Loro Piana boutique to open in Streets of Buckhead

The Streets of Buckhead has signed Loro Piana, to the list of boutiques slated to open in the shopping district in 2009. The store will be located on Buckhead Avenue just east of Peachtree Road, and will occupy over 2,000 square feet of space.

Loro Piana is known worldwide for its sportswear and leisurewear for men, women, and children, knitwear, accessories, bags, small leather goods and items for the home, created with select yarns and fabrics.

“Loro Piana is proud to be part of this exciting project and is looking forward to establishing a strong presence in the Atlanta market,” stated Pier Luigi and Sergio Loro Piana, CEOs of Loro Piana & C. The company had been looking for an opportunity in this market for a while but did not move forward until the Buckhead development came along. “We see this as an excellent opportunity to meet our clientele in an environment that is ideal to communicating Loro Piana’s core brand values,”

Originally from Trivero, Italy the Loro Piana family started as merchants of wool fabrics at the beginning of the 19th century. The company opened its first directly operated store in New York in 1993 and in Milan and Venice in 1999. Today they are over 100 stores worldwide. Among the 12 locations are in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, and Aspen.

“The Streets of Buckhead will represent the finest that the world has to offer and I can’t think of a better way to add to that than to weave in one of Italy’s most luxurious and respected family-owned Italian luxury-goods company,” said Ben Carter, founder and chairman of Ben Carter Properties, LLC.

Work begins on Two Alliance Center

New York-based international developer Tishman Speyer has begun its first ground-up development in Atlanta, the Two Alliance Center glass office tower under construction at 3500 Lenox Road near Phipps Plaza. The building will have 20 stories of office space, totaling 493,000 rentable square feet of space, 10 stories of parking and possibly a restaurant and is scheduled to be completed in spring or summer 2009.

Tishman Speyer entered the Atlanta market in the fall of 2006 with the $675 million purchase of Trizec’s 3.5 million-square-foot commercial real estate portfolio, including One Alliance Center, the two-acre site for Two Alliance Center and Colony Square.

Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart designed the building and the Beck Group is the general contractor.

Karatassos wins humanitarian award

The National Restaurant Association has named Buckhead Life Restaurant Group CEO Pano Karatassos winner of the 2007 Cornerstone Humanitarian.

Karatassos picked up the award and $5,000 during the association’s annual Public Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. Sept. 25. The award celebrates the philanthropic spirit of the restaurant industry and inspires members to actively get involved in their communities.

Karatassos served as the founding Atlanta chairperson for the national Share Our Strength Taste of the Nation event, for which he is one of the country’s leading fundraisers and organizers. His efforts have brought in more than $5 million for Share Our Strength. Karatassos also helped developed the country’s first freshly-prepared food program for hunger relief and helped recruit other restaurants and wholesalers to join.

He will donate the $5,000 to Share Our Strength’s Atlanta chapter.

Buckhead Life oup owns and operates the Atlanta Fish Market, 103 West, Pricci, the Buckhead Diner, Chops, Lobster Bar, The Club at Chops, Veni Vidi Vici, Buckhead Bread Company & Corner Café, Nava, Bluepointe, and Kyma. This year, Karatassos opened a Chops Lobster Bar in Boca Raton, Fla., and will open Central Fish Market in Boca Raton in early 2008.

UPS creates healthcare delivery unit

Sandy Springs-based United Parcel Service Inc. has formed a new division devoted to deliveries and logistics for the healthcare industry.

Bill Hook, former president of Livingston Healthcare Services, Inc., which UPS bought in 2000, will be vice president of healthcare logistics.

The new unit will focus on healthcare companies in biotechnical development or that make or coordinate research trains in the pharmaceutical, medical device and equipment and surgical supply markets.

Chambers remains richest Georgian

Anne Cox Chamber, the 87-year-old matriarch of Cox Enterprises Inc., has once again been named the richest Georgian on Forbes magazine’s 27th annual list of 400 Richest Americans, published in September. A total of five Georgians made the list for 2007, including Cox’s nephew James Kennedy, chairman of the board of Cox Enterprises, Home Depot founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank and S. Truett Cathy.

Cox Chambers placed 17th on the list with a net worth of $12.6 billion. Kennedy was 50th with a net worth of $6.3 billion.

Much further down the list were Marcus at 239 with $2 billion, Blank at 317th with $1.5 billion and Cathy at 380th with $1.3 billion.

Buckhead businessman wins award for efforts to change commuter habits

Michael Lawings, corporate facilities manager of WellPoint, has been awarded the 2007 Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) International Award in the leadership category for his contributions to “transportation demand management.”
“I can’t think of a person who is more deserving of this honor than Michael Lawings,” said Denise Starling, executive director of the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA). “He has shown true leadership in changing the way that WellPoint employees commute to work, and his national recognition is evidence that there are business leaders in our community that are making a difference.”
Lawings was selected as the winner based on his accomplishments at WellPoint, one of the nation’s largest health benefits companies, where he implemented a range of programs designed to encourage WellPoint employees to take transit, telework, vanpool and carpool, including financial incentives and training opportunities.
Lawings’ commitment to improving air quality and promoting commute alternatives spans 10 years and has resulted in reducing almost five million vehicle miles and close to eight tons of harmful emissions.  More than half of WellPoint’s Buckhead employees use a commute alternative, including more than 575 transit riders and more than 150 teleworkers.  Many of the transit riders are a direct result of the 100 percent subsidized transit pass program that Lawings put in place.
Another example of Lawings’ leadership is his work to connect new Buckhead employees to commute alternatives.  When 200 employees were relocated to the Buckhead WellPoint location, Lawings worked with human resource representatives and BATMA to establish an orientation series that included a focus on commute alternatives as part of an effort to change these employees’ commute habits before the move to the new location. As a result, about 50 percent of the new employees opted to use a commute alternative after the move.
Last year, he was recognized locally for his work when The Clean Air Campaign presented him with the PACE Setter Award.

Michael Lawings, corporate facilities manager of WellPoint, has been awarded the 2007 Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) International Award in the leadership category for his contributions to “transportation demand management.” “I can’t think of a person who is more deserving of this honor than Michael Lawings,” said Denise Starling, executive director of the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA). “He has shown true leadership in changing the way that WellPoint employees commute to work, and his national recognition is evidence that there are business leaders in our community that are making a difference.” Lawings was selected as the winner based on his accomplishments at WellPoint, one of the nation’s largest health benefits companies, where he implemented a range of programs designed to encourage WellPoint employees to take transit, telework, vanpool and carpool, including financial incentives and training opportunities.  Lawings’ commitment to improving air quality and promoting commute alternatives spans 10 years and has resulted in reducing almost five million vehicle miles and close to eight tons of harmful emissions.  More than half of WellPoint’s Buckhead employees use a commute alternative, including more than 575 transit riders and more than 150 teleworkers.  Many of the transit riders are a direct result of the 100 percent subsidized transit pass program that Lawings put in place. Another example of Lawings’ leadership is his work to connect new Buckhead employees to commute alternatives.  When 200 employees were relocated to the Buckhead WellPoint location, Lawings worked with human resource representatives and BATMA to establish an orientation series that included a focus on commute alternatives as part of an effort to change these employees’ commute habits before the move to the new location. As a result, about 50 percent of the new employees opted to use a commute alternative after the move. Last year, he was recognized locally for his work when The Clean Air Campaign presented him with the PACE Setter Award.

Michael Lawings, corporate facilities manager of WellPoint, has been awarded the 2007 Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) International Award in the leadership category for his contributions to “transportation demand management.”

“I can’t think of a person who is more deserving of this honor than Michael Lawings,” said Denise Starling, executive director of the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA). “He has shown true leadership in changing the way that WellPoint employees commute to work, and his national recognition is evidence that there are business leaders in our community that are making a difference.”

Lawings was selected as the winner based on his accomplishments at WellPoint, one of the nation’s largest health benefits companies, where he implemented a range of programs designed to encourage WellPoint employees to take transit, telework, vanpool and carpool, including financial incentives and training opportunities.

Lawings’ commitment to improving air quality and promoting commute alternatives spans 10 years and has resulted in reducing almost five million vehicle miles and close to eight tons of harmful emissions. More than half of WellPoint’s Buckhead employees use a commute alternative, including more than 575 transit riders and more than 150 teleworkers. Many of the transit riders are a direct result of the 100 percent subsidized transit pass program that Lawings put in place.

Another example of Lawings’ leadership is his work to connect new Buckhead employees to commute alternatives. When 200 employees were relocated to the Buckhead WellPoint location, Lawings worked with human resource representatives and BATMA to establish an orientation series that included a focus on commute alternatives as part of an effort to change these employees’ commute habits before the move to the new location. As a result, about 50 percent of the new employees opted to use a commute alternative after the move.

Last year, he was recognized locally for his work when The Clean Air Campaign presented him with the PACE Setter Award.

Home Depot closing carden centers

Buckhead-based The Home Depot, Inc. plans to close down its Landscape Supply store concept in order to focus on its core stores.

The company plans to close five Landscape Supply stores in the Atlanta area and six in Dallas-Fort Worth by Nov. 19. The closings will result in 380 employees being laid off.