Work is scheduled to begin by the end of the year to put 87 affordable apartments in a century-old building near Union Station in downtown St. Louis.

Sherman Associates, of Minneapolis, said today the project to transform the building at 1900 Pine Streetknown as Station Plazashould be done by late next year. City records show the six-story brick building was erected in 1884.

CBRE said it represented Sherman Associates in acquiring the building from R&P Realty Inc. The deal includes the parking lot just west of the building.

Sherman Associates said it bought the property for about $1.6 million and has a construction budget of $10.5 million. The developer is expected to use low-income housing tax credits in the project.

In addition, the project is in line for tax abatement from the city. In the 1980s, the now-vacant building was renovated as offices.

Tim Bryant covers commercial real estate, development and other business stories for the Post-Dispatch. He blogs at Building Blocks, the Post-Dispatch development blog.

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Building at 1900 Pine to get apartment conversion

WASHINGTON - U.S. home construction plunged in August, led by steep decline in the volatile apartment category. But single-family house construction, a larger and more stable portion of the market, fell only modestly.

Construction fell 14.4 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 956,000 homes, the Commerce Department said Thursday. This reverses the sharp gains in July when the rate of new construction rose to 1.12 million homes, the highest annual rate since 2007.

Last month's decrease primarily came from builders starting fewer apartment complexes, which plummeted 31.5 percent compared to July. Apartments have propelled much of the growth in residential construction over the past year, but the pace has been volatile from month to month. Apartment starts surged 51 percent in July.

In August, the building of single-family houses fell 2.4 percent.

Applications for building permits, a sign of future activity, dipped 5.6 percent to an annual rate of 998,000.

Apartment construction has surged 19.2 percent in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, single-family starts have risen just 4.2 percent. The shift among builders to increased apartment building is a sign that a rising share of Americans will be renters, rather than homeowners.

Jed Kolko, chief economist at the real estate firm Trulia, said that builders are already constructing too many single-family houses. The vacancy rate for these homes was 10.7 percent in 2013, compared to 7.4 percent in 2000, according to the Census.

"We're still building single family homes faster than we can fill them," said Kolko, saying that builders will need to place a greater emphasis on apartments.

Changes in starts for multi-unit homes such as apartments influence the monthly construction totals, but the category accounted for just 32 percent of starts in August. That's up slightly from 29 percent in August 2013.

The growing preference for rentals likely reflects the sluggish, five-year economic recovery. Most incomes remain below their pre-recession levels, making it harder for families to save for a down payment and qualify for a mortgage. The Census Bureau said this week that median household incomes were $51,939 in 2013. Adjusting for inflation, that's 8 percent lower than in 2007, when the recession began.

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Volatile apartment sector reduces home building

WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. home construction plunged in August, led by steep decline in the volatile apartment category. But single-family house construction, a larger and more stable portion of the market, fell only modestly.

Construction fell 14.4 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 956,000 homes, the Commerce Department said Thursday. This reverses the sharp gains in July when the rate of new construction rose to 1.12 million homes, the highest annual rate since 2007.

Last month's decrease primarily came from builders starting fewer apartment complexes, which plummeted 31.5 percent compared to July. Apartments have propelled much of the growth in residential construction over the past year, but the pace has been volatile from month to month. Apartment starts surged 51 percent in July.

In August, the building of single-family houses fell 2.4 percent.

Applications for building permits, a sign of future activity, dipped 5.6 percent to an annual rate of 998,000.

Apartment construction has surged 19.2 percent in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, single-family starts have risen just 4.2 percent. The shift among builders to increased apartment building is a sign that a rising share of Americans will be renters, rather than homeowners.

Jed Kolko, chief economist at the real estate firm Trulia, said that builders are already constructing too many single-family houses. The vacancy rate for these homes was 10.7 percent in 2013, compared to 7.4 percent in 2000, according to the Census.

"We're still building single family homes faster than we can fill them," said Kolko, saying that builders will need to place a greater emphasis on apartments.

Changes in starts for multi-unit homes such as apartments influence the monthly construction totals, but the category accounted for just 32 percent of starts in August. That's up slightly from 29 percent in August 2013.

The growing preference for rentals likely reflects the sluggish, five-year economic recovery. Most incomes remain below their pre-recession levels, making it harder for families to save for a down payment and qualify for a mortgage. The Census Bureau said this week that median household incomes were $51,939 in 2013. Adjusting for inflation, that's 8 percent lower than in 2007, when the recession began.

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Volatile Apartment Sector Dragged Down U.S. Housing Starts in August

File photograph of pedestrians passing the boarded up 74 Grand Street in SoHo that John Dunne is seeking to develop. Photograph: Michael Nagle

The son and wife of bankrupt developer Sean Dunne have altered plans for a proposed development in New York, forcing their company to seek renewed permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission that oversees building work in the citys historic areas.

TJD 21, the company owned by Mr Dunnes wife Gayle Killilea Dunne and his son John Dunne, submitted revised plans for the proposed development at 74 Grand Street in the fashionable Soho area in Manhattan last month.

The plans involve moving the entrance, stairwell and lift in the five-storey apartment development to the other side of the building.

The internal changes require approval from the commission, because the building is in Sohos protected historic area, before the citys planners can grant the green light, paving the way for construction to begin.

John Dunne included a letter in revised plans filed by his companys planners and engineers last month.

They said that the change was due to the stability of foundation walls on the next-door building.

Sean Dunne, who filed for bankruptcy in the US last year with debts of $942 million (700 million), has said he is working as a paid adviser for the firm owned by Ms Killilea Dunne and her stepson.

The company has told New York planners that it expects to make a profit of $3 million on the $22 million development, selling the four apartments in the building for between $3.3 million and $7.7 million.

The project is the Dunnes largest development in the US since Mr Dunne and his wife moved there in 2010.

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Dunnes change plans for New York apartment building

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - The mother of four children who died in a Roseland apartment fire earlier this month and her boyfriend have filed separate lawsuits against the apartment building's owner and real estate management company.

Shamaya Coleman and her boyfriend, Nathaniel Johnson, separately filed negligence lawsuits Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court. Both suits name Tahir M. Sheikh, who owns the 18-unit building at 11240 South Vernon, and J&J Real Estate Management and Construction.

Coleman and Johnson were critically injured in the extra-alarm fire that broke out about 3:25 a.m. on Sept. 8, officials said. The fire began in a second-floor apartment.

Coleman and Johnson jumped from a third-floor apartment window and were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition, police said. The rest of the building's residents evacuated safely, according to Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Michael Fox.

The fire killed Coleman's children Eri'ana Patton Smith, 7; Shamarian Coleman, 12; Carlvon Clark, 13; and Carliysia Clark, 15, authorities said. Autopsies found all four died of carbon monoxide toxicity from inhalation of smoke and soot, and their deaths were ruled accidents, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Both suits claim Sheikh and J&J were negligent in not having working smoke detectors throughout the building. Coleman's suit also claims the defendants did not properly secure the apartment where the fire began, and Johnson's states the building had no adequate escape route or emergency equipment.

Johnson's suit claims as a result of the defendants' negligence, he was forced to jump out of the third floor window, causing catastrophic injuries. Coleman's suit states she also sustained severe and serious injuries.

Both suits also name the city as a respondent in discovery, as it is believed by the plaintiff to have information essential to the determination of who should properly be named as additional defendants, Coleman's suit states.

City building records online show the building has failed several inspections in the last nine years, including its most recent on June 9. Missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were among the inspectors' many complaints at the time, the Sun-Times reported. They also complained about water damage, broken doors and furnaces that were either not working or improperly installed. In all, 17 violations were recorded, Mimi Simon, a building department spokeswoman, said at the time.

A representative of J&J Real Estate Management and Construction told the Sun-Times earlier this month that the firm was hired 45 days ago primarily to collect rent and serve eviction notices in the building and was not responsible for maintenance. Debra Jenkins, an agent for J&J, said all tenants at the property had working smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors as of Sept. 4.

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Building owner, manager named in two more suits after deadly Roseland fire

It's hard to miss Lansing's newest apartment building, thanks to the brightly colored exterior of the Midtown complex off Michigan Avenue.

"We said lets really stand out and do something bold," said property developed Patrick Gillespie, President of the Gillespie Group.

It's even harder not to notice all of the construction projects the Gillespie group is taking on around the city. From finished buildings to plans still on the drawing board, it's all part of a vision to revitalize the area.

"Michigan avenue has seen its ups and downs," Gillespie said. "I think the down times are done and we're starting to see this upswing."

With a focus on residential and mixed use properties, Midtown is just the latest building in Gillespie's growing portfolio. The developer also has two downtown apartments complexes in the works, Marketplace and the Outfield.

The added housing is meeting the demand of students and young professionals moving to the area. Forty-eight of Midtown's 66 apartments have already been rented, and half of those residents are international students.

"All three projects would mean over 300 new residents to the city of Lansing, which is a pretty big jump compared to what we've been seeing population wise," Gillespie added.

It's a vision Mayor Virg Berneo is on-board with, hoping to boost the area's economic development.

"Our goal is to create such a place, here such an urban environment that people want to stay and start a business here," Bernero said.

The Mayor says building up the Midtown area has been overlooked for decades, but as the main stretch connecting downtown Lansing and downtown East Lansing there's a lot of potential.

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New Apartment Development Helping To Revitalize Lansing

Visakhapatnam, September 16:

Apartment builders are here facing great difficulty in procuring sand for construction activity due to the State Governments indecision over the sand mining issue.

According to members of the Visakha Apartment Builders Association (VABA), construction work at a few hundred sites in the city has come to a standstill for the past one month or so.

President of VABA, P Anand Kumar, said that sand was an important ingredient in civil construction and due to the ban on mining, there had been no supply of sand.

Construction activity has stopped due to the shortage of sand, he said and added that the association members had met the District Collector N Yuvaraj and he had assured them that the issue will be addressed in the next few days.

Vice-President KS Krishna said: About one lakh workers are engaged in the apartment construction sector and they have been idle since the last one month. They are poor people who survive on daily wages and they are hit badly..

Based on a Supreme Court directive that sand mining cannot take place without the clearance from the environment board, the government has banned mining.

Environment clearance is good but there are sites such as Konam reservoir which has got an environment clearance. The government can allow mining at such places, said Krishna.

Another issue is the setting up of the Environment Clearance Board (ECB).

After bifurcation, the AP state has no ECB. The governments plan of allotting the mining rights to the DWCRA groups will take some time, but something has to be done on a war-footing to save the industry, said Anand.

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Sand scarcity brings building activity in Vizag to a halt

In an effort to address the housing crisis in Burlington, Redstone Development has started building new apartments.

The new housing will be located where the Dairy Queen used to be in the Queen City, just down the street from another Redstone Apartment building. Mayor Miro Weinberger and developers met Monday afternoon to break ground on the new building set to open next year.

Kathy Goguen used to own QTees a summer staple in Burlington that was around since the 1950s. She decided to close the shop in 2013.

I was seven and actually grew up here, Goguen said.

Mayor Weinberger joked about the ground breaking being dj vu. He had done the same thing just nine month ago when Redstone opened its Silversmith Commons location on Winooski Street. He said the new housing will be a big help for residents.

From my perspective, we have no larger social problem than the lack of housing in Burlington, Weinberger said.

Aside from the lack of housing, people choosing to live in Burlington are faced with a lack of affordable housing. The project in the Q Tees site is slated to have 28 units with four dedicated to affordable housing. Its another step in what the mayor calls an overall plan to open up the rental market in the Queen City.

We have people paying a really high percentage of their income for rent and part of the solution is having more units and more houses in the downtown and this project, by bringing in 28 more units is a step in the right direction, Weinberger said.

So, at an end of an era, Goguen said she is looking towards the future.

I came on the day of demolition and it was sort of like to say goodbye, Goguen said. I was starting a new life and the property was starting a new life also.

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New housing construction breaks ground

The Athens Board of Zoning Appeals voted unanimously last week to approve a single variance a developer had requested for student housing it plans to build near Ohio University's South Green.

Construction on the proposed $15 million, 232-bed apartment building, called "River Gate," is slated to start sometime this year, provided the developers receive approval through the Title 41 site plan review process with the Athens Planning Commission this Thursday.

The Board of Zoning Appeals granted the developer's request for lot coverage for the 2.59-acre property of 77.5 percent, whereas the normal limit in city zoning code is 60 percent. The term "lot coverage" refers to the "footprint" a building makes on is property site.

The proposed 3.5-story apartment building will replace the building that now contains the New Life Assembly of God church, located at 10 S. Green Drive.

The building would join the ranks of the nearby River Park and River's Edge student apartment complexes. Columbus-based student housing company Homestead U, LLC, is developer/owner of the three existing or proposed apartment complexes.

A firm that was started by the company specifically to buy the land, Delaware-based Athens River Gate, LCL, bought the two lots occupied by New Life Assembly of God for $1.7 million in late August.

Local attorney Ken Ryan voiced some concerns about the proposed project during the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. Ryan, speaking for a group of commercial real-estate owners in Athens, said that granting the variance could pave the way for other developers to find a way around the lot coverage requirement in city code.

"I would also submit that it would grant special privilege to them that would not necessarily be afforded others," Ryan said. "These are not the only developers who seek to develop in the city of Athens."

Dave Fisher, lawyer for Homestead U., said during the meeting that the request for the variance on lot coverage is justified in some way because of the usage of trees and pervious pavement (which allows water to drain through) and grass in the space. Those are all factors in the city's rationale for lot coverage requirements, as the specific coverage of a building on a property affects green space and storm-water management issues.

Fisher said Homestead U had included provisions in its plans for 4-inch trunks on trees used on the property, compared to the city-mandated 1.5-inch width of tree trunks. Grass pavers also will be used in 6.3 percent of the site's area for parking, on top of permeable surfaces used in the parking spaces contained in an underground parking lot below the proposed housing. According to design plans for the project provided by Dave Anderson, president of Homestead U, about 40.9 percent of the site would consist of pervious surfaces.

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City zoning board approves River Gate building variance

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By Cherri Gregg, Charlotte Huffman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) Contractors are making final preparations for the implosion of the Queen Lane Apartment building in Germantown as the Philadelphia Housing Authority isplanning to build 55 low-rise, affordable town home rentalsthat will be completed next year.

At 16 stories high and nearly a block wide, the Queen Lane Apartment Building is a formidable structure. But at 7:15 Saturday morning itll be reduced to rubble.

Just imagine the capacity of the dust thats going to occur when the building does come down, says Bilquis Basset who lives on Priscilla Street, adjacent to the construction.

She and more than 90 other residents who live in a one block radius known as the evacuation zone have been asked to be out of their homes by 6 a.m. Saturday.

Of course were concerned about the cleanup of windows and our doors, but our most concern is health-wise, she says. Many of the children and elders on this block have asthma and whenever there is dust coming from the building I can barely speak and have to go inside.

Lamita Robinson lives across the street from the site and like Basset, shes concerned about the effects that may be left behind after the dust settles.

My sons asthma is really bad and theres a lot of dust and I know there is asbestos in the building because I saw the signs when walking my dog. So Im not happy, Robinson said.

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Implosion Of Germantown High-Rise Forcing Residential Evacuations