Page 10 - Commercial Site Furnishings

Metal benches provide a durable, low maintenance, customized option for landscape architects

People have become familiar with wooden park benches since the first bench was built, but with the advent of contemporary metal benches there are many more options that any landscape designer will appreciate.

Advancements in manufacturing have now transformed metal benches from ugly, rusting sheets of steel to vibrant, super-durable, easy-to-clean benches that are low maintenance and can withstand any type of weather thrown at it.

One of the main reasons why metal benches are a smart choice is due to advances with coated benches. There are coatings out there now, like SealGuard offered by The Park and Facilities Catalog with a 5-year warranty, that are just about bulletproof.

These thick, thermoplastic coatings can repel paint and prevent rust and corrosion from the elements. What's also amazing is that these finishes resist UV rays, so the coated bench can retain its lustrous original color for

Two friends on a concrete bench. Concrete benches are super durable and nearly impossible to steal. They stay where they are placed

When people think of concrete benches, they probably conjure up an image of a rectangular cement slab sitting on two concrete blocks.

That's not necessarily the case.

Concrete benches actually come in an incredible array of styles and designs. They are also manufactured in a variety of configurations - some that use recycled plastic bench slats or others that might use treated lumber like a traditional bench.

In essence, concrete benches don't have to be boring.

Stone benches were used for centuries. Concrete benches resemble stone benches. Here's one famous example.

But remember, they are resilient. And nearly impossible to remove. Concrete benches are ideal for landscapes where the weather is harsh or vandals tend to hangout and either steal or damage your benches.

Variety of concrete benches

Here are some of the many concrete bench options to consider:

UpLift Bike Docks

https://www.theparkcatalog.com/bike-dock

https://youtu.be/3GWzydFmJb8

Innovative new bicycle rack that maximizes space and provides three secure points of locking contact. Perfect for universities, schools and cities.

DoubleUp Vertical Bike Racks

https://www.theparkcatalog.com/vertical-bike-rack

https://youtu.be/11wXVQ1rwOw

Space-saving vertical bike racks designed for bike rooms. Available as wall mount bike racks or freestanding bicycle racks.

Aluminum Bleachers Installation

https://www.theparkcatalog.com/bleachers

https://youtu.be/RKecsm2yCdI

A brief video on the craftsmanship that goes into our aluminum bleachers.

Commercial Bike Racks

https://www.theparkcatalog.com/bike-racks

https://youtu.be/jvU07HNfKv0

Commercial bike racks of all styles, such as wave and U-racks with a huge array of sizes and colors.

Park Benches

https://www.theparkcatalog.com/benches

https://youtu.be/GIRQhVqHYHo

When it comes to park benches, The Park and Facilities catalog is the one-stop resource

Note: The Park and Facilities Catalog and it's innovative UpLift Bike Dock was recently featured in the Sun-Sentinel - one of the premier newspapers in Florida with an estimated 230,000 subscribers for their Sunday edition.

The UpLift Bike Dock was featured in this Sun-Sentinel articl

Reporter Marcia Pounds and photographer/videographer Carline Jean interviewed CEO Christopher George about the company's new UpLift bike rack invention which has one of the highest densities in the industry when it comes to bicycle parking. The unique design of the UpLift Bike Dock with the staggered wheel troughs and small footprint allows more bicycles to be parked in tight spaces per square foot. This bike dock was designed specifically for college campuses and cities where space is at a premium.

Boca Company's new bike rack designed to save space, prevent scratches

By Marcia Heroux Pounds - Sun-Sentinel reporter

Boca Raton company is rolling out a bike rack designed to save space, secure the wheel and

https://youtu.be/11wXVQ1rwOw

Bicycle parking in apartment and office buildings is now one of the hottest new trends in the construction industry.

However, finding enough space to park a large number of bikes is a challenge, especially when that space is at a premium.

The Park and Facilities Catalog has the solution - high-density DoubleUp vertical bike racks designed by Sustainable Sites that take up less space and at the same time prevent bicycles from scratching each other or getting stolen.

"Just about every multi-family community or apartment complex now must address the increasing demand from bike commuters for long-term bicycle parking," said Chris Luyet, VP of Sales and Marketing. "To keep all those bicycles organized in a tight space requires a bicycle parking rack that is the most efficient in terms of square footage and security."

The DoubleUp meets that demand. Experts with years of experience in bicycle parking at Sustainable Sites worked for months to come up with a vertical

Horse with rider jumping over hurdle. The Park and Facilities Catalog specializes in supplying equestrian centers with commercial site furnishings

The Park Catalog is proud to supply commercial benches, picnic tables, and trash receptacles to equestrian facilities promoting the sport worldwide. Two equestrian centers, the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center and the Tryon Equestrian Center in North Carolina, are state-of-the-art equestrian facilities that recently installed commercial site furnishings from The Park and Facilities Catalog. (See photo gallery below).

Commercial site furnishings at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center

Sitting on 500 acres in Wellington, Fla., with more than 18 competition arenas, 256 stalls, and a famous bridge arching over the in-gate where the horses enter, it's no wonder why the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center is the most recognizable equestrian center in the United States. An exciting array of events, from jumper derbies to horse

Commercial concrete planters also function as traffic barrier

By Alysa Kleinman

Spring is here! With the sun shining and birds chirping, it's a great time to dust off the winter blues and dress up your facility so it looks fantastic all year long. Commercial concrete planters can help you accomplish this task and do so much more.

While flowers may seem like a simple touch, they cultivate a positive and inviting energy. Besides looking nice, commercial concrete planters can be highly functional and add so much to your facility and community as a whole.  These heavier, more solid commercial planters are preferred by many facility managers because they can't be moved, tipped over by the wind, stolen by thieves and they provide a solid traffic and pedestrian barrier.

1. Boost the Mood - Nothing boosts the mood quite like flowers, and there's even science to prove it. Researchers at Harvard University, working with Massachusetts General Hospital, discovered that participants felt happier

Custom bike rack in Laramie Wyo. designed by artist Meg Thompson (Source: Laramie Main Street Alliance

It's a very simple formula for towns to attract business and add a little zest to the landscape - install artistic custom bike racks.

With today's advances in bicycle parking manufacturing, more and more municipalities and downtown development associations are discovering that they can easily feature a bunch of artistic bike racks on their sidewalks.

This immediately creates a buzz that brings in shoppers and creates a newfound sense of pride from residents.

The manufacturing of bike racks has made incredible advances in the past few decades. Rather than ordering a plain old grid-style bike rack, towns can now liven up their streets with butterflies, flowers, dinosaurs, fish, rabbits, mountain ranges, you name it.

In essence, an artsy outdoor bike rack can literally be created for whatever image you can imagine.

Think of the many benefits:

Instant Street Art - years ago, local towns might

Brett Grey, general manager of the Shake Shack in Boca Raton, Fla., with recycled plastic picnic table

When you visit the Shake Shack in Boca Raton, Fla., and view the cool architecture, the welcome open space inside and the recycled plastic picnic tables on the patio, you quickly realize this is not your ordinary burger joint.

Not at all. Just look at the hamburger menu for example. The first thing they tell you is that these burgers are made with 100% all natural Angus beef. There are no hormones, antibiotics and the bread is not made from any Frankensteinish genetically-modified wheat. Everything is made with real ingredients.

Secondly, if you look further down the menu, even though this is an international food chain, there are locally-named frozen custards called Glades Donuts and Mizner's Muse. Names that only local residents will recognize. Not only do these frozen custards have neighborhood references, but 5% from the sale of Glades Donuts supports the local Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.

Commercial construction forecast for 2016 predicts strong activity which also means more need for commercial site furnishings

If you are a builder you should start 2016 with a smile on your face because the commercial construction forecast for 2016 looks very, very strong.

After reviewing several articles on the commercial outlook for the year, here is what we consider to be a general consensus:

- Dodge Data and Analytics say US construction starts for this year will grow by 6% to $712 billion. That's fantastic news. You could essentially stop reading right there.

More buildings creates demand for more commercial site furnishings

- Commercial building is expected to grow by more than 11%, compared to 4% last year. Dodge predicts office construction will be very active, with starts as high as 17%, primarily from demand by tech and finance clients. For example, Apple just started a 2.8 million sq. ft. project for their new headquarters. When you sell a ton of products such as iPhones or

One effective break idea is for workers to get out of the office and mingle on outdoor park benches for a few minutes

While many companies can't offer the nap pods, ping pong tables or gourmet chefs offered by Google, there are several inexpensive break room ideas you can use to improve employee morale and boost productivity.

According to experts, the goal behind a break room is not to regard it as a place where employees slack off, but a place where they can relax, recharge and interact with fellow employees.

Employee lockers and break rooms set the tone for how employees are treated

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Break Room Décor - while it is important (and required) that employment legal notices be posted, be sure to make your break room different than the rest of the office or workplace. Paint it a different color. Add plants. Include comfortable chairs. Hang pictures. This lets employees know this is a space that is removed from their work area. Create a sort of refuge where

Commercial recycling receptacles are prerequisite to earn LEED credit

Anybody in construction knows that LEED certification is a very complicated process. But when it comes to one requirement for recycling, it may be one of the easiest tasks to accomplish. All it takes is some space and some commercial recycling receptacles.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is a coveted designation awarded by an organization called the U.S. Green Building Council. The group gives a building certification based on qualifying credits earned for practices that are eco-friendly and energy efficient. The premise behind the award is simple - to encourage the building of structures that have less of an impact on the environment than a standard construction project.

There are different certification levels depending on the requirements you meet in the application. Those levels are Certified (40-49 points), Silver (50-59), Gold (60-79) and Platinum (80-plus).

Achieving the certification

Dee Williams, manager of ReStore in Delray Beach stands by smoking urns donated by The Park Catalo

The Park and Facilities Catalog recently donated three smoking urns to Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County, a great cause that helps citizens achieve the American dream of owning a home or improving the one they're in.

Adding smoking urns to any location is a great cause as well because discarded cigarettes are the No. 1 source of litter in America.

First a little bit about Habitat for Humanity. The Habitat for Humanity of South Palm Beach County is a non-profit organization that assists families in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach. Since 1991 the group has "empowered" more than 120 families to finance and move into a home of their own.

Okay, most people have heard about how Habitat for Humanity helps to build homes for people.

But they do so much more.

For example, they also oversee a Neighborhood Revitalization Program with services such as "A Brush With Kindness" or

Demand for shopping center space is on the rise and that's great news for the US economy

Like everything, shopping center demand is cyclical. Up times. Down times. If you look at the latest data that's coming out, it's starting to look like a positive upswing is about to hit the industry real hard.

That's great news for the economy. That means more investment, more construction and retail jobs, more ancillary effects such as an increase in outdoor commercial furniture, trucking and local taxes.

Retail research company CoStar recently issued a report indicating that shopping center vacancies continue to drop and space is at its tightest level in the past eight years.

So there's the demand. Where's the response to that demand? CoStar says only 60 million square feet of retail space is being built right now. That's 90 million square feet less than the shopping center construction underway at the last peak in 2007.

Something's gotta give. And you are probably going to see a boom in building

 

Strategies for managing teens at mall

When it comes to shopping malls, teenagers will be teenagers. What's a mall manager to do?

Actually, there is quite a bit you can do from blaring weird music, installing more lighting and providing sturdy, vandal-resistant steel benches.

Let's start with the weird music. One of the great shopping center ironies in life is that a mall wants to attract teens to shop in the stores, eat in the food court and watch movies...and then it wants them to leave. Not an easy thing to accomplish. Especially when there isn't anything else in most towns to occupy a teen's time and energy.

So, to drive loitering teens away, some facilities and cities have taken extreme measures.

Take Washington, DC, for example. They tried to drive teens away from public areas with a "mosquito-sounding" device. Buzzed a shrill noise at a certain frequency that mainly only young people could hear. Problem was, many other people including very young kids or teens on their way to work