OGDEN Ogden City officials are concerned with a surge of apartment developments popping up in commercial areas across town, so much so that theyre considering introducing an ordinance that would address the problem.

Ogden Planning Manager Greg Montgomery recently told the city planning commission that there have been more than 1,500 apartment units considered by planning staff just since 2019. Though not all of those units have been approved for final build, the number represents a significant increase from just two years ago, Montgomery said. In 2018, only 122 new apartment units were approved by the city.

Weve been seeing a lot of them, Mayor Mike Caldwell said.

Montgomery and the mayor say there are a variety of potential reasons for the uptick, including the fact that Utah has relatively stable housing and employment markets, land is available and affordable, and financing is available for multi-unit projects.

The city has long sought to bring higher density to the downtown area, but Montgomery said many of the new apartment construction requests are for commercial areas outside of the Central Business District. He said the waning interest downtown might be due to the higher cost of property and the additional, more stringent design standards required in the area.

Space is also dwindling in the citys River redevelopment area, where the citys redevelopment agency has actively tried to recruit developers to build high-density housing.

Its something were currently working through, trying to figure out, Caldwell said.

The citys planning staff has analyzed some of the current apartment proposals, looking at their long-term livability. The department is also pondering long-term consequences of poorly designed or placed projects.

As such, the city is considering an ordinance that would strengthen design standards, as well as call for certain requirements regarding open space, parking and building materials. Montgomery said while there is an abundance of commercially zoned property in the city, thought should be given to make sure prime commercial space is not lost to housing. An ordinance would help the cause, the city says.

According to the citys General Plan, which provides a framework and common vision for all future development in Ogden, multi-family hosing, like apartments, is more desirable along transportation corridors. Though the plan is not a mandate and Caldwell says the issue really centers around making common sense decisions.

Generally speaking, when it comes to housing, we want to have the right balance, Caldwell said. We want a number of different housing options, but we want everything to be in the right place and we want a certain quality and (housing) that will last.

According to the Utah League of Cities and Towns, Ogden has about 30,000 total housing units, with 45% of those being rentals.

Ogden provides 58% of all of Weber Countys rental properties, according to the league. Conversely, Provo and Orem, combined, account for about the same percentage for all of Utah County. Salt Lake City provides 33% of the total rental properties in Salt Lake County.

The Ogden City Council is set to discuss the issue during a Tuesday, Sept. 8, work session.

Link:
Ogden officials concerned with number, placement and quality of apartments coming into commercial areas of the city - Standard-Examiner

The Falmouth Board of Health will offer to inspect apartments of tenants of the Falmouth Housing Authority after the board learned of chronic leaks and mold in common areas of the buildings they live in. To date, there has not been an inspection of the 163 units.

Housing authority Executive Director Bobbi J. Richards was before the board of health on Monday, August 31, to answer questions and provide a plan to fix the federally subsidized Tataket and Harborview apartment buildings. The discussion followed an anonymous letter from tenants that led to the health departments inspection of both buildings last week.

This seems like an ongoing issue we just found out about now, said Falmouth Health Agent Scott McGann, who received the anonymous letter dated August 16. In the letter, Falmouth Housing Authority tenants complained of unhealthy living conditions due to water leaks that have caused stained carpets and mold.

We believe these extreme hazards have led a lot of us to the emergency room. We are all elderly, on fixed incomes and dont have the money for a lawyer...we fear of retaliation from Ms. Richards and possible evictions, the unsigned letter reads.

The town inspectors found copper pipes leaking throughout the building, causing wall, ceiling and floor damage at the four-story Harborview apartment building at 115 Scranton Avenue.

At the Tataket apartment building at 138 Teaticket Highway, health inspectors found rubber flooring in exterior hallways and exit porches was torn and worn and has bubbled and lifted, creating tripping hazards and causing leaking through the ceiling onto the lower walkways. Inspectors also noted water damage in the building from similar water pipe failures.

The apartments were not inspected, as the complaint did not reference specific units, Mr. McGann said.

My concern is these people are not necessarily reporting. Im afraid some are sitting in a room with a leak [or] mold and not saying anything, he said.

Board of health chairwoman Diana Molloy also expressed concern for the residents, many of whom are elderly.

They may have underlying respiratory diseases, COPD, asthma. And there are tripping hazards. Its a safety risk, she said.

Board members requested that Ms. Richards learn the extent of the damage and how many residents have been impacted.

Ms. Molloy asked if she had received complaints from tenants and, if so, when they began.

Ms. Richards said the housing authority has not received many complaints from tenants and was surprised to see the anonymous letter.

We received a complaint about four weeks ago from a resident at Harborview concerned about something outside their apartment in the hallway, she said. We immediately sent over a team to investigate. We worked with disaster specialists and mold pros.

She clarified the tenants did not send her the letter; she received it from one of the authoritys board members. She also noted she did not understand why tenants feared retaliation or eviction, since she has evicted just two tenants since assuming the position in 2017.

My impression from the letter is they dont feel comfortable coming to the housing authority for whatever reason, but we are open to hearing from them. We want to make sure no one feels uncomfortable in their apartment, she said.

Upon learning of the anonymous letter, Ms. Richards said, she called Servpro, a remediation company that did some work over the weekend. She is awaiting results of the mold tests taken at both buildings. The testing was conducted only in the common areas since, she said, she did not receive complaints of mold in apartments.

Mr. McGann asked Ms. Richards for an inventory of the rooms that might have been affected and what communication she has had with residents regarding leaks.

I am not aware of a number of units that have this as a concern in their unit. I am aware of one or two units. When a person calls and says they have an issue in their unit, we remediated the unit. I would be happy to survey the tenants, she said.

She told the board that maintenance staff have been chasing leaks since last July, and the frequency of burst pipes increased in January.

Weve been doing a lot of remediation at both buildings on a case-by-case basis, she said.

The housing authority retained Winslow Architects to investigate the reason for the increasing number of leaks. The results were noted in a May 7 report prepared by the consultants, who concluded the water piping was failing and would fail more over time due to the poor quality of the piping material used during construction in the 1970s.

The type of piping is called type M copper. It was banned for use in apartment buildings in the mid-1980s, the report states.

Principal architect John Winslow said the pipes have outlived their lifespans, and they are literally weeping.

Its not an easy fix. Its occurring everywhere in Harborview and in Tataket, he said.

Just as his firm was preparing bid documents, firm staff suspected mold issues, having smelled it in the common areas, he said. He used a consultant to check for mold, and samples were taken on August 19.

We were ready to go to bid when we realized mold is an issue. We had to step back, which is where we are now, he said.

Ms. Richards estimates the project will cost $1.4 million. Another $300,000 is earmarked for walkway repairs at Tataket. Work can begin in October or November.

After expressing confidence the company would do a good job making the repairs, Mr. McGann turned the discussion back to the tenants.

We dont even know whats going on inside the apartments. I know we have a population that may not want to make waves, so the real question is what we do now to make sure they are safe, he said.

The board agreed to ask tenants if they want inspections for mold or other issues. The board will also invite Ms. Richards back to discuss the ongoing remediation and scope of work.

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Falmouth Health Board To Inspect Apartment Complexes For Leaks And Mold - CapeNews.net

A union pension fund is set to inject $1 billion into Bay Area housing construction, an initiative the group says will help finance more than 4,000 new residential units by 2025.

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, one of the nations largest pension investment programs focused on housing, said that the investment would result in 4,000 union construction jobs and 12,000 jobs altogether.

The Bay Area initiative will invest $500 million in a broad spectrum of housing types, including market-rate apartments, middle-income workforce housing and affordable units. The trust said the $500 million would allow it to leverage another $500 million from local unions, investors, low-income tax credit investors and other partners.

The investment comes as financing for housing has become more difficult to find. With dropping rents, spiking vacancies and uncertainty about what the regions housing market will look like in the wake of the pandemic, new housing projects are likely to be delayed, contractors and developers say.

While the coronavirus pandemic has led to significant declines in Bay Area rents one-bedrooms are down as much as 14% year over year, according to Zumper the $3,000 a month average price tag is still unaffordable for a broad segment of the population, the group said.

Too many people in the Bay Area are being laid off and too many still cannot afford decent housing, said Chang Suh, the HITs chief executive officer and co-chief portfolio manager.

The AFL-CIO announcement comes after a two-year stretch during which several major tech companies announced plans to invest in housing. Apple pledged $2.5 billion for affordable housing, while both Facebook and Google pledged $1 billion.

Suh said that the pandemic is leading to rising unemployment among local construction workers, service industry workers and public sector employees, who will struggle to afford rent or mortgage payments.

Since 1984, the trust has invested $396.1 million in 19 projects throughout the Bay Area. The investments helped create more than 3,200 housing units and 4,500 construction jobs.

The union pension fund backed some of the earliest developments coming out of the great recession, including investing $33 million into Potrero Launch, a 196-unit Dogpatch development, and $32 million into the Arc Light project at 178 Townsend St., both in San Francisco and developed by the Martin Building Group.

In addition to those two projects, the AFL-CIO trust invested $70 million into Rincon Green, Emerald Funds 308-unit apartment complex on Harrison Street in the South of Market.

Emerald Fund Chairman Oz Erickson said that project would not have been possible without the union pension funds investment, which provided two-thirds of the financing.

Their participation was essential, he said.

The pandemic-induced recession and plummeting rents in San Francisco, along with increased city fees and rules around affordable housing requirements will make it nearly impossible to finance housing construction, Erickson said.

I dont think there will be much built in the next two years, he said, adding that the $1 billion initiative will be very much appreciated as the market starts to rebound.

For developers looking to raise money for new projects, the capital markets remain stalled, said Todd David, executive director of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition. The markets have been dislocated since March and the lending markets have not improved at all, he said.

Tim Paulson, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council, said that union pension funds have a history of coming through when other capital financing dries up.

Our pension funds like to invest in real jobs and real housing investment not just Wall Street dividends and bottom-line profits, said Paulson. Jobs and housing that is kind of the one-two punch of what we all care about right now.

Ted Chandler, managing director of the trust, said the investment in Bay Area housing would both produce competitive returns for our pension fund beneficiaries as well as help many thousands in this time of need.

The lesson here is that smart capital is the lifeblood of housing and community development, Suh said.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen

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Bay Area housing to get $1 billion investment from union pension fund as financing dries up - San Francisco Chronicle

Suburbanization, flight from crime, racism and other factors cost the city thousands of residents since the 1950s, but more was at play downtown. Ironically, the 52-story Terminal Tower was part of the Cleveland Union Terminal project that displaced 20,000 people from a corner of Public Square in the 1920s. Other city renewal and beautification efforts displaced more people. By the 1980s, downtown population dwindled to 9,000.

That's when the idea of boosting population to revitalize downtown took hold, first to occupy empty warehouse buildings and later to replace obsolete office space. A handful of people had taken up residence in The Bradley Building in the 1970s to make it the first residential loft between New York and Chicago. In 1987, an affiliate of Independence-based Dalad Group installed 30 suites in The Hat Factory, 1235 W. Sixth St., to take renovations to a grander scale.

However, turning visions of downtown living into reality took creating a track record.

Bob Rains, a partner with the Carney family in downtown apartment concern Landmark Management, recalled the difficulties in 1992 when it undertook its first rehab project, converting three buildings into the Grand Arcade, at 408 W. St. Clair Ave., which is now condominiums.

"No one wanted to make the loan for the project," Rains said. "No one wanted to buy the equity for the federal historic tax credits."

Breakthroughs came from several quarters, such as the carpenters union pension fund, and redirecting funds from unused federal Urban Development Action Grants helped finance pioneering projects.

Patience paid off.

"Once we had 200 units downtown, it took off," Rains said.

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Crain's Cleveland Look Back: Apartment boom was decades in the making - Crain's Cleveland Business

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Critics of the proposed Sixers arena on the waterfront have been vocal from the moment the Inquirer broke news about the potential project near Penns Landing on the Delaware River.

Philadelphians from seemingly every corner of the city have expressed concerns that range from issues with awarding public subsidies to the teams billionaire owners to complaints over a potential influx of traffic along a stretch thats just starting to become walkable after years of effort.

While often controversial, downtown sports arenas are on the rise across the country. Some 45 U.S. cities have seen new stadium construction or major renovation since the turn of the millennium, per a 2016 Brookings Institution study, with a total cost of $28 billion.

Results have been mixed. Government officials and sports franchises tout economic benefits that dont always deliver. Public financing of professional sports stadiums which made up half the money spent in the Brookings study and is already contentious looks even more precarious at a time when city budgets have been capsized by the coronavirus.

The 76ers have been courting state and local officials for some time, but the deal is far from set in stone, as the team is one of four bidders in the running for the parcel. A decision is reportedly coming by the end of September from the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation, the quasi-public entity that oversees the district.

One thing that makes the Sixers proposal stand out is its price tag: $4 billion.

That would make it one of the most expensive NBA arena projects in the nation by a lot. Over the past two decades, this kind of venture has been financed anywhere from $200k at the low end to over $1 billion.

These widely fluctuating costs are largely due to varying scope. Its become increasingly common for stadium construction to also include mixed-use buildings, often packaged as part of a larger entertainment district.

The Sixers proposal is of that ilk. Beyond retail and commercial offerings in apartment buildings erected near the prospective arena, the teams ownership suggests building a new public school and new homes for the Independence Seaport Museum and African American History Museum. As Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron noted, franchise owners Josh Harris and David Blitzers company is vying for development rights for a mile-long stretch of the Delaware waterfront.

The stadium as its own neighborhood creator is an idea thats been floated in Philadelphia before. In other cities, its actually been executed so we can look to those projects as examples of what might or might not pan out should the 76ers get approved.

Heres a partial list of other NBA basketball teams that have recently built stadiums downtown, including the cost, the financing, the public outcry, and the economic impact of the projects.

Name: Chase Stadium

Year opened: 2019

Owner: Golden State Warriors

Construction cost: $500 million

Financing: Privately financed. Chase Bank paid $300 million for a 20-year lease on naming rights to the stadium.

Neighborhood style: On the bay waterfront, near Oracle Park and a hospital complex in the Mission.

Commentary: The stadium construction was met with sizable opposition from community and neighborhood groups, who noted it would also come with a hotel and luxury condos. Opponents depicted it as a traffic nightmare that would also destroy the waterfront view, altering the fabric of surrounding residential neighborhoods. As will likely happen with the Sixers proposal, critics said the project was being pushed by two billionaires, neither of whom lives here, according to SF Gate.

Economic impact: As the stadiums owners, the Warriors made $2 billion in ticket sales before the arena even opened, which includes concert ticket revenue.

Name: Little Caesars Arena

Year opened: 2017

Owner: Detroits Downtown Development Authority, which leases it to a combined NHL-NBA franchise parent company. The Pistons began playing here the 2017-8 season.

Construction cost: Projected at $862 million for the entire district ($932 million adjusted for inflation); eventually exceeded $1.2 billion.

Financing: Nearly 60% funded by tax dollars

Neighborhood style: A 50-block area known as the District Detroit, which includes mixed-use retail and residential.

Commentary: The public financing of the project sparked public outrage, including a lawsuit that sought to block the construction from using school property tax dollars without voter approval. Moving the Pistons also signalled the first time all four of Detroits major league sports teams would play close to the downtown, the Detroit News reported.

Economic impact: The construction phase employed some 12,500 people. Urban planners, government officials and business stakeholders said the stadium generated over $1.5 billion in new economic investment in its first year.

Name: Golden 1 Center

Owner: City of Sacramento

Year opened: 2016

Construction cost: $558 million

Financing: Kings owners financed roughly half of the cost of the project, while the Sacramento City Council approved municipal bonds to cover the rest, with some additional economic stimulus grants filling in the gaps.

Neighborhood style: Downtown grid area along the Sacramento River, mostly commercial and government buildings prior to the stadium.

Commentary: Concerns around the rising construction costs over two years of construction came up frequently. The final cost was roughly $50 million more than first projected.

Economic impact: Three years after it broke ground, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership reported a 38% increase in jobs in the citys downtown area, as well as dozens of new retailers and other businesses, according to the New York Times.

Name: Barclays Center

Owner: New York State, via an umbrella organization

Year opened: 2012

Construction cost: Over $1 billion

Financing: More than half from tax-exempt bonds, as the building was to be publicly owned. Barclays Bank also paid $200 million for naming rights.

Neighborhood style: Part of a 17-building retail and residential project called Pacific Park in Prospect Heights thats directly adjacent to downtown Brooklyn.

Commentary: Some Brooklyn residents made careers out of their opposition to the stadium construction, news reports quipped at the time. Most controversially, the city used eminent domain to condemn, seize and acquire privately owned property for the project.

Economic impact: The stadium did not turn out to be an immediate financial success as its stakeholders predicted. Barclays continued to lose money in the first three years of its operation. The pandemic has stymied any potential reversal of that trend, but even so, the complex lost less money in the first half of 2020 than the year prior.

Name: Spectrum Center

Owner: City of Charlotte

Year opened: 2005

Construction cost: $260 million ($340 million with inflation)

Financing: All publicly funded

Neighborhood style: The First Ward of the financial district (here called Uptown) was once relatively barren, but these days is full of entertainment and some historic renovation.

Commentary: The former Charlotte Coliseum was only 13 years old when the city of Charlotte pitched a new stadium for the basketball team. In 2001, the city put a $342 million spending package on the ballot for voters to decide and despite poll support, voters rejected those early plans. Opponents cited concerns about living wages in the city at the time, arguing the citys priorities were out of place.

Economic impact: Boosters noted the stadium also hosted major basketball events that brought in hundreds of millions in estimated economic impact.

Name: American Airlines Center

Owner: City of Dallas

Year opened: 2001

Construction cost: $420 million ($606 million with inflation)

Financing: Taxpayers approved two new taxes to fund the stadium a hotel tax and a rental car tax. The Mavericks and the Dallas Stars, which shared the stadium, agreed to pick up the rest.

Neighborhood style: Promises of revitalization in the planned Victory Park district lagged despite stadium construction, but two decades later there are signs of things picking up.

Commentary: In the late 1990s, Dallas City Hall feuded over the use of tax dollars to fund the Mavs new home. The brawl divided along familiar lines: Opponents said the city shouldnt front the money for a development that would directly benefit the teams billionaire owners, who were threatening to take both the team out of the city. City lawmakers narrowly approved $140 million in bonds to finance the stadium, which were backed by the hotel room and rental car levies.

Economic impact: Dallas paid off much of the bond debt by 2011, earlier than expected, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Name: State Farm Arena, formerly the Phillips Arena

Year opened: 1999

Owner: Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority

Construction cost: $328 million adjusted for inflation, plus nearly $200 million for renovations in recent years.

Financing: The city funded about 90% of the stadium costs through bonds and a $2.50 rental car tax to help finance construction.

Neighborhood style: In the middle of Centennial Park District, built around the 1996 Olympics, next to downtown offices (including CNN) and attractions like the aquarium and Coca-Cola Museum.

Commentary: The project was a replacement for Atlantas 70s-era arena, the Omni Coliseum. The rental tax projected to raise $1 billion over 30 years was challenged in court after being implemented in 2000.

Economic impact: Twenty years after its construction, the rental tax was also used to bankroll major renovations to the area. That arrangement could now hurt the citys bond rating as car rentals plummet during the pandemic.

Name: Capital One Arena

Year opened: 1997

Owner: Monumental Sports & Entertainment

Construction cost: $260 million ($436 million with inflation)

Financing: Construction was privately financed, but the D.C. government gave the team plenty of perks, including a property tax exemption, $70 million worth of below-market rent for the land and millions more in low-interest municipal loans for renovations.

Neighborhood style: Between Chinatown and Penn Quarter, a buzzy retail area full of bars and entertainment.

Commentary: Originally called the Verizon Center, the new arena brought the Wizards back into the city from their home court USAir Arena in the D.C. suburbs.

Economic impact: The Downtown D.C., a business improvement district, said there billions in new real estate investment came to the Chinatown area near the stadium in the years after it opened. However, the organization noted this redevelopment would have happened without the stadium anyway, but the Verizon Center accelerated the redevelopment of surrounding areas by seven to 10 years.

Name: AmericanAirlines Arena

Year opened: 1999

Owner: Miami-Dade County

Construction cost: $213 million ($337 million with inflation)

Financing: This is one of the more unique arrangements in big city stadium construction because the Miami Heat privately financed the construction. How? Because the city gave them $38 million in land for free, with a promised $6.5 million in annual subsidies.

Neighborhood style: Along the bay waterfront in one of the few really walkable, tourist attraction-filled areas of non-South Beach downtown.

Commentary: The city also orchestrated a profit-sharing agreement with the Heat, but it wasnt until 2013 that the stadium went into the black. Even then, the city only saw a sliver of money, while the team kept asking for higher tax breaks.

Economic impact: It took years to find profitability, but the stadiums boosters tout billions in economic churn for the city. American Airlines moved to end its naming rights contract with the city last year, but its still called that until a new sponsor can be courted and government-approved.

Name: Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Year opened: 1999

Owner: City of Indianapolis

Construction cost: $183 million ($283 million with inflation)

Financing: About a quarter from public funding and the rest a mix of private funding sources

Neighborhood style: In the heart of the downtown business district, with residential buildings now popping up.

Economic impact: As in other cities, the Fieldhouse has proven a popular event venue in Indianapolis. Research commissioned by the Pacers showed the stadium drew $370 million in combined revenue in 2018. Last year, the city agreed to spend an additional $365 million to renovate the aging facility. The Pacers would kick in $65 million, and the city would not propose any new taxes on residents, according to the Business Journal.

Name: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse

Year opened: 1994

Owner: Gateway Economic Development Corp, a quasi-governmental entity that leases the stadium to Cavs ownership

Construction cost: $100 million ($192 million adjusted for inflation)

Financing: The Gateway complex was largely funded by an alcohol and tobacco tax narrowly approved by voters in 1990

Neighborhood style: Part of a larger entertainment district called the Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex, which also Indians ballpark Progressive Field

Commentary: Backers said the complex could draw an additional 2 million people to downtown Cleveland each year, according to the New York Times, and boost its potential to host conventions. That was enough to finally sell the public on the project; an earlier, similar proposal had failed to gain support for nearly a decade.

Economic impact: A 1999 study found the area surrounding the stadium complex did see substantial physical redevelopment, with a variety of other buildings and projects constructed.

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Would a Sixers arena work on the Philly waterfront? Here's how other cities fared - Billy Penn

Fill in the Gaps: Infill Architecture in Urban Residual Spaces

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In all cities around the world, there are some forms of residual space, forgotten pieces of the urban fabric, remnants of overlapping layers of past development. This land whose conditions make it unsuitable for most types of conventional construction might be a fertile ground for architectural invention. Assigning a new value to vacant corner lots, dead-end alleys and strangely shaped plots opens up a new field of opportunities for inward urban development, expanding available living space and increasing amenities in densely populated cities. The following explores the potential for experiment and urban activation held by urban leftover space.

Infill architecture usually refers to the re-dedication of undeveloped land to new construction, and it circumscribes a variety of scales, approaches and typologies. Viewed by some as a means to counteract the urban sprawl, making use of existing infrastructure and by others as a decrease in potential public space and possible overloading of urban services, infill architecture is a debatable and nuanced topic. However, for a variety of reasons, from densifying urban centres to restoring coherence to the urban fabric, the underlying potential of residual urban spaces is a subject of great interest. In light of the rising urban population and high value of land in cities, it is worth examining different ideas, urban initiatives and projects that could paint a comprehensive picture of the infill architecture phenomenon.

It seems fitting to start the discussion on infill architecture by mentioning the Japanese creativity and lack of inhibition when it comes to making the most out of a hyper-condensed urban environment. Projects such the Love House by Takeshi Hosaka Architects, the House in Nada by FujiwaraMuro Architects, or Hideyuki Nakayama Architecture's O House are just a few examples of a distinct architecture that carefully maximizes the potential of every inch of space.

The appeal of small houses in Japan is the result of a mixture of local conditions, such as property prices, high taxes and most of all, land scarcity. In these particular circumstances, experimenting with presumably unbuildable spaces extends beyond residential projects, as is the case of SO&CO's multi-storey retail and office building in Ginza. Atelier Bow-Wow calls these spatial typologies Pet Architecture, as they denote a certain playfulness in inhabiting leftover urban areas. The studio's 'Pet Architecture guide book', through its catalogue of highly pragmatic and inventive micro-projects, creates an exciting overview of the possibilities held by residual urban spaces, in Tokyo and elsewhere.

Rising urban density and high land prices are incentives for the use of non-conventional sites in cities all around the world. The architectural phenomenon dubbed skinny house is the most common type of contemporary infill, with projects occupying narrow strips of land, usually between buildings. The spatial typology is not a new one, having precedents in medieval European cities. However, the unconventional contemporary projects resulted from these site constraints rendered the phenomenon widely popular in recent years. Filling the gap between two buildings in a historic urban fabric, Gwendolyn Huisman's and Marijn Boterman's SkinnySCAR illustrates the common traits of skinny houses: the soft division of different living spaces, incorporating additional functions to the stairwell, as well as carefully curating natural light.

If the skinny house is the consequence of a very narrow plot, some of the most interesting infill projects creatively make use of more unexpected urban residual spaces. Dutch practice Kuhne&Co's studio on Boomgaardstraat in Rotterdam was built on a narrow strip of land and floats on stilts over a parking lot. The 54-metre-long volume is only five metres deep and contains office space, a workshop and the architects' dwelling. Another one of Kuhne&Co's designs, an apartment and office space, hovers above the entrance to a delivery yard, with the ground level plot just big enough to host a concrete volume containing the entrance and a staircase.

On numerous occasions, the infrastructure projects of the past century caused urban rifts and created discontinuities in the urban fabric in the shape of odd leftover spaces. The apartment building XS House designed by ISA sits on one of these residual spaces resulted from the development of Vine Street Expressway in Philadelphia. Through its compact layout and clever use of split level apartments, the project reclaims a residual space formerly used as a parking lot, adding urban density and patching the urban fabric.

Looking at the subject from a broader perspective, it is worth reviewing how the idea of reclaiming residual spaces fits into urban policy. In 2012, Rotterdam's municipality initiated a program called Klein&Fijn (translating to Small& Beautiful), tasking Studio Hartzema with the charting of all the empty residual plots in the city centre that could host new developments. The research unveiled hundreds of sites that could accommodate small-scale projects, with the potential to enrich the urban structure of Rotterdam by 3 million square meters. Consequently, the municipality of Rotterdam developed a special permitting process for this kind of designs, and architectuur maken's house project is a result of this policy.

With few exceptions, leftover sites are used predominantly for residential projects, that is if they receive permission to be developed at all. Broadening both the array of reclaimed residual urban spaces, as well as the architectural programs that can occupy them, requires more flexible and dynamic urban planning. The subject of infill architecture has many nuances, but in all its abundance of shapes and sizes, the phenomenon represents a re-economization of urban spaces and is worth considering as a strategy for inward development.

This article is part of the ArchDaily Topic: Tiny. Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and projects. Learn more about our monthly topics here. As always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.

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Fill in the Gaps: Infill Architecture in Urban Residual Spaces - ArchDaily

04 September 2020

Holman Webb

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Two new laws have been passed to restore public confidence inthe NSW building industry and to stop 'dodgy' builders anddevelopers.

The laws are part of the reforms promised by the NSW governmentin order to improve the quality of construction and provide betterprotections for consumers against non-compliance within thebuilding sector.

The recently appointed NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler OAM will lead theimplementation of the new laws, and will focus on theinvestigation and audit strategies.

NSW Government Fair Trading states on its website that thisAct:

The key reforms in the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, as passedby Parliament, are:

The duty of care provisions in the Act started on 10 June2020.

The majority of the remaining reforms in the Act will start on 1July 2021, as regulations need to be developed to support theiroperation. Fair Trading state that these regulations will bedeveloped throughout 2020 and will be subject to publicconsultation.

NSW Government Fair Trading states on its website that thisAct:

These obligations apply to Class 2 buildings, and buildingsincluding a Class 2 component. These are typically multi-storey,multi-unit apartment buildings.

The key reforms in the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and EnforcementPowers) Act 2020, include:

From 1 September 2020

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Real Estate and Construction from Australia

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New South Wales building industry reforms - Real Estate and Construction - Australia - Mondaq News Alerts

Calum Weaver with 2101 Normandy Drive, Miami Beach, 3555 Northwest 83rd Avenue, Doral, 1442 Northeast Miami Court, Miami, and 937 Southwest Fifth Street, Miami (Credit: Google Maps)

Multifamily sales declined 50 percent during the first half of the year, according to a mid-year report and forecast by Cushman & Wakefield.

Total sales volume for 2020 could also fall by half, compared to last year, as the economic effects of Covid-19 linger, the report shows.

Ninety-one multifamily projects sold in South Florida during the first six months of the year for a total of $1 billion in sales. Most of the activity was for buildings less than $20 million.That $1 billion in total sales is a 50 percent decrease year over year.

Most of the sales were in Broward County, which saw a total of $443 million from 39 apartment deals. Deals averaged $152,064 a unit or $228 a square foot. Volume was down 27 percent from 2019s first half.

Among the three South Florida counties, Palm Beach saw the largest decrease in sales volume in the first half of the year compared to the same period of 2019. Sales totaled $180 million across 15 deals, a 58 percent drop.

Miami-Dade multifamily deals fell 20 percent, year-over-year, to $382 million.

The region experienced some milestones, according to Cushman & Wakefields report, authored by Callum Weaver. Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties surpassed $200,000 a unit in sales for the first time. And Broward and Palm Beach saw record sales per square foot: $250 for Palm Beach and $228 for Broward.

Sales in Miami-Dade included investor Marc Shulmans May sale of an apartment building in Miami Beachs Normandy Isles to a family office from France for $9.25 million.

In March, The Related Group, Shoma Group and PGIM Real Estate Investors sold The Flats Apartments at CityPlace Doral for $100 million.

That same month, BrickOne Group, led by Costantino Cicchelli, Frank Rodriguez Melo and Stefano Garofoli, paid $6.1 million for the 30-unit building at 1442 Northeast Miami Court in Miamis Arts & Entertainment District and the 18-unit building at 937 Southwest Fifth Street in Miamis Little Havana.

Rents

South Florida multifamily rents held through July, despite local unemployment reaching 11.3 percent, or 320,000 people, according to the report. All three counties saw higher rents in 2020s first half compared to the same period last year.

However, quarter-over-quarter, asking rents decreased in all three counties. Palm Beach County saw the largest quarterly drop at 1.7 percent in the second quarter, reaching $1,589. Thats the highest countywide asking rent in South Florida. Miami-Dade had the lowest with $1,519.

Among submarkets, Coral Gables had the largest decrease in asking rent, 4.6 percent, reaching $1,988, or $2.35 a square foot.

Quarter-over-quarter, Miramar had the highest uptick in asking rent of 3.2 percent in the second quarter, reaching $1,326, or $1.48 a square foot. The lowest rent in South Florida is in Belle Glade, with an asking rent of $715, or 90 cents a square foot.

Deliveries and vacancies

South Florida saw the delivery of 7,500 new multifamily units during 2020s first half. In the second quarter, most of the new deliveries were in Fort Lauderdale with 1,836 units, followed by the Doral area with 1,297.

Newly delivered apartment units pushed vacancy rates in the first half of the year to 5.5 percent, up from 4.9 percent during 2019s first half, according to the report.

Broward and Miami-Dade saw record high vacancy rates in 2020s second quarter. Browards hit 6.5 percent, coming off the first quarters record low of 5 percent. Fort Lauderdale had the highest rate in the county. The Miramar area showed the lowest in the county.

Miami-Dade hit 5.2 percent. The highest vacancy rate in the county was in Coral Gables and the lowest in Westchester.

Palm Beachs vacancy rate reached 7 percent, with the highest rate in Belle Glade at 21 percent and the lowest in outlying Palm Beach County at 3.4 percent.

Another 7,500 units are scheduled for delivery later this year on par with Berkadias pre-Covid 2020 forecast from February. That should continue to lead to higher vacancies, most notably among class A buildings and in urban markets, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

A record 28,000 units are under construction overall in South Florida, with most of the units in Miami-Dade County about 14,000 units across 63 apartment buildings. By submarket, most of the construction is in Miamis Brickell area, with 7,228 units under construction. Its followed by Fort Lauderdale, with about 5,000 units under construction.

In January, Magellan Development Group launched preleasing for its latest Midtown Miami apartment building, adding nearly 450 rentals to the market.

That same month, leasing began for Park-Line Miami in Overtown, part of the mixed-use development that is home to MiamiCentral.

In June, Alluvion Las Olas began accepting applications for pre-leasing at the 380-unit, 43-story luxury high-rise on the New River.

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South Florida multifamily sales fell 50% in first half of year: report - The Real Deal

The affordable apartment at 2003 Aldrich Ave. was demolished Sept. 1 by a developer that acquired the building after being sued for damaging it. Randolph Street Realty Capital plans to build a 47-unit market-rate apartment on the site. Photo by Rachel Usher

Randolph Street Realty Capital has demolished a Lowry Hill East apartment building that it was sued for damaging. The building, razed on Sept. 1, held 25 affordable units until 2018 when it was badly cracked in a botched construction job and residents were forced to vacate, some ending up in homeless shelters.

Chicago-based Randolph Street acquired the building, at 2003 Aldrich Ave., in March after settling the lawsuit. The firm, which never publicly disclosed the cost of repairing the building, now has plans to construct a 47-unit market-rate apartment on the site.

The demolition is a disappointment for neighbors and affordable housing activists who had been mobilizing to save the building.

A crowd of about 100 protesters marched from Mueller Park to the four-story brick building on the corner of Franklin & Lyndale on Aug. 20, holding big yellow signs reading, Welcome to Lowry Hill East Neighborhood! Home of Naturally Occurring Profitable Housing!

Alicia Gibson, board president of the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA), asked the crowd to demand a change in Randolph Streets plans and to demand that the city devise an alternate strategy for preserving affordable housing at 2003 Aldrich Ave.

They keep telling us these shenanigans are legal, she said. They need to fix that loophole now. If people can come in and damage affordable housing, buy it from their own malfeasance, tear it down and put in market-rate and higher housing, then that should terrify anyone in this city who cares about housing justice.

Council President Lisa Bender, who represents the area, has said the situation is unbelievably frustrating but that the city cannot deny a wrecking permit on subjective grounds.

Activist Toussaint Morrison, a co-organizer of the rally, said the city was allowing gentrification.

We could have bought this right here, cleaned it up and made it for the people. This could have housed people! he said. You are turning away brown, Black, poor neglected people willingly.

Wedge resident Nick Sanford said he lives in a similar century-old brick building to 2003 Aldrich. I think they should be preserved, he said.

The march, led by the groups On Site Public Media and Communities United Against Police Brutality, also stopped outside Benders home in Lowry Hill East, with protesters criticizing Bender for not being responsive to constituents and not doing enough to reign in the Minneapolis Police Department before George Floyd was killed.

The Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association has vowed to oppose any development project on the 2003 Aldrich site that doesnt include at least 25 apartment units affordable to people making less than 50% of the area median income. In addition, the organization is requesting a review by the city attorney to ensure proper changes are made to prevent this from ever happening again. The organization has published a call to action on its website.

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Cracked affordable apartment demolished in the Wedge - Southwest Journal

An apartment builder that has developed projects in central Dallas is making the jump to the north side of U.S. Highway 380 in Denton County.

Developer ZOM Living plans to build a 378-unit rental community near the corner of U.S. 380 and FM1385 in Aubrey.

The rental community will be just west of the Windsong Ranch community and is near where the PGA of America is building its headquarters and golf courses.

Called Mezzo, the apartment project is being built by ZOM in partnership with Civitas Capital Group. The first units are set to open in the third quarter of 2021.

Our Mezzo site is convenient to an expanding array of retail and entertainment venues, excellent schools, and the highest concentration of suburban corporate employers in the state of Texas, Jason Haun, ZOMs Development vice president, said in a statement. With Mezzo, we will bring a new level of quality, unit features and amenities to this growing submarket north of Dallas.

Synovus Bank financed construction, and Stanford Construction is the general contractor. The architect for the project is JHP.

Mezzo is the latest in a series of apartment projects in the U.S. 380 corridor west of the Dallas North Tollway. That area is seeing widespread residential and retail growth.

Based in Orlando, Fla., ZOM has done multiple projects in North Texas. It is building a 41-story high-rise in downtown Dallas Arts District that will open starting later this year. ZOM also just completed a 376-unit rental community in McKinney.

We are excited to break ground on our seventh project in the Dallas market and 12th project overall in Texas, Greg West, ZOMs chief executive officer, said in a statement.

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New apartments are in the works on U.S. 380 in Denton County - The Dallas Morning News