te urban waterscape

Designer: fan Engberg.

Arching redwood trellises (above, by Tradewind Spas) and lattice screens (top right, by WiIliam Turnbu1l, fr.) create graceful settings in srdeyards, courtyards, and other small spaces.

Center

Rrght: Sunbleached redwood deck frames a water{all and drrftsrone walls in this richly textured pool setting. Designer: Wiley Evans.

Slackening demand and lower money market costs have been cited by some banks as they lowered their prime lending rate to l8t/zVo the prime (or lowest lending rate) peoked st o record 2l%Vo in Dec. . the nation's largest s&1, Home Savings and Loan, Los Angeles, Cd., dropped its lowest home mortgage rate to l59o from l6s/0. . .

Housing hung tough for yet another time, despite some dire predictions, as the latest figs. came in on January housing starts: up 3.4V0 to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,585,000; it was the 4th consecutive mo. in which the nos. have been between 1.5-1.6 million.

The slight increase was totally due lo a rise in multifamily starts (their 7th consecutive gain); single family units dropped off to their lowest rate since July . the average price of houses sold in the U.S. rose to $80,600 during the last quarter of '80.

Bldg. permits for future construction fell 1.890 in Jan., after declining 8.990 the previous mo., a poor harbinger for future home bldg. activity . . William R. Hazelton, chairman of the National Forest Products Assn. and pres. & c.e.o., St Regis Paper Co., sees a residential housing boom in the next 5 years, with an improvement beginning this year.

Wickes Companies, 1nc. plans to sell its Wickes Forest Industries div. to an undisclosed group of private investors; no price revealed . . Bendix has concluded the sale of its forest products div. to Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.; as reported here in Jan. the newly formed partnership has resumed operations as Americon Forest ProductsCo....

Seotrain Line, Inc., which filed Chapter l1 bankruptcy, has received $5 million from Chase Manhattan to continue operations . . Shakertown Corp., Winlock, Wa., has reorganized its structure for "planned diversification and acquisition in the building products industry".

Union Pacific RR's '81 capital spending program ($199 million) places heavy emphasis on roadway improvement Budrow & Co., the Los Angeles hardware wholesaler, recently concluded a successful one day show.

A second US/ Jopon lumber trade promotion meeting is being held this mo. in Palm Springs, Ca., a new survey of building product selectors shows that77 .6Vo of their projects will be for renovstion and retrofit . . the reinforced plastics industry expects an llVo rebound in '81 after an l89o drop last year

Southwest Forest Industries, Phoenix, Az., has bought Knox Lumber Co., St. Paul, Mn., for $9 million in cash and stock Celotex Building Products Div. anticipates shipping about 200 million sq. ft. of Thermax insulation annually from their new manufacturing and warehousing facility in Tracy Ca.

Pacific Lumber Co., San Francisco, Ca., plans to pay $12.5 million cash for Tweco Products lzc., Wichita, Ks., an arc welding tool and cable connector firm Pope & Tslbot Inc., Portland, Or., acquiring the forest products unit of Homestake Mining Co., Spearfish, S.D., has a long term timber-cutting contract involving about 65,000 acres in the area.

Potlstch is closing and dismantling a dimension lumber mill at Spalding, Id. plywood sales for Bohemia Inc.'s plywood plant, Drain, Or., (formerly Drain Plywood) are being handled through the Eugene, Or., sales office.

Fontana Wood Preserving Fontana, Ca., is shooting for an April opening of their treating plant, reports Lynn Shurtliff . . All-Coast Forest Products, Inc., Chino, C€r., will complete a half million dollar expansion program in early summer, according to Daryl L. Bond, pres., resulting in 20 acres paved and a timber area able to accomodate five million board feet of rough cutting.

Manke Lumber Co., Tacoma, Wa., plans to open a distribution yard at its Sumner, Wa., mill . . . Highline Forest Products, Tigard, Or., has purchased a distribution yard near Sherwood, Or. Dury Cords has acquired the assets of Pork Lumber Co., a wholesaler at Aspen Park, Co. with plans to expand into a brokerage service.

Flintridge Lumber Sales has opened a Newport Beach, Ca., office with Ron Carr in charge Skyline Lumber Co. (Bob Donnelly and Millie Madsen, principals) is a new wholesaler in Eugene, Or. . To serve lhe greater midwest markets DMK-Pacific, Fremont, Ca., has opened a sales office at Prairie Village (Kansas City), Ka., Bill Cressey, ffiBr. .

Sperry Lumber Co., Spring- 'field, Or., is a new wholesale firm opened by Vern Gregg and Denny Sperry.

Van Petten Lumber Co., Walla Walla, Wa., has acquired U. K. Swift Lumber Co. in the same city . The Terry Co. has a new mill opening this month adjacent to its Chatsworth, C&., store and lumber yard Sundance Lumber snd Hardwore, La Verne, Ca., is holding a 2nd year anniversary sale, April 4-5 . .