1.
Williams Tower
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The Williams Tower is a 64-story,1. 4-million-square-foot class A office tower located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas. The building was designed by New York-based John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson in association with Houston-based Morris-Aubry Architects, construction began in August,1981 and was completed in December,1982. The tower is among Houstons most visible buildings and is the 4th-tallest in Texas, the 31st-tallest in the United States, Real estate developers Gerald D. Hines Interests hired New York-based John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson to design the building, in association with Houston-based Morris-Aubry Architects. The building was named the Transco Tower after its first major tenant, Transco Energy Co. merged with the Williams Companies in 1995 and in 1999 the name of the building was changed to the Williams Tower. In December 2002, Ryan John Hartley climbed the tower and jumped from about halfway up, resulting in his death, the building was offered along with a parking garage, a 2. On the morning of September 13,2008, during Hurricane Ike, the high-rise suffered over $3.5 million in wind damages. Twelve of the 49 elevators were damaged, most by water due to roof failures. Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. put the Williams Tower up for sale in August 2012, the building was originally named for its major tenant, Transco Energy corporation, now part of the Williams Companies, the towers current namesake. Other major tenants include Quanta Services, the Rowan Companies and Cadence Bancorp, the tower also serves as the headquarters for the Hines companies. At 64 stories and 909 feet above the level, the Williams Tower is the tallest building in Houston outside of Downtown Houston. When it was constructed in 1983, it was also the worlds tallest skyscraper outside of a central business district. The building was built to function as two towers stacked directly on top of one another, one comprising the first forty floors. The building has separate banks of elevators and lobbies for each of the two building sections, a majority of the bottom 40 floors are occupied by Williams. The remainder of the building is occupied by a variety of tenants, Williams Tower was named Skyscraper of the Century in the December 1999 issue of Texas Monthly magazine. Paul Gapp of the Chicago Tribune said that the building became an instant classic when it opened, paul Goldberger of The New York Times said that the tower gave Post Oak Boulevard a center, an anchor, which most outtowns lack. There are six elevators that take tenants to the 51st floor, there is no public observation deck. During the night-time hours, the building is defined by a 7,000 watt beacon that sweeps across the sky, topped by such a beacon, the tower hearkens back to the Palmolive Building in Chicago, Illinois. The building, along with its beacon, is a Houston landmark that identifies the Uptown Houston district, the building is connected to a 10 level,3,208 car parking garage by a sky bridge
2.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
3.
Royal Dutch Shell
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Royal Dutch Shell plc, commonly known as Shell, is a British–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom. It is one of the six oil and gas supermajors and the sixth-largest company in the world measured by 2016 revenues. Shell was first in the 2013 Fortune Global 500 list of the worlds largest companies and it also has renewable energy activities in the form of biofuels and wind. Shell has operations in over 70 countries, produces around 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has 44,000 service stations worldwide, as of 31 December 2014, Shell had total proved reserves of 13.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Shell Oil Company, its subsidiary in the United States, is one of its largest businesses. Shell holds 50% of Raízen, a joint venture with Cosan, which is the third-largest Brazil-based energy company by revenues, Shell was formed in 1907 through the amalgamation of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and the Shell Transport and Trading Company of the United Kingdom. Shell first entered the industry in 1929. In 1970 Shell acquired the mining company Billiton, which it sold in 1994. In recent decades gas exploration and production has become an important part of Shells business. Shell acquired BG Group in 2016, making it the worlds largest producer of liquefied natural gas, Shell has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. It has secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange, as of January 2013, Shells largest shareholder was Capital Research Global Investors with 9. 85% ahead of BlackRock in second with 6. 89%. Shells logo, known as the pecten, is one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world and it was a move largely driven by the need to compete globally with Standard Oil. The Shell Transport and Trading Company was a British company, founded in 1897 by Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, and his brother Samuel Samuel. Their father had owned a company in Houndsditch, London. For various reasons, the new firm operated as a company, whereby the merging companies maintained their legal existence. The terms of the merger gave 60 percent ownership of the new group to the Dutch arm and 40 percent to the British, national patriotic sensibilities would not permit a full-scale merger or takeover of either of the two companies. The Dutch company, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij at The Hague, was in charge of production, the British Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company was based in London, to direct the transport and storage of the products. During the First World War, Shell was the supplier of fuel to the British Expeditionary Force
4.
Redmond, Washington
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Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located 16 miles east of Seattle, within the Seattle metropolitan area. The population is 60,560 in 2016, an increase from the 2010 census, Redmond is commonly recognized as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an annual race on city streets and the states only velodrome. Redmond is bordered by Kirkland to the west, Bellevue to the southwest, unincorporated King County lies to the north and east. The citys urban downtown lies just north of Lake Sammamish, residential areas lie north, Overlake, the citys second urban center, is to the west of Lake Sammamish. The Sammamish River runs north from the lake along the west edge of the citys downtown, Redmond is located at 47°40′10″N 122°07′26″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 16.94 square miles. Redmond, like most of the Pacific Northwest, has mild weather, summers tend to be warm and dry, with low rainfall and sunny or partly sunny from June to September. Winters tend to be cool and wet, with November being the rainiest month, snowfall is uncommon, with the most common cold air being in a form of a high pressure system, driving out the rains from the area. However, snowfall is not as rare as in cities like Seattle near the moderating effects of Puget Sound. The average warmest month is August, the highest recorded temperature was 103 °F in 2009. On average, the coolest month is January, the lowest recorded temperature was 1 °F in 1961. The maximum average precipitation occurs in December, According to a 2015 estimate, the annual median income for a household in the city was $99,586. The average home value in 2014 was $649,000, as of the census of 2010, there were 54,144 people,22,550 households, and 13,890 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,325.8 inhabitants per square mile, there were 24,177 housing units at an average density of 1,485.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 65. 2% White,1. 7% African American,0. 4% Native American,25. 4% Asian,0. 2% Pacific Islander,3. 2% from other races, and 4. 0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7. 8% of the population,29. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the family size was 2.98
5.
Minneapolis
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Minneapolis is the county seat of Hennepin County, and the larger of the Twin Cities, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. As of 2015, Minneapolis is the largest city in the state of Minnesota, Minneapolis and Saint Paul anchor the second-largest economic center in the Midwest, after Chicago. Minneapolis lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul. It was once the worlds flour milling capital and a hub for timber, the city and surrounding region is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle, with Minneapolis proper containing Americas fifth-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies. As an integral link to the economy, Minneapolis is categorized as a global city. Noted for its music and performing arts scenes, Minneapolis is home to both the award-winning Guthrie Theater and the historic First Avenue nightclub. The name Minneapolis is attributed to Charles Hoag, the citys first schoolteacher, who combined mni, a Dakota Sioux word for water, and polis, Dakota Sioux had long been the regions sole residents when French explorers arrived around 1680. For a time relations were based on fur trading, gradually more European-American settlers arrived, competing for game and other resources with the Dakota. In the early 19th century, the United States acquired this territory from France, fort Snelling was built in 1819 by the United States Army, and it attracted traders, settlers and merchants, spurring growth in the area. The United States government pressed the Mdewakanton band of the Dakota to sell their land, the Minnesota Territorial Legislature authorized present-day Minneapolis as a town in 1856 on the Mississippis west bank. Minneapolis incorporated as a city in 1867, the rail service began between Minneapolis and Chicago. It later joined with the city of St. Anthony in 1872. Minneapolis developed around Saint Anthony Falls, the highest waterfall on the Mississippi River, forests in northern Minnesota were a valuable resource for the lumber industry, which operated seventeen sawmills on power from the waterfall. By 1871, the west river bank had twenty-three businesses, including mills, woolen mills, iron works, a railroad machine shop, and mills for cotton, paper, sashes. Due to the hazards of milling, six local sources of artificial limbs were competing in the prosthetics business by the 1890s. The farmers of the Great Plains grew grain that was shipped by rail to the citys thirty-four flour mills, a father of modern milling in America and founder of what became General Mills, Cadwallader C. Some ideas were developed by William Dixon Gray and some acquired through industrial espionage from the Hungarians by William de la Barre, pillsbury Company across the river were barely a step behind, hiring Washburn employees to immediately use the new methods. The hard red spring wheat that grows in Minnesota became valuable, not until later did consumers discover the value in the bran that Minneapolis
6.
CityCenterDC
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It encompasses 2,000,000 square feet and covers more than five city blocks. Most of the development was completed and open for business by summer 2015, the development is one of the largest downtown projects in the United States, and the largest urban development on the East Coast of the United States. It has been described as a modern-day Rockefeller Center by Hector Falconer at the New York Times, Washington Post architectural critic Steven Pearlstein, writing in 2003, said the project will reshape downtown D. C. The D. C. deputy mayor for economic development characterized the project in 2004 as the capstone of an effort to move the center of energy from the Mall to downtown. Mayor Anthony A. Williams said in 2005 it was the achievement in the rebirth of our downtown. Mayor Adrian Fenty called the development a live, work and play environment unlike anywhere else in D. C, the Washington Convention Center, Washington, D. C. s second convention center, opened on December 10,1982. In May 1990, the city unveiled plans for a new $685 million,2,300, ground was broken for the new Walter E. Washington Convention Center on October 2,1998. Differing plans were suggested for redevelopment of the site of the convention center. In 1998, leaders of the John F, in 1999, a D. C. government study proposed constructing a new Major League Baseball stadium at the site. Anthony A. Williams, Mayor of the District of Columbia, although the mayors task force had not issued its report, on November 14,2000, Williams unveiled a city-wide development plan that proposed constructing a major new public attraction on the land. The plan also suggested building city-owned parking garages, reopening I Street NW and 10th Street NW, the following month, Williams announced that the Office of the Deputy Mayor would oversee the redevelopment design effort. By May 2001, city officials were suggesting a development similar to Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco, California, or Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, the city hoped to open bids regarding the project in 2002. Two months later, Mayor Williams said that his vision for the site included housing, a museum, a park. In March 2002, the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, a month later, city officials and developers said that rising land prices within the city limits made using the convention center site for a baseball stadium prohibitively expensive. Finally, on May 19,2002, Mayor Williams revealed the results of his task force study. Three theatres seating 200,750, and 2,500 people were envisioned, the task force report constituted a major change in the citys thinking. Williams said the task forces vision was to remake downtown, so that the project would become as central to Washington, D. C. as the Inner Harbor is to Baltimore, Maryland. Williams submitted a draft RFP to the Council of the District of Columbia in June 2002, the RFP was approved, and the city issued it in August
7.
Old Navy
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Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by American multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, the largest of the Old Navy stores are its flagship stores, located in New York City, the Mall of America, Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco. In March 1994, Gap Warehouse was renamed Old Navy Clothing Co. in order to establish an image from its parent. It was named after a bar in Paris, the new stores were about 15,000 square feet, compared less than 10,000 square feet for Gap Warehouse stores. Later that year,42 other Old Navy stores opened, Old Navy had campy television ads featuring Morgan Fairchild and its mascot, Magic the dog. This mascot was changed in 2001 to Adam the Greaser due to his love for the classic Old Navy graphic t-shirts. The Old Navy division grew quickly, in 1997, it became the first retailer to pass $1 billion in its first four years in business, in 2001, Old Navy began its international expansion with the opening of 12 stores in Ontario, Canada. The brand also experimented, opening a shop inside one location in San Francisco in December 1995. This in turn did not work out for the company, and was terminated the following September and this may have been due to Adam wearing the shirts too often. In 2005, Old Navys then-president Dawn Robertson looked to address the competition she saw in Hollister Co. in addition to a new logo, several locations were built or remodeled to reflect the New Old Navy. One such location in St. Petersburg, Florida cost roughly $5 million to develop, also, advertisements began to be created in-house, and substituted the original kitschy and humorous feel for a high fashion and feminine directive. These stores proved to be an investment and Robertson was asked to leave the company. In 2011, Old Navy began a rebranding to emphasize a family-oriented environment. It targets Old Navys target customer and features better lighting, vibrant colors, layouts that make shopping easier, quick-change stations, by July 12, one third of the companys North American locations had adopted the redesign. In 2012, after years of Old Navy losing sales to rival retailer H&M. Larsson instituted a number of changes, including hiring designers away from Coach, Nike, Reebok, by 2015, Old Navys yearly sales had reached $6 billion per year in the United States, almost equaling those of Gaps Gap and Banana Republic divisions combined. Flagship stores also have collection business clothes for women, and maternity sections, previously, Old Navy attempted to launch a bath and body line, called ONbody. Old Navy is known for their signature denim wall of styles that never change, the styles are super skinny, skinny, original, and boot-cut, and are available in four different washes
8.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
9.
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
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The Walter Reed Army Medical Center — known as Walter Reed General Hospital until 1951 — was the U. S. Armys flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D. C. it served more than 150,000 active, the center was named after Major Walter Reed, an army physician who led the team that confirmed that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes rather than direct contact. Since its origins, the WRAMC medical care facility grew from a bed capacity of 80 patients to approximately 5,500 rooms covering more than 28 acres of floor space. WRAMC combined with the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland in 2011 to form the tri-service Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and its position at the confluence of the Anacostia River and the Potomac River made it an excellent site for the defense of the nations capital. Dating back to 1791, the post served as an arsenal, played an important role in the nations defense, today, Fort McNair enjoys a strong tradition as the intellectual headquarters for defense. It is reported that Walter Reed lived and worked in the facility when he was assigned as Camp Surgeon from 1881 to 1882, after having served on other assignments, he returned as Professor of Medicine and Curator of the Army Medical Museum. Some of his work included studies at Washington Barracks. Regarding the structure itself, since the 1890s the health clinic was used as an Army General Hospital where physicians, corpsmen, in 1899, the morgue was constructed which now houses the Dental Clinic, and in 1901 the hospital became an entirely separate command. This new organizational command relocated eight years later with the aide of horse-drawn wagons, having departed Ft. McNair, the organization has since developed into the Walter Reed Army Medical Center that we know today. As for the facility they left behind at Fort McNair, it functioned in a role as a post hospital until 1911 when the west wing was converted into a clinic. Congressional legislation appropriated $192,000 for the construction of Walter Reed General Hospital, lieutenant Colonel William Cline Borden was the initiator, planner and effective mover for the creation, location, and first Congressional support of the Medical Center. Due to his efforts, the facility was nicknamed Bordens Dream, in 1923, General John J. Pershing signed the War Department order creating the Army Medical Center within the same campus as the WRGH. Pershing lived at Walter Reed from 1944 until his death there July 15,1948, in June 1955, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology occupied the new Building 54 and, in November, what had been MDPSS was renamed the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. 1964 saw the birth of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower died at WRAMC on March 28,1969. Starting in 1972, a huge new WRAMC building was constructed, WRAIR moved from Building 40 to a large new facility on the WRAMC Forest Glen Annex in Maryland in 1999. Subsequently, Building 40 was slated for renovation under an enhanced use lease by a private developer, in February 2007, The Washington Post published a series of investigative articles outlining cases of alleged neglect at WRAMC as reported by outpatient soldiers and their family. Kiley, hospital commander from 2002 to 2004, Congressional committee hearings were called and numerous politicians weighed in on the matter including President George W. Bush, who had appointed Harvey and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Several independent governmental investigations are ongoing and the controversy has spread to other health facilities
10.
Midtown Manhattan
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Midtown Manhattan, or Midtown, represents the central lengthwise portion of the borough and island of Manhattan in New York City. Along Manhattans north-south long axis, Midtown Manhattan separates Lower Manhattan from Upper Manhattan, the majority of New York Citys skyscrapers, including its tallest hotels and apartment towers, lie within Midtown. Midtown spans the island of Manhattan along an east-west axis, being bounded by the East River on its east. The Encyclopedia of New York City defines Midtown as being from 34th Street to 59th Street and it is sometimes broken into Midtown East and Midtown West, or north and south as in the New York City Police Departments Midtown North and Midtown South precincts. Midtown South can refer to the part of Midtown between 23rd Street and around 42nd Street, Midtown West can refer to the area between 34th and 59th Streets, and between 5th and 12th Avenues. Midtown East can refer to the area between 42nd and 59th Streets, and between 5th Avenue and the East River, in other sources these districts are referred to as separate central business districts. Midtown Manhattan, along with Lower Manhattan, is one of the leading financial centers. Midtown Manhattan is the countrys largest central business district and it has the headquarters of major companies, including 4Kids Entertainment, Barnes & Noble, Bloomberg L. P. The New York Institute of Finance is located in Midtown Manhattan, Haier operates its United States offices in the Haier Building at 1356 Broadway, the building used to be a building of the Greenwich Savings Bank. Haier held the ceremony on March 4,2002. Sumitomo Corporation operates its New York Office, the headquarters of the corporations United States operations, el Als North American headquarters are in Midtown. The Air France USA regional headquarters are in 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, hachette Book Group USA has its headquarters in 237 Park Avenue. In 1994 Alitalia considered moving its USA headquarters from Midtown to Lower Manhattan, global Infrastructure Partners has an office in Midtown Manhattan. Biotechnology is emerging in Midtown Manhattan, bolstered by the strength in academic scientific research and public. Aer Lingus had its United States offices in Midtown, in 1997, Aer Lingus announced that it was moving its North American headquarters to Melville, New York, in Suffolk County. New York City Department of Education public schools in Midtown Manhattan include Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School, private schools include The Beekman School, Rebecca School, and a number of private language and music centers. The La Scuola dItalia Guglielmo Marconi Italian international school will move to West Midtown in 2016, in addition to its well-known Main Branch research library—now known as the Stephen A. Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Terminal are major railroad stations located in Midtown Manhattan, the Port Authority Bus Terminal is also in Midtown
