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Over at ChangeThis, you can get a free download of Michael Lee Stallard’s “The Connection Culture: A New Source of Competitive Advantage“.  Here’s how he describes this ebook:

In a nutshell, one of the most powerful and least understood aspects of business is how an emotional connection between management, employees and customers provides a competitive advantage. Unless the people who are part of a business feel a sense of connection –an emotional bond that promotes trust, cooperation and esprit de corps – they will never reach their potential as individuals, nor will the organization.

I say it’s a must-read for any project team out there. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader (or any PDF viewer) to read the document.  Click here for the download page.

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Filed under: Estates

You may never have heard of Kelowna, British Columbia but it’s one of the fastest growing cities in North America. The city on a Okanagan Lake offers beautiful scenery and a relatively mild climate. Today’s three-bedroom home is situated on a hill for panoramic views of the lake and the surrounding hills. The home was designed by Isabel Chen and sits on 1.19 acres. The modern home has an open floor plan and plenty of windows and sky lights. There’s a separate guest suite over the garage that has a private deck. There’s geothermal heating and air conditioning. I like the look of the saltwater concrete pool and the wide wood decks. It’s not a wildly charming home but the view and the simple and clean space warm my heart. It is listed at $2.2 million Canadian.

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From the NY Post’s Gimme Shelter:
–Kenneth Cole and his wife Maria Cuomo Cole, have just paid $14.5 million for a five-bedroom, five-bath prewar co-op apartment at One Sutton Place South.
–Real-estate investor/enthusiast Michael Hirtenstein has added even more space to his TriBeCa bachelor pad at One York taking it from a massive 6,600 square feet to a gargantuan 11,000 square feet of interior space plus 6,000 square feet of exterior space.
–So far Andie McDowell, Christie Brinkley and Rosie O’Donnell have all checked out the nine remaining residences at 10 West End Ave.

From the NY Observer’s Manhattan Transfers:
–The former Guccione townhouse sold for just $49 million to hedge fund titan Philip Falcone. Astonishing considering it was once listed, albeit briefly and foolishly for $99 million.
–TV home renovator Bob Vila spent $4 million on a townhouse in 2004. He has now renovated and is asking $11.5 million. The renovation was filmed for season 15 of the TV show Bob Vila’s Home Again. The home is now two duplexes plus a full floor apartment as well as rear half-floor apartments on the first and fourth floors, which Mr. Vila couldn’t touch because there are still rent-stabilized tenants there. The penthouse is being rented for the year at around $15,000 per month, and the duplex downstairs is rented at around $10,000. The listing is here.
–Est

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Filed under: Estates

I’m sure that any place for sale in a Trump building is well worth the money but $22 million for 5,425 square feet… wow! At Penthouse 86B in Trump World Tower you’ll find a ten room space which includes four bedrooms and five and a half baths. Did I mention the granite countertops, marble baths and maple herringbone floors? In the tallest residential building in the world, it is sure to afford outrageous views of the city. Plus, the amenities included such as parking, concierge, doorman, valet services, health club with all the perks, Megu Japanese restaurant, and The World Bar cocktail lounge. Its only been on the market a few days — and sure to be snatched up in no time.

[via Curbed]

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Filed under: Estates

Most homes in Montecito California seem a little grown-up as if you have to be of a certain age to like the storied pleasures of this seaside enclave. Today’s home would be the perfect choice for someone in the enviable position of having both youth and a ton of money. Or maybe I’m just swayed by the comic panel art in one of the bedrooms. Either way, this home on Fernald Point is totally gorgeous. The contemporary seven-bedroom home sits right on the water and is made with many beautiful exotic woods including ip

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Filed under: Estates

An architect and urban designer, Rem Koolhaas’ concept of the “generic city” created years ago might finally get the opportunity to be constructed in Dubai as a 1.5 billion square foot project called Waterfront City. It will be like picking up a section of Manhattan and placing it on an artificial island just off the Persian Gulf, balancing elements of one-of-a-kind construction, such as the 44-story sphere, with rows of towering skyscrapers. This bold statement would establish Dubai as the center for urban experimentation and one of the world’s fastest growing metropolises. Working in a sphere would be a nice change of pace from the strict rigidity of a typical building — even though would you still have elevators?

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Filed under: Estates

When I saw that this one was up for sale, I was excited. When my family used to live on Cape Cod, I’ve often passed by this house on the way to the Hyannis Yacht Club. On sunny days I often saw a man painting on outside on the observation deck of the tower. This home is set at a bend in the road in Hyannisport and faces Nantucket Sound. The almost 8,000 square-foot home is on enviable piece of land with 300 feet of private beachfront. The home, which was built in 1910, is in need of a bit of a renovation but it’s a treat to see the artist’s works everywhere. The studio is messy, as all good studios should be, but it looks like great space. The home is listed at $8.95 million.

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I don’t write too much about condos in Los Angeles but we’ve definitely got them. For the most part they don’t have the appeal of some New York condominiums when it comes to poshness and elaborate style but this one is pretty extraordinary. It’s the double penthouse that takes up half of the highest two floors at The Wilshire on Wilshire Blvd. The condo has a private foyer and a big and ornate two-story living room with silk draperies, custom rock crystal chandeliers, hand-made carpets and sculpted moldings. The home has a beautiful bronze and iron staircase and balcony detail, a water filtration system, four fireplaces and remote control security monitors. The walnut family room has the look of a European pub with coffered ceilings and a granite bar. The media room has a 100-inch rear screen projection system and there’s a formal dining room and separate sitting room. There’s a private in-unit elevator which also goes to the upper floor where there is a mahogany office, guest suite and a storage area that includes a hair salon and wrapping room, which can be converted into an additional bedroom. The master suite has an antique marble fireplace, blackout shades and soft pastels. The gentlemen’s bath and dressing room has a steam shower and the ladies’ bath has a spa and big closet. The building has 24-hour concierge service, 24-hour valet, gym facilities and swimming pool. This condo is listed at $11.5 million.

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Filed under: Estates

Even in one of the hottest real estate markets in the United Says people are starting to feel the pinch of the foreclosure crisis. The AP has a story on the falling housing prices in one of the most beautiful and costly areas in the country. In January, home sales fell more than 55 percent from the year before. The number of houses at any stage of foreclosure jumped by 152.9 percent. So far the very expensive wine towns of Calistoga, Yountville, St. Helena and Rutherford are still doing well but the city of Napa and the town of American Canyon have been hard hit, finding that the newer housing developments are particularly vulnerable both to lack of sales and forecloures.

Part of the worry for Napa is that its exponential growth has been fueled by wine tourism which may start to wane in the current economic climate. Currently condos, offices and retail stores are under construction, designed to appeal to the tourists and part-time residents. While the general wisdom seems to be that recessions do not cause people to stop drinking wine, it might cause them to cut back on winery tours which would impact other luxury retail businesses which have come to the area in the past couple of years.

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Filed under: Estates

If there were real estate staging awards (and really there should be, I might just need to create them) then today’s listing might be nominated in the “most obvious” category. This three-bedroom New York condo loft at 76 Crosby is the one of those white New York box condos and instead of using colorful furniture to warm the place up a bit the stagers used white sofas, white flowers, white towels in the restroom. Also, I think the Barcelona lounge chair should be stricken from the stager’s playbook. The condo’s walls are blindingly white but the bathrooms are dark stone and tile caves of bathing retreat. The opaque glass wall in the living room also gives me pause, it makes the space seem rather narrow. The apartment is over 5, 262 square feet of space but the pictures don’t seem to show that to ideal effect. Coincidentally, when I was googling around for more information on this building I saw that Curbed covered this place yesterday pointing out that both Gawker head Nick Denton and cheery Television personality Kelly Ripa inhabit the same building. I also found an old sold listing at Corcoran with a very similar staging job. This one is listed at $9.4 million.

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