Anywhere. He could be anywhere.

Around the corner of the apartment building where they live. Across the street at the construction site where he works. At the nearby bar where he sometimes goes for a beer. She looks around, nervous. What if he sees her?

But she cant wait. Not anymore. She tightens her grip on the baby stroller and heads off into the night.

She has a plan: make it three blocks, to the shelter for women and children. Borrow someones cell phone, call 911. She tried to dial the number back at the apartment, but he yanked the phone out of her hands and broke it to pieces.

She zooms the stroller down the sidewalk of South Othello Street, heading west toward Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, a busy intersection in a diverse, yet gentrifying, south Seattle neighborhood. On her right, an abandoned lot and taco truck, on her left, an unfinished luxury apartment complex. By this time of evening, heading on midnight, hardly a car drives by; the light rail station sits empty. Shes all alone.

Except for her son. Their son. Tomorrow hell turn seven months old. About 90 minutes ago, shortly after the yelling and screaming drew her neighbors into the hallway, the child cried while she splashed water on her face in the bathroom of Apartment 21. Now he sits in his stroller, bundled up in a blue, fuzzy snowsuit.

In a rush, she forgot to grab her own coat. Not that she minds. She barely feels the chilly spring air rushing over the red mark on her throat.

But she can feel her right cheek throb. In the bathroom mirror, she saw the knot, the swelling, the purplish-maroon hematoma that formed under her eye. But its weird. Because when he hit her, she couldnt really feel it. It was like she lost consciousness Did she? Did she black out?

Outside, she hustles the stroller down the sidewalk. Streetlights cast an orange halogen glow, throw shadows that pile up under bushes, shadows large enough to hide a grown man. If only she knew where he went when he left the apartment.

Nearly 16 months ago when she met him, back in Idaho, she had wanted to change her life. Hed told her the same. They would do it, together. But things got in the way. The poverty, the drug use, the drinking, the yelling, the fighting, the fists, the fear all of it clouded their vision. All of it weighed on their lives.

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The Gravity of Abuse: On a south Seattle street, a tale of domestic violence unfolds

The Lofts at Farmers Market is fully constructed and occupied, but legal woes continue for the five-story, 58-unit luxury apartment building developed using city money.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has found "the appearance of both folly and favoritism" in the city's decision to allow a building contractor to withdraw its $7.33 million construction bid and then alter it upward it after the contract was already awarded.

The appeals court sided with Rochon Corp., a construction contractor that made a bid for the project, and against the city of St. Paul in a lawsuit. Rochon maintains the city violated its own bidding procedure when it awarded a construction contract to Shaw-Lundquist, the company that completed the $8 million building in February. Three appeals court judges have agreed.

The decision, filed Monday, May 7, effectively orders the city to sever its contract with Shaw-Lundquist, but it gives little to no indication of how to do that. The building is already complete.

"What effect this ruling has on the project is unclear," Jeffrey Wieland, an attorney with Fabyanske, Westra, Hart and Thomson P.A., the Minneapolis law firm representing Rochon, wrote in an email Monday. "Tenants have started moving into the building, but there may be progress payments and retainage still outstanding for Shaw- Lundquist and its subcontractors. That money cannot be paid on a void contract. More litigation on this project is possible."

Joe Campbell, a spokesman

In a later email, Campbell added: "Projects like the Lofts at Farmers Market are a key component to enhancing vibrancy in the city."

The ruling is the latest curveball for a project that has had its share of struggles. The city acted as developer of the Lofts project, which overlooks the Lowertown farmers market, after a previous developer and construction team parted ways and dropped the project.

The city put out a request for bids in November 2010. Shaw-Lundquist won the contract with a bid of $7.33 million. The contractor quickly realized it had underestimated costs by $619,000 and told the city it had to withdraw from the contract. Instead, the city invited Shaw-Lundquist to rejoin the project and allowed it to add $89,000 on top of the $619,000, for a total contract of $8.04 million.

The city attorney's office pointed out that after the revisions, Shaw-Lundquist's bid was still lower than those of its competitors. Doran Construction bid $8.29 million, the Sand Companies bid $8.39 million and the Rochon Corp. bid $8.72 million. Other bidders, Stahl Construction Co. and Morcon Construction Co., bid even higher sums.

See original here:
St. Paul: Appeals court rules against city in downtown lofts bid

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: May 5, 2012 (Issue # 1706)

The man's decomposed body was found in an elevator shaft, like the one above in the Ostankino television tower.

The body of a man was found in the elevator shaft of a partially built high-rise apartment building in western Moscow around six months after he died.

The gruesome discovery was made Thursday evening at the building at 2 Ulitsa Tvardovskogo, located between the Strogino metro station and the Moscow Ring Road, Interfax reported.

The damage to the body suggested that the man had died after falling from a significant height, but the remains are so decomposed that it will be difficult to make an identification, the report said, citing a unidentified law enforcement official.

The official said the man was 30 to 45 years old and appeared to have died last autumn.

Police have opened an investigation and are checking the payroll records of the construction company responsible for the building, City 21, to see if the dead man might have been one of its employees, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on its website.

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Body Found in Elevator Shaft After 6 Months

Photo by Don Shrubshell

Construction continues Tuesday morning on a 100-unit apartment complex at Walnut Street and College Avenue. The developers also are seeking to rezone land on the south side of Walnut, just across from the property, to construct an additional 120-unit building.

By Andrew Denney

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Negotiations between the North Central Columbia Neighborhood Association and the developers of a new student apartment complex at College Avenue and Walnut Street hit a snag last night after the neighbors asked that the developers put $1 million into a trust fund for neighborhood improvement projects.

The developers, Nathan and Jon Odle, are seeking approval for a rezoning request to allow the construction of a 120-unit apartment building on the south side of Walnut, across from a 100-unit apartment building scheduled to open this fall. The developers have been in talks with neighbors to gain their support for the rezoning request, which could be brought before the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission on May 10.

Over the past few weeks, neighbors have met with Nathan Odle and Craig Van Matre, an attorney for the developers, to work out terms of a contract to require the developers to restrict traffic from the complex onto the Ash Street bike boulevard and encourage apartment residents to use nonmotorized transportation. But after further discussion with other area residents, neighbors involved with the negotiations said they think the developers should pay more for their support.

"The feeling of the neighborhood association is if we're going to do it tit for tat, then let's do it tit for tat," said Mara Aruguete, who lives on Hubbell Street. Nina Wilson-Keenan, who lives on St. Joseph Street, said in an email that money from the developers could be used for neighborhood betterment projects such as a property rehabilitation grant program and green-space preservation.

Van Matre said there is "no way" he would be able to get his clients to agree to give $1 million to a trust fund for the association. He said if his clients' refusal to give to the trust fund is a "deal breaker," then "the deal is broken."

"I wouldn't be able to get them to agree to it if I held a gun to their head," Van Matre said. "If I waterboarded them, they wouldn't agree to it."

The rest is here:
Neighbors want $1 million from apartment developers

KITCHENER Renters, have you longed to live in a nice, modern apartment building free of stinky, poisonous second-hand smoke?

Well, youll be able to by late summer or early fall. Drewlo Holdings is building Kitcheners first non-smoking rental apartment tower.

The building on 161 Fallowfield Dr. is one of four highrises planned for the site. Its possible a second building could be designated smoke-free if theres enough interest, said Allan Drewlo, vice-president of Drewlo Holdings.

Drewlo built southern Ontarios first non-smoking apartment building in London. It began taking tenants just over a year ago and was quickly filled.

It proved so successful that Drewlo launched a second smoke-free highrise in London, and also built one in Burlington.

Its been successful for us in London and Burlington, Drewlo said Thursday. We know theres a demand for it. People want to have a smoke-free environment.

They know about the bad effect of (second-hand smoke). They dont want to have their neighbours smoke.

He said the company got emails from Kitchener residents when Drewlo was constructing the smoke-free highrise in London.

People in Kitchener wanted us to bring it there, too. They were saying, When are you bringing it to Kitchener?

Its perfectly legal to have smoke-free buildings and its enforceable, he said.

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Smoke-free apartment coming Kitchener

WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. builders started work on fewer homes in March after they sharply cut back on apartment construction. But builders requested the most permits for future projects in 3 years, suggesting many anticipate the housing market could improve over the next year.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 654,000 homes last month. Thats down 5.8 percent from February. Apartment construction, which can fluctuate sharply from month to month, fell nearly 20 percent. Single-family homebuilding was mostly unchanged.

Building permits, a gauge of future construction, rose 4.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 747,000. Thats the highest level since September 2008.

Jonathan Basile, director of economics at Credit Suisse, said the increase in permits is a good sign for broader economic activity and should lead to increase in construction in the coming months.

Yet the rate of construction and the level of permits requested remain only about half the pace considered healthy. Economists say that construction activity still is depressed and the housing market has a long way to go before it is back to full health.

Since the fall, builders slowly had grown more confident in the market after seeing more people express interest in buying a home, but that interest has yet to materialize into many sales. As a result, builder confidence fell this month for the first time since September.

Part of the reason for the previous optimism was a mild winter allowed builders to keep working in most parts of the country, and an improving job market has many slightly more optimistic about home sales this year.

January and February were the best for sales of previously occupied homes in five years. And an average of 212,000 jobs was created each month from January through March. Unemployment has sunk from 9.1 percent in August to 8.2 percent last month.

Though new homes represent just 20 percent of the overall home market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

There are some hurdles to a smooth recovery: Builders are struggling to compete with deeply discounted foreclosures and short sales when lenders allow homes to be sold for less than whats owed on the mortgage.

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U.S. home building slows, but permits hit 3½-year high

U.S. builders started work on fewer homes in March after they sharply cut back on apartment construction. But builders requested the most permits for future projects in 3 1 / 2 years, suggesting many anticipate the housing market could improve over the next year.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that builders broke ground at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 654,000 homes last month. That's down 5.8 percent from February. Apartment construction, which can fluctuate sharply from month to month, fell nearly 20 percent. Single-family homebuilding was mostly unchanged.

Building permits, a gauge of future construction, rose 4.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 747,000. That's the highest level since September 2008.

Jonathan Basile, director of economics at Credit Suisse, said the increase in permits is a "good sign for broader economic activity" and should lead to increase in construction in the coming months.

Yet the rate of construction and the level of permits requested remain only about half the pace considered healthy. Economists say that construction activity is still depressed and the housing market has a long way to go before it is back to full health.

Since the fall, builders had slowly grown more confident in the market after seeing more people express interest in buying a home. But that interest has yet to materialize into many sales. As a result, builder confidence fell this month for the first time since September.

Part of the reason for the previous optimism was a mild winter allowed builders to keep working in most parts of the country. And an improving job market has many slightly more optimistic about home sales this year.

January and February were the best for sales of previously occupied homes in five years. And an average of 212,000 jobs was created each month from January through March. Unemployment has sunk from 9.1 percent in August to 8.2 percent last month.

Though new homes represent just 20 percent of the overall home market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

There are some hurdles to a smooth recovery: Builders are struggling to compete with deeply discounted foreclosures and short sales when lenders allow homes to be sold for less than what's owed on the mortgage.

Originally posted here:
Home building slows, permits hit 3-year high

By F.M. Wiggins

PETERSBURG - City Council will likely soon decide on whether to allow the development of a controversial 12-unit apartment building at the west end of High Street.

The upcoming vote on the project - which would be new construction on an existing lot - comes after a March 20 public hearing where numerous residents of the High Street neighborhood said that they wouldn't welcome the development. The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.

The project has received mixed opinions from residents, city officials and historic preservationists. Petersburg preservation planner James Sved said that the city's Architectural Review Board has already denied the project three times - most recently on Jan. 25 - despite recommendations from staff for approval.

Sonja Reese, who has lived on High Street for 40 years, said that City Council should listen to the Architectural Review Board and experts from within the city who have provided opinions on the planned development. Reese cited Willie Graham, a noted architectural expert who she said works for Colonial Williamsburg, as having opposed the project.

The developer, Canterbury High Street LLC, plans to build an infill multi-family housing unit of 12 one-bedroom apartments. The developer already owns an adjacent two-story commercial structure with a missing facade. That building has already received a certificate of appropriateness for development as a mixed-use project.

During the March 20 City Council meeting, no architectural renderings were presented for the public to view.

"Why don't you see any renderings for this project," asked Richard Stewart. "Shouldn't we see a rendering?"

Stewart said that High Street is one of the most historic areas in the city and any decision should be carefully evaluated.

Zoning for the property is not an issue as the land for the proposed infill development is currently zoned B2, according to Director of Planning Sharon Williams. However, because it is in an historic district, the development would need a Certificate of Appropriateness, which has been denied by the ARB three times.

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Apartment project in historic area draws flak

Apartment developer Archstone is building a 157-unit townhome rental complex in the Santa Clarita Valley, giving a jobs jolt to the beleaguered construction industry, officials said Friday.

About 750 workers will be needed to build the complex, the Denver-based company said.

Grading has already started on the 12.5 acre site at the southeast corner of Lost Canyon Road and Via Princessa in an unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County.

A groundbreaking will be next Thursday.

The project is a joint venture between Archstone and Resmark Apartment Living, a division of The Resmark Cos., a real estate investment adviser based in Los Angeles.

The complex is a welcome addition to the Valley, said Stacie House, marketing and business retention manager at the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corp.

"In terms of jobs created, we are excited about the project. It's a great indicator things are picking up in the economy," she said.

"Economic development in the Santa Clarita Valley is thriving."

There is good demand for rental units, too, she said.

In the 2011 fourth quarter, Santa Clarita's rental vacancy rate dipped to 5.5 percent from 7.5 percent in the year ago period.

Originally posted here:
First of Archstone Santa Clarita's 157 townhome units to rent next spring

The first phase of construction has begun at Assembly Row, slated to be the largest residential real estate project under construction in this region, according to a press release.

AvalonBay Communities, a real estate investment trust with multi-family apartment communities across the country, announced last week that it has begun construction on the residential component of the first phase of development at Assembly Square that will feature two distinctive living options in separate residential buildings Avalon at Assembly Row and AVA Somerville.

This is the cornerstone residential component within Federal Realty Bostons overall master redevelopment plan for Somervilles Assembly Square. The $100 million development will reshape the residential landscape of Somerville, totaling over 470,000 square feet and 448 apartment homes plus more than100,000 square feet of retail space to be owned and operated by Federal Realty.

We are pleased to be an integral part of Somervilles ongoing renaissance, said Scott Dale, senior vice president of development for AvalonBay Communities, Inc., in a press release. Were also looking forward to introducing for the first time in New England our new brand, AVA. Our community at Assembly Row will provide two distinctive living options in one of greater Bostons most exciting new neighborhoods.

This critical residential component is the first step in bringing the new Assembly Row to life. One of New Englands largest developments, Assembly Row is a new, mixed-use, transit oriented neighborhood spanning more than 50 acres on the banks of the Mystic River. It is expected to bring in significant new revenues for the city and state.

The most exciting aspect of Assembly Row is that its an entirely new urban neighborhood that incorporates the best of Somervilles popular residential, business and entertainment districts, said Mayor Joe Curtatone. The retail, office and river-view park elements are all important but getting the housing element right is absolutely critical. Thats why were so enthusiastic about AvalonBays participation in Assembly Row. They have the experience and the creativity to do a truly outstanding job and we look forward to working with them.

Avalon at Assembly Row will be a traditional Avalon luxury apartment building, appealing to residents seeking upscale apartment living and high-end amenities with 195 generously-sized apartment homes, consisting of studio, one, two, and three bedrooms units, and will offer the high-end amenities and services.

AVA Somerville will be a modern, urban lifestyle apartment building, designed to attract the increasing number of people who want to live in close proximity to restaurants, nightlife, shopping and public transportation. With 253 apartment homes, consisting of studio, one, and two bedrooms, it will feature innovative design elements geared specifically towards active urban lifestyles, with many apartments engineered for roommate living. A new residential concept first introduced in late 2011, AVA communities feature modern design, a technology focus, and amenities that maximize the social experience of residents that will be the first of its kind in New England.

With 1.75 million square feet of new office space and over 50 retail outlet shops, several restaurants, a 60,000 square foot AMC Theatre, and a newly constructed public park along the Mystic River, Assembly Row will provide a new, fresh setting for the stimulating, active urban living experience preferred by so many young professionals, couples, and growing families. The MBTA will an a new Orange Line T station there too, the first new MBTA station to be built in over 25 years.

The two AvalonBay communities at Assembly Row will feature an array of first-class amenities, including expansive common spaces with multiple indoor resident lounges and outdoor courtyards, state of the art fitness center, and uninterrupted views of the Mystic River and Boston skyline. Its proximity to the new Assembly Square Orange Line T station, which will transport residents into downtown Boston in mere minutes, makes Avalon at Assembly Row and AVA Somerville new, dynamic places to live in the greater Boston area.

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Assembly Row construction begins in Somerville