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

Washington U.S. homebuilders slowed the pace of construction in January, breaking ground on fewer single-familyhousesahead of the spring buying season.

Housingstartsslipped 2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million last month, down from 1.09 million in December, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.

Leading that decline was a sharp 6.7 percent monthly drop instartsfor single-familyhouses. Still, a healing economy has caused building activity to move at a faster clip, with single-familystartsclimbing 18.7 percent over the past 12 months.

Despite the monthly decline, the broader economy should help boost home sales and apartment construction this year.

"We have strong job growth, strong consumer confidence, still low borrowing costs," said Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

In the past three months alone, the economy has gained more than a million new paychecks. Employers are adding workers at an annual clip of 2.3 percent, the fastest rate in the more than five-year recovery from the Great Recession.

The hiring has also fueled expectations that more millennials will sign leases on apartments. Builders have prepared for the additional demand, with apartment construction surging 12.1 percent in January and 24.5 percent over the past 12 months.

The improving labor market is expected to trigger greater demand to buy homes, boosting prices and then causing builders to further ramp up construction.

Metro areas with the fastest job growth are experiencing larger increases in home prices, Jed Kolko, chief economist at the real estate firm Trulia, said in a report last week.

"A growing economy fuelshousingdemand," Kolko said. Among the 10 metro areas with the biggest year-over-year price increases, nine had at least 2 percent job growth, he noted.

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US housing starts fall in January, but construction is speeding up

A torch used to thaw frozen pipes has been blamed for starting a fire Monday in a three-unit apartment building in Brigden that left several people temporarily homeless, and caused damage estimated at between $250,000 and $300,000.

Walt Anderson, chief of the St. Clair Township Fire Department, said Brigden firefighters were called out at approximately 5:30 p.m. to the fire on Boswell Street.

"The landlord was thawing some pipes and the fire got into the walls," he said.

"With the type of construction, she just went up the walls and into the attic."

The shell of the building was still standing Tuesday, but "it's pretty well gutted," Anderson said.

"Apparently, it was an old creamery so the walls are like three-foot thick of brick. It's a pretty solid building."

Anderson said all of the building's tenants escaped safely, and are reported to be staying with family, or found other accommodations.

"Everybody is out of the cold."

Anderson said firefighters were told four people lived in one apartment, one person lived in a second, and the third unit was vacant.

"It was very stubborn to fight," Anderson said, with cold temperatures and ice adding to the challenge, but no firefighters were injured.

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Tenants escape burning building

The amount of snow on the roof of 600 Pennsylvania Ave., in the Liberty Place apartment complex in North Leominster, is measured. David Dore photoA building at the Liberty Place apartment complex was evacuated for a couple of hours Monday after residents called the Fire Department to report a creaking roof and cracks in the walls and ceilings.

Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Davis said the Fire Department was contacted around 11:30 a.m. Monday that someone at 600 Pennsylvania Ave. heard some creaks and thought they saw new cracks in the walls and ceilings. Liberty Place is located off Industrial Drive in North Leominster.

The Fire Department contacted the building inspector because we did have some concern, just with the cracks, Davis said.

A structural engineer brought in by building co-owner Peter Bovenzi and the building inspector checked out the building once it was evacuated, Davis said. They checked out the attic and the snow load on the roof, he said, and the engineer deemed it safe.

There was at most 12-13 inches of snow on the roof, Bovenzi said, and the construction of the building allows it to support three to four times that amount.

Asked about the cracks reported by residents, Bovenzi replied there were no cracks that he could see.

After almost a couple of hours, residents were allowed to return, according to Davis. In the meantime, a resident said, they either stayed with family or friends or went to the citys emergency shelter at Southeast Elementary School.

The several feet of snow that has fallen on southern New England in recent weeks has raised concerns about roof collapses, and caused several of them around the region. Davis said the Leominster Fire Department has gotten calls from people concerned about a roof collapse, but as of Monday there have been none in the city.

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Apartment building evacuated over roof concerns