Boston, MA Construction has begun on five customized showrooms and Veson Nauticals global headquarters at The Innovation and Design Building. The retail spaces throughout the Boston Design Center at 19 Drydock Ave. are being built for: Tile Showcase, Circa Lighting, Downsview Kitchen, HOLLY HUNT, and Scavolini Store Boston. Veson will occupy 20,000 s/f of first class office space on floor 6 of 21 Drydock in the mixed-use complex that is part of the Seaports Innovation District. Corderman & Company is providing construction management services on all six projects.

This $7.8 million phase of construction within the 1.4 million s/f IDB community is being built in collaboration with the global design firms CBT and IA. The inspiring interior spaces feature the highest quality finishes, a blend of materials, statement lighting, modern furniture, and display systems.

According to Tile Showcase president Fred Merullo: We were one of the first showrooms here when the facility opened. In that time the IDB has become a premier resource for architects, designers and homeowners. It is one of the most successful centers of its kind in the country. Were in the presence of a mix of world class, creative, and entrepreneurial companies which is an undeniable benefit to our business. Tile Showcase is expanding and relocating from the sixth to the fourth floor of 19 Drydock.

There is a high level of complexity that goes into every build out, said Corderman & Co. principal and project manager Linda Liporto. We are creating distinctive spaces each reflective of our clients brand identity. Showrooms have become a growing part of our diverse portfolio.

Corderman has built 25 creative showrooms as well as 16 offices and studios in the IDB for companies including: Boston Beer, Neoscape, NKT Photonics, MassChallenge Boston, the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center, Pierre Frey, Kravet, AIS, KI, Robert Allen, and Waterworks. The Corderman team on the six new spaces is comprised of: Linda Liporto; assistant project managers Stephen Ferriter and Elizabeth Elcock; superintendents Gerry Andrews, Jacob Bashien, Richard Dow, Steve Giordano, Peter Carr, and Frank DiStefano; field operations David MacNeil; laborers Jorge Rivera, Marcus Bairead, Victor Cavero, Ken DeCampo, Juan Buenrostro, Gumercindo Buenrostro, Rodrigo Dos Santos, Lou Hopkins, Matthew Bousquet, Lee Lockett, Victor Cavero, Mark Bousquet, and Sean Keane.

The Innovation and Design Building has been transformed from its 1918 origin as an Army storehouse into a hub of Bostons innovation economy. Since Jamestowns acquisition in 2013, enhancements made to the building include the creation of a promenade populated with dining options, programming and event spaces, a tenant experience app, and other amenities which help innovative companies recruit top talent.

The IDB community spans many industries, from marine industrial firms and biotech labs to makers spaces and the Boston Design Center.

Go here to read the rest:
Corderman & Co. begins six new showrooms and offices at the Innovation and Design Building - New England Real Estate Journal Online

Share

Share

Share

Email

SPONSORED CONTENT

Photos by Kayleigh Omang

The Lights3150 Sheyenne St, West Fargo ND 58078thelightswf.com

Just a short time ago, the idea of a thriving, vibrant West Fargo scene seemed like just a dream. However, a lot can change in a brief period of time, as the current state of downtown West Fargo is booming. Partially to thank for this upsurge of interest in the city is EPIC Companies and their downtown West Fargo development along with The Lights at Sheyenne 32 project.

The Lights is a mixed-use commercial, residential and active living space that is soon to be filled with over 20 businesses and nearly 300 residential units. The location off of Sheyenne and 32nd Avenue in West Fargo also features a transformable plaza, ideal for entertaining and socializing.

The vision for The Lights evolved from wanting to bring a mixed-use district to the Red River Valley, inspired by the likes of those in Kansas Citys Power and Lights District or Rosemont outside of Chicago. People are demanding more out of their spaces and desire for a district that provides entertainment, living and work all in one.

This project is a public-private partnership between the City of West Fargo, West Fargo Events, and EPIC Companies. The City of West Fargo owns the parking ramp and the plaza space and they have hired nonprofit West Fargo Events to manage these spaces.

Construction for this exciting undertaking happened in two phases, the first one kicked off in the fall of 2018 and the second phase began in early 2019. The final project is four mixed-use buildings surrounding a central plaza. The bottom floors of these buildings are beginning to fill up with retail shops, offices, dining options and other various commercial tenants. The rest of the five-to-six story builds will be dedicated to apartments with the potential to have condos in the future.

The Lights provides all you need, in one beautiful spot. You can live there, you can work there and you can play there. This essential Live, Work, Play framework is what the district was designed around will contribute to its success.

Gone are the days where your residence is just a place to lay your head at night. The apartment you choose to live in is your shelter, and a place to unwind, entertain and even work from. If you dont love the place youre coming home to every day, the rest of your quality of life will follow suit. This is why EPIC Companies ensured their new apartment units be modern, but also the perfect blank slate for tenants own styles.

To live at one of The Lights 300 residential units is to sacrifice nothing. Built around an urban lifestyle, these residential units are nestled in the middle of one of the fastest-growing communities in West Fargo. For convenience and security, the buildings have fob access, underground parking, skyways to The Lights other buildings and the public parking ramp. Living at The Lights, you are only steps away from all you could want and need.

Opened March 1 was the first residential building, EPIC at The Lights, which has 49 units.

In addition to the convenience of the location, the units finishes are thoughtful and on-trend at EPIC at The Lights. Such features include tile backsplashes, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances and a butcher block island in the kitchen; a private balcony; industrial accents, underground parking and hard-surface flooring. ECHO at The Lights will feature black stainless steel appliances, upgrade quartz, LVT, and cabinet colors.

One exciting aspect is that the units are pet-friendly. Because, for many, what is home without a furry friend to share it with? Just imagine all the cats and dogs admiring the bustling views of the plaza from each units floor-to-ceiling balcony doors. A treat for humans and pets alike!

In the fall another phase of The Lights will be complete. This will include ECHO at The Lights, which will have 36 two-story units. Some of the two-story units at ECHO at The Lights will have the bedrooms upstairs while the kitchen and living space are downstairs. This helps ensure that the noise being made above you is your own, making it feel more like condo living. All-inclusive costs for the units include heat, water, sewer, garbage and internet, making payments simple and easy.

West Fargo Facts:Population: 37,000+Metro Population: 245,000+Projected to gain 400 students a year1.75% Unemployment$73,400: average income of a West Fargonian

ECHO at The Lights is anchored by a Bell Bank branch with eight other divisible units open for leases on the second floor, perfect for office or retail spaces. EPIC at The Lights building is anchored by Bar Down, a new sports bar and grill. The remainder of the commercial units in the EPIC building vary in size and space, allowing flexibility for whatever businesses plant roots there.

The Lights commercial units have the benefit of a built-in customer base. While we expect the businesses anchoring the residential units will attract people from all over town, tenants are likely to be dedicated patrons.

To have your business take root in one of the Lights commercial units comes with a bevy of perks. One of which is that potential clients will have no trouble finding parking when they come by, thanks to the city-owned 400 space parking deck anchoring the north end.

The Lights entertainment space lives in the stretch between the plazas three structures, creating a tucked-in zone designed for year-round programming and events. Opportunities for live music, ice skating, outdoor patios and beyond abound. From tailgating before the big game to hosting concerts for up to 3,000 occupants, EPIC Companies designed the space to fill a myriad of interests and purposes.

With a goal to host over 100 events a year, the space will provide the perfect backdrop for community-building opportunities. With West Fargo Events managing the city-owned plaza outside the buildings, there will be many exciting events taking place in this transformable plaza.

Architect: ICON Architectural GroupConstruction Manager: Gehrtz Construction ServicesBuilding Management: EPIC ManagementPlaza Management: West Fargo EventsParking Ramp and Plaza: City of West Fargo-owned

Link:
A Beacon in the Heart of West Fargo: The Lights - Design & Living Magazine

In a move they hope will allow speedier development, the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority Board has approved a new planned zoning development (PZD) for a portion of the Chaffee Crossing Historic District.

The PZD provides all properties inside the boundary a single set of zoning guidelines and end-uses, which will make it easier and faster for business owners to get building permits from the city of Fort Smith, said Daniel Mann, FCRA executive director and CEO. The Fort Smith Planning Commission approved the PZD application Tuesday. It will go before the Fort Smith Board of Directors May 5.

Prior to voting on the PZD at its regular board meeting Tuesday (April 14), the FCRA approved adjustments to the FCRA Master Design Guidelines that bring it into agreement with the new PZD guidelines and city of Fort Smith Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The PZD also identifies what types of business are permitted in the area, Mann said. According to the PZD, the area is to facilitate the creation of a pedestrian-friendly environment to encourage the redevelopment of the historic core of the district into a community or tourist destination.

The historic/mixed use designation would allow for restaurants, retail and office space and residential dwellings among other uses, but would not allow for warehouses, Mann said. The area included in the PZD does not include the area of the historic district the bounded by Darby Avenue, Taylor Avenue, Roberts Boulevard and Terry Street that was changed from historic/mixed use to industrial/office in April 2019.

LAWSUIT BACKGROUNDA lawsuit was filed May 17 in Sebastian County Circuit Court concerning that land use change, which plaintiffs said would harm the walk and shop concept of the historic area presented in the FCRA master plan. The lawsuit was filed by Quentin Willard with Fort Smith Brewing Co.; Randy and Tina DeCanter with Old Fort Furniture; John Coats with JKC Cellars LLC and KRIJO Investments; Tasha and Alan Taylor with Truckin Delicious; and Micah Spahn with Fort Smith Brewing Co.

The FCRA boards vote last year to change land use in part of the historic warehouse district came after weeks of sometimes heated discussion on how to rectify an issue of some properties used in non-conforming ways. The change affected the area south of Darby Avenue in the historic area but left the area north of Darby as mixed use: historic.

The lawsuit alleged that the land use change should be deemed invalid because it was of a violation of due process, the land use change is not shown to be in the public interest but rather was arbitrary and capricious, and was for the benefit of specific land owners rather than the public as a whole; and taking with no public purpose is invalid.

Revisions to the land use were needed to accommodate property developed by CBC Construction & Development, Beam Properties and Blake Properties, all of which have industrial warehouses in the area. However, at the same meeting where FCRA approved the land use change, the board approved swapping property with CBC Construction & Development so their warehouse would no longer be in the area in contention. Prior to the land use change, industrial warehouses were of nonconforming use in the specified area. This meant those business could not get approval from the Fort Smith planning and zoning department for any changes or improvements to their property.

That lawsuit was dismissed in November.

Twelve property owners within the PZD boundaries agreed with the PZD, including three of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, giving the PZD support of a majority of the property owners, Mann said.

We are very happy that 12 of the property owners agreed to the PZD. Some of them already had a PZD for their property. This will take the place of it, he said.

Mann said Willard already has a PZD in place for Fort Smith Brewing Co. and did not want to change his PZD to the FCRA one, so his property has been left out of the boundaries.

HIGHWAY RELOCATIONMann also announced at the board meeting that Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) announced April 10 it would advertise bids for the Arkansas Highway 255 Relocation project and begin letting contracts May 13.

This is a very critical infrastructure project that will re-route Hwy 255 from a residential and light commercial area of Barling through Chaffee Crossing along Frontier Road, information from FCRA noted.

FCRA, Barling and Fort Smith entered into a multi-party agreement with ARDOT on this project in 2017, Mann said. As part of that agreement, FCRA had to commit $2 million towards the construction of this project. Mann said he had been in contact with ARDOT about paying $1 million of that now with the beginning of construction and the remaining $1 million at the end of construction.

We have the funds set aside, and we do have $1 million of it in the budget for this year. With the COVID-19 pandemic we asked that we be able to hold the other $1 million until towards the end, Mann said.

FCRA is waiting on authorization of that request.

Property all along the highway has sold for commercial development and to Arkansas Colleges of Health Education for expansion of their campus, Mann said.

We are very excited that this is moving along. This is really going to accelerate the development along that corridor, he said.

The rest is here:
Land use changes approved at Chaffee Crossing; highway relocation project moving forward - talkbusiness.net

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday said open spaces left for garden areas in approved building layout plans cannot be allowed for construction, and upheld a Bombay High Court verdict disallowing constriction on two plots at Juhu in Mumbai that were earmarked as open area by a government body in 1967.

A bench of Mohan M Shantanagoudar and R Subhash Reddy said, "As rightly held by the High Court, we are also of the view that the two plots, which are shown as open spaces/garden, in the approved layout, cannot be allowed to be used for the purpose of construction."

Dismissing the appeals filed by Anjuman E Shiate Ali and others against the high court verdict of July 19, 2017, the bench said: "It is fairly well settled that in an approved layout, the open spaces which are left, are to be continued in that manner alone and no construction can be permitted in such open spaces."

As per the approved layout plan for JVPD scheme, two different plots of 2,500 and 1,687.18 sq yards were shown as open spaces/garden in the approved layout of 1967 situated on 9th Wireless Road, JVPD Scheme, Juhu.

Erstwhile Maharashtra Housing Board (MHB), now known as MHADA, had framed a scheme covering total land area of 5,80,000 square yards under Bombay Housing Board Act, 1948 and the said Scheme was called as JVPD Scheme.

Under the scheme, Dawoodi Bohra Community were allotted certain plots for constructions of residential units and in the lay out plan, the two plot were shown as open spaces/garden.

By using subsequent MHADA approval of 1999, the efforts were made to construct residential units.

Dealing with two PILs, the high court had referred to the provisions of Development Control Rules (DCRs), and the provisions of Municipal Corporation Act, and had held that these two plots were shown as reserved for garden purpose in the approved layout in 1967, and cannot be used for constructions.

Continued here:
Construction can't be allowed on open space in approved building layouts: SC - ETRealty.com

1. A retail center is under construction on Kuykendahl Road. (Ben Thompson/Community Impact Newspaper

1. Retail center on Kuykendahl Road

A retail center at the corner of Kuykendahl Road and Hennessy Lane is nearing completion. According to leasing agent Angie Podseknik, the shell of the center has been completed, and the building is in the process of being leased. Podseknik said several restaurants and a nail salon are in the process of filling the space.

Space: around 17,500 square feet

Timeline: opening within six months

2. Hyatt House Hotel in Shenandoah

Work has commenced on a Hyatt House Hotel in Metropark Square in Shenandoah. The 148-room hotel is anticipated to open in March 2021 and will feature a dining and bar area, outdoor pool, fitness center, business center, market pantry, guest laundry room and an outdoor pool, according to developer Sam Moon Group. Parking for the hotel will feature surface parking and covered parking in the nearby parking garage.

Space: five stories, 94,140 square feet

Timeline: late 2019-March 2021

3. East Shore Landing in The Woodlands

Development is expected to begin in April on East Shore Landing, a new section in the David Weekley Homes project at East Shell Port Square in The Woodlands. Homes range from 2,200-3,100 square feet of living space, according to David Weekley Homes. The new section is known as The Garden District of The Woodlands.

Space: 59 units

Timeline: construction begins in 2020

4, Howard Hughes residential project in The Woodlands

Work is nearing completion on an unnamed residential project by developer Howard Hughes Corp. at the intersection of Six Pines Drive and Timberloch Place in The Woodlands. The multifamily project will be seven stories tall and will feature 163 residences with one-, two- and three-bedroom options. The project is anticipated to begin leasing this fall.

Space: seven stories, 179,338 square feet

Timeline: summer 2019-fall 2020

Here is the original post:
Development updates: 4 projects to watch in The Woodlands area - Community Impact Newspaper

LUMBERTON The new $3.7 million terminal at the Lumberton Regional Airport will be move-in ready by June 15, airport management and contractors said Friday.

Ground was first broke almost exactly a year ago in April for the terminal, located at 163 Airport Blvd., after the nearly 50-year-old building was demolished. The new two-story building will boast 8,000 square feet, more than twice the 3,000 square feet of the previous one.

The project is funded through state and federal grants, with matching funds coming from the city of Lumberton and the Robeson County Board of Commissioners.

Airport Manager Bob Snuck said the building is nearly complete and offices will be move-in ready by June 15.

The entire building is framed, Snuck said. Most of the electrical is in, the Sheet Rock is in. Its 90% complete.

On Friday morning the weather was ideal for United Builders of Lumberton workers who are subcontracted by Simcon Company, the projects general contractor.

We still got to do the siding on the outside, Simcon Project Superintendent Brent Williams said. Inside we got to do the painting and the trim.

Adding flooring and redoing the parking lot also are on the agenda, Williams said.

Williams has been living in Lumberton overseeing construction on the project for the past year.

Were staying on track, Williams said. Were getting there slowly but surely.

Williams said that COVID-19 restrictions have made the process tougher, but he feels confident.

I dont want to put no more than 10 people on the job, he said. I dont want to subject nobody to getting sick, so were trying to keep our numbers down.

The building will be a major economic boost for the county and will house the Robeson County Economic Development office.

A lot of people dont realize the benefit of the airport, Snuck said. For economic development, an airport is a major driver. If you have any major corporation, theyre going to have cooperate aircraft that fly in and out of here, and we have corporate aircraft that fly in and out of here.

This is going to make a statement for the whole county area having this nice building and nice offices, especially when youre trying to attract new businesses.

The executive director of Robeson County Economic Development said it will make his job a lot easier when courting potential clients to the county.

Im very excited about moving into the new building and having a meeting room, Channing Jones said. Its a wonderful opportunity for economic development just for the fact of being able to have meetings in a way that is impressive and very professional for companies coming in.

In addition to meeting rooms and offices, the interior will include state-of-the-art equipment to be able to give world-class presentation to clients, Jones said. It will also have space in which to entertain guests.

Things that weve incorporated in the building are going to be very useful for myself personally to host clients, Jones said.

The buildings modern exterior also will leave a positive image with clients who enter.

If you look at it from the top of the building, when the architects designed it, they designed it to look like a plane wing, Jones said. Itll be very unique in just its design. I think the city of Lumberton and the county will have something to be very proud of once its complete.

On the construction site Friday, workers were applying the siding to obtain the unique shape.

They wanted a building that really hasnt been built before, and I think they did a really good job on designing it, Williams said. Its quite the building.

Snuck said that in 2019, the State of North Carolina did a study that showed the economic impact of airports. The study found that the Lumberton airport brings in $14.2 million locally.

Theres a huge economic benefit to the local community, he said.

Jones confirmed that it will impact the county greatly.

Obviously for the city of Lumberton and for the county its going to be a great welcome center for folks who are coming in via plane, Jones said. Its going to be a great first impression of our county. It will be an attribute in attracting business and having confidence that our county is well positioned for various economic development opportunities.

The airport has two runways, one 5,500 feet long, the other 5,000 feet long. There are 35 airplane hangers on the airports property.

The next big airport project will be replacing the existing fuel farm. The original fuel farm was build more than 40 years ago and not for aviation purposes, but as an oil storage tank and it was converted, he said.

They dont meet many of the new requirements, and weve been spending a lot of money repairing leaks, Snuck said.

The total cost would be about $1.1 million, but the airport recently was awarded a $112,500 grant by the state Department of Transportations Division of Aviation to pay for the fuel farm engineering study, Snuck said. The local share of the grant is $12,500.

Its really difficult to get the engineering funding and I managed to get it, Snuck said. Usually, if you get the engineering funding, its shortly down the road that youll get the construction funding.

The fuel farm would consist of two 12,000 gallon tanks. One to hold jet fuel and the other to hold aviation gasoline.

That fuel farm is used to fill up the fuel trucks because you buy fuel in quantity, Snuck said. Also, that fuel farm will have self-service capability like you would have self-service capability at a gas station where the aircraft can pull up and get fuel.

Snuck said he will soon be going before city council and county commissioners to speak about the project.

Snuck

Jones

Williams

United Builders of Lumberton workers apply siding Friday on the $3.7 million terminal being built at the Lumberton Regional Airport. The terminal, which will house the office of Robeson County Economic Development, is scheduled to be completed on June 15.

ORyan Campbell, a plumber for Wilkins Plumbing, lays pipes for a bathroom in the new terminal building under construction at the Lumberton Regional Airport. The terminal is scheduled to be move-in ready on June 15.

The $3.7 million terminal under construction at Lumberton Regional Airport is expected to be move-in ready by June 15. The two-story building will be 8,000 square feet in size, more than twice the size of previous 3,000-square-foot terminal.

Expected to be move-in ready June 15

Tomeka Sinclair can be reached at [emailprotected] or 910-416-5865.

See the original post:
New airport terminal expected to be move-in ready June 15, to be economic tool - The Robesonian

Single-family housing starts exemplify the construction economys COVID-19 heartbreak in the first quarter of 2020.

Total 2019 residential starts were 1.4 million units, just 0.3% above 2018, with single-family starts down 1,000 and multifamily up 1%.

We expected 2020 single-family starts to decline mildly again, Richard Branch, chief economist with Dodge Data & Analytics told webinar attendees on April 9. But Q1 was the best quarter since 2007 940,000 units (seasonally adjusted annualized rate).

Then March became a tale of two months; Dodge expects Q2 single-family home sales could fall by 50%, to Great Recession depths, but begin to recover quickly in 2021.housing starts growing early as the construction season unfolded, in line with March of 2019. And then the virus hit. Construction moratoria and stay-at-home orders in the last week doused so much work.

Q2 home sales probably could fall by 50% compared to Q1, bringing us back to the levels we last saw during the Great Recession in 2007, 2008 and 2009, Branch says. And that could be optimistic, depending on how long the stay-at-home and physical-distancing requirements stay in place.

Details of Branchs 2020 GDP forecast post-COVID-19

The spring and probably the summer selling seasons are gone, and this weakness might continue into Q3.

Dodge forecasts single-family starts to be down 10% in 2020, but begin to recover quickly with 5% growth in 2021.

Multifamily construction didnt start the year nearly as strong, with units falling in Q1 16% (-12% compared to Q1 2019). And its recovery prospects are not nearly as encouraging as single-family housing.

This market has a lot more exposure, Branch cautions. Were running 16 to 17 million in unemployment insurance claims. Jobs were down sharply in March. They will be down even more sharply in April. This will certainly lead to a pickup in delinquencies. This will put owners and developers into increasing financial difficulty.

Vacancy rates ended 2019 at 4%; by the time we get to the end of 2020, they will be closer to 6%. In truth they would probably be much higher if it werent for local moratoriums on evictions. But even as the economy starts to recover, assuming that rent is just delayed and not forgiven, it will take time for renters to accumulate that back rent.

Dodge forecasts multifamily starts to plunge 19% in 2020 and fall an additional 2% in 2021. As we get into 2021, the multifamily market will also have to contend with growth on the single-family side, Branch explains.

Given our assumptions of the track of the Warehouse construction starts set a record in 2019, are forecast to be just off that record pace in 2020, and grow 7%, breaking the record again, in 2021.virus and macroeconomic assumptions, by the time we get to Q4 the level of (commercial building) starts activity is (expected to be) starting to return to the normal. With total 2020 commercial starts down 16%. But then forging ahead in 2021.

Dodge forecasts the square footage of parking garage starts this year falling 29%, office starts dropping 13%, retail space down 33% and hotels and motels down 31%. Their biggest commercial building sector warehouses however, is only expected to slip 1%.

Thats particularly impressive when you consider warehouse construction set a Dodge Data record in 2019 with 336 million sq. ft. started.

Branch concedes that the portion of warehousing dealing with global trade will suffer from disrupted trade flow with the rest of the world, pushing up vacancy rates and suppressing starts. But the other big segment of warehousing is dedicate to ecommerce fulfillment, which of course has been flourishing during the coronavirus crisis.

Branch sees current conditions accelerating a more-permanent switch to on-line retailing. Pre-COVID-19, Amazon had telegraphed that it would continue building, but smaller (1 million sq. ft.) fulfillment centers instead of the 2 to 3 million sq. ft. centers of recent years.

If youve tried to buy anything on Amazon in the last two or three weeks, youve noticed that the shipping times have been pushed out. I think theres going to be a big push, particularly for Amazon, to carry larger inventories. I think Amazon will continue to push those 2- to 3-million sq. ft. distribution properties.

Q1 was very strong in warehouse construction. Sharp decline in Q2. But this is a pure V (shaped progression). By Q3 and Q4 were right back up in this 330-million sq. ft. pace. So a record level in 2019, just a little bit off a record level in 2020, and youll notice a 7% increase there, breaking the record again, in 2021.

Total institutional building construction starts The K-12 side of education building may be down a little, but the sector's greatest risk is in college and university improvements, whose financing problems will extend into 2021 and suppress growth even that far out to 3%.were initially forecast to decline 2%, and the pandemic pushed the Dodge Data forecast to -7%.

Education building is one of the largest nonresidential building sectors, running nearly as many square feet of starts as the office sector, and accounting for just under half of the total institutional construction. The COVID-19 effect is expected to cause education building starts to repeat its 2% 2019 decline in 2020. Dodge forecasts a 3% rebound in 2021, though, despite potentially significant financing challenges.

Many states and local areas (governments) will suffer revenue shortfalls not just this fiscal year but next, at the same time the cost of social programs will be increasing, Branch says. So that could undermine the strength were seeing in the K-12 market and suppress construction activity.

I think that going forward, colleges and universities will be placed under additional financial strain for a couple reasons: 1) there have been significant pushes by student bodies who are now at home to have room and board refunded. If that happens, that is money the universities have already committed, whether to overhead or to debt service. 2) Universities rely heavily on the returns from their endowment funds to fund capital improvement programs, and of course the stock market is still much lower than it was in February.

Nonbuilding construction starts present a If you remove electric power and LNG plants from 2019's nonbuilding starts, construction spending in the sector actually fell 7% last year. Power and gas will be down significantly in 2020, but Dodge forecasts highways and bridges to recover by year's end and grow energetically 2021.curious dynamic. The value of starts in the biggest sector highways and bridges was down 7% in 2019. The highway portion was flat and bridge construction was down sharply.

First quarter data was particularly weak, so were starting from a much lower jump-off as we head into the forecast, Branch says. Were expecting Q2 for highways and bridges to be down 12% from what we saw in Q1 not as steep a drop as we saw in the building categories. Again a lot of infrastructure work has remained as an essential category, however we do need to keep in mind that workforce issues may delay some projects over the coming quarters.

We do expect this category to have much more of a V-shaped recovery. Getting back in Q3 to where we were in Q1, and maybe closer to Q4 (2019). But the FAST Act does expire at the end of September, and of course that brings with it challenges as well as opportunities.

Were thinking that the plan that went through the senate public works committee unanimously will go through the house and the full senate and will have presidential approval probably within the next few months, Branch suggests. If that happens, the average level of spending within that replacement program is, on average, $10 billion a year higher than what we saw in the FAST Act. Certainly good news for 2021 in the highway and bridge sector. Potential for stimulus funding would certainly boost prospects into 2021 as well.

Power and gas plant starts grew 124% in 2019 to $54 billion, which was expected to cut deeply into the sector starts in 2020. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved construction of a number of LNG facilities this year.

But given where the global economy is and where natural gas prices are right now, we think that those projects get pushed out to 21, Branch predicts. Which is why you have those numbers in 21 pushed up 49% to $42 billion.

This sector also contains utility grade solar and wind, and as those two sectors come much, much closer to grid parity theyre actually supporting some of the growth here and why were not seeing powerplant construction drop much further than $28 billion this year its kind of a long-term historical normal level for power and gas.

See original here:
Dodge Reforecast: COVID-19 Impact on 2020 Construction Starts - ForConstructionPros.com

The 24-story City Tower promised to be Wheeler Development Groups next flagship project, but now COVID-19 and the ensuing shelter-in-place order for the state of Michigan has put the project on ice as the developers examine the next steps.

The city of Grand Rapids earlier this year entered a one-year agreement with Wheeler Development Group to conduct due diligence and negotiate a development agreement for the build site at 22 Ottawa Ave. NW in Grand Rapids, but with COVID-19 putting a stranglehold on contractors and architects, it looks like the process may take longer than expected.

We were finalizing preconstruction, working with architects and engineers, so we can put that project to bid, said WDG VP of Marketing Jason Wheeler. All of our subcontractors are frozen, and we cant just be forking dollars over to an architect until we know when construction is going to come back online.

Planned features and uses for the building include 5,215 square feet of ground-floor retail, five floors of parking with approximately 185 spaces, three floors or approximately 44,000 square feet of office space, 10 stories for about 118 apartments and five floors for about 19 condominiums.

Wheeler said WDG may ask the city for a deferment on the months of progress lost due to Michigans shelter-in-place order, allowing the company essentially to pick up where it left off.

When it first came out the first phase of shelter-in-place we were under the impression that essential services did include home construction, Wheeler said. It later became more defined as any work that presented a safety issue.

The Business Journal previously reported on communications between the Home Builders Association of Michigan and Gov. Gretchen Whitmers office. When Whitmer declared industries like housing construction are not essential under her Stay Home, Stay Safe executive order, she offered only the exception of completing construction to eliminate onsite safety hazards.

HBAM called on Whitmer to re-think her assessment and to consult with federal Homeland Security officials.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, designated single- and multifamily housing construction as essential infrastructure. The designation serves as a recommendation and not a mandatory action for state governments to comply.

Wheeler Development also had to halt a previously unannounced project with the city of Rockford. The company had planned Hotel Rose, a standalone, four-story hotel building slated to begin in the fall, but the project now is on hold, as well.

Wheeler Development also has three ongoing multifamily projects that are its main priority: Michigan Meadows in Grand Rapids, the Hanover in Caledonia and the Preserve in Spring Lake, all of which are in various stages of completion.

WDG originally had ribbon cuttings scheduled for each townhome community throughout 2020, but the projects can only be shored up for now. Both Hanover and Michigan Meadows have people living on them and require essential construction to prevent safety issues.

We had to enclose the buildings, make sure they were locked and there were no safety hazards, Wheeler said.

Hanover has about 48 completed units, with five occupied and another three scheduled to move in over the next month.

Michigan Meadows, which started earlier, currently has 11 occupants and 13 scheduled move-ins out of the 87 units planned for the site. The site currently has 38 completed units.

The main challenge is discovering what services are deemed critical so we can complete the maximum number of units and then turn them over to PURE for lease, Wheeler said. That will hopefully allow us to keep some stability and presence.

Anne Ficeli, president of PURE Real Estate Management, which manages all WDG-owned properties, said some of the scheduled move-in units are in various stages of completion, and some may not be complete by move-in day if construction remains nonessential.

Some are complete, but not move-in ready, Ficeli added. We dont have certificates of occupancy on all of them.

PURE has remained open as an essential service, although many agents now are working from home. The companys service technicians still are onsite maintaining the properties, but they are not allowed to enter peoples units unless its an emergency, Ficeli said.

I know management is important, because we need to maintain peoples homes, but I dont understand why construction is not essential, Ficeli said. People are still looking for places to live. We have some places to put them, but unless we can get construction online, its going to be difficult.

Ficeli said she has weekly calls with the Property Management Association of West Michigan, and construction is frequently discussed as a necessity. Both PMAWM and HBAM are in on the effort to convince Whitmer to designate construction as an essential service.

The rest is here:
COVID throws a wrench in City Tower - grbj.com

Policy

Snarled traffic. Sky-high rents. And entire neighborhoods that soon may be underwater. Our city planners have steamrolled over communities and failed to build a city that is livable for us all. Is there still a chance to get it right?

Like a scene out of The Departed, a pinched old white man in a black jacket leans across the passenger seat of a car to collect a fan of fresh $100 bills from the driver. Its such a blatant setup. Theres no envelope. The Benjamins are in full view. The whole choreography of the handoff seems designed to get him in front of a dash caminstead of a quick drop through the drivers window, the briber forces the man to reach into the car, his pink face nicely centered in the frame. But John Lynch, the assistant director of real estate at the Boston Planning & Development Agency, doesnt notice. He is wholly focused on taking whats his, lips drawn in a taut smile, the crisp new bills within his grasp. In fact, if you look closely at the surveillance photo, he seems relaxedat ease, even, like hes done this before.

Across Boston, critics of the citys billion-dollar real estate bonanza viewed that single 2018 photo of a bribe given and received as indisputable proof that the city still runs by J.M. Curleystyle rules. But for those who know how city planning happens here, it was merely the tip of an iceberg of troubles at the BPDA, arguably Bostons most powerful agency.

Whether or not cash is changing hands, Bostonians should be outraged at how the BPDA functionsor doesnt. If you think, for instance, that Boston is unaffordable, mired in traffic, and chronically unprepared for climate change, you can mostly blame the BPDA. The citys entire development process, from zoning to planning to project approval, is controlled by this single agency on the ninth floor of City Hall. In fact, it holds a concentration of power not seen in any other American city, shaping every square inch of our town, yet it is not accountable to the elected members of the city council. Its operations, meanwhile, are plagued by shortsightedness, ineptitude, and misplaced priorities.

This is nothing new. In fact, seven years ago I argued in this magazine that the BPDA (then known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority) had a mission that was so riddled with conflicts of interest that it should be abolished. So why am I at it again? Because despite Mayor Marty Walshs promises to reform the agency after audits in 2014 and 2015 revealed that it was a hot mess, not much has changed on the ninth floor since he took office. Worse still, this agency has overseen a larger building boom since 2014 than has ever occurred in a six-year period in Boston since the city was founded in 1630. Over the past decade, the citys planning agency has systematically squandered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to steer well-planned, equitable, and climate-change-ready growth, and has instead focused on a single goal: approving as many projects as quickly as possible.

This build-more, build-fast mindset has had grave consequences. Thousands of high-margin luxury condos have been approved and completed, many of which, bought by entities hidden behind LLCs and shell corporations, sit in unoccupied splendor while driving up the regions real estate values and costs. The BPDAs failure to plan, and its deep faith in market forces, has helped balloon the cost of living to the breaking point because everythingfrom food to payrolls to servicesis in one way or another linked to our inflated housing prices. Thousands of Bostonians have been displaced through eviction or aggressive rent increases, and middle-class families are getting pushed farther and farther out of the city, in some cases all the way to New Hampshire. The agency has lost the trust of the community to carry out the planning process with competence and integrity, wrote City Councilor at Large Michelle Wu in a recent report demanding the BPDAs abolition.

Never before has the need to break up the BPDA been more urgent. Right now, the agency is poised to approve the largest private development in its historymillions of square feet at the former Suffolk Downs racetrack. The agency has barreled ahead as if this were just another downtown office tower, aligning with the developer at the expense of the community, and repeating every unforced error that got us to where we are today. Unless the BPDA is abolished before the project breaks ground, Boston will likely lose its last big chance to do development right.

The BPDAs John Lynch (left) leaves federal court in Boston with his lawyer after pleading guilty to accepting a $50,000 bribe, allegedly from a real estate developer. / Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe via Getty Images

Cranes in full swing over the foundation of 115 Winthrop Square. / Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe via Getty Images

The BPDA announced its arrival in Boston 63 years ago with the roar of an army of bulldozers. Founded to funnel federal money toward urban renewal efforts, the agency, known back then as the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), evicted thousands of minority and immigrant families and razed neighborhoods, including the West End, to make way for office buildings and luxury high-rises.

A seemingly minor tweak in 1987 created the all-powerful BPDA we have today. That year, Mayor Ray Flynn removed the agency from the city budget, arguing it could sustain itself financially using the fees it collects from real estate developers. After that, the agency no longer had to answer to the city council, and ever since then, it has been servile not only to the whims of the mayor, but to the people who keep its lights on: developers.

Walshs predecessor, Tom Menino, used the freshly off-the-books agency as the base of his power. To Menino, everything was personal; he made sure that all development decisions went through him, rendering the BRA as little more than a rubber-stamping agency where he could park his political supporters who needed jobs. Not much got built under Menino, but everything that did had his fingerprints all over it.

Walsh ran for mayor in 2013 as a BRA reformer. As a former trade union leader, he also wanted to keep those cranes busy. Once in office, he commissioned an audit that revealed the agency was in shambles. Few staffers, it showed, had any idea what their actual duties were. Records were so shoddy that the BRA didnt even know what land it owned or what fees and rents were due. Consequently, the city may have failed to collect millions of dollars on leases and linkage fees from developers to fund affordable housing.

Despite grand promises made in the heat of the mayoral campaign, as well as a $675,000 rebranding initiative that included a name change from the BRA to the BPDA, Walsh has done little more than replace the drapes and repaint the house. On the positive side, BPDA head Brian Golden says that 60 percent of staff members are new, and the planning department has grown from 32 to more than 54 employees. Hes hired some multilingual staffers, and employees are learning how to work within Bostons many different communities. The agencys overhauled website is easy to navigate and loaded with helpful documents available to the public. The press office is very responsive.

Still, the BPDAs most problematic featuresthat its beyond city council control and was designed to be developer-responsive rather than planning-orientedremain locked in place. Most egregiously, unlike many other major American citieswhich have laws mandating implementation of a master planBoston hasnt drawn one up since 1965. By law, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, and Vancouver systematically update their master plans and have clear protocols for incorporating those plans into urban development. In California, by law, master-plan updates must be codified into zoning. The city of Boston doesnt have a master plan because the BPDA isnt designed to do that kind of work, and also, possibly, because it would undercut the BPDAs power. According to BPDA director Golden, Mayor Walshs Imagine Boston 2030 initiativewhich provides a roadmap for 21st-century growthis the citys master plan. Still, the plan lacks teeth because the BPDA has neither the mandate nor the protocols to make it anything more than a wish list.

The BPDA says nearly one-third of the citys land is covered either by active or relatively recent planning efforts. Indeed, the agencys staffers have conducted community-based planning sessions in nearly every neighborhood over the decades. But when a developer brings a project proposal to the ninth floor, theres no formal mechanism for incorporating what was learned in those planning sessions into the approval process. There are no standardized metrics board members can use to evaluate a projects value or impact. Instead, the BPDA merely serves as an adviser to the developer, escorting a project through the process while keeping an eye on the clock.

The fact that the agency is partly funded by developers is the fundamental problem, says City Councilor Lydia Edwards. You shouldnt be incentivized to develop because your paycheck depends on it, she says. You should be incentivized to develop because the city, and the future, and equity depend on it.

Supporters of the BPDA say Bostons vocal communitieslabeled as NIMBYsare the single biggest obstacle to progress in the city and that we need an all-powerful planning agency because it is the only way to get anything done in the face of their opposition. In fact, I would argue the opposite is true: Bostons planning and approval process is so inverted that the BPDA has created the NIMBYs.

By the time a development team arrives in a neighborhood, the BPDA already has skin in the game. The agencys staff has spent considerable time working with the developer to prep for community meetings, and during this period, the BPDAs and developers interests often align. Armed with inside knowledge, legal expertise, and the mayors backing, they make a formidable team. Once the public process begins, communities dont have much time to react and often feel blindsided by the proposals. They have to scramble to understand their rights, determine what negotiating power they have, and figure out which tools they can use to steer the impact of a project. Lacking the background and unity to negotiate concessions with a powerful developer and the BPDA, many communities resort to outright opposition.

They have good reason to be wary, given that any amenities won by neighbors have historically had a bad habit of disappearing once a project is approved. Case in point: When Millennium Partners bid for the privilege of building 115 Winthrop Square, a $1.3 billion multi-use tower now going up downtown, the developer promised Bostonians a three-story Great Halla glorious, multifunctional civic space sold as Bostons living room, as well as a space for startups that would be as large as 8,000 square feet. Just three years into the complex process of approving such a large project, Millennium submitted its notice of project change. Among the revisions, 100,000 gross square feet of residential space had evaporated. The initial 500 housing unit count had shrunk to 387. Gone were about seven affordable units. Public conference space seemed to disappear. Two grand staircases designed to elevate the look of the Great Hall were obscured by walls. Bostons living room became a hallway. The startup space was no longer mentioned.

Even the Boston Civic Design Commission (BCDC)a voluntary board run by some of the citys finest architects that has the ability to review all large projects in Bostonlacks any statutory power to rein in poorly designed, unwieldy development. As a result, it has scored only a very few small victories in the way of improving projects.

Theres a better way: Plan for growth in a neighborhood before the developer arrives on the scene. Then incorporate that arduous community work into law by updating zoning. Establish which amenities the neighborhood needs and tie those projects to land use. Break planning out of the BPDA and fund it with city money so that its accountable to voters. Its how Americas finest cities handle demand and growth. Why does Boston deserve anything less?

A birds-eye view of construction in the Seaport District. / Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe via Getty Images

Activists protest to demand that developers make half of the units at Suffolk Downs affordable housing. / Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe via Getty Images

When Steven Turner allegedly handed all of that cash to Lynch, he owned a one-story South Boston warehouse on a 10th of an acre. Turner knew he could make a pile of dough if he could get a permit extension allowing construction of multifamily housing on that site. So, in exchange for $50,000, Lynch agreed to convince a Boston zoning board member to extend the permit to redevelop the property. Once he secured it, Turner sold the warehouse for a $1.6 million profit in 2018 without developing it. The cost for Turners gains will get passed along to condo buyers to the tune of an additional $146,000 per unit. (Turner has not been charged with any wrongdoing.)

Lynch wasnt the only guy looking to use zoning adjustments to turn a buck. Over the past 15 years, small-time developers have fanned out around South Boston, knocking on doors, offering longtime homeowners loads of money for their triple-deckers. One by one, families have been selling off their homes for huge profits and moving out.

Some developers, like Turner, received permission to build higher than existing zoning allowed. Others did not. Thats why South Bostons zoning map now looks like a crazy quilt. Single-family and multifamily homes, apartments and condos, and industrial, mixed-use, and institutional buildings are jammed together side by sidethe result of hundreds of individual petitions approved by the Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA).

Perhaps all of this side-dealing would be acceptable if Boston were truly booming. In fact, the city is being crushed under the weight of poorly regulated development geared to enrich a few at the expense of the many. Based on current stats, more than 34,000 households are cost-burdened, meaning that out of every dollar they earn, 50 cents goes to rent or the mortgage. Subtract taxes, and theres not much left for food. Over the past decade, the number of homeless families in Greater Boston has increased by 27 percent and the number of homeless individuals by 45 percent. A 2020 report by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council revealed that the majority of large units in Greater Boston are occupied by roommates (who can pool resources) or a handful of retirees rattling around in big apartmentsnot families.

Walsh says hes concerned, but the one thing he hasnt been able to confront is Bostons development machine. And because the mayor would like to have his development and eat it, too, hes demanding that the BPDA solve Bostons housing crisis the only way it knows how: by building more.

In the six years that Walsh has been mayor, 18,607 residential units have been built around the city. Sounds good, until you consider that most of them are small and expensive. Notably, more than half of these units are in luxury or ultra-luxury buildings, many of them in the South Boston Waterfront neighborhood. Records show that only a slim majority of all new units built since 2012 are owned by people who claim them as their primary residences. Many were bought by LLCs or shell corporations as a way to park wealth or launder money.

Of course, solving the housing crisis isnt merely about simple math, and yet the BPDA is still chasing numbers, furiously approving every proposal that comes its way to reach a quotathe mayor wants 53,000 new units built by 2030without much consideration given to equity. When I met with Councilor Edwards, I repeated the administrations argument that more housing will eventually satisfy demand.

Where? she asked me. When I laughed, she said, No, Im serious. Where has that happened? You show me where building a bunch of luxury studios helped house working-class families. You show me where it happened, and Ill shut up.

The BPDA argues that we can build our way out of the crisis because when developers need variances (and nearly every project requires a variance because the citys zoning is so outdated), they must either build affordable units into their projects or pay so-called linkage fees that go into a fund for affordable-housing construction. For example, Jonathan Greeley, BPDAs director of development review, defends Seaport Squarea huge South Boston Waterfront projectby pointing out that in return for approval, We got significant investments inaffordable housing, significant investments in the arts, a whole bunch of different things.

The BPDAs build-more-to-get-more-affordable-housing argument might make sense at first blush. Over the past decade, developers incorporated 2,983 affordable units into their market-rate projects (though the definition of affordable is up for debate). Other developers paid the one-time fee instead, contributing $93 million to the citys housing fund. But when you crunch the numbers, youll see that $93 million doesnt buy much in Boston. Over that same decade, federal, state, and city governments have spent an additional $2 billion in Boston to finance 5,286 new affordable units and refurbish existing ones, which cost the city an average of $450,000 a pop.

Based on these figures, its clearly more economical for the city to have developers fold affordable housing into new developments or just build for the mid-market than to conjure such housing from scratch via linkage fees. (The latter also further segregates the city, building by building, neighborhood by neighborhood.) For example, if real estate developer Millennium had made 15 percent of its massive new downtown tower affordable, it would have created 66 units. Instead, the developer paid $1.9 million to the city, a sum that, without state and federal subsidies, will cover the cost of only four such units.

Regardless of how affordable units get built, there are consequences to pursuing luxury housing in formerly middle-class neighborhoods. Rampant speculation. Evictions. Aggressive pricing out. Joseph Michalakes, a housing attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services, has worked for several years defending hundreds of families from eviction in East Boston, one of the most recent battlegrounds of development and displacement. Michalakes argues that if projects in Boston continue to be approved without bringing a fair housing perspective to the planning process, then what weve seen happen in East Boston over the past five years, and really longer, is going to keep happening until theres nowhere left.

He knows the market-oriented response to people getting priced out: If you cant afford Boston, then move someplace cheaper. But, he says, Where is that place? Where are people going to live? People who dont have a car and make between $20,000 and $50,000 a year, where are they going to go?

Tom OBrien, the former director of the BRA, is currently overseeing the development of Suffolk Downs for the HYM Investment Group, where he is the managing director. / Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe via Getty Images

Suffolk Downs may feel like the hinterlands, over there in Eastie beyond the airport. But if you think our traffic is bad now, if you think the cost of living is high now, if you think Boston is the countrys most segregated city now, just wait until our last affordable neighborhood vanishes.

On a freezing January afternoon, I met Councilor Edwards at Maverick Station in East Boston to drive to Suffolk Downs, where we sat in the car and looked over the abandoned racetrack and clubhouse while the winter wind whipped across the vast, open expanse. This is the site where a massive, multi-phase project is slated to be built. Of the 161 acres before us, 122 of them lie in Edwardss backyard in East Boston, with the remainder in Revere.

For Edwards, the 16-million-square-foot project proposed for the site is a potential threat for the mostly Latinx, renter-heavy, lower-income population that she represents. For local developer HYM Investment Group and 33-year-old Texas billionaire William Bruce Harrison, who together bought the land in 2017 for $155 million, its a potential gold mine.

Although the BPDA had plenty of warning that the racetrack was shutting down and was potentially ripe for development, the agency had few thoughts about how this enormous piece of land might be used, or about how development might affect the local community. Those questions were left to the marketor, more specifically, Harrison and Tom OBrien, HYMs managing director and a former head of the BRA. They drafted their own plan, complete with new zoning that would allow office, residential, and retail space. Anticipating some pushback, the developer preempted impact fees by proposing that his team pay for some roads and infrastructure improvements. Most of these so-called improvements, however, are streets within the development itself.

So far, the project has been designed like a Houston office park, with chunky buildings looming around a yet-to-be-defined open space, linked by wide streets designed to get cars in and out of the development. It is nothing like Easties existing street grid, in no way resembles the Boston 2030 vision, and certainly looks nothing like the citys most livable neighborhoods. The project is so inconceivably big that the 65,300 to 76,500 additional vehicle trips per day its expected to generate would hopelessly snarl traffic on Route 1A. Its shocking, opponents of the development argue, that the BPDA has once again escorted the developer through the usual steps, using the standard large-project timeline, without regard for the many serious problems that the project is bound to create.

During a pair of four-month-long public-comment periods in 2019, in fact, objection letters poured into City Hall, many several pages long and carefully crafted by lawyers working for nonprofit advocacy organizations such as Boston Lawyers for Civil Rights. The letters argued that the BPDA did not properly prepare the community, failed to do sufficient outreach in the multiple languages of the community, and, most important, failed to understand the impact this enormous development would have on the people of Eastie, the environment, and Greater Boston. The complaints repeatedly noted that the affordable units being proposed were not affordable enough, large enough, or numerous enough to accommodate even a fraction of those living in the neighborhood who would likely be displaced. Other complaints came from environmental stewards, who warned that raising the land to protect the immediate Suffolk Downs development from flooding would exacerbate drainage issues throughout the surrounding area within a few years.

Leading the charge was Edwards, who invoked the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to demand that the BPDA take concerns about equity more seriously. Appalled at the fast-track approval process and lack of consideration for her vulnerable constituency, she directed her office to draft Planning for Fair Housing, a document that details how the city could use planning and zoning to create a better Boston for everyone. The report calls for the BPDA to join the 21st century by embracing a holistic equity lens in its planning decision and negotiating for public interest concessions from development projects to impose fair housing obligations on private developers.

Although its been just three years since HYM and Harrison bought the racetrack, Greeley says the BPDA has put in the necessary work to sign off on the largest private development ever proposed in Boston. If we were in a rush, which were often accused of being, Greeley says, we would have done this thing a long time ago. But were not. We have slowly, iteratively, tried to figure this out. In the BPDAs defense, Greeley adds, If you were to sit with Tom OBrien, hed tell you how many hundreds of meetings [with the community] hes had.

Meetings, though, are useless if the two sides arequite literallyspeaking different languages. On February 3, Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development against the BPDA, citing the lack of translated materials available to community members with limited English throughout the process. The complaint also asserted that the BPDA, using archaic tools, had failed to properly assess the larger impact on the region. Suffolk Downs will fundamentally change the character, cost, and composition of every neighborhood it touches and all surrounding communities, it states. Simply put, the stakes for affected communities in Boston, who are primarily Limited English Proficiency residents of color, are enormous. For those reasons, the group requested that the BPDA immediately halt its review process. The BPDA says it did provide the necessary translations required by law, and as of press time, the agency was still formulating a response to the letter, but it continues to usher the project along.

Regardless, the project is so huge and its impacts so unfathomable that it may finally provide city councilors and civil rights advocates with a big enough platform to shine a spotlight on the BPDAs shortcomings. It seems to be working: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders tweeted about Suffolk Downs ahead of the March 3 primary, saying, We need affordable housing for all instead of more gentrifying luxury developments for the few.

Edwards, for her part, decided that the only way to rein in the BPDA was to change the law. In January, her office submitted a lengthy amendment to the Boston Zoning Code designed to incorporate equity-based impact analyses into the approval process. Her proposed amendment is now going through working sessions in the city council. She admits it may not get passed soon enough to save the city from Suffolk Downs.

In the meantime, the wheels of justice continue to grind away elsewhere in Boston. There was considerable fallout after Lynch was charged with (and later convicted of) bribery involving an organization receiving federal funds and filing a false federal tax return. Though no one else was charged, one member of the Zoning Board of Appeal stepped down after the scandal. In February, Walsh issued an executive order tightening the conflict-of-interest rules for those who sit on the board.

Still, some see Walshs response as akin to trying to fix the cracked foundation of a house with paint and spackle. The ZBA isnt the problem; it is just one feature of a city planning and development structure that is fatally flawed. What Walsh needs to do with the BPDA is what his administration has done besttake a wrecking ball to the old agency and build something shiny and new and modern where it once stood.

Go here to read the rest:
The BPDA: Paved and Confused - Boston magazine

"The outlook for tenant demand for retail property has deteriorated given the downturn in trading conditions, with declines in rents and increases in vacancy rates now likely," it said.

Commercial property prices have risen faster than rents in recent years given the decline in risk-free interest rates. More highly leveraged owners could struggle if tenants were unable to pay rent, particularly in the very weak retail sector, it said.

For some geared investors, that could mean they breach loan covenants, while developers with projects still under construction could find it difficult to finalise sales at a profitable price.

"Developers will then be left holding inventory and debt on their balance sheets with little or no revenue. This is a key risk for lenders."

Asset valuations in property markets had increased to very high levels over recent years, both in Australia and overseas, it said.

"Banks have incurred substantial losses from construction loans in past downturns, and while construction lending accounts for a small share of business lending, it has grown rapidly recently."

Banks exposure to commercial property is around 6 per cent of their total assets. But the RBA also highlights non-bank lenders who have been particularly active in lending for commercial property construction, including apartments.

It also points to risks in office markets. While previously strong, they are also expected to deteriorate.

"Of note, an above-average volume of office supply is due to be delivered into the Sydney and Melbourne CBD markets this year and demand will be unlikely to keep pace with this stronger supply," it states.

Goldman Sachs analyst Ian Randall has a similar view on office market risks.

Revised modelling by Goldman Sachs suggests rising vacancy rates will drive rent reductions for Sydney and Melbourne's CBD office markets of about 30 and 34 per cent between December 2019 and 2022, at least 12 per cent higher than its previous estimates.

The completion of multiple new office developments will coincide with a sharp drop in demand.

"We also expect near-term office net operating income (NOI) across the sector to be impacted by the need for assistance for tenants experiencing financial difficulty, and now assume that tenants accounting for 25 per cent of NOI receive three months of rental abatement across all office portfolios."

As a result, Goldman Sachs has reduced its estimates of underlying funds from operation per security for the big office landlords Dexus, GPT and Mirvac by between 3 and 8 per cent.

Net demand for office space in Melbourne's CBD turned negative in the first quarter of this year. "We expect Sydney CBD net absorption to remain negative over the balance of this calendar year," Mr Randall said.

Vacancy in Melbourne will more than double to 10.1 per cent by December next year and Sydney's will peak at 10.6 per cent by December a year later, Goldman forecasts.

Simon Johanson is a business journalist at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Carolyn Cummins is Commercial Property Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Follow this link:
Property valuations a risk for banks and developers, RBA warns - Sydney Morning Herald