Monday March 16, 2015 6:42 PM UPDATED: Monday March 16, 2015 6:49 PM

Though spring has not yet arrived, everywhere you go, it seems you'll see construction - especially apartments. One expert says it's in response to changing lifestyles, a change that may create a new problem.

A giant crane cuts a huge arc across the sky above Grandview. Men are busy building below it. The new apartments are rising skyward.

The greater Columbus building boom began as the recession ended in 2012.

"I think it's good," commented local resident Harry Harbin. "There's a lot of people moving to Columbus."

Three years and 5,000 apartments later, the construction shows no sign of letting up.

"It's actually accelerating," said Rob Vogt, a partner in Vogt Santer Insights, a company that specializes in real estate feasibility studies. "We see close to 5,000-6,000 units right now in the pipeline. That will probably have a huge impact on the Central Ohio housing market in the coming couple of years."

Vogt said much of the thirst for new rental housing is driven by the millennial generation. He said many twenty-something residents have too much college debt to qualify for a home loan. Others currently have no interest in home ownership.

"These are folks who aren't getting married, they're not getting into relationships, they're staying single longer," he explained.

He said they also love the idea of walking to work, restaurants, and entertainment.

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Apartment Booms Continue In Columbus, Should Homeowners Be Worried?

North Bethesda Market, a retail and residential complex in White Flint. (Photo by Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post)

Banners hanging from roofs, flyers stuck on parked cars and signs on streetcorners are all delivering the same message: All those fancy new apartments going up in and around Washington? The rentsmay begoing down.

The booming Washington apartment market, which a few years ago ran hotter than ever before, has slowed. In some neighborhoods there are so many new units in the worksthat developers have lowered their rent expectations or evenput constructionplans on hold.

Many of the new buildings are going up in neighborhoods that are subject of high-profile economic development efforts. In Tysons Corner, 1,721 apartments were recently completed or are under construction (not counting subsidized units). In NoMa, north of Union Station, 1,820 units were recently completed or are under construction. Around Nationals Park, the boom is even bigger, with 2,242 units recently opened or on the way.

All those new units might suggest a glut is building in the market, but that doesnt necessarily mean everyones rents will be pushed down. In fact, rents across the board went up 1 percent in 2014 andrent increasesfor lower income earners have rapidly outpaced earnings, according to a new report by anadvocacy group, the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. In a decade, the number of apartments in D.C. renting for less than $800 fell about 42 percent,the report said.Mayor Muriel E. Bowser has made affordability a central focus of her administration.

But most experts see a growing number ofsoft spots in the market forhigh-end units think floor-to-ceiling windows, stainless steel appliances and roof-top pools that have driven the regions commercial real estate boom. Real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, for instance, reported at the end of last year thatthe building boom could induce modest declines in rents in2015.

Some building owners areaggressively discounting rent by 10 percent or moreor giving a month or two free up front, not to mention gimmicks such as putting a communal English bulldog in the lobby.

Good news for renters: High-endapartments are being built more quickly than they are being rented. (Delta Associates)

White Flint, an evolving stretch of Rockville Pike north of Bethesda, offers a case study ofwhat happenswhen competition gets tight.

The one-and-a-half mile section of Rockville Pike is Montgomery Countys answer to Tysons Corner when it comes to offering recent college graduates and other apartment seekers a neighborhoodwith the promise of Metro access and coming attractions like farmers markets, beer gardens, sidewalk cafes and dog parks. With the support of county officials and members of the community, a collection of like-minded developers banded together and began plotting a series of more urban neighborhoodsaround a Red Line Metro station that could attract condo buyers and luxury apartment renters.

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For high-end apartments in the Washington area, signs of a renters market

Apartment building construction site base jump
Me and the homies out exploring the city. We decided to get onto the rooftop of this apartment building that #39;s under construction. We met two base jumpers at...

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Apartment building construction site base jump - Video

On Tuesday night, members of the planning commission voted in favor of a four-story apartment complex planned for North College Avenue that will replace the existing commercial structure currently on the site.

Jeff Lang, owner of Lang Development Group, presented the project, called North College Crossing, which is slated for 60 N. College Ave., currently the home of Del Sol Restaurant, Unique Impressions and Endless Summer Salon and Tan.

Lang asked the commission to recommend council approve the rezoning of the 1.07-acre property next to the CSX railroad line from the current BC (general business) to BB (central business district), grant a special-use permit and allow his company to demolish the existing building and replace it with a four-story mixed-use building that has 5,500 square feet of commercial space and parking on the first floor and 36 two and three-bedroom apartments on the three floors above.

The plan also calls for a parking lot next to the building, for a total of 97 parking spaces.

As the University of Delaware continues to invest in its Laird Campus, Lang said, the area of North College Avenue has become an increasingly popular corridor for student traffic.

We thought if there was ever a logical place to do a mixed-use project, this is really just screaming for some form of nice, orderly redevelopment, he said.

Lang said the three businesses that currently call 60 N. College Ave. home, Unique Impressions, Endless Summer Salon and Tan and Del Sol, will all have a place in the new space once its completed a few years from now.

Part of our plan is to move our businesses out and move them back into the facility in some form, be it not exactly the same form, he said.

Lang said Del Sol, which currently occupies the basement of the existing building, will move into the first floor restaurant space with a patio fronting North College Avenue once construction is complete.

He said Unique Impressions will move its printing facility and production area offsite, with the possibility of maintaining a small retail space in the new building. Endless Summer Salon may also move back in, Lang said.

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36 apartments planned for North College Avenue

The Gateway apartment building construction 3/8/15
Driving South on College Ave. into downtown Bloomington, Indiana. The Gateway apartments and retail building come into view.

By: Cedarview Management

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The Gateway apartment building construction 3/8/15 - Video

Albany

Lawrence Fauntleroy was home at 211 Sheridan Ave. on Friday when he heard a disturbing sound rumbling up from the basement of the two-family building.

"It sounded like, 'Grrrtttt,'" he said. "Grrrtttt. Grrrtttt."

When Fauntleroy stuck his head out the door, he said, workers at the construction site next door waved him out of the building. The foundation was bowing and appeared to be separating from the house.

Fauntleroy and Shatina McCall, who lives with him, said they were not allowed to go back inside their home. City officials decided the building was no longer safe and by Friday evening a crew had arrived to take it down.

The building is next to the excavation site for a 12-unit apartment house being built by Syracuse-based Housing Visions. It is part of a dramatic remake of the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood by the Touhey Homeownership Foundation and Habitat for Humanity of the Capital District.

The project in the area east of Albany's downtown consists of 37 new buildings including 20 one- and two-unit homes and a total of 77 housing units.

Ben Lockwood, vice president of business development at Housing Visions, said it was too early to say whether the construction was responsible for the damage to 211 Sheridan.

"We're just in the very preliminary part of the investigation," Lockwood said.

The scene on Sheridan Avenue recalled one from 2010 on Madison Avenue. Excavation for the foundation of a new building at 598 Madison Ave. caused the east wall of 600 Madison to shear off, leading the city to demolish the circa-1870 structure. That demolition forced five tenants out of their homes.

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Albany building to be demolished

March 13, 2015, 8:43 p.m.

A seven-storey apartment building labelled a monstrosity by nearby residents has been given the go-ahead by an independent Wollongong City Council panel.

A seven-storey apartment building labelled a monstrosity by nearby residents has been given the go-ahead by an independent Wollongong City Council panel.

The Marr Street block, known as Marquee, was reviewed by the Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel on Wednesday.

Panel members voted unanimously to recommend the building be approved, subject to a slight variation to some of the balcony windows and the building's waste bin provisions.

At the hearing, four residents spoke against the approval, summarising the concerns of 50 people who had lodged objections.

They said the current on-street parking situation was problematic and would be exacerbated by the development, and raised concerns about safety of extra traffic and construction works.

They also said the scale of the development was too large for the narrow street, and they were worried houses to the south of the building would lose too much sunlight due to overshadowing.

Architect Angelo Di Martino also addressed the panel, saying the building aligned with council plans to achieve higher density housing close to the city centre.

He said the development complied with height restrictions and setback rules, and said the car park provisions were fully compliant with the council's development controls. Panel members recognised the residents' concerns about traffic and parking, but said the application had complied with all requirements.

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Panel gives Marr St project green light

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -

Another large building has been approved for center city Allentown, but not without some criticism of its design from a member of the Allentown Planning Commission.

Called City Center Flats, the 11-story structure will be built on the northeast corner of Eighth and Walnut streets.

A five-level apartment building, containing 200 one and two-bedroom units, will be built over a 700-space parking garage.

The structure also will include some retail shops along South Eighth Street.

The plan won unanimous final approval from the planning commission Tuesday, with one abstention.

It is just the latest approved project from City Center Investment Corp., which is transforming downtown Allentown with new buildings.

James Gentile, president of North Star Construction Management, spoke on behalf of the plan before the commission. His company designed the building and will construct it.

Although listed as an 11-story building on the planning commission agenda, Gentile told the commission City Center Flats will have five levels of apartments over five levels of parking.

He later indicated the 11th level is where Walnut Street drops down toward Seventh Street at the east end of the building.

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200 apartments approved for center-city Allentown

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -

Allentown City Council soon will be asked to change zoning so a 61-unit apartment building called Sacred Heart Senior Residences can be constructed at the northeast corner of Fifth and Turner streets in the city.

To do the project, zoning in that area will have to be changed from medium high density residential to high density residential.

On Tuesday, developers of the proposed project asked for, and got, a recommendation from the Allentown planning commission supporting the zoning change request they will make to City Council.

If the zoning is changed and the project eventually is approved, the apartments will offer independent living and affordable housing to seniors who are 62 and older, said Kyle Speece, senior developer with Pennrose Properties.

Speece added the place will not offer assisted living, but will allow seniors to age in place and have access to health services offered by nearby Sacred Heart Hospital.

The hospital will not own Sacred Heart Senior Residences, but has been involved from the outset in putting together the concept.

Oldrich Foucek, chairman of the planning commission, boiled it down to its an apartment house with some doctors offices on the first level.

If City Council agrees to the developers' proposed zoning change, they eventually will return to the planning commission for approval of detailed land development plans for the project.

Atty. Joseph Fitzpatrick, who represented the developers Tuesday, said other blocks in that immediate neighborhood already are zoned high density residential.

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Rezoning needed for 61 apartments in Allentown

The commercial building on the corner of Elizabeth and Liverpool streets will be demolished for the new apartment tower which will stand alongside The Hyde, in Hyde Park's south-west precinct. Photo: domain.com.au

A $400 million residential tower has been announced for Sydney's Hyde Park dress circle.

The 38-storey building will fillthe corner site of Elizabeth and Liverpool streets opposite Mark Foys Emporium, now the Downing Centre. It will stand alongside The Hyde apartment building opposite Hyde Park.

Following a City of Sydney council competition, the design for the apartment tower was awarded to Bates Smart architects.

An artist's impression of the winning design by Bates Smart for 130 Elizabeth Street, opposite Hyde Park. Photo: domain.com.au

The project at 130 Elizabeth Street will replace a 14-storey office building.

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The new residential tower will house 148 apartments with views over Hyde Park. Apartments on its upper levelswill have 280-degree views of Sydney Harbour and the airport.

It is the latest residential offering in the prized Hyde Park precinct. A 25-year lull followed the construction of The Connaught, a 232-apartment building on Liverpool Street opposite Hyde Park.

The Residence on the eastern side of Hyde Park.

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38-storey apartment tower planned for Sydney's Hyde Park precinct