Categorys
Pages
Linkpartner


    Page 37«..1020..36373839..5060..»



    DUI suspect crashes into liquor store wall; own garage - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    PROVO, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Police say a man suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol crashed into a retaining wall at a Provo liquor store before leaving the scene and crashing into his own garage.

    Police say 42-year-old Noah Rewis was driving an SUV when he crashed into the cinder block retaining wall in the parking lot at the Utah State Liquor Store on 166 South Freedom Blvd on Monday.

    After causing significant damage to both the retaining wall and his vehicle, police say Rewis left the scene.

    Police say officers found tire track marks in the road from the suspect's vehicle, and followed them to a home in the area of 400 N. 1000 W. where they found that the same driver drove up over the sidewalk into the backyard of the home.

    Police say officers determined that the suspect drove into the backyard, where he struck a tree, and then drove into the front yard where he drove over a rose bush before leaving.

    Police say construction workers on 1600 West Center Street told investigators that they witnessed the suspect's vehicle traveling west on Center St.

    After driving through the area, officers found more track marks in the road which led them to the Rewis' home in the area of 400 S 1800 W.

    When they got there, police say officers found Rewis' vehicle sticking out of the garage.

    Police say Rewis had attempted to enter his own garage while the garage door was still down, causing significant damage to the door.

    Noah Rewis was found sitting inside his vehicle, according to police.

    Read this article:
    DUI suspect crashes into liquor store wall; own garage

    LETTER: A few anti-sewer points and one option for businesses - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    As a part time resident of Misquamicut, I want to share my views on the proposed sewer district for Misquamicut. I have attended a few meetings, not all, but enough to have a good idea of what is going on.

    I AM COMPLETELY AGAINST PUTTING A SEWER DISTRICT IN MISQUAMICUT.

    Here are my reasons:

    1. This project appears to be driven by the needs of a few businesses along Atlantic Avenue and their representatives they have hired to politically push this project in Town and amongst Town Council members for their votes. I do 100% sympathize with the problem these few business owners face as a result of RI DEM rules and can understand the Town trying to help them as Misquamicut business owners. I am not anti-business AT ALL but think alternative solutions can be found without subjecting ALL the residents of the area to such a large and costly project. It is totally unfair to socialize the costs of such a large project to benefit a few property owners, however good the intentions may be.

    2. The cesspools subject to replacement under the 2007 Act total approximately 40 from my research. These owners have known about this issue for close to five years and to now at the last minute push such a large project to get it approved does not seem like the right approach. This issue impacts around 6% of the residents and businesses in MFD.

    3. Over 100+ new septic systems have been installed in Misquamicut since 2000 according to RI DEM records. By making this group of people pay TWICE while bailing out the cesspool owners who kept them for decades would seem to me to be rewarding the folks who waited and did nothing while punishing those of us who have invested in new technology and complied with the law.

    4. The additional costs to be unilaterally imposed on homeowners who have denitrification systems or traditional septic systems is totally unjust, unfair, and is completely taxation without representation. This is a VERY significant incremental cost you are forcing on these homeowners who have completely functional, paid for, 100% operational septic systems that are in full compliance with the RI DEM mandate. In todays economy, why would you want to make people incur additional costs of annual debt service, ad valorem taxes, and sewer fees each and every year for decades to come? These costs are 100% avoidable. This is really a major issue for a lot of people. Plus, those costs are going to absolutely be increased every year. In addition, there are the one-time costs and inconvenience to rip up your yard to re-direct the plumbing from the back yard to the street and lets not forget the cost to remove your existing fully functional septic system.

    5. This project is NOT about the environment of the salt ponds. Look at the RI DEM studies of the ponds in our area. They are not ranked poorly at all and are actually just one level away from the highest rating the RI DEM could give a salt pond. If this project was truly about the environment, you would need to sewer the Cove Area and Weekapaug, two areas that have not been addressed at all. Why? There are no business owners in this area. We are going to sewer one little area while letting all the other areas that abutt the pond continue to release nitrogen into the water?

    6. Adding additional capacity to the current town treatment plant will only lessen its useful lifespan and, eventually, require an upgrade of the entire plant. This upgrade will call for more debt at the town level, including higher taxes, and higher ad valorem and sewer usage fees for not only the Misquamicut residents, but all residents of town.

    7. Study the town of Warwick history, they have put sewers in over the past decade and have a number of sewer districts. Some were done right and have been financially successful and others are a financial disaster. Since you are imposing liens on our properties and additional incremental costs on us residents without a vote or any say in the matter, I can only hope the new sewer district is at least run correctly as not to make matters worse. What type of board will govern this entity?

    Read this article:
    LETTER: A few anti-sewer points and one option for businesses

    PIHM Church Construction 2012 – Video - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    18-06-2012 10:57 Church Construction progress as of June 2012

    Read this article:
    PIHM Church Construction 2012 - Video

    Peru 2012: La Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus – Video - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    19-06-2012 07:48 This was one of the two churches we visited during our day of sightseeing in Arequipa. It is a very old church, originally constructed as a Jesuit church. Construction began in 1590 and was completed in 1698. It's not a very big church, but very beautifully decorated. It is constructed from sillar, the white volcanic rock quarried from the side of the volcanic mountain Misti. More information:

    Go here to see the original:
    Peru 2012: La Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus - Video

    SL Green Renews 372,520-Sq-Ft Lease with the City of New York at 100 Church Street - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

    SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG) announced today that the City of New York has renewed its lease covering 372,520 square feet for offices of the law division at 100 Church Street, the 21-story, 1.05 million square foot building located in downtown Manhattan. The 20-year lease renewal commences November, 2013 covering floors 2-6, 20 and a portion of the building's concourse level. The Citys lease at 100 Church Street was scheduled to expire in October, 2013.

    The Company also announced that is has refinanced the property with a new $230 million, 10-year loan bearing interest at a rate of 4.675%. Proceeds from the financing, which was provided by Wells Fargo Bank, will be used for general corporate purposes.

    We are delighted to have the City of New York as our anchor tenant. The Citys decision to extend its commitment is testament to the quality of our recently completed redevelopment of 100 Church Street, said Steven Durels, Executive Vice President and Director of Leasing and Real Property for SL Green. Mr. Durels continued, This early renewal is consistent with our firms proactive management of future lease expirations which has led to consistently high portfolio occupancy."

    SL Green acquired the building in 2010 after it had been 56% vacant for over 5 years. A comprehensive redevelopment of the property, which was completed in 2011, included a new lobby, windows, infrastructure upgrades, new roofs and retail repositioning. Building occupancy is now 82% and major tenants, in addition to the City of New York, include HealthFirst, Niche Media, Interactive Data Corp, Centerline Capital Group and the State of New York.

    CBREs Michael Geoghegan and John Morrill represented the City of New York in the transaction.

    Caroline Silk, Esq. represented the City of New York in-house, while Peter Strauss, Esq. and Christopher Smith, Esq. of Shearman & Sterling acted on behalf of SL Green.

    About SL Green:

    SL Green Realty Corp., New York City's largest office landlord, is the only fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of March 31, 2012, SL Green owned interests in 70 Manhattan properties totaling more than 39.0 million square feet. This included ownership interests in 27.3 million square feet of commercial properties and debt and preferred equity investments secured by 11.7 million square feet of properties. In addition to its Manhattan investments, SL Green holds ownership interests in 32 suburban assets totaling 6.9 million square feet in Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey, along with four development properties in the suburbs encompassing approximately 0.5 million square feet.

    Forward Looking Statements

    Excerpt from:
    SL Green Renews 372,520-Sq-Ft Lease with the City of New York at 100 Church Street

    Building permits at 4-year high, single-family housing starts up - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    Builders broke ground on fewer homes in May, due mostly to plummeting apartment construction, but requested the most permits since September 2008.

    Overall housing starts last month dropped 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 708,000, but thats compared with Aprils 744,000 figure, which was revised up.

    Compared with May 2011, new construction is up 28.5%, according to the Commerce Department report.

    Initial work on multi-family housing, an erratic gauge which plunged 21.3% last month, was a drag on the overall measure. Housing starts for single-family homes rose 3.2% in their third straight monthly increase.

    Builders also seem to be looking forward to the next 12 months, requesting the most permits in more than three years.

    Permits were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 780,000, a 7.9% increase from April and 25% above last May.

    The new data raises the question du jour: Is the housing market making a gradual recovery?

    Both the housing starts and building permits measures are at about half the 1.5-million level usually considered healthy. A report Monday found home-builder confidence still weak, despite being at a five-year high.

    But home prices, while low, seem to be turning around. Record-low mortgage rates may be attracting more buyers, causing home sales to surge in California. Inventories seem to be shrinking, according to some studies.

    RELATED:

    Read more here:
    Building permits at 4-year high, single-family housing starts up

    Apartment Construction Stars Again in Downtown L.A. - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    By Maura Webber Sadovi

    After slowing to a crawl following the recession, the pace of apartment construction is coming back in downtown Los Angeles.

    In downtown Los Angeles a number of new projects are getting under way following a pause that ended last year, according to Carol Schatz, president of the Central City Association of Los Angeles, an organization that advocates for Los Angeless businesses. (The Journal wrote last month about the downtown L.A. office market, which is also rebounding, albeit slowly.)

    Some 1,526 new apartments and condos are under construction in downtown L.A. Thats still far below the 8,224 units under way at the peak of the market in 2007, but Ms. Schatz says its a positive sign that an increasing number of developers are once again confident enough to build. Its anyones guess when we get back to the ferocity we experienced before the crash, but its good news, Ms. Schatz says.

    Most of the units being built downtown are rentals, which is not surprising given the still troubled for-sale market. Prices for condos and town homes in L.A. have yet to stabilize. The median price of condos and town homes in Los Angeles County fell 8.4% in the first quarter to $214,458 from $234,185 in the year-earlier period, according to a sample of sales by the California Association of Realtors.

    By contrast, apartment rents have been rising since last year and the first quarter average asking rent stood at $1,425, just below the recent annual peak of $1,464 hit in 2008, according to Reis Inc, a real-estate research firm.

    Related Cos., one of the developers whose delivery pipeline is gearing back up in the Los Angeles area, says only select locations like the tony beachfront city of Santa Monica have recovered enough to warrant condos. L.A.s rental market is strong, says William Witte, president of Related California. Except for a few niche locations, the condo market is still a work in progress.

    Later this year Related will begin building a 271-unit high-end rental apartment in downtown L.A. near the new Broad art museum being built on Grand Avenue. Rents in most units are expected to start at $2,200 a month. In January, Related began building a 158-unit luxury condominium project in Santa Monica, where the asking prices will start at $800,000.

    But some analysts are keeping a wary eye on the uptick in construction because it is coming even as L.A.s apartment markets recovery is relatively new.

    For landlords to have pricing power they need, one rule of thumb is that rents should rise about 5% annually for at least 12 to 18 months before new supply is added, says Hessam Nadji, managing director of research and advisory services at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.

    Read the rest here:
    Apartment Construction Stars Again in Downtown L.A.

    Crews Prep Skid Row Sidewalks For Power Washing - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    A homeless couple gets up before dawn to dismantle their encampment before businesses open October 12, 2007 in the downtown Skid Row area of Los Angeles, California.(Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

    LOS ANGELES (CBS) City cleanup crews descended on Skid Row Tuesday to clean up the human waste, hypodermic needles, condoms and rats that have built up in the area.

    On orders from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the citys Department of Public Works began a two- to three-week effort called Operation Healthy Streets to literally scrub down the sidewalks after a Los Angeles County Department of Public Health report noted the health dangers of living among feces, urine, rats and hypodermic needles found on Skid Row.

    Crews will remove all items including the possessions of homeless people from the sidewalks on the streets on the east side of downtown where the homeless congregate and the sidewalks will be power-washed.

    Possessions collected from the streets will be held in storage for at least 90 days at the Central City East Check-In Center, and a Storage facility at 432 E. Temple St.

    Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority personnel have been telling Skid Row occupants about the cleanup operation and where to claim their belongings. Four outreach workers are accompanying clean-up crews, spokesman Peter Griffith said.

    Read this article:
    Crews Prep Skid Row Sidewalks For Power Washing

    $1,000 Fine For Not Mowing Your Lawn - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    There are now a thousand reasons to fix your lawn mower.

    In this depressed real estate market, sellers need granite countertops and new stainless steel appliances just to compete. And sellers better hope they live on a street with white picket fences and ornate gardens to obtain fair market value.

    But what happens if you have neighbors who just refuse to tidy up their lawn? A town in New York thinks it found the solution with a lawn mowing fine.

    So if you're unhappy with a neighbor's efforts at cutting his grass, you can now report him to the appropriate officials resulting in a $1,000 fine to your neighbor for the first offense and a possible $10,000 fine for repeat offenses, reports CBS.

    Officials at Massapequa Park on Long Island rationalized the big fines by saying that unkempt property lower home values and create a health and public safety hazard, reports CBS.

    While this fine may seem unfair to some property owners like the elderly and those who just don't care, home owners should know that while they usually can do what they want on their property, the local government does have general powers over health and safety when it comes to land. So they can make you mow your lawn if there are health and welfare reasons for doing so.

    The best way to combat the lawn mowing fine would be a grass roots movement (excuse the pun) by residents to repeal the ordinance. Residents can let lawmakers know they are not happy with the law, can seek a modification of the penalty, or a reduction in fine by exercising their voting rights.

    This lawn mowing fine was passed on Long Island, sure. But receiving a $10,000 fine for neglecting the lawn seems a bit extreme. Expect some pushback on the lawn law as soon as someone is dinged. These are New Yorkers, after all.

    Related Resources:

    Continued here:
    $1,000 Fine For Not Mowing Your Lawn

    First Person: Upgrades on New Construction Cost Us Thousands Upon Resale - June 19, 2012 by Mr HomeBuilder

    The first house we ever owned was a 3-bedroom floor plan that we chose to build in a cookie-cutter neighborhood in Florida. We were so excited to go through the process of new construction. There were numerous choices to make - tile, carpet, padding, appliances, countertops, paint color, window treatments, and so on. These decisions had to be made in one day. Yep, we spent a single, very draining day in the design studio of our homebuilder, trying to figure out what we should upgrade and what we should leave alone.

    You see, we were anticipating (even at that beginning stage) the features that would add value to our home for resale purposes. After all, this was our beginner home. It wasn't our dream home. Yet, we wanted to be comfortable in it while we lived there. And, it needed to have certain upgrades included or it wouldn't attract any buyers when the time cameso we thought. But, we could not have anticipated what ultimately happened with the housing market crash of 2007. Essentially, the "extras" that we put into the house - and paid for with a higher mortgage - were quite possibly the reason why we didn't come close to breaking even on the sale of that home.

    There were several things that we upgraded during that "decision day" that I can almost guarantee were of no importance to the person who bought our house. We paid for more padding under the carpet; we chose 42" cabinets in the kitchen; we opted for double front doors with glass inserts; we picked cultured marble countertops for the master bathroom; and we sprung for a better quality washer and dryer. All of these upgrades (and some that I'm forgetting) cost us a total of $30,000 above and beyond our base package.

    When the time came to sell the house, it took 13 months for a buyer to come along. At that point, the housing bubble had popped and people were trying to (and could) steal houses out from under you. Our particular buyer not only didn't care about the extra nice padding we put under the carpet, he wanted a check for the cost of replacing the carpet with tile. You can see how the situation of selling our home became frustrating rather quickly. We thought we were on to something with our upgrades, but the timing was all wrong. It wouldn't have mattered if a Porsche were included in the sale of our home, the one and only buyer that wanted our house wanted it for the cheapest he could get it.

    In the end, we had to write a rather large check at the closing. In fact, it wasn't much more than the cost of the upgrades themselves. We always say that had we not done those special extras, we might not be so far behind in our savings plan right now. Had we stuck with the standard options included in the original package, we may not have had to write a check at all!

    *Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a real estate story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.

    More from this contributor:

    First Person: We'll Pay YOU to Buy Our Home

    First Person: We lost Money on Our Home Sale...Twice

    First Person: Transitioning from Two Incomes to One

    View original post here:
    First Person: Upgrades on New Construction Cost Us Thousands Upon Resale

    « old entrysnew entrys »



    Page 37«..1020..36373839..5060..»


    Recent Posts