WASHINGTON - Construction firms broke ground on more apartment complexes in September, pushing up the pace of U.S. homebuilding.

Housing starts rose 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.017 million homes, the Commerce Department said Friday. Almost all of the gains came from apartment construction - a volatile category - which increased 18.5 percent after plunging in August.

The sluggish recovery and meager wage growth has left more Americans renting instead of owning homes. Apartment construction has surged 30.3 percent over the past 12 months.

Starts for single-family houses rose just 1.1 percent in September, contributing to an 11 percent gain during the past 12 months.

Applications for building permits, a good sign of future activity, increased 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.018 million. That also reflected the strength in apartment building. Permits for multi-family buildings rose 7 percent in September, compared to a 0.5 percent drop in permits for single-family houses.

Other indicators reflect the continued to shift to rentals. The residential component of the American Institute of Architects billing index stood at 58.1 in August. That index is more heavily-weighted to multi-family housing and any reading above 50 signals growth.

Meanwhile, real estate sales have failed to get much traction in recent months. Price growth is slowing, yet the surge in home values through the middle of last year has made affordability a challenge for many would-be buyers. Homebuilders are also feeling slightly less optimistic.

The recent turmoil in the financial markets caused the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate to drop to a 52-week low of 3.97 percent. That should help spur some additional buying, but it's unlikely to be enough to suddenly boost construction.

"While the drop in mortgage rates likely will prompt stronger home sales by the turn of the year, we don't expect a significant upward trend in construction to re-emerge until next spring," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Home prices rose 6.4 percent in August compared with a year ago, according to real estate data provider CoreLogic. This marks a substantial slowdown. Home values had chalked up annual gains of as much as 12 percent toward the end of last year.

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Homebuilding gets a boost from apartment construction

Yale students will soon have new off-campus housing options when four upscale apartment units finish construction above the new art supply store Artist and Craftsman on Chapel Street, near the New Haven Green.

Pike International a major local real estate firm that owns off-campus buildings such as the Bakers Dozen house and the Mens Rowing house is funding the building of the apartments at 817 Chapel St. Project designer Fernando Pastor said this particular initiative is part of a larger series of refurbishments along the entire Ninth Square district the area along Chapel Street south of the New Haven Green. Pike has led the charge on many of these building renovations.

The whole fabric of the neighborhood is improving, said Barbara Hawes, assistant manager of Artist & Craftsman.

The space for the new apartments previously housed Karma, a nightclub, and Golden Rock, a pizzeria. After these two businesses closed, Pike acquired the property in 2012. While the building constructed in the 1940s will soon feature apartment units, Pastor stressed that the original faade and parts of the original ceiling and floor will be kept.

We use the bones of a historical building and make it modern, Pastor said. Because the building will be categorized as mixed use, Pastor said that the renovations will include new safety precautions.

Pastor said other developers had offered plans to tear down the building and put up a new five- to seven-story building. Pike instead plans to use the third floor of the building, which previously featured unused office space, to build the new apartment units. Pastor stressed that this particular project is not an example of gentrification, considering that the buildings were already abandoned.

Pastor said he instead sees the new developments as part of a recent nationwide trend of people migrating from the suburbs into the city to live closer to their workplace. He said these new apartments could potentially be attractive to Connecticut residents looking for a place in the Elm City.

According to Pastor, Yale undergraduates and some faculty members already occupy Pikes apartment units adjacent to 817 Chapel St. He added that he is confident that the company will soon find tenants for the new apartment building units. He noted that Pike generally does not experience difficulties filling its properties in New Haven which has a high occupancy rate of 98 percent.

Although Pike owns over 1,000 apartments in New Haven, making the company the citys largest residential apartment owner, Yale students who have lived in their buildings have reported poor customer service and management.

Sylvie McNamara 16, a Pike tenant last year, said she did not receive a single response from Pike after multiple requests to have her heater fixed in January.

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Pike to offer new Chapel St. apartments

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NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) An attack on a man inside his Brooklyn apartment building is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Mitch Pope has five staples in his head after a being attacked by someone with a hammer. He told CBS 2s Emily Smith that a man followed him home and beat him while yelling gay slurs.

And then he was on top of me, hitting me with the hammer, and I was afraid for my life, so I started screaming and fighting back, Pope said.

It happened around 11 a.m. on Monday, in the lobby of Popes Crown Heights apartment building. Pope had just made his usual coffee stop, and planned to go back up to his apartment when he noticed someone following him.

Heavier guy , black with a scruffy beard, he had a skully on, and a brown hoodie, Pope said.

The building has a locked door with a buzzer system, but police said that the suspect followed the man right into the building and attacked him in the lobby.

At first Pope thought the attacker might have been a construction worker on the property for a recent project. The next thing he knew, he was being attacked and pushed down a set of stairs.

As WCBS 880s Alex Silverman reported, he had to get five staples in his head after the attack.

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Crown Heights Hammer Attack Being Investigated As Possible Hate Crime

By Carl Rotenberg crotenberg@21st-centurymedia.com

Council voted 4-1 for the tax abatement and deteriorated area designation after a brief public hearing. Councilman Sonya Sanders voted against the designation. Council members Marlon Millner and Linda Christian were absent for the vote.

The Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act (LERTA) zone designation will allow Westrum Development Company (WDC) of Fort Washington not to pay real estate taxes on a diminishing yearly schedule. The tax exemption contains a 100 percent tax abatement in the first year and a 10 percent abatement in the 10th year with 10 percent changes each year.

If the Luxor at Sandy Street project were developed without the LERTA public subsidy, annual tax revenue would be $280,000 for the Norristown Area School District, $110,000 for the Norristown municipality and $28,000 for Montgomery County. If the 10-year, LERTA tax abatement for 900 Sandy St. is adopted by all three taxing authorities, full tax revenue would be postponed to the 11th year.

The resolution adopted by council said the property abuts a property (770 Sandy St.) that contains an unsafe building built with a defective design, is vacant, and has been condemned as unsafe for human habitation by the municipality of Norristown and thus is considered a deteriorated area pursuant to Section 4725(a) of LERTA.

However, the building at 770 Sandy St. was vacant after Norristown condemned it in May 2010 under a court order. Nine condo owners and 15 renters were forced to vacate. The municipality repaired it for more than $3.4 million at taxpayer expense. Four condo owners resided in the repaired building after the first condemnation was lifted on Aug. 17, 2012, and until it was condemned for a second time in August, said Ryan Schofield, a 770 Sandy St. condominium owner who lived there before the first condemnation.

The 26-unit condo building at 770 Sandy St. has been vacant since the August condemnation, Schofield said.

In February, Norristown officials announced they would no longer pay the $40,000 annual cost for maintenance, electricity and repairs at the building after winning that right in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

John Westrum, chairman of WDC, said the mix of 113 one-bedroom units, eight studio apartments and 36 two-bedroom apartments at 900 Sandy St. would discourage rentals from families who children that would attend the Norristown Area School District.

The Lofts at Valley Forge in West Norriton has 388 units and six school-age children attending the district, Westrum said at an earlier council workshop meeting. Continued...

The rest is here:
Norristown council OKS tax abatement for apartment building

SINGAPORE - Imagine an apartment block built by stacking separate rooms together, complete with finishings and fittings. That is how a new executive condominium at Canberra Drive will be assembled, using an advanced construction method that is expected to raise productivity by more than 40 per cent.

Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Here is the media statement from Singapore Press Holdings:

Transforming construction productivity through innovative technologies at BuildTech Asia 2014

BuildTech Asia's exhibition showcase and conference sessions span across the 'hardware and software' of the built environment - from construction technology to facilities management solutions

SINGAPORE - The fourth edition of BuildTech Asia 2014, the region's leading trade show for the built environment, opens today as part of a week-long series of events under the Singapore Construction Productivity Week.

Organised by Sphere Exhibits and hosted by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), the three day trade exhibition is held from 14 to 16 October at Singapore Expo Halls 3 and 4.

The event was officially opened by Ms Grace Fu, Minister, Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Over 200 exhibiting brands from nine countries including Australia, China, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan will be showcasing a wide array of products, machineries and cutting edge technologies from Autodesk, Bonco Enterprise, Higa Trading, Hydro Dynamic Engineering, Shinhan Tech-Engineering, Straits Construction, and Zuuse Australia among many others.

To address the productivity challenges faced by the industry as it copes with a tightened supply of foreign workers and evolving standards, this year's BuildTech Asia provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge and ideas for a more streamlined workflow, from sourcing of building materials to management of building facilities.

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More funding, facilities and training for construction productivity drive

The tallest apartment building in New York has reached its peak of 425 metres but the spectacular views over the city don't come cheap.

The penthouse, which is currently under construction at 432 Park Avenue, sold for $US95 million ($108.7 million) and the sub-penthouse on the 95th floor is currently listed for $97.3 million.

Prices in the 104-apartment tower more than half of which have sold start at $8 million.

But given the super-tall skinny tower is located at the southern end of Central Park, an area colloquially known as the 'billionaire's belt', it is likely that many of the remaining apartments will sell before it opens next year.

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"It's almost like the Mona Lisa," said Harry B. Macklowe, the developer building the $1.49 billion tower.

"Except instead of it looking at you, you're looking at it wherever you are. You can't escape it."

Not that everyone agrees the building, developed with the CIM Group, based in Los Angeles, is a work of art.

"God, does it stand out," said New York resident Marlene Rosenthal.

"It's a status symbol, and that's the name of the game in this city."

View original post here:
New York's tallest apartment tower tops out

DBOX for CIM Group/Macklowe Properties432 Park towers over neighboring buildings.

On Friday, construction topped out at 432 Park, a luxury condominium that's now arguably the tallest building in New York City. It even has the new One World Trade Center beat, not counting that building's spire.

At 1,396 feet, 432 Park towers above a row ofsuper-tall buildingsrising on the southern end of Central Park, an area that's already earned its "Billionaires' Belt" nickname.These skyscrapers are so tall theyneeded approval from the Federal Aviation Administrationbefore construction could start.

Its almost like the Mona Lisa, developer Harry B. Macklowe said Friday, The New York Times reported.Except instead of it looking at you, youre looking at it wherever you are. You cant escape it.

The building, which cost $1.3 billion to construct, hastwo penthouses, one on the 96th floor that sold for $95 million and another on the 95th, currently priced at $85 million.

The building's architect Rafael Violymade news back in September 2013 when his Walkie Talkie building wreaked havoc on London's streets, emitting a reflection so hot itmelted carsandliterally fried eggson the sidewalk. But if these renderings are any indication, this building should be more of a success.

We recently saw renderings of the apartment building's interiors, and the designs are magnificent.

Designer Deborah Berke says her focus was to make the most of the apartments' perch above the city. Double-height ceilings and beautiful oak flooring are highlights, while huge square windows provide an unparalleled view.

432 Park contains 104 apartments, which start at $7 million.

From the outside, rows of six 100-square-foot windows give the building the square look of a waffle iron.

Originally posted here:
432 Park Is Officially New York City's Tallest Apartment Building

VOL. 129 | NO. 199 | Monday, October 13, 2014

Indianapolis-based developer Milhaus Ventures is preparing to move forward with the long-stalled Highland Row project near the University of Memphis.

The company has applied for a $20 million building permit through the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement for construction of a four-story apartment building at 387 S. Highland St., the first piece in the $61 million Highland Row project. Wakefield Beasley & Associates is the architect and Jordan & Skala Engineers is listed as the engineering firm.

The mixed-use Highland Row development will include 354 apartments, 35 townhomes, a parking garage and 26,000 square feet of retail space. Memphis-based Poag Shopping Centers originally planned to develop Highland Row, but those plans were shelved following the recession.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

Amos Maki

Michael Lightman Realty Co. is moving forward with an expansion of the Fieldstone Apartments.

Lightman applied for six building permits totaling $6.4 million through the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement for 66 new apartments in the 901-unit complex at 3333 Hacks Cross Road. Patton & Taylor Construction Co. is the general contractor.

Earlier this year, Lightman acquired 24 acres near Tournament Drive and Hacks Cross for the expansion, which will take place in phases and include a total of over 300 units.

Amos Maki

Link:
Highland Row Developer Applies for Building Permit

Constructing a house, rather than buying an apartment, is a dream for many. A house with a garden can be within your reach if you invest in a plot ahead of time.

Plotting the dream

Once you own a plot, building a home is not very expensive. Construction costs vary depending upon the location and the material used, but it averages 1,500 to 2,500 per sq ft for mid-range houses. So you can construct a 1,000 sq ft home with a car park for under 30 lakh.

You must, however, invest in a plot early in your career by taking a land loan. And, based on how infrastructure develops in the area, you can decide on a suitable time to build.

It typically takes two years for you to build a house, including the time spent in getting the required approvals for building and the actual construction.

During the intervening years, you can fence the plot and plant trees, which will help secure your land. By building a home, rather than selling off the plot to buy a flat, you can retain the land value over a long term.

Buying to build

There may be a few differences between buying the land as an investment and buying with an intention of building a home. For one, if you plan to construct in a few years, a prudent choice may be to buy a plot where the social infrastructure, such as hospitals and shopping, are well developed.

This may be more expensive than buying in a far away place, but it may be safer and make every day living easier.

Also, plots close to the main road appreciate more compared to those that are a little far away. However, this may not be the best choice if you prefer peace and quiet. Instead, it may be better to buy in a street that is slightly away from the main road.

See the original post:
Buy, hold and build your own home

If you go

What: Boulder City Council joint study session with Planning Board to discuss development issues and the upcoming update to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Boulder Municipal Building, 1777 Broadway

Info: To read the memo introducing the study session, go to bit.ly/1svp8hu.

The hotel and apartment buildings, the new streets and bustling construction at 30th Street and Pearl Parkway are the result of a plan that has been on the books since 2007, and yet they seemed to take the public completely by surprise.

Solana Apartments resident Carrie Kroutil walks her dog Kona, who checks out a wood chip along the Pearl Parkway side of the complex. The Solana Apartments, 319 market-rate apartments in four buildings and more than 8,000 square feet of retail, are part of the Boulder Junction development. (David R. Jennings / Daily Camera)

Boulder Junction, with its three- and four-story facades where parking lots and low-slung warehouses once sat, became, for better or for worse, the face of a building boom that has caused excitement and angst in Boulder.

Fans of a more urban Boulder bike and transit advocates, supporters of affordable housing, city officials and planners, even many residents laud the projects as the fulfillment of a vision for combining workforce housing and dynamic public spaces with local and regional transit connections.

Advocates of slower growth see a plan that was misguided from the beginning because the curving stretch of railroad track was incompatible with a train station, because commuter rail to Denver looks ever more unlikely, because it would draw more people to live in a community that is already at its carrying capacity, because it would not address the jobs-population imbalance that causes some 60,000 people to come into Boulder to work every day and now is marring the city's eastern gateway with unappealing contemporary architecture.

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Boulder Junction symbolic of divide over building boom