The site of the former Aviv Center for Living/Jewish Rehabilitation Center will soon be home to a new project. The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) unanimously approved a special permit for the construction of a two-building apartment complex at 326-330 Paradise Road by the Hanover Company, at their meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18.

"I'm thrilled with the decision," said Hanover development partner David Hall.

The permit grants site plan and dimensional relief for two four-story buildings containing 184 market-rate luxury apartments. Ninety-nine of those apartments will be one-bedroom units, 70 will be two-bedroom units and 15 will be three-bedroom units.

Building 1, with a projected 104 units, is designed as a horseshoe-shaped building on the side of the property near Longwood Drive towards the Lynn side of town and further away from the street than the present two-story building.

Building 2 will be a long rectangle with 80 units on the other side of the property with its rear facing Crown Pointe Condominiums, towards Salem. It is the same layout first presented to the Planning Board July 15 and ZBA July 24, although concerns about drainage and the location of the driveway were addressed in the meantime.

In October, the original location of the driveway was moved from 326 Paradise Road to a spot closer to Vinnin Square because it was found to be zoned a residential lot, having held a house at one time.

Other concerns were finally laid to rest Dec. 18, at least to the satisfaction of the ZBA. The original plan for emergency access via Longwood Drive and a second plan for such access from Eastman Road behind the complex, which upset residents, were superseded by a new plan for emergency access through Crown Pointe land via a connecting path in the northwest corner of the Hanover site. Hall reported Crown Pointe is amenable to the idea, which will be reciprocal.

It would only be used in the case of a large fire when we'd need more apparatus," Fire Chief Kevin Breen said. "We couldn't see it until the leaves came down. What we thought was steep was a gentle grade."

The ZBA was also satisfied with traffic information submitted by Hanover through consultant Jeffrey Dirk. Using numbers from a similarly sized Hanover development in Braintree, he said Hanover Vinnin Square will generate the same traffic level as the JRC did, although residences generate outbound traffic in the morning and inbound traffic in the evening, the opposite of a workplace.

When the complex is 90-95 percent full, traffic counts will be made. If the count exceeds 110 percent of the projections mitigation is in order, probably taking the form of retiming traffic signals, to be paid for by Hanover.

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JRC site in Swampscott to see new project

In a triangular block where Fairmount Avenue merges into Ridge Avenue in North Philadelphia, another milestone for Project HOME is rising.

Workers are hurrying to finish the $16 million JBJ Soul Homes, a 55-unit apartment house for low-income and formerly homeless people.

Project HOME got its start 25 years ago, running a wintertime shelter for homeless men. Now, it's one of the most active nonprofit developers in the city.

Outside the site, two men in a cherry picker seal seams with caulking in the building's vermilion facade. Inside, others sweep hallways, haul away empty cardboard boxes, and mop floors.

About two years ago, his "home" was a steam vent outside a Chinatown restaurant at Ninth and Vine Streets. He was addicted to crack, and panhandling for money and food.

Today, he's clean, working full time for a builder, and living in a communal residence run by Project HOME. "There are not many places like this," Wise said.

People on the streets, he said, often have a choice between a shelter "or more depressing situations."

The JBJ Soul Homes will give homeless men and women "another shot at a normal life," Wise added.

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Apartment building designed for homeless and low-income families

by ADAM MERTZ / KING 5 News

KING5.com

Posted on December 24, 2013 at 7:27 PM

SEATTLE- Massive cranes are fixtures at construction sites around downtown. Andersen Construction Senior Project Superintendent Paul Beethe says he is always asked two questions. How tall is it going to be and what is the building, said Beethe.

Andersen Construction Company is working on a 27 floor apartment tower at 3rd and Cedar in Belltown. It will have 298 apartment units and is expected to be completed this summer.

"It's pretty exciting because there is a lot of work out there so you're always looking down the road, said Beethe. About 3,200 housing units will be completed or are under construction in downtown Seattle and an additional 1,215 residential units will be added in South Lake Union, according to the Seattle Department of Planning and Development. There is a lot going on people are catching up. I think there were a lot of projects, they had their permits in hand, put on the backburner during the recession and they were ready to go as soon as they could get the financing, said Bryan Stevens, Department of Planning and Development spokesperson. In addition to the residential construction, Stevens said Amazon is in the process of building near Denny Triangle and there is also some development underway near Pioneer Square north of CenturyLink Field.

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Change on the horizon for Seattle skyline

CARLSBAD (CBS 8 / CNS) - Four people escaped an overnight fire that gutted their apartment in Carlsbad.

A call came in 2:25 a.m. Wednesday about a fire in a four-unit apartment building at 4653 Park Drive, Carlsbad Fire Department Capt. Steve Hardy said.

"Black smoke was blowing out of the apartment, and flames were coming through the roof," Hardy said. "The initial report was that people were trapped, but they had gotten out by the time firefighters arrived."

Hardy said eight fire engines, two ladder trucks, two ambulances and two battalion chiefs were dispatched to the two-alarm blaze.

The fire also threatened an adjacent structure under construction, Hardy said.

The blaze was completely extinguished by 3:15 a.m. Firefighters remained on scene doing mop up until 5:20 a.m.

There was no estimate of damages and the cause of the blaze was under investigation.

One person suffered minor injuries and a pet was also hurt. The Red Cross was helping those who were displaced.

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Early morning fire in Carlsbad guts apartment

Linsette Hawkins walks back to her apartment near Kentucky Avenue and Dexter Street, where more than 100 windows are set to be replaced as a result of damage from a nearby blaze. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Officials still do not know what caused a Dec. 14 fire in Glendale.

The blaze burned so hot that it leveled an apartment building that was under construction and melted vehicles parked across the street.

A team of investigators spent five days on the scene and interviewed numerous witnesses, but officials have not been able to determine what started the blaze, according to a news release issued Monday.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Denver Fire Department, the Glendale Police Department, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation participated.

"If information is developed in the future to indicate or warrant further investigation, the finding of undetermined can be changed," the release said.

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Investigators can't determine cause of giant Glendale fire

A Minnesota developer proposesconstruction ofa 48-unit apartment building at the corner of Davenport's West 4th and Gaines streets, away from the booming rental neighborhood at the east end of downtown.

Stan Buesing, whose family owns the property, confirmed the interest in his property at that intersection. They have a tentative offer with MWF Properties of Minneapolis, pending financing. He declined to say how much the offer is.

Alderman Bill Boom, 3rd Ward, who represents the downtown, said he likes the project. It is expected to have a handful of market-rate apartments along with affordable housing options.

"I think it is the start of something," Boom said. "We are starting to see investment further and further west. It would be a great development for that corner and allow us to clean up that corner."

The building will be four stories and offer underground parking on the north half of the block. The project doesn't require rezoning but would go through the Design Review Board process for the downtown.

Alderman Gene Meeker, at large, who chairs the council's economic development committee, sees good and not so good in the project.

"It would be nice to get some of those properties cleaned up over in that area," he said. "Were always looking for investment in our community, but were getting more than our share of subsidized housing."

MWF, one of three companies the city council backed for tax credit applications earlier this month, isn't expected to hear whether it will receive those until the end of January, Buesing said. Bruce Berger, of the city's Community Planning and Economic Development Department, said he doesn't expect an answer until March.

Buesing said it was time to sell the property and it had been on the market for some time.

"We wanted to get out from under the building," Buesing said of his family. "Wed like to get the money so our kids dont have to worry about it if something happens to us.

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West end of Davenport downtown may get development

The proposed future site Affinity at Bellingham a four story, 154-unit apartment building for ages 55 and older, Monday, Dec. 23, 2013 at 341 Telegraph Road in Bellingham. MATTMCDONALDTHEBELLINGHAMHERALD|BuyPhoto

BELLINGHAM - Local investors are close to selling 7.8 acres off Meridian Street for construction of a 154-unit apartment building for baby boomers.

The current owner, Bayfield at Telegraph LLC, apparently will take a loss on the properties. The company, which includes more than a dozen investors primarily from Lynden, bought the properties between Telegraph and McLeod roads south of Home Depot for $4.74 million in March 2007, before the recession. The vacant land is listed on the Keller Williams Realty website at $2.95 million, with a sale pending.

"Somebody is coming in and is interested in purchasing it on the basis of that project that they just filed, I guess," said Henry Klos of Lynden, one of the minority owners. "Everything is still up in the air. They are doing their due diligence, testing the water."

The Inland Group of Spokane Valley proposes building Affinity at Bellingham, four stories of apartments for people 55 and older that would be similar to eight other projects the developer has built in Washington, Idaho and Colorado.

Bayfield at Telegraph initially hoped for a quicker turnaround and a profitable one. They ordered residents of a 22-unit mobile home park off the property in 2008, but the commercial-retail project proposed at the time fell through. The owner then put the properties on the market for $9.1 million that year. There were no buyers.

"We pulled it off the market and did a refinance so we could carry it," Klos said.

The Inland Group has filed four permit applications with the city, including an environmental review and a request to waive some of the standard requirements for improvements to Telegraph Road.

The standard environmental review includes air and water pollution, noise, light and traffic impacts. That part of Bellingham, near Bellis Fair mall, is already among the busiest in the county, and a new 99-room Oxford Suites hotel will be built a half-mile away.

"We're going to be looking closely at the review in terms of traffic impacts," city planner Steve Sundin said.

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Senior apartments proposed where Bellingham mobile-home park was removed

A construction company has agreed to pay Sri Jati apartment Kuala Lumpur residents RM 200 each and a new roof for their car park.

KUALA LUMPUR:After two years KKH construction & engineering Sdn Bhd has finally agreed to compensate Sri Jati apartment Kuala Lumpur residents RM 200 and a car park roof as their construction work had damaged more then 20 cars.

KKH construction & engineering Managing Director Tan Kok Hong said in a meeting at the Sri Jati multipurpose hall with the residents that his company will bear the cost of the damages today.

The meeting was called upon after the resident lodged many complaints many times to DBKL and the company agreed to have a dialogue with the residents.

Sri Jati Building manager Gary Sritharan said this problem was on going since KKH companys started construction work 2 years ago.

Gary said he has been trying to get a solution from DBKL and the developer .

He said the residents are finally happy as the developer is willing to bear the cost and have taken responsibility for the damages.

The developer has promised to improve safety measures while the construction works goes on .

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Construction company settles with apartment residents

A new five-story apartment and retail building complete with a robotic-powered parking garage may be coming to a site across the street from Kansas University's Memorial Stadium.

Plans have been filed at Lawrence City Hall for a major mixed-used development on the existing site of the Berkeley Flats apartment complex at 1101 Indiana St.

"We think it is a very strategic site in the city that is being underutilized currently," said Jim Heffernan, a principal with Chicago-based student housing developer HERE LLC.

The site is directly east of the stadium and is along the Mississippi Street gateway to campus.

Details of the proposed development include:

156 apartments totaling about 600 bedrooms would be located on three of the building's five floors. Each apartment would include an 18-foot-high great room, designed to give the units the feel of an urban loft.

Retail and restaurant uses would be located along both the Mississippi Street and Indiana Street levels of the building. In total, the plans call for about 11,000 square feet of retail shops or restaurants.

The development would have a 592-space parking garage spread out over three levels, including an underground level. The garage would use an "automated, robotic parking garage system" to park and retrieve cars.

The system involves the motorist pulling into a large elevator-like box and exiting the vehicle. The garage then uses an elevator system to place the vehicle on the appropriate floor, and a lift-and-track system that moves the vehicle to the right space.

Cars are retrieved through a sort of electronic valet system. Heffernan estimated it takes about three to five minutes to retrieve a vehicle.

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Plans filed for apartment-retail building across from KU's Memorial Stadium

At its Monday, Dec. 9 meeting, the Osseo City Council discussed several items relating to the current phase and future phase of the Five Central project.

The project consists of a three-story apartment building with 71 units and underground parking for phase one. The project will be located on the Block 6 redevelopment site (block just north of Osseo City Hall, between First Avenue N.W. and Central Avenue, and Fifth Street N.W. and Sixth Street N.W.).

Developer Bill Beard said the current phase one portion of the project is two months ahead of schedule. This first phase could open earlier than expected as well.

You have before you tonight approvals on some plats that we dont intend to actually be the final ones, Beard said. The plats you have before you were contemplated to before a 45-unit (second phase) project. As weve gone through the process of exploring options with the police station and looking at things, weve moved forward with the idea of acquiring the plumbing building and including that in the project and moving that project, phase two, from being 45 units to 69 units.

He added that the council members would shortly have before them a replacement amendment taking into account the unit number change.

The second phase of Five Central would include a 64,363-square-foot apartment building with the continuation of underground parking from phase one. Construction would begin in April 2014.

City Planner Riley Grams said the building for phase two would all be residential units, including on the ground level. The developer crunched the numbers and looked at several different concepts and designs, and decided to ask the city if an all-residential concept would be workable, he said. Staff spent some time reviewing and looking into and decided ultimately that would be an allowable concept plan for us. One of the reasons for this is we do have a lot of available commercial space as it is in the city.

The council approved the preliminary planned unit development for Five Central phase two.

In a related matter the council approved the preliminary site plan for Five Central phase two.

Also, the council approved the preliminary plat for Five Central phase two. This action involves the re-plat for the project, combining four parcels of land. State building code prohibits the building of one continuous building over a property line, which is why the parcels needed to be combined into one parcel.

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Osseo takes action to support apartment project