By Phil Gregory, WBGO News February 25, 2015

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The fire that destroyed an Edgewater apartment complex last month and displaced 400 residents is raising concern about construction in New Jersey.

Officials are concerned that the type of frame construction that allowed the fire to spread in the Avalon Bay complex will be used in apartment units the company plans to build in Wayne and Princeton.

Mayor Liz Lempert says AvalonBay has agreed to make improvements that go beyond the fire codes at its Princeton site.

Theyre going to be putting sprinklers not just in the finished spaces but also in the void spaces in between the walls and in the attics. The second major improvement theyre making is to install masonry firewalls within the complex that go from the basement to the roof.

Lempert says shed like those safety improvements to become a statewide requirement.

She says Princeton is considering a law that would require frequent inspections to maintain the integrity of firewalls.

You can have people coming in to lay wire or put in cabling and if they make a hole in the firewall to run those cables or run those wires, it then breaches the firewall and makes it not as effective.

State Assemblyman Scott Rumana has introduced legislation to put a moratorium on using light-frame construction for multiple-unit dwellings until the Commissioner of Community Affairs determines that it's a safe building method.

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Concerns About Building Construction

Buffalo city planners on Tuesday tabled a proposal for a new Jets Pizza takeout shop in North Buffalo, citing the need for the out-of-town architects and developers to work more closely with the local neighborhood and Common Council Member Michael LoCurto to address concerns.

Three franchisees, all based in Michigan, want to open the states first Jets Pizza shop at 2165 Delaware Ave., near Great Arrow Avenue and across from Marshalls Plaza. Their $750,000 project calls for a complete renovation of the 1,600-square-foot masonry building, which was formerly a SuperCuts hair salon and previously a bank branch, with a goal of opening by the end of March or early April.

The majority of Jets business is delivery and some takeout, said Steve Earll, an associate at Chiodini Architects in St. Louis, which is working with the franchisees and Jets. This is not a sit-down pizzeria, Earll said. You just pop in, get your pizza and go.

So they wanted to move the buildings main entrance from Delaware Avenue to the parking lot next to it. Earll said the pizza ovens would be lined up along the Delaware side of the building, and Jets wanted to remove all the storefront windows there and replace them with masonry for a solid wall.

But that didnt sit well with LoCurto, the Delaware Council member, or with members of the Planning Board.

It seems not to pay homage at all to Delaware Avenue, said board member Frank A. Manuele.

The board sent the architects back for more communication with the community and LoCurto, as well as to rework the Delaware entrance and signs.

Separately, the board also tabled two projects by Carl and William Paladinos Ellicott Development. The firm wants to build nine new townhomes at 21-51 Ojibwa Circle, representing the second phase of its Townhomes at Waterfront Place project.

Priced between $500,000 and $650,000, four have been pre-sold, said Tom Fox, Ellicotts director of development.

Ellicott also wants to convert a vacant 56,000-square-foot, four-story building at 960 Busti Ave. near the Peace Bridge overlooking the Niagara River into a $7 million mixed-use project, with commercial office, retail or even restaurant space on the first two floors and 18 apartments on the third and fourth floors.

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Buffalo Planning Board tables pizza shop plan

HARTSVILLE, S.C. -- A developer wants to build an apartment complex for seniors in Hartsville. Peachtree Housing Communities LLC is proposing an $8.2 million, three-story building off South Fifth Street and Pleasant Lane, adjacent to the Piggly Wiggly property.

Hartsville Senior Village would consist of 50 two-bedroom apartment homes for active seniors 55 and older, said Josh Thomason, a principal with Peachtree Housing Communities. Thomason presented the proposal to Hartsville City Council during a special called meeting Tuesday.

Peachtree proposed a 40-unit single-family home complex for a different location in Hartsville in 2014, but that proposed project encountered some environmental obstacles that prevented it from going forward, Thomason said.

Of the total $8.2 million estimated cost of the new proposal, about $6 million of that will be in hard construction, Thomason said.

Peachtree is a real estate development company focused on developing apartment communities in the southeastern United States, especially in South Carolina and Georgia. The company is an asset-based developer and retains ownership in developments long term.

All of the apartments would be in one building, which would be elevator-equipped, Thomason said.

The firm plans to apply to the South Carolina Housing Authority for tax credits to facilitate financing for the proposed project. But to do that, the company must obtain a letter of support from the city, the reason for Thomasons appearance before council.

Council unanimously approved a resolution authorizing such a letter.

It is expected to take several months for the housing authority to make a decision on the tax credits.

In return for accepting the tax credits, the company would agree to rent a majority of the units to seniors with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income. The remaining portion of units would be rented to seniors at or below 50 percent of the area median income. Thomason said he expects monthly rental rates would range from $393 to $540.

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Developer proposes $8.2 million apartment building in Hartsville for seniors

Kansas City, Mo.

An empty school building in midtown Kansas City, Mo., has become the subject of a heated debate between its next-door parish and the local bishop.

The building once housed St. Francis Xavier Parish's school, and parishioners had hoped to renovate it for community-enhancing programs. But Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn has begun working with developers to create a faith-based apartment complex targeting university students.

The developers and community members met Jan. 28 to discuss the final design, which the local City Plan Commission will vote on March 17.

The site could be a prime location for either vision. Located just west of Jesuit-run Rockhurst University and east of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the building could be demolished and replaced with an apartment building used by college students seeking a Catholic atmosphere. Providing evangelical Catholic missionaries to UMKC students was one of Finn's first initiatives since becoming bishop of the diocese in 2005.

The neighborhood and parish, however, hoped to take advantage of its location, seeing it as an opportunity to unite the east and west sides of Troost Avenue, a street considered a racial and economic dividing line in Kansas City's urban core.

In 2012, Finn and the parish agreed upon four criteria for whichever project is pursued: It must be self-sustaining, provide a parish hall for St. Francis Xavier, include a space for missionaries of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), and receive final approval from Finn.

The last condition makes many of the parishioners think their ideas don't have a chance.

"We met several times [to discuss proposals], and the bishop clearly said he was only interested in the Catholic student housing project," said parishioner Ken Spare.

Nearly two years ago, parishioners and a neighborhood group, the 49/63 Neighborhood Coalition, worked with an architectural firm, BNIM, to carry out a needs assessment of the area. The result was a 19-page plan that made several suggestions for the existing building, such as a parochial or charter school, space for adult education, a child development center, community gardens, assisted living housing, an event space, and more.

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Parishioners, bishop split on future of shuttered school building

Update: The victim of the construction site accident has been identified as John P. Stoll, 58, of Fitchburg, the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office said Saturday.

A worker at a construction site off John Nolen Drive died Friday after a wall collapsed and trapped him, authorities said.

The collapse happened at the future site of the Watermark Lofts apartment building, 960 John Nolen Drive on Madisons South Side, around 7:30 a.m. Friday.

The man was taken to UW Hospital, where he died, according to the Dane County Medical Examiners Office.

A representative from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was at the site Friday morning, along with Madison police and fire units that left around 9 a.m.

Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Lori Wirth said the man had been working near a stairwell at the rear of the building.

When firefighters and medics arrived, workers at the site had freed their co-worker, Wirth said.

Workers at the site declined to talk about the incident.

The Watermark Lofts, on the John Nolen Drive service road near the Beltline and Turville Bay, is scheduled to open this summer with apartments and retail space.

It is being built at the former site of the Causeway Centre apartment building, which was destroyed by a fire in April 2012.

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Update: Worker identified in fatal wall collapse at construction site

A worker at a construction site off John Nolen Drive died Friday after a wall collapsed and trapped him, authorities said.

The collapse happened at the future site of the Watermark Lofts apartment building, 960 John Nolen Drive on Madisons South Side, around 7:30 a.m. Friday.

The man was taken to UW Hospital, where he died, according to the Dane County Medical Examiners Office.

A representative from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was at the site Friday morning, along with Madison police and fire units that left around 9 a.m.

Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Lori Wirth said the man had been working near a stairwell at the rear of the building.

When firefighters and medics arrived, workers at the site had freed their co-worker, Wirth said.

Workers at the site declined to talk about the incident.

The Watermark Lofts, on the John Nolen Drive service road near the Beltline and Turville Bay, is scheduled to open this summer with apartments and retail space.

It is being built at the former site of the Causeway Centre apartment building, which was destroyed by a fire in April 2012.

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Worker dies after wall collapse at construction site

After 15 years and more than 300 residents, the Emergency Residence Projects four-residence apartment building, which serves as transitional housing for those in need, is in need of some renovations.

The building was constructed in one week back in 1999 as part of the Blitz Build, and it has held up quite well. However, many of the inside necessities for the residents need to be replaced, said Alan Christy, deacon at St. Cecilia Catholic Church and the one who organized and supervised the construction in 1999.

You cant put 300 people through that building there and not have maintenance needs, he said. Its in need of new appliances, cupboards, counter tops, cabinets and floors.

The renovation cost is $13,000 per unit and Christy is trying to get a church to sponsor each one. So far, St. Cecilia and St. Thomas Aquinas have committed to one unit each.

The Emergency Residence Project, which began in 1985 for transient people in Ames but soon became a resource for local people and families in need, can house up to eight individuals and families at any time with its neighboring units and occasionally a couple motel rooms.

Vic Moss, director of the Emergency Residence Project, has taken care of the apartments since they were built, but no major work has been done on them since they were built.

Moss said the apartments are fine to live in, but Christy, whos one of the people leading the charge for the renovations, believes they should be improved.

We should make these places a home worthy of these people, he said. These are a place children will call home.

Moss, who has been with ERP since 1987, said there are about two calls per day from other nearby towns and cities, too of someone asking for housing for themselves or their family.

With an annual budget of about $400,000, the operation serves several families, spending a lot of its time trying to keep families and individuals, about 1,500 per year, in their current homes by helping with rent and utilities.

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Needy renovations: Emergency residence needs facelift

If you want the distinction of owning the priciest apartment in New York City, be prepared to cough up $150 million. Thats the listing price for a triplex penthouse in the former Sony building, the most expensive listing for any New York condo since last September's $130 million asking price for an apartment at 520 Park Ave. The $150 million price tag would also shatter the record $100.5 million deal for a condo at One57 at 157 W. 57th St. if the Sony building triplex sells at the listing price. This is taking everything to a whole new level, Ben Bernalloul, a luxury real estate broker at RLTY NYC, told the New York Daily News. Its setting a new standard for real estate in this area. Now, everyone is going to be playing catch-up with this number.

The Sony building, at 550 Madison Ave., sits on Billionaires Row, the name given to the flashy new high-rises that have gone up around 57th Street near Central Park. The building is owned by the Chetrit Group, which is converting the former Sony offices into luxury apartments, according to Bloomberg Business.

The $150 million asking price for the eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom triplex penthouse may be a way for Chetrit to stand out from the crowd of luxury apartment buildings in the area, Jonathan Miller, president of the New York City-based appraising firm Miller Samuel Inc., told Bloomberg. The penthouse seems to be a strategy to train focus on the development, he said. Buyers in the super-luxury market are obsessed with having an asset thats unique and not cookie-cutter.

Jason Haber, a broker at Warburg Realty, said the penthouse may attract billionaires who want to claim the most expensive apartment in Manhattan. The triplex penthouse and other apartments on Billionaire Row cater to Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern sheikhs and Chinese business moguls, according to the Daily News. The $150 million penthouse comes with 10 powder rooms, a wine room and a spa, according to the Real Deal and the Daily News. In a market like this where everyone is going after the biggest trophy, everyone always wants the shiniest one, Haber said. Chetrit is now saying this is the shiniest one.

The $150 million apartment may test the limits of how much billionaires are willing to pay for New Yorks priciest residential real estate. "It's all public relations, luxury broker Donna Olshan told the Daily News. They're ratcheting it up for the press sake. I can't think of a better way to make a splash than to put something on the market at a record price."

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Most Expensive Apartment In NYC: $150M Asking Price For Triplex Penthouse At Former Sony Building

SPRINGFIELD'S first apartment building will soon be added to the region's skyline, with construction set to begin later this year.

The $200 million Park Avenue project will see 600 apartments built on a 1.8 hectare site on Sinnathamby Bld, Springfield Central, creating a new lifestyle option for residents wishing to call Ipswich home.

There are mid-level towers proposed ranging between six to seven levels, which will provide one and two bedroom apartments with views over Robelle Domain.

During the first stage 66 apartments will be built.

They will be conveniently located near amenities such as Robelle Lagoon, Orion Springfield Central, University of Southern Queensland, GE state headquarters and the brand new Mater Private Hospital Springfield, providing a lifestyle built around lifestyle and entertainment.

Park Avenue will also accommodate its own bustling retail precinct with an enviable mix of alfresco and dining options right on your doorstep.

The project is being convened with Springfield Land Corporation and Folkestone Limited.

Springfield Land Corporation managing director Raynuha Sinnathamby said there was a real buzz surrounding the apartment building.

"Initial interest has been very good via the website with over 300 requests for more information," she said.

"With our billboards and online promotions, we seem to be getting up to 40 enquiries a day.

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High life in Springfield with Park Avenue project

Plans for a 27-unit student apartment building on College Avenue in Greensburg moved forward Tuesday with a recommendation from the city Historic and Architectural Review Board.

Greensburg Property Partners LLC presented plans to the board for the second time, after tweaking the proposal's designs in response to criticisms raised last month.

The porches in front of the three-story brick building will be larger and have a more classical look. The windows will be more consistent and symmetrical. The bricks will be all red, instead of the red and tan scheme originally proposed.

It is much more comprehensive, and I'm grateful for that, said HARB member Barbara Jones.

Board President Steve Gifford abstained from the vote. He is the director of the Greensburg Community Development Center, which sold some property to the developers for this project.

The rest of the board members agreed unanimously to recommend the building to city council.

If the project receives approval in March, construction will begin immediately. The developers are aiming for completion by Aug. 1, in order to house Seton Hill students in the 2015-2016 school year.

Nate Morgan of Monroeville and Deanna Seruga of Harrison City own Greensburg Property Partners and will oversee construction.

Most of the building will be constructed modularly off-site, then rapidly assembled. Once all the pieces are on the property, the building will be up in only three or four days, Morgan said.

The project would demolish five vacant houses, four on College Avenue and one on Brown Avenue, all built sometime in the 1910s or 1920s.

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Student apartment plan clears Greensburg hurdle