If you are looking to purchase a commercial or developmental piece of property, chances are your lender may have asked you to provide an ALTA survey before the loan is approved. So what is it and what do you need to know?

An ALTA survey is a very specific type of survey that follows national standards developed by the American Land Title Association in conjunction with the National Society of Professional Surveyors. In addition to locating the boundary of your property, an ALTA survey identifies physical features, evidence of possession, and other conditions that could indicate adverse title claims.

Basically, the survey helps the title company be sure that there is nothing on your land that is going to indicate someone else has a claim to it and that you are going to be able to use the land in the way you intend.

For example, an ALTA survey will look at everything within five feet of the boundary lines, as well as trails, fences, easements, or overhangs that encroach onto the property. Simultaneously, a title examiner will supply a title commitment, including documents that might affect the title, such as liens, easements, mortgages, rights of way, reservation of mineral rights, and others. Those items are then plotted on the survey to see exactly how they impact the property.

Standards for an ALTA survey are typically revised every five years, with the next revision expected in 2016. Unlike a mortgage location survey, which varies from state to state and is typically used for residential property, an ALTA survey is normally specific to commercial or industrial properties.

Before requesting an ALTA survey, be sure to confirm with your lender if there are any specific requirements that they will need. For instance, to verify zoning compliance, the number of stalls in existing parking lots may be needed. This is just one of several “Optional Table A” items. Knowing those requirements upfront can expedite the delivery of the survey and potentially save you money in the long run.

An accurate ALTA survey will ensure there are no surprises that may negatively affect the use of the property.

The Kleingers Group has long believed in the importance of building better communities.

While we hope that those values come through on every project we work on, there are some projects of which we are particularly proud.

For the last several years, The Kleingers Group has worked with Habitat for Humanity Greater Cincinnati to survey properties donated to the group.

Specifically, once an individual has donated a piece of property to Habitat, our surveyors have volunteered to complete boundary and topographic surveys of the property, ensuring property lines are correct and no conflicts exist with the property.

Habitat then uses the information to build a new home or rehabilitate an existing home.

“This is one thing we can do to help the overall community by giving back,” said Director of Surveying Dave Cox.

This past year, surveyors have spent time at homes in Lockland, but have previously surveyed throughout the Greater Cincinnati area.

In addition to the time spent surveying, our surveyors have also given to their communities in a multitude of other ways, helping others to learn about the profession.

Several of our surveyors have spent time helping Cub Scouts earn their Engineering badges by helping them learn about what engineers, architects, and surveyors do.

Recently, Matt Habedank worked with the St. Dominic cub scout pack 483, showing them how to measure property lines with the robotic total station.

Among other things, Matt said he let the kids guess how far they were away from the instrument.

Most of them have never even heard of surveying, Matt said, and learning about it can be eye-opening.

Other surveyors have volunteered their engineering knowledge throughout the world. Randy has spent time on construction projects in Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru.

Regardless of how they choose to do it, The Kleingers Group is proud of our surveyors for helping to strengthen their communities and for sharing their knowledge and talents.

Traveled through Columbus lately? You may have seen construction at the new Orange Barrel Media Headquarters. The headquarters is located along I-670 just west of the confluence of the Scioto River and the Olentangy River near downtown.

It’s hard to miss the gigantic signage for the project, also under construction. Each tower for the sign is designed for a construction height of 160′! To help verify the towers were being constructed plumb, the contractor looked to our Central Ohio based surveyors to provide measurements at 20′ intervals to check the position of concrete forms. Proper adjustments were then made to ensure the towers met adequate dimensions, there is a minimal tolerance of 3/4″ for the steel between the towers.

Our survey crews assisted with renovation efforts for the newly opened Renaissance Cincinnati Downtown Hotel. The Kleingers Group survey crews ran level circuits up and down the existing stairs of the entire 18-story building and located areas where new stairs were located on each floor. This was completed during the demolition phase so that the steel manufacturer could prefab the metal stairs within a 1/8″, saving them time and money.

Check out completed photos from the recent Grand Opening.

Today marks the grand opening of The Reserve at Lakeview Landing, a brand new residential community of 33 one- and two-bedroom garden style apartment homes and 12 villas with attached garages, located in Huron, OH. This community is open to adults 55 and older and features a full set of amenities such as a community meeting space, fitness room and a business center.  The Kleingers Group was selected by Miller-Valentine Group to provide site design for this project that included civil engineering, landscape architecture, and surveying services. The Kleingers Group is proud to be part of this exciting development and we would like to thank Miller-Valentine Group for asking us to be involved in another great community project.

Rendering Credit: Miller-Valentine Group

Work is underway on the new Vance Outdoors project located in the Village of Obetz.  The 56,000 square foot retail project will be built in the growing Alum Creek Drive retail corridor. The new retail facility is unique to this camping and hunting market segment by featuring a 15,000 square foot 24-lane, state-of-the-art indoor firing range.  This project is Obetz’s first large scale retail project.  Building on this exciting project are plans to construct a public park behind the Vance Outdoors site that may include an outdoor archery range, picnic shelters and water elements.

The Kleingers Group provided the site design for this project including the civil engineering and surveying services.  This work included design for a future out-lot, public utility layout and grading.  The site currently drains toward a Village Park’s pond that served as a borrow pit for highway construction.  This pond has no outlet, so the hydrology for the site required some creative thoughts relative to impact to offsite conditions and analysis of the overall drainage area.

We would like to thank our awesome team members Quandel, M+A Architects and Schaefer for a great project experience!

A big congratulations goes out to the University of Dayton for receiving their first LEED certified project through the U.S. Green Building Council.  The University of Dayton and GE Aviation teamed together to build the GE Aviation Electrical Power Integrated Systems Center also known as EPISCenter.  The project received LEED gold certification from the Council.  The $53 million EPISCenter Project provides high tech facilities to allow commercial and government researchers to test electrical power systems in airplanes. The 138,000-square-foot facility employs 70 research personnel.  That employment figure could grow to 200 research employees within five years.

The Kleingers Group provided civil engineering, surveying, landscape architecture and zoning entitlement services on the project.  Our contribution to the LEED design included high efficiency parking stall layouts and the design of sustainable rain garden infrastructure throughout the site.  We would like to thank our fellow team members on a successful project:  Hastings & Chivetta Architects, the University of Dayton, Heapy Engineering, Shell & Meyer, and CityWide Development.

Photo Credit: GE Aviation

After a decade of planning, the new $46 million, 203,000 sq. ft. Armstrong Student Center  facility opened it’s doors for the first time last week on the Oxford campus of Miami University. Many events were scheduled to celebrate this wonderful space, including building tours and a well attended building dedication ceremony.  The new student center is a combination of new construction and retrofitting existing structures.  The new student center is three floors and will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The center includes a theater, offices for student organizations, meeting rooms, and several dining facilities.

A second phase of the project will create additional meeting rooms and a new dining facility. The second phase is expected to be complete by 2017.  The Kleingers Group is proud to have been part of this great achievement for Miami’s Students and Alumni alike.

One of the cornerstones of The Kleingers Group culture is the importance of giving back to our community. Many of us serve on a variety of boards and committees serving the A/E/C industry as well as community-based organizations. We would like to make note of some recent appointments:

Dave Cox, PS was appointed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich to serve on the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors for a term beginning January 29, 2014, and ending September 28, 2018.

Lynne Nischwitz, RLA was appointed to the position of VP of Legislative Affairs for the Ohio Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architecture.

Tim Casto, PE was selected to serve on the statewide American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Ohio Transportation Committee.

Jay Stewart, AICP, Esq. was re-elected to serve as President of the Deer Park Community Improvement Corporation.

The Kleingers Group recently participated in a special program coordinated by the Dayton Chamber of Commerce Minority Business Partnership intended to introduce high school students to careers in engineering, architecture, design and construction. A number of Dayton-area design and construction professionals developed an after-school program with topics related to design and construction. Seventeen students at Thurgood Marshall High School met once a week for 10 weeks this fall to learn about site planning, building and interior design, scheduling, cost estimating, financing, construction methods and other topics taught by local design and construction professionals. Ameen Bakare from The Kleingers Group taught the first session on site design back in September.

Recently, the students completed the course with a field trip to Miami University. The students toured the Western Residence Hall projects that are currently under construction. They also visited the Schools of Engineering and Architecture. Jim Kleingers accompanied the students on the trip.

Our Central Ohio survey crews spent some time this fall surveying for the Scioto Greenways Project in Columbus, Ohio. The project includes several improvements along the river to create a stunning 33-acre greenway through Downtown.

Follow the link to learn more about this transformative project. http://www.downtowncolumbus.com/home/moving-forward/scioto-greenways

The Kleingers Group recently attended The Christ Hospital Topping Off Event Ceremony. We were proud to join the other design team members on this exciting day to celebrate the final beam being placed on the new Joint and Spine Center facility.  The Kleingers Group is assisting with two separate projects on The Christ Hospital Campus that expand their current facilities. A Materials Management Building and Spine Center addition is currently under construction. The centerpiece of the expansion plan includes the development of a unique facility dedicated solely to orthopedic and spine care, designed to support physicians, patients, and families. The 332,000 square foot facility, will be connected just south of the main hospital and provide separate access for patients and visitors.

The new facility will include 60 private inpatient rooms, 10 operating rooms, physical and occupational therapy services, imaging services, pain management, physician offices and administration offices, and underground parking for approximately 150 vehicles. The Kleingers Group is serving as the local engineer for the project, assisting the design team with general reviews of drawings, providing guidance and coordination with local jurisdiction, processing permits for the City of Cincinnati, DOTE, and other local entities. The Kleingers Group also provided site survey and a traffic study for the entire site.

Attending the ceremony, from left to right, were Project Team Members Glen Magrino and Mark Nolt, and all-around good guys Jim Kleingers and Steve Korte.