Chicago homeowners Andy and Tammy Sullivan sat amid the rubble of their 90-year-old Ravenswood Manor bungalow and were forced to reconsider their present as much as their future.
The couple had begun an extensive renovation, and by a mix of Mother Nature and human folly the house tumbled to the ground two months into the project. They could have seen defeat as much as the opportunity to build something more grand and distinctive.
Instead, they looked back, and decided to recreate their Chicago bungalow from the ground up, a rare turn in an evolving city where gentrification and progress too often means wrecking balls and a break from the past.
A purchase and plans
The historic Chicago bungalow remains the city's most iconic residential home style. Both sturdy with its brick construction and elaborate with its cathedral-style elements, the bungalow is a splendid mix of history and character, simplicity and stability.
Andy Sullivan, born and bred in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood, understood the bungalow's revered place in Chicago architecture, its reputation as a muscular, middle-class home. His wife, Tammy, a native Texan, wasn't sold.
"The whole idea of having a home just like thousands of others in Chicago didn't really appeal to me," Tammy said. "But once I got inside and saw how much room they had and the sense of history, I was hooked."
After six months of searching, the couple spotted a 2-bedroom, red-brick bungalow in Ravenswood Manor. The 1919 home held much charm typical of most bungalows, including stained glass windows and intricate woodwork. Care and updates were needed, but the home held promise.
The sale completed in February 2007, and the Sullivans turned their attention to an expansive remodeling project to put a fresh spin on their early 20th century structure. Plans included modernizing and expanding the living space, including a second-story addition, while restoring the bungalow's intricate detail and warm feel from years of inattention.
In March 2008, work began on gutting the home to its brick walls. On target for an October completion, the Sullivans -- their weariness high, their hopes even higher -- treasured the project and its potential.
Demolition day
On May 2, 2008, nearly two inches of rain and hail hammered the city in one hour. Wind gusts approached 60 mph and Mother Nature turned a subcontractor mistake into disaster. The construction team, directed to do the basement underpinning in four-foot sections, elected to do 10-foot sections. Unable to endure the vicious storm, the home toppled to the ground.
The foundation compromised, the Sullivans would have to tear the home down, thereby stifling any plans the couple had for an October move-in date.
"Here was this home we thought was being built and now it's done," Andy said of the wreckage. "Truthfully, I don't think we knew what we were going to do."
Recover and rebuild
Chicagoans have a long history of rebuilding, a track record of endurance and perseverance. The Sullivans summoned every bit of that spirit to battle the months ahead.
After consulting with attorneys, contractors and other trusted advisers, they elected to move forward with new construction -- and to recreate, as best they could, the same historic Chicago bungalow they had purchased just months prior.
The truth: the Sullivans could have built any home -- a modern Georgian, a contemporary Cape Cod, a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired three-story monstrosity. They could have scoured the streets of Chicago's gentrifying neighborhoods to find a home that caught their eye, something fashionable, innovative and distinct. They had the blank canvas to make such a choice, the freedom to build any home they desired.
And yet, they choose the bungalow, the historic Chicago variety, something that would both blend into the neighborhood as well as honor the city's spirit.
"Chicago's a unique city for its architecture and the bungalow is a significant part of that style, class and character," Andy said. "We deeply wanted to be a part of that nostalgia, even as we had the opportunity to build anything else.
"I understand others who take a different route, who build a home that fits whatever vision they have, and they have that right. But for us, that wasn't what we wanted. We wanted a bungalow and something that blended into the neighborhood."
Though brick bungalows consume the Chicago area landscape -- estimates say the city hosts as many as 80,000 bungalows in areas north, south, and west -- it is a home design that has largely disappeared from modern residential construction. Expensive to build with brick and rarely maximizing a home's available land space, bungalows do not mesh with today's new home trends.
The Sullivans' project would be a new venture for many involved, calling for fresh designs on a century-old home style.
"We are always cognizant of wanting to fit in with the surroundings, and stress that with our clients, but we had never attempted to recreate a turn-of-the-century bungalow before," said Chad Halverson of Vertex Properties, the Sullivans' general contractor.
Reinvented and resurrected
Along with Halvorson, Ron Meadows, the head of Vertex, and architect Mark Michonski of Chicago-based Jonathan Splitt Architects, the Sullivans reviewed their initial plans for the once-standing bungalow and elected to stay consistent with those elements -- expanding the living space and modernizing the floor plan.
"We treated this like rebuilding the home that was there before and then adding a second story," Michonski said.
Obeying the footprint of the original home, the Sullivans relocated key functions, creating a more usable kitchen and family room while working to retain the bungalow's long-admired characteristics, such as a formal living room and dining room. The couple even included some of the bungalow's most intricate details, including the red-brick exterior patterns, stained-glass windows and stone planters.
Creating a historic Chicago bungalow in the 21st century, the Sullivans also added a number of eco-friendly features as a member of Chicago's Green Home program, including a geothermal heating system, expanding foam insulation made from soybean oil, and a tankless water heater.
This past June, the Sullivans moved into their completed bungalow. Boxes filled rooms and work remained, but the finish line emerged within view. As the Fourth of July approached, the couple embarked upon one of their final tasks: adding grass to their city lot, one that had been littered with dirt and debris for over a year.
"It was all such an emotional roller coaster, so it was a huge relief to know that we were nearing the end and had accomplished our goal," Tammy said.
Today, the couple's home blends into a block filled with historic Chicago bungalows, looking as much the 90-year old home as their neighbors'. Yes, it looks fresh and new, but also in place, a replica of Chicago's past in a hard-charging present.
"People ask me, 'Where does the addition start?' and that's a compliment to the work done here," Andy said.
From disaster, the Sullivans found comfort in the past and a plan for the future. In the historic brick bungalow, as much a piece of the Chicago scene as hot dog stands and church steeples, they found home.
"We never plan on moving," Andy said. "For us, this is it."
Friday, September 11, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
The New Cost of Doing Business (QSR Magazine, January 2009)
Tucked quietly between Chicago and St. Louis, the town of Shelbyville bills itself as Illinois’ best kept secret. Hosting some of America’s richest farmland, the town’s agricultural roots reach into the 1820s and include the invention of the first commercial pick-up bailer, a marvel of agricultural engineering.
For Dale Short—and indeed many in this central Illinois town—farming runs in the blood. One of the town’s agricultural leaders and a third-generation farmer in Shelbyville, Short oversees 2,000 acres of farmland. Throughout the last 36 years, Short adhered to a standard practice of crop rotation—half his farmland received beans, the other half corn.
When the ethanol boom hit a few years back, Short, as sharp a businessman as he is diligent a laborer, immediately noted the crossroads he faced. He contemplated planting more corn to take advantage of the rising prices he could get for the crop, debating the merits as well as the economic potential. While Short debated his decision, other farmers—big and small—had made theirs and worked to produce more corn. It was, after all, the logical, practical, economical choice.
Across America’s heartland, these individual decisions played a small but symbolic step in the dramatic theater that now has food costs throughout the world rising to unfamiliar heights. Simple economic needs encouraged the nation’s farmers to follow the demand and the money, turning from food to fuel. Sprouting out corn at record levels, other crops were shortchanged; supply shortages led to higher prices in crops such as grain and beans.
Though America’s small-town farmers remain small players in this big-stakes game, they stand as the most compelling dominoes to fall in a perfect storm of swelling global demand, increased energy needs, and a weakening U.S. dollar that have merged to intensify food prices. Indeed, the era of cheap food has reached its end and given rise to a new age, one dominated by trepidation.
The End of the Cheap Food Era
Before World War II, many American families spent approximately one-third of their income on food. Following the war, however, a series of dramatic changes, including a rise in agricultural productivity and a significant post-war economic punch, produced a long, powerful decline in the price of food. Instead of spending one-third of their income on food, Americans’ investment at the dinner table fell to 10 percent.
With the exception of a price upswing in the 1970s, Americans enjoyed much of their food at modest costs throughout the final decades of the 20th century and into the millennium’s opening years. In fact, global food prices, adjusted for inflation, fell by 75 percent between 1974-2005, which delivered smiles to the faces of American households and industry insiders alike.
Still, all fine days must end.
The door on cheap food has now closed. When The Economist declared “The End of Cheap Food” as the title of a December 2007 story, it cited a startling figure: food prices had increased 75 percent since 2005, representing a complete reversal from the favorable times of yesteryear.
But it wasn’t only Uncle Sam’s homeland feeling the pinch; the rising cost of food stretches into all corners of the globe. In January 2007, riots erupted on Mexican streets after the price of corn flour increased fourfold while Argentina has suffered from a series of strikes. Recent floods in England and India as well as a drought in Australia destroyed crops and led to price increases. In Ethiopia, ten pounds of corn flour costs five times as much as it did in 2005. Many wondered how; others questioned now what?
“We’ve had the challenge of rising commodity prices before, but it has been a long time since we’ve had this level of a sustained increase in prices,” says Bill Lapp, an agricultural economist with Omaha-based Advanced Economic Solutions. “The difference today is that these rising prices have been dramatic, sustained, and across the board. We’re not going through one year in which some key commodities are up and others are down.”
Behind the rising costs, economists and analysts cite both controllable and uncontrollable factors, many which began creeping in as early as 2005.
While most of the nation’s corn crop is fed to livestock to produce meat, dairy, and eggs, the amount being marked for energy usage is climbing each year, a fact many analysts trace directly to the U.S. government’s ethanol subsidies. In 2006, for instance, 14 percent of the nation’s corn crop was turned into ethanol; in 2007, that number rose to 24 percent (though an ascent is certain, some claim 2007’s figure sits closer to 33 percent). The decision to put food in gas tanks, a decision many argue was both reckless and politically charged, has led farmers to dedicate increasing tracts of their farmland to biofuels. Meanwhile, the productivity of other crops, namely grain and beans, has fallen and sparked new challenges, including rising prices in those commodities.
“When corn sneezes, other commodities catch a cold,” Lapp reminds.
The financial boom in China and India, the world’s two most populous nations and together claiming one-third of the global population, have also placed a strain on food prices. Throughout history, a rise in personal income has led to a corresponding upswing in meat consumption—termed the “nutrition transition.” The United Nations’ annual assessment of farming trends in 2007 predicts that people in developing countries will be eating 30 percent more beef, 50 percent more pig meat, and 25 percent more poultry within the next decade.
“We have a growing world demand for food and with 30 percent of our pork, cheese, and flour exported, we all end up paying more for the world demand,” says Don Vlcek, vice president of purchasing for Marco’s Pizza. “[The United States is the] prime source to fill the inventory gaps throughout the world.”
As global demand for meat increases, the need for grain follows. It takes 8kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef and 4kg of pork. The increased demand for meat and grain extends elsewhere, including amplified demands on water and oil. Furthermore, grain-designated land risks the transition from human to animal consumption.
“We’re dealing with the realities of becoming wealthier as a planet…and the technologies haven’t caught up to the increasing demand,” says Adam Mussomeli, who heads Deloitte Consulting’s consumer products supply chain analysis.
The weakening of the U.S. dollar has done little to insulate the nation. A potent mix of trade and account deficits, falling Federal Reserve interest rates, a loss of confidence in the U.S. economy, and competition from other monetary markets—the euro, for instance, wasn’t even around one decade ago—have all combined to send the dollar into a downward spiral completely independent of the supply-demand issue.
Other notable factors include the escalating price of crude oil and the wrath of Mother Nature. Oil prices, which hit $147 a barrel in July before the recent nosedive, also contribute to higher commodity prices. Greater oil prices, meanwhile, translate into higher costs to plant, irrigate, harvest, and transport product. Mother Nature shares some of the blame as well. Drought, hurricanes, and floods have all pelted the world in recent years, dealing a devastating blow to crops from Australia to Iowa.
“A lot of factors started this bonfire and now some extra gasoline’s been tossed on it,” Lapp says.
The Impact, Inherent Challenge, and Potential Solutions
While some view the current rise in food prices as little more than the natural order of things, arguing that commodity prices have traditionally taken a quantum leap every 30 years or so, such a realization does little to lessen concern across the restaurant industry. The steep, global increase in commodity prices is expected to persist for years. Two elements analysts agree on: we’re closer to the beginning than the end and demand isn’t likely to diminish.
“Food is still cheap today, but we’re at a period of time where that is becoming less and less of a true statement,” Lapp says. “We need to know there are cycles; now it’s a matter of surviving this one.”
To combat rising food costs, restaurants will have to be aggressive, analytical, innovative, and decisive. Waiting for improvement is not a strategy as restaurants everywhere face this central question: margins or market share? A successful answer will likely mean survival; the wrong answer, closing. Restaurants must be honest about why customers enter their doors and, above all, look beyond the next 12 months and 2-3 years into the future to seek answers.
Restaurants must understand that volatility will be an ever-present antagonist to an operation’s efficiency. As commodity prices proved favorable throughout the last 15 years, inefficiencies weaved into businesses because—to put it bluntly—they could. Winning overshadowed flaws and all seemed well—that is until the pendulum swung back.
“As prices have risen in recent years, it has forced efficiencies and a focus on brand and product that will have to continue,” Informa Economics CEO Bruce Scherr says.
Rather than reacting to the market’s uppercuts, restaurants will have to examine their purchasing habits more aggressively, more strategically. Pull out the spreadsheet, input the numbers, and assess where, when, and how items can be purchased at more reasonable costs. At Marco’s, Vlcek led the company’s savings of nearly $2.4 million in 2008 by competitive bidding, locking in prices, quantity orders, and utilizing local sources.
“It’s at times like these, that purchasing people really have to fill their role,” says Vlcek, who penned a letter to his vendors saying that escalating prices compelled him to investigate competitors and yet simultaneously urged their help to maintain the relationship.
Jack Graves, Chief Cultural Officer at Burgerville, says working with local vendors has helped to diffuse swelling costs at his Pacific Northwest spots. Burgerville’s focus on purchasing locally has proven to be a successful antidote to rising commodity prices. Transportation costs are kept down and the local community benefits from the company’s investment.
“We are aiding in the prosperity of the local region and we believe that others can do the same by following our lead,” Graves says.
Restaurants might also turn to reformulation and substitution, seeking ways to recreate the menu mix without sacrificing quality, perhaps highlighting dishes with products that aren’t as price volatile and can deliver greater margins. For example, at its Consumer 360 Conference in June, the Nielsen Company reported that seafood, dry pasta, and candy are among the products most immune to a recession. Such information allows retailers to better focus on the right categories and brands for success.
While retailers themselves might have initially absorbed the brunt of rising commodity prices, national media is now communicating the changes to consumers, including higher menu prices. Citing a rise in the cost of key commodities, the Wall Street Journal named in September a number of high-profile companies set to raise menu prices, including Olive Garden (owned by Darden Restaurants Inc.) and Yum Brands Inc., parent of Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell among others. Such debates rage on elsewhere in the industry, including Chipotle Mexican Grill, where rising input costs, mostly attributed to corn, slower sales, and higher transportation costs have put the issue of raising prices in front of the Mexican chain’s leaders.
Lapp believes that consumers can and will pay more if requested. Though challenging to increase price points in tough economic times, he says most customers understand that higher costs get passed onto the consumer.
“The thing to do isn’t to make portions smaller or to dumb down the food, but to increase prices in a well-conceived, managed, and tactful way,” Lapp says.
What restaurants must not do, however, is panic and alter their product for a short-term solution. A focus on the basics must be maintained and executed.
“To make it through this current challenge and to be successful after this, restaurants will have to maintain their principles, including standards of labor and operational execution, as well as the quality of the product that got them customers in the first place,” he says. “There can be no departure from those core components.”
For Dale Short—and indeed many in this central Illinois town—farming runs in the blood. One of the town’s agricultural leaders and a third-generation farmer in Shelbyville, Short oversees 2,000 acres of farmland. Throughout the last 36 years, Short adhered to a standard practice of crop rotation—half his farmland received beans, the other half corn.
When the ethanol boom hit a few years back, Short, as sharp a businessman as he is diligent a laborer, immediately noted the crossroads he faced. He contemplated planting more corn to take advantage of the rising prices he could get for the crop, debating the merits as well as the economic potential. While Short debated his decision, other farmers—big and small—had made theirs and worked to produce more corn. It was, after all, the logical, practical, economical choice.
Across America’s heartland, these individual decisions played a small but symbolic step in the dramatic theater that now has food costs throughout the world rising to unfamiliar heights. Simple economic needs encouraged the nation’s farmers to follow the demand and the money, turning from food to fuel. Sprouting out corn at record levels, other crops were shortchanged; supply shortages led to higher prices in crops such as grain and beans.
Though America’s small-town farmers remain small players in this big-stakes game, they stand as the most compelling dominoes to fall in a perfect storm of swelling global demand, increased energy needs, and a weakening U.S. dollar that have merged to intensify food prices. Indeed, the era of cheap food has reached its end and given rise to a new age, one dominated by trepidation.
The End of the Cheap Food Era
Before World War II, many American families spent approximately one-third of their income on food. Following the war, however, a series of dramatic changes, including a rise in agricultural productivity and a significant post-war economic punch, produced a long, powerful decline in the price of food. Instead of spending one-third of their income on food, Americans’ investment at the dinner table fell to 10 percent.
With the exception of a price upswing in the 1970s, Americans enjoyed much of their food at modest costs throughout the final decades of the 20th century and into the millennium’s opening years. In fact, global food prices, adjusted for inflation, fell by 75 percent between 1974-2005, which delivered smiles to the faces of American households and industry insiders alike.
Still, all fine days must end.
The door on cheap food has now closed. When The Economist declared “The End of Cheap Food” as the title of a December 2007 story, it cited a startling figure: food prices had increased 75 percent since 2005, representing a complete reversal from the favorable times of yesteryear.
But it wasn’t only Uncle Sam’s homeland feeling the pinch; the rising cost of food stretches into all corners of the globe. In January 2007, riots erupted on Mexican streets after the price of corn flour increased fourfold while Argentina has suffered from a series of strikes. Recent floods in England and India as well as a drought in Australia destroyed crops and led to price increases. In Ethiopia, ten pounds of corn flour costs five times as much as it did in 2005. Many wondered how; others questioned now what?
“We’ve had the challenge of rising commodity prices before, but it has been a long time since we’ve had this level of a sustained increase in prices,” says Bill Lapp, an agricultural economist with Omaha-based Advanced Economic Solutions. “The difference today is that these rising prices have been dramatic, sustained, and across the board. We’re not going through one year in which some key commodities are up and others are down.”
Behind the rising costs, economists and analysts cite both controllable and uncontrollable factors, many which began creeping in as early as 2005.
While most of the nation’s corn crop is fed to livestock to produce meat, dairy, and eggs, the amount being marked for energy usage is climbing each year, a fact many analysts trace directly to the U.S. government’s ethanol subsidies. In 2006, for instance, 14 percent of the nation’s corn crop was turned into ethanol; in 2007, that number rose to 24 percent (though an ascent is certain, some claim 2007’s figure sits closer to 33 percent). The decision to put food in gas tanks, a decision many argue was both reckless and politically charged, has led farmers to dedicate increasing tracts of their farmland to biofuels. Meanwhile, the productivity of other crops, namely grain and beans, has fallen and sparked new challenges, including rising prices in those commodities.
“When corn sneezes, other commodities catch a cold,” Lapp reminds.
The financial boom in China and India, the world’s two most populous nations and together claiming one-third of the global population, have also placed a strain on food prices. Throughout history, a rise in personal income has led to a corresponding upswing in meat consumption—termed the “nutrition transition.” The United Nations’ annual assessment of farming trends in 2007 predicts that people in developing countries will be eating 30 percent more beef, 50 percent more pig meat, and 25 percent more poultry within the next decade.
“We have a growing world demand for food and with 30 percent of our pork, cheese, and flour exported, we all end up paying more for the world demand,” says Don Vlcek, vice president of purchasing for Marco’s Pizza. “[The United States is the] prime source to fill the inventory gaps throughout the world.”
As global demand for meat increases, the need for grain follows. It takes 8kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef and 4kg of pork. The increased demand for meat and grain extends elsewhere, including amplified demands on water and oil. Furthermore, grain-designated land risks the transition from human to animal consumption.
“We’re dealing with the realities of becoming wealthier as a planet…and the technologies haven’t caught up to the increasing demand,” says Adam Mussomeli, who heads Deloitte Consulting’s consumer products supply chain analysis.
The weakening of the U.S. dollar has done little to insulate the nation. A potent mix of trade and account deficits, falling Federal Reserve interest rates, a loss of confidence in the U.S. economy, and competition from other monetary markets—the euro, for instance, wasn’t even around one decade ago—have all combined to send the dollar into a downward spiral completely independent of the supply-demand issue.
Other notable factors include the escalating price of crude oil and the wrath of Mother Nature. Oil prices, which hit $147 a barrel in July before the recent nosedive, also contribute to higher commodity prices. Greater oil prices, meanwhile, translate into higher costs to plant, irrigate, harvest, and transport product. Mother Nature shares some of the blame as well. Drought, hurricanes, and floods have all pelted the world in recent years, dealing a devastating blow to crops from Australia to Iowa.
“A lot of factors started this bonfire and now some extra gasoline’s been tossed on it,” Lapp says.
The Impact, Inherent Challenge, and Potential Solutions
While some view the current rise in food prices as little more than the natural order of things, arguing that commodity prices have traditionally taken a quantum leap every 30 years or so, such a realization does little to lessen concern across the restaurant industry. The steep, global increase in commodity prices is expected to persist for years. Two elements analysts agree on: we’re closer to the beginning than the end and demand isn’t likely to diminish.
“Food is still cheap today, but we’re at a period of time where that is becoming less and less of a true statement,” Lapp says. “We need to know there are cycles; now it’s a matter of surviving this one.”
To combat rising food costs, restaurants will have to be aggressive, analytical, innovative, and decisive. Waiting for improvement is not a strategy as restaurants everywhere face this central question: margins or market share? A successful answer will likely mean survival; the wrong answer, closing. Restaurants must be honest about why customers enter their doors and, above all, look beyond the next 12 months and 2-3 years into the future to seek answers.
Restaurants must understand that volatility will be an ever-present antagonist to an operation’s efficiency. As commodity prices proved favorable throughout the last 15 years, inefficiencies weaved into businesses because—to put it bluntly—they could. Winning overshadowed flaws and all seemed well—that is until the pendulum swung back.
“As prices have risen in recent years, it has forced efficiencies and a focus on brand and product that will have to continue,” Informa Economics CEO Bruce Scherr says.
Rather than reacting to the market’s uppercuts, restaurants will have to examine their purchasing habits more aggressively, more strategically. Pull out the spreadsheet, input the numbers, and assess where, when, and how items can be purchased at more reasonable costs. At Marco’s, Vlcek led the company’s savings of nearly $2.4 million in 2008 by competitive bidding, locking in prices, quantity orders, and utilizing local sources.
“It’s at times like these, that purchasing people really have to fill their role,” says Vlcek, who penned a letter to his vendors saying that escalating prices compelled him to investigate competitors and yet simultaneously urged their help to maintain the relationship.
Jack Graves, Chief Cultural Officer at Burgerville, says working with local vendors has helped to diffuse swelling costs at his Pacific Northwest spots. Burgerville’s focus on purchasing locally has proven to be a successful antidote to rising commodity prices. Transportation costs are kept down and the local community benefits from the company’s investment.
“We are aiding in the prosperity of the local region and we believe that others can do the same by following our lead,” Graves says.
Restaurants might also turn to reformulation and substitution, seeking ways to recreate the menu mix without sacrificing quality, perhaps highlighting dishes with products that aren’t as price volatile and can deliver greater margins. For example, at its Consumer 360 Conference in June, the Nielsen Company reported that seafood, dry pasta, and candy are among the products most immune to a recession. Such information allows retailers to better focus on the right categories and brands for success.
While retailers themselves might have initially absorbed the brunt of rising commodity prices, national media is now communicating the changes to consumers, including higher menu prices. Citing a rise in the cost of key commodities, the Wall Street Journal named in September a number of high-profile companies set to raise menu prices, including Olive Garden (owned by Darden Restaurants Inc.) and Yum Brands Inc., parent of Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell among others. Such debates rage on elsewhere in the industry, including Chipotle Mexican Grill, where rising input costs, mostly attributed to corn, slower sales, and higher transportation costs have put the issue of raising prices in front of the Mexican chain’s leaders.
Lapp believes that consumers can and will pay more if requested. Though challenging to increase price points in tough economic times, he says most customers understand that higher costs get passed onto the consumer.
“The thing to do isn’t to make portions smaller or to dumb down the food, but to increase prices in a well-conceived, managed, and tactful way,” Lapp says.
What restaurants must not do, however, is panic and alter their product for a short-term solution. A focus on the basics must be maintained and executed.
“To make it through this current challenge and to be successful after this, restaurants will have to maintain their principles, including standards of labor and operational execution, as well as the quality of the product that got them customers in the first place,” he says. “There can be no departure from those core components.”
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Writing Sample: Repositioning is key to faster home sales (Chicago Sun Times, January 16, 2009)
Dr. Roger Kula had to temper his expectations. He had no other choice.
A Chicago native now living in New York, Kula and his younger sister, also a New York resident, welcomed their aging mother to the Big Apple in 2005. A permanent move, the siblings debated what they would do with their mother's Downers Grove home, a residence that held fond childhood memories for both. Initially, they elected to keep the property, using it as a Chicago area retreat and gradually clearing the space for a future sale.
In May 2008, against the threat of capital gains taxes, Kula listed the home with Downers Grove-based agent Jill Luckett of Coldwell Banker. While aware of the real estate market's downward trend, Kula and his sister still anticipated a $300,000-plus sale for the 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom brick ranch in one of the suburb's stable residential communities.
"Jill told us off the bat that we were probably too high given the area's inventory levels, but we gave it a shot at $289,000 to start," Kula said. "In retrospect we probably hit on the worst of the wave because the market has only gone further south."
With few lookers and even fewer offers, Luckett and Kula sat down to re-examine their price as summer approached, a challenging feat given that the area held few comparable sales. In a scene repeated throughout the Chicagoland real estate market, Kula was forced to face a sobering, unkind reality: he wasn't going to get the dollar figure he desired. To sell his boyhood home, Kula would have to confront the most recent data, measure his motivation to sell, and "reposition" the home.
A term once used sparingly by real estate insiders, repositioning has increasingly entered the American lexicon as the housing market captures headlines. No longer can Chicagoland sellers ignore the market's tumult. To secure a deal, today's home sellers must be realistic, responsive and open to repositioning.
"When a seller puts their home on the market on day one, they very well could be the best priced home in the best condition," said Tricia McEneaney of Coldwell Banker's Gold Coast office. "But if over the next 30 days 10 more competitively priced homes come on the market, then the seller's home may no longer be in a position to sell."
Today's real estate market is more fluid than in any recent era and tough love -- a k a repositioning -- awaits many sellers.
"The market doesn't come to you any more; it's going the other way right now and that's a reality throughout Chicagoland," said David Hanna, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors and owner of Prudential SourceOne Realty in Chicago and Hinsdale.
What is it? How's it done?
In its simplest form, repositioning consists of accessing current data, noting the market's movement, and reassessing a given home's price, condition and promotion. Some Realtors sit with sellers and interpret the latest info as often as every two to three weeks, specifically with the most motivated sellers; others, particularly in a community frigid on sales numbers, might analyze the info every 60-90 days. Either way, such conversations have emerged a common slice of the Realtor-seller relationship.
"We're repositioning now more than ever before," said Dean Rouso, owner of Prime Property Partners in La Grange. "We're meeting with sellers, gauging their motivation, and providing the most recent data to help hit the right price point."
Repositioning shines a consistent light on a specific area's real estate market. Rouso, who spoke about pricing at November's National Association of Realtors convention in Orlando, advises his staff to look at contracts generated in the last 90 days -- first in the neighborhood, then in the greater community. Such data shows the demand surrounding a community, even if the deals never closed.
"If we have a home that's been successful and similar to ours, then we need to take a strong look at that sale as well as the homes priced lower," Rouso said, adding that the Realtor's task is to interpret the information for sellers rather than simply handing them printouts.
For repositioning to be most effective, data must be collected in as narrow and near a time frame as possible. The real estate market's longtime adversary has been its inability to foresee the future; Realtors have access only to historical data. Packing that data into the latest window soothes the market's evolving wrath and provides a more insightful portrait of housing trends. It's a reactive treatment, the industry pros admit, but it remains the best tool available.
With timely data in hand, sellers encounter their options, frequently choosing between a lower price or patience. Some sellers might also decide to offer incentives, make repairs or even pull the home off the market. Most Realtors agree that the current housing market is not a dangle-your-toes-in-the-water time. Today's housing world is only for the most motivated, reasonable sellers and repositioning forces many sellers to reconsider.
"If you're not motivated to sell, then it's best to wait; you'll only frustrate yourself," Rouso said. "There are enough 'have-to-sell folks' out there that they'll keep dropping their prices to the detriment of your bottom line."
We've repositioned. Now what?
After the initial repositioning and its most frequent outcome -- a price drop -- sellers do the one thing they're learning to do best in these challenging real estate times: wait. In some instances, a Realtor will lower the price incrementally over a period of time (say, $1,000 a day for five days) to get the property on hot sheets, a list of homes that have entered the market or changed price in a given day.
"The idea is to maximize the presentation of that price reduction," Hanna said. "It's about getting the maximum amount of exposure to the maximum amount of people."
Then, return the home to the prospective buyers' attention. Have a new open house. Record the number of showings and hits on the Web site to assess if interest in the property has surged. If progress doesn't arrive in 30 days, it could be time for more tough love. Sadly but realistically over the last year, the market likely took another dive in that time.
"Property values are declining, yet too many sellers think their property is the exception," Hanna said. "Hope is not a business plan. When we see prices move in either direction, we need to adjust."
But sellers and their Realtors should also re-examine other parts of the home's public face because price isn't always the culprit. A home sells thanks to the convergence of three points -- price, condition, and promotion. If the home isn't marketed well with expanded information, vibrant photos, and accurate information, then change must occur. Sellers should also take a close look at the home's condition, making sure that cleanliness and clutter-free characterize the space. Such tasks are as much a part of repositioning as slashing prices.
"In today's market we're in a price war and a beauty contest. The home must win both to sell," said Coldwell Banker's McEneaney.
A happy ending?
Pre-AIG, government bailouts, and daily foreclosure reports, Kula might have hoped for a $300,000 sales price on his boyhood home. As autumn unraveled, however, he understood that the market had him cornered. Realities had shifted and he needed to counter the momentum.
He sat with Luckett and discovered the grim truth. If he wanted to move the house, he would need to lower the price.
"The year was closing and it was a rush to the finish line," he said.
He joined Coldwell Banker's nationwide October promotion. For 10 days, he lowered his price 10 percent to $252,000. Multiple offers arrived, including an as-is purchase for $235,000, which he and his sister accepted.
"We could see what was going on," Kula said. "You think you should be getting more, but you also know it could be worse. At some point, we had to face the realization that this was the going rate."
A Chicago native now living in New York, Kula and his younger sister, also a New York resident, welcomed their aging mother to the Big Apple in 2005. A permanent move, the siblings debated what they would do with their mother's Downers Grove home, a residence that held fond childhood memories for both. Initially, they elected to keep the property, using it as a Chicago area retreat and gradually clearing the space for a future sale.
In May 2008, against the threat of capital gains taxes, Kula listed the home with Downers Grove-based agent Jill Luckett of Coldwell Banker. While aware of the real estate market's downward trend, Kula and his sister still anticipated a $300,000-plus sale for the 3-bedroom, 1-bathroom brick ranch in one of the suburb's stable residential communities.
"Jill told us off the bat that we were probably too high given the area's inventory levels, but we gave it a shot at $289,000 to start," Kula said. "In retrospect we probably hit on the worst of the wave because the market has only gone further south."
With few lookers and even fewer offers, Luckett and Kula sat down to re-examine their price as summer approached, a challenging feat given that the area held few comparable sales. In a scene repeated throughout the Chicagoland real estate market, Kula was forced to face a sobering, unkind reality: he wasn't going to get the dollar figure he desired. To sell his boyhood home, Kula would have to confront the most recent data, measure his motivation to sell, and "reposition" the home.
A term once used sparingly by real estate insiders, repositioning has increasingly entered the American lexicon as the housing market captures headlines. No longer can Chicagoland sellers ignore the market's tumult. To secure a deal, today's home sellers must be realistic, responsive and open to repositioning.
"When a seller puts their home on the market on day one, they very well could be the best priced home in the best condition," said Tricia McEneaney of Coldwell Banker's Gold Coast office. "But if over the next 30 days 10 more competitively priced homes come on the market, then the seller's home may no longer be in a position to sell."
Today's real estate market is more fluid than in any recent era and tough love -- a k a repositioning -- awaits many sellers.
"The market doesn't come to you any more; it's going the other way right now and that's a reality throughout Chicagoland," said David Hanna, president of the Chicago Association of Realtors and owner of Prudential SourceOne Realty in Chicago and Hinsdale.
What is it? How's it done?
In its simplest form, repositioning consists of accessing current data, noting the market's movement, and reassessing a given home's price, condition and promotion. Some Realtors sit with sellers and interpret the latest info as often as every two to three weeks, specifically with the most motivated sellers; others, particularly in a community frigid on sales numbers, might analyze the info every 60-90 days. Either way, such conversations have emerged a common slice of the Realtor-seller relationship.
"We're repositioning now more than ever before," said Dean Rouso, owner of Prime Property Partners in La Grange. "We're meeting with sellers, gauging their motivation, and providing the most recent data to help hit the right price point."
Repositioning shines a consistent light on a specific area's real estate market. Rouso, who spoke about pricing at November's National Association of Realtors convention in Orlando, advises his staff to look at contracts generated in the last 90 days -- first in the neighborhood, then in the greater community. Such data shows the demand surrounding a community, even if the deals never closed.
"If we have a home that's been successful and similar to ours, then we need to take a strong look at that sale as well as the homes priced lower," Rouso said, adding that the Realtor's task is to interpret the information for sellers rather than simply handing them printouts.
For repositioning to be most effective, data must be collected in as narrow and near a time frame as possible. The real estate market's longtime adversary has been its inability to foresee the future; Realtors have access only to historical data. Packing that data into the latest window soothes the market's evolving wrath and provides a more insightful portrait of housing trends. It's a reactive treatment, the industry pros admit, but it remains the best tool available.
With timely data in hand, sellers encounter their options, frequently choosing between a lower price or patience. Some sellers might also decide to offer incentives, make repairs or even pull the home off the market. Most Realtors agree that the current housing market is not a dangle-your-toes-in-the-water time. Today's housing world is only for the most motivated, reasonable sellers and repositioning forces many sellers to reconsider.
"If you're not motivated to sell, then it's best to wait; you'll only frustrate yourself," Rouso said. "There are enough 'have-to-sell folks' out there that they'll keep dropping their prices to the detriment of your bottom line."
We've repositioned. Now what?
After the initial repositioning and its most frequent outcome -- a price drop -- sellers do the one thing they're learning to do best in these challenging real estate times: wait. In some instances, a Realtor will lower the price incrementally over a period of time (say, $1,000 a day for five days) to get the property on hot sheets, a list of homes that have entered the market or changed price in a given day.
"The idea is to maximize the presentation of that price reduction," Hanna said. "It's about getting the maximum amount of exposure to the maximum amount of people."
Then, return the home to the prospective buyers' attention. Have a new open house. Record the number of showings and hits on the Web site to assess if interest in the property has surged. If progress doesn't arrive in 30 days, it could be time for more tough love. Sadly but realistically over the last year, the market likely took another dive in that time.
"Property values are declining, yet too many sellers think their property is the exception," Hanna said. "Hope is not a business plan. When we see prices move in either direction, we need to adjust."
But sellers and their Realtors should also re-examine other parts of the home's public face because price isn't always the culprit. A home sells thanks to the convergence of three points -- price, condition, and promotion. If the home isn't marketed well with expanded information, vibrant photos, and accurate information, then change must occur. Sellers should also take a close look at the home's condition, making sure that cleanliness and clutter-free characterize the space. Such tasks are as much a part of repositioning as slashing prices.
"In today's market we're in a price war and a beauty contest. The home must win both to sell," said Coldwell Banker's McEneaney.
A happy ending?
Pre-AIG, government bailouts, and daily foreclosure reports, Kula might have hoped for a $300,000 sales price on his boyhood home. As autumn unraveled, however, he understood that the market had him cornered. Realities had shifted and he needed to counter the momentum.
He sat with Luckett and discovered the grim truth. If he wanted to move the house, he would need to lower the price.
"The year was closing and it was a rush to the finish line," he said.
He joined Coldwell Banker's nationwide October promotion. For 10 days, he lowered his price 10 percent to $252,000. Multiple offers arrived, including an as-is purchase for $235,000, which he and his sister accepted.
"We could see what was going on," Kula said. "You think you should be getting more, but you also know it could be worse. At some point, we had to face the realization that this was the going rate."
Monday, November 10, 2008
Writing Sample #15: November Cheat Sheet (QSR, November 2008)
Oh, how the times have changed.
Last January, QSR took a closer look at the presidential frontrunners and their thoughts on key restaurant industry issues. At the time, Senator Barack Obama was largely seen as a longshot while Senator John McCain’s candidacy appeared in ruin.
But the winds of change swirled and tossed around one of the most anticipated presidential elections in decades. Beginning with the Iowa caucuses, Obama surged and held off a Hillary Clinton charge while McCain resurrected his campaign and locked up the Republican nod in quick time.
With the rookie Senator from Illinois and the veteran legislator from Arizona earning their respective parties’ presidential nominations, a heated contest commands the nation’s attention. As the race for the White House intensifies and voting day nears, we revisit Senator Obama and Senator McCain, taking a closer look at each man’s views on critical industry issues.
American with Disabilities Amendments Act and Notification Act
The ADA Amendments Act, a compromise reached following on the heels of the more drastic Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act, maintains the previous definition of a disability as well as the requirement that an individual must demonstrate that he or she is qualified for the job. After passing the House in June, the ADA Amendments Act now sits in the Senate.
Both Obama and McCain, a co-sponsor of the ADA in 1990, have voiced support for expanding the landmark legislation and strengthening its implementation. While McCain has cited a more thorough, specific definition of “disability,” Obama favors the aforementioned ADA Restoration Act, which seeks to redefine what constitutes a protected impairment under the ADA—a redefinition many employers feel is far too loose as it could apply to employees with neck strains, eyeglasses, or even tennis elbow.
The ADA Notification Act, meanwhile, would provide restaurants up to 90 days to review and repair alleged accessibility issues while helping to protect restaurants from frivolous ADA violation lawsuits. McCain has maintained his support for the cause, which would allow business owners the opportunity to become ADA compliant without the threat of costly legal tussles. While Obama, a former civil rights lawyer, has not spoken exclusively on the ADA Notification Act, he has repeatedly indicated his desire to appoint judges and justices who uphold the “essential message of liberty and inclusion.”
Biofuels
Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Obama trumpeted his support for biofuels, citing Brazil as a nation that has quickly escaped its complete reliance on crude oil from outside nations. Obama has been consistent in his message to find new energy sources and weaken the dependence on foreign oil. Even prior to the start of the primary season, Obama proposed a $150 billion fund to finance new biorefineries and stated his desire to see all new cars run on E85.
Today, Obama’s campaign site hosts this message: “Advances in biofuels…and other new technologies that produce synthetic petroleum from sustainable feedstocks offer tremendous potential to break our addiction to oil. Barack Obama will work to ensure that these clean alternative fuels are developed and incorporated into our national supply as soon as possible.”
While McCain, once a critic of ethanol, supports wider use of biofuels, he rejects any mention of subsidies or mandates for ethanol production; instead, McCain favors such money traveling to increased research and development of renewable energies. In particular, McCain worried that biofuel mandates would challenge the simple economic rules of supply-and-demand. When the 2007 Senate energy bill called for a five-fold increase in ethanol production by 2022, McCain shot back that ethanol was on its way to divulging one-third of the nation’s corn crop in 2008.
“This subsidized (ethanol) program—paid for by taxpayer dollars—has contributed to pain at the cash register, at the dining room table, and a devastating food crisis throughout the world,” he said.
Food Safety
In February 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture led a recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef, a move that prompted Obama to release this statement: “When I am President, it will not be business as usual when it comes to food safety. I will provide additional resources to hire more federal food inspectors. I will also call on the Department of Agriculture to examine whether federal food safety laws need to be strengthened, in particular to provide greater protections against tainted food being used in the National School Lunch Program.”
Obama soon followed with the introduction of a Senate bill in July aimed at further addressing food safety. While he did not suggest any changes at the procedural level of food processing, he did propose a $25 million grant for state and local food safety agencies to boost capacity in order to improve detection, outbreak communication and coordination, and surveillance.
McCain, who spoke at this year’s NRA convention in May, has not addressed the food safety issue and his campaign office did not offer comment on the issue.
Health Care
Obama has pledged to create a national health care plan, one which includes: guaranteed eligibility; comprehensive benefits; affordable premiums, co-pays, and deductibles; and the creation of a National Health Insurance Exchange to help those individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan. He has also discussed expanding Medicaid and creating a Small Business Health Tax Credit to provide, his campaign says, “small businesses with a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees.” The new credit, he feels, “will provide a strong incentive to small businesses to offer high quality health care to their workers and help improve the competitiveness of America’s small businesses.” He has said he would demand employers make a meaningful contribution to their employees’ health care needs.
In contrast, McCain has repeatedly insisted that Americans themselves should be in charge of their health care needs, believing that competition would restore control to the patients and allow them to select the plan that best fills their needs. Striking against universal health care plans, McCain charged, “We will replace the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of the current system with the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of a government monopoly.”
McCain has also championed portability in health care, plans that would move with the individual from job to job. He has also trumpeted the benefits of Health Savings Accounts, tax-preferred accounts used to pay insurance premiums and other health costs. He believes affordable health care is possible without a federal mandate and has indicated his wish to provide $2,500 refundable tax credits for individuals and $5,000 for families.
Immigration Reform
Few issues evoke as much debate and chatter among industry insiders than immigration, given that immigrants—both legal and illegal—constitute a healthy chunk of the restaurant industry’s workforce. That reality has continually pushed immigration to the front of the 2008 presidential election, leading both McCain and Obama to articulate clear positions on the issue.
McCain, no stranger to the issue as his home state of Arizona borders Mexico, sponsored the bi-partisan Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, one that promised to increase security along the U.S.-Mexican border, allow long-time, law abiding illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, and increase the number of guest workers. Obama, in fact, voted in favor of that bill.
Today, McCain sings a similar tune, though he insists amnesty has never been a part of the discussion. At a Republican debate in January, McCain outlined his priorities.
“We will secure the borders first when I am president,” he said. “Then we will move onto the other aspects of this issue, as importantly as tamper-proof biometric documents, which then, unless an employer hires someone with those documents, that employer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Obama has vowed to “fix the system” in such a way that it eliminates the need to address the immigration problem again in the near future. He has proposed tougher policies on employers who hire illegal immigrants. During a Democratic primary radio debate on NPR, Obama summarized his overall position, noting specifically his belief that immigrants—illegal or not—should have a pathway to citizenship and share in basic American rights.
“I think that if [the immigrants] are illegal, then they should not be able to work in this country. That is part of the principle of comprehensive reform, which we're going to crack down on employers who are hiring them and taking advantage of them,” he said. “But I also want to give them a pathway, so that they can earn citizenship, earn a legal status, start learning English, pay a significant fine, and go to the back of the line. But they can then stay here and they can have the ability to enforce a minimum wage that they're paid, make sure the worker safety laws are available, make sure that they can join a union.”
Minimum Wage Increase
If elected president, Obama has said he will raise the minimum wage, something he often prefers to call a “living wage,” to $9.50 an hour by 2011 and index it to inflation. He has repeatedly championed minimum wage increases.
“We shouldn't raise the minimum wage every 10 years,” Obama told a Wisconsin crowd during the primary season. “We should raise it every year to keep up with inflation. If you work in this country, you should not be poor.”
In his August speech at the Democratic National Convention, vice presidential nominee Joe Biden chided McCain, his longtime Senate colleague, for voting against Democratic-led minimum wage hikes a total of 19 times. In truth, McCain’s Senatorial career is peppered with various positive votes in favor of a minimum wage increase, including one that would lift the figure to $7.25 per hour. As is common on Capitol Hill, some of his votes for or against the minimum wage were tucked inside other bills, such as a 2007 one on war funding.
In general, McCain has supported minimum wage hikes, just at a more modest rate than his colleagues to the left. In 2007, he joined 27 other Republicans in voting—unsuccessfully—to allow individual States the rights and flexibility to determine minimum wage. The Arizona Senator has frequently said his rejection to a more robust minimum wage increase arrives from his concern that it would boost employers’ labor costs and thereby limit the creation of new jobs.
Paid Sick Leave
While up to 46 million American workers do not receive paid sick days, legislators in a dozen states have proposed laws requiring employers to provide them. Current federal legislation, called the Healthy Families Acts, remains on the table that would require businesses to provide seven paid sick days each year to employees who work at least 30 hours a week. Obama has touted his support for such legislation while McCain, true to his form of opposing federal mandates, has said such rules further stifle employers, particularly during challenging economic times.
Restaurant Depreciation
While depreciation schedules for restaurants have remained rather consistent over recent years, the NRA continues to work for a depreciation schedule that would fall to 15 years from the current 39 ½ year threshold. In April, Maryland restaurant owner and NRA member Fred Rosenthal told a Congressional hearing that “shortening the write-off of restaurant buildings and improvements to 15 years would create immediate economic activity within the industry, which in turn would reverberate throughout the economy.”
Neither McCain nor Obama have clarified their positions on restaurant depreciation. Yet, McCain has said he would allow businesses to immediately expense the full cost of three- and five-year business equipment purchased between 2009 and 2013. After 2013, businesses would again have to depreciate equipment over time. His campaign, however, offered no further comment on the matter. Obama’s camp did not respond to QSR’s request for the Democratic nominee’s stance on the issue.
Last January, QSR took a closer look at the presidential frontrunners and their thoughts on key restaurant industry issues. At the time, Senator Barack Obama was largely seen as a longshot while Senator John McCain’s candidacy appeared in ruin.
But the winds of change swirled and tossed around one of the most anticipated presidential elections in decades. Beginning with the Iowa caucuses, Obama surged and held off a Hillary Clinton charge while McCain resurrected his campaign and locked up the Republican nod in quick time.
With the rookie Senator from Illinois and the veteran legislator from Arizona earning their respective parties’ presidential nominations, a heated contest commands the nation’s attention. As the race for the White House intensifies and voting day nears, we revisit Senator Obama and Senator McCain, taking a closer look at each man’s views on critical industry issues.
American with Disabilities Amendments Act and Notification Act
The ADA Amendments Act, a compromise reached following on the heels of the more drastic Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act, maintains the previous definition of a disability as well as the requirement that an individual must demonstrate that he or she is qualified for the job. After passing the House in June, the ADA Amendments Act now sits in the Senate.
Both Obama and McCain, a co-sponsor of the ADA in 1990, have voiced support for expanding the landmark legislation and strengthening its implementation. While McCain has cited a more thorough, specific definition of “disability,” Obama favors the aforementioned ADA Restoration Act, which seeks to redefine what constitutes a protected impairment under the ADA—a redefinition many employers feel is far too loose as it could apply to employees with neck strains, eyeglasses, or even tennis elbow.
The ADA Notification Act, meanwhile, would provide restaurants up to 90 days to review and repair alleged accessibility issues while helping to protect restaurants from frivolous ADA violation lawsuits. McCain has maintained his support for the cause, which would allow business owners the opportunity to become ADA compliant without the threat of costly legal tussles. While Obama, a former civil rights lawyer, has not spoken exclusively on the ADA Notification Act, he has repeatedly indicated his desire to appoint judges and justices who uphold the “essential message of liberty and inclusion.”
Biofuels
Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Obama trumpeted his support for biofuels, citing Brazil as a nation that has quickly escaped its complete reliance on crude oil from outside nations. Obama has been consistent in his message to find new energy sources and weaken the dependence on foreign oil. Even prior to the start of the primary season, Obama proposed a $150 billion fund to finance new biorefineries and stated his desire to see all new cars run on E85.
Today, Obama’s campaign site hosts this message: “Advances in biofuels…and other new technologies that produce synthetic petroleum from sustainable feedstocks offer tremendous potential to break our addiction to oil. Barack Obama will work to ensure that these clean alternative fuels are developed and incorporated into our national supply as soon as possible.”
While McCain, once a critic of ethanol, supports wider use of biofuels, he rejects any mention of subsidies or mandates for ethanol production; instead, McCain favors such money traveling to increased research and development of renewable energies. In particular, McCain worried that biofuel mandates would challenge the simple economic rules of supply-and-demand. When the 2007 Senate energy bill called for a five-fold increase in ethanol production by 2022, McCain shot back that ethanol was on its way to divulging one-third of the nation’s corn crop in 2008.
“This subsidized (ethanol) program—paid for by taxpayer dollars—has contributed to pain at the cash register, at the dining room table, and a devastating food crisis throughout the world,” he said.
Food Safety
In February 2008, the U.S. Department of Agriculture led a recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef, a move that prompted Obama to release this statement: “When I am President, it will not be business as usual when it comes to food safety. I will provide additional resources to hire more federal food inspectors. I will also call on the Department of Agriculture to examine whether federal food safety laws need to be strengthened, in particular to provide greater protections against tainted food being used in the National School Lunch Program.”
Obama soon followed with the introduction of a Senate bill in July aimed at further addressing food safety. While he did not suggest any changes at the procedural level of food processing, he did propose a $25 million grant for state and local food safety agencies to boost capacity in order to improve detection, outbreak communication and coordination, and surveillance.
McCain, who spoke at this year’s NRA convention in May, has not addressed the food safety issue and his campaign office did not offer comment on the issue.
Health Care
Obama has pledged to create a national health care plan, one which includes: guaranteed eligibility; comprehensive benefits; affordable premiums, co-pays, and deductibles; and the creation of a National Health Insurance Exchange to help those individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan. He has also discussed expanding Medicaid and creating a Small Business Health Tax Credit to provide, his campaign says, “small businesses with a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees.” The new credit, he feels, “will provide a strong incentive to small businesses to offer high quality health care to their workers and help improve the competitiveness of America’s small businesses.” He has said he would demand employers make a meaningful contribution to their employees’ health care needs.
In contrast, McCain has repeatedly insisted that Americans themselves should be in charge of their health care needs, believing that competition would restore control to the patients and allow them to select the plan that best fills their needs. Striking against universal health care plans, McCain charged, “We will replace the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of the current system with the inefficiency, irrationality, and uncontrolled costs of a government monopoly.”
McCain has also championed portability in health care, plans that would move with the individual from job to job. He has also trumpeted the benefits of Health Savings Accounts, tax-preferred accounts used to pay insurance premiums and other health costs. He believes affordable health care is possible without a federal mandate and has indicated his wish to provide $2,500 refundable tax credits for individuals and $5,000 for families.
Immigration Reform
Few issues evoke as much debate and chatter among industry insiders than immigration, given that immigrants—both legal and illegal—constitute a healthy chunk of the restaurant industry’s workforce. That reality has continually pushed immigration to the front of the 2008 presidential election, leading both McCain and Obama to articulate clear positions on the issue.
McCain, no stranger to the issue as his home state of Arizona borders Mexico, sponsored the bi-partisan Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, one that promised to increase security along the U.S.-Mexican border, allow long-time, law abiding illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, and increase the number of guest workers. Obama, in fact, voted in favor of that bill.
Today, McCain sings a similar tune, though he insists amnesty has never been a part of the discussion. At a Republican debate in January, McCain outlined his priorities.
“We will secure the borders first when I am president,” he said. “Then we will move onto the other aspects of this issue, as importantly as tamper-proof biometric documents, which then, unless an employer hires someone with those documents, that employer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Obama has vowed to “fix the system” in such a way that it eliminates the need to address the immigration problem again in the near future. He has proposed tougher policies on employers who hire illegal immigrants. During a Democratic primary radio debate on NPR, Obama summarized his overall position, noting specifically his belief that immigrants—illegal or not—should have a pathway to citizenship and share in basic American rights.
“I think that if [the immigrants] are illegal, then they should not be able to work in this country. That is part of the principle of comprehensive reform, which we're going to crack down on employers who are hiring them and taking advantage of them,” he said. “But I also want to give them a pathway, so that they can earn citizenship, earn a legal status, start learning English, pay a significant fine, and go to the back of the line. But they can then stay here and they can have the ability to enforce a minimum wage that they're paid, make sure the worker safety laws are available, make sure that they can join a union.”
Minimum Wage Increase
If elected president, Obama has said he will raise the minimum wage, something he often prefers to call a “living wage,” to $9.50 an hour by 2011 and index it to inflation. He has repeatedly championed minimum wage increases.
“We shouldn't raise the minimum wage every 10 years,” Obama told a Wisconsin crowd during the primary season. “We should raise it every year to keep up with inflation. If you work in this country, you should not be poor.”
In his August speech at the Democratic National Convention, vice presidential nominee Joe Biden chided McCain, his longtime Senate colleague, for voting against Democratic-led minimum wage hikes a total of 19 times. In truth, McCain’s Senatorial career is peppered with various positive votes in favor of a minimum wage increase, including one that would lift the figure to $7.25 per hour. As is common on Capitol Hill, some of his votes for or against the minimum wage were tucked inside other bills, such as a 2007 one on war funding.
In general, McCain has supported minimum wage hikes, just at a more modest rate than his colleagues to the left. In 2007, he joined 27 other Republicans in voting—unsuccessfully—to allow individual States the rights and flexibility to determine minimum wage. The Arizona Senator has frequently said his rejection to a more robust minimum wage increase arrives from his concern that it would boost employers’ labor costs and thereby limit the creation of new jobs.
Paid Sick Leave
While up to 46 million American workers do not receive paid sick days, legislators in a dozen states have proposed laws requiring employers to provide them. Current federal legislation, called the Healthy Families Acts, remains on the table that would require businesses to provide seven paid sick days each year to employees who work at least 30 hours a week. Obama has touted his support for such legislation while McCain, true to his form of opposing federal mandates, has said such rules further stifle employers, particularly during challenging economic times.
Restaurant Depreciation
While depreciation schedules for restaurants have remained rather consistent over recent years, the NRA continues to work for a depreciation schedule that would fall to 15 years from the current 39 ½ year threshold. In April, Maryland restaurant owner and NRA member Fred Rosenthal told a Congressional hearing that “shortening the write-off of restaurant buildings and improvements to 15 years would create immediate economic activity within the industry, which in turn would reverberate throughout the economy.”
Neither McCain nor Obama have clarified their positions on restaurant depreciation. Yet, McCain has said he would allow businesses to immediately expense the full cost of three- and five-year business equipment purchased between 2009 and 2013. After 2013, businesses would again have to depreciate equipment over time. His campaign, however, offered no further comment on the matter. Obama’s camp did not respond to QSR’s request for the Democratic nominee’s stance on the issue.
Writing Sample #14: Hopes on hold one year after I-355 extended (Southtown Star and Sun Times News Group, Nov 10, 2008)
Last Nov. 11 was seen as a day that would forever alter the Southland landscape, one celebrated with parades, community events, civic speeches, and a horde of bikers and runners commanding a roadway then-untouched by commuters.
Optimism ruled the day. However, that optimism quickly acquiesced to reality and a focus on patience.
When the I-355 extension opened last year, many thought it would jumpstart a then-sagging real estate market. Towns long limited by few major access routes and blanketed by two-lane roads, particularly the four communities with exits - Lemont, Lockport, Homer Glen, and New Lenox - welcomed the roadway with open arms, championing its future prospects.
The immediate thought was that the 12.5-mile toll road, which runs south from Interstate 55 to Interstate 80, would help the four towns emerge from Chicagoland's shadows and offer a hearty boost to the local housing market. Well, the unveiling has been anticlimactic to say the least.
"Sometimes the anticipation gets ahead of itself," said Lockport Mayor Tim Murphy, himself a former real estate broker. "Realistically, the development is probably where it should be, but those grander thoughts will come with time, population and as land becomes scarce."
When work began on the extension in 2004, the Southland market saw an upswing in interest that persisted for years. Land prices increased, business entered, and a wider ranging tax base established roots.
In Lockport, for instance, a $100 million commercial development project anchored by Home Depot and Target and two medical facilities offered widespread hope. Conventional thought held that the momentum would continue and that the new roadway would help the four communities - as well as their immediate neighbors - avoid the sluggish real estate numbers that handcuffed other towns.
"The common thinking was that when the roadway was completed it would 'superspark' the area, but much of the massive growth has slowed," said veteran real estate agent Dan Hardy of Re/Max All Properties in New Lenox.
While the Veterans Memorial Tollway's presence has earned high marks for its ease of travel and its ability to connect the Southland to the greater Chicagoland region, it has failed to deliver the housing boom many anticipated. There's been an impact, both real estate agents and builders insist, just not the one many had foreseen, though some contend that the roadway has helped insulate the area from even greater depths.
"It hasn't been the big immediate boom so many thought it would be, but it's coming in dribs and drabs," said Lockport-based real estate agent Sue Dufault of Coldwell Banker Honig-Bell. "But we would certainly be worse off if we didn't have this connection; [the presence of I-355 has] helped absorb some of the hit."
To be fair, I-355's immediate inability to lure a strong number of homebuyers to the Southland is just that: an immediate struggle and one significantly impacted by a greater housing market in turmoil and financial fear. Long-term prospects are far more positive.
"The impact will come and the market will turn itself around," Hardy said."People are spreading the word about these communities and whenever you have easier access to a community, it's going to spur the growth rate."
In fact, Lemont, Lockport, Homer Glen, and New Lenox boast many of the same features that make for an attractive housing destination: homes giving more bang-for-the-buck value than in other Chicagoland towns, highly rated schools, and increased shopping, dining and recreational amenities.
In spite of the rapid growth that characterized the tail end of the 1990s and the opening years of the millennium, many prospective homebuyers rejected the idea of settling in one of the communities, often citing transportation access as one of their chief concerns. With the extension of I-355, however, that lingering objection has wilted.
The issue now, one year after I-355's celebrated opening, is when will the roadway deliver on its potential as it relates to a recovering real estate market? One year ago the talk was "Once I-355 is here ..." Today, the talk is "Once this market gets going again ..." After all, it's always something; it's never nothing. Some industry folks see a rebound coming within a year; others suggest the housing crunch could continue for another three to five years.
Whenever the real estate renaissance begins, local agents all agree that Lemont, Lockport, Homer Glen and New Lenox will inherit a unique ability to capitalize on better economic times and witness the roadway deliver on its still-mounting potential.
"We'll see a major influx of people when they're not afraid to move and believe they can sell their home," Dufault said.
Optimism ruled the day. However, that optimism quickly acquiesced to reality and a focus on patience.
When the I-355 extension opened last year, many thought it would jumpstart a then-sagging real estate market. Towns long limited by few major access routes and blanketed by two-lane roads, particularly the four communities with exits - Lemont, Lockport, Homer Glen, and New Lenox - welcomed the roadway with open arms, championing its future prospects.
The immediate thought was that the 12.5-mile toll road, which runs south from Interstate 55 to Interstate 80, would help the four towns emerge from Chicagoland's shadows and offer a hearty boost to the local housing market. Well, the unveiling has been anticlimactic to say the least.
"Sometimes the anticipation gets ahead of itself," said Lockport Mayor Tim Murphy, himself a former real estate broker. "Realistically, the development is probably where it should be, but those grander thoughts will come with time, population and as land becomes scarce."
When work began on the extension in 2004, the Southland market saw an upswing in interest that persisted for years. Land prices increased, business entered, and a wider ranging tax base established roots.
In Lockport, for instance, a $100 million commercial development project anchored by Home Depot and Target and two medical facilities offered widespread hope. Conventional thought held that the momentum would continue and that the new roadway would help the four communities - as well as their immediate neighbors - avoid the sluggish real estate numbers that handcuffed other towns.
"The common thinking was that when the roadway was completed it would 'superspark' the area, but much of the massive growth has slowed," said veteran real estate agent Dan Hardy of Re/Max All Properties in New Lenox.
While the Veterans Memorial Tollway's presence has earned high marks for its ease of travel and its ability to connect the Southland to the greater Chicagoland region, it has failed to deliver the housing boom many anticipated. There's been an impact, both real estate agents and builders insist, just not the one many had foreseen, though some contend that the roadway has helped insulate the area from even greater depths.
"It hasn't been the big immediate boom so many thought it would be, but it's coming in dribs and drabs," said Lockport-based real estate agent Sue Dufault of Coldwell Banker Honig-Bell. "But we would certainly be worse off if we didn't have this connection; [the presence of I-355 has] helped absorb some of the hit."
To be fair, I-355's immediate inability to lure a strong number of homebuyers to the Southland is just that: an immediate struggle and one significantly impacted by a greater housing market in turmoil and financial fear. Long-term prospects are far more positive.
"The impact will come and the market will turn itself around," Hardy said."People are spreading the word about these communities and whenever you have easier access to a community, it's going to spur the growth rate."
In fact, Lemont, Lockport, Homer Glen, and New Lenox boast many of the same features that make for an attractive housing destination: homes giving more bang-for-the-buck value than in other Chicagoland towns, highly rated schools, and increased shopping, dining and recreational amenities.
In spite of the rapid growth that characterized the tail end of the 1990s and the opening years of the millennium, many prospective homebuyers rejected the idea of settling in one of the communities, often citing transportation access as one of their chief concerns. With the extension of I-355, however, that lingering objection has wilted.
The issue now, one year after I-355's celebrated opening, is when will the roadway deliver on its potential as it relates to a recovering real estate market? One year ago the talk was "Once I-355 is here ..." Today, the talk is "Once this market gets going again ..." After all, it's always something; it's never nothing. Some industry folks see a rebound coming within a year; others suggest the housing crunch could continue for another three to five years.
Whenever the real estate renaissance begins, local agents all agree that Lemont, Lockport, Homer Glen and New Lenox will inherit a unique ability to capitalize on better economic times and witness the roadway deliver on its still-mounting potential.
"We'll see a major influx of people when they're not afraid to move and believe they can sell their home," Dufault said.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Writing Sample #13: The Orland Park boom and a return to yesteryear (ELITE, October 2007)
For the last 27 years, Joan Curto has inhabited an antique shop in the Old Orland Historic District, a modest spot on a modest street in a once-modest town. Despite it being 2007, there are no street lights or nightlife—just a two-block strip blanketed by antique shops and one 40-plus year old general store inviting all to step back in time.
Sometimes, admits Curto, she catches a glimpse of a passing Metra train, the modern-day horse and carriage riding on the lumber and iron of yesteryear, and envisions the town’s earliest residents stepping off the train, dropping their bags, inhaling the air, and welcoming themselves to their new home—Orland Park.
“Maybe that’s a little too dramatic,” acknowledges Curto, the owner of Cracker Barrel Antiques, “but it’s the picture I have in my mind.’
Marty Sherlock was but a teenager when his father, Joseph Sherlock, stumbled upon an abandoned boat store on 157th Street and figured the vacant spot would serve the ideal location for his carpet business showroom.
“It was nothing but cornfields and open land,” says Marty Sherlock of his first impressions of 1980’s Orland Park. “But my dad saw something when he moved here—a potential for growth.”
And grow Orland Park did.
Incorporated in 1892, Orland Park maintained its small town reality well into the 1960s when population remained under 3,000. In the second half of the century, however, Orland Park boomed, characterizing the late 20th century’s influx of automobile-based suburbs. Awaking from a decades-long slumber, the village stood, spread its arms, and began welcoming residential subdivisions, retail strips, and playgrounds for the young and old.
By 2000, the village’s population had topped 50,000 and Orland Park was well on its way to becoming one of the Chicago most robust communities. Today, Orland Park claims nearly 60,000 residents and survives as the Southland’s primary retail center and one of its most popular destinations for dining, shopping, and recreation.
As Marty Sherlock can attest, this is not your father’s Orland Park.
“This town,” he says, “wasn’t anything that it is now. The area’s just boomed.”
Taking pause, Sherlock, who today runs the Sherlock Carpet and Tile business his father started in 1974, adds: “You know, there are places here that we never would’ve thought could’ve made it out here. The town’s evolved and we’ve evolved right alongside it.”
Dan McLaughlin, now in his 15th year as Orland Park Mayor, says a longstanding joke among residents arrived in discussion of local dining spots.
“The joke used to be that this town only had fast food, but one of the most noticeable things in Orland Park these days is the amount of nice restaurants in town,” he says, highlighting the fact that Orland Park now includes such notable establishments as 94 West, Harrison’s, Fox’s Pizza, and, the community’s latest gem, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant, which opened in late 2005.
McLaughlin admits the evolution of Orland Park took time, but has nevertheless arrived.
“In the 1980s and ‘90s, this community was so fast growing with residential that it took some time for the commercial to catch up,” says McLaughlin, who moved to Orland Park in 1979 and immediately became involved in village matters. “Any town that grows up with the older style grid system and strip centers slowly transforms itself with better layout and planning.”
The village’s attention to detail and growth, meanwhile, catapulted it into recognition as one of the nation’s top flight communities. In 2006, Money Magazine placed Orland Park among America’s top 50 places to live, praising the Southland community specifically for its arts, leisure, and education. The honor, says McLaughlin, demonstrates the village’s longstanding plan to elevate Orland Park into an elite destination.
When you get a national honor you’re happy for the entire village. It’s a recognition that takes into consideration a lot of individual and collective effort. I just hope the community feels as proud about it as I do because it’s a wonderful honor,” he says.
With over 20 area golf courses and a hoist of recreation opportunities, Orland Park established itself as one of the area’s most attractive spots for play. In 2002, the Village of Orland Park Sportsplex opened on 159th Street near Wolf Road. The 90,000 square foot facility, which now claims over 3600 members in addition to a plethora of walk-in clients, holds a 10,000 square feet fitness center, three gymnasiums, an indoor soccer field, an aerobics studio for yoga and Pilates, a 35-foot climbing wall, indoor running track, and child care facilities.
“The village officials saw a need for a facility like this, particularly as the community continued to expand,” says Ray Piattoni, facility administrator at the Sportsplex. “The first mission is toward the needs of residents here and improving their quality of life.”
As a retail destination, meanwhile, Orland Park is among the Southland’s most active areas, anchored in large part by a flurry of activity on LaGrange Road. The 30-year-old Orland Square mall at 151st Street stands as the village’s most noteworthy shopping hotspot. Renovated and expanded in 1996, Orland Square boasts 1.2 million square feet of retail space and resides as the Southland’s largest, most upscale retail location.
Indeed, Orland Park’s status as a host to elegant specialty retailers has emerged alongside its increasing rank as a vibrant dining destination.
Most retailers were attracted to Orland Park by one word—potential.
“It was obvious that Orland Park was going to be a huge growth center. It already had a major mall and a number of people migrating to the area,” recalls Jim Morrison, owner of Morrison’s Ethan Allen, an interior design center breaking from its reputation as a furniture store alone.
Morrison opened his Ethan Allen store at 155th Street and Harlem Ave 19 years ago at the urging of the company’s Danbury, Connecticut-based corporate headquarters.
“The corporate office saw value and potential in this area, the same thing so many of us saw. Everything was in place for it to be a vibrant, active community, which it has certainly turned out to be” says Morrison.
Corrine Casto-Coventry shares a similar story. Her father, Frank Casto, opened an outpost for his six-decades old Roseland Draperies in the mid-1990s and the custom drapery shop’s showroom has called 147th Street home since.
“My father saw so much development in the area and a spot that could be accessed by so many other neighboring communities,” says Casto-Coventry. “And we’ve certainly benefited from all that potential being recognized.”
Little by little, says McLaughlin, the community showed its demographics could support high-end retailers. So much had Orland Park’s reputation as a retail destination sprouted, in fact, that Evanston-based Davis Street Land Company, a respected national developer of upscale properties and Main Street-styled communities approached the village with plans for such a development.
In late 2005, Davis Street Land launched Orland Park Crossings at 143rd Street and LaGrange Road. Buoyed by the presence of national names, such as Coldwater Creek, Talbots, Chico’s, and Ann Taylor, as well as boutique retailers, including Black Tie Draperies, Francesca’s Collection, and Eden Aveda Salon and Spa, Orland Park Crossings has emerged a new gem in the village’s retail landscape—not to mention its dining status with P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and the fall debut of Granite City Food and Brewery. Future plans for the area include the continued mix of national and local specialty retailers coupled with a mix of office and residential developments.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of growth in Orland Park and we see Orland Park Crossings as a property designed specifically to provide upscale retail and dining options for residents,” says Davis Street Land Company’s Scott McClure.
But more, Orland Park Crossings shows the village’s emerging focus on pedestrian-friendly developments, a change from decades past. Today, says McLaughlin, considerable thought by village planners and their partners results in better-schemed developments.
“For many years it was a battled between developers and the municipal planners. After years of doing the little things and analyzing how things should be laid out, we’ve settled on developments that are attractive and pedestrian-friendly. You’re now seeing it in new developments such as Orland Crossings and you’re going to continue seeing it in what’s to come,” promises McLaughlin.
Much work remains on an ambitious village slate, contends McLaughlin, but few are gaining as much attention as he village’s redevelopment plans for the Old Orland Historic District, the village’s former central gathering place at 143rd Street just west of LaGrange Road.
“We’ve been working with a development team to get this going for years, but in the last year-and-a-half those plans have started to move quicker,” tells McLaughlin. “Within a year or two, people should begin to see the development take shape.”
Central to the community’s redevelopment of its former downtown area stands a Metra station. As other Chicagoland communities have done, including Orland’s neighbor to the east, Tinley Park, the hope remains that a transportation post will anchor a mixed-use area featuring shopping, dining, and residential units. A pedestrian bridge at 143rd Street, meanwhile, will connect the Old Orland Historic District with the aforementioned Orland Park Crossings.
“This is the real Orland Park, exactly what was there 100 years ago. It’s a unique area,” says McLaughlin, “and we’re anxious to get things moving. The entire area will be something attractive.”
For Joan Curto and her fellow antique dealers in the Old Orland section, the mayor’s words sing a beautiful tune.
“Our little sleepy hollow over here,” she says, “was a nice place for our business, but had been forgotten for some time. With these redevelopment plans, the town will get a unique ambiance it hasn’t had for some time. It will create an entire different look and feel for Orland Park and will become just one more place to entice people.”
Sometimes, admits Curto, she catches a glimpse of a passing Metra train, the modern-day horse and carriage riding on the lumber and iron of yesteryear, and envisions the town’s earliest residents stepping off the train, dropping their bags, inhaling the air, and welcoming themselves to their new home—Orland Park.
“Maybe that’s a little too dramatic,” acknowledges Curto, the owner of Cracker Barrel Antiques, “but it’s the picture I have in my mind.’
Marty Sherlock was but a teenager when his father, Joseph Sherlock, stumbled upon an abandoned boat store on 157th Street and figured the vacant spot would serve the ideal location for his carpet business showroom.
“It was nothing but cornfields and open land,” says Marty Sherlock of his first impressions of 1980’s Orland Park. “But my dad saw something when he moved here—a potential for growth.”
And grow Orland Park did.
Incorporated in 1892, Orland Park maintained its small town reality well into the 1960s when population remained under 3,000. In the second half of the century, however, Orland Park boomed, characterizing the late 20th century’s influx of automobile-based suburbs. Awaking from a decades-long slumber, the village stood, spread its arms, and began welcoming residential subdivisions, retail strips, and playgrounds for the young and old.
By 2000, the village’s population had topped 50,000 and Orland Park was well on its way to becoming one of the Chicago most robust communities. Today, Orland Park claims nearly 60,000 residents and survives as the Southland’s primary retail center and one of its most popular destinations for dining, shopping, and recreation.
As Marty Sherlock can attest, this is not your father’s Orland Park.
“This town,” he says, “wasn’t anything that it is now. The area’s just boomed.”
Taking pause, Sherlock, who today runs the Sherlock Carpet and Tile business his father started in 1974, adds: “You know, there are places here that we never would’ve thought could’ve made it out here. The town’s evolved and we’ve evolved right alongside it.”
Dan McLaughlin, now in his 15th year as Orland Park Mayor, says a longstanding joke among residents arrived in discussion of local dining spots.
“The joke used to be that this town only had fast food, but one of the most noticeable things in Orland Park these days is the amount of nice restaurants in town,” he says, highlighting the fact that Orland Park now includes such notable establishments as 94 West, Harrison’s, Fox’s Pizza, and, the community’s latest gem, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant, which opened in late 2005.
McLaughlin admits the evolution of Orland Park took time, but has nevertheless arrived.
“In the 1980s and ‘90s, this community was so fast growing with residential that it took some time for the commercial to catch up,” says McLaughlin, who moved to Orland Park in 1979 and immediately became involved in village matters. “Any town that grows up with the older style grid system and strip centers slowly transforms itself with better layout and planning.”
The village’s attention to detail and growth, meanwhile, catapulted it into recognition as one of the nation’s top flight communities. In 2006, Money Magazine placed Orland Park among America’s top 50 places to live, praising the Southland community specifically for its arts, leisure, and education. The honor, says McLaughlin, demonstrates the village’s longstanding plan to elevate Orland Park into an elite destination.
When you get a national honor you’re happy for the entire village. It’s a recognition that takes into consideration a lot of individual and collective effort. I just hope the community feels as proud about it as I do because it’s a wonderful honor,” he says.
With over 20 area golf courses and a hoist of recreation opportunities, Orland Park established itself as one of the area’s most attractive spots for play. In 2002, the Village of Orland Park Sportsplex opened on 159th Street near Wolf Road. The 90,000 square foot facility, which now claims over 3600 members in addition to a plethora of walk-in clients, holds a 10,000 square feet fitness center, three gymnasiums, an indoor soccer field, an aerobics studio for yoga and Pilates, a 35-foot climbing wall, indoor running track, and child care facilities.
“The village officials saw a need for a facility like this, particularly as the community continued to expand,” says Ray Piattoni, facility administrator at the Sportsplex. “The first mission is toward the needs of residents here and improving their quality of life.”
As a retail destination, meanwhile, Orland Park is among the Southland’s most active areas, anchored in large part by a flurry of activity on LaGrange Road. The 30-year-old Orland Square mall at 151st Street stands as the village’s most noteworthy shopping hotspot. Renovated and expanded in 1996, Orland Square boasts 1.2 million square feet of retail space and resides as the Southland’s largest, most upscale retail location.
Indeed, Orland Park’s status as a host to elegant specialty retailers has emerged alongside its increasing rank as a vibrant dining destination.
Most retailers were attracted to Orland Park by one word—potential.
“It was obvious that Orland Park was going to be a huge growth center. It already had a major mall and a number of people migrating to the area,” recalls Jim Morrison, owner of Morrison’s Ethan Allen, an interior design center breaking from its reputation as a furniture store alone.
Morrison opened his Ethan Allen store at 155th Street and Harlem Ave 19 years ago at the urging of the company’s Danbury, Connecticut-based corporate headquarters.
“The corporate office saw value and potential in this area, the same thing so many of us saw. Everything was in place for it to be a vibrant, active community, which it has certainly turned out to be” says Morrison.
Corrine Casto-Coventry shares a similar story. Her father, Frank Casto, opened an outpost for his six-decades old Roseland Draperies in the mid-1990s and the custom drapery shop’s showroom has called 147th Street home since.
“My father saw so much development in the area and a spot that could be accessed by so many other neighboring communities,” says Casto-Coventry. “And we’ve certainly benefited from all that potential being recognized.”
Little by little, says McLaughlin, the community showed its demographics could support high-end retailers. So much had Orland Park’s reputation as a retail destination sprouted, in fact, that Evanston-based Davis Street Land Company, a respected national developer of upscale properties and Main Street-styled communities approached the village with plans for such a development.
In late 2005, Davis Street Land launched Orland Park Crossings at 143rd Street and LaGrange Road. Buoyed by the presence of national names, such as Coldwater Creek, Talbots, Chico’s, and Ann Taylor, as well as boutique retailers, including Black Tie Draperies, Francesca’s Collection, and Eden Aveda Salon and Spa, Orland Park Crossings has emerged a new gem in the village’s retail landscape—not to mention its dining status with P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and the fall debut of Granite City Food and Brewery. Future plans for the area include the continued mix of national and local specialty retailers coupled with a mix of office and residential developments.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of growth in Orland Park and we see Orland Park Crossings as a property designed specifically to provide upscale retail and dining options for residents,” says Davis Street Land Company’s Scott McClure.
But more, Orland Park Crossings shows the village’s emerging focus on pedestrian-friendly developments, a change from decades past. Today, says McLaughlin, considerable thought by village planners and their partners results in better-schemed developments.
“For many years it was a battled between developers and the municipal planners. After years of doing the little things and analyzing how things should be laid out, we’ve settled on developments that are attractive and pedestrian-friendly. You’re now seeing it in new developments such as Orland Crossings and you’re going to continue seeing it in what’s to come,” promises McLaughlin.
Much work remains on an ambitious village slate, contends McLaughlin, but few are gaining as much attention as he village’s redevelopment plans for the Old Orland Historic District, the village’s former central gathering place at 143rd Street just west of LaGrange Road.
“We’ve been working with a development team to get this going for years, but in the last year-and-a-half those plans have started to move quicker,” tells McLaughlin. “Within a year or two, people should begin to see the development take shape.”
Central to the community’s redevelopment of its former downtown area stands a Metra station. As other Chicagoland communities have done, including Orland’s neighbor to the east, Tinley Park, the hope remains that a transportation post will anchor a mixed-use area featuring shopping, dining, and residential units. A pedestrian bridge at 143rd Street, meanwhile, will connect the Old Orland Historic District with the aforementioned Orland Park Crossings.
“This is the real Orland Park, exactly what was there 100 years ago. It’s a unique area,” says McLaughlin, “and we’re anxious to get things moving. The entire area will be something attractive.”
For Joan Curto and her fellow antique dealers in the Old Orland section, the mayor’s words sing a beautiful tune.
“Our little sleepy hollow over here,” she says, “was a nice place for our business, but had been forgotten for some time. With these redevelopment plans, the town will get a unique ambiance it hasn’t had for some time. It will create an entire different look and feel for Orland Park and will become just one more place to entice people.”
Writing Sample #12: Location, location, location: Finding the best spot for your pizzeria requires research before rewards (Pizza Today, October 2007)
Location, location, location has long been the guiding axiom of real estate, a mantra surviving in the residential world as well as the commercial arena. Pick the wrong spot for your location and doom could follow; select the right home and you’ll be baking pies for years.
“It’s important for a pizzeria to identify its key demographics and then strategically position itself to capitalize on that location,” says Russell Barnett, head of the restaurant specialty group for CB Richard Ellis, one of the nation’s leading real estate services firms.
While perhaps easier to execute in theory than reality, an operator’s research skills must take flight if the right location is to be found. From population growth to underserved communities and from tax legislation to competitive environments, the finished product provides success, but a well-scouted location surely doesn’t hurt.
Emerging Communities
On May 15, Steve Cornelius opened his Nick-N-Willy’s Pizza outpost in Elk Grove, California, a booming community near Sacramento. An Elk Grove resident, Cornelius said he was motivated by the sprouting population—Elk Grove had doubled in size since 2000—and presence of few established pizzerias.
“It was a growing area, so we knew that we could grow right alongside it,” Cornelius says, noting the advantage of opening in a spot where loyalties are scarce given such a fresh populace.
It comes as no surprise that four of the top 10 fastest growing cities according to U.S. Census data maintain a California address: Elk Grove, Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, and Irvine leading the Golden State’s population surge. Florida boasts three emerging cities in Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, and Miramar while Arizona, with Gilbert and Chandler, has also inherited thousands of new residents. North Las Vegas, adjacent to Sin City, has proven that real estate can rival blackjack as the biggest game in town.
Pizza-Starved States
Ever wonder about the most underserved pizza communities? New Jersey-based investment management firm W.R. Huff did and proceeded to analyze all 50 states to discover the nation’s most pizza-starved constituency.
The states warmest on weather are some of the coldest on pizza. With Mississippi claiming but one pizzeria for every 8643 residents, the potential market share is immense for those who get the All-American food just right, guys like Jeff Good and Dan Blumenthal, owners of Sal and Mookie’s New York Pizza and Ice Cream Joint in Jackson.
“It’s fascinating that the metro Jackson area has few ‘home grown’ or upscale pizzerias,” says Good. “Certainly, [we] took that into account when we created [our] concept. In the first five months, the feedback and rabid repeat customer business…has positioned Sal & Mookie’s as the place to get pizza in Jackson.”
Other pizza-starved states include Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, and California.
The Government: Your Small Business Friend
Taxes. Rarely a word that sparks any positive reaction from an American small business owner. While some states are heavy on taxation—New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Maine, and Minnesota among the chief culprits—others do a noble job avoiding the business owners’ pockets.
The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, a Washington D.C.-based small business advocate, reports that South Dakota, Nevada, and Wyoming all avoid personal income tax, capital gains, and corporate income tax. Other states, meanwhile, such as Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Washington, and Colorado keep taxation to a minimum, offering an undeniable boost to the pizzeria’s bottom line.
Some Competition and the Golden Rule
Though the northeast remains the most pizza-filled region of the country, an immortal industry truth emerges: product remains king.
Despite boasting a pizzeria for every 2300 residents, the nation’s most competitive marketplace as sheer numbers go, Maine hosts several operations that merge a track record with a unique experience. Portland Pie, for instance, applied the micro-brew concept to pizza dough and claims not only a plethora of flavored pizza crusts—basil, garlic, and beer among them—but also a loyal customer base.
“We came out of the gates [in 1997] with a different concept…and there’s no question we’ve grown over the last ten years because we’ve differentiated ourselves from the competition, created our niche, and established a name for ourselves,” says Steve Freese, co-owner of the three Portland Pie locations.
Barnett says a competitive environment can often be a plus given the herd mentality of American society, a fact evident in cities across the country where rivals share street corners.
“People tend to congregate in the same place,” Barnett says, “and if one place is full, they’ll often move on to the next.”
Freese reminds that he and partner Nat Getchell opened their first shop next to an established local chain.
“People thought we were crazy,” he says, “but we believed in our concept and our product.”
(Sidebar)
Hungry for Pizza: Some of the Nation’s Top Spots for a Pizzeria
These American cities possess some of the key ingredients to hosting a successful pizzeria:
North Las Vegas, Nevada
Population: 198,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:4923 (Nevada)
Why North Las Vegas?: One of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, North Las Vegas claims a friendly small business climate with low taxes, high disposable income, and, more applicable to the pizzeria operator, the nation’s top projected restaurant sales growth according to the National Restaurant Association.
Gilbert, Arizona
Population: 192,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:5296 (Arizona)
Why Gilbert?: Despite a surging population, Arizona claims less than 1,000 pizzerias and resides among the nation’s most pizza-starved states. Gilbert, meanwhile, stands atop the state’s population push while offering a family-centered demographic with disposable income and favorable taxation policy.
Port St. Lucie, Florida
Population: 145,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:5066 (Florida)
Why Port St. Lucie?: Tabbed “A City for All Ages,” Port St. Lucie, which has seen its population triple in the last 15 years, promises extensive growth opportunities, residents with disposable income, and low taxes. Each year, meanwhile, the town entertains the New York Mets and their fan base, many of them pizza-eating Yankees, for spring training.
Denton, Texas
Population: 110,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:7727 (Texas)
Why Denton?: A music and art hotbed north of Dallas, Denton boasts an intellectual flair and two state universities with a combined enrollment of 45,000. Despite high property taxes and a corporate income tax, Denton avoids personal income, capital gains, and estate taxes as well as a saturated pizzeria market.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Population: 367,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:5218 (North Carolina)
Why Raleigh?: With steady population growth in recent years, an abundance of industry and commerce, and the presence of North Carolina State University, the state’s capital city boasts some key indicators for success. One negative: tax rates are among the nation’s highest.
“It’s important for a pizzeria to identify its key demographics and then strategically position itself to capitalize on that location,” says Russell Barnett, head of the restaurant specialty group for CB Richard Ellis, one of the nation’s leading real estate services firms.
While perhaps easier to execute in theory than reality, an operator’s research skills must take flight if the right location is to be found. From population growth to underserved communities and from tax legislation to competitive environments, the finished product provides success, but a well-scouted location surely doesn’t hurt.
Emerging Communities
On May 15, Steve Cornelius opened his Nick-N-Willy’s Pizza outpost in Elk Grove, California, a booming community near Sacramento. An Elk Grove resident, Cornelius said he was motivated by the sprouting population—Elk Grove had doubled in size since 2000—and presence of few established pizzerias.
“It was a growing area, so we knew that we could grow right alongside it,” Cornelius says, noting the advantage of opening in a spot where loyalties are scarce given such a fresh populace.
It comes as no surprise that four of the top 10 fastest growing cities according to U.S. Census data maintain a California address: Elk Grove, Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, and Irvine leading the Golden State’s population surge. Florida boasts three emerging cities in Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, and Miramar while Arizona, with Gilbert and Chandler, has also inherited thousands of new residents. North Las Vegas, adjacent to Sin City, has proven that real estate can rival blackjack as the biggest game in town.
Pizza-Starved States
Ever wonder about the most underserved pizza communities? New Jersey-based investment management firm W.R. Huff did and proceeded to analyze all 50 states to discover the nation’s most pizza-starved constituency.
The states warmest on weather are some of the coldest on pizza. With Mississippi claiming but one pizzeria for every 8643 residents, the potential market share is immense for those who get the All-American food just right, guys like Jeff Good and Dan Blumenthal, owners of Sal and Mookie’s New York Pizza and Ice Cream Joint in Jackson.
“It’s fascinating that the metro Jackson area has few ‘home grown’ or upscale pizzerias,” says Good. “Certainly, [we] took that into account when we created [our] concept. In the first five months, the feedback and rabid repeat customer business…has positioned Sal & Mookie’s as the place to get pizza in Jackson.”
Other pizza-starved states include Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Hawaii, Georgia, Tennessee, and California.
The Government: Your Small Business Friend
Taxes. Rarely a word that sparks any positive reaction from an American small business owner. While some states are heavy on taxation—New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Maine, and Minnesota among the chief culprits—others do a noble job avoiding the business owners’ pockets.
The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, a Washington D.C.-based small business advocate, reports that South Dakota, Nevada, and Wyoming all avoid personal income tax, capital gains, and corporate income tax. Other states, meanwhile, such as Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Washington, and Colorado keep taxation to a minimum, offering an undeniable boost to the pizzeria’s bottom line.
Some Competition and the Golden Rule
Though the northeast remains the most pizza-filled region of the country, an immortal industry truth emerges: product remains king.
Despite boasting a pizzeria for every 2300 residents, the nation’s most competitive marketplace as sheer numbers go, Maine hosts several operations that merge a track record with a unique experience. Portland Pie, for instance, applied the micro-brew concept to pizza dough and claims not only a plethora of flavored pizza crusts—basil, garlic, and beer among them—but also a loyal customer base.
“We came out of the gates [in 1997] with a different concept…and there’s no question we’ve grown over the last ten years because we’ve differentiated ourselves from the competition, created our niche, and established a name for ourselves,” says Steve Freese, co-owner of the three Portland Pie locations.
Barnett says a competitive environment can often be a plus given the herd mentality of American society, a fact evident in cities across the country where rivals share street corners.
“People tend to congregate in the same place,” Barnett says, “and if one place is full, they’ll often move on to the next.”
Freese reminds that he and partner Nat Getchell opened their first shop next to an established local chain.
“People thought we were crazy,” he says, “but we believed in our concept and our product.”
(Sidebar)
Hungry for Pizza: Some of the Nation’s Top Spots for a Pizzeria
These American cities possess some of the key ingredients to hosting a successful pizzeria:
North Las Vegas, Nevada
Population: 198,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:4923 (Nevada)
Why North Las Vegas?: One of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, North Las Vegas claims a friendly small business climate with low taxes, high disposable income, and, more applicable to the pizzeria operator, the nation’s top projected restaurant sales growth according to the National Restaurant Association.
Gilbert, Arizona
Population: 192,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:5296 (Arizona)
Why Gilbert?: Despite a surging population, Arizona claims less than 1,000 pizzerias and resides among the nation’s most pizza-starved states. Gilbert, meanwhile, stands atop the state’s population push while offering a family-centered demographic with disposable income and favorable taxation policy.
Port St. Lucie, Florida
Population: 145,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:5066 (Florida)
Why Port St. Lucie?: Tabbed “A City for All Ages,” Port St. Lucie, which has seen its population triple in the last 15 years, promises extensive growth opportunities, residents with disposable income, and low taxes. Each year, meanwhile, the town entertains the New York Mets and their fan base, many of them pizza-eating Yankees, for spring training.
Denton, Texas
Population: 110,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:7727 (Texas)
Why Denton?: A music and art hotbed north of Dallas, Denton boasts an intellectual flair and two state universities with a combined enrollment of 45,000. Despite high property taxes and a corporate income tax, Denton avoids personal income, capital gains, and estate taxes as well as a saturated pizzeria market.
Raleigh, North Carolina
Population: 367,000
Pizzeria to Resident Ratio: 1:5218 (North Carolina)
Why Raleigh?: With steady population growth in recent years, an abundance of industry and commerce, and the presence of North Carolina State University, the state’s capital city boasts some key indicators for success. One negative: tax rates are among the nation’s highest.
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