Shlemmer, Kamus, Algaze Join Forces to Set New Standard in Commercial Design.

Business &Real Estate Editors

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000

Three well- known Southern California designers and architects have formed a new powerhouse firm whose mission is to set a new standard in commercial architecture, space planning and interior design.

Nelson Algaze, considered to be one of the top space planners and architects on the West Coast, has joined forces with principals Rick Shlemmer and John Kamus, who have operated an award-winning firm in Long Beach and Los Angeles since 1995.

Algaze previously served with P. Patrick Murray Inc., directing hundreds of projects, including the development of corporate offices for Continental Development, Oliver Peoples and Infonet Services Inc.

The new firm, Shlemmer+Kamus+Algaze, will concentrate on providing services to building owners, managers, real estate brokers and corporate users of real estate in Los Angeles and Orange County. The firm will maintain offices in Long Beach, West Los Angeles and Newport Beach.

In the past 20 years, Shlemmer, Kamus and Algaze have contributed to many of the most respected and high-profile building revitalizations in Southern California, including The Westwood Center.

&uot;We felt that the beginning of a new millennium was a propitious time for a new midsize firm to come into the market,&uot; said Shlemmer. &uot;We see S+K+A offering a new alternative to real estate clients and tenants that are tired of the impersonality of the megafirm machines or the solo designer firms that are easily overwhelmed.

&uot;With more than 35 professionals on board, we offer the muscle of the big firm with the service-team approach of a boutique firm. The ultimate beneficiaries (our clients) are both building owners and users.&uot;

Kamus added that: &uot;The formation of S+K+A is the culmination of each of our personal longtime dreams: to join the strengths of multiple service-oriented professionals of comparable weight, expertise and integrity so that all principals can participate on all projects.

&uot;Our respective roles will be different on each account, but the client is assured of always getting the best minds and the best product. This new firm is really a merger of the best.&uot;

S+K+A intends to create a new standard in commercial design by offering a comprehensive approach to design and production.

&uot;We view our role as part of our clients' strategic planning process. It's as important for us to know our clients' business objectives as it is to know their space requirements,&uot; stated Algaze. &uot;We are part of our clients' transition; hence we are change agents in our clients' business and cultural evolution. We are culture builders who happen to be designers and architects.

&uot;We believe that environmental design has to embrace the user's cultural and communications needs. It's not just where one works, but how. That's the basis of our systems approach we call `enterprise design.' If you consider the people working in a business as software, then we provide the environmental hardware. The interface has to be exact for the enterprise to flourish.&uot;

This enterprise design approach is the reason large developers such as Arden Realty select S+K+A for its projects. According to Paul King, vice president of tenant improvement construction for Arden, &uot;The addition of a dynamic individual such as Nelson complements the success already achieved at Shlemmer+Kamus.&uot;

Kamus noted: &uot;We value our communications skills as much as we value our spatial design skills. We are the cultural bridge between the client and the prospective tenant. By implementing the enterprise approach at the earliest stage of project development, we obtain a comfort level that serves clients well in closing the deal.&uot;

For this reason, Steve Solomon of The Seeley Co. identified the new firm as the &uot;all-star team of the new millennium.&uot;

Another capability that distinguishes S+K+A is the firm's expertise in working with technology. &uot;We've designed spaces to accommodate hundreds of miles of cable,&uot; Shlemmer noted.

&uot;Nelson Algaze's recent work with one Internet company was a masterful approach to a business that depends on its computer systems and intranets for its income. With the growth of technology companies in the Southland, it's important that these businesses select design consultants that have worked with Internet .com companies.&uot;

Shlemmer+Kamus+Algaze boasts two architects. Kamus has a 20-year career designing in the Sun Belt states of California, Arizona and Texas. His projects have ranged from the entertainment industry with such clients as MCA Records and UNI Distribution to health-care technology with the Maloney Vision Institute.

Kamus currently serves as a project architect at The Westwood Center, one of the &uot;core design&uot; buildings in the Westwood redevelopment. He contributes to a variety of children's organizations, including Kid Care, Pediatric Cancer Foundation and Young Life. He and his family reside in Simi Valley.

Algaze is a registered California architect and certified interior designer with a national reputation. In addition to project management, he serves as an ongoing consultant to such corporations as EDS, MGM, FedEx and Symantec. He is also a product development consultant to create office tools of the future for Steelcase and Metropolitan Furniture, as well as selected product mixes for Queensland Carpets.

Algaze is a frequent speaker for such organizations as IFMA, BOMA and CCLID. He and his family reside in Manhattan Beach.

Shlemmer is a certified designer who transitioned from projects with designer-to-the-stars Val Arnold to corporate design at Toyota and Arden Realty. He formed Shlemmer Design Associates in 1990 and joined with Kamus in 1995. His work is seen throughout Southern California and as far away as Dalian, China, where he designed a five-star hotel.

Shlemmer has become a significant contributor to the city of Long Beach, having designed the nationally historic Villa Riviera Condominiums, the city's council chambers and the finishes for the Long Beach Performing Arts Center, for which the firm received the 1999 Special Award for Small Business Contribution to the Arts. Shlemmer serves as a trustee of the Long Beach Museum of Art and St. Mary's Medical Center.

He and his family reside in Seal Beach.

Shlemmer+Kamus+Algaze can be contacted at the firm's headquarters in Long Beach at 562/590-0424.