The future of a Lackawanna Avenue property that lies in Little Falls but is surrounded by Woodland Park remains uncertain now that a Passaic County Superior Court judge has invalidated a zoning ordinance for it.

Woodland Park sued Little Falls last year after its township council passed an ordinance that would have zoned the triangular property of just less than one-acre for a three-story, 18-unit apartment building. Woodland Park claimed that the ordinance zoned the property, which is wedged in between Notch Road and Route 46 on the Woodland Park side of the highway, specifically for the proposed developer, Daibes Enterprises, and against the public good.

The decision finds the ordinance invalid only because it does not specify the minimum number of affordable housing units to be included.

"While Little Falls had legitimate reason for the adoption of the ordinance, the ordinance's express language did not guarantee the construction of affordable housing units," wrote Judge Garry Rothstadt.

Mayor Keith Kazmark said that he understands Little Falls' need to satisfy their affordable housing requirement and need for ratable properties, but hopes Little Falls officials would understand the land is on Woodland Park's side of Route 46. He said they pled with the Little Falls council to not pass the ordinance.

"We were concerned about the integrity of the neighborhood as were the neighbors in that area," he said. "They are all significant lots with single family homes."

Woodland Park borough attorney Albert Buglione said his municipality is pleased with the ruling.

"The implications are very positive from the borough of Woodland Park's perspective in that the ordinance has been declared invalid in that the zoning for that area has been declared null and void that the project will not be built as constituted," he said.

Little Falls, however, could simply redraft the ordinance to include a minimum number of affordable housing units.

"We would hope that they didn't do that without first inviting Woodland Park to a joint work session meeting to attempt to map out a mutually beneficial plan for that property," he said. "If they were to summarily redraft that plan we would respectfully submit there are a number of areas where we can attack that plan."

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Plans for proposed 18-unit apartment building in Little Falls put on hold

SAGINAW, MI It has been four years since Saginaw native and CBS Television executive David Strouse bought the 131-year-old building at314 S. Hamilton in Saginaw's Old Town district.

Monday, Strouse held the long-awaited ceremony dedicating the renovated TheHamilton Apartments building, which will house nine loft-style apartments.

During the ceremony, Strouse anthropomorphized the building, calling it the "hero" of the story and talking of how it sheltered businesses through the years.

"Sadly, during her second 50 years, our hero received very little in return for all she had given," he said. "If this is not a resurrection, it is certainly a resuscitation. Because our hero was at the end of her rope and had very little time left."

Strouse said preserving the historic valueof the building, constructed in 1881, was the main reason he took on the more than $700,000 in renovations necessary to ready the building for renters.

"I saved it to prove to myself and others that it could be saved, and because it was the right thing to do," he said. "This building and others like it are a part of our cultural heritage. They will never be replaced because they cannot be replaced. When they are gone, they are gone forever."

A crowd gathered along Hamilton Street for the ribbon-cutting Monday. They were then invited up to tour the nine apartments on the second and third floors of the building.

John Meyer, the construction architect overseeing the project, joined the ceremony via speakerphone from his vacation in Maui, Hawaii.

"The apartments in The Hamilton Apartments are most exciting and creative in design," Meyer said."Restoration of a historic building such as this preserves and strengthens our heritageand the historic district of Saginaw."

The group wound through the two floors of apartments, whichvaried in size and layout. All thoseopen for the tour featured highceilings, long windows looking out over the river and Saginaw River and preserved elements of the historicbuilding like wooden support beams.

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Old Town Saginaw loft-style apartment building on Hamilton opened in public ceremony

Construction on the new Riverbend apartment complex in New Providence, nearly 25 years after it was first proposed, has begun on its lot near the corner of South Street and Marion Avenue.

However, Planning Board Secretary Margaret Koontz said Tuesday, Oct. 16 that building must be halted until the state DEP issues permits to the borough. The permits are in regard to sewage and sanitation maintenance.

There is no current timeframe for those permits, Koontz said, though demolition has begun at the site.

When the Planning Board initially approved the complex construction in May, board members discussed potential issues related to the maintenance of the lot prior to construction beginning and management of soil erosion, according to The Alternative Press.

The complex, built by JAM Realty Corp., will feature 22 units in four buildings, with four of those units designated for affordable housing.

The lot wraps around a two-home apartment on Marion Avenue. A large fence and a row of trees will be constructed around that building to shield those residents from lights and noise.

There will be two entrance to the complex on Marion Avenue to either side of the existing home, with no South Street access.

Development of the area was first proposed in 1989 but moved slowly with bid auctions in 1995 and 2003. The agreement between the borough and the land owner in 1989 allotted several units for affordable housing and those terms were still in place when the Riverbend plans were finalized nearly two decades later.

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Riverbend apartment complex in New Providence begins construction, only to wait for DEP clearance

WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. builders started construction on homes in September at the fastest rate since July 2008, a further indication that the housing recovery is strengthening and could help the economy grow.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders broke ground on single-family homes and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 in September. That's an increase of 15 percent from the August level.

Single-family construction rose 11 percent. Apartment building increased 25.1 percent.

Applications for building permits, a sign of future construction, jumped nearly 12 percent to an annual rate of 894,000, also the highest since July 2008.

"If there was any doubt that the housing market was undergoing a recovery, even a modest one in the face of the terrible 2008 decline, those doubts should be erased by now," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG.

Construction activity is now 82.5 percent higher than the recession low hit in April 2009. Activity is still well below the roughly 1.5 million rate consistent with healthier markets. Still, the surge in construction suggests builders believe the housing rebound is durable.

"Today's data reinforce the view that while housing is not going to be the driver of economic activity that it was in the middle of the prior decade, neither will it be the anchor on activity that it has been in recent years," Greenhaus said.

Construction activity rose in three of the nation's four regions. The biggest increases came in the West and South. Housing starts increased by nearly 20 percent in both regions. Construction of new homes and apartments rose 6.7 percent in the Midwest. Housing starts fell 5.1 percent in the Northeast.

Builder confidence reached at a six-year high this month, according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders. The group's index of builder sentiment rose to a reading of 41. While that's still below the level of 50 that signals a healthy market, it has steadily climbed over the past year from a reading of 17.

Sales of new and previously owned homes have been slowly improving this year, and home prices are starting to show consistent gains.

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US housing construction jumps to 4-year high

By Martin Crutsinger, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - U.S. builders started construction on homes in September at the fastest rate since July 2008, a further indication that the housing recovery is strengthening and could help the economy grow.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that builders broke ground on single-family homes and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 in September. That's an increase of 15 per cent from the August level.

Single-family construction rose 11 per cent. Apartment building increased 25.1 per cent.

Applications for building permits, a sign of future construction, jumped nearly 12 per cent to an annual rate of 894,000, also the highest since July 2008.

"If there was any doubt that the housing market was undergoing a recovery, even a modest one in the face of the terrible 2008 decline, those doubts should be erased by now," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG.

Construction activity is now 82.5 per cent higher than the recession low hit in April 2009. Activity is still well below the roughly 1.5 million rate consistent with healthier markets. Still, the surge in construction suggests builders believe the housing rebound is durable.

"Today's data reinforce the view that while housing is not going to be the driver of economic activity that it was in the middle of the prior decade, neither will it be the anchor on activity that it has been in recent years," Greenhaus said.

Construction activity rose in three of the nation's four regions. The biggest increases came in the West and South. Housing starts increased by nearly 20 per cent in both regions. Construction of new homes and apartments rose 6.7 per cent in the Midwest. Housing starts fell 5.1 per cent in the Northeast.

Builder confidence reached at a six-year high this month, according to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders. The group's index of builder sentiment rose to a reading of 41. While that's still below the level of 50 that signals a healthy market, it has steadily climbed over the past year from a reading of 17.

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US home construction surges 15 per cent in September to 4-year high, building permits also up

A man in an apartment building south of the Rosedale subway station got in touch the other day. He told me there was a condo tower being built across the ravine; the lights from the construction site were powerfully bright, profoundly annoying, and aimed right into his building; hed made some calls, but he couldnt get anyone to do anything.

I decided to take a look. I hate it when people cant get anybody to do anything.

Also, the man who got in touch is Larry Krotz, a consummate professional freelance writer, and he also makes films, and we once had books out at the same time, and I trust him.

As I neared his address on a recent evening hey, who goes to see bright lights during the day? I saw the construction crane, and the lights on it, but I also noticed the brightness of the street lamps, and the one didnt seem worse than the others.

Oh, well, keep an open mind.

Larry and a handful of his neighbours were waiting for me in the lobby; smart people, hard-working professionals. They gave me a short history of the problem, which at that point didnt seem to me to be a very large problem.

Larry said, Construction started a couple of years ago. In July of last year, the crane went up and they started building. Some days the lights on the crane were on at night. The tenants lived with that.

But, as the building began to rise, the crane was also rising, and then the problem got worse when new and more powerful lights were added to the base of the building under construction.

Those, I hadnt seen while walking.

Stephanie Woodside said, Theyre very bright, and shining into all the apartments on the north side. I asked the obvious question:

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Fiorito: Darkness in Rosedale

A Ridgeland apartment building appears to be a total loss following a massive fire.

The fire was at the Ridgeland Ranch Apartment Complex along County Line Road. It started just after 6:00 Sunday night.

"I watched a little girl, maybe 8, just cry because she didn't have shoes on, only thing she had on was her white shirt and her little dress, and she was just crying her eyes out because she lost all of her toys and everything," says Stacy Morrison, who lives at the complex.

All the residents could do was watch as fire ripped through their home and their belongings. Fire Chief Matt Bailey tells us he got the call around 6:20pm. Residents say firefighters were quick to respond.

"They got here before I even saw flames coming up, so they got here very fast!" says Moriah Hinds Jackson, a Ridgeland Ranch resident.

Chief Bailey says right now, it's not clear what caused the fire, but the construction of the building made it a difficult fire to fight.

"The building is relatively older than most of our other complexes," he says. "It doesn't have a sprinkler system to it, so once it gets into an open space, especially like if it's a common area like the roof structure itself, it's going to take off."

Sure enough, when the fire reached the attic, the flames spread fast.

"They had it under control a couple of times, and it breached into the ceiling," says Chief Bailey. "And once it did that, we're in the process of following it wherever it goes. We've got to go with the fire."

The Chief also says this is the second building in this complex to catch fire. The last one completely burned to the ground. He says it doesn't appear the buildings violate any codes, but without sprinklers in the buildings, the fire spreads very quickly.

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Fire destroys Ridgeland apartment building

The transformation of the former First Baptist Church of Whitman into a 15-unit apartment building is set to begin in about two weeks.

We have been doing a lot of demolition work to get ready for construction, said Richard Rosen, owner of Rosen Realty in Whitman. He bought the 190-year-old town centerpiece for $200,000 about a year ago and won the approval of the towns zoning board to covert the building.

The congregation closed its doors in 2009 after membership in the church dwindled. Rosen was chosen to market the building for sale. The church corporation sold the deed to American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts. That group sold to Rosen after other potential buyers fell through.

The town considered buying the old church and turning it into a senior center but town officials decided the renovation would be too costly.

The assessed value of the 12,000-square-foot building is about $287,900.

Rosen said he has already received calls from prospective tenants who are attracted to it because of the buildings central location in Whitman.

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Conversion of former Whitman church about to begin

Years of inactivity at a Central West End corner that neighbors called a mosquito pit will soon come to an end with construction of an apartment building that will house a coveted tenant: a Whole Foods grocery.

Bruce Mills, whose Mills Properties is the project's developer, said he expects work to begin by early 2013. He said that erecting the seven-story building at 100 North Euclid Avenue will take 22 months.

Mills, the company's chief executive, said this week he has from Whole Foods Market a letter of intent to occupy the entire first floor, encompassing 30,000 square feet.

"We've been working on this for quite a while," he said. "I will get excited the day the shovels start moving dirt."

Kate Klotz, a Whole Foods spokeswoman, said Thursday the company does not discuss new locations until leases are signed.

The Whole Foods in the Central West End would be the grocery chain's third in the St. Louis area. The others are in Town and Country and Brentwood. Mills said the city store will be much like the one in Brentwood.

Whole Foods is a high-end grocery that features organic and natural foods, plus a wide range of prepared dishes.

From its health-food roots in the late 1970s in Austin, Texas, the chain has grown by expansion and acquisition to more than 300 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company, still based in Austin, says sales last year topped $10 billion.

Much like Trader Joe's, a decision by Whole Foods to open a grocery can signal that the chosen neighborhood has crossed a threshold of affluence and desirability.

"I've had calls from people thanking me for increasing their property values," said Mills, chuckling.

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CWE to get new apartments and a Whole Foods grocery

Some money people showed up today at the formal groundbreaking of the $42 million Cortona apartment complex under construction at the Highlands development just south of Forest Park.

Financing for the project is coming from the AFL-CIO's Building Investment Trust, which is putting union pension funds into the development. On hand at today's ceremony were officials of developer Balke Brown Transwestern, the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council, the local PRIDE labor-management team and PNC Realty Investors, the adviser to the Building Investment Trust.

Over the past two decades, AFL-CIO-sponsored real estate funds are credited with investing more than $500 million in union pension funds into St. Louis projects, including the Laurel and Park Pacific developments downtown.

The Cortona at Forest Park will be a 280-unit apartment complex at the Highlands mixed-used development on the former site of the St. Louis Arena. In 1999, demolition charges flattened the "Old Barn, " as it was known to Blues fans.

Two office buildings, two loft-apartment buildings, a hotel, a restaurant and medical offices now sit on the old Arena site. A fourth office building is planned.

When completed in early 2014, the Cortona will have nearly 200 one-bedroom apartments and 80 two-bedroom units. A large courtyard will have a 7,000-square-foot clubhouse, a saltwater swimming pool, an outdoor kitchen and a spa, the company said.

Balke Brown hopes the Cortona will attract members of Generation Y, the tech-savvy younger professionals who can afford nice apartments.

Although the formal groundbreaking was today, site work on the development began several weeks ago.

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AFL-CIO pension money funds St. Louis apartment project