Dispute: The Meriton building site at Moore Park. Photo: James Brickwood

One of Australias largest developers has spent six months building a series of inner Sydney apartment towers it is accused of not having full approval to build.

Meriton and the City of Sydney are now facing off in a courtroom, after the council sought an urgent injunction when it claimed the company refused to stop work.

The NSW Land and Environment Court will decide next week whether to force more than 300 workers to down tools at the Waterloo site, where billionaire Harry Triguboff is building 355 apartments across five towers soaring up to 25 storeys high.

Council said the serious and significant breach was uncovered during inspections by its staff about two weeks ago.

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Excavation work, construction of basement car parking and building work up to 10 storeys on a number of buildings has been completed without the necessary approvals being obtained, a spokesman said. The City will not tolerate developers who fail to respect these requirements.

The property giant was granted development consent for the project last year, as well as approval for some preliminary work, but not the construction certificate that is required before building could actually begin.

According to affidavits read out at Fridays hearing, it was the sites senior project manager, Shener Dursun, who failed to lock in this disputed approval.

The court was told Mr Dursun attempted to resolve the problem without telling anyone at the company for fear of losing his job.

View original post here:
Six months building with 'no approval'

Dispute: The Meriton building site at Moore Park. Photo: James Brickwood

One of Australias largest developers has spent six months building a series of inner Sydney apartment towers it is accused of not having full approval to build.

Meriton and the City of Sydney are now facing off in a courtroom, after the council sought an urgent injunction when it claimed the company refused to stop work.

The NSW Land and Environment Court will decide next week whether to force more than 300 workers to down tools at the Waterloo site, where billionaire Harry Triguboff is building 355 apartments across five towers soaring up to 25 storeys high.

Council said the serious and significant breach was uncovered during inspections by its staff about two weeks ago.

Advertisement

Excavation work, construction of basement car parking and building work up to 10 storeys on a number of buildings has been completed without the necessary approvals being obtained, a spokesman said. The City will not tolerate developers who fail to respect these requirements.

The property giant was granted development consent for the project last year, as well as approval for some preliminary work, but not the construction certificate that is required before building could actually begin.

According to affidavits read out at Fridays hearing, it was the sites senior project manager, Shener Dursun, who failed to lock in this disputed approval.

The court was told Mr Dursun attempted to resolve the problem without telling anyone at the company for fear of losing his job.

Read the original post:
Billionaire in Sydney building pickle

Dispute: The Meriton building site at Moore Park. Photo: James Brickwood

One of Australias largest developers has spent six months building a series of inner Sydney apartment towers it is accused of not having full approval to build.

Meriton and the City of Sydney are now facing off in a courtroom, after the council sought an urgent injunction when it claimed the company refused to stop work.

The NSW Land and Environment Court will decide next week whether to force more than 300 workers to down tools at the Waterloo site, where billionaire Harry Triguboff is building 355 apartments across five towers soaring up to 25 storeys high.

Council said the serious and significant breach was uncovered during inspections by its staff about two weeks ago.

Advertisement

Excavation work, construction of basement car parking and building work up to 10 storeys on a number of buildings has been completed without the necessary approvals being obtained, a spokesman said. The City will not tolerate developers who fail to respect these requirements.

The property giant was granted development consent for the project last year, as well as approval for some preliminary work, but not the construction certificate that is required before building could actually begin.

According to affidavits read out at Fridays hearing, it was the sites senior project manager, Shener Dursun, who failed to lock in this disputed approval.

The court was told Mr Dursun attempted to resolve the problem without telling anyone at the company for fear of losing his job.

More here:
Billionaire in apartment pickle

It is especially a surprise to investors, who pulled out of multifamily real estate investment trusts (REITs) last year, as all eyes focused on surging home sales. The S&P index of residential REITs is now up nearly 14 percent from a year ago and up nearly 20 percent year-to-date. Some of the top performers in the sector: Preferred Apartment Communities, Essex and AvalonBay. Weakening affordability in the homebuying market is clearly favoring rentals.

"The rent-buy math remains generally favorable for our Apartment coverage universe," wrote researchers at Deutsche Bank in a recent report. "Though pending supply remains a concern for certain apartment markets in 2014 and 2015, recent revenue growth trends were better-than-expected suggesting that strong demand, buoyed by improving rent-buy dynamics, is helping to offset increases in supply."

About 180,000 new apartment units have become available throughout the U.S. in the past 12 months, according to Axiometrics. Still, growth in rental prices in May was the strongest it's been in 16 months, at 3.5 percent.

Read More Housing starts surge, yes, but mostly for apartments

"The year-to-date effective rent growth numbers portray an apartment market that may be having its strongest year since the Great Recession ended," said Jay Denton, vice president of research at Axiometrics.

Despite the slow recovery in home sales, several factors still fall in favor of renting. Younger Americans are faced with weaker employment, high levels of student debt and general lack of confidence in housing as an investment, at least in the short term.

"We see a number of strong long-term driving forces increasing the rental population and creating demand. Employment rates for millennials draw closer to the national average; the housing recovery is gaining traction, which will push home prices higher; and shorter job tenures create a need for housing mobility," notes Kevin Finkel, an executive vice president with Philadelphia-based Resource Real Estate, an investment firm.

"On the supply side, increasing building material costs will put pressure on the construction of new properties. If interest rates start to trend with economic recovery, added borrowing costs will also inhibit new construction."

Strength in the rental market is fueling a flood of new apps and websites. Swapt, deemed by its creators as the Yelp of apartment rentals, will likely launch out of beta this month. It combines property listings with reviews from renters in a rental search system. It comes on the heels of start-ups like RadPad, PadMapper, HotPads, Apartment Finder, Comfy Rentals and Lovely.

All aim to simplify the rental process, giving landlords and tenants easier access to listings and offering the ability to pay monthly rent on a mobile device.

Visit link:
Apartments fill as rental demand surges

It is especially a surprise to investors, who pulled out of multifamily real estate investment trusts (REITs) last year, as all eyes focused on surging home sales. The S&P index of residential REITs is now up nearly 14 percent from a year ago and up nearly 20 percent year-to-date. Some of the top performers in the sector: Preferred Apartment Communities, Essex and AvalonBay. Weakening affordability in the homebuying market is clearly favoring rentals.

"The rent-buy math remains generally favorable for our Apartment coverage universe," wrote researchers at Deutsche Bank in a recent report. "Though pending supply remains a concern for certain apartment markets in 2014 and 2015, recent revenue growth trends were better-than-expected suggesting that strong demand, buoyed by improving rent-buy dynamics, is helping to offset increases in supply."

About 180,000 new apartment units have become available throughout the U.S. in the past 12 months, according to Axiometrics. Still, growth in rental prices in May was the strongest it's been in 16 months, at 3.5 percent.

Read More Housing starts surge, yes, but mostly for apartments

"The year-to-date effective rent growth numbers portray an apartment market that may be having its strongest year since the Great Recession ended," said Jay Denton, vice president of research at Axiometrics.

Despite the slow recovery in home sales, several factors still fall in favor of renting. Younger Americans are faced with weaker employment, high levels of student debt and general lack of confidence in housing as an investment, at least in the short term.

"We see a number of strong long-term driving forces increasing the rental population and creating demand. Employment rates for millennials draw closer to the national average; the housing recovery is gaining traction, which will push home prices higher; and shorter job tenures create a need for housing mobility," notes Kevin Finkel, an executive vice president with Philadelphia-based Resource Real Estate, an investment firm.

"On the supply side, increasing building material costs will put pressure on the construction of new properties. If interest rates start to trend with economic recovery, added borrowing costs will also inhibit new construction."

Strength in the rental market is fueling a flood of new apps and websites. Swapt, deemed by its creators as the Yelp of apartment rentals, will likely launch out of beta this month. It combines property listings with reviews from renters in a rental search system. It comes on the heels of start-ups like RadPad, PadMapper, HotPads, Apartment Finder, Comfy Rentals and Lovely.

All aim to simplify the rental process, giving landlords and tenants easier access to listings and offering the ability to pay monthly rent on a mobile device.

See the original post here:
Apartments fill as rental demand keeps on surging

Originally published June 20, 2014 at 6:02 AM | Page modified June 20, 2014 at 9:55 PM

Fire destroyed an apartment building with about 90 units that was under construction in Vancouver.

The fire broke out about 3:30 a.m. Friday and went to two-alarms as it brought the four-story structure to the ground.

Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli told KOIN (http://bit.ly/1w2JApM ) flames forced firefighters to take a "defensive approach," pouring on water from outside.

Natural gas helped fuel the flames until a utility crew shut off the line.

There are no reported injuries.

Scarpelli says investigators looking for the cause of the fire will likely bring in a dog trained to detect any accelerants. She also says investigators may ask for assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Witnesses told KATU (http://bit.ly/1lb1zHl ) they heard an explosion and saw the sky turned orange.

Read the rest here:
Fire destroys Vancouver apartment building project

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - A former Occupy Fort Collins protester convicted of burning down an upscale apartment building under construction must pay $7.5 million in restitution.

The Coloradoan reports that 37-year-old Benjamin Gilmore and prosecutors reached the restitution agreement before a Thursday court hearing. The money will go to victims and owners of both Mason Street Flats and nearby Penny Flats, which was already occupied at the time of the October 2011 fire.

It caused more than $10 million in damage.

Gilmore, a beekeeper, was sentenced in December to eight years in prison for criminal mischief and 6 years for burglary -- sentences to be served concurrently.

Gilmore has maintained his innocence. He claims that a transient man set the fire.

"I believe the truth will prevail and we will see justice some day -- maybe not in this court, but maybe in the court of appeals," Gilmore said at his sentencing in December.

The Gilmore case attracted national attention because he supported demonstrations at an Occupy Wall Street encampment a block away from where the fire was started. Occupy activists were protesting against economic inequality and government policies favoring the wealthy.

The 2011 fire caused an estimated $10 million damage to a four-story apartment complex that was under construction and the occupied Penny Flats condominium and retail building next door.

Gilmore's first trial ended in a hung jury in September 2012.

But a second jury convicted him of arson, burglary and criminal mischief.

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Arsonist agrees to $7.5M in restitution

A four-story apartment building that was under construction in Vancouver was gutted by an early-morning fire Friday that will likely take another 12 to 24 hours to burn out, said Vancouver Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli.

Once it cools down, she said, investigators will be able to get around the site to examine what might have sparked the two-alarm fire at the complex, at Southeast Tech Center Drive and Redwood Circle.

"It is a total loss," she said.

It is too early to say whether the circumstances are suspicious, she said.

The fire spread quickly through the wood-frame construction complex, which had drywall up in only a small area, she said.

About 40 firefighters from Vancouver and Camas responded to the fire, she said, which was reported around 3:15 a.m. Natural gas helped fuel the flames until a utility crew shut off the line.

No one was injured.

Investigators plan to review video footage from surveillance cameras around the site, she said.

Witnesses told KATU they heard an explosion and saw the sky turned orange.

-- Staff and wire reports

Read the rest here:
Vancouver apartment building under construction a 'total loss' after early-morning fire

VANCOUVER, Wash.

Fire destroyed an apartment building with about 90 units that was under construction in Vancouver.

The fire broke out about 3:30 a.m. Friday and went to two-alarms as it brought the four-story structure to the ground.

Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli told KOINflames forced firefighters to take a "defensive approach," pouring on water from outside.

Natural gas helped fuel the flames until a utility crew shut off the line.

There are no reported injuries.

Scarpelli says investigators looking for the cause of the fire will likely bring in a dog trained to detect any accelerants. She also says investigators may ask for assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Witnesses told KATUthey heard an explosion and saw the sky turned orange.

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Original post:
Vancouver fire takes down 4-story apartment building

Published: Thursday, June 19, 2014, 12:01a.m.

Plans to build a 46-unit, low-income senior citizen apartment building have been put aside as Westmoreland County Housing Authority officials look to construct a $6 million headquarters in Hempfield.

The authority will seek to borrow cash to finance the office building, which will replace an aging, 30,000-square-foot structure that houses the agency's 60-member administration and staff.

We're excited to continue on with what we set out to do on our 55 acres of property, said authority Executive Director Michael Washowich.

The authority last year completed construction on an $11.5 million senior citizen apartment building on its grounds. All 45 units of South Greengate Commons are filled, prompting officials to plan for a companion building with as many as 40 apartments for low-income seniors.

Officials said the $11 million project would be funded through the sale of federal tax credits, but late last week the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency rejected the authority's plan.

Washowich said the authority will submit a second application to fund the project early next year. The delay will push construction back by at least a year and into 2016.

In the meantime, the authority will move ahead with construction of its headquarters building. The project was first proposed several years ago during initial plans to convert the agency's wooded acreage south of Route 30 in Hempfield.

Our existing building is in tremendous need of rehabilitation, Washowich said. By reducing the size of the building and making it energy-efficient, it makes much more sense to build it new.

The 24,000-square-foot structure will face the existing headquarters building.

Continued here:
Senior housing units on hold in Westmoreland County