A plan to tear down an aging Main Street plaza in Williamsville and replace it with a three-story retail and apartment building has been given the endorsement it needs after nearly two years in the pipeline.

The Williamsville Planning Board approved site plans last week for the mixed-use project at Main and Hirschfield Drive, which will include retail on the first floor and upscale apartments on the second and third floors.

Architectural designs still need to be approved by the Village Planning Board. But the go-ahead given last week coupled with site plan approval from the Amherst Planning Board in August paved the way for demolition and construction to begin by next spring or summer.

This is exactly the type of project were looking for in the village, said Williamsville Trustee Christopher J. Duquin. Its mixed-use, set to the street, commercial under residential, and parking in the back.

Since the project was proposed in March 2013, it has generated some opposition. That includes the owners of two nearby businesses Main Street News & Tobacco and Alterations by Lena who area concerned that the new development will squeeze them out of their already limited street parking.

Im worried about the overflow from them, said Ben Galletti of Main Street Tobacco and News. If you dont have somewhere to park, people arent going to come in.

Duquin and Williamsville Mayor Brian J. Kulpa have invited opponents of the project to the Village Board meeting Tuesday to discuss the project. However, the project doesnt need approval from the board, and the discussion will be more of an opportunity for officials to explain how this venture fits into the broader picture for Main.

At the end of the day, we think we filled the planning objective of both the Village of Williamsville and the Town of Amherst for the redevelopment of properties in this section of Main, said Sean W. Hopkins, the attorney representing the developer.

The redevelopment project is proposed by Dr. Lawrence N. Teruel, an Arizona physician whose father for years had owned this property located directly across from Williamsville South High School.

The proposed L-shaped brick building would come up to the sidewalk and anchor the corner of Main and Hirschfield with 18,600 square feet of retail space on the first floor and parking in the back for 98 vehicles.

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After two years in the pipeline, Williamsville plaza plan is approved

mitsu yasukawa/staff photographer

Xchange, an apartment complex going up near the Secaucus Junction rail station.

* Rentals lead way, thanks to tight mortgage standards, flat incomes

Powered by a surge in multifamily construction, home building in New Jersey is on track for its strongest year since 2006.

Builders have taken out 23,738 building permits through October, up 18 percent from the same period last year, according to data released this week from the U.S. census and more than 60 percent of the permits have been for multi-family units. The multifamily percentage is the highest since 1964, said Patrick O'Keefe, an economist with CohnReznick, an accounting firm in New York and Roseland. As recently as the 1990s, multifamily projects accounted for about 15 percent of the home construction in the state.

O'Keefe expects builders to start more than 27,000 housing units in the state this year coming close to the long-term averages above 30,000 a year, after dipping to lows averaging around 13,000 a year during the housing bust.

Rentals are leading the way, especially along the Hudson River. Bergen and Hudson counties have accounted for about 30 percent of the state's home-building activity so far this year, heavily weighted toward multifamily construction.

Rentals are in demand because tight mortgage standards and flat incomes have pushed homeownership out of reach for many. In addition, many households especially millennials and downsizing baby boomers like the flexibility of renting. And after watching home values plummet during the housing bust, some people are "skeptical about the wisdom of using a house as your primary investment asset," O'Keefe said.

While multifamily builders are moving forward, single-family builders are being more cautious, and not building houses they may not be able to sell, O'Keefe said.

In one example of multifamily construction in Bergen County, builders recently began work on a 195-unit apartment building on Route 4 in Englewood, the first major project in the city since before the recession. And multifamily projects have recently been completed or are under construction in Fort Lee, Edgewater, Elmwood Park, Fair Lawn, Wood-Ridge and Bloomingdale, among other North Jersey towns.

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Multifamily housing may give N.J. a banner home-building year

Melbourne (PRWEB) November 27, 2014

City Edge Apartment Hotels is proud to announce the construction of City Edge Box Hill, Melbourne which will start soon and be completed by early 2016. The address of the hotel will be 1 Elland Avenue Box Hill. The building will consist of 9 levels of which City Edge will take up levels 1, 2 and 3, making 49 apartments. In addition to this there will be a cafe at ground level and secure undercover parking in the basement.

The new City Edge Box Hill will be constructed according to the exacting specifications of City Edge that includes the floor plans, finishes, interior & exterior design and colour scheme. The new hotel will be the benchmark for all other City Edge hotels. The company is not taking any bookings yet, booking will start in late 2015.

Talking about their range of hotels, one of the representatives of City Edge Apartment Hotels stated, for savvy business travellers, City Edge boasts the best value accommodation Melbourne has to offer. Choose from six convenient locations, including the Melbourne CBD, and different apartment types - studio one bedroom two bedrooms - always at the most competitive rates in Melbourne. Not only does City Edge offer everyday discount rates all year round - deals and other benefits are also offered. Stay at a City Edge Apartment Hotel and be assured of an enjoyable, affordable and comfortable serviced apartment.

About City Edge Apartment Hotels City Edge is a well-known for their budget accommodation in Melbourne. Their business is apartment hotels and provides serviced apartment accommodation for rent for the informed traveller at reasonable prices. The company claims to provide best accommodation deals in Melbourne and has been serving its customers for over two decades and it is known for its reliable, efficient and friendly apartment accommodation solutions. It provides the apartments for both short and medium term stays. For more information, please visit: https://www.cityedge.com.au

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City Edge Apartment Hotels Announces the Construction of their New Hotel - City Edge Box Hill

In 2008, a five-alarm fire destroyed the Deauville apartment building in Mount Pleasant, leaving nearly 200 people without a home.

The 85 unit-building has been plagued by issues, from mold to broken heating, with more than 7,000 code violations issued in the years before the blaze.

Those issues are nowhere to be seen outside or inside the building at 3145 Mount Pleasant Street NW. Tenants who will return to the building, and the advocates, city leaders and non-profit partners who helped them get there, today gathered at what's now known as the Monsenor Romero apartments to celebrate its opening.

"Today we have a new beginning," said Rob Richardson, development manager of the The National Housing Trust-Enterprise Preservation Corporation, which partnered with 3145 Mount Pleasant Street Tenants Association to redevelop the building.

Financing for the $19 million building came from the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development ($4.137 million for an acquisition loan), Capital One Bank ($9.7 million for a construction loan) and through Low Income Housing Tax Credits sold to investors.

"Without the loan," Richardson said of DHCD's contribution, "it could not have happened to bring back the residents who used to live here."

With construction completed 16 months after groundbreaking, 38 of the families who were displaced will move back into what's now a 61-unit affordable building.

"We're here today for the phoenix that has risen quite literally from the ashes," Mayor Vincent Gray said at the ribbon cutting. "This is the completion of a ten-year journey. It shouldn't take that long to be able to reserve and restore and bring people back, but it did. In one context, I'm glad it did take ten years because it might have been never."

Among the credit spread around for bringing the building back online, much of it went to Yasmin Romero-Latin of the 3145 Mount Pleasant Street Tenants Association which banded together to to keep the building affordable.

Scott Kline of the NHT-Enterprise Preservation Corporation said he was unsure about the project's success until meeting Romero-Latin. "This project can't fail. This project won't fail with a leader like this," he said.

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Families Displaced By 2008 Fire Return As Building Reopens With Affordable Housing

CAIRO (AP) An apartment building in Egypt's capital collapsed Tuesday, killing at least 17 people as rescuers and neighbors frantically dug through rubble with their hands to find survivors, authorities said.

The collapse in Cairo's eastern Matariya district highlights the longtime problem of shoddy construction across Egypt, as neighbors said the seven-story building had several floors illegally added onto it. Egyptian developers seeking bigger profits frequently build without permits amid a nationwide housing shortage, rampant corruption and lax government oversight.

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Apartment building collapses in Egypt, killing 17

An apartment building in Egypts capital collapsed Tuesday, killing at least 17 people as rescuers and neighbors frantically dug through rubble with their hands to find survivors, authorities said.

According to ABC News, the collapse in Cairos eastern Matariya district highlights the longtime problem of shoddy construction across Egypt, as neighbors said the seven-story building had several floors illegally added onto it. Egyptian developers seeking bigger profits frequently build without permits amid a nationwide housing shortage, rampant corruption and lax government oversight.

The building caved in around 1: 30 a.m. as many inside slept, witnesses said. Bulldozers roared into the neighborhoods narrow alleys after the collapse, removing chunks of cement, steel rods, scattered clothes and bloody bed sheets. Neighbors said workers looked for mattresses in the hope theyd find survivors nearby.

Mamdouh Abdel-Qader, the head of Cairo Civil Defense, said rescuers recovered 17 bodies from the collapse. The official MENA news agency said workers pulled eight residents out of the rubble alive. Neighbors said those still buried made desperate mobile phone calls, begging for help.

A man with his daughter was calling me saying they are trapped in darkness, said a dust-covered Ali Abdel-Fattah Ali, a government employee who moonlights as a mechanic in a nearby car repair shop. I tried to call back but there was no answer. I dont know what happened. His phone is still ringing.

Immediately after the collapse, Abeer Ismail, 25, called out the name of her mother-in-law, who lived on the second floor. Ismail said she had last visited the building on Sunday and could tell it was unsafe.

You could see the steel rods popping out of the walls and cracks covered the walls, she said.

The son of the buildings owner jumped off a balcony to escape the collapse, neighbors said. Its unclear who owns the building now as the owner died six months ago.

Officials and neighbors said that the building owner defied a court ruling issued five years ago and illegally built several extra floors atop the original four-story structure.

Abdel-Khaleq Abdel-Hadi, a resident who wasnt in the building at the time of the collapse, accused local authorities of accepting bribes to hold off the execution of the court order.

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Building collapses in Egypt, kills 17

CAIRO, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- At least 18 people are dead and several others are possibly trapped after an eight-story apartment building collapsed in the Matariya district early Tuesday. Rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors under the rubble in the west Cairo suburb.

Desperate family members joined in the search after the early morning collapse, moving chunks of stone by hand in an effort to find survivors.

About 25 people lived in the building. Authorities said the building collapsed because the landlord illegally added several floors to the old building, a common problem in Egypt.

In 2013, 24 people died and 12 other were injured when an apartment building collapsed in Alexandria. Authorities cited poor maintenance and building specification violations as the cause.

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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At least 18 dead in Cairo building collapse

At least 17 people have been killed after an apartment building in Egypts capital collapsed.

Rescuers and neighbours frantically dug through rubble with their hands to find survivors at the scene in Cairos eastern Matariya district, authorities said.

The collapse highlights the long-standing problem of shoddy construction across Egypt, as neighbours said the seven-storey building had several floors illegally added onto it.

Egyptian developers seeking bigger profits frequently build without permits amid a nationwide housing shortage, rampant corruption and lax government oversight.

The building caved in at around 1.30am as many inside slept, witnesses said.

Bulldozers roared into the neighbourhoods narrow alleys after the collapse, removing chunks of cement, steel rods, scattered clothes and bloody bed sheets. Local residents said workers looked for mattresses in the hope survivors would be found nearby.

Mamdouh Abdel-Qader, the head of Cairo civil defence, said rescuers had recovered 17 bodies from the collapse.

The official MENA news agency said workers pulled eight residents out of the rubble alive. Neighbours said those still buried made desperate mobile phone calls, begging for help.

A man with his daughter was calling me saying they are trapped in darkness, said a dust-covered Ali Abdel-Fattah Ali, a government employee who moonlights as a mechanic in a nearby car repair shop.

I tried to call back but there was no answer. I dont know what happened. His phone is still ringing.

View original post here:
17 dead after apartment collapse in Egypt

Cairo: An apartment building collapsed on Tuesday in northern Cairo, leaving 15 people dead, medical officials said.

Rescue teams were searching for survivors and victims through the rubble of the eight-floor building in the crowded district of Al Matariya. Seven people were retrieved alive, the officials said.

Fifteen people died, eight were injured and relatives say another seven are trapped under the rubble, Cairos emergency services deputy director Jamal Al Jalawa said.

Initial investigations found that the landlord had illegally added two extra floors to the building.

The departments chief, General Mamdouh Abdul Qader, said earlier that investigators were still investigating the cause of the collapse but that illegal construction work was suspected.

We dont yet know the cause of the accident but we have been told that two storeys were recently added totally illegally, Abdul Qader said.

A witness on site said rescuers working to clear the debris were struggling to manoeuvre their equipment in a very narrow alleyway.

Relatives of the missing and onlookers were digging with bare hands in the rubble.

Mohammad Al Bishlawy, district prosecutor for eastern Cairo, said he has opened an inquiry and asked for the arrest of the buildings owner.

He blamed the accident on renovation work in a second-floor apartment that has affected the structure of the building and the addition of two floors without permission.

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Cairo building collapse kills 15

Another big apartment building is in the works east of the Capitol Square, this one from T. Wall Enterprises for theReynolds construction crane storage lot at 710 E. Mifflin St.

The developer is proposing 185 market rate units with about 200 underground parking spaces. Plans call for a mix ofstudio, one- and two-bedroom units with the potential of three-bedroom units if there is sufficient demand, according to District 2 Ald. Ledell Zellers.

Zellers is holding a neighborhood meeting on the project Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lapham Elementary School Auditorium, 1045 E. Dayton St.

Zellers in an email to constituents says the meeting will include forming a Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association Steering Committee for the project. TLNA's development chair Patrick Heck will guide the committee, which will work with the developer and the city as the project moves through the review process.

Heck is replacing past development chair David Waugh, who recently stepped down from that position.

The site of the T. Wall proposal is behind the Constellation apartment tower and a block west of the Galaxie mixed-use project under construction.

T. Wall Enterprises was recently selected as one of four finalists for the sale and redevelopment of the Hill Farms state office site.

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T. Wall eyes apartment project on the 700 block of East Mifflin