updated 11:05

Published: 9:18AM Friday March 27, 2015 Source: ONE News/AP

A construction worker has described a scene of chaos as a fire, thought to be caused by a gas explosion, engulfed a Manhattan apartment block this morning.

"I heard a loud explosion, just a very loud vibrating boom.People who were on the sidewalks and even people on the opposite side of the street were hit with debris," Matty Disilvestro told The New York Post.

Up to 30 people are thought to be injured in the "major building collapse" near the corner of Second Avenue and East Seventh Street in Manhattan's East Village.

Robert Shapiro witnessed the fire from nearby cafe. He described the intensity of the fire. "I've never seen such an aggressive fire - it was like they were pouring gas on it," he told the New York Post.

"The roof erupted in flames. I swear to you, at least 30 feet in the air, bright orange flames," he said.

The Associated Press is reporting at least two people who have been critically injured.

CNBC reports an explosion happened in a restaurant near the ground floor of the building with fire spreading to an apartment building.

Two buildings have been consumed by fire. According to the NY Post, a diner who was eating at the Sushi Park restaurant nearby told police he heard a blast from inside the nearby kitchen.

Read the rest here:
Manhattan apartment inferno: 'It was like they were pouring gas on it'

Austin Walsh/Daily Journal Ashley Canty lives at 1128 Douglas Ave. in Burlingame, where a 29-unit apartment complex is slated to be built.

The house at 1128 Douglas Ave. is the former home James and Jessie Murphy and is recognized as a historical site in Burlingame. The house is proposed to be moved to a property on Oak Grove Avenue to make way for a new residential development, which some neighbors oppose.

Burlingame residents fighting the proposed relocation of a historic house from Douglas Avenue and development of the property into a 29-unit apartment building said they are worried the project would forever alter the character of their downtown neighborhood.

Those living near the single-family homes at 1128 and 1132 Douglas Ave. expressed their frustration with the proposed construction of a five-story apartment complex that would offer rental rooms during a Planning Commission meeting Wednesday, March 24.

To make way for the project, builders have suggested razing the residence at 1132 Douglas Ave. and picking up the historic house next door at 1128 Douglas Ave. to move it about half a mile away to a location on Oak Grove Avenue.

The house located at 1128 Douglas Ave. is the former home of James Murphy, who served as an early city stationmaster and later worked as city clerk before his death in 1940. His wife Jessie Murphy served as a park commissioner and helped develop Burlingames identity as the City of Trees, according to a city report.

The building, built in 1903 and relocated to its current location in 1914, is recognized by the city as a historic resource.

To preserve the home through the proposed development of the sites on Douglas into an apartment complex, the builder has offered to move the historic building to 524 Oak Grove Ave.

There is a single-family home currently located at the site on the property at Oak Grove Avenue that would need to be demolished to make way for the relocation of the home from Douglas Avenue.

But residents living near the site of the proposed development on Douglas Avenue say the neighborhood is unfit for such a large-scale residential project, and fear the traffic and parking impacts by adding nearly 30 more apartments.

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Size an issue for apartment plan; Historic home in downtown Burlingame would be moved for new five-story building

Aided by a $600,000 federal grant, the Missoula Housing Authority plans to construct a new six-unit apartment building this summer and offer the units as affordable housing under its Home Grant program.

Lori Davidson, executive director of the MHA, said the agency applied for and received a state Home Grant worth $610,000, giving it a green light to begin the project planned near the corner of California and Dakota streets.

Dubbed Dakota Place, the project will include one-bedroom units.

Its on a parcel of land donated by the city, which it deemed to be surplus, said Davidson. They donated that to the Housing Authority. The units will be rented at affordable rates determined by the Home Program.

Davidson said MHA is now preparing a request for proposals, a step that launches the process of designing and building the apartments. She believes the process will take several weeks, giving time for design work.

MHA hopes to begin construction this summer.

It means six people who did not have affordable housing will have it, Davidson said. Any construction we can do is invaluable. Our waiting list is close to 2,000 people all the time, and there isnt enough to go around. Finding the funding to build them and operate them is always a challenge.

Davidson said MHA received a Home Grant roughly 10 years ago. It helped the agency refurbish the Uptown Apartments, which provide single-room occupancy downtown to formerly homeless individuals.

The new grant is the first earmarked for new construction.

Were at 500 units of affordable housing in Missoula, said Davidson. We applied for this about a year ago, but its been in the works for years.

The rest is here:
Missoula Housing Authority to build six-unit complex near Old Sawmill District

CORONA: Builder opens luxury apartment community

A tour of a new apartment complex in Corona, the Palisades at Sierra Del Oro by MBK Rental Living on Wednesday, March 25, 2015. This is a built from the ground up development that opens for leasing on Saturday.

KURT MILLER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

What: A new, 288-unit luxury apartment community with resort-inspired pool, fitness center, barbecues, tot lot playground and fitness center.

Where: 2300 Palisades Dr., Corona.

Apartment Sizes: One- to three-bedroom and one- to two-bath options, ranging from 812 to 1,410 square feet.

Rental Range: $1,525 to $2,375 per month.

Grand Opening: Saturday, March 28.

Information: 951-228-2700.

Palisades at Sierra Del Oro, a luxury apartment development by MBK Rental Living that was built from the ground up in Corona, opened for a VIP tour on Wednesday.

Read the rest here:
CORONA: Builder opens luxury apartment community

HOUSTON -

One year ago Wednesday, a dramatic rescue of a construction worker trapped during an apartment fire near downtown was caught on video.

Read the story and watch the video again:

A woman working in a nearby building grabbed her cellphone and recorded the dramatic rescue of a construction worker who was trapped when an apartment complex where he was doing work on went up in flames.

Karen Jones captured all of the dramatic moments.

At one point the construction worker was forced to jump to the balcony below to escape the flames. He was five stories up and was frantically waving at rescuers.

"I said, 'I'm going to die right here.' I said, 'God, you've got to save me. You've got to get me out of here,'" Curtis Reissig said.

Help was close, but Reissig began waving his arms because the flames were getting hotter and closer. He knew he had to act quickly.

With no where else to go, he dropped to the fourth-floor patio.

"The flames were getting so hot. I took one swing and said I'm going to drop to my feet or butt or my knees and my butt, just when I hit I'm not going to stumble backward," Reissig said.

Read more:
1 year later: Dramatic rescue of worker in massive fire caught on video

Listen Construction is booming but apartments hard to find 4min 30sec

From his office in downtown Minneapolis, Brent Wittenberg can see the region's apartment boom take shape just by looking out of his 13th floor window.

The Nic on Fifth, a 253-unit luxury apartment building a block away reportedly sold for more than $100 million last fall just after residents moved in an unheard of figure in Twin Cities residential real estate. Another luxury tower dubbed 4Marq is under construction on the same block.

Builders added 4,470 market-rate units in the Twin Cities in 2014 and Wittenberg expects another 3,500 to be move-in ready this year. Renters are signing leases as soon as the paint dries.

Still, all the construction has barely moved the needle on vacancy rates in the Twin Cities. They stood at 2.9 percent at year's end, up only slightly from a year prior. Over the same period, average monthly rent rose 4 percent and now tops $1,000.

As a result, anyone looking for an apartment in the Twin Cities likely will find fewer options and higher rents than they'd hoped. The metro area has one of the tightest rental housing markets in the nation.

When it comes to high-end apartments, Wittenberg can see a boom playing out in the data he keeps on his computer. Posh downtown apartments featuring dog runs, yoga studios, and concierge service may grab the most attention.

But rentals in all price ranges are in short supply across the Twin Cities, said Wittenberg, who tracks rental trends for the real estate consulting firm Marquette Advisors.

"I think that the demand fundamentals for apartments remain strong throughout the region," he said. "And we do not project a significant uptick in vacancy for the metro area as a whole."

Low vacancy rates and rising rents may be a landlord's dream, but they can be a nightmare for apartment seekers like Hilary Hannon, an attorney who has relocated twice in the last four years.

Read the original here:
Construction booming, but apartments hard to find

Listen Story audio 4min 30sec

From his office in downtown Minneapolis, Brent Wittenberg can see the region's apartment boom take shape just by looking out of his 13th floor window.

The Nic on Fifth, a 253-unit luxury apartment building a block away reportedly sold for more than $100 million last fall just after residents moved in an unheard of figure in Twin Cities residential real estate. Another luxury tower dubbed 4Marq is under construction on the same block.

Builders added 4,470 market-rate units in the Twin Cities in 2014 and Wittenberg expects another 3,500 to be move-in ready this year. Renters are signing leases as soon as the paint dries.

Still, all the construction has barely moved the needle on vacancy rates in the Twin Cities. They stood at 2.9 percent at year's end, up only slightly from a year prior. Over the same period, average monthly rent rose 4 percent and now tops $1,000.

As a result, anyone looking for an apartment in the Twin Cities likely will find fewer options and higher rents than they'd hoped. The metro area has one of the tightest rental housing markets in the nation.

When it comes to high-end apartments, Wittenberg can see a boom playing out in the data he keeps on his computer. Posh downtown apartments featuring dog runs, yoga studios, and concierge service may grab the most attention.

But rentals in all price ranges are in short supply across the Twin Cities, said Wittenberg, who tracks rental trends for the real estate consulting firm Marquette Advisors.

"I think that the demand fundamentals for apartments remain strong throughout the region," he said. "And we do not project a significant uptick in vacancy for the metro area as a whole."

Low vacancy rates and rising rents may be a landlord's dream, but they can be a nightmare for apartment seekers like Hilary Hannon, an attorney who has relocated twice in the last four years.

Read the rest here:
Construction is booming but apartments hard to find

Father Bach II planneddowntown

Catholic Charities Spokane plans to build a second apartment building that matches the design of its 2012-constructed Father Bach Haven Home located downtown. Father Bach II will be built on a vacant lot at 201 W. SecondAve.

The 35,300-square-foot transitional housing project is in the plan review stage with the city of Spokane. Its designed to have four stories and 51 units in a mix of studio and one-bedroom floor plans. Inland Group of Spokane Valley is thecontractor.

In January 2013, Catholic Charities opened Father Bach Haven at 108 S. State

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Catholic Charities Spokane plans to build a second apartment building that matches the design of its 2012-constructed Father Bach Haven Home located downtown. Father Bach II will be built on a vacant lot at 201 W. SecondAve.

The 35,300-square-foot transitional housing project is in the plan review stage with the city of Spokane. Its designed to have four stories and 51 units in a mix of studio and one-bedroom floor plans. Inland Group of Spokane Valley is thecontractor.

In January 2013, Catholic Charities opened Father Bach Haven at 108 S. State St. to provide housing aimed at getting chronically homeless individuals off the street and into a place oftheirown.

Etailz Inc., a Spokane-based e-commerce retailer, has leased about 7,200 square feet at the Spokane Business & Industrial Park in Spokane Valley. The new space is primarily for use as a warehouse processingfacility.

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The Dirt: Catholic Charities plans second Father Bach apartment building - Mon, 23 Mar 2015 PST

Photo by: John Dixon/The News-Gazette

The former C.R. Marble building at the corner of Washington and Neil streets in Champaign

Image

Image

And now, an update on a few student apartment projects coming to the Campustown area ...

First off, Chris Saunders and Scott Cochrane have revised plans for their redevelopment of the Marquette School site.

Initially they had envisioned a planned unit development at 203 S. Fifth St., C, with 260 beds. They've since trimmed back the plans to a five-story apartment building, called The Marquette, with 144 beds.

"We decided to keep current zoning standards and scale back the project," Saunders said.

"There's a lot of new construction in the market, and so we've scaled this project down about half," he said.

The Marquette will offer a mix of one-, two, three- and four-bedroom units, with the heaviest concentration on one- and two-bedroom apartments, he said.

Read more:
It's Your Business: Developers firm up plans for apartment projects

Los Angeles building officials on Thursday ordered a real estate developer to remove tenants from a 22-story apartment building in Hollywood, the latest piece of bad news to befall the recently opened project amid a long-running court battle.

The Department of Building and Safety informed CIM Group that the temporary occupancy permit for its partially leased Sunset and Gordon development has expired. Because of a recent court decision, that permit cannot be renewed until the project goes through a new environmental review and approval process, the order said.

Under the city order, tenants must leave by April 19. However, that deadline would be postponed if CIM Group files an appeal, Building and Safety spokesman Luke Zamperini said.

The city's action comes five months after a judge invalidated construction permits for the 299-unit project, saying that city officials improperly allowed the developer to demolish a 1924 building on the site. Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant said in his ruling that CIM Group had proceeded with construction during a legal challenge at "its own peril."

At the time of Chalfant's decision, city officials estimated that the building had 40 tenants. Zamperini said he does not know how many are there today.

The case is one of several lawsuits challenging Mayor Eric Garcetti's vision of larger, denser developments in Hollywood. A spokesman for Garcetti, who was the councilman for the area when Sunset and Gordon was approved, had no comment.

Zamperini said he knows of no other large Los Angeles residential project targeted with such a tenant-removal order. "In 24 years at the city, I personally have not seen this before," he said.

Representatives of CIM Group weren't available for comment. Any appeal of the city's order would be handled by the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners, a five-member panel made of up Garcetti appointees. The appeal process typically takes about 90 days, Zamperini said.

A lawyer for La Mirada Avenue Neighborhood Assn., which filed the legal challenge to Sunset and Gordon in 2012, questioned whether CIM Group has the legal right to file an appeal of the city's order. "This is more game playing by the city," attorney Robert P. Silverstein said.

When Sunset and Gordon was approved, city officials called for the facade of the vacant Spaghetti Factory restaurant building to be preserved and incorporated into the residential tower. CIM Group said in 2012 that the facade was too deteriorated to be saved, opting to raze the structure and build a replica instead.

See more here:
L.A. orders tenants to vacate troubled Hollywood building