On the corner of Sixth Street and Fourth Avenue, the ruins of the Flycatcher stand surrounded by fencing. Now a construction site, the space is the future home of a multi-unit residential complex. Initially marred in controversy, the proposed building was met with neighborhood resistance and speculation about its zoning designation and purpose. The Union on 6th development appears to be on a set track to becoming another high-rise housing complex.

Despite comments by developers Greystar Real Estate Partners, who worked on the District on 5th building, fears are still present that the Fourth Avenue development will end up as another student housing development for Tucson. With only a designation for local businesses to have priority for the ground-level retail space put in place, the development has taken little into account for the surrounding community and only business interests have won, albeit minor. Like many other new high-rises in town, it is targeted towards a young adult crowd. It is in all facets another case of gentrification, now present on the Historic Fourth Avenue.

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After the demolition of the Flycatcher ended, in an effort to fill in the void and brighten the community, an event was set up. PaintStick, a celebration of Woodstocks 50th anniversary, was created to invite artists to collaborate on various murals for the space. Some of these murals were hung up on chain link fences, essentially barring view into the construction site. In-between the hand painted panels hangs an advertisement for the future building, a sleek design amidst the historic street.

Since the event, seven of the murals have been stolen and another business, the 4th Avenue Delicatessen has announced theyre closing their doors. Cut from the chain-link fence, the most recently stolen mural vanished and left a gap in the fence, revealing the construction sites interior. While intentions of beautifying may come from a good place, the efforts to cover up reality push away the issue and give destruction an easier entry. Distracting from the eyesore that is a construction site softens the view of the impact that construction has. The site of gentrification is turned into a community location in transition covered up by murals and reconfigured as a community space until the building is complete. In this process, gentrification gains a helping hand as resistance is converted to a false sense of community that turns the bare walls into places of art too pretty to be harmful.

While its hard to resist the temptation to revitalize a space producing a void in the community, spaces of construction and gentrification arent dormant. Theyre active sites of conflict that cant be concealed. Bones of buildings toppled over and replaced still lay in the site, and whether pleasant or not, they are an active reminder of the communitys destruction. Without it, gentrification is given an inconspicuous entry painted over by murals. Murals should not act as an attempt to beautify the destruction of a community. It gives developers an easy means for transition.

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Developers are given the opportunity to claim they compromised with the community, and in the end, the art is repurposed as a tool and weapon of gentrification. Where murals do exist in spaces of gentrification, they should be active voices of resistance, something not possible when they are raised in partnership with the gentrifiers.

Neighborhoods arent about aesthetics, theyre built from communities. Sites of destruction should not be painted away only to soften the blow of gentrification. Art made to beautify in the place of active upheaval only turns eyes away from the change being undergone. It gives gentrification a soft spot and fills it with murals so the passerby doesnt have to interact with it or acknowledge its destruction. With businesses continuously being pushed out, like the recent announcement from the 4th Avenue Delicatessen, who cited construction as a main detriment for business, the plan of action has to be resistance and not concealment of the active gentrification at hand. Seeing a community being actively torn apart is difficult, but covering the wounds until theyve been replaced only helps those tearing it apart in search of profit.

Nathan Gosnell is a senior majoring in East Asian studies: Japanese language and minoring in political science

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OPINION: Beautifying gentrification in Tucson - Arizona Daily Wildcat

A Twin Cities hotelier prolific throughout the metro area over the past few years will now be one of the first in to build on Edinas Pentagon Park redevelopment site.

Bloomington-based JR Hospitality, along with Iowa development partner Hawkeye Hotels, plans to start construction next spring on a dual-branded Marriott hotel in the southern half of the site, named Pentagon Village. The five-story, 235-unit hotel will be the largest JR Hospitality has built in the Twin Cities and is part of the hoteliers 1,000-plus room pipeline of metro-area hotel projects currently in development.

An entity related to Hawkeye paid $3.45 million for the 1.8 acre site at 4931 77th St. W., according to a certificate of real estate value made public late last week. The property is in the northeast quadrant of Interstate 494 and Highway 100. The deal, which closed on Sept. 13, works out to $1.9 million per acre.

Work is expected to start next February or March, said JR Hospitality principal Jay Bhakta. The hotel will contain two hotel brands, a Towne Place Suites and a Fairfield Inn and Suites. The two hotels will be in the same building. Construction will take up to 16 months, Bhakta said in a Wednesday interview.

JR Hospitality and Hawkeye committed early this year to building on the site, he said. JR Hospitality recently opened a 209-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel a few blocks away at 4460 W. 78th St. Circle in Bloomington.

Pentagon Village is appealing as a location for the hotel due to its proximity to major highways, and for the amenities it will have at full buildout, Bhakta said. Those amenities will include park space and onsite retail and restaurants.

They want all those things within walking distance, Bhakta said of future hotel guests.

The bulk of the hotels rooms will likely be filled with business travelers most of the time, he said. But he also expects them to draw vacationers as well. The Fairfield will cater primarily to overnight guests, he said, while the extended-stay Towne Suites will likely accommodate people staying a minimum of four nights.

Prior to February, the hotel had been planned to be four stories tall and to have 193 rooms. The city approved a modification to the planned unit development plan for Pentagon Village to include the larger hotel at the request of Pentagon Park master developer Solomon Real Estate Group.

JR Hospitality and Hawkeye have not yet chosen a general contractor to build the new hotel. The project architect is Boca Raton, Florida-based Base 4.

JR Hospitality operates 887 hotel rooms in six Twin Cities properties, as well as a number of hotels outside Minnesota.

Construction is already underway on the 12.5 acre Pentagon Village site. A 423-stall parking structure is nearly complete, while work on two new retail buildings near the entrance to the site are out of the ground. Those buildings are planned to total 12,020 square feet of space, according to a city staff report.

Other buildings planned for the site include a 153-unit Waterwalk extended-stay hotel, an office building that could be as large as 215,000 square feet of space and an 18,000-square foot office and retail building.

Originally posted here:
Hotel coming to Pentagon Park - Finance and Commerce

CINCINNATI A week after a building under construction partially collapsed at 4th and Race street, crews are scheduled to return to work at the site where one worker died and four others were injured.

According to a statement from Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC), Thornton Tomasetti, a structural engineering consulting firm, thoroughly reviewed the construction site at the corner of 4th and Race street and found work could continue in parts of the site.

Their review found levels one through five and the eastern parts of the sixth and seventh levels were safe for work to resume. Workers will set up barricades around the unsafe western portions of levels six and seven where the collapse happened.

Once the barricades are up, one crew will work to remove the remaining debris from the collapsed areas.

While this is happening, other crews will begin pouring concrete for four additional columns to help support the eighth level, as well as other prep work. No other concrete will be poured, however, until the Department of Buildings and Inspections and an independent third party have signed off on a new shoring plan.

"We did get permission to pour four concrete columns for the 8th flood," said Joe Rudemiller, vice president of marketing and communications for 3CDC. "However, no other concrete pours are permitted at this time until we have the city building inspections department, as well as independent third party come in and approve a new plan."

3CDC also wrote that project partners are still working to figure out why the collapse happened.

The building being constructed is a $44 million mixed-use development meant to include a parking garage, retail space and apartments when complete. 3CDC employed Turner Construction as a contractor and Turner Construction and Gateway Concrete Forming as sub-contractors to work on the site.

According to a statement from 3CDC, workers had been pouring concrete from the unfinished seventh floor to the sixth below when part of the structure gave out. Three were quickly transported to hospitals: Two to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and one to Christ Hospital.

A statement from Turner Construction said all three had been treated and released from various hospitals without incident. The statement also mentioned a fourth injured worker also treated and also released for the first time.

The search for the fifth worker lasted more than 30 hours before emergency crews pulled the body of 58-year-old Preston Todd Delph out of the rubble.

The heart of the City of Cincinnati goes out to the family and friends of the deceased, Cincinnati City Manager Patrick Duhaney wrote in an email to other members of City Council. I cannot imagine the grief this family must be going through at this time.

Delph, who worked for subcontractor Gateway Concrete Forming, had been checking for concrete seepage on the sixth floor of the Fourth and Race garage around 1:15 Monday afternoon, according to a spokesman from Turner Construction. When other workers began to pour concrete from the seventh floor to the sixth, the floor above him collapsed.

One resident has taken the struggle of the workers, including Delph's family, to heart and is working to raise money for everyone involved.

"When I found out, I was just really really moved by the situation," said Rachel Jackson, who has currently raised more than $1,000. "I've never been so close to something like that happening."

Jackson works near by, and felt she needed to do something to help. She said she hopes part of the money she's raising will go to the charity listed in Delph's obituary: The Alzheimer's Association. But the other part of the donation, she hopes, will go to buy the workers coffees and lunches to help take the stress off their days as they head back to work.

Gateway Concrete Forming officials released a statement mourning Delph and thanking the teams who spent the day searching for him.

"This is an extremely sorrowful time and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and co-workers at this difficult time," a company spokesman wrote. "We want to thank the regions first responders, emergency service workers and the American Red Cross volunteers for their tireless and selfless efforts through this entire ordeal. We are encouraging workers to utilize the grief counseling services that are available to them in the difficult days and weeks ahead."

Excerpt from:
Work resumes on 4th and Race development one week after partial collapse - WCPO

Fourteen subway lines serve the Lower Manhattan neighborhoods of Soho and Noho (South of Houston Street and North of Houston Street, respectively), making them among the citys most transit-accessible areas. Nonetheless, due to restrictive zoning and New York Citys widespread designation of historic districts, these areas have experienced much less new construction since the 1960s than many surrounding neighborhoods. A recent city study examines the uniquely antiquated and convoluted zoning restrictions that turn real estate development into a lot-by-lot, and sometimes even floor-by-floor, community battle. It suggests that Soho and Noho could someday become normal neighborhoods, where people live, work, and shop, and enjoy access to more housing, including some affordable housingbut to get there, New York City first needs to overcome demands for new zoning restrictions.

In 1961, still actively industrial, Soho and Noho were designated as manufacturing zones, where no new housing would be permitted. By the late sixties, though, industry was in decline and artists and other bohemians were moving into former factory loft spaces. The city faced pressure to permit the residential presence, but it wanted to preserve industrial businesses, too. The solution: invent a new use of space, a hybrid of residence and manufacturingthe joint living work quarters for artists (JLWQA). The idea was that artists needed large loft spaces for their creative work but also needed to live in these spaces because they could not afford separate residences. The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) took responsibility for certifying that people who needed these spaces were, in fact, artists.

JLWQAs were legalized in Soho in 1971 and in Noho in 1976, but problems arose immediately because designating housing by vocation is impractical. Artists may die, get divorced, have children, or stop making art; and many people who moved into the areas had never been artists. In the 1980s, the city and state legislature responded with a series of amnesties that legalized non-artists living in JLWQAs; soon it became hard to know who was an artist, who was a legal successor to an artist, who was amnestied, and who was living in the area illegally. According to the city, only about 30 percent of the housing units in Soho and Noho today are JLWQAs, and only a fraction of these are occupied by artists. Yet JLWQAs remain the only kind of residential use allowed as of right in Soho and Noho, and DCLA is still certifying artists to comply with the law.

Soho and Noho have another set of restrictions on ground-floor spaces. In the 1970s, the City Planning Commission allowed JLWQAs on upper floors but wanted to preserve ground floors for factories and warehouses. Ground-floor retail was prohibited in much of Soho and all of Noho. Nonetheless, the citys study identifies these areas as major retail districts. As with residences, various mechanisms have been used to legalize ground-floor retail, but much retail space remains in a kind of zoning limbo.

In a 2018 study of Noho, I recommended fixes to the current arcane zoning. Residences (where anyone can live) should be permitted wherever JLWQAs are today. Retail should be permitted on ground floors. New housing construction should be permitted on lots that are vacant or being used for parking or single-story retail. Taller buildings with more floor space should be permitted. Many of these recommendations can apply equally to Soho.

The citys study accepts the need for new housing and notes the possibilities for affordable housing but is ambiguous about the appropriate size for new buildings. In an area with so much transit access and where most buildings are preserved in historic districts, the few new buildings should maximize housing potential. The city, responding to local constituencies, suggests that artists should retain their preferential treatment for space in the areabut this designation has never worked, and the city shouldnt devote enforcement resources to micromanaging who lives in one small, affluent neighborhood.

The city should advance its recommendations with vigor. New York cant credibly advocate growth and change in less fortunate neighborhoods while strangling two affluent neighborhoods in red tape. The zoning change needs to be cleanly done and not tied up in new, unworkable restrictions. In any event, Soho and Noho will be heavily regulated to preserve their distinctive nineteenth-century commercial architecture. Within those limitations, though, the neighborhoods should be able to evolve, diversify, and regenerate, as a mix of old and new.

Eric Kober is a retired New York City planner and currently Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

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On the Need for Rezoning Soho and Noho in Lower Manhattan - City Journal

Brandywine Realty Trust is developing Metroplex Two, a 280,000-square-foot office building in Plymouth Meeting, near Philadelphia. Strong job growth in the area has led to greater demand for more quality office space after years of limited construction.

Office vacancies are falling across the big metros of the Northeast as robust user demand outpaces the supply of new construction. Deliveries in the last year have primarily been limited to Class A, build-to-suit properties and mixed-use developments. Meanwhile, office tenants are seeking high-end amenities at favorable prices.

Nationally, the office vacancy rate stood at 16.8 percent in the second quarter, up slightly from 16.6 percent a year ago, according to real estate research firm Reis. Net absorption for the quarter totaled 3.2 million square feet, down from 3.9 million square feet a year ago. The average asking rent was $33.79 per square foot, up 2.2 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Approximately 11.1 million square feet of office space was under construction at the end of the second quarter across Philadelphia, New York and Boston, according to CoStar Group. Helped by approximately 8.3 million square feet of absorption in the second quarter, the average vacancy rate across all three markets was 8.1 percent.

Rather than undertake costly new ground-up construction projects, many developers are choosing to redevelop existing assets and efficiently incorporate office space into mixed-useprojects.

Coworking tenants occupied 54.2 million square feet of office space nationally at the end of the secondquarter, according to CoStar. In Philadelphia, New York and Boston, the tech and coworking sectors dominate office leasing and set the standard for Class A office development.

Key features of these spaces often include access to public transit and surrounding retail and restaurant options. Even single-tenant offices are moving away from classic cubicles in favor of flexible, or collaborative, environments where employees are not assigned to specific desks and can freely work wherever they feel comfortable.

Philly Market Undersupplied

A decade of minimal office construction in Philadelphia is driving up demand for new supply and putting upward pressure on rents.

According to CoStar, the vacancy rate in metro Philadelphia was 8.7 percent in the second quarter, with 784,000 square feet of net absorption. A lack of buildable land in the city proper has driven developers to the suburbs, and most of those projects are preleased before building begins.

Of the nearly 1.9 million square feet under construction during the second quarter across metro Philadelphia, approximately 221,000 square feet was speculative office space, or 12 percent of the total amount.

Demand for Class A office space in Philadelphia is high, but theres nothing out there for tenants that want new product, says Les Hagget, first vice president of advisory and transaction services at CBREs Philadelphia office. Even as the population has steadily grown, the city has maintained its character of passion and grit. Its a great place to live and work, and that increases the demand for great office space.

Higher education and medical facilities have historically led Philadelphias economic growth, but more recently there has been an uptick in demand from life sciences and biotech companies. Lab space is in especially high demand in the University City submarket, which includes The University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, the University of the Sciences and the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College.

Tenants in Philadelphias office market value amenities related to wellness and quality of life. Employees who walk and bike to work value onsite gyms with lockers and showers to change clothes before or after work. New construction and renovation projects are incorporating large windows for natural light, higher ceilings and larger rooms.

The supply of coworking and flexible office plans in Philadelphia has increased by 20 percent in the last year, and its only going to increase more, says Hagget. The good news is the demand for that type of space is keeping up with the new supply, and larger companies want to have a more flexible office space.

A joint venture between PREIT and Macerich recently launched Fashion District Philadelphia, a 900,000-square-foot mall redevelopment bringing dozens of shopping, dining and entertainment destinations to the Center City area. Within the development, coworking office providers REC Philly and Industrious will occupy 10,000 and 47,000-square-foot spaces, respectively.

Rents in Center City are growing 5.5 percent year-over-year, averaging $33 per square foot as of the second quarter. By comparison, CoStar reports that rent growth in Philadelphias central business district has averaged 3 percent annually for 15 years.

Keystone Property Group has begun construction on Sora West, a 427,333-square-foot mixed-use project in Conshohocken that will also include restaurant, retail and hotel space.

In the suburbs of Plymouth Meeting, Brandywine Realty Trust plans to develop Metroplex Two, a 280,000-square-foot Class A office building. The property will join the existing Metroplex One at the site, but construction will not move forward until an anchor tenant is secured, according to CoStar.

Building Skyward in NYC

As tech and coworking powerhouses absorb much of the highest-quality office space in New York City, developers in the area are turning to mixed-use projects and vertical construction to keep up with the demand for new space.

CoStar reports that New York Citys vacancy rate stood at 8.3 percent in the second quarter, with net absorption totaling 4.8 million square feet.

Meanwhile, approximately 27 million square feet of office space was under construction. The $26 billion Hudson Yards mixed-use development in Manhattan accounted for roughly half of that amount. The diverse mix of tenants preleasing space at Hudson Yards including BlackRock, Time Warner and Pfizer has spurred speculative construction and redevelopment of office space in the area.

The 1.9 million-square-foot Two Manhattan West office that is currently under construction is slated for completion in 2022. Moynihan Train Hall at the Penn Station Complex will offer 767,000 square feet of speculative office space catering to tech tenants by the end of 2020.

WeWork was the largest office tenant in the market in the metro area at the end of the second quarter, occupying more than 5 million square feet. The company recently leased 362,000 square feet at 437 Madison Avenue but will not move in until January 2021.

The tech boom is continuing this year, says Eric Anton, associate broker at Marcus & Millichaps New York City office. Tech companies are flexible, and they usually value amenities more than square footage. New York City has an extremely limited amount of land to build on, so building owners and developers are instead choosing to amenetize existing assets.

Outdoor amenities seem to be the most highly prized office features from the incoming millennial workforce, according to Anton. Developers are incorporating green space, balconies and terraces into Class A office buildings, along with indoor lounges and media rooms. Coffee bars, either staffed with baristas or automated, are another popular trend. Office gyms are in lowerdemand as condo and multifamily properties are increasingly supplying that amenity.

People didnt used to care as much about amenities in an office space, but now its super important, says Anton. I dont see a big pipeline of new product being delivered over the next few years, but thecoworking and tech sectors have driven demand for flexible workspace.

Silverstein Properties completed the development of 3 World Trade Center in June 2018. The 80-story, 2.5 million-square-foot tower is anchored by advertising media company GroupM, which occupies 700,000 square feet. Now, Uber is set to lease 300,000 square feet for a new headquarters office on seven floors of 3 World Trade Center.

The Related Companies is currently developing 50 Hudson Yards in Manhattan. The 2.9 million-square-foot building will be New York Citys fourth-largest commercial office tower when completed in 2022. Global investment firm BlackRock will relocate its corporate headquarters to the 58-story building, where it will occupy 850,000 square feet on 15 floors.

Boston Market On Fire

Growth in the education, technology and medical fields has led to strong tenant demand for flexible workspace in metro Boston. In particular, the life sciences and coworking sectors are generating a significant amount of leasing activity.

The Boston office market is on fire, says Aaron Jodka, managing director of client services at Colliers Boston office. Vacancies havent been this low since the fallout of the dot-com bust. Coworking has been a massive disruptor in the Boston area, and mixed-use is primarily driving new construction.

CoStar reports that Bostons office vacancy rate registered 7.3 percent in the second quarter, with net absorption totaling 2.7 million square feet. Wayfair, DraftKings and Verizon Wireless were among the major space lease signings in 2018 while tech and coworking firms accounted for half of all leasing in Boston, says Jodka.

From late 2018 to mid-2019,WeWork absorbed approximately 1.6 million square feet of office space, and the coworking giant is now the second-largest tenant in Boston behind Fidelity Investments.

Boston has access to a workforce of 250,000 college graduates from world-renowned institutions such as MIT, Harvard and Boston University, says Jodka. This, along with an abundance of new residential housing, has prompted new office construction throughout the city, with an increasing number of those developments being speculative in nature.

There was approximately 10.1 million square feet of office space under construction in the Boston metro area at the end of the second quarter. Of that total figure, approximately 4.3 million square feet wasspeculative space.

New developments are responding to a high demand for quality-of-life office amenities such as gyms, bike storage and green space. The workforce is driving demand for shared conference facilities, coffee lounges and especially access to public transit.

Millennium Partners is developing the Winthrop Center, a more than 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development in the Financial District, which will include 750,000 square feet of office space as well as residential and retail tenants. The developer is expected to deliver the project in early 2022.

HYM Development Group is developing One Congress, a 1 million-square-foot office tower in the Bulfinch Crossing mixed-use development. When construction is complete in 2023, financial services firm State Street Corp. will anchor the tower with a 510,000-square-foot lease for 15 years.

Office tenants in Boston are hyper-focused on making their employees experience the best it can be, says Jodka. The latest differentiator in the amenities arms race is access to food halls. Since most dedicated office assets are not able to accommodate that kind of service themselves, mixed-use leasing is the name of the game today.

By Alex Patton. This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Northeast Real Estate Businessmagazine.

Link:
Developers Adapt to Tight Office Market in Northeast - REBusinessOnline

Onni Group president Rossano de Cotiis and a rendering of 369 West Grand Avenue (Credit: Brininstool+Lynch)

Onni Group has secured another huge loan for its latest Chicago endeavor, a 41-story residential tower in River North.

The developer has secured a $150 million construction loan from Goldman Sachs, Cook County records show. This is the second large loan Onni Group has taken out this year for a property in the Chicago area.

Though the company has made waves on the West Coast, they are now investing significantly into the Chicago residential market. In July, the company took out a $165 million refinance loan from Citibank for the first tower in its Old Town Park megaproject, which has the citys priciest rental listing at $45,000 a month. That loan replaced a former $110 million construction loan from 2017 from Wells Fargo.

The project at 369 W. Grand Avenue, which replaced a vacant hardware store at 353 W. Grand Avenue, broke ground earlier this year and is currently under construction. Called The Grand, it adds to the spate of new apartment buildings the Vancouver-based firm is working on near the river, including a 373-unit building in West Loop and a massive potential development project at 900 North Halsted on Goose Island.

The $150 million loan will aid the construction of the 41-story building, which will have a retail space on the ground level, 250-space parking garage and 356 units rising above the River North area. The facade will be made of glass-clad panels and recessed balconies the architect of the project, Brininstool + Lynch, said on their website.

The project went through many phases and was initially rejected by Alderman Bendan Reilly (42nd) in 2015. The revised plan, which passed this fall, includes more green space. Onni paid just under $9 million to acquire the land in 2012.

Goldman Sachs and Onni Group did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Onni Group lands big loan for 41-story River North tower - The Real Deal

by nadignewspapers@aol.com November 23, 2019

by BRIAN NADIG

A mixed-used development with nine apartments is being proposed for a parcel at the southwest corner of Pulaski Road and Rosemont Avenue in Sauganash.

Plans call for the existing one-story commercial structures on the 9,309-square-foot site to be demolished to accommodate the construction of a three-story building with 2,628 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, five apartments on the second floor and four dwelling units on the third floor. Plans also call for 11 on-site parking spaces.

In January a portion of the site at 6248-52 N. Pulaski Road was rezoned from B1-1 to B1-2 to accommodate the construction of a mixed-use building with six apartments. The new proposal adds the smaller lot at 6246 N. Pulaski Road to the project, allowing for a larger building.

The smaller lot would be rezoned to B1-2 and combined with the larger lot to the north.

There is no city affordable housing requirement for the project because it would consist of fewer than 10 apartments.

A four-story office building at 6232 N. Pulaski Road, which includes Pan American Bank, is located immediately to the south of the development site.

"They had community meetings (on the proposal), and there was no objections," Alderman Samantha Nugent (39th) said.

New construction projects will hopefully attract new businesses to the area, Nugent said. "East and west of Pulaski people tell me they want restaurants, a bakery," she said.

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Retail and apartments planned in Sauganash - Nadig Newspapers

Once completed in 2023, CityPlace Burlington will boast 318 apartments, a rooftop restaurant, a 174-room hotel and nearly 700 parking spaces.

Construction on themuch-delayed project will begin in August 2020 and is expected to wrap up 30 months later.

Thats according to new documents that project majority owner Brookfield Asset Management filed with the city late last week. The Burlington City Councils Board of Finance will review them at its meeting Monday night.

The memos provide the first glimpse into the new design since Brookfield unveiled its scaled-down proposal nearly a month ago. The 14-story towers in the original design, which spurred lawsuits and financial challenges, were replaced by 10-story buildings.

The submitted designs don't include plans for the former Macy's building, which was not part of the original project but is now envisioned as the future home of the University of Vermont Medical Center offices.

In July, Brookfield announced that the scope, scale, and the timing of construction would change.

The scaled-down design uses lighter weight steel and is now projected to cost $120 million to build, according to the documents.

The memos reveal that the development agreement between the developers and city will likely need to be amended. And still uncertain is the exact amount of revenue the new proposal will bring in to pay back debt incurred by tax-increment financing.

In 2016, Burlington voters approved a $21.8 million TIF bond toto fix up sidewalks and rebuild streets lost to the former Burlington Town Center mall decades ago. Such debt is meant to be repaid with additional tax revenue, known as increment, generated by the new project.

Jeff Glassberg, a liaison between the city and the developers, wrote in a memo that TIF funds from the project will pay for the reopening of Pine and St. Paul streets and "streetscape upgrades" to parts of Cherry and Bank streets that abut the project. It's unclear if the money will fund everything initially envisioned.

The memos also outline the projects phasing and amenities. New schematics for the hotels southern tower show seven retail spaces on the ground level, topped off with a rooftop restaurant, community space and observation deck.

The residential tower on the north side of the site will feature 121 studios, 142 one-bedrooms and 55 two-bedroom units. The designs dont specify the rental rates, but Brookfield has committed to making 20 percent of them affordable as required by Burlington's inclusionary zoning ordinance.

Brookfield also anticipates having to undergo state permitting under Act 250 because of the hotel concept. The developers say a hotel is responsive to market demand and can contribute to the continued dynamism of downtown Burlington.

Originally posted here:
CityPlace Burlington to Be Fully Built by 2023, New Docs Show - Seven Days

A new apartment community may be the first construction to replace Dallas old Valley View mall.

Pennsylvania-based builder Toll Brothers has filed permits to construct a rental community on Preston Road just north of LBJ Freeway on part of the old mall property.

The new apartments are part of a $1 billion mixed-use development to be constructed on 25 acres of the mostly demolished Valley View site.

Toll Brothers is building apartments in the project along with Dallas developer KDC and property owner New York-based Seritage Growth Properties.

Almost 2 million square feet of offices, apartments, and retail and restaurant space are planned in the Park Heritage development, which is going up where a Sears department store, auto center and parking lots once stood.

In May, the developers knocked down the old Sears buildings as part of a redevelopment of the 173-acre Valley View property.

Toll Brothers filed permits to build the first 266 apartments at Park Heritage. At the same time, KDC and Seritage are working with office, retail and potential hotel companies interested in the rest of their site.

Toll Brothers Apartment Living is already active in the Dallas area. The rental home division of the big national homebuilder is constructing a 22-story, 270-unit apartment tower in the Oak Lawn neighborhood. And the builder has a 280-unit project in West Dallas.

Most of the 46-year-old Valley View mall has been demolished to make way for a planned 430-acre neighborhood redevelopment dubbed Dallas Midtown.

Plans for the district on the north side of LBJ Freeway include a variety of new construction surrounding a 20-acre park.

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New apartments on the way at old Valley View mall site - The Dallas Morning News

Construction has reached the first setback on HAP Eight at215 West 28th Street in Chelsea. The 20-story, 210-foot-tall residential project is being designed by DXA Architects and developed by HAP Investments, and consistsof two separate buildings spanning over 300,000 square feet. The two structures are addressed as 215-219 West 28th Street and 221-229 West 28th Street.

215 West 28th Street sits directly across the street from The Fashion Institute of Technology, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Photos from the sidewalk show the bare reinforced concrete superstructure awaiting the start of the curtain wall installation. It is uncertain when that process will begin, but the metal clips on the edges of each floor plate to which each faade panel will be attached are in place.

Looking west at 215 West 18th Street. Photo by Michael Young

215 West 18th Street. Photo by Michael Young

215 West 18th Street. Photo by Michael Young

215 West 18th Street. Photo by Michael Young

The development will contain 112 rental units and 87 condominiums and feature amenities including a fitness center and spa, a rooftop deck, and bicycle storage. Both structures will contain 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, as well as feature identical architectural designs, with the only difference being the color of their faades. The setbacks will act as landscaped terraces for several residents.

The property is the largest new development on the parcel and is located next door to Skidmore Owings & Merrills upcoming 12-story office at 322-326 Seventh Avenue, aka 28 & 7. Both sites are right by the entrance to the 1 train at the 28th Street station, while Pennsylvania Station is six streets to the north.

A completion date for HAP Eight has not been announced, but sometime in the second half of 2020 is probable.

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Construction Reaches Halfway Mark on HAP Eight, aka 215 West 28th Street, in Chelsea - New York YIMBY