DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Tise Design Associates
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TISE DESIGN ASSOCIATES, Inc. ("TDA") is an architectural firm specializing in residential architecture. From high-end private residences to public and affordable housing. Stephen E. Tise, Principal-In-charge, brings over three decades of experience in the planning, design and construction of public and private-sector facilities; systems analysis and retrofit; architectural renovation and preservation; and fee-based and equity-based real estate development. Stephen Tise started his practice in 1976 with the desire to create a design studio servicing clients who share his unique goals for the built environment. Over the past 30 years the firm has evolved into an internationally recognized group of professionals that focus on creative solutions to complex design challenges and the interactive processes that result in consensus, feasibility and programmatic appropriateness. The firm limits its commissions in order to enable Mr. Tise to personally oversee all work and the office enjoys the support of a core group of enlightened clients who share TDA's commitment to achieving the highest level of design, regardless of budgetary, regulatory, temporal or geographic constraints. TDA employs new technologies in their work including state of the art visioning software, innovative US and European building systems and smart growth development techniques. The firm's experience encompasses all facets of project control; fast track design and construction techniques; building rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of existing structures; and code application for the design of facilities accessible to the handicapped and elderly and integration of sustainable design and green building practices. TDA has earned a national reputation as a unique architectural and planning resource which provides comprehensive and imaginative design services to their clients. TDA has received numerous national design awards, including several from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The firm has been recognized both nationally and internationally for its innovative design of mixed-income family and senior public housing redevelopment projects, and is generally recognized as a leader in both design and program management in HUDs HOPE VI program. Stephen E. Tise, AIA was involved in the embryonic stage of the HOPE VI program, serving as a consultant to HUD in the development and implementation of the HOPE VI program. It would be fair to say that Mr. Tise is regarded as one of the foremost national authorities relative to the planning and design of creative and sustainable HOPE VI communities. In addition, TDA has been in the forefront of The New Urbanism, a planning architectural approach that attempts to recreate traditional patterns in a mixed-use, mixed-income context. This concept has been heavily supported by HUD for use of HOPE VI sites and has become a model for new communities across the socio-economic strata.
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MERRILL H. DIAMOND
Founding Partner: Diamond/Sinacori, LLC
Merrill H. Diamond is a founding partner of Diamond/Sinacori, LLC, a Boston-based Real Estate Development company that was founded in 1978.
Merrill H. Diamond has been the recipient of numerous national awards for environmentally sensitive design, historic preservation, adaptive re-use, and creative business development. He has served as both a gubernatorial appointee to the Massachusetts Historical Commission and to the Senate Special Commission on Historic Preservation. Mr. Diamond is a recent member of the Board of Directors of Preservation Mass, the Commonwealth’s statewide, non-profit preservation agency. In addition, Mr. Diamond has been named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Arthur Young / “Venture Magazine;” “Merchant Builder of the Year” by the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), and one of “America’s Most Valuable People” by “USA Today,” the nation’s national newspaper. He has been profiled in Jeffrey L. Seglin’s book, America’s New Breed of Entrepreneurs, and his development firm has twice been named “One of America’s Fastest Growing Companies” by “Inc. Magazine.”
Mr. Diamond’s recent private-sector real estate development projects include the following: Stoneleigh, the historic preservation and revitalization Stoneleigh, the Old Norfolk County Jail in Dedham, Massachusetts into residential condominiums; Kendall Crescent, the adaptive-reuse, historic preservation, and new construction of the historic Public Works Complex, including the historic Sewell School and Old Town Barn in Brookline, Massachusetts into residential condominiums and office space; The Waterworks at Chestnut Hill, a 112 unit residential condominium complex and museum overlooking the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts; and The Shops at OCEAN’S GATE, A 40,000 sf retail center that is the new “face” of the downtown in Marshfield, Massachusetts. The firm recently co-developed The Lancaster, a new construction, 55-unit condominium development in Boston, Massachusetts and the historic Wild-Sargent Estate in Brookline, Massachusetts, the latter with the same development partners with whom his firm is developing The Kelley School in Newburyport. Currently, the firm is co-developing 61 condominiums in downtown Salem, The Rockwood Estate, a 40-unit condominium development in the Jamaica plain section of Boston, and an exclusive new neighborhood overlooking Duxbury Bay.
Mr. Diamond has also done work in the public sector under the auspices of HUD’s innovative HOPE VI program. In addition to working on the revitalization of a number of distressed communities across the country, Mr. Diamond is credited with creating and implementing “The Indianapolis Approach,” a method of utilizing local disadvantaged contractors to construct HOPE VI developments -- thus turning HOPE VI construction dollars into an economic development generator to: a) build capacity for local businesses; b) create sustaining jobs; and c) keep most of the HOPE VI grant re-circulating within the impacted community. Mr. Diamond has spoken at a number of national symposiums relative to this approach and his views on public and affordable housing have been widely published.
Merrill H. Diamond lives with his wife Karen in Boston’s South End.
Essex Builders Corporation
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Essex Builders Corp. is a full service general contracting and construction management firm. Founded in 1984, it is the leading open-shop provider of construction services in New England, with a portfolio of successful projects in excess of $1 Billion.
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For over three decades Essex Builders has forged lasting relationships, not only with its clients, but also with an extensive database of contractors and vendors. Its experienced and talented professionals manage each project to ensure it is completed: on time; under budget; and exceeding the owner’s expectations.
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The philosophy of TEAMWORK to which Essex Builders aspires, has successfully benefited clients in both the public and private sectors including: senior-living; residential; commercial office; retail; healthcare; biotech; religious; corporate; financial; industrial; mixed-use; affordable housing; and education.
