Real estate wrap is the Philadelphia Business Journal’s weekly list of recent real estate deals. Topping the list this week:

The Four Seasons Patio Furniture chain leased 15,000 square feet at 969 Matlack St. in West Chester, Pa., for warehouse and office use.

It had occupied 5,000 square feet at the Riveredge Industrial Center in New Castle, Del., but needed a bigger space that was more centrally located to its stores in the Philadelphia area. It will occupy the entire building, of which 1,500 square feet will be office space and the remainder warehouse space. The company operates three stores in the region: in Blue Bell, Pa.; Paoli, Pa.; and Wilmington, Del. Beacon Commercial Real Estate represented the tenant while First Liberty Partners represented the landlord. Read more »

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c53230) has announced the addition of “Lumber and Wood Products, Except Furniture: State Market Index” to their offering.

The metrics in this report cover three year trends in SIC 2400 (Manufacturing sector), broken out on a state-by-state basis. Analysis is based on data applied from 47,925 industry firms. Industry market vitality measures for each state are benchmarked against U.S. averages for the industry, creating easy comparison of state-by-state performance. Industry sales are detailed for both company-wide headquarters data and locally generated sales levels. The report also compares proprietary BizMiner measures in each state and the U.S., including failure rates, entrepreneurial activity and new branch development rates in the industry. Read more »

Great things appear to be in store for Great Things in Store, a new venture of the Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank in Halifax.

The Almon Street business was crowded with people eager for the ribbon-cutting to end and the shopping to begin Sunday afternoon.

The store sells good-quality used furniture and clothes and new small appliances and other wares that might have scratches or dents keeping them off department store shelves.

The revenue will help the charity provide necessities for those who can’t afford them.

“We operate a very busy food bank, furniture bank and training centre and we’re always struggling to find ways and means to generate enough money to keep it all going,” Parker Street executive director Mel Boutilier said as shoppers quickly formed a line at the cash register. Read more »

For Tim Zyto, it was a wake-up call. Then, a call to action. A year ago, Zyto, a Montreal furniture manufacturer and retailer, read a story in Time magazine that asked this seminal question: “Should we be worried about global warming?”

Zyto was very worried after reading it. “I was so shocked, I almost fell over,” he said. “Global warming is a man-made problem and all our consumption is part of the problem.”

But what to do?

He remembered hearing that such rock groups as Coldplay and the Rolling Stones were buying carbon offset credits through a British company to compensate the planet for their jet travel.

The company, Zyto learned, was The Carbon Neutral Co., set up a decade ago to help businesses measure, reduce and offset their carbon dioxide emissions. Starting with the premise that climate change affects the whole planet, businesses can finance environmental mitigation projects around the world and offset their own environmental footprint through Carbon Neutral. Read more »

CFM Alliance today announced the launch of its Multi-Touch Systems Hosted Service for the Contract Office Furniture industry. The Multi-Touch Systems Hosted Service provides platforms and multiple media content to support Contract Furniture sales teams in lead generation, prospect conversion, client relationship development and referral generation.

The Multi-Touch Systems hosted service enables Contract Office Furniture sales organizations to consistently communicate their unique value to prospects and current clients. CFM Alliance provides a framework of powerfully written, customer-focused marketing and sales support materials, delivered across the Multi-Touch Systems platform using print media (letters, postcards, special reports), electronic media (emails, newsletters, special offers), and voice (scheduled call reminders). All materials are customized to match the client’s corporate identity, business processes and capabilities. Read more »

Following the success of his January 13 wide ranging sale, Jack Eubanks, owner of Jack Eubanks Auction in Brevard, NC, will offer his bidders a diverse inventory of over 600 lots from a wide variety of consignors and living estates in North Carolina. Several fine lots of pre Civil War Southern furniture will cross the block accompanied by early 19th century examples from other locations.

Art will play a key role in the upcoming sale. One of the featured artists will be Charles Johnson Post (1873-1956), a New York artist and author who enlisted with the 71st New York Infantry in 1898 to experience the Spanish-American War. After a rail ride through the South and encampment in Tampa with Roosevelt, Post landed in Cuba and participated in the fighting. Along the way he documented his travels and adventures in words and pictures. His book “The Little War of Private Post – The Spanish-American War Seen Close Up” was published posthumously in 1960 by Little, Brown & Co. The current printing published by the University of Nebraska press features a color version of the Post rendering of “Bloody Ford,” the crossing of a stream in Cuba by U. S. troops under fire. The original etching will be offered at the sale. Other Post works include a battlefield scene depicting the overrunning of the Spanish trenches at the capture of the San Juan blockhouse by the 6th and 16th Infantry with the dead figure of American Lt. Ord in the foreground and also an oil on canvas of an eerie religious scene with the inscription on the back “The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life. 2nd Corintians 3:6” which is a shortened version of the verse that reads “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” Post’s work was featured in Life on July 7, 1958 with a ten page spread of his work. A copy of Johnson’s 1912 book “Across the Andes” autographed and dedicated to his father will also be available. The Post material came from the local living estate of a friend of Post’s daughter. Read more »

Prime Office Furniture’s new line of office desks, scheduled to be released May 1 2007, are for cost-conscious business people who don’t want an oversized executive office desk, but still want a stylish, unique, European-designed desk. The new office desks come in maple and walnut wood veneer finishes and look professional in any company setting or home office environment.

“We are very impressed with the quality, design, and pricing we are able to provide to our valued customers and clients of this new series. Our Research and Development Department here in the U.S. worked diligently to design this new desk series. It has far exceeded our preliminary expectations,” says a spokesperson for Prime Office Furniture. Read more »

GE Real Estate Germany made its initial foray into German retail, acquiring for €30 million (U.S.$40 million) 15 Domicil Moebel GmbH upscale furniture stores outside of primarily western German cities, including Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart, from the former founder of Domicil in an off-market transaction.

The standalone stores measure 34,000 square meters and are leased to Domicil, which was recently acquired by HTL International, a Singapore-based luxury furniture manufacturer, for less than five years.

“We acquired all of the real estate assets of the HTL/Domicil in Germany,” Rainer Thaler (pictured), managing director of GE Real Estate Germany, told CPN. “We have a prominent tenant with a specific niche market, furniture of higher quality than, say, Ikea. Domicil targets customers who already know them. Eighty percent of their customers are coming back for the second or third time. They are not price-conscious customers.” Read more »

Models that illustrate the proposed street furniture designs submitted by the three firms in response to the City’s Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Coordinated Street Furniture Program will be on display for public viewing in the rotunda at Toronto City Hall on Wednesday, April 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The street furniture designs can also be viewed on the City’s website at www.toronto.ca/streetfurniture or on display boards at the following civic centres: Etobicoke Civic Centre, 399 The West Mall; North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge Street; and Scarborough Civic Centre, 150 Borough Drive.

The City of Toronto has embarked on a number of Clean and Beautiful City initiatives to improve and elevate the quality of public spaces. A key element to realizing this bold vision was the Request for Proposals for a Coordinated Street Furniture Program. Read more »

When it was time to prepare her Mission District duplex for sale, Sue O’Callaghan gritted her teeth and reluctantly took the advice of those who said she needed to give it a new look.

To enhance the marketability of their building, O’Callaghan said, she and her son were encouraged by their real estate agents to make a number of changes, such as replacing her antique furniture with pieces of a different style. “They said, ‘If you’re going to put (your property) on the market, you’re going to have to make it a lot more marketable by updating certain things,’ ” she said.

O’Callaghan, 68, a retired gift shop owner who now resides in San Diego, didn’t heed their advice without some reservations. “I resisted because I didn’t want my stuff subjected to possible damage — and I think it’s really good-looking furniture. I’ve had my oriental rugs for years and they aren’t cheap. I knew I was being stubborn. I dragged my feet and moaned.” The building sold five days after it was listed. “We got our money,” she said with a chuckle. “I heard plenty of ‘I told you so’s.’ ” Read more »