WASHINGTON - Construction of multifamily units will lead the U.S. building industry again this year, allowing housing to contribute to growth for the first time in seven years, according to economists Michelle Meyer and Celia Chen.

Work will begin on about 260,000 apartment buildings and townhouse developments in 2012, up 45 percent from last year and the most since 2008, according to Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. Chen, an economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pa., is even more optimistic, projecting a record 74 percent jump to 310,000.

Home ownership rates, which have declined to the lowest levels since 1998, may keep dropping as the foreclosure crisis turns more Americans into renters. In addition, household formation will probably accelerate as an improving economy and growing employment embolden more people to stop sharing residences and strike out on their own.

“Given the ongoing shift from owning to renting, there is increasing demand for multifamily construction,” Meyer said in an interview. “Foreclosures are transitioning people out of ownership.”

Japan Contracts

Japan’s economy shrank an annualized 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, more than economists estimated, as slumping exports undermined a recovery from last year’s record earthquake, other data showed Feb. 13.

The projected increases in U.S. multifamily construction extend gains in that began with a 6.8 percent increase in 2010 and a 54 percent surge last year to 178,300 units, according to figures from the Commerce Department. That portion of the market reached a record-low of 108,900 units in 2009 after declining for four consecutive years.

By contrast, starts on single-family homes fell last year to 428,600, the fewest in five decades of data. Bank of America’s Meyer projects single-family construction will grow 5 percent this year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last week highlighted the weakness in housing as limiting the economic expansion that began in June 2009.

Bernanke’s View

“The state of the housing sector has been a key impediment to a faster recovery,” Bernanke told the annual convention of homebuilders in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 10. “Homebuilding remains depressed in most areas,” he said. “In contrast to the situation for owner-occupied homes, rental markets around the country have strengthened somewhat. Rents have been increasing and the construction of apartment buildings has picked up.”

A lack of investment in residential real estate subtracted 0.03 percentage point from economic growth last year, the smallest decline since the industry last expanded in 2005.

A report later this week may show housing starts opened the year on a positive note. Builders broke ground on 675,000 houses in January, up 2.7 percent from the prior month, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before Commerce Department data on Feb. 16.

One reason why multifamily units may rebound faster than single-family houses is the drop in demand. The homeownership rate fell in the fourth quarter to 66 percent, according to Commerce Department data. It peaked at 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004 and fell to a 13-year low of 65.9 percent in the second quarter of 2011.

More Foreclosures

An increase in foreclosures may push the rate down even more. Lenders had slowed the pace of home seizures as they negotiated with attorneys general in all 50 states for more than a year over allegations of faulty and fraudulent paperwork used to repossess homes. That delayed the clearing of the market necessary to any recovery and increased demand for rental units.

The rental vacancy rate fell to 9.4 percent in the last three months of 2011 from 9.8 percent in the previous three months, according to data from the Census Bureau. It reached a nine-year low of 9.2 percent from April through June of last year.

Rental payments climbed 2.5 percent in 2011, the biggest gain since 2008, Labor Department figures showed.

Apartment real estate investment trusts such as AvalonBay Communities Inc. have profited from the turn to rentals. It’s up 235 percent since its recession low on March 2, 2009, through Feb. 10. During the same period, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is up 92 percent.

Strengthening Demand

“Apartments should benefit once again in 2012 from a combination of gradually improving labor market, a weak for-sale market, favorable demographics and modest levels of new supply,” Tim Naughton, chief executive officer at AvalonBay, said on a Feb. 2 earnings call. “We expect that demand will outpace supply again this year, which would propel operating performance and result in another strong year for AvalonBay.”

The jobless rate dropped to 8.3 in January, the lowest level in three years, and employers in the world’s largest economy add 243,000 workers to payrolls, according to a Labor Department report this month.

The improvement will contribute to an increase in the number of households being formed, further stoking demand for rental housing, according to economists like Patrick Newport at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.

“We will see a surge in household formation because of pent-up demand as people move away from their parents,” Newport said. “We will see a pickup in housing where there is a much stronger pickup in multifamily.”

IHS forecasts 1.5 million households will be formed in the 12 months through March 2013 from an estimated 972,000 in the year through March 2012.

Read the original post:
Multifamily buildings to lead U.S. construction gains

Tuesday, February 14, 2012    Last updated: Wednesday February 15, 2012, 10:47 AM

Hackensack officials are right to be extra careful about making sure the city's many parking garages are not in danger of falling down.

After the collapse of a parking garage at a high-rise apartment building on Prospect Street a year and a half ago, officials asked operators of 64 similar garages in the city to inspect their facilities and to document the structural integrity of their garages through an engineer's report. The owners of an office building at 5 Summit Ave. responded with a letter from an architect, not an engineer, that said all was well.

That would normally seem to be good enough.

But in the aftermath of a major garage collapse, it wasn't.

After doing its own inspection, the city shut down the two-story garage underneath the two-story office building at the corner of Summit Avenue and Essex Street. A sign this week across an entrance said simply, "Offices open, parking lot under construction."

Building manager Marjorie Reilly was dismayed, telling The Record last week that she was "baffled" by the city's actions, adding, "We had an engineer come in, and he said there were no unsafe conditions.''

Not necessarily, say city officials, who said their inspection found cracked concrete walls and rotting support beams. In fact, the city says one beam was so weak that an engineer was able to put his hand right through the steel.

The city was able to take the action it did at 5 Summit through an ordinance adopted last November. That measure did a number of things, including giving the city the power to take building owners to court if they didn't repair and maintain their parking garages. In this case, the inspection and subsequent closing of the garage came after the city issued the building management a summons.

The parking garage collapse at the 18-story Prospect Towers on July 16, 2010, occurred when a 20-foot-long steel and plexiglass canopy near the building's entrance fell and two floors of the garage caved in. It was amazing and fortunate that no one was injured. Still, more than 300 residents were displaced for months, not moving back in until December of that year.

That collapse spurred the city to have owners routinely inspect their parking garages. Not surprisingly, some owners complained about the cost, but the case at hand proves the city was right. Its methods have closed an unsound garage until it can be repaired. That is an inconvenience, to be sure, to employees and customers of 5 Summit Ave., but another garage collapse would be much worse.

Original post:
The Record: Structural integrity

Enlarge image Multifamily Buildings to Lead U.S. Construction Gains

Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg

New townhouses, built into a rock quarry, stand in the Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. Four Seasons at Great Notch Spa and Club development in Woodland Park, New Jersey.

New townhouses, built into a rock quarry, stand in the Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. Four Seasons at Great Notch Spa and Club development in Woodland Park, New Jersey. Photographer: Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg

Construction of multifamily units will lead the U.S. building industry again this year, allowing housing to contribute to growth for the first time in seven years, according to economists Michelle Meyer and Celia Chen.

Work will begin on about 260,000 apartment buildings and townhouse developments in 2012, up 45 percent from last year and the most since 2008, according to Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. Chen, an economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, is even more optimistic, projecting a record 74 percent jump to 310,000.

Home ownership rates, which have declined to the lowest levels since 1998, may keep dropping as the foreclosure crisis turns more Americans into renters. In addition, household formation will probably accelerate as an improving economy and growing employment embolden more people to stop sharing residences and strike out on their own.

“Given the ongoing shift from owning to renting, there is increasing demand for multifamily construction,” Meyer said in an interview. “Foreclosures are transitioning people out of ownership.”

Stocks rose today as Greece approved austerity plans to secure rescue funds. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.3 percent to 1,346.58 at 10:45 a.m. in New York.

In Europe today, the Confederation of British Industry said the U.K. economy will escape a recession and the recovery will gain momentum this year, avoiding the need for more quantitative easing by the Bank of England.

Japan Contracts

Japan’s economy shrank an annualized 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, more than economists estimated, as slumping exports undermined a recovery from last year’s record earthquake, other data showed today.

The projected increases in U.S. multifamily construction extend gains in that began with a 6.8 percent increase in 2010 and a 54 percent surge last year to 178,300 units, according to figures from the Commerce Department. That portion of the market reached a record-low of 108,900 units in 2009 after declining for four consecutive years.

By contrast, starts on single-family homes fell last year to 428,600, the fewest in five decades of data. Bank of America’s Meyer projects single-family construction will grow 5 percent this year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last week highlighted the weakness in housing as limiting the economic expansion that began in June 2009.

Bernanke’s View

“The state of the housing sector has been a key impediment to a faster recovery,” Bernanke told the annual convention of homebuilders in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 10. “Homebuilding remains depressed in most areas,” he said. “In contrast to the situation for owner-occupied homes, rental markets around the country have strengthened somewhat. Rents have been increasing and the construction of apartment buildings has picked up.”

A lack of investment in residential real estate subtracted 0.03 percentage point from economic growth last year, the smallest decline since the industry last expanded in 2005.

A report later this week may show housing starts opened the year on a positive note. Builders broke ground on 675,000 houses in January, up 2.7 percent from the prior month, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before Commerce Department data on Feb. 16.

One reason why multifamily units may rebound faster than single-family houses is the drop in demand. The homeownership rate fell in the fourth quarter to 66 percent, according to Commerce Department data. It peaked at 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004 and fell to a 13-year low of 65.9 percent in the second quarter of 2011.

More Foreclosures

An increase in foreclosures may push the rate down even more. Lenders had slowed the pace of home seizures as they negotiated with attorneys general in all 50 states for more than a year over allegations of faulty and fraudulent paperwork used to repossess homes. That delayed the clearing of the market necessary to any recovery and increased demand for rental units.

The rental vacancy rate fell to 9.4 percent in the last three months of 2011 from 9.8 percent in the previous three months, according to data from the Census Bureau. It reached a nine-year low of 9.2 percent from April through June of last year.

Rental payments climbed 2.5 percent in 2011, the biggest gain since 2008, Labor Department figures showed.

Apartment real estate investment trusts such as AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) have profited from the turn to rentals. It’s up 235 percent since its recession low on March 2, 2009, through Feb. 10. During the same period, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is up 92 percent.

Strengthening Demand

“Apartments should benefit once again in 2012 from a combination of gradually improving labor market, a weak for-sale market, favorable demographics and modest levels of new supply,” Tim Naughton, chief executive officer at AvalonBay, said on a Feb. 2 earnings call. “We expect that demand will outpace supply again this year, which would propel operating performance and result in another strong year for AvalonBay.”

The jobless rate dropped to 8.3 in January, the lowest level in three years, and employers in the world’s largest economy add 243,000 workers to payrolls, according to a Labor Department report this month.

The improvement will contribute to an increase in the number of households being formed, further stoking demand for rental housing, according to economists like Patrick Newport at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.

“We will see a surge in household formation because of pent-up demand as people move away from their parents,” Newport said. “We will see a pickup in housing where there is a much stronger pickup in multifamily.”

IHS forecasts 1.5 million households will be formed in the 12 months through March 2013 from an estimated 972,000 in the year through March 2012.

To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net;

Link:
Multifamily Buildings to Lead U.S. Construction Gains This Year: Economy

Jamaica Plain’s Home for Little Wanderers will soon be a home for just about anyone.

Developer Boston Residential Group has reached a deal to buy the nonprofit child welfare agency’s South Huntington Avenue property, tear everything down and put up an apartment building with as many as 200 units.

“We really like the Jamaica Plain neighborhood and location,” Curtis Kemeny, the company’s CEO, told the Herald. “We like its proximity to the Longwood Medical Area, to Angell Animal Medical Center, the Back Bay and to downtown employers.”

Boston Residential — which redeveloped the former Tower Records building on Newbury Street and created 65 luxury lofts at 285 Columbus Ave. — has started the permitting process and aims to start construction early next year. It’s a $75 million project, including the acquisition.

“It was a very competitive process,” Kemeny said of the negotiations with broker Colliers Meredith & Grew. “We were just glad we came out on top.”

The Home for Little Wanderers put the nearly century-old orphanage building on the block in August and plans to shift operations to its Longview Farm campus in Walpole, where it’s spending $23 million on a school and four new residential buildings.

A spokeswoman for the home, which leases its headquarters space on Huntington Avenue near Symphony Hall, declined comment yesterday.

The JP building was constructed in 1914, but it’s not a historic site or city landmark.

Kemeny said the new building is still in the design stage but would most likely be four or five stories — in line with the neighboring Goddard House and Sherrill House assisted-living facilities.

The apartments, primarily studios and one-bedroom units, will be “very high quality” but not at the same level of luxury as previous Boston Residential projects, Kemeny said, adding that he aims to make 13 percent of the units affordable in accordance with Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s housing preference.

“The general idea is to bring the residential fabric of Jamaica Plain down to this portion of Huntington Avenue toward Longwood,” he said.

Read more:
JP orphanage EYed for housing

Public Private Partnership delivers public art spaces, affordable and market rate housing and public parking in the heart of downtown Silver Spring.

Silver Spring, MD (PRWEB) February 13, 2012

The stars aligned two years ago when developer RST Development and Montgomery County, MD combined forces to launch construction on the Galaxy, a new five-story, 195-unit, mid-rise rental apartment building in downtown Silver Spring, MD. Leased and managed by Hercules Real Estate, the Galaxy’s leasing center was recently opened to prospective residents. A stunning, decorated model apartment is open for touring, public art is dazzling pedestrians and dozens of one, two and two bedroom with den apartments have been pre-leased. The Galaxy brings 82 affordable apartments and 113 market units to this dynamic section of Silver Spring.

“The Galaxy is opening its doors to residents at a very opportune time in the market,” said RST Development Principal, Scott Copeland. “Our location in the core of Silver Spring’s arts district, walking distance to the Metro, has great appeal to the growing number of individuals and families who want to rent in a close-in location. We brought in top local design talent and artists to create a fresh, contemporary design and a decidedly urban feel to this project.”

“The Galaxy team is fulfilling its promise to bring affordable and market rate housing as well as additional parking to downtown Silver Spring,” said Richard Y. Nelson, Jr., Director of the Montgomery County – Department of Housing and Community Affairs. “This public-private initiative demonstrates the opportunity we have for win-win-win developments in Montgomery County. The Galaxy is a win for residents of many income levels, a win for the County in bringing additional parking for a 24-7 neighborhood and a win for a development team that is opening the right product at exactly the right time.”

Galaxy residents will enjoy an abundance of light and air at this stylish addition to downtown Silver Spring. A public plaza greets residents and their guests as they approach the project and a peaceful interior courtyard with benches and sculpture provides for both a quiet visit and allows for tranquil views from balconies and patios. A green roof provides eco-friendly storm water management and solar panels reduce the building’s energy load.

Creating a pedestrian friendly path through the block between 13th Street and King Street, a new Art Walk will offer the opportunity for art installations by local artists. A stunning mural by acclaimed local artist, Martha Jackson Jarvis, greets residents at the entrance to the building.

Downtown Silver Spring combines convenience and extraordinary transportation access with an eclectic mix of dining, shopping, and entertainment. Galaxy residents will have front door access to the free VanGo shuttle service that serves more than two dozen Silver Spring stops, making outings to the many concerts, arts and crafts fairs, farmers market and cultural festivals easy and affordable. The Silver Spring Metro station is close to the project and three bus shelters with real-time schedule information flank the project. Bicyclists will find plentiful storage and the 368-car underground garage provides 208 dedicated spaces for residents as well as car share parking and public parking. A full service concierge and an Onsite Transportation Benefits Coordinator bring convenience and efficiency to life at the Galaxy.

Galaxy amenities include a large, luxurious clubroom with pool table, flat screen televisions and a Wii™ station as well as a cyber café with a Wi-Fi Hotspot. A fully equipped private fitness center sports glass windows to the plaza. Apartments are designed with condo-grade finishes, from custom cabinetry to granite countertops and stainless steel appliances to ceramic floors, full-size washers and dryers, walk-in closets, patios and balconies. Families will enjoy not only the easy walk to local favorite restaurants, grocery stores such as Whole Foods, movies and shops but also the private “tot lot” with creatively designed play equipment.

The Galaxy was developed by RST Development after an extensive property assemblage and is an example of a public private partnership working together for jobs, affordable housing and development. The financing included a tax-exempt bond mortgage of $38.5 million provided by the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission, along with a $5 million loan from the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs, from the County’s Housing Initiative Fund. The County also provided a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement. The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development provided Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The 368-space parking garage is the result of a partnership between RST Development and the Montgomery County Parking Lot District, who owned the surface lot that existed prior to development.

The Galaxy team is comprised of top quality firms in the areas of design and construction:

    Clark Realty Builders – General Contractor     A.R. Meyers & Associates Architects, Inc. AIA – Architect     Studio 39 – Landscape Architect     Hartman Design Group – Interior Design     Martha Jackson Jarvis – Mural     Streetsense - Marketing

About Hercules Living

Founded in 1995, the family-owned Hercules Real Estate Services now owns and manages over 40 properties, comprising of over 8,000 units, in six states – Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia — and Washington, D.C. Approximately 80 percent of Hercules Real Estate’s portfolio is designated affordable under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. In little over a decade, Hercules has emerged as one of the leading companies of its kind in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. For more information, please visit http://www.HerculesLiving.com

###

Eric Burka
Streetsense
301.652.9020
Email Information

Read this article:
Galaxy Apartments Open In Downtown Silver Spring, MD

February 14, 2012, 1:36 AM EST

By Bob Willis

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Construction of multifamily units will lead the U.S. building industry again this year, allowing housing to contribute to growth for the first time in seven years, according to economists Michelle Meyer and Celia Chen.

Work will begin on about 260,000 apartment buildings and townhouse developments in 2012, up 45 percent from last year and the most since 2008, according to Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. Chen, an economist at Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania, is even more optimistic, projecting a record 74 percent jump to 310,000.

Home ownership rates, which have declined to the lowest levels since 1998, may keep dropping as the foreclosure crisis turns more Americans into renters. In addition, household formation will probably accelerate as an improving economy and growing employment embolden more people to stop sharing residences and strike out on their own.

“Given the ongoing shift from owning to renting, there is increasing demand for multifamily construction,” Meyer said in an interview. “Foreclosures are transitioning people out of ownership.”

Stocks rose today as Greece approved austerity plans to secure rescue funds. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.3 percent to 1,346.58 at 10:45 a.m. in New York.

In Europe today, the Confederation of British Industry said the U.K. economy will escape a recession and the recovery will gain momentum this year, avoiding the need for more quantitative easing by the Bank of England.

Japan Contracts

Japan’s economy shrank an annualized 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter, more than economists estimated, as slumping exports undermined a recovery from last year’s record earthquake, other data showed today.

The projected increases in U.S. multifamily construction extend gains in that began with a 6.8 percent increase in 2010 and a 54 percent surge last year to 178,300 units, according to figures from the Commerce Department. That portion of the market reached a record-low of 108,900 units in 2009 after declining for four consecutive years.

By contrast, starts on single-family homes fell last year to 428,600, the fewest in five decades of data. Bank of America’s Meyer projects single-family construction will grow 5 percent this year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last week highlighted the weakness in housing as limiting the economic expansion that began in June 2009.

Bernanke’s View

“The state of the housing sector has been a key impediment to a faster recovery,” Bernanke told the annual convention of homebuilders in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 10. “Homebuilding remains depressed in most areas,” he said. “In contrast to the situation for owner-occupied homes, rental markets around the country have strengthened somewhat. Rents have been increasing and the construction of apartment buildings has picked up.”

A lack of investment in residential real estate subtracted 0.03 percentage point from economic growth last year, the smallest decline since the industry last expanded in 2005.

A report later this week may show housing starts opened the year on a positive note. Builders broke ground on 675,000 houses in January, up 2.7 percent from the prior month, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before Commerce Department data on Feb. 16.

One reason why multifamily units may rebound faster than single-family houses is the drop in demand. The homeownership rate fell in the fourth quarter to 66 percent, according to Commerce Department data. It peaked at 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004 and fell to a 13-year low of 65.9 percent in the second quarter of 2011.

More Foreclosures

An increase in foreclosures may push the rate down even more. Lenders had slowed the pace of home seizures as they negotiated with attorneys general in all 50 states for more than a year over allegations of faulty and fraudulent paperwork used to repossess homes. That delayed the clearing of the market necessary to any recovery and increased demand for rental units.

The rental vacancy rate fell to 9.4 percent in the last three months of 2011 from 9.8 percent in the previous three months, according to data from the Census Bureau. It reached a nine-year low of 9.2 percent from April through June of last year.

Rental payments climbed 2.5 percent in 2011, the biggest gain since 2008, Labor Department figures showed.

Apartment real estate investment trusts such as AvalonBay Communities Inc. have profited from the turn to rentals. It’s up 235 percent since its recession low on March 2, 2009, through Feb. 10. During the same period, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is up 92 percent.

Strengthening Demand

“Apartments should benefit once again in 2012 from a combination of gradually improving labor market, a weak for-sale market, favorable demographics and modest levels of new supply,” Tim Naughton, chief executive officer at AvalonBay, said on a Feb. 2 earnings call. “We expect that demand will outpace supply again this year, which would propel operating performance and result in another strong year for AvalonBay.”

The jobless rate dropped to 8.3 in January, the lowest level in three years, and employers in the world’s largest economy add 243,000 workers to payrolls, according to a Labor Department report this month.

The improvement will contribute to an increase in the number of households being formed, further stoking demand for rental housing, according to economists like Patrick Newport at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.

“We will see a surge in household formation because of pent-up demand as people move away from their parents,” Newport said. “We will see a pickup in housing where there is a much stronger pickup in multifamily.”

IHS forecasts 1.5 million households will be formed in the 12 months through March 2013 from an estimated 972,000 in the year through March 2012.

--With assistance from Alex Tanzi in Washington. Editors: Carlos Torres, Chris Wellisz

To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net;

See the article here:
Multifamily Buildings to Lead U.S. Construction Gains: Economy

BAY CITY — No one was injured, but two families were displaced by a fire that broke out early Saturday morning in an apartment building at 709 Seventh St. on Bay City's East Side.

Robert Phillips, assistant chief of the Bay City Fire Department, said the home and its contents is a total loss.

Phillips said firefighters were called to the blaze at 6:43 a.m. and arrived on the scene minutes later. The initial dispatch call included a mention of people trapped by the fire but everyone was out of the home within three minutes of firefighters' arrival.

Phillips said the cause of the fire is unknown with all options still being investigated. Fire crews on the scene reported the fire may have started on the second floor and later spread to the first. Phillips said the home's older-style balloon-frame construction may have contributed to the spread of the fire.

“Once it gets into the walls and attic it spreads throughout the house due to the balloon-frame construction,” Phillips said. “There are no firestops.”

Neighbor Roxanne Davis, a food service manager at the Bay County Jail, witnessed the fire and listened to the fire department’s radio chatter on her scanner.

“I kept running back and forth to the front of the house (and to the scanner),” Davis said. “I was curious why the (fire department) was still there.”

Davis noted that at first there was no visible smoke or flames but later they began shooting from the roof and windows of the structure.

It took until 9 a.m. to bring the fire under control including a 30-minute period where firefighters had to evacuate the house due to a danger of being trapped by the fire, Phillips said. Bay City firefighters were assisted by the Hampton Township Fire Department. 

Members from the Great Lakes Bay chapter of the American Red Cross provided relief and a Bay Metro bus was called in to act as area for firefighters to warm up due to the cold weather. Fire crews remained on the scene until about 12:30 p.m. with some investigators staying for another hour.

According to Red Cross officials, both families displaced by the fire are now taking up residence with other family members. Emergency Services Program Manager Ryan Manz said he did not know of any charities set up to help the victims of the fire, but said those wishing to help can donate to the Red Cross and designate the donation go to the families affected by the fire. 

He noted that any money above the amount of assistance given to the families involved would go to other families in a similar situation.

The property was valued at $56,000 before the fire, according to Phillips.

Read more:
Fire destroys Bay City apartment building Saturday, displaces two families

Published: 6:48PM Friday February 10, 2012 Source: ONE News

Maurice Williamson - Source: Close Up

Watch Video Related

The Minister of Building and Construction wants to set up a mandatory scheme for buildings to display their earthquake safety standards.

The proposal from Maurice Williamson comes after a report into the collapse of Christchurch's CTV building found it failed three standards of the building code when it was built in 1986.

The six-storey building claimed 115 lives when it was flattened in the February 22 quake and subsequently caught fire.

Williamson said establishing a law which forces building owners to publicly disclose a building's ability to withstand an earthquake would allow people to make their own decisions about using it.

"If you were going to rent an apartment and you saw your building only met 30% of the earthquake standard you'd make the decision, 'I'd rather pay more for a flat in a better building,'" he said.

"Then you'd see market forces making owners lift the standards of their buildings."

Williamson said the Canterbury earthquakes had forced officials to rethink the current building code, particularly with regard to seismic activity.

He said it was possible higher standards may be introduced, but these had to be balanced off against the extra cost to builders. 

"We've put about a 35% increase in the seismic standards for new buildings (since the quakes)," he said.

"But it (the CTV report) will also make us think seriously about where we take that level for older stock.

"You could have the gold plated standard and have no one able to afford a building or have low standards and buildings be really cheap."

Meanwhile, the Department of Building and Housing is currently examining 352 structures built around the same time as the CTV building which may have similar problems in the event of a quake.

"They think it highly unlikely it'll be replicated elsewhere, but we are going to do those checks to make sure," Williamson said.

"We've inspected just about half of them, about 176, and we've found about 60 that require some further work."

Williamson won't name the other buildings on the inspection list but said the chances of another collapse like the CTV building is very unlikely.

He said CTV had a unique design which made it more vulnerable and it also failed to meet the building standards of its time.

The department hopes to have the remaining surveys completed by April.

Latest NZ News Video

Copyright © 2012, Television New Zealand Limited. Breaking and Daily News, Sport & Weather | TV ONE, TV2 | Ondemand

See the original post here:
Minister calls for building quake safety ratings

Saturday, February 11, 2012    Last updated: Sunday February 12, 2012, 1:21 PM

After living in a small New York apartment, Michelle and Alon Frumer were thrilled to find a new-construction house in Englewood in 2008, with plenty of room to raise their two young children.

KEVIN R. WEXLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Alon Frumer in his Englewood home, where several rooms had to be gutted because of leaks that fed the growth of mold. That and other problems have forced him and his family to leave the house, and a lawsuit is pending.

But just days after moving into the $997,000 home, the couple discovered water pouring into the basement from an opening in the foundation. Other problems soon turned up, including a cracked chimney, missing fire protection and extensive water leaks, which fed the growth of mold.

"It reminded me of that movie 'The Money Pit,' " said Michelle, a real estate investment manager. "I feel like we're living a real-life 'Money Pit' with this house."

Their years-long struggle to get relief raises questions about the effectiveness of municipal building inspections and home warranties. The Frumers say the city's building inspector should have found the home's problems during its construction, and the warranty company should now do more to remedy them.

Much litigation

The Frumers, who moved out of the house in 2009 and are now living in Teaneck, have sued the architect, the builder, the city of Englewood, the home warranty company and the contractor that the warranty company sent to fix the problems.

According to the suit, the four-bedroom, 4,883-square-foot Valley Place house was built by Leonard and Evelyn Krimsky of Englewood in partnership with Jack Nelson of Englewood. It featured high ceilings, a library and fireplaces in both the living room and master bedroom. It was completed in 2007, and the Frumers bought it in April 2008. They didn't have an inspection because the home had been inspected by the city's building code officials, and it came with the warranty.

But new homes should "absolutely" be checked by an independent inspector, said John Nastasi, an architecture professor at Stevens Institute of Technology.

'A total disaster'

The rest is here:
New home, no worries. No way!

WATERLOO REGION – Housing starts in Waterloo Region surged in January due to construction of a large apartment building in Waterloo.

Builders started 467 housing units in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area last month, more than double the 177 units started in January a year ago, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Wednesday.

Last month’s total was boosted by 362 apartment starts, including a 358-unit building on Erb Street in Waterloo.

Although that single project skews last month’s numbers, the increase in apartment construction reflects a trend as young adults, immigrants and downsizing baby boomers boost demand for apartment-style accommodation, said Erica McLerie, a senior market analyst with the housing corporation.

Foundations were poured for 75 single-detached homes last month, down from 93 in January a year ago.

Nationally, the pace of housing starts slowed slightly in January, mainly because of sharp decreases in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

The housing agency said the seasonally adjusted annual start rate was 197,900 units in January, down from 199,900 units in December.

The seasonally adjusted figure attempts to smooth out monthly variations and calculates an annual total as if the January rate continued for 12 months.

The actual number of units begun in January was 12,950.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased by 2.8 per cent to 176,600 units in January, with single starts down by 7.8 per cent and multiple starts up 0.4 per cent.

Urban starts decreased by 35.4 per cent in Atlantic Canada and by 34.4 per cent in Quebec on a seasonally adjusted annual rate.

On the same basis, rural starts were estimated at 21,300 units in January.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Big apartment project boosts local housing starts in January