2006 WIRE Events

Architect, Interior Designer, and WIRE member Barbara Lyons Stweart is coauthoring Feng Shui: A Practical Guide for Architects and Designers, which will be published by Kaplan Publishing in April 2006.

February 21
Dorothy, We're Not in Kansas Anymore: Following the Yellow Brick Road From Heavy Industry to Incubators

Join Marty Van Duyn, Economic Community Development Director and Assistant City Manager for the City of South San Francisco, for our February event.

As Director of ECD, Van Duyn has been the architect behind the conversion of land from heavy industry to biotech in the East of 101 area on the peninsula. In this role, he regularly meets with developers, lenders, architects and other development professionals to attract projects to the area. Join us for this event and follow the amazing transformation of this dynamic real estate known as the San Francisco Bay Area!

March 21
WIRE Tour: "Bright Idea!"
Efficient and Cost Effective Lighting for Commercial Buildings

A valuable building for your client is an energy efficient building. This program highlights productive and energy effective benefits when lighting control strategies are integrated with a closely monitored and managed daylight and electric light systems. We will explore simulation of lighting controls, develop an understanding for required design, equipment selection, monitoring, and reporting details for optimum system performance and occupant satisfaction.

Speaker: Jeannine Komonosky's career includes over 15 years of experience, emphasizing lighting technology, application, and design in a comprehensive combination of engineering, business, marketing, communications, and leadership roles.

April 18
Keeping Projects Within Budget

Last year, construction costs in the Bay Area rose between 15% to 20% according to the SF Business Times. Where steel has already peaked in price, other materials such as dry wall, lumber and glazing are rapidly increasing in cost, delaying project schedules and pushing projects currently in construction over budget.

President Daniel Huntsman and Vice-President Linda Parker of Huntsman Architectural Group and Debbie Fleser, Director of Project Management with BCCI Construction Company, share their collective experience in keeping pace with the turbulent increases and informing clients on changing costs and schedules. Pricing forecasting, managing client expectations and changing trends in design and construction will be some of the topics presented in the April program.

May 16
Conversion of the Former Pacific Exchange
Building to the Equinox Fitness Club

After more than a century at its landmark location at the corner of Pine and Sansome Streets, the equities trading floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange was closed, the building vacated, and trading activities were moved to NYSE Arca, the nation’s first electronic, open national stock market.

What few San Franciscans knew at the time, however, was that the Pacific
Exchange did not own the building! It is owned by the owners of the adjacent
City Club Building, The Empire Group. Our guest speaker, Rhonda Bennon, Vice President of The Empire Group, will talk to us during lunch about the history, use, retenanting, and conversion of this historic building into an upscale fitness club.

We will cap our program with a tour of the Equinox Club. Daymi Lembesi, Operations Manager, and Jennifer Sherwood, personal trainer, will provide insight as we walk through the facility. Don’t miss the Olympic-length pool, the former vault door at the
entrance to the locker rooms, or the plastered walls applied by Italian artisans!

June 20
Whoa - Did It Go Commercial Condo

Joining the recent conversion craze from office building to residential condominiums, San Francisco developers are now morphing office buildings into office condos. WIRE is pleased to offer a tour of The Adam Grant Building for its June program. Located at 114 Sansome Street, it is the first commercial condominium conversion in the City. We will have the opportunity to view the elegant historic details that were restored as well as the changes being made to accommodate building owners rather than tenants.

Immediately following our tour we will have a panel discussion during lunch at the City Club with Douglas Booth of Douglas Booth Architects, Inc. and Gaye Quinn, founding partner of Quorum Real Estate Group. Douglas Booth Architects provided the building interiors expertise to both restore and redesign this marvelous property. Gayle Quinn, a former vice president of real estate development for Venture, has extensive knowledge of city planning, the entitlement process, and over six years of Bay Area experience in condo development and construction. As her firm is actively converting buildings to condos, she will be able to give us first hand knowledge of the risks and rewards in "Going Condo".

July 18
It's All About to Bloom!

WIRE is pleased to be presenting a full tour of the Westfield Mall Development at the San Francisco Shopping Center. Westfield is a major development in the San Francisco shopping district and the anchor tenant - Bloomingdale's -is scheduled to open this coming September, 2006.

Our tour will beginning meeting at the Westfield Management Office. Please meet at 11:30am, with the tour set to begin at 11:45am. Our tour will combine both the retail and office space that are being offered and managed by Westfield Mall.

September 19
Nightmare on Moving Street

Most companies and employees dread moving their corporate offices, and for good reason. As we all know, moves of any kind can often become a nightmare. And in this high-tech environment, nightmarish moves can be a disaster for the business. Who hasn't heard of or been through the dreadful "nothing worked for weeks" relocation?

WIRE is proud to provide a case study in relocation presented by DeeDee Towery - President and CEO of ProActive Business Solutions. SF Business Times has rated the company as one of the top 100 Women Owned Businesses in the Bay Area. DeeDee will be joined by Matt Sullivan, VP of ProActive Solutions. They will provide WIRE members with some of their extensive knowledge and experience. ProActive Solutions has created a business model that has allowed them to relocate technology in a way that is seamless to the end-user, and cost-effective for management.

October 17
History - San Francisco Style!

Historic buildings are tangible links with the past. They help give a community a sense of identity, stability and orientation. The Federal government encourages the preservation of historic buildings through various means. One of these is the program of Federal tax incentives to support the rehabilitation of historic and older buildings.
The Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program is one of the nation's most successful and cost-effective community revitalization programs. It provides a strong alternative to government ownership and management of such historic properties. Jointly managed by the National Park Service and the Internal Revenue Service in partnership with State Historic Preservation Offices, the Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program rewards private investment in rehabilitating historic buildings.

Please join M. Bridget Maley, A Mayoral appointed member of the San Francisco Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board since 2004, as well as the Director of Planning, Architectural Historian and Preservation Planner with Architectural Resources Group. Bridget will help guide us through a visual presentation of Tax Act projects throughout San Francisco.

November 14
Win, Lose or Draw - It's All About Negotiation

It has always been said that in real estate it is all about location, but even the best location can't overcome a poorly negotiated deal. Negotiation is at the heart of everything we do. Without honed negotiating skills, you are at a disadvantage before you start.

WIRE is pleased to offer the opportunity to work with Dr. Janet Martinez on this highly anticipated forum- the Art of Negotiation. Negotiation is an intrinsic part of our personal and professional lives. This highly interactive program will: * learn the fundamentals of negotiation theory * learn the critical moment of opening a negotiation * consider the role of gender in negotiation

Dr. JANET MARTINEZ is a consultant with Lax Sebenius, LLC-The Negotiation Group and Director of the Gould Negotiation and Mediation Program at Stanford Law School. Dr. Martinez practiced corporate law in San Francisco for ten years before moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, she conducted research, writing, and teaching in various aspects of negotiation at Harvard University's Graduate Schools of Business, Law, and Government, as well as completed her Ph.D. at MIT.

December 12
Under the Umbrian Sun

Four years ago, Dan and Gina Waldman purchased a house in the historic center of Spello, Italy, a hillside village with a rich history pre-dating Roman times. The property, nestled within the ancient city walls, had one of the most panoramic views in all of Spello. Built over 500 years ago, the house consisted of a single-family residence and three dark cellars.

Gina Waldman will share with us her unique and sometimes funny experience of remodeling the property into four modern townhouse units, while preserving its genuine medieval ambience.