Happy New Year!

Now that everyone is back to work after the long Holiday season, it is time to look forward and not backward. Last year will definitely be one to forget for most. We at Maverick were very lucky to have had a good year without too much negative impact from the economic turmoil.

As we start 2010, we are looking forward to some project openings in the coming months as well as quite a few new project starts that are beginning the drawing stages. We have some goals this year as a company that we will focus on as well.


For the openings we look forward to attending in the first part of 2010....Muvico/Splitsville in Fredericksburg, Virginia (April 2010), MVP Entertainment in Baltimore, Maryland (June 2010), Pete and Shorty's Houston, Texas (January 2010, February 2010 & March 2010) and Joe
Cooper Ford Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (March 2010).

For projects still on the boards in the office....Custom residential beach house in Apalachicola, Florida (ready for permit February 2010), Joe Cooper Tulsa, Oklahoma (ready for permit February 2010) and Pete and Shorty's Willowbrook, Texas (ready for permit January 2010).

And for the projects we are planning to begin in Early 2010....creating a new restaurant concept for Manny Garcia in Lake Mary, Florida, a destination conference / golf resort in Longwood, Florida, a new Splitsville location in St. Petersburg, Florida and Fairview, Texas, a destination Splitsville in the resort area of Orlando, a boutique hotel in Huntsville, Alabama as well as a new restaurant and office complex in Huntsville, Alabama. Beyond those terrific projects we are planning to begin working on some restaurant concept conversions for e-brands in Orlando and Las Vegas, potentially working on a mixed-use urban in-fill project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and helping a local restaurateur here in Orlando, Craig Ustler, slowly transform four of his Orlando restaurant concepts. As you can tell we are seeing signs that the economy is turning around and hopefully we can be at the forefront of the Hospitality Design options for clients throughout the United States.

As a company, we try set the bar for our achievements very high. Our most important goal of 2010 is to remember we too are in the service and Hospitality business. Our clients are looking for great service and accountability for everything we do - we will strive to over-deliver on every project regardless of size, complexity and circumstances. Internally, we have set specialties for some of the firm leaders to concentrate their continuing education and professional development....areas like Green design methods and materials, lighting, cooking and service equipment technology as well as technical/accessibility code trends.

On a personal side, things have been as busy as ever! Karla has been very busy with the Holiday shopping, year end accounting as well as welcoming her Dad to Orlando for the next few months. I am very much looking forward to our 17th wedding anniversary in about 5 weeks! Sinclaire continues to thrive at Trinity Preparatory School and continues her acting ambitions. Hank is also doing well in school and his golf game continues to be something to watch. Now at 7, he can easily beat me and has a terrific tournament record as of late placing 3rd this past weekend in some very cold and windy conditions.

We were pleased to welcome Doug Millar from Pittsburgh down to Orlando this past week - Doug and I met while on the PathNorth trip to London last year - it was great to catch up and spend some time together. Manny Garcia allowed Hank and I to use his courtside seats to the Orlando Magic vs. Boston Celtics game on Christmas day - it was a terrific day sitting at the end of the Magic bench and interacting with the team - unfortunately our hometown Magic were not victorious. As a family, we spent another New Year's Eve at the Lageschulte penthouse in Ft. Lauderdale - it is now a yearly tradition! We are planning a visit from the Allen's of McLeansboro, Illinois for our yearly trip to the Daytona 500 (I again will be the only one at the entire track rooting for Juan Pablo Montoya). I am planning a visit to Boston, Steamboat Springs and Aspen in the coming months as well. We are looking forward to a spring visit from the Orcutt's prior to their relocation to England this summer - Colonel Orcutt has been granted a command position at an air base about 70 miles outside of London. Lastly, we again sent out the "Maverick Holiday Gift" to everyone that impacted our business in 2009. The Maverick Gift is unlike any that are sent out by any company - something we have fun putting together. This year it consisted of a "feed bucket" full of fun - it included "designer wood grained duct tape", a hammer that also can be used as a beer bottle opener, a farmer's almanac, a sketchbook, a history of architecture book, a book letting everyone know about "the 101 things I learned in Architecture School", a wonderful mechanical pencil and a craft project - "Balloon Architecture". There were a few other surprises in the basket - but our main goal is to really make people smile during the stressful holiday season.

Without further hesitation, the first quote of the year....

"I love to go to Washington - if only to be by my money." , Bob Hope

Have a great New Year,

Raymond R. Schaefer, AIA / NCARB / IIDA
President / Founder
Maverick Architecture & Design, LLC