K.C. Kappen and Rachel Ballard believe that renting a place to live "simply makes sense," given their current situation.

Kappen, 26, a junior account executive for social media and public relations with the Brownstein Group in Philadelphia, arrived here with Ballard, 25, from Southern California in June.

Ballard will finish graduate school in the next 18 months, Kappen said, "and I'm in the beginning stages of my professional career." Renting "gives us a chance to weigh our options and see what areas of Philadelphia we prefer."

Thousands of other millennials have come to the same decision, for a variety of financial reasons, so rental apartments continue to fill a growing housing need in the Philadelphia region.

And that boom has given a shot in the arm to the regional economy, $14 billion in 2013 alone. For the United States as a whole, the economic contribution was $1.3 trillion.

A study by George Mason University's Stephen S. Fuller for the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association showed that 544,300 people, or 9 percent of the Philadelphia area's population, live in its 321,200 rental apartment units.

Thirty-four percent of those apartments are in buildings of 50 or more units, Fuller said.

While single-family-home building still lags, multifamily rental construction accounted for 49 percent of building permits issued in the region in 2013, valued at nearly $367 million, he said.

Spencer Yablon, senior vice president for capital markets/multifamily at CBRE Group in Wayne, said apartment fundamentals remain good and support "near-term growth."

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Millennials help build a Phila.-region apartment boom

HARTFORD A squatter who police say accidentally set fire to a vacant four-story building at Main Street and Albany Avenue Thursday morning was ordered held on $100,000 bail after his arraignment on charges of reckless burning and criminal trespass.

Kenneth Onalty, 46, had been living in the building for several months and on Thursday set some papers on fire to keep warm, according to a statement he gave to police. He insisted, however, that he extinguished the fire, the statement said.

Firefighters were called to 1363 Main St. about 3:45 a.m. and when they arrived had to rescue Onalty from the building's second floor. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center for treatment of smoke inhalation, and later charged.

The fire heavily damaged the building, forced police to close surrounding streets through the evening rush hourand also closed Capital Preparatory Magnet School, which is across Main Street from the building. Students could not reach the school because the street was shut down.

City spokeswoman Hilda Muoz said Thursday afternoon that the city hired Environmental Services Inc. of South Windsor to demolish the building. Crews set up fencing around the site and planned to remove a billboard atop the building Thursday night. The building is scheduled to be demolished Friday, she said.

The 1890s brick building is part of a block of existing structures the city hopes will be renovated now that development in the nearby Downtown North area is underway. Downtown North, on the edge of downtown, will feature a minor league baseball stadium, apartments, a supermarket and a brewery. Construction on the stadium began in February.

During his arraignment Thursday afternoon in Superior Court, Onalty became angry about the bail set in his case, discussions about his mental health and the reckless-burning charge filed against him.

"Excuse me your honor, there's nothing wrong with my mental health," Onalty said. He insisted that he had nothing to do with the fire, which he said began on the building's third floor, not the second floor where he was staying.

"I'm here for trespassing, that's it," he said.

When Judge Joan K. Alexander set bail at $100,000, Onalty became even more angry and yelled and swore. Marshals escorted him out of the courtroom, and an unfazed Alexander ordered that Onalty undergo a competency evaluation.

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Squatter Charged In Fire That Destroyed Hartford Building

HARTFORD A squatter who police say accidentally set fire to a vacant four-story building at Main Street and Albany Avenue Thursday morning was ordered held on $100,000 bail after his arraignment on charges of reckless burning and criminal trespass.

Kenneth Onalty, 46, had been living in the building for several months and on Thursday set some papers on fire to keep warm, according to a statement he gave to police. He insisted, however, that he extinguished the fire, the statement said.

Firefighters were called to 1363 Main St. about 3:45 a.m. and when they arrived had to rescue Onalty from the building's second floor. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center for treatment of smoke inhalation, and later charged.

The fire heavily damaged the building, forced police to close surrounding streets through the evening rush hourand also closed Capital Preparatory Magnet School, which is across Main Street from the building. Students could not reach the school because the street was shut down.

City spokeswoman Hilda Muoz said Thursday afternoon that the city hired Environmental Services Inc. of South Windsor to demolish the building. Crews set up fencing around the site and planned to remove a billboard atop the building Thursday night. The building is scheduled to be demolished Friday, she said.

The 1890s brick building is part of a block of existing structures the city hopes will be renovated now that development in the nearby Downtown North area is underway. Downtown North, on the edge of downtown, will feature a minor league baseball stadium, apartments, a supermarket and a brewery. Construction on the stadium began in February.

During his arraignment Thursday afternoon in Superior Court, Onalty became angry about the bail set in his case, discussions about his mental health and the reckless-burning charge filed against him.

"Excuse me your honor, there's nothing wrong with my mental health," Onalty said. He insisted that he had nothing to do with the fire, which he said began on the building's third floor, not the second floor where he was staying.

"I'm here for trespassing, that's it," he said.

When Judge Joan K. Alexander set bail at $100,000, Onalty became even more angry and yelled and swore. Marshals escorted him out of the courtroom, and an unfazed Alexander ordered that Onalty undergo a competency evaluation.

Continued here:
Squatter Charged In Fire That Destroyed Main Street Building

Jewel Samad | AFP | Getty Images

Construction laborers work on the top floor of a high rise apartment building in New York on March 31, 2015.

U.S. construction spending unexpectedly fell in February and the prior month's outlays were revised to show a steeper decline than previously estimated, which could see economists further mark down their first-quarter growth forecasts.

Construction spending dipped 0.1 percent to an annual rate of $967.2 billion, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. January's outlays were revised to show a 1.7 percent decline instead of the previously reported 1.1 percent drop.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending being flat in February.

Economic growth slowed markedly in the first quarter, held back by bad weather, a strong dollar, weaker overseas demand and a now-settled labor dispute at the country's busy West Coast ports.

Estimates for first-quarter gross domestic product range between a 0.8 percent and 1.2 percent annual pace. The economy expanded at a 2.2 percent rate in the fourth quarter.

Read MorePriced out: New housing froth discourages buyers

Construction spending in February was restrained by a 0.8 percent drop in public construction outlays.

Spending on federal government projects jumped 9 percent, but that was offset by a 1.6 percent plunge in state and local government outlays -the largest portion of the public sector segment.

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Feb construction joins US's bad data parade

The pumps have been turned off for the first time in four years at an upscale Uptown apartment building, meaning that the illegal pumping of millions of gallons of groundwater into nearby lakes will cease.

The pumps were turned off late Tuesday afternoon, meeting a deadline of that day set in a legal settlement reached several months ago, according to Charles Nauen, an attorney representing the city of Minneapolis.

The settlement was reached after the city and Park Board filed several suits to end the pumping. Developer Lake and Knox LLC was permitted initially to drain the site at 1800 W. Lake St. for construction. But it kept on pumping after construction ended because the lower of two basement garage floors was below the area's water table. A judge ruled in November ruled that violated city ordinances after the city sued.

Lake and Knox built the 57-unit luxury building in 2011. It consists of developers Nick Walton and Daniel Oberpriller, plus other unnamed investors. They still have financial claims pending against engineering firms that provided studies for the project. Pumps sucked about 90 million gallons per year of water into the nearby lagoon separating Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun, including an estimated 75 pounds per year of algae-feeding phosphorus.

Lara Norkus-Crampton, who opposed zoning variances granted the project and resigned from the planning commission in protest, praised former City Council member Meg Tuthill and park Commissioner Anita Tabb for doggedness in ending the pumping. She also said citizens sometimes have a false sense of security that the many jurisdictions responsible for water quality are monitoring such violations.

Council Member Lisa Goodman, who now represents the area, said in an e-mail: "Its good to see that the developer is abiding by the consent decree after years of pumping water into the lake. Im happy to see this part of the larger issue resolved."

To comply with a settlement reached in December to cease pumping by Tuesday, the developers removed mechanical and electrical components from the lower parking level, filled it with sand and gravel, and then sealed it off from remaining basement parking. The firm said that careful fill-in work was crucial to ensuring the building remained stable. It estimated the work would cost $1.2 million, while new parking it plans next door is expected to cost $2 million.

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Pumps go off at luxury Uptown apartment

Leon Peirce (19) a building apprentice with Mark Fairweather Builder, works on a new house on Hagart Alexander Dr, Mosgiel. Photo by Linda Robertson.

Commenting on Statistics New Zealand's February's building consents figures, Ms Turner said the weakness in ex-apartment consents being issued was particularly concerning.

''As yet, we don't have a conclusive explanation for the current weakness. It could just possibly reflect some disruption in building demand from the summer holiday period.''

Alternatively, if construction activity was starting to trend sideways, it was possible capacity constraints were restricting further growth, she said.

Residential construction activity had increased rapidly over the past two years in Auckland and Canterbury and both regions were competing for construction resources.

Apartment consents were relatively high in both November and December and some decline from those levels was to be expected.

What was concerning was the second consecutive monthly fall in ex-apartment dwelling consents, down 1.4% in February following on from the previous month's 8% fall.

Those falls followed a couple of flat months, Ms Turner said.

Non-residential building consents bounced back in February as was usually the case given January consents were disrupted by the holiday period.

''The very lumpy profile of monthly non-residential building consents makes it a difficult series to seasonally adjust.''

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Building consents fall seen as concern

CHARLOTTE, NC (Ely Portillo/The Charlotte Observer) -

One of the nation's most prominent apartment developers is calling on politicians to do more to make housing affordable, including doubling the federal subsidies developers can get for building affordable housing units.

J. Ron Terwilliger, who is in Charlotte to speak to the Urban Land Institute and Charlotte City Council, told the Observer Monday that the U.S. is in a silent housing crisis, with more than 20 million families paying over half of their income for housing.

We're short on affordable rental housing now, woefully short, and we're getting shorter, said Terwilliger. He said three-quarters of the approximately $200 billion spent annually on housing subsidies in the U.S. goes to homeowners, much of it in the form of tax deductions for mortgage interest, and said more should go to renters.

I think we're in a crisis that very few people realize we're in, he said.

Terwilliger is chairman of Charlotte-based Terwilliger Pappas, an apartment company that's building or plans to build high-end Solis complexes in Dilworth, SouthPark, southeast Charlotte's Waverly development and South End, totaling more than 1,000 units. He's also the former head of Trammell Crow Residential, one of the largest apartment developers in the nation, and a major philanthropist, whose gifts include a $100 million endowment to Habitat for Humanity.

Like other developers, Terwilliger Pappas is bullish on Charlotte's apartment scene. The city is in the grip of its biggest-ever apartment-building boom, with more than 10,400 units under construction and an additional 10,000 planned. Most of the construction underway is in higher-priced, close-in neighborhoods such as Dilworth, NoDa and South End.

That's one reason the building boom hasn't made housing more affordable, even as vacancy rates creep up, Terwilliger said. Earlier this month, Charlotte-based apartment-tracking service Real Data reported the city's apartment vacancy rate rose to 6.7 percent. But average rent in the city is up 3.1 percent over the past year, to $938.

New construction is all high-end construction, said Terwilliger. Without subsidies, such as tax credits developers can receive in return for building apartments restricted to renters making a certain percentage of the area's median income, Terwilliger said the market will produce mostly high-end units that rent to affluent professionals.

You have to pay the rate for concrete, you have to pay architects, you have to pay interest, you have to pay framing, you have to pay for mechanical, he said. The return that capital requires on that does not reach the people we're talking about. It's got to be subsidized in some way.

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Prominent apartment developer calls for more affordable housing

Authorities have surveillance footage showing the suspected arsonist in last December's spectacular downtown L.A. apartment complex fire parking his vehicle on the 110 Freeway and walking into the half-built structure with cans of fuel, a fire official told a community group.

Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Ruda last week informed members of Echo Park's neighborhood council ofnew details about the fire, which caused tens of millions of dollars in damage. He saidthe suspect was still at large.

Officials have offered a $170,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the arsonist behind the blaze that consumed a seven-story building in the Da Vinci apartment complex and damaged the freeway and neighboring buildings.

Investigators believe the suspect "torched that building up from the freeway side and then escaped, Ruda told the audience of about 20, according to a recording made by an audience member.

Ruda referred questions to fire spokesman Peter Sanders, who said in an email: "To protect the integrity of theinvestigation, Ican neither confirm nor deny what Chief Ruda said last week."

"The investigation into the cause of the Da Vinci fire is ongoing. The LAFD, in conjunction with its law enforcement partners, continues to review surveillancevideo from multiple sources and pursue multiple leads in this case. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we cannot at this time discuss details of the evidence collected thus far," he said.

The Dec. 8 fire broke out about 1:20 a.m., sending towering flames into the night sky and spewing ash across a large swath of downtown. The fire rapidly consumed most of the wood-framed structure. More than 250 firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour and half. No injuries were reported.

Fire officials said in the immediate aftermath of the fire that the circumstances, including how quickly the building was engulfed, were suspicious. City officials have estimated that the fire caused between $25 million and $30 million in damage.

Authorities have previously released footage of two other passersby whom they said they wanted to interview as potential witnesses one was shown on video walking by the building before the fire started, and a second tried to climb a fence to get into the burning building and had to be deterred by firefighters. Officials have not released footage of the personwith the fuel cans.

At last weeks meeting, Ruda assured residents that arson investigators, working with agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were pressing ahead in their effort to identify and capture the suspect.

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Video shows suspect in massive downtown L.A. arson fire, officials say

Authorities have surveillance footage showing the suspected arsonist in last December's spectacular downtown L.A. apartment complex fire parking his vehicle on the 110 Freeway and walking into the half-built structure with cans of fuel, a fire official told a community group.

Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Ruda last week informed members of Echo Park's neighborhood council ofnew details about the fire, which caused tens of millions of dollars in damage. He saidthe suspect was still at large.

Officials have offered a $170,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the arsonist behind the blaze that consumed a seven-story building in the Da Vinci apartment complex and damaged the freeway and neighboring buildings.

Investigators believe the suspect "torched that building up from the freeway side and then escaped, Ruda told the audience of about 20, according to a recording made by an audience member.

Ruda referred questions to fire spokesman Peter Sanders, who said in an email: "To protect the integrity of theinvestigation, Ican neither confirm nor deny what Chief Ruda said last week."

"The investigation into the cause of the Da Vinci fire is ongoing. The LAFD, in conjunction with its law enforcement partners, continues to review surveillancevideo from multiple sources and pursue multiple leads in this case. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we cannot at this time discuss details of the evidence collected thus far," he said.

The Dec. 8 fire broke out about 1:20 a.m., sending towering flames into the night sky and spewing ash across a large swath of downtown. The fire rapidly consumed most of the wood-framed structure. More than 250 firefighters battled the blaze for about an hour and half. No injuries were reported.

Fire officials said in the immediate aftermath of the fire that the circumstances, including how quickly the building was engulfed, were suspicious. City officials have estimated that the fire caused between $25 million and $30 million in damage.

Authorities have previously released footage of two other passersby whom they said they wanted to interview as potential witnesses one was shown on video walking by the building before the fire started, and a second tried to climb a fence to get into the burning building and had to be deterred by firefighters. Officials have not released footage of the personwith the fuel cans.

At last weeks meeting, Ruda assured residents that arson investigators, working with agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were pressing ahead in their effort to identify and capture the suspect.

Read more from the original source:
Video shows suspect in massive downtown L.A. arson fire, official says

At least 19 people were injured, four of them critically, when an explosion and seven-alarm fire destroyed an apartment building and burned three other structures in New York City's East Village Thursday.

At an evening news conference, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said a preliminary investigation indicated that a gas explosion caused by plumbing and gas work in the building that collapsed was to blame. The New York Post reported that construction crews accidentally "hit a gas main."

Craig Ivey, the president of utility company Con Edison said a plumber had been doing work connected to a gas service upgrade, and inspectors had been there to check on a planned meter installation an hour before the fire. But the work failed the inspection, partly because a space for the new meters wasn't big enough, and the inspectors said gas couldn't be introduced to that part of the building, Con Ed said.

De Blasio said no one had reported a gas leak before Thursday's explosion, and Con Edison said it had surveyed the gas mains on the block Wednesday and found no leaks. But bystander Blake Farber, who lives around the corner, told the Associated Press he'd been walking by the building and smelled gas seconds before the big blast.

Smoke from the fire could be seen and smelled across the city in the hours after the explosion, which occurred at around 3:15 p.m. local time. Flames shot out of the top of the five-story building at 2nd Avenue and 7th Street. Items from a ground-floor sushi restaurant were blown into the street, while the force of the explosion blew a cafe door across the avenue. Rubble, glass and debris littered the sidewalks.

The area was evacuated, and the city's health department advised residents to keep their windows closed because of the smoke. Firefighters continued pouring water on the buildings for hours after the explosion, in an area of old tenement buildings that are home to students and longtime residents near New York University and Washington Square Park. At least one family sought help at an American Red Cross relief center set up at a school.

In addition to the collapsed building, at 121 2nd Avenue, another building next door was "in danger of possible collapse," according to FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro. Two other nearby buildings were affected by the explosion.

Adil Choudhury, who lives a block away, ran outside when he heard "a huge boom."

"Already there was smoke everywhere" when he saw the building, he told The Associated Press. "The flames were coming out from the roof. The fire was coming out of every window."

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19 injured, 4 critically, in NYC building explosion - VIDEO: 'Major' building collapse in NYC - VIDEO: Seven-alarm ...