Allied Realty is building an $80 million apartment project in Denver's Jefferson Park neighborhood.

The 332-unit complex will sit on 4.5 acres just west of Interstate 25 on Speer Boulevard. It also will include 10,800 square feet of retail space facing Speer and two levels of underground parking.

The project's amenities will include an outdoor patio with grilling facilities; resort-style lap pool; a kitchen in the club room; a Bocce ball court; and fitness center. Apartments will include balconies; full-size washers and dryers; walk-in closets; and granite countertops.

Units will range in size from a 600-square-foot one bedroom, one-bath to a 1,300-square-foot two-bedroom, two bath apartment. Rents will range from $1,300 a month to $2,300 a month.

Demolition of the existing buildings on the site will begin next week, said Lauren Brockman, principal of Allied. The project is expcted to be completed in July 2014.

Amstar is Allied's equity partner. The project is being designed by Houston-based architect Meeks & Partners and built by Swinerton Builders Colorado.

Because its location is not in the middle of a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the project isn't likely to draw the opposition that a proposed147-unit project in the West Highland neighborhood has, Brockman said.

"The neighborhood has been supportive of this because it meets their comp(rehensive) plan," he said.

While there are a number of apartment projects under construction in the nearby Highland neighborhood, nothing suggests that the area is in danger of being overbuilt, said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing.

The downtown vacancy rate is 4.4 percent and the vacancy rate for northwest Denver is 5.5 percent.

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Jefferson Park apartment project in Denver's Highland to include 332 units, retail space

Allied Realty is building an $80 million apartment project in Denver's Jefferson Park neighborhood.

The 332-unit complex will sit on 4.5 acres just west of Interstate 25 on Speer Boulevard. It also will include 10,800 square feet of retail space facing Speer and two levels of underground parking.

The project's amenities will include an outdoor patio with grilling facilities; resort-style lap pool; a kitchen in the club room; a Bocce ball court; and fitness center. Apartments will include balconies; full-size washers and dryers; walk-in closets; and granite countertops.

Units will range in size from a 600-square-foot one bedroom, one-bath to a 1,300-square-foot two-bedroom, two bath apartment. Rents will range from $1,300 a month to $2,300 a month.

Demolition of the existing buildings on the site will begin next week, said Lauren Brockman, principal of Allied. The project is expcted to be completed in July 2014.

Amstar is Allied's equity partner. The project is being designed by Houston-based architect Meeks & Partners and built by Swinerton Builders Colorado.

Because its location is not in the middle of a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the project isn't likely to draw the opposition that a proposed147-unit project in the West Highland neighborhood has, Brockman said.

"The neighborhood has been supportive of this because it meets their comp(rehensive) plan," he said.

While there are a number of apartment projects under construction in the nearby Highland neighborhood, nothing suggests that the area is in danger of being overbuilt, said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing.

The downtown vacancy rate is 4.4 percent and the vacancy rate for northwest Denver is 5.5 percent.

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Jefferson Park apartment project to include 332 units, retail space

A debt-free balance-sheet, focus on consulting services, steady orders from government departments and good execution track record make it a safe play.

March 24, 2012:

Stocks in the construction space have underperformed markets in the last couple of years. High debt, poor order book and delays in execution were some of the issues that plagued the sector.

Devoid of these concerns, National Buildings Construction Corporation, a state-owned company in which the government is divesting stake through an IPO, comes as a whiff of fresh air.

Investors with a perspective of three years can invest in this offer for sale by the government in NBCC, a construction project management service provider.

A debt-free balance-sheet, focus on consulting services, steady orders from government departments and good track record of execution make it a relatively safe play on the volatile construction sector.

The offer price of Rs 90-106 discounts the company's annualised FY-12 earnings by a modest 7.2-8.5 times. This is at a steep discount to larger public sector consultancy company Engineers India.

NBCC acts as a consultant from the stage of project conceptualisation to execution and hires a contractor to actually execute the work. It derives over 90 per cent of its revenue from project consultancy for civil construction projects. A small proportion also comes from executing civil infrastructure works for power projects and from real-estate development.

The government will dilute a 10 per cent stake in the company through this offer to raise Rs 127 crore at the higher end of the price band. The company's market capitalisation, on listing, will be about Rs 1,300 crore at the higher end of the price band. That's about half its FY11 sales.

NBCC provides consultancy services for a range of civil construction works, including residential and commercial buildings, hospitals, and educational institutions as well as infrastructure works. The Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs and the IITs are some of its clients. NBCC mostly gets repeat orders, even as prospective clients seek its services.

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NBCC - IPO: Invest

NEW BRUNSWICK New Brunswick will get yet another high-rise building, with the city last week approving construction of a 16-story commercial and residential complex across from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital on Somerset Street.

Boraie Development will replace eight homes the company owns with the high-rise, which will include 8,800 square of retail space, 247 parking spaces on four floors and 12 floors of apartments with 238 units.

The city planning board granted three variances for the 159-foot-tall building, 9 feet above zoning limits, which will be situated on a 110-foot-wide lot, 40 feet less than the zoning requires.

The building also will a 7-foot-wide side yard, 3 feet less than required.

From its address at 135 Somerset St., the project will extend back one block to Condict Street.

Planning board members granted the variances and site plan approvals in a four-hour meeting this month that drew an audience of about 25 people, said Glenn Patterson, city director of planning and development.

"Its across the street from the hospital and medical school training facility, a block and half from the train station, a couple blocks from Rutgers University and from the new supermarket," Patterson said.

The building will also be about a block from the Gateway Center on Easton Avenue, with retail business, 40,000 square feet of office space and 42 condominiums and 150 apartments, including 30 affordable-housing units.

The project additionally is about a half-mile from Boraies 25-story mixed-use tower at 1 Spring St., which was built in 2006 and houses retail and condominiums.

For the Somerset Street building, the developer is eligible for urban transit tax credits from the state Economic Development Authority.

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16-story complex to rise above New Brunswick

INDIANAPOLIS -

It's construction season at the Indianapolis Zoo and the downtown attraction is undergoing major changes.

Construction is nearly complete on the entrance of the zoo. For the past few months, workers added a new ticket counter, an expanded gift shop - which opened Saturday - and a new entrance. The additions are to help facilitate the growing number of visitors to one of the city's more popular attractions.

"The zoo was built for a million people. Our baseline now is 1,100,000," said Tim Savona, vice president of operations.

"Normally, you park way over there. This thing's all crowded," said visitor Samantha Bellows.

One of the first things you noticed as you walk into the zoo is express ticketing, where you can buy tickets with a credit card and avoid lines at the ticket booth.

"With the retail space, we added about 30 percent more inside," Savona said.

While the zoo usually adds a new exhibit each year, like the "in your face" tiger space that opened last season, it's the first time since the zoo relocated to the White River State Park they've done any renovation to the entrance.

While the construction was scheduled during down time, the unseasonable temperatures are bringing more visitors than usual who don't seem to mind the mess.

"We didn't have any problem getting here," a visitor said.

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Indianapolis Zoo finishing up major construction projects

It's still unclear whether the Visalia City Council will approve a controversial proposal to designate farmland at Caldwell and Highway 99 for retail development.

The city's proposed long-term growth plan, good until 2030, would let the property be annexed and developed when the city gets larger or a specialty retailer such as Ikea comes knocking. The council has to vote on it.

At a joint session last week of the City Council and Planning Commission, Mooney Boulevard property owners argued against the designation, saying that premature development would deflate the economic power of the city's commercial strip.

Two council members -- Bob Link and Greg Collins -- staked out opposite positions.

Link, a downtown business owner, said he favors the designation because the city will grow. Downtown survived despite competition from Mooney Boulevard, he said.

Collins, an independent planning consultant, said that "not being on 99 is what distinguishes us from other communities," so the city should butt out.

Their fellow council members stopped short of saying how they would vote.

Council Member Warren Gubler said the current plan is too vague about the timing and type of retail development. But, he said, "it's an area we need to plan for eventually."

Council Member Steve Nelsen said if the city does nothing, the county could say yes to development -- it's outside city limits -- and the city will have missed out on major sales tax revenues.

Mayor Amy Shuklian said she wants to make a decision that won't keep her up at night.

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Lew Griswold: Visalia considers turning farmland into retail space

By Nico Saieh (Click here for original article)

The exhibition and retail pavilion inside the Postojna cave is the first underground post office building in the world. The aim of the project was the renovation of a pavilion in the Concert Hall deemed inappropriate functionally and material-wise. The design would as well replace previously inappropriate visitor sanitary facilities located at the platform with new ones within the structure and connect them to a new biological treatment plant. The entire construction was possible only within the maximum dimensions of the partly demolished existing structure, while the specifics of construction in an underground cave required the use of inorganic construction materials appropriate for such conditions, adjusted to simple transport by the cave train and appropriate for manual fitting.

The entire construction and fitting of construction elements observed nature protection requirements for the smallest impact on the value of nature possible. The concept of sustainability is also reflected in the heating system and ventilation and, last but not least, the first underground biological treatment plant in Slovenia.

The exhibition and retail pavilion is designed in two parts. The pavilion part is a transparent, passable area with four entrances/exits, designed within a longitudinal volume in the form of the letter S, thus reflecting the wall of the underground hall. The volume is structured in a manner that directs the flow of visitors and points to entrances and exits.

In the renovated service part of the structure, service areas and new sanitary facilities for the visitors of the postojna cave were provided as well as connected to the treatment plant on the level of the platform. The interior of the structure functions as a uniform, flexible space with installed floor plugs for plug-in exhibits and movable equipment. The volume of the exhibition and retail area is transparent throughout the entire interior height, functioning as an extension of the concert hall.

The exhibition and retail area is flexible, as it is equipped with floor plugs prepared for plug-in equipment elements or exhibits. Other equipment elements in the exhibition niche can also be plugged in as desired to wall holders according to required exhibition or retail purposes.

Architects: Studio Stratum Polona Filipic, Peter Senk, Marko Pretnar, Grega Tramte Location: Postojna, Slovenia Collaborators: Marko Senk, Peter Emil Groselj Client: Postojnska jama, d.d. Structure: Spit d.o.o. Services: Winky d.o.o., Arctur d.o.o. Biological Treatment Plant: Cid d.o.o. Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Miran Kambic

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Exhibition and Retail Pavillion in the Concert Hall in the Postojna Cave / Studio Stratum

Retail real estate investment trusts and related exchange traded funds will provide investors with attractive dividends as the economy improves and retail sales grow, say S&P analysts.

S&P Capital IQ holds a Marketweight ranking on the iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Index Fund (NYSEArca: RTL) , which follows a group of retail REITs traded on the FTSE NAREIT Retail Capped Index. The fund holds companies, like Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG - News), CBL & Associates Properties (NYSE: CBL - News) and Macerich (NYSE: MAC - News), that have experienced rising occupancy levels and rent growth. The ETF has an expense ratio of 0.48% and a 12-month yield of 3.35%.

S&P Capital IQ believes retailer sentiment is buoyant, with sales rising, retailers expanding, and many retail REITs trading at elevated levels driven by improving operating results and relatively rich dividend yields, Robert McMillan, S&P Capital IQ Equity Analyst, wrote in a research note. We anticipate that shopping center REITs will use their improving cash flows to increase dividends over the course of 2012.

REITs are securities that trade like stocks on major exchanges. The investments hold physical properties that generate revenue from rent payments. To qualify for favorable tax treatments, the REIT will distribute a hefty portion of its revenue as dividends to investors. [Real Estate: List of REIT ETFs]

S&P calculates that real GDP will expand 2.1% year-over-year in 2012, compared to the 1.7% growth in 2011. Their analysts also project growth in personal expenditures to rise 2%.

Additionally, S&P notes that lower retailer bankruptcies and reduced store closures is helping the retail REITs space. According to CBRE Econometric Advisors 4th quarter 2011 outlook, they estimate the retail space will expand 29.4 million to 37.4 million square feet in 2012 and 2013, respectively, compared to a drop of 3.9 million square feet in 2010 and an increase of 2.1 million square feet for 2011.

However, the economic downturn triggered a sharp decline in shipping center construction that we see persisting in the near term which should help exert upward pressure on occupancy levels and, ultimately, rents, S&P cautioned.

iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Index Fund

RTL_ETF

For more information on real estate investment trusts, visit our REITS category.

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S&P’s Retail REIT ETF Pick

Mall of America is moving ahead with plans for a $200 million expansion that would add a second hotel, more retail space and a medical office tower at the megamall.

The project would be another step in MOA's long-planned and oft-delayed expansion. A Radisson Blu hotel is currently under construction on the south side of the Bloomington mall. This expansion would take place on its north side.

"It's the next piece that we're trying to assemble and get financed and move forward with," said Kurt Hagen, senior vice president of development for mall owner Triple Five Group.

If those pieces fall into place, "We anticipate this will be in the ground next spring, about a year from now," Hagen said Friday, March 23.

Back in 2006, officials unveiled a huge expansion plan that would have doubled the size of the megamall, but that plan stalled. Now the strategy is to proceed in smaller steps.

Rochester's Mayo Clinic has formally expressed interest in joining the latest project, which could include 150,000 square feet of medical space, perhaps in a medical office tower. Hagen said both parties are "still exploring" what Mayo's presence would be.

"The building itself could be more than Mayo Clinic," Hagen said. "Mayo is focused on a wellness facility here. They're not focusing on a hospital."

The expansion also calls for another hotel. "Depending on the type and the brand of hotel we choose, that will help us determine the right room count," Hagen said.

The

"We'd like to take it higher-end retail," Hagen said. "All these pieces kind of tie together - the flag and brand of the hotel, the services that Mayo is offering, and the type of retail this wing will cater to."

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Mall of America plans $200 million expansion

Originally published March 22, 2012 at 5:43 PM | Page modified March 22, 2012 at 11:13 PM

Seattle developer Security Properties has proposed a six-story apartment and retail building in Columbia City that may be anchored by a PCC Natural Markets grocery.

PCC has signed a letter of intent to lease the 25,000-square-foot ground-floor space at Rainier Avenue South and South Edmunds Street, according to several sources.

Tom Monahan, PCC's marketing manager, wouldn't confirm that. "We have interest in that neighborhood," he said, "but no lease in hand."

The 1.5-acre property, considered ripe for redevelopment, is now the site of Columbia Plaza, a retail mall built as a supermarket in the 1950s. Security Properties is in the process of buying it from HAL Real Estate of Seattle, which acquired it in 2007.

HAL had development plans of its own, initially proposing a 306-unit apartment complex with 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

But, since the property is in the Columbia City Historic District, new construction requires approval from the city's Landmarks Preservation Board. And its members agreed last spring that the bulk and scale of HAL's project conflicted with the neighborhood's character.

HAL and Security Properties starting talking about a sale last summer and signed a contract last fall, said John Marasco, Security's chief development officer.

Security's proposed project has fewer apartments only about 200 and more retail, nearly 30,000 square feet. Parking for about 260 vehicles would be provided, according to preliminary paperwork filed with city planners.

Marasco said he's confident his company can succeed where HAL failed with historic-preservation advocates. "The biggest difference is, we've actually got the benefit of all those [board] meetings with HAL," he said. "We think we can give them what they're looking for."

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PCC grocery could be part of Columbia City project