Business Weekly

Announcements . Editorials

 

Bubil: Always a place for good architecture

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Indian Beach Tale    By Harold Bubil, Herald-Tribune

My March 8 story about the architectural competition to design a residence for a 5-acre property along the north bay in Indian Beach elicited several interesting reader responses.

One reader asked if I knew the property was right next door to the mansion-for-rent that I profiled that day on page 1A. Yes, I knew that. Coincidentally, those stories ran the same day.

Meg McDonough, president of Luxury Hospitality Consultants LLC in Sarasota, also opined that the competition was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Of course it is, but I can’t offer that opinion in a news story.

“Interesting idea, but I would not hold much hope of getting a decent design from an architecture student,” wrote McDonough. “From what I see in the professional architecture magazines, they seem to teach them to have far-out ideas and a lot of nothingness that cannot be built.

“This particular angle appears to be more about hype in bringing attention to market the property. The meager $2,500 is an insult for award money.

“I don’t see the validity of having a student design become the springboard towards actual design-build, as it is typically the state-registered architect’s plans that are held as legally binding.”

[Unedited]  Letter to the Editor – Sarasota Herald Tribune

by Meg McDonough

March 8, 2013  

World invited to design house for prime Sarasota waterfront lot 

Interesting idea but I would not hold much hope of getting a decent design from an architecture student. From what I see in the professional architecture magazines, they seem to teach them to have far out ideas and a lot of nothingness that cannot be built.

This particular angle appears to be more about hype in bringing attention to market the property – which happens to be next door to the property being rented out (your other article “Rent a Sarasota waterfront mansion, only $31,500 a week” also posted today). Would you pay to rent next door to that construction site for that amount of money? I wonder whether the owners have declared any statement to that effect in their rental communications to prospective “renters”. They’re basically operating a short-term hospitality business, and I wonder if the regulations (zoning) in their neighborhood permit this type of arrangement?

I feel I know something about architecture students and the premise of design competitions. The meager $2,500 is an insult for award money, unless there is verbiage in a follow-up contract stipulating that the winning design would be used for progressing to build-out plans and assignment of all architectural fees. I don’t see the validity of having a student design become the springboard towards actual design-build as it is typically the state-registered architect’s plans that are held as legally binding. The “competition” appears to be, in my opinion, a quirky method to advertise the property via newspaper and other media outlets for free. And this you accomplished for both parties in today’s paper. Very convenient.

As former executive assistant to the Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), with 10 years as secretary to the President of The Architects Collaborative (TAC – founded by Walter Gropius) in Cambridge; 10 years married to a commercial / residential architect (also from TAC – and now a successful architect in St. John, U.S.V.I.); working as a personal assistant with a local private family on their 8-acre waterfront manse @ 28,000 square feet (with 3 years of extensive building meetings with the architectural and landscape architectural teams thru extensive change orders and then actual architectural and building phases through C.O.). I have also recently prepared a feasibility / marketing plan for a collection of independently operated boutique hotels currently at investor-relationship stage. So, my professional background certainly gives me credence to converse about architecture and this story.

March 2009

Meg McDonough, president of Luxury Hospitality Consultants LLC recently received her Certificate in Hotel Management from the University of South Florida (USF – Sarasota Manatee). As part of the year-long program that focused on hotel management, front-office operations, hospitality law, hotel supervision and hospitality marketing, McDonough developed a marketing plan for a new boutique hotel brand concept, with two prototype models slated to originate in Sarasota and expand to other regions in the United States before going international. The project is currently undergoing investor relations review. McDonough is a Realtor in Sarasota, Florida.

May 2010

Meg McDonough, president of Luxury Hospitality Consultants LLC,  has been added as a new contributor to HospitalityEducators.com where she will share regular insights on luxury resorts, boutique hotels and international dining with our affiliated business trade professionals, members of www.HospitalityEducators.com and its readers. Kathleen Hogan (MBA) is its Publisher. John Hogan is co-Founder and is a successful hospitality executive, educator, author and consultant. He is a frequent keynote speaker and seminar leader at many hospitality industry events. Additional Founding Associates include Stephen Barth, JD CHE author of Hospitality Law and also co-author of Restaurant Law Basics. Mr. Barth is an attorney and founder of HospitalityLawyer.com and the annual Hospitality Law Conference series.

www.HospitalityEducators.com is a membership-based site offering a wide range of information, forms, best practices and ideas that are designed to help individual hoteliers and hospitality businesses improve their market penetration, deliver service excellence and increase their profitability.