The Happiest Quarter

I have never been happier!   First, we sold the house!!! Hooray and whoopedeedo,  we moved to the Channel Islands Marina (in California, for those of you non-locals) and now live in a fabulous condo on the waterfront. Here is the view out our window!

The development is a real master planned community, and I must say I am a bit surprised at all the rules and regulations, quite a bit different from what I expected (what did I expect, having done these kind of studies all these years?)  Anyway, this place is deserted, entered the market at the beginning of the recession and things just didn’t sell. So we have our own little private space with gorgeous views on the waterfront. I have to walk the dog about six times a day, but hey, that’s the price of living in paradise………

Next, my oldest son, Eric got engaged to his wonderful and charming girlfriend and the wedding plans are in full swing. Now, when we got married, we slapped on a pretty dress and hired a justice of the peace, ran into the backyard, and had a little party afterwards. Things have changed!  Custom, pomp and circumstance, rules (old and new), the guest list, these are all points to be negotiated at eight months out. Shopping for the wedding dress was a high point though. We flew to San Francisco and spent the day shopping and what?  at the first shop, Shelley found the dress:

Mike, my youngest, went to Peru for a glorious summer trip to visit his fabulous, talented, brilliant girlfriend Katie who was there for a summer program to immerse herself in Spanish. They climbed Machu Picchu, toured the country side, went on a billion hikes, and wore themselves out. It was a blast for both of them and I am so happy they got to do this!

Then JB Research Company got very, very busy. Just as I was finishing a great ULI Panel in Buffalo, five new contracts came in! Geeze, that’s never happened before, five at once. And a ULI Panel does not allow any down time. It was a wonderful experience and I made a bunch of new friends (Well, maybe not. I don’t know if I was very easy to be with for that week of stress!) We have been crazy busy since then. This is a very positive sign for the economy because before, we preceded the uptick by about 18 months! So get ready ya’all, you are in for a big climb upward!

So here is the BIG NEWS, and this is what my news reporter brother and sister-in-law would call BURYING THE LEAD. We are thrilled to announce that two museums we have been working on for more than five years each will open in the next 24 months. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will locate in the May Company building, dubbed LACMA West in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles.  Additionally,  the South Carolina State Museum expansion will begin construction in March 2012 and open in the summer of 2013.

The Academy Museum

After many years of planning, fits and stops, the Academy has decided to co-locate with the top art museum in Los Angeles, in a 1939 department store just west of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum on the LACMA campus.  The Academy hoped to build a much more ambitious project on land amassed near the intersection of Vine and Fountain. This project had a price tag that was torn apart by the recession, so the Academy decided to pursue a plan with a more tempered cost. The new plan, at approximately 150,000 square feet, is expected to open within the next 36 months.

The South Carolina State Museum

This $23 million expansion will include a 55-foot digital dome planetarium, an observatory, and 4-D theater, now called Windows to the New World. The project has been in planning for over 15 years. The planetarium will have a glass front, and the observatory will be on the roof above the current entrance. An existing auditorium will be turned into a 4-D theater with vibrating seats, blasts of air and mists of water. The front lobby and office space will also be expanded.

So what do you say when your real life exceeds your expectations by miles?  As Albert Brooks says in his brilliant film, Broadcast News, “You keep it to yourself!”  Not so, you tell the world!