaces. The company offers an API for streets, as well, to give developers access to real-time activity and a backlog of activity for their apps, whether it’s for mobility, insurance, real estate, or logistics. Numina was founded by Tara Pham.

Selerio

Selerio brings together the real world and the virtual world by using computer vision to map the layout and objects in a room and replace them with a virtual world. Imagine putting old-school Victorian furniture inside an existing space. The company uses deep learning and computer vision in its technology, which was spun out of Cambridge University. Selerio offers an SDK to developers and is currently being integrated with Apple’s ARKit. Selerio was founded by Ghislain Tasse.

Streem

Streem supports the professional home services industry by using computer vision, machine learning, and AR to capture vital information (like model, make and serial number) through a simply live video chat. Through Streem’s technology, service pros can capture information, take measurements and save notes without ever stepping foot in the client’s home, letting them offer quotes much faster and solve the problem in one try. Streem was founded by Ryan Fink and Sean Adkinson.

Trash TV

Despite the fact that capturing and editing video is more accessible than ever, video editing remains a time-consuming and tedious process. The Trash TV app uses computer vision and AI to edit consumer videos into something beautiful and usable. The company uses a stock video repository that includes proof of creation to fill in the gaps. Trash TV was founded by Hannah Donovan and Anton Marini.

This is the third of betaworks’ Camps. The next one, according to Camps General Manager Danika Laszuk, is focused on the intersection of live streaming and participatory audiences. Dubbed LiveCamp, betaworks hopes to find startups evolving the space as Twitch streaming and apps like HQ continue to pull in large viewerships and the lines between performer and audience are blurred.

Read more: https://techcrunch.com

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cathrynstreich · 5 years

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Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® Announces New Advisory Council Members

Catharine Pappas, Chairperson, The LeadingRE Advisory Council

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® has announced its new Advisory Council officers and members. The LeadingRE Advisory Council is a leadership group comprised of business development and relocation professionals who provide guidance on key initiatives for the global real estate community of 565 market-leading firms in over 70 countries.

The Advisory Council works closely with the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® management team on integral relocation, business development and lead generation programs. Council members also mentor other affiliates and serve as ambassadors for the organization’s diverse program offerings. Members are elected by fellow council members to serve a three-year term and are chosen based on the merits of their professional experience and reputation.

Catharine Pappas, director of Relocation for Dickens Mitchener (Charlotte, N.C.), has been elected to a one-year term as Advisory Council chairperson. Pappas has led the relocation department at Dickens Mitchener for more than 25 years, bringing a depth of experience relating to all areas of relocation.

Kimberly Barkoff, executive director, Relocation/Referrals for Halstead Real Estate (New York, N.Y.), has been elected vice chairperson. Barkoff has more than 18 years of experience, including expertise in property investment and management, real estate and corporate relocation.

Joining the Advisory Council are Michele Barnes, director of Relocation at PARKS Realty (Brentwood, Tenn.); Marie Lawrence, VP, Corporate & Relocation Services, ARC Realty (Montgomery, Ala.); and Tammy Young, relocation director, Sibcy Cline Realtors® (Cincinnati, Ohio).

“We are so fortunate to have such an esteemed group of industry leaders serving on our Advisory Council. Their commitment to our network helps us ensure we deliver highly-effective, market-responsive relocation and business development programs for our members worldwide,” says LeadingRE Executive Vice President, Member Services Kate Reisinger, CRP.

Also serving on the council are Immediate Past Chairperson Allison Rybarczyk, Arizona Best Real Estate, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Judy Bissell, Watson Realty Corp., Jacksonville, Fla.; Andrea Bowles, Blanchard & Calhoun Real Estate, Augusta, Ga.; Shane Bronson, Greenridge Realty, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.; Jo Lay, Baird & Warner, Chicago, Ill.; Ashley McEvers, Willis Allen Real Estate, La Jolla, Calif.; and Karen McRae, Harry Norman Realtors®, Atlanta, Ga.

For more information, please visit www.leadingre.com.

The post Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® Announces New Advisory Council Members appeared first on RISMedia.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® Announces New Advisory Council Members published first on https://thegardenresidences.tumblr.com/

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gillespialfredoe01806ld · 5 years

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Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million

Heidi Gutman/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images; ALLISON SCOTT/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The apartment spans roughly 24,000 square feet, and is being delivered unfurnished as a white box, according to a person familiar with the deal.

A spokesman for Vornado didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company is set to make roughly $1 billion in profits from sales at the project.

Mr. Griffin first signed a contract to buy the New York unit in 2015. Closings only recently commenced now that the building is nearing completion.

— Rob Copeland contributed to this story.

The post Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from DIYS http://bit.ly/2T6Ht5j

#DIYS

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davidoespailla · 5 years

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Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million

Heidi Gutman/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images; ALLISON SCOTT/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The apartment spans roughly 24,000 square feet, and is being delivered unfurnished as a white box, according to a person familiar with the deal.

A spokesman for Vornado didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company is set to make roughly $1 billion in profits from sales at the project.

Mr. Griffin first signed a contract to buy the New York unit in 2015. Closings only recently commenced now that the building is nearing completion.

— Rob Copeland contributed to this story.

The post Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million

#TRUSTED LOCAL REALTOR #Billionaire Ken Griffin Buys America’s Most Expensive Home for $238 Million

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1nebest · 6 years

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UberAir adds another flying taxi partner

Uber has teamed up with Karem Aircraft to develop electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles for the ride-hailing company’s upcoming flying taxi service, the companies announced today at Uber Elevate.

Karem Aircraft, which has patented Optimum Speed Tiltroter technology for military and commercial applications, has been working with Uber for about a year to create the Butterfly concept. This type of vehicle is supposed to be a passenger-friendly adaptation of Karem’s core technology.

“We were always dreaming of doing things commercially, but all of our funding came from the military,” Karem Aircraft founder Abe Karem told TechCrunch ahead of the announcement. “What we were doing was advanced and labeled ‘risky.'”

Now, Karem is able to do what people previously thought was impossible, Karem said. The Butterfly (rendered above) is a quad tiltrotor with four large rotors mounted on the wings and tail. The idea is to combine the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft. The Butterfly is also designed to be more efficient as a result of its rotors with variable RPM.

“Variable RPM allows us to maintain good efficiency across a wide range of rotor thrust,” Karem Aircraft CEO Ben Tigner told me.

This partnership comes a little over one year after Uber announced a number of vehicle partnerships with established aeronautics and VTOL manufacturers at last year’s Elevate event. Other partners include Aurora Flight Sciences, Embraer, Bell Helicopter, Pistrel Aircraft, Mooney and ChargePoint. That’s because Uber itself isn’t building any vehicles. It’s relying on its partners to do that.

Earlier today, Uber unveiled its common reference model design concepts, with the goal to encourage companies and eVTOL manufacturers to design prototypes with UberAIR in mind. For example, the design model requires the propeller blades to be as high as possible in order to ensure people don’t have to duck while they’re boarding and exiting the aircraft.

As long as vehicle manufacturers can adhere to Uber’s common reference designs, they will be eligible to participate in Uber Elevate. By 2020, Uber envisions having multiple vehicle partners ready, Uber Head of Aviation Eric Allison told me, “but we’re not going to launch them if they’re not ready.”

The idea with Uber Elevate is to create an ecosystem with partners across the entire spectrum — batteries, skyports, vehicles and so forth, Allison said.

“We believe that this is a potentially huge market and it’s not just about the ecosystem,” he said. “You need the right ground infrastructure, as well as vehicles to make the overall system be much more useful on a larger scale than small plane aviation is today.”

Uber Elevate’s ultimate goal is to launch and operate a ridesharing network of small, electric aircrafts worldwide that can carry four people at any given time.

Other fun facts:

Uber hopes to demonstrate flights in 2020

uberAIR will be commercially available in 2023 in Dallas-Fort Worth and Frisco, Texas, and Los Angeles

uberAIR hopes to hit speeds of up to 200 mph

uberAIR can travel up to 60 miles on a single charge

Cruising altitude must be ~ 1,000-2,000 feet above ground

Given that the airspace is much more regulated, Uber is prepared to create core systems that enable the entire ecosystem to operate. That means developing an airspace management system that is a more complex version of what we know today as air traffic control.

“Air transport is much more regulated,” Allison said, “and needs to be much more highly coordinated. It can’t be a total free-for-all in the sky.”

In order to achieve all of this, Uber will need skyports. Uber has also teamed up with real estate companies like Hillwood Properties and Sandstone Properties to create skyports for the uberAir network.

Earlier today, Allison showed off some early design concepts. Here’s a quick look at one that could handle 1,000 landings per hour.

The below skyport, which Uber envisions sitting on top of a parking garage, could handle about 100 landings per hour.

I’ll be at Uber Elevate today and tomorrow, so be on the lookout for more news.

This is Uber’s plan to deliver on flying ‘cars’

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newstfionline · 6 years

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Welcome to Zucktown

By David Streitfeld, NY Times, March 21, 2018

MENLO PARK, Calif.--John Tenanes, Facebook’s vice president for real estate, is showing off the company’s plans for expansion. It will have offices for thousands of programmers to extend Facebook’s fearsome reach. But that is not what Mr. Tenanes is excited about.

He leans over a scale model of the 59-acre site, which is named Willow Village. “There will be housing there,” he points. “There will be a retail street along here, with a grocery store and a drugstore. That round building in the corner? Maybe a cultural center.”

In just a few years, Facebook built a virtual community that linked more than two billion people, an achievement with few precedents. Now the social network is building a real community, the kind you can walk around. It is a project with many precedents in American history, quite a few of them cautionary tales about what happens when a powerful corporation takes control of civic life.

Facebook, Mr. Tenanes says, has a dual mission: “We want to balance our growth with the community’s needs.”

Willow Village will be wedged between the Menlo Park neighborhood of Belle Haven and the city of East Palo Alto, both heavily Hispanic communities that are among Silicon Valley’s poorest. Facebook is planning 1,500 apartments, and has agreed with Menlo Park to offer 225 of them at below-market rates. The most likely tenants of the full-price units are Facebook employees, who already receive a five-figure bonus if they live near the office.

The community will have eight acres of parks, plazas and bike-pedestrian paths open to the public. Facebook wants to revitalize the railway running alongside the property and will finish next year a pedestrian bridge over the expressway. The bridge will provide access to the trail that rings San Francisco Bay, a boon for birders and bikers.

Mr. Tenanes contemplates the audacity of building a city.

“It’s a good thing, right?” he says.

Depends how it goes. Facebook is testing the proposition: Do people love tech companies so much they will live inside of them? When the project was announced last summer, critics dubbed it Facebookville or, in tribute to company co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Zucktown.

The company has not warmed to these names. “I owe my soul to the company store,” Tennessee Ernie Ford sang. But Facebook’s ambitions are now confronting a more urgent problem: an escalating crisis over the company’s power to sway elections, its casual approach to data privacy and its susceptibility to Russian manipulation. If Facebook’s image is permanently sullied by the furor over Cambridge Analytica, the data firm hired by President Trump’s 2016 election campaign, Zucktown will falter before it is finished.

The social media colossus is not the only Big Tech company in the complicated position of dressing up its expansion as a gift to its neighbors.

A few miles down the 101 highway, another new civic-corporate partnership is underway in the city of Mountain View. Google is promising to place the public “in the very heart of Google’s vibrant community.”

The search company plans a 600,000-square-foot office building with a roof that melts up into soft peaks, kind of like a meringue. It will have stores, cafes, gardens and even a space for theatrical performances, as well as a place for consumers to test-drive new Google technology.

Google will build 5,000 homes on its property under an agreement brokered with Mountain View in December. Call it Alphabet City as a nod to Alphabet, Google’s corporate parent. The company said it was still figuring out its future as a landlord, and declined further comment.

Zucktown and Alphabet City, as well as similar projects being contemplated across Silicon Valley, could at a minimum have consequences for the start-up culture that transformed fruit orchards into the world’s greatest tech hub. Silicon Valley was built by engineers jumping from company to company. That drove the innovation that sped the rise of some firms and hastened the demise of others.

As workers begin to literally live at the office, they will inevitably be more beholden to bosses who also collect the rent. After all, it is much harder to find a place to live in Silicon Valley than a new job. Turnover may slump, and so might the turnover in ideas.

The push into the physical also has implications for the 1.2 million people in Silicon Valley who are teachers, fitness instructors, clerks, baristas--all those who hold jobs that do not come with stock options. As they inch down the clogged streets and bid money they don’t have on miserable houses, they will hear the siren call of Big Tech: We can fix broken communities by building new ones. Trust us.

“Corporations are paying for things that the city or county and state used to pay for,” said Cecilia Taylor of Belle Haven Action, a community advocacy group. “They have a lot of money. A lot of money. More than the city does. And a lot more power.”

On a wall in the Facebook division charged with the company’s growth there is a poster with a classic tech admonition: “Go Big or Go Home.” Facebook is in essence tweaking that to “Go Big at Home.” About 12,000 of its 25,000 employees work in Menlo Park. In a decade, it will have space for 35,000--slightly more than the city’s current population.

The notion of communities run by and for companies has been a fixture in the United States almost from the beginning. Often these places were exercises in plunder.

In the textile town of Lowell, Mass., in 1846, the mill clock slowed down to lengthen shifts and then sped up at night when the workers were off, according to one contemporary reformer. U.S. Steel built Gary, Ind., but took little responsibility for its employees, many of whom lived in substandard housing in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

There were more benign examples too. Milton Hershey began building a chocolate factory in the middle of Pennsylvania in 1903 and then surrounded it with a community where, he pledged, there would be “no poverty, no nuisances, no evil.” In return for surrendering certain rights--like local elections and privacy--workers in the town of Hershey got medical coverage, a free junior college, parks and a zoo.

By the 1960s, the era of the company town in America was fading, even as countries like China picked up the notion. Zhengzhou is a remote Chinese city that was once impoverished. It now has 350,000 workers building iPhones.

Hardy Green, author of “The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills That Shaped the American Economy,” said that the tech companies had been reviving elements of the company town in the United States for years now.

The free meals, nap pods, concierge services, yoga classes, on-site laundry and haircuts are a perk but also a modern way of slowing down the mill clock so the workers can spend more time working. But in a society where government is increasingly ineffective, company towns are nevertheless likely to be welcomed, or at least tolerated.

“It may be the best option for many, just as a benevolent dictatorship can be O.K. for as long as the benevolence lasts,” Mr. Green said.

Only seven years ago, Silicon Valley had a very different attitude about building housing for workers, much less the community. A gaunt Steve Jobs, in what would turn out to be his last public appearance, made his case before the Cupertino City Council for a new Apple headquarters.

Mr. Jobs told council members how great the new doughnut-shaped headquarters was going to be. It would have a lot of trees, a theater, curved windows. Architecture students would come from all over to study it.

City Council member Kris Wang had a question: How could the 60,000 Cupertino residents benefit from this new campus?

“We’d like to continue to stay here and pay taxes,” Mr. Jobs said. “If we can’t, we’d have to go somewhere like Mountain View.”

Ms. Wang, a former Cupertino mayor, persisted. “Do we get free Wi-Fi or something like that?”

“I’m a simpleton,” Mr. Jobs replied. “I always had this view that we pay taxes and the city should do those things. That’s why we pay taxes. If we can get out of paying taxes I’d be glad to put up a Wi-Fi network.”

Since that June 2011 meeting, the number of hours commuters in Silicon Valley lose every day to congestion has doubled to 66,000. About 300,000 new jobs have been created, pushing the median apartment rental rate up 37 percent and the median cost of a home to $968,000.

Meanwhile, the big companies--not only Apple but Amazon, which has an increasingly large presence in Silicon Valley, as well as Facebook and Google--are much wealthier.

Apple built a $5 billion campus that, for all its splendor, is not readily accessible by mass transit. That problem was compounded by the company’s apparent lack of interest in where its new employees would live. Decisions like these are no longer acceptable from a public relations point of view, and would not be smart for the companies in any case. If Silicon Valley continues choking on its traffic, the companies will find hiring not merely difficult but impossible. Even for a tech programmer, a $2 million house is a hurdle.

So the virtual companies are being forced to grapple with the most intractable physical issues.

“I don’t think Google, for instance, thought they were going to have to get into the transportation business,” said Allison Arieff, editorial director of San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, a research organization. “But they now have a giant swath of the company devoted to getting people around. Housing seems the next step. No one bats an eye if universities build housing for students, grad students and tenured professors.”

#Facebook #Willow Village #Zucktown #company towns

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claythonplaza · 6 years

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Realtor Spotlight: William Fastow, Appleton Properties

There is no denying how real estate is an exciting field. No two days are exactly the same. Even real estate professionals in the same area spend their work hours differently. There is a revolving door of new people to deal with. It is dynamic and will keep even the best of the best on their feet.

With that said, it is always interesting to get a glimpse of another real estate professional’s day in the life. Today’s blog post is all about William Fastow from Appleton Properties Real Estate:

Real estate is a great industry and a rewarding career. Every day is different and presents unique challenges. I get to learn about architecture, design, and building practices – all while forging a bond and rapport with my clients, and helping them make what will be one of the biggest investments of their lives.

A typical day

My day at work practically starts just a few minutes after I wake up and ends right before I go to sleep. As a real estate professional in one of the most dynamic markets in the United States, the long hours are often necessary. But when you love what you do, it stops feeling like work. And as my work and personal routine take me on unending drives around the city, my passion and appreciation for everything Washington, DC has to offer are always rekindled.

Here’s a peep at how a typical day goes for me:

7:30-8:30 AM

My lovely wife, Allison, and our other son, Lucas, are awake. Everyone gets cleaned up and dressed. Quick review of schedules and a brief family conversation about everyone’s upcoming day. Eli has soccer after pre-school today at 4:00 so I mark it on my calendar.

8:30-9:30 AM

Our wonderful nanny, Evelyn, arrives and takes control of the kids. My wife heads out the door and everyone’s real day begins. I head straight into our home office and begin corresponding with my clients.

I have about an hour to set up showings for later in the week for my buyer clients, coordinate contractors for one of my sellers, follow up on active transactions with other agents, and everything in between. This is my opportunity to take care of the details and make sure all my clients are in the loop, aware of new listings. My goal each day is for my clients to hear from me before they start their day, and this hour is crucial to getting all of that accomplished.

9:30-11:00 AM

I jump in my car and am off to my first showings of the day. Brian and Stefanie were referred to me by a close friend, and they are struggling to find the perfect house in their ideal neighborhood in a tight market.

I run over to Columbia Heights to pick them up and show them 3 new listings that just came onto the market the day before. I pride myself on getting my clients through properties before anyone else gets to see them. I pick them up, run them through the homes, take my notes, discuss the pros and cons of each house and drop them off back at home in less than an hour and a half.

11:00 AM-12:00 PM

One of my favorite local coffee shops and bakeries is right around the corner from Brian and Stefanie’s house on 14th Street. I run into La Caprice and grab a quick espresso and a croissant for the road. I’m now back in my car heading north up to our offices in Bethesda.

On the way, I am on the phone with two clients who are developers working on a row house project in Petworth. They have hit a snag and are struggling to get their project through DC Zoning. A quick search through my contacts and I have put them in touch with an architect who can quickly redraft their plans and a permit expeditor to help ferry the project through zoning and approvals.

Though the development will not be out of the ground for at least 2 months and will not be ready for sale for another 6-8 months, I am working with them throughout the process to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.

12:00-1:30 PM

I arrive at our brokerage office in Bethesda. I carry a cooler bag with me most days with my lunch and snacks in it. Before I started doing this, I found that I would go through the whole day and not have time to eat.

I sit down at my desk and start my working lunch. While I eat, I draft an offer on a property in Chevy Chase. Though my clients are still on the fence, I like to get a jump on the paperwork now that things are starting to get serious. Even if my clients don’t move on this house, it’s an opportunity to get them acquainted with the offer process.

Once the offer is drafted I make a call to their mortgage broker to request a pre-approval letter, and then call a different broker to follow up on another client’s appraisal that should be posting later today.

It’s important for me to remain in contact with everyone associated with a client’s transactions. I make a point of developing a personal relationship with everyone involved – from their inspector to the appraiser, right down to the receptionist at the title company. People are more willing to go the extra mile for someone they know, and establishing personal relationships with all parties is the best way to keep the axles greased and things moving smoothly.

1:30-2:30 PM

I can carve some time out of my work day for a gym workout 3 or 4 times a week. I typically aim for mid-day when most people are at or heading back to work. The gym down the street from my office is empty and I get a solid workout and a shower in just about an hour.

2:30-3:30 PM

Time to head back into DC. I have a listing in Spring Valley that I brought onto the market 2 weeks ago and it’s getting good traffic. The property is a large 5000+ square-foot home. I make it a point to be on hand at all the showings so I can highlight the features of this great house.

Today, we are doing a second showing with some buyers, along with their agent and architect. We’re working on the viability of some exterior and interior renovations that the buyers would like to price out before making an offer. This is a great opportunity to also pick their architect’s brain about improvements to the house that might make it more desirable to others if these buyers opt not to move forward.

3:30-4:00 PM

Eli’s soccer practice is at 4:00 so it’s time to jump back into the car and head over to Turtle Park in the American University Park neighborhood. I love to arrive a few minutes early so I can see him before they get started. That – and I need to pick up a bottle of water for him and coffee for my wife Allison on my way over.

4:00-5:00 PM

Eli gives me a big hug as I come into the park. He has already had a busy day and is eager to tell me about what happened at school before taking the field. I give my wife Allison a peck on the cheek, and check my messages and emails one last time before my phone goes into my pocket and on silent for the first time all day.

For the next hour, I am just watching my son play soccer and talking to my wife. Family time is critical and it’s important to be present. My clients all know that they will always hear back from me within an hour. Watching my little man run up and down the field is truly the highlight of the day.

5:00-6:30 PM

Soccer practice wraps up and it’s time to load Eli into my wife’s car. A quick hug goodbye, a little kiss from Allison, and they are on their way home. I, however, have another showing across town. My client Chris is just getting out of work and there is a condo in Logan Circle that he must see right away.

6:30-7:00 PM

After a quick cross-town trip in rush hour traffic and a showing of a fantastic two-bedroom duplex with roof deck on Swann Street near Logan Circle, it’s time to head home.

On the drive home, I am following up with my clients Tim and Sheryl about their offer on the house in Chevy Chase. After reviewing the paperwork I drafted over lunch, they want to move forward. From my phone, I forward them the documents again, but this time for formal e-signatures. Looks like I will be submitting an offer after dinner.

7:00-7:45 PM

I pull up to our home and head inside. Allison is busy pulling dinner together and it’s my job to bring the kids to table. Over a nice family meal, we all catch up on the details of the day and talk about plans for the coming weekend.

7:45-8:30 PM

After dinner it’s time to clean up, do the dishes, and get Eli ready for his bath and bed time. Toddlers are a lot like real estate, it’s all about developing a reliable routine. I rush Eli upstairs, give him a quick bath, and it’s into his bed for two stories and some songs before lights out.

8:30-9:30 PM

Kids are in bed and I have about thirty minutes of work to get the offer for the Chevy Chase house finalized. My clients have e-signed and I have the contract in hand. Time to attach the pre-approval letter I requested from their mortgage broker during lunch and a brief letter to the seller’s agent.

I pride myself on submitting an organized and well summarized offer that lays out my client’s position and situation without any ambiguity. If my clients end up in a multiple offer situation, I want to make sure that their offer is fully executable, has no “x-factors” or any point that might lead to confusion. In summary, I want my clients’ offer to be the easiest decision for the listing agent to make, and for her to feel like we are going to make the transaction easier and not harder. One last proofread and the offer goes out via email.

9:30 PM

Time to lie down with Allison, watch a recorded episode of “So You Think You Can Dance,” and get some sleep so I can do it again tomorrow.

Life-work balance

Balancing work and family life is important to me. It’s something I do very deliberately and carefully. To be successful, I need to be there for my clients, especially in times of crises. And to be a good father and husband, I must also be there for my family.

Efficiency is key. My clients know that they can always reach me through calls or texts, and that I keep a strict “one hour” response time to all client communications. I always anticipate what my clients need so I can work on them on them with little time lost. By being proactive and efficient, I also get to save more time for family and home life.

With that said, my cell phone is my lifeline. With everything online and in the cloud, I can access real estate listings, my contacts, other agents and all my documents and offers in the palm of my hand. That is a dramatic change from when I started in real estate in 2002.

Most important success strategy

Keeping up with local news in Washington, DC is a must. Every neighborhood is its own insulated community, so it’s important to understand the ins and outs of what’s going on from one micro market to the next.

New development is rife in DC right now and I try and stay abreast of all the new projects, openings, and parcel bids working their way through the market. The landscape of our city is changing daily, and opportunities, dangers and fortunes exist in those shifting sands.

Advice for first-time homebuyers

See as much as you can as quickly as you can. Regardless if you’re just starting your search or are a year away from buying, get out there and get to know the market. We are still very much in a seller’s market, especially in affordable segments under 1 million dollars. When the time comes, you will need to be decisive with your offer in order to win out against other buyers.

The best way to commit completely to a property is to know the market, to have seen the competing inventory, and be in a head space where you are confident that this is the house or condo for you. That confidence not only comes from a gut feeling, but also from being educated about the market, what has sold, and what you are bidding on.

Advice for sellers

Declutter and stage for success. The way your home presents can make the difference between languishing on the market and selling with multiple offers.

With HDTV, Instagram, and a million other influences that shape our opinions of how a “dream home” should look, it is more important now than ever to put your home’s best foot forward. This means editing your possessions – that is, putting away family photos and reducing your clutter and personal possessions.

Consider supplemental furniture to showcase spaces and features that your family might not utilize. As a rule of thumb, I would advise sellers to remove about 25-30% of their stuff. Off season clothing should be packed up and stored offsite to show off those closets!

The post Realtor Spotlight: William Fastow, Appleton Properties appeared first on Best Real Estate Websites for Agents and Brokers.

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