Allwood Atrium

CLIFTON, NJ-Once the corporate headquarters of home goods retailer Linens ‘n Things, an office complex on Brighton Road here has secured its first tenant under new ownership. Office Depot is taking a full floor of 17,000 square feet at 4 Brighton Rd. in what is now known as the Allwood Atrium Office Park.

Lease terms were not disclosed; according to published reports, Office Depot is relocating from about 29,500 square feet at Mountain Development’s 100 Delawanna Ave. in Clifton. Telx, a data center operator also located at 100 Delawanna, plans to expand into Office Depot’s vacated space, the Bergen Record reported late last month.

In September, GlobeSt.com reported that the current owners of the three-building complex at 2, 4 and 6 Brighton Rd. paid about $6 million in an all-cash deal for what had been owned by Linens ‘n Things. The seller was LNR Partners; the buyers were a partnership of KABR Real Estate Investment Partners LLC and Capstone Realty Group Inc., two funds that specialize buying and operating of distressed commercial real estate and debt.

The former Linen’s & Things corporate headquarters last sold for $18 million in 2001 but appraised for $20.6 million at the market’s peak in 2007, according to KABR and Capstone. Linens ‘n Things vacated its headquarters in early 2009 after filing for bankruptcy and stopped making payments on the $15.2-million note; LNR foreclosed on the complex this past July.

Newmark Knight Frank Capitol Group’s Matthew Schnurr told GlobeSt.com in September that the complex received nearly 90 confidentiality agreements and more than 20 offers. Simultaneous with acquiring the $15.2-million note on the complex, KABR and Capstone secured ownership of the building via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure from LNR.

After buying the 155,000-square-foot campus, KABR and Capstone then re-sold 6 Brighton, a 55,000-square-foot annex building, to NJ Physician for use as medical office space. The partnership then set about upgrading the entire campus and interiors of 2 and 4 Brighton. The complex was rebranded as the Allwood Atrium due to its indoor and outdoor atrium spaces.

“Office Depot will take possession in mid-March 2011 after the majority of site improvement and building interior upgrades are completed,” Capstone managing partner Mitchell Adelstein says in a release. â��The polishing of Allwood Atrium is on schedule and when completed in early spring ‘11, the property’s transformation into an attractive corporate campus and medical office park will be complete.”

Dan Lessing of DSR Group, the leasing agent for the complex, says in a release that the KABR/Capstone partnership was my most aggressive client in 2010 and they worked aggressively and closely with the tenant to make this deal come together.” He adds, “Their recent renovation of Allwood Atrium is creating a lot of activity and we anticipate signing several additional deals in the next few months.” Adelstein adds that �œwe quickly cleaned up the property into a unique assetâ�� and that “we expect that Allwood Atrium will continue attract high-quality tenants like Office Depot.”

Categories:

Mid-Atlantic,

Office,

Leasing,

New Jersey

“Little Fockers” did hold onto the No. 1 spot at the box office over New Year’s weekend, but the real holiday box-office champ turned out to be “True Grit.”

The western, directed by the Coen brothers and starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, sold an estimated $24.5 million in tickets on its second weekend in theaters. That put it just behind the more hyped and more expensive “Little Fockers,” starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, which took in $26.3 million.

No new movies debuted nationwide the week after Christmas as studios focused on raking in more money with its big holiday films. With many people off work and kids out of school, the last seven days were some of the most lucrative that the industry had seen all year.

Moviegoing trends were about the same as those over Christmas weekend.

“Little Fockers” remained the most popular holiday movie but also something of a disappointment, with total ticket sales now at $103.2 million, or about 64% of the total of “Meet the Fockers” at the same point in its run in 2004. Together with Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media, “Fockers” domestic distributor Universal Pictures reportedly spent a hefty $130 million to $140 million on production, though a studio spokeswoman maintained that the cost was about $100 million.

With an expected final domestic gross just short of $200 million and a little less overseas, that makes “Little Fockers” a decent performer but far from the monster hit many had expected going into the holiday season.

“True Grit,” meanwhile, looks to be very profitable for Paramount, which spent only about $38 million on production. It’s already the most successful Coen brothers film ever, with a total gross of $86.8 million, and is on its way to grossing well over $100 million.

Several other movies saw a substantial jump in their grosses from Christmas weekend, indicating that they had strong word-of-mouth. They included Disney’s animated “Tangled,” for which ticket sales grew 56%; “Yogi Bear,” which rose 66%; and “The King’s Speech,” which increased 70% (assisted by the fact that it expanded wide after playing in just a few theaters last Friday).

But Walt Disney Studios’ hopes that “Tron: Legacy” sill blossom into a hit family film are fading. It was the only top 10 movie in theaters at least two weeks to see a decline in ticket sales — a modest 4% but still an indication that it’s not building momentum as much as many other pictures in the market.

The total domestic gross for the costlyŃ-D event film is $130.9 million. So far, there’s no indication it will perform significantly better overseas, as its foreign take stands at $110 million so far.

[Updated, 11:16 a.m.: Overseas, "Gulliver's Travels" posted a solid $10.9-million opening in Britain despite having flopped in the U.S. and Canada. Playing in only five of the top 15 markets, the Jack Black comedy is already at $47 million internationally, nearly double its domestic take.

Another film that's performing significantly better with foreign audiences is "The Chronicles of Narnia: The  Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Its foreign gross is now $210 million, nearly 2 1/2 times its total in the United States and Canada.]

In limited release, the Ryan Gosling-Michelle Williams romantic drama “Blue Valentine” had a strong opening. It debuted Wednesday at four theaters in Los Angeles and New York and has collected $277,945.

The Mike Leigh-directed drama “Another Year” launched in six theaters on Wednesday to a decent $173,175.

[Updated, 9:50 a.m: Here are the top 10 movies at the domestic box office, with international grosses when available, according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The commercially underwhelming comedy “Little Fockers” narrowly held its lead at the North American box office during the holiday weekend, as Hollywood’s prolonged slump spilled over into the new year.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, “Little Fockers” earned $26.3 million in the three days beginning December 31, followed by “True Grit” with $24.5 million and “Tron: Legacy” with $18.3 million. The movies, all either sequels or remakes, were unchanged in rank from last weekend.

“Little Fockers,” the third entry in the dueling in-laws franchise starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, has earned $103.2 million after 12 days. Its predecessor, “Meet the Fockers,” released exactly six years earlier, had pulled in almost $163 million after the same period.

The Jeff Bridges Western remake “True Grit,” one of the few hits of the holiday season, has earned $86.8 million after 12 days. But with a $38 million budget, the Coen brothers’ drama cost about one-third of “Little Fockers” and is expected to hold up well as awards season plays out.

Internationally, “Little Fockers” earned $22.5 million, taking its total to $Ȩ million. It ranked No. 3 overseas behind the domestic dud “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Tron: Legacy,” which each earned about $24 million over the weekend.

Overall sales in North America fell for the eighth consecutive weekend compared with the year-ago period, when business was driven by such hits as “Avatar” and “The Blind Side.”

MOVIEGOERS STAYED HOME IN 2010

The weak performance brought the curtain down on a disappointing year for Hollywood, when higher prices for 3D movies failed to offset a decline in attendance.

The number of tickets sold in 2010 slid about 5.4 percent from 2009, according to box office analysts at Hollywood.com. It marked the biggest percentage drop since 2005 when attendance tumbled 8.1 percent.

Overall ticket sales were flat at about $10.6 billion, marking the first time since 2008 that sales failed to improve upon the previous year, Hollywood.com said.

Studios charged moviegoers an extra few dollars to see films in 3D ranging from the hit “Alice in Wonderland” to the bomb “Piranha.”

But fans and critics carped that the picture quality for some 3D movies did not justify the premium pricing, while parents faced an even steeper tab for a family outing.

All three of the 3D movies in the weekend top 10 — “Tron: Legacy,” “Yogi Bear” and Disney’s Rapunzel cartoon “Tangled” — were aimed at families, although only “Tangled” is a big hit with sales to date of $168 million.

“Tron: Legacy,” a sci-fi reboot also starring Bridges, has earned $130.9 million after three weekends but it cost about $170 million to make and has failed to break out far beyond its niche of young men. Its foreign total stands at $110 million.

“Yogi Bear” rose one place to No. 4 with $13 million in its third weekend. The $80 million animated picture has earned just $66 million to date.

Slipping one place to No. 5 was another family oriented underperformer, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” with $10.5 million its fourth weekend.

The third entry in the “Narnia” fantasy franchise has earned $87 million after four weekends. But the $ፌ million film is doing much better overseas.

“Little Fockers” was released in North America by Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co’s NBC Universal, and internationally by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. Paramount also released “True Grit.”

“Tron: Legacy” and “Tangled” were released by Walt Disney Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co.

“Yogi Bear” was released by Warner Bros Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

“The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” and “Gulliver’s Travels” were released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by John O’Callaghan)

The Fockers are still the king of the busy holiday box office as “Little Fockers” had a pretty good start, but the Coen brothers’ “True Grit” was surprisingly close on their heels. Meanwhile, Jack Black’s “Gulliver’s Travels” barely got off the starting line.

“Little Fockers” opened to a studio-estimated $48.3 million from its Wednesday opening through Sunday, not bad but well behind the ๖.5-million launch of its predecessor, “Meet the Fockers,” on the same dates in񎧔.

Though the opening of the PG-13 family comedy starring Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro was softer than expected based on pre-release surveys going into the weekend, “True Grit” topped expectations. The western remake starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen took in $36ǔ million over the five days

The only other new movie in nationwide release was the Jack Black comedy “Gulliver’s Travels,” a 3-D adaptation of the classic Jonathan Swift story. It debuted Saturday, Christmas Day, and took in a weak estimated $7.2 million for the two-day weekend.

Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media spent a hefty sum to produce “Little Fockers,” with its array of stars, including Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand and Jessica Alba. Three people close to the film said its budget was between $130 million and $140 million, though a spokeswoman for domestic distributor Universal said the final cost was about $100 million.

Day-to-day trends in ticket sales, including a big dip on Christmas Eve and a huge jump on Christmas Day, were similar to those of “Meet the Fockers,” indicating that the film was following a pattern similar to the last film in the trilogy but on a smaller scale. If it continues on the same path, it should end up with a domestic gross of about $190 million, compared with $2ȯ million for “Meet the Fockers.”

That’s a solid number but less than what Universal and its partners were hoping for. The three companies are evenly splitting revenues from the picture.

“Little Fockers” drew a diverse crowd of families without young children, based on exit polls, though audiences tilted more female. Reactions were mixed, with ticket buyers giving it an average grade of B-, according to market research firm CinemaScore.

Overseas, where Paramount is releasing the movie, “Little Fockers” took in $27 million in 37 foreign markets, which Paramount estimated represented about two-thirds of its foreign box-office potential. “Meet the Fockers” grossed slightly less internationally than domestically, and it appears that “Little Fockers” will do the same.

Paramount and Skydance Productions spent about $38 million to produce “True Grit,” making the western remake a hit out of the gate. Its $25.6-million take for the three-day weekend was the best ever for a movie directed by the quirky Coen brothers, not accounting for ticket-price inflation. It is likely to become the first movie from the Coens to surpass $100 million in domestic ticket sales. Their previous record was $74.3 million for “No Country for Old Men.”

“True Grit” drew a broad crowd that included adult fans of the Coens and younger males whom Paramount had targeted in advertising, hoping they would be seeking an alternative to family films over the holiday weekend.

The PG-rated “Gulliver’s” cost 20th Century Fox and its co-financiers Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners about $ጰ million to make and likely will be a major money loser unless it performs significantly better overseas. It’s the second under-performer in a row for Black, who last year starred in the flop “Year One.”

Even accounting for the fact that it didn’t play on Christmas Eve, a very slow moviegoing day, “Gulliver’s” came in behind Fox’s other family film, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which opened two weeks ago.

“Dawn Treader” enjoyed a small drop of 13%, better than any other returning movie that didn’t increase its theater count, indicating that it has momentum with families despite a soft start. It took in $10.8 million for the three-day weekend, bringing its total to $63.9 million.

[Updated, 12:15 p.m.: The third "Narnia" movie continued to do much better overseas, where it grossed $25.5 million in 66 foreign markets this weekend, bringing its international total to a healthy $168.6 million.]

Last weekend’s No. 1 movie, “Tron: Legacy,” took a sizable fall of 54% to $20.1 million, indicating that Disney’s hopes that the tent-pole movie would expand beyond fanboys to a family audience may have been overly optimistic. It has grossed a so-so $88.3 million domestically after 10 days and $65.5 million overseas from 34 foreign markets.

Warner Bros.’ family movie “Yogi Bear” had a slightly better drop of 46% on its second weekend to $8.8 million after a modest debut. Its total gross is $36.8 million.

Two specialty movies angling for Oscar attention enjoyed strong expansions this weekend. “Black Swan” took in $6.6 million, bringing its total so far to $29 million, a strong performance for a low-budget indie picture.

“The King’s Speech” played outside of major cities for the first time, at about half as many theaters as “Black Swan,” and grossed $4.6 million. The historical British drama starring Colin Firth is now at $8.4 million.

“The Fighter,” another awards contender that began its full nationwide run last weekend, dropped a modest 30% to $8.5 million. The well-reviewed Mark Wahlberg boxing drama stands at $27.6 million.

[Updated, 1:40 p.m.: The Sofia Coppola-directed Hollywood drama "Somewhere" opened to a pretty good $196,168 at seven theaters from Wednesday through Sunday.]

But “Rabbit Hole,” the drama starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, is finding very little audience. The adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a family coping with loss grossed only $95,200 for the weekend at 34 locations, taking its total to $176,000.

[Updated, 12:15 p.m.: Here are the top 10 movies at the domestic box office according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com, with international ticket sales when available, according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com:

“Little Fockers” did hold onto the No. 1 spot at the box office over New Year’s weekend, but the real holiday box-office champ turned out to be “True Grit.”

The western, directed by the Coen brothers and starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, sold an estimated $24.5 million in tickets on its second weekend in theaters. That put it just behind the more hyped and more expensive “Little Fockers,” starring Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, which took in $26.3 million.

No new movies debuted nationwide the week after Christmas as studios focused on raking in more money with its big holiday films. With many people off work and kids out of school, the last seven days were some of the most lucrative that the industry had seen all year.

Moviegoing trends were about the same as those over Christmas weekend.

“Little Fockers” remained the most popular holiday movie but also something of a disappointment, with total ticket sales now at $103.2 million, or about 64% of the total of “Meet the Fockers” at the same point in its run in 2004. Together with Paramount Pictures and Relativity Media, “Fockers” domestic distributor Universal Pictures reportedly spent a hefty $130 million to $140 million on production, though a studio spokeswoman maintained that the cost was about $100 million.

With an expected final domestic gross just short of $200 million and a little less overseas, that makes “Little Fockers” a decent performer but far from the monster hit many had expected going into the holiday season.

“True Grit,” meanwhile, looks to be very profitable for Paramount, which spent only about $38 million on production. It’s already the most successful Coen brothers film ever, with a total gross of $86.8 million, and is on its way to grossing well over $100 million.

Several other movies saw a substantial jump in their grosses from Christmas weekend, indicating that they had strong word-of-mouth. They included Disney’s animated “Tangled,” for which ticket sales grew 56%; “Yogi Bear,” which rose 66%; and “The King’s Speech,” which increased 70% (assisted by the fact that it expanded wide after playing in just a few theaters last Friday).

But Walt Disney Studios’ hopes that “Tron: Legacy” sill blossom into a hit family film are fading. It was the only top 10 movie in theaters at least two weeks to see a decline in ticket sales — a modest 4% but still an indication that it’s not building momentum as much as many other pictures in the market.

The total domestic gross for the costly 3-D event film is $130.9 million. So far, there’s no indication it will perform significantly better overseas, as its foreign take stands at $110 million so far.

[Updated, 11:16 a.m.: Overseas, "Gulliver's Travels" posted a solid $10.9-million opening in Britain despite having flopped in the U.S. and Canada. Playing in only five of the top 15 markets, the Jack Black comedy is already at $47 million internationally, nearly double its domestic take.

Another film that's performing significantly better with foreign audiences is "The Chronicles of Narnia: The  Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Its foreign gross is now $210 million, nearly 2 1/2 times its total in the United States and Canada.]

In limited release, the Ryan Gosling-Michelle Williams romantic drama “Blue Valentine” had a strong opening. It debuted Wednesday at four theaters in Los Angeles and New York and has collected $2ȭ,945.

The Mike Leigh-directed drama “Another Year” launched in six theaters on Wednesday to a decent $173,175.

[Updated, 9:50 a.m: Here are the top 10 movies at the domestic box office, with international grosses when available, according to studio estimates and Hollywood.com:

The New Year’s weekend box office was pretty much a repeat of the Christmas weekend, with “Little Fockers” taking the top spot and the top three films finishing in the same order.

The overall box office was up over Christmas weekend, with nine of the weekend’s top 12 movies actually improving on their performance from a week ago. The top three all fell slightly, but none by more than 15 percent.

“Little Fockers” earned $26.3 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates, passing the $100 million mark in the process. It was down a modest 15 percent from last weekend’s $30 million-plus take.

“Fockers” finished a little bit ahead of Friday leader “True Grit,” which raked in $24.5 million — nearly even with the $24.85 million it made from Dec. 24-26. “Tron: Legacy” finished third with an estimated $18.3 million, down only 4 percent from last weekend. “Yogi Bear” ($13 million) and “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader” ($10.5 million) rounded out the top five.

Several Oscar contenders saw their box-office fortunes rise: “The Fighter” ($10 million), “Black Swan” ($8.45 million) and “The King’s Speech” ($7.65 million) all improved substantially on last week’s numbers.

The weekend’s top 12 movies:

1. “Little Fockers,” $26.3 million
2. “True Grit,” $24.5 million
3. “Tron: Legacy,” $18.3 million
4. “Yogi Bear,” $13 million
5. “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” $10.5 million
6. “Tangled,” $10.01 million
7. “The Fighter,” $10 million
8. “Gulliver’s Travels,” $9.1 million
9. “Black Swan,” $8.45 million
10. “The King’s Speech,” $7.65 million
11. “The Tourist,” $6.8 million
12. “How Do You Know,” $4.6 million

BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff began her first full day in office Sunday after pledging to build on the policies of her hugely popular predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The 63-year-old divorced grandmother, who was Lula’s former cabinet chief, assumed the presidency Saturday in a carefully staged ceremony under at times rainy skies.

Her Sunday’s agenda includes meetings with Prince Felipe of Asturias, the heir to the Spanish throne, Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Later, she plans to confer with her finance and foreign ministers.

During Saturday’s inauguration ceremony, Rousseff received from Lula the green-and-gold official sash and gave her first speech to the nation.

“I will look after the most vulnerable. I will govern for all Brazilians,” she said in the televised address from the palace’s balcony.

Lula himself pointedly left her alone in the spotlight, save for a brief heartfelt hug.

Required to step down after serving the maximum two consecutive terms permitted under Brazil’s constitution, Lula has not said what he plans to do in retirement.

But he commented weeks ago that he was a “natural born politician” who would not rule out maybe trying to return to the presidency after Rousseff’s four-year mandate was over, depending on the performance of the woman he helped get elected.

Downsizing by major corporate tenants pushed up vacancy rates in office parks south of Boston in 2010, leaving roughly one out of four office spaces vacant in the Route 128 South market.

Vacancies in the market hit 24.9 percent at the end of the year, up from 21 percent at the end of 2009, according to real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, even as much of Greater Boston�€™s commercial real estate market showed signs of stabilizing. Average rents in the Route 128 South market declined from $20.19 per square foot to $18.81 per square foot.

Financial companies – always a key driver of the area’s office market – shook up the picture in North Quincy. ING Financial Services is preparing to vacate 175,000 square feet at 1 Heritage Drive after leasing 104,000 at the new Braintree Hill Office Park building developed by The Flatley Company.

The former ING building will join the 186,000-square-foot 2 Heritage Drive building and 172,000-square-foot 108 Myrtle St. building as large vacant structures in North Quincy. Those properties were vacated by Boston Financial Data Services and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, respectively, in recent years.

“You’ve got a half-million square feet of vacancy all of a sudden,” said J.P. Plunkett, an executive vice president and partner at Hunneman Commercial Co. “There’s no one looking for that size.”

Because several of the high-quality office buildings in the Route 128 South market are designed for single tenants, a few relocations can have a major impact on the region’s vacancy rate – positively or negatively. “One or two deals in that market are going to have a very big effect on the overall 128 South vacancy rate,” said Rob Byrne, a vice president at the Richards Barry Joyce & Partners brokerage.

Financial services giant State Street Corp., the biggest office tenant in the region, appears to be done with major shuffling of its holdings in the suburbs, real estate brokers said. The Boston-based company renewed leases at 200 Newport Ave. and 1200 Crown Colony Drive in Quincy while making plans to leave offices in Milton and Westwood.

State Street recently announced 400 job cuts in Massachusetts as part of a 1,400-employee reduction worldwide, but any additional reductions would likely focus on State Street’s Boston properties, brokers say. The company recently announced plans to vacate One Federal Street and portions of the Lafayette Corporate Center, both in downtown Boston.

Demand from health care and medical organizations helped moderate the weakening of the commercial real estate market.

�€œThe medical industry was the biggest driver on the South Shore this year,” said Dan DeMarco, a partner with Campanelli Companies of Braintree.

Real estate sources say a local medical center is in negotiations to lease 100,000 square feet in the former Wearguard property at 141 Longwater Drive in Norwell. Foxrock Properties bought the 275,000-square-foot complex on a 25-acre site from Wearguard parent Aramark for $12.5 million earlier in the year. With its broker, The Conrad Group of Quincy, Foxrock positioned the building for medical users.

President Robert Conrad declined to comment on the negotiations. The company earlier brokered 14,400 square feet at 141 Longwater Drive to employee benefits firm Thorbahn Associates.

Landlords continue to offer incentives such as covering moving expenses and customizing interior spaces as an enticement to prospective tenants, said Sean Lynch, an assistant vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle.

â€�Very little burden is being placed on the tenants,â€� Lynch said. “I don’t see that ending anytime soon.”

Sublease activity has slowed to a trickle, but some companies are still looking to give back space.

OneBeacon Insurance recently began marketing half of the 280,000-square-foot office building at 150 Royall St. in Canton that it acquired for $23 million in 2005.

While there are no major corporate tenants actively seeking space south of Boston at this time, brokers say, landlords have had some success attracting smaller users. After acquiring 300 Crown Colony Drive in Quincy for $9 million in January, Campanelli Companies leased 32,000 of the available 40,000 space in the 118,000-square-foot building to tenants such as managed care companies and a medical group.

�€œMost of the tenants, as reluctant as they are to grow, they’re starting to burst at the seams,” DeMarco said. “They’re grudgingly doing it, but asking for a few thousand feet to expand around them.”

David Goodhue, an assistant vice president at Colliers, Meredith & Grew, said tenants are more likely to consider looking for new space now than early in 2010. General economic uncertainty prompted many to renew existing leases for a short term at that time.

“Now tenants are willing to take a little more risk,” he said. “Theyâ��re confident and making more substantial decisions.”

Steve Adams may be reached at sadams@ledger.com.

Anyone who uses Microsoft Office will agree on two things: It’s a powerful collection of applications, and it needs improvements.

Here are six programs that bring Office a lot closer to what it should be. The first three work across multiple Office applications, improving the much-loved–and much-hated–ribbon-based interface. The other three are application-specific, giving Outlook, Word, and Excel additional capabilities that Microsoft either didn’t think of or didn’t bother with.

For links to these downloads all in one convenient place, see our “Six Downloads to Improve Microsoft Office” collection.

User Interface Improvements

Office Tab

If you’ve ever had multiple Excel worksheets open at a time, you know the frustrations of switching among them and keeping track of which is which. The same goes for Word documents and PowerPoint presentations.

Extendoffice.com’s Office Tab adds tabbed document management to those three applications, making the chore much easier. As with the tabbed Web pages in your browser, you can easily switch between tabs, rearrange them, or right-click for a menu of options.

Extendoffice also sells separate tab programs for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but if you use any two of those applications, the full Office Tab program costs less.

Download Office Tab | Price: $25; 30-day free trial | Supports Office 2003, 2007, and 2010 (does not yet support PowerPoint 2010)

Search Commands

Do you know, off-hand, which ribbon you need to change Word’s AutoCorrect options? Or which Excel ribbon you need for sorting a worksheet? There’s always a feature that you just know is around somewhere, but Help is a far too slow and painful way to find it.

This freebie from Microsoft Office Labs won’t eliminate your need to ask such questions, but it will probably provide answers. Simply go to the Search Command ribbon and enter a keyword to bring up a row of appropriate icons. One is bound to be the item you want.

Search Commands works in the 2007 versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Download Search Commands | Price: Free | Supports Office 2007

Classic Menu for Office 2007

If you miss the old Microsoft Office user interface–the one with menus instead of ribbons–Classic Menu is a dream come true. Install it, and you’re back to the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint you love.

And Addintools, the creator of this download, brings back the menu the right way: It augments the ribbon interface rather than replacing it. Classic Menu simply adds another ribbon–one with the old, familiar menus and, as a bonus, the old, familiar toolbars. It’s there when you want it, but you can always click on another ribbon and use the more modern interface when the mood strikes you.

As the name implies, this program is for Office 2007. Addintools sells similar add-ons for the various Office 2010 packages.

Download Classic Menu for Office 2007 | Price: $30; 30-day free trial | Supports Office 2007

Specific Application Improvements

Lookeen

Download Lookeen | Price: $40; 14-day free trial | Supports Outlook 2003, 2007, and 2010

CrossEyes

Download CrossEyes | Price: $30; 15-day trial | Supports Word 2003 and 2007

ASAP Utilities

Download ASAP Utilities | Price: $49 for commercial use, after 90-day trial period free for noncommercial use, unless “you don’t want to be forced to update to the new version twice a year…or if you like this program and think it is worth the money.” | Supports Excel 2000, 2002/XP, 2003, 2007, and 2010 (32-bit)

Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes PCWorld’s Answer Line
column and blog.

MINSK (AFP) – Belarus on Friday ordered the closure of the office of the OSCE in Minsk, in an apparent response to the transatlantic security group’s stinging criticism of its presidential polls.

The move was quickly condemned by Western countries including incoming OSCE chair Lithuania, which expressed “deep regret” over the closure.

The move came as Belarus still holds hundreds of opposition supporters arrested in the mass protest against the December 19 polls swept by President Alexander Lukashenko in a crackdown decried by the West.

“The Belarussian side has taken the decision not to prolong the mandate of the OSCE office in Minsk,” foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh said in a statement.

“It needs to be said that this is a conscious decision caused by the lack of objective reasons for retaining an OSCE mission in Belarus,” he added.

“This position has been stated for a number of years in official announcements by the Belarussian side.”

Giving the rationale for the closure, the foreign ministry spokesman said only that the office’s mandate “had been fulfilled”.

But the move comes after monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said after the polls that Belarus is still “a considerable way” from holding democratic elections.

OSCE monitors issued a damning report on the presidential polls that listed a litany of vote count violations, saying its observers assessed the tally “as bad and very bad” in almost half of all observed polling stations.

In a statement issued Friday evening, the foreign minister of neighbouring Lithuania, Audronius Azubalis, expressed “deep regret” over Minsk’s refusal to extend the mandate for the branch office, which opened in 1998.

“Its mandate has not been completed. There is an important job for the OSCE to continue in Belarus,” Azubalis said, as Lithuania geared up to take over the OSCE chairmanship from Kazakhstan through 2011.

He also “called upon the government of Belarus to review its position so that OSCE presence in Minsk could continue”.

Germany also condemned the decision, with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle saying it was another step backwards for democratic rights in the country.

“The decision to close the OSCE’s office is a new step backwards for the rule of law and human rights in Belarus,” Westerwelle said in a statement.

“With its authoritarian direction, the government in Minsk is separating the country even more from European values of freedom…. We will discuss with our partners what consequences are required in the face of the Belarussian government’s voluntary policy of isolation and the worrying human-rights situation in Belarus,” he said.

Five of the nine opposition candidates who stood against Lukashenko in the elections are still being held by Belarus while opposition media have been subjected to almost daily raids by the authorities.

The Belarussian foreign ministry statement said that Minsk’s envoy in Vienna had informed the OSCE of the decision.

It said the closure of the office would not lead to a halt in work between Minsk and the OSCE, saying that “on the contrary we are ready… to strengthen cooperation”.

Lukashenko, who won almost 80 percent of the vote in the polls, is now risking total isolation by the West over the brutal post-election crackdown.

The foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Sweden said in an article published last week that the elections had “no democratic legitimacy” and the “counting of votes turned into a charade”.

“Continued positive engagement with Mr Lukashenko at the moment seems to be a waste of time and money,” they said.

Russia has not joined the criticism, with President Dmitry Medvedev congratulating Lukashenko — albeit very dryly — one week after the polls.

Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic with an iron fist for 16 years. His re-elections in 2001 and 2006 were also said by the West to have fallen far short of international standards.