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BOOMING conditions in the commercial building sector helped Australia's construction industry expand last month, a survey shows. This was despite an anaemic performance by the residential apartment sector. The Performance of Construction Index rose 7.5 points last month to 53.1. Any reading of more than 50 indicates the building industry is expanding. In August, the Australian Industry Group-Housing Industry Association's PCI fell sharply to 45.6 points, following the interest rate rise that month. The HIA's executive director of housing and economics, Simon Tennent, said the September increase was encouraging but conditions in the apartment market remained poor, with the index at just 30.7 points. He said investors were still skittish after the apartment boom ended in 2004 and a 30 per cent increase in steel and concrete prices since then was hurting the market.
The Cornerstone Group's town home division has secured a $2.87 million construction loan for Solaris at MetroWest, a community being developed near downtown Orlando. Birmingham, Ala.-based AmSouth Bank provided the project financing, which will help cover part of the acquisition and construction of Solaris at MetroWest. .
Christian F. Dreyer is celebrating 100 years of life today. Although he relocated to the Monterey Bay area 27 years ago, many local people will remember the avid tennis player.
Dreyer spent many hours on the courts at Grass Valley Memorial Park playing pickup games with other locals. Two men who remember him well are Mike Blake and Mert Austin, both high school students at that time. They describe Dreyer as their mentor who contributed to their lifelong love of tennis.
Dreyer attributes his longevity to God's will, hard work, a healthy lifestyle and exercise. Born in Cranford, N.J., to a farming family, he knew hard work from an early age. The first member of his family to graduate high school, he did so at the age of 16. Four years later, when his father sold the farm, Dreyer enlisted in the U.S.
Maybe the 19th-century Genius of Water centerpiece of the Tyler Davidson Fountain is smart enough to offer some time-saving tips on 21st century construction techniques. With just a day left until the $42.6 million makeover of Fountain Square is unveiled with a splashy 10-hour celebration, the public square at the heart of downtown Cincinnati is still months away from completion. Steve Leeper, the president and chief executive of Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., said the reopening has a "rolling" timetable, with additional elements of the project scheduled for completion over the next six months. Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., known as 3CDC, is the private company that is managing Fountain Square and its redevelopment, "I wish I could tell you there was one reason why," Leeper said.
A light bar message center (LMC) that incorporates digital technology is the latest addition to Ametek Dixson's modular Next Generation Instrumentation (NGI) system. Designed for commercial, heavy-duty, and construction vehicles, the center receives messages from the vehicle data bus and signals from discrete switches and analog sensors throughout the vehicle. It processes data to drive telltales and gauge pointers, display vehicle information, or broadcast messages on the vehicle data bus. The LMC features SAE J1587/1939 (CAN) data bus communication; automatic self-test on each power up; eleven switched inputs; seven analog inputs, two switched outputs and an audible warning device; push-button selectable displays and test functions; selectable primary display screens; backlight control for LCD and MGI gauges; and 12- or 24-V operation.
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