Posted: 11:35 am

New Mexicos popular tax credits to promote green building appear to be heading into their final year of availability for residential construction despite being renewed through the end of 2016.

Demand for the Sustainable Building Tax Credit program, which is administered by the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, has been so strong that the residential allotment for the 2014 tax year is long gone. The 2015 allotment is currently being distributed.

We will probably start issuing residential tax credits before the spring equinox (March 20) for tax credit 2016, the last authorized tax year for the program, said Ken Hughes of the departments energy conservation and management division.

The current pace of demand for the residential credits points to them being used up by the end of this year.

The residential tax credits are available for the construction of detached single-family homes and require certification through either the Build Green New Mexico or the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design programs.

Introduced in 2007, tax credits were set to expire at the end of 2013 but were extended through 2016.

The extension by the state Legislature reduced the total amount of residential credits from $5 million a year to $4 million this year, Hughes said. In addition, apartment construction was shifted from the residential category to the commercial tax credit category.

The extension also reduced the total amount of tax credits for commercial construction from $5 million to $1 million this year. Demand for the commercial tax credits has been weak two-thirds of the 2013 allotment are still available due to the sluggish economy.

As a general rule, homebuilders pass along most or all of their cost savings from the tax credits to homebuyers.

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Green building credits going fast

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - For the first time in 35 years, a brand new multi-story apartment building will be constructed in downtown Little Rock.

The building is called Macarthur Commons and will be built on the site of the former Arkla Gas Headquarters.

Moses Tucker Real Estate will manage the 96 unit complex. "The rental market, younger market, less expensive units but still nice, that's a product that still doesn't exist today downtown and so we feel like the time is right to deliver that to the market," said Moses Tucker co-founder Jimmy Moses. "It's just another phase of the continuing development of the downtown area."

Studio rentals will begin at $650 per month according to Moses. The building will have a pool, fitness center, and balconies with every unit. "Most of all it's a convenience to be close to everything that is downtown and the river market itself," Moses added. "It's just critical that we continue to add supply to the market because the demand is very strong for it."

Over the past ten years, Moses Tucker has opened more than 500 new apartments and condos, and this new project will get them closer to their goal of adding 1,000 units downtown. It's a huge catalyst for bringing young professionals to Little Rock, according to former mayor and Little Rock Downtown Partnership Executive Director Sharon Priest. "Being able to live where you work is very important to a lot of people," she told THV. "The trends are that (creatives) like to be able to walk to whatever they want to do. They're more environmentally conscious and it just fits in much better with their lifestyle."

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Construction to begin on downtown apartment complex

Originally published January 1, 2014 at 8:08 PM | Page modified January 2, 2014 at 5:49 PM

Apartment rents jumped 6.5 percent during 2013 to $1,214 a month in King and Snohomish counties, but tenants should see market rents stay level or even decline this year, a new report suggests.

After climbing 3 percent in 2013s second quarter and 2.4 percent in the third, the average monthly rent in the Seattle metro market actually dipped in the fourth quarter by $5, according to Seattle-based Apartment Insights Washington, which tracks rents, vacancies and concessions in the Puget Sound region.

Meanwhile, the vacancy rate rose to 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 4.4 percent in the third quarter, and more properties offered fatter concessions, said Tom Cain, principal of the Seattle firm.

Its a clear signal of the market softening, Cain said. Renters in 2014 will have more choices, he said, and shouldnt expect the big hikes of recent quarters.

The Seattle metro area is in the middle of the biggest apartment building boom in two decades. Robust job growth has pushed vacancy rates to historic lows, placing Seattle among the worst U.S. cities for recent rent increases.

The 6.5 percent growth in rent in 2013 was the highest annual increase since the last job boom. Average apartment rents jumped 8.6 percent in 2007 and 9.6 percent in 2006, Cain said.

The firm, which partners with Phoenix-based RealData, in November surveyed 1,173 apartment properties with at least 50 units in King and Snohomish counties.

Bellevue is the regions most expensive city for a one-bedroom apartment, with rent at $1,434 a month. But downtown Seattle including Belltown, Denny Triangle and South Lake Union is the priciest submarket, at $1,624, according to Apartment Insights.

Beyond downtown, Seattles most expensive neighborhoods for a one-bedroom apartment were Fremont/Wallingford ($1,514), Capitol Hill ($1,449) and First Hill ($1,421). The lowest rent was in North Seattle ($957).

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Seattle-area apartment rents may stabilize, even dip in 2014

Unemployment, manufacturing and construction figures all point to economic growth

Siding is installed outside an apartment building under construction in Peoria, Ill., Aug. 16, 2013.

Economy watchers had reasons to be cheerful Thursday morning as several economic reports pointed to stronger growth in 2014.

The Labor Department announced that the seasonally adjusted number of initial jobless claims, or new workers who have filed for unemployment insurance benefits, fell in the week ending Dec. 21 to 339,000 from the previous weeks revised estimate of 341,000.

Other data like the Institute for Supply Managements monthly survey of the American manufacturing industry were also bullish for the labor market, with manufacturers indicating economic growth expanded in December. The overall index registered at57 percent, the second highest reading for the year after Novembers index of 57.3 percent. Any reading above 50 indicates an expanding manufacturing sector.

Finally, the Census Department reported this morning that construction spending during November 2013was estimated at an annual rate of $934.4 billion on a seasonally adjusted rate, 1 percent higher than Octobers reading, and 5.9 percent higher than last year.

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Economic Indicators Up For 2014

Architects Tokarski Millemann Architects, LLC - Brick, NJ RSC Architects - Cliffside Park, NJ Geoffrey L. Gogan Architect, AIA - Morristown, NJ Weston Architecture - West Orange, NJ David Robert Crawford, Architect, AIA - Cherry Hill, NJ Solutions Architecture, LLC - Newark, NJ Craig F. Dothe Architect LLC - Atlantic City, NJ William Van Ryzin Architect - Madison, NJ T.F. Cusanelli & Filletti Architects, P.C. - Haworth, NJ ThinkForm Design Architect LLC - Hopewell, NJ Eric K. Goldstein, Architect - Highland Park, NJ Mount Vernon Group Architects - Wakefield, MA View More Architects >> General Contractors Chanree Construction Co, Inc. - Manasquan, NJ V & M Construction - Newark, NJ World Wide Construction, Inc. - Newark, NJ Owen Construction Corp. - Monmouth Beach, NJ Costanza Builders - Cherry Hill, NJ Jersey Central Contracting Inc. - Surf City, NJ Tishman Construction - Las Vegas, NV KHS&S Contractors - Tampa, FL Blaze Construction Services, Inc. - Northport, NY Shaw Construction - Denver, CO JAGG2 Development, LLC - Phoenix, AZ Lexington Luxury Builders LLC - Dallas, TX View More Contractors >>

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Apartment Construction Projects in New Jersey

Tuesday, December 31, 2013 Last updated: Tuesday December 31, 2013, 4:42 PM

BOGOTA Construction on a controversial housing development was halted Monday, as borough officials scrambled to verify whether the developer had proper permits to begin actively building on the site.

(PHOTO COURTESY: JORGE NUNEZ

On Monday, construction crews began excavating the long-vacant lot at 297 Palisade Avenue, which has been at the center of a bitter feud between members of the Borough Council, who were split on granting a tax abatement deal to the developer.

The developer, 297 Palisades Avenue Urban Renewal LLC, began digging on a long-vacant parcel on Palisade Avenue where it plans to build a 44-unit apartment complex, with a soil removal permit from the Bergen County Soil Conservation District, Borough Administrator August Chip Greiner said.

Further activity on the site has been stopped until the developer, the borough engineer and Greiner can meet on Friday about other needed municipal permits and clearances, a process that Councilman Jorge Nunez said he and other critics of the development will watch closely.

We are getting started on the wrong foot, Nunez said in an email to The Record, citing concern that a preconstruction meeting had not taken place before the digging began. Moving forward we need to make sure that no one is cutting any corners.

On Tuesday, Greiner said the developer had the proper permit to begin digging as of Dec. 23, but that the letter from the county was on file with Harry Tuvel, the borough engineer, who had been on vacation. Receipt of the permit had not been shared with Dan Howell, the borough zoning official, who issued a stop work order until the permit letter was located.

Mr. Howell did the right thing in stopping the work until he could verify that a permit existed, Greiner said, adding that any further activity could result in fines for the developer.

In any case, Greiner added, developers are usually given time to get the proper permits before citations are issued.

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Construction halted on controversial Bogota housing development

April launch is planned for 74 units

Published: 2:00 AM - 12/30/13

CITY OF NEWBURGH A Newburgh project that will provide work force housing and homes for the developmentally disabled was one of 10 statewide awarded a share of $23 million in state aid announced recently by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Independence Square, a three-story apartment building, will be built on land at 11 Washington Terrace in the city.

The site is owned by Independent Living Inc., whose Newburgh location is next door.

There will be 14 units for developmentally disabled tenants, with the other 60 for work force housing.

Construction is expected to begin in April.

One of the qualifications for the aid was that it go to projects that were shovel-ready.

The Newburgh project is expected to pump a total of about $16.8 million into the local economy during its construction.

It will be getting $2.4 million from New York state $1 million from the Housing Trust Fund and $1.4 million in low-income housing tax credits.

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$2.4M will help Newburgh apartment project

BARCELONA - In this quiet suburb, children giggle as they kick around a soccer ball in front of their building. Their mothers trade tales nearby, their loud voices filling the entrance.

A father darts around the kids as he heads out to run a few errands.

It could be any Saturday afternoon anywhere in Spain except for some important differences. Homemade signs, calling for human rights and affordable housing, hang from every floor of this building. The elevator has never been operational. The water supply fails constantly.

The apartment building, with its gleaming faucets and brand-new hardwood floors, is home to 15 families who have been squatting here illegally for months.

Known as Bloc Salt, the squatters' home is one of many created because of the hundreds of Spanish families who are served eviction notices daily and the thousands of properties that sit abandoned across the country since the Spanish housing bubble burst.

"In this country, we have people without houses and houses without people," says Marta Afuera Pons of the Mortgage Victims' Platform (Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca). It only makes sense, she says, to start using one problem to solve the other.

One in four Spaniards is out of work, which in a country that boasts one of the highest rates of home ownership in the world means many families fall behind on their mortgage payments and face foreclosure.

At the same time, the number of empty buildings across the country swelled after a building boom went bust.

The Spanish government estimates that there are more than 650,000 finished properties that sit empty across the country, alongside nearly half a million properties that were left idle while under construction.

Bloc Salt has become the poster child of a national campaign to fill Spain's empty homes with evicted families. The building's five floors are home to 37 people - 17 of them children - who call each other by their first names, share meals and raise chickens in the building's front yard.

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Spain squatters take over buildings after foreclosures

Arturo Mazano unravels an extension cord as construction continues on phase two of Walnut Commons apartments at the intersection of East Third Street and Walnut Street. BY THE NUMBERS

95.1 Average percent occupancy of Chattanoogas apartment complexes surveyed as of mid-2013

30 Percent of apartment properties surveyed offering concessions to get new tenants

$37 Average monthly amount of concessions

Source: Rock Apartment Advisors

Michael VanSleen says hes tiring of apartment living and about ready to start looking for a house.

Id rather be in a house with a yard, he said outside his downtown Chattanooga apartment building. It would be nice to own a house.

Some people, such as VanSleen, who may have rented in the past because of tighter credit standards, bigger home down payments or personal financial uncertainty, are getting back into the single-family market or at least looking to do so.

The past year or so saw modest declines in both occupancy and rent from the prior 12-month period, indicating that the sizzling apartment market in the city has cooled off a little.

Still, Chattanoogas apartment market was extremely strong in 2013, and next year is shaping up as a healthy one as well, according to an industry expert.

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Urban living: Chattanooga apartment market loses a bit of its sizzle

NORTH MIAMI, Fla. (WSVN) -- Clean up crews are working hard to get residents back home in one South Florida apartment building after heavy rain forced them out.

More than 200 people had to leave their homes, located off of 132nd Street and Sixth Avenue and find shelter Thursday evening.

According to the building owner and manager, they are doing everything they can to make sure the building is safe for the residents. Crews have been working all day Friday, and the work could continue later into the evening.

Residents were allowed, under supervision, to return to their homes just to retrieve valuables. "The manager come and talked to us now. He said he's gonna make the security go with us and one by one to get some stuff this morning," one resident said.

Construction was previously being done on the roof, but after heavy rain on Thursday, the residents were evacuated after apartments were drenched with water.

Tenants were frustrated, forced to pick up their lives and leave. "It's a mess; it's not good," one resident said.

A shelter was set up by the American Red Cross at a Miami Gardens Church. At first, residents were told it would be three days before they could return. "The order and the city authority are working jointly to get the building reopened," the building manager, Roberto Touissant said.

With crews still working to fix the building, residents are still left wondering where they will go for shelter. "I don't know where I'm going to go tonight," a resident said.

More than 50 workers are in the process of drying the apartments and getting rid of the standing water on the roof.

Crews also have to work to get electricity restored, with Florida Power and Light arriving Friday afternoon. "We're really sorry for what happened," Touissant said. "We make sure we work jointly with the tenant, with the owner, with the city authority and to make sure that everybody can get back safely."

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Building clean up continues after tenants displaced