Category Archives for "Design"

Mar 18

Melody Place: bringing back the magic

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Ideas , Sports & Entertainment

In the early days of the Ottawa Senators, it was all about creating magic in terms of building design and operation/presentation. The Palladium (now Canadian Tire Centre) was designed to model the Roman Coliseum and there was even talk about dressing servers and security personnel in Roman garb 😊 Modern game day entertainment/production in stadiums/arenas […]

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May 01

Path to creating affordable housing is out there but only possible if cities and towns make it so

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Green for Real , Investing , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Tiny Homes

Are you familiar with the BBC series From Lark Rise to Candleford? It’s about life in two neighboring places in the late 19th century—one a poor rural village called Lark Rise where life is a struggle, and tother being a more prosperous town called Candleford. They are 8-miles apart with a muddy track the only […]

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Oct 26

Murals are a powerful tool to revive urban areas

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Design , Entrepreneurship , Finance , Green for Real , Investing , Life Coaching , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

Theming downtown Belleville Murals are a powerful catalyst in terms of reviving and improving urban areas. For example, Jane Golden started a program in Philadelphia to bring graffiti artists “in from the cold.” The Mural Arts Program (www.muralarts.org) in Philly employs over 300 artists each year and teaches more than 1,000 young people the art […]

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Oct 25

The tinier the house, the more creative you need to be

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Green for Real , Ideas , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Tiny Homes , Urban Economics

The smaller the house you build, the more creative you need to be. One of my daughters is moving into her own home that is just 192 sq ft. She’ll live right next door to a small workshop (about 350 sq ft) where she will design and produce high fashion custom clothing for glamorous women […]

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May 08

Making Retail Spaces Pandemic/Internet/Big Box Store Resistant

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Ideas , Investing , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Sales & Marketing , Urban Economics

At the beginning of this pandemic, folks asked me what I thought would happen to real estate values. I believed office and shopping mall valuations would fall out of bed while industrial and residential would hold their own. The latter because people always need a place to live; the former because I thought nations (including […]

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Jan 01

I wish we knew now what we knew then

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Green for Real , Ideas , Life Coaching , PB4L , Real Estate , Urban Economics

Over the Christmas holidays, I was rereading The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. I read it when I was a kid and enjoyed it, so I thought I’d see what I think of it now. It’s about five Union soldiers who escape Confederate captivity during the US Civil War in a balloon that is swept […]

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Nov 30

Met an attorney this week who can only be described this way, sorry to say: A know-it-all-know-nothing

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Green for Real , Investing , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

Main Street Makeovers He must have received his law degree in the snail-mail. The guy didn’t know the difference between foreclosure and power-of-sale. Why is this even important? Foreclosure versus Power of Sale Because I advise a number of funds (REITs, MICs, Private Equity Funds, Mortgage Trusts, Mutual Fund Trusts, individual private lenders such as […]

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May 26

Disaster also brings opportunity… for a new beginning

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Design , Entrepreneurship , Finance , Firestone Institute , Green for Real , Ideas , Investing , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

A client of mine asks, “Hi Bruce, what are your thoughts on real estate and the economy over the next 12-24 months?” Here’s what I answered: No one really knows what will happen, but in my view, there will be many opportunities for people with cash. I suspect several trillion dollars of real estate in […]

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May 02

Downsizing Upsizing Right Sizing? That is the question

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Family , Finance , Green for Real , Ideas , Investing , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

Traveling without moving, a new approach to downsizing Most realtors tell a person who is thinking of, say, downsizing, to list and sell their larger home and buy something smaller and presumably cheaper. This kind of talk is a bit self-serving because, if the client follows this piece of advice, the realtor gets another listing […]

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Apr 17

Staying afloat and getting ahead in a time of Covid-19

By Bruce Firestone | Architecture , Business Coaching , Business Models , Design , Entrepreneurship , Finance , Firestone Institute , Investing , PB4L , Real Estate , Real Estate Investment Coaching , Urban Economics

for LANDLORDS, INVESTORS (AND TENANTS) Here is a webinar in which Bruce M Firestone, PhD, and host Dave Dubeau talk about how to stay afloat during the Covid-19 era and also how to prepare for a hopeful future. Here’s what is covered: -snowbird real estate prices about to collapse? -big market correction coming #Gulp -buying […]

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