Workers continue construction at the 278-unit Integra Hills apartment complex in Collegedale, Tenn., on Friday morning. The complex is slated for completion by the end of 2012.

Name: Integra Hills Luxury Apartments

Location: 9198 Integra Hills Lane in Collegedale, off Little Debbie Parkway and north of County Highway 378.

Status: The clubhouse is being painted, and workers have hung the dry drywall in the interior, according to Jason Cromer, project manager for LandSouth construction. Rough-in work is complete on the first apartment building, and drywall work soon will start on the first 24 units. Most concrete foundations are poured, and vertical construction will start this week. The first units will open in August. The community will be complete in February 2013.

Price: $19 million for 278 apartment units in this gated community. Five floor plans range from 852 to 1,427 square feet. Rent is expected to be about a dollar per square foot, per month, Cromer said.

Features: Crown molding in living and dining rooms, wood plank floors, 9-foot ceilings, custom cabinetry, built-in computer niche, French doors. Fiber cement siding, similar in construction to Hardie board with wood-grain look.

Amenities: Residents will have access to a resort-style pool, a billiards and entertainment room, Internet cafe, fitness room, tanning studio, summer kitchen and playground. The entryway will be beautifully landscaped with 100 varieties of trees. Rooms are pre-wired for data, Internet and phone.

General contractor: LandSouth Construction

Developer: Integra Land Co.

-- Compiled by staff writer Ellis Smith, esmith@times freepress.com or 423-757-6315

Excerpt from:
Under Construction: Luxury apartment complex begins in Collegedale

The Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral received approval Friday to demolish two historic buildings in the 3700 block of Chestnut Street, clearing the way for construction of a 25-story apartment tower.

At a lengthy hearing of the city Historical Commission, the cathedral and its private development partner agreed to conditions imposed by the commission that seek to insure that a portion of development profits flow into repair and renovation of the historic cathedral's bell tower.

"We are committed to preserving the church itself," the Rev. Judith Sullivan, cathedral dean, told the commission. "We are all about preservation."

The proposal before the commission was unusual in that the cathedral and its partner, the Radnor Property Group, argued that the demolition is "in the public interest."

By choosing to proceed in this fashion, they compelled the commission to weigh the relative value of historically designated properties and to consider the possibility that a commercial development, built on the ground of demolished historic properties, is good for preservation.

"We're placing a value judgment in saying that the cathedral is more important," said John Mattioni, a commission member.

The cathedral plans to demolish its own parish house and rectory known together as the parish house placed on the National Register of Historic Places and on the Philadelphia registry in 1981, to construct the apartment tower plus office and retail space.

Well-known church architect Charles M. Burns completely designed one of the three-story brownstone parish buildings in 1902 and redesigned the facade and additional features of the other to complement the cathedral.

At that time the cathedral, also designed by Burns, was known as the Church of the Savior; it was placed on the local registry in 1981 with the parish house and rectory.

At Friday's hearing, members of the historical commission grappled with the meaning of "public interest" and sought repeatedly to determine the amount of money the developer was willing to commit to cathedral restoration. The cathedral's proposal was based on the idea that the commercial development, built on church property, would provide revenues for restoration that the cathedral would not otherwise have. How much money, and how and when it would be used proved difficult for the commission to determine.

Link:
Episcopal Cathedral gets OK to raze historic buildings, erect apartment high-rise

CHERRY HILL A building boom continues at Garden State Park on Haddonfield Road as construction has begun on a bank, a preschool and a 617-apartment complex.

But on the western edge of the sprawling, 240-acre former racetrack sits a vacant patch of dirt and grass, not a bulldozer in sight

. And the owners of the 18-acre parcel owe the township nearly $170,000 in property taxes.

Turnberry Cherry Hill LLC, a division of Florida-based Turnberry Associates, owns the parcel, which is assessed for tax purposes at $2.3 million. The land is northwest of The Home Depot across Garden Park Boulevard.

Turnberry also owns a half-acre property along Third Avenue off Chapel Avenue valued at $49,000. It owes a little more than $17,000 in taxes on that piece of land.

Several calls to Yamila Garayzar, Turnberrys vice president of sales and marketing, were not returned Thursday.

But Bob Dwyer, an owner representative for Turnberry in this area, said the arrears will be taken care of.

The taxes will be paid, asserted Dwyer, of Land Trust Properties in Berwyn, Pa. It must be some kind of clerical error.

If the debt is not paid by June 25, the land will be offered at a sheriffs sale, township officials said.

Dwyer did not say if there are any plans in the works for the parcel.

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$170,000 in taxes owed on Garden State Park parcel

Home construction is heating up just in time for summer.

London's building sector got good news Friday, as single home starts climbed in the city and region.

In the important single-home starts category new construction climbed 10% in London and 12% in the region last month over May 2011, stated a release from Canada Mortgage Housing Corp.

"Recent gains in employment and a tightening in the resale market have turned more home buyers to the new home market," said Margot Stevenson, CMHC's senior market analyst.

"Single-family construction has picked up, but less apartment construction so far this year has brought the number of total starts down year-to date."

In the region work began on 155 single homes compared to 145 in May, 2011. In London there were 88 starts compared to 80 last May.

Year to date, the numbers were similar, with a 10% increase in London, from 320 starts to 352 from January to May, and in the region there was a 12% hike from 420 to 470, in the single home starts category.

A look at total starts, including semi-detached, row homes and apartments, showed only a slight increase last month over May, 2011, with a 1% increase in London and a seven per cent hike in the region.

Year to date, the decline was sharper for total buildings, with a 28% drop in the city, thanks to fewer apartment units being built and a 19% decline in the region.

View post:
Home building heats up

BY DAVID ROEDERAND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters June 7, 2012 6:32PM

Updated: June 8, 2012 2:32AM

A developer wants to build a large apartment complex near OHare Airport, a sign that investors infatuation with rental housing extends beyond downtown.

JCF Real Estate of Schaumburg is proposing a seven-story, 405-unit complex on property it controls at 8601 W. Bryn Mawr. Details were contained in a zoning application filed with city officials.

The 500,000-square-foot building would replace six one-story office structures on the property.

It would be the largest apartment complex built in the OHare area in years. Apartments have been the most active residential market, as troubles in the condominium sector have caused more people to rent.

Accordingly, vacancy rates are falling and average rents rising. The real estate firm Marcus & Millichap has projected average rental rate increases of about 4 percent across the Chicago area for 2012, following two years of increases that amounted to less than 2 percent annually.

JCFs OHare site is near several suburbs. Analysts have said suburban rental markets are tight because many towns discourage construction of rental homes.

Top executives of JCF could not be reached Thursday. The plans indicate they wish to charge higher than average rents for a building with features common to downtown high-rises, such as an on-site restaurant, a rooftop deck, a fitness center and an indoor pool.

Parking will be provided for more than 400 cars, with most of the spaces being enclosed within the building.

The rest is here:
Apartment complex planned for site near O’Hare

EAST ST. LOUIS With a striking resemblance to some of the resort condo buildings that dot America's coastal beaches, a $22 million senior citizens apartment building is nearing completion in East St. Louis' Emerson Park neighborhood in the 1000 block of North 15th Street.

The four-story apartment project, called Jazz at Walter Circle, now dominates the city's skyline just north of Interstate 64.

The 74-unit mixed-use building scheduled to open late this year is already a source of pride in a city that has seen few new developments recently.

"One may say, 'Why (in) East St. Louis?' I say, 'Why not East St. Louis?'" said Elizabeth Tolliver, executive director of the East St. Louis Housing Authority.

She and other authority members dared to dream big when planning Jazz at Walter Circle a couple of years ago. The development is a public-private partnership between the East St. Louis Housing Authority and private developers, and it is the first in the nation to combine public housing development funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with New Markets Tax Credits.

The federal New Markets Tax Credit Program was established in 2000 as part of the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000. The goal is to spur revitalization of low-income communities. The program provides tax credit incentives to investors for equity investments in certified Community Development Entities, which invest in low-income communities.

Recipients typically banks and community development groups offer the tax credits as an incentive to investors in projects in qualifying Census tracts. They are worth 39 cents on the dollar.

Jazz at Walter Circle is owned by Eco Jazz Inc., a special purpose nonprofit affiliate of the Housing Authority that was created as a developer of record for the project. Walter Circle will be the name of a new street that is being developed just off 15th Street to serve the residents of the apartment project.

Tolliver noted that Emerson Park has been a stable neighborhood for several years in an otherwise often-troubled city. So the site for the Jazz at Walter Circle project seemed logical, she said. And it's just across the street from the Emerson Park MetroLink station, making for easy access, she said.

The project's name honors East St. Louis' history as a jazz capital. Among other lesser known jazz musicians, the city produced the legendary Miles Davis.

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Senior citizens' apartment nears completion in E. St. Louis

Australian building activity has contracted for its 24th consecutive month, based on weak commercial activity and new orders, a private study has found.

The Australian Industry Group-Housing Industry Association's performance of construction index (PCI) fell 0.2 points to 34.7 in May.

A reading below 50 indicates a contraction in activity.

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Commercial construction was the weakest sub-sector, with its sharpest fall in three years, down 9.8 points to 25.4.

Both house and apartment building remained weak, though the apartments were slightly improved.

The index of house building activity fell 5.1 points to 28.2 - which was the steepest index decline since September 2011.

Apartment building continued to decline, but at a slower rate as the index of activity in that sector rose 3.8 points to 26.7.

New orders continued to be in contraction mode, rising only slightly to 33.7 for May.

Engineering was the best performing sub-sector, but the rise of 0.4 points to 41.3 still left it in a downturn.

Originally posted here:
Building activity extends drop to two years

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) There were startling discoveries Wednesday about the engineer and the real estate developers involved in the removal of fire escapes from a Bronx apartment building.

CBS 2s Marcia Kramer has learned of a bid rigging conviction for one and allegations of political payoffs for the others.

The hunt was on Wednesday for the licensed engineer, Roland Draper, who filed improper permits for renovations at 2400 Webb Ave., in the Bronx, and as a result the fire escapes were removed illegally.

Kramer went looking for him in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., but no one answered the door at his home.

Draper also wasnt at the building in the Bronx, where his blooper of a mistake forced the evacuation of 200 people for who knows how long, because they he took down their fire protection.

There are some serious questions to ask Draper and the people who hired him. CBS 2 has learned that Draper pleaded guilty to bid rigging for construction work done on Forest Park Gardens in Queens. As a result his engineering license was suspended in New York for two years and he was fined $5,000. New Jersey also moved to suspend his license last year for the same crime.

With the University Heights building dramatically missing all of its fire escapes because of Drapers mistakes the city Department of Buildings is not only investigating his work on Webb avenue, but also his involvement in 48 other active projects in the city.

Im speechless right now, displaced Webb Avenue tenant Yvonne Tyson said.

But theres more to be speechless about.

The owners of the Webb Avenue building, Samuel and Philip Goldfarb, were, according to published reports, involved in paying $7,000 in bribes to Sara Bost, the one-time mayor of Irvington, N.J.

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Investigation: 2400 Webb Avenue Engineer, Owners Involved In Past Shady Dealings

Australian building activity has contracted for its 24th consecutive month, based on weak commercial activity and new orders, a private study has found.

The Australian Industry Group-Housing Industry Association's performance of construction index (PCI) fell 0.2 points to 34.7 in May.

A reading below 50 indicates a contraction in activity.

Commercial construction was the weakest sub-sector, with its sharpest fall in three years, down 9.8 points to 25.4.

Both house and apartment building remained weak, though the apartments were slightly improved.

The index of house building activity fell 5.1 points to 28.2 - which was the steepest index decline since September 2011.

Apartment building continued to decline, but at a slower rate as the index of activity in that sector rose 3.8 points to 26.7.

New orders continued to be in contraction mode, rising only slightly to 33.7 for May.

Engineering was the best performing sub-sector, but the rise of 0.4 points to 41.3 still left it in a downturn.

Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) chief economist Julie Toth said that non-mining-related construction remained extremely weak.

The rest is here:
Construction contracts for a 24th month

When city officials promoted the Lofts at Farmers Market as a feasible project, some housing advocates and skeptical members of the St. Paul City Council balked. If the private sector wasn't interested in bankrolling a five-story, market-rate apartment building in the warehouse district, why should the city take the risk?

Council Member Dave Thune and others pressed the case that market studies showed downtown St. Paul as a popular place to live, and the upscale Lowertown building would be fully occupied within nine months of accepting leases.

In the end, they leased it out in three.

On Wednesday, June 6, Thune joined St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Cecile Bedor, director of the city's Planning and Economic Development Department, in a ribbon-cutting for the Lofts project, which overlooks the popular St. Paul farmers market at 5th and Wall streets.

The 58-unit, $13 million apartment building represents a controversial break from tradition for St. Paul, which has previously focused much of its efforts downtown on building "workforce" housing for residents at modest incomes.

The luxury Lofts project hit a standstill in 2008 after developer Brian Sweeney fired general contractor Gerry Flannery, setting off a legal dispute over cost overruns. Amid a series of legal claims and counter-claims, the team abandoned the site mid-stream. City officials debated the issue and decided to develop it themselves using Build America bonds, federal stimulus support

"I almost can't believe that we're standing here," Thune told a crowd of onlookers at the ribbon-cutting, which occurred on the Lofts' second-story roof deck. Two years ago, he sat in on a legal settlement conference, wondering if the city should simply "fill the hole" left by the unfinished construction work. "It was below ground level at that point," he said.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman called the Lofts a key part of his "Rebuild St. Paul" development initiative, which seeks to jumpstart a number of construction projects that fell by the wayside during the recession. He thanked Bedor for rescuing the Lofts "from the grave" on a number of occasions, and Bedor gave similar accolades to project manager Diane Nordquist.

Nearby, the city is taking a similar "hands on" approach in developing the long-delayed Penfield project, 254 units of upscale housing at 10th and Minnesota streets.

Legal wrangling over the Lofts continues. The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently ruled that the city should not have allowed general contractor Shaw Lundquist to adjust its sealed bid upward after discovering a mathematical error in its calculations. The judges said the city should declare the $8.04 million contract null and void, though it is unclear what impact that would have on the building, which is already occupied.

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St. Paul leaders tout Lofts luxury apartments developed by the city downtown