January 22, 2015, 7:01 AM Last updated: Thursday, January 22, 2015, 11:40 PM

A massive fire that raged for hours on Wednesday night, reducing a luxury Edgewater apartment complex to a pile of charred rubble and leaving more than 500 homeless, started with a blowtorch that was being used to fix a leaking pipe, officials said on Thursday.

CHRIS PEDOTA/staff photographer

Police Chief William Skidmore said workers were using a torch while fixing a leak and doing plumbing repairs when the fire started.

Maintenance workers who were doing plumbing repairs in the 408-unit Avalon at Edgewater complex initially tried to tamp down the flames themselves on Wednesday afternoon, waiting 15 minutes before they called 911, officials said. Nearly 24 hours later, after what turned into a grueling night for hundreds of firefighters battling one of the largest blazes in Bergen County history, the destruction of the building where the fire began was nearly complete.

TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Smoke still rises from the apartment complex as firefighters from many departments continue to pour water onto the site.

TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Firefighters from many departments continue to pour water onto the fire site.

NBC New York

Continued here:
5-alarm fire at Edgewater's Avalon apt. complex still smoldering; nearly 1,000 displaced

January 22, 2015, 7:01 AM Last updated: Thursday, January 22, 2015, 11:40 PM

A massive fire that raged for hours on Wednesday night, reducing a luxury Edgewater apartment complex to a pile of charred rubble and leaving more than 500 homeless, started with a blowtorch that was being used to fix a leaking pipe, officials said on Thursday.

CHRIS PEDOTA/staff photographer

Police Chief William Skidmore said workers were using a torch while fixing a leak and doing plumbing repairs when the fire started.

Maintenance workers who were doing plumbing repairs in the 408-unit Avalon at Edgewater complex initially tried to tamp down the flames themselves on Wednesday afternoon, waiting 15 minutes before they called 911, officials said. Nearly 24 hours later, after what turned into a grueling night for hundreds of firefighters battling one of the largest blazes in Bergen County history, the destruction of the building where the fire began was nearly complete.

TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Smoke still rises from the apartment complex as firefighters from many departments continue to pour water onto the site.

TARIQ ZEHAWI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Firefighters from many departments continue to pour water onto the fire site.

NBC New York

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5-alarm fire at Edgewater's Avalon apt. complex still smoldering; 1,000+ displaced

Construction of new homes rebounded in December, helping to push activity for the entire year to the highest level since the peak of the housing boom nine years ago.

Builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.09 million in December, an increase of 4.4 percent from November when unusually severe weather pushed activity down a revised 4.5 percent, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

For all of 2014, builders started construction on 1.01 million new homes and apartments, an increase of 8.8 percent from 2013. It was the first time construction has topped 1 million since the height of the housing boom in 2005, when builders started work on 2.07 million homes. Construction activity plunged to 587,000 in 2010 and has been making a slow recovery since then.

Housing construction topping the 1-million mark for the first time since 2005 adds to signs that the world's largest economy is on solid footing. The economy created nearly 3 million new jobs last year, the best showing since 1999. Economists believe the reviving labor market will drive further gains in housing this year.

President Barack Obama highlighted the improving economy in his State of the Union speech to Congress Tuesday night, describing 2014 a "breakthrough year for America."

Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, called the housing report good news. While building permits fell for a second straight month, she said all the weakness in permits occurred in the apartment sector.

"The housing system has some good support systems in place," she said, noting that many banks have relaxed some requirements for home buyers. The unemployment rate for 25- to 34-year-olds, the biggest sector for first-time home buyers, has also dropped to a six-year low.

For December, construction of single-family homes rose 7.2 percent while the smaller apartment sector, which can be volatile from month to month, fell 0.8 percent.

Applications for building permits dropped 1.9 percent in December to 1.03 million after a 3.7 percent decline in November.

By region, housing construction rose 12.5 percent in the Northeast and was up 8.8 percent in the South and 5.8 percent in the West. The Midwest was the only region to record a decline in December, falling 13.3 percent.

Continued here:
US home construction up 4.4 percent in December

Los Angeles city officials are weighing whether to offer a $75,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who started a destructive fire that consumed an apartment complex under construction in downtown Los Angeles last month.

City Councilman Jose Huizar proposed the reward Tuesday in the wake of the late-night blaze that consumed a seven-story building in the Da Vinci apartment complex in the 900 block of Fremont Avenue.

Huizar, whose district includes downtown Los Angeles and Boyle Heights, is hoping the reward will compel witnesses to come forward with information and help solve the case.

No one was injured in the Dec. 8 fire, which took 250 firefighters an hour and half to extinguish.

Heat and flames from the blaze caused damage to the 110 Freeway and nearby buildings. The fire caused between $25 million and $30 million in damage, city officials said.

Detectives and arson specialists with the LAPD, Los Angeles Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives combed the 180,000-square-foot site for evidence.

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA

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$75,000 reward proposed for break in Da Vinci fire probe

SHANGHAI, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- Shanghai company WinSun claimed it 3-D printed a five-story apartment building and villa using a 500-foot-long printer.

The apartment is undecorated, but the 11,840-square-foot villa is luxuriously decorated and on display in Suzhou Industrial Park.

It was printed using a special formula for patented "ink" comprised of construction waste such as concrete, fiberglass, sand, and a special hardening agent. It allows them to use a high amount of recycled material.

The process reduces construction waste by 30 to 60 percent, production times by between 50 and 70 percent, and labor costs by between 50 and 80 percent.

The same company claimed to print 10 houses in 24 hours in April.

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Chinese company 3-D prints apartment buliding

The utility of 3D printing continues to grow with leaps and bounds and the most recent invention, the worlds first 3D-printed apartment building, is on display now at Chinas Suzhou Industrial Park. The building is the pet project of Shanghai-based company WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co. who have been working hard in the industrial construction 3D-printing market.

The building stands five-stories, encompasses a 1,100 square meters (11,840 square feet) and is constructed from 3D-printed materials made from recycled materials combined with fast-hardening cement. The size makes this the tallest 3D printed structure in the world.

The large pieces are fabricated by this printer at WinSuns facility, shipped and assembled on-site. The components are complete with steel reinforcement and insulation to provide with official building standards.

The 3D printer array is monstrous in size compared to consumer models: 6.6 metres high, 10 metres wide and 40 metres long (20 by 33 by 132 feet). The printer was invented by WinSuns CEO and founder Ma Yihe who has brought the firm notoriety already by printing 10 houses in a day during March 2014.

Images and descriptions of the printing process from WinSuns website show the printer producing pieces by laying the frame and sides of the hollow walls and then filling it in with a zig-zag pattern of material to provide reinforcement. The company says that design is controlled by a CAD design template and a computer controls the extruder to lay down the final product.

According to WinSun the 3D-printing process saves between 30 and 60 percent on construction waste, can decrease production time between 50 and 70 percent and labor costs by 50 to 80 percent. The villa cost the company around $161,000 to build.

The company expresses an interest in using 3D-printing technology to reduce waste by using recycled materials and improve safety for workers and the environment, by exposing workers to less noise and hazardous materials.

WinSun wont release how large the architectural pieces it can produce are, however hopes to use its technology to facilitate even larger construction projects in the future including on bridges and skyscrapers.

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China super-sizes 3D-printing with worlds first printed apartment building

A Chinese company has set another world first in 3-D printing living space.

WinSun, the company that used 3-D printed materials to aid in constructing 10 houses in a period of 24 hours in March 2014, has constructed the worlds first 3-D printed apartment building. The five-story building made its debut in Suzhou Industrial Park in Suzhou, China, alongside a separate, 3-D printed 11,840 square foot villa.

Printing large parts for buildings also calls for a large 3-D printer to accomplish the feat. WinSun used, according to CNET, a proprietary 3-D printer measuring 132 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 20 feet tall to print each part of the mansion. The 3-D printer uses a material created from ground construction and recycled industrial waste to construct the parts. Once the pieces were printed, the assembly of the building occurred at the site, with the addition of steel reinforcements and insulation to meet Chinas building codes.

The company, however, does not want to stop there. WinSun, CNET reports, aims to use its 3-D printing technology to tackle even larger projects, including bridges and skyscrapers.

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Worlds first 3-D-printed apartment building debuts in China

Office space being built in the Bakery Square 2.0 complex in the East End's booming Penn Avenue corridor is almost fully leased, and developers are setting their sights on tenants for a second office building.

Because we're so close to Carnegie Mellon, Pitt and other local universities, we feel there is a lot of pent-up demand for companies who want to come to Pittsburgh to locate here, said Gregg Perelman, managing partner of Shadyside's Walnut Capital Partners.

O'Hara-based software maker Autodesk Inc. plans to lease about 15,000 square feet and employ 65 people in the six-story office building, scheduled to open this fall in Bakery Square 2.0. Internet search giant Google Inc. will anchor that building, leasing about one-third of the space.

By moving to Bakery Square, we will be in closer proximity to both established and startup companies in this area, Autodesk spokesman Noah Cole said.

Cole said the location will enable Autodesk to work more easily with CMU and Pitt researchers and tech developers, along with potential interns from the universities.

The brisk pace of securing tenants for the first building prompted Walnut Capital to start seeking tenants for the second one earlier than anticipated, Perelman said. The second building would be about the same size as the first, Perelman said.

I suspect we will be breaking ground on another office building ahead of schedule to keep up with this unbelievable demand, Perelman said.

Kevin Acklin, Mayor Bill Peduto's chief of staff and chief development officer, said he isn't surprised.

Walnut is doing so well because the site is so close to the talent base that Google, Autodesk and others are looking for, Acklin said.

Acklin pointed to transportation improvements in the area, including development of the East Liberty Transit Center near Penn Avenue with improved platforms and accessibility for transit riders using the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

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Walnut Capital fills 1 Bakery Square building, makes plans for 2nd

A Chinese company has successfully 3D printed a five-storey apartment building and a 1,100 square metre villa from a special print material.

Caixin

While architectural firms compete with their designs for 3D-printed dwellings, one company in China has quietly been setting about getting the job done. In March of last year, company WinSun claimed to have printed 10 houses in 24 hours, using a proprietary 3D printer that uses a mixture of ground construction and industrial waste, such as glass and tailings, around a base of quick-drying cement mixed with a special hardening agent.

Now, WinSun has further demonstrated the efficacy of its technology -- with a five-storey apartment building and a 1,100 square metre (11,840 square foot) villa, complete with decorative elements inside and out, on display at Suzhou Industrial Park.

The 3D printer array, developed by Ma Yihe, who has been inventing 3D printers for over a decade, stands 6.6 metres high, 10 metres wide and 40 metres long (20 by 33 by 132 feet). This fabricates the parts in large pieces at WinSun's facility. The structures are then assembled on-site, complete with steel reinforcements and insulation in order to comply with official building standards.

Although the company hasn't revealed how large it can print pieces, based on photographs on its website, they are quite sizeable. A CAD design is used as a template, and the computer uses this to control the extruder arm to lay down the material "much like how a baker might ice a cake," WinSun said. The walls are printed hollow, with a zig-zagging pattern inside to provide reinforcement. This also leaves space for insulation.

This process saves between 30 and 60 percent of construction waste, and can decrease production times by between 50 and 70 percent, and labour costs by between 50 and 80 percent. In all, the villa costs around $161,000 to build.

And, using recycled materials in this way, the buildings decrease the need for quarried stone and other materials -- resulting in a construction method that is both environmentally forward and cost effective.

In time, the company hopes to use its technology on much larger scale constructions, such as bridges and even skyscrapers.

Read more:
World's first 3D-printed apartment building constructed in China

BYRON CENTER, MI Apartments and condominium projects came roaring back in Ottawa County during 2014, fully recovering from a collapse of the market that dates back to 2008, according to Builder Track Reports.

Single family home starts also showed continued strength in the Lakeshore area, according to Builder Track Reports, which follows home building activity in West Michigan.

In Ottawa County, builders started construction on 443 apartment units, mostly to serve Grand Valley State Universitys student population in Allendale Township. Thats compared to a total of 52 units started in the previous four years. RELATED: 'Greek Town' housing project is a 'dream come true' for fraternities and sororities at Grand Valley State University

Builders also started construction on 198 condominium units in Ottawa County, nearly doubling the 103 units that were started in 2013.

In single family homes, builders took out permits for 742 projects, slightly down from 2013, when 759 homes were started in Ottawa County.

Georgetown Township continued to be the fastest-growing community in Ottawa County with 195 new single family home starts in 2014. Allendale Township was the second-fastest-growing community with 74 housing starts, followed by Holland and Grand Haven townships, with 65 and 57 housing starts. RELATED: New apartment construction soared in 2014 as renters clamored for housing near downtown

In Muskegon County, single family home starts were up slightly, from 127 projects in 2013 to 136 projects in 2014. No apartment projects were started. Seven condominium units were issued permits, according to Builder Track.

In the four Allegan County townships bordering Lake Michigan and the city of Saugatuck, single family homes starts were down slightly, from 73 in 2013 to 67 in 2014.

Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.

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Apartment construction drove 2014 housing recovery in Ottawa County