The sounds of hammering drifted from the fenced-off Peter Bulkeley Terrace in Concord Tuesday afternoon as a crowd of two dozen gathered to celebrate the building’s transformation from a congregate living facility into an apartment complex for seniors and the disabled.

“This redevelopment took a lot of staying power,” said Arthur Jemison, assistant undersecretary at the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). “It has been one of the unique public-private partnerships in the state, using DHCD funds, CPA resources and very significant contributions from private philanthropic organizations.”

Besides $3.08 million from the DHCD and $1 million in Community Preservation Committee money, funding sources include the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust Fund; the sale of the Belknap House in Concord; and private local donations from the Concord Housing Development Corporation and the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation. The project cost is slightly less than $6.7 million.

Everyone worked together on this project, said Concord Housing Authority Board Chairwoman Mary Johnson.

“I don’t think any one person did this alone. We all did it together,” Johnson said. “Each person carried enthusiasm for this project. All of us wanted this to happen.”

Concord Town Manager Christopher Whelan said the collaboration has been fruitful.

“It’s great that senior citizens will be able to live in the heart of town and walk to the library and downtown, and that the Housing Authority has been able to adapt to changing living patterns, which are no longer congregational living,” Whelan said.

CHA board member Christopher Jane Corkery praised Johnson, the board and the CHA administrative staff for their work on the project.

“These are the people who drive it,” Corkery said.

Built in 1912, Peter Bulkeley Terrace served as administrative offices before being converted to a single-room occupancy space. The renovated building, designed by Abacus Architects, will consist of 23 one-bedroom apartments and one studio apartment, each measuring 600 to 700 square feet. Four of these units will be handicapped-accessible.

The building will include air conditioning, laundry facilities, and open community spaces. Tenants pay 27 percent of their income toward rent, which includes heat and hot water but not electricity, and an activity program will be available on-site.

Tuesday, Concord officials shivered in the brisk wind as they watched L.D. Russo interior demolition workers climbing ladders, visible through the empty windows of Peter Bulkeley Terrace. Construction is expected to finish in 10 months.

“Next time we have a celebration here, we’re going to take you inside,” Johnson promised.

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Construction begins at Peter Bulkeley Terrace in Concord

News Briefs Findlay girl, 5, hurt in accident
A 5-year-old Findlay girl was injured in a two-car accident at the intersection of North Main Street and Defiance Avenue on Monday afternoon, the Findlay Police Department reported.

Azzareya Ortega, 5, was taken by Hanco Emergency Medical Service to Blanchard Valley Hospital. The hospital released no information on her condition.

According to a police report, Ortega was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Gabriela Ramirez, 31, of Findlay. Ramirez was attempting to make a left turn from North Main Street onto Defiance Avenue when her car was hit by a vehicle being driven by David Morrison, 51, of Findlay.

The accident occurred at 1:03 p.m. Monday.

Ramirez was cited for failure to yield when making a left turn, and for failing to use child restraints, police said.

Both vehicles sustained minor damage.

Ending 'R' word focus of program
The University of Findlay chapter of Students Teaching Respect for Individuals with Disabilities Everyday will host an event this week to raise awareness about the negative impact of using the word "retarded." The event, "Spread the Word to End the Word," will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Alumni Memorial Union.

Two participants in the Hancock Special Olympics, Andrea Heitmeyer and Michelle Boyles, will make presentations at the event.

Discovery Story set
A Hancock Park District Discovery Story about ducks will be held at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday in the Discovery Center at Oakwoods Nature Preserve.

The program is for children, 3 to 6 years old, with an adult companion.

The program includes a story, song and a craft.

Board meets today
ARLINGTON -- Arlington's school board will hold its regular meeting at 7 p.m. today in the high school library. Riverdale plans school screening
MOUNT BLANCHARD -- The Riverdale school district will hold kindergarten screenings on April 18-20.

The screenings will take place at Riverdale Elementary School in the kindergarten classrooms.

Parents who have children who will be 5 years old on or before Aug. 1 should call the elementary office at 419-694-2211 starting March 19 to register.

Parents should have their children registered by April 3. They will receive an information packet in the mail, which should be filled out and returned to the elementary office by April 10.

Parents are also asked to provide a copy of their child's birth certificate, shot records, the child's Social Security number, proof of residence and custody papers, if applicable.

Parents who reside in Riverdale School District need to resiter their child even if considering open enrollment to another district.

Runaway slave portrayal slated
BLUFFTON -- Black History Month will conclude at Bluffton University Wednesday with a one-woman portrayal of a runaway slave by historical interpreter Novella Slaughter.

Slaughter is from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.

The presentation will be at 5 p.m. in The Commons in Marbeck Center, with a dinner at 6:30 p.m.

It is being hosted by Bluffton's multicultural affairs office and is free.

Brownfields topic of public meeting
A public information meeting on brownfields will be held from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday in Findlay council chambers, located on the first floor of the municipal building.

The meeting is being hosted by Hancock Regional Planning and TTL Associates, Inc., brownfield consultants from Toledo.

In April 2010, Hancock County was awarded a $1 million Brownfield Assessment Coalition Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The goal of the grant is to create market-ready sites, increase property values and revitalize downtowns and surrounding neighborhoods.

Questions may be directed to William Homka, director of the Hancock Regional Planning Commission, by calling 419-424-7094.

Crime prevention specialist named
An officer with the Findlay Police Department was certified as a crime prevention specialist.

Officer Brian Dill received his certification from the Ohio Crime Prevention Association last month.

Dill is a 13-year veteran of the department and has served in crime prevention since April. He was named the Findlay Police Employees Association's officer of the year.

School screening slated in Arcadia
ARCADIA -- Kindergarten screening for Arcadia Local Schools will be held on Friday, April 20.

If you have a child who will be 5 years old on or before Aug. 1, contact the school at 419-894-6431, ext. 300, begining March 5 to schedule an appointment.

Parents should bring a copy of the child's birth certificate, immunization records, Social Security number and court custody papers, if applicable, to the screening.

Skywarn training offered in April
Skywarn training, sponsored by the National Weather Service, will be hosted at 6:30 p.m. April 2 at the Whirlpool Conference Center.

The training is free.

Local members of Amateur Radio Emergency Services are part of the Skywarn network, which uses volunteer storm spotters to help gather information for the National Weather Service during severe weather events.

Registrations will be taken 30 minutes before class starts.

For more information on Skywarn or becoming an amateur radio operator, contact Brent Stover at: http://www.wd8pnz@arrl.net.

Corrections
The Luther Club of First Lutheran Church will meet at 6 p.m. today at the church. Saturday's Church Events listing incorrectly said the meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

An incorrect phone number was listed Saturday for people who want more information about artist Roger Powell's annual Easter sand sculpture, or who want to volunteer to help. The correct phone number is 419-424-3220.

Aflac is located on the ground floor of the Blackford Building, Suite 103-104. A story Monday incorrectly listed the building it is in.

Kindergarten registration at Fostoria City Schools will be held March 27. An incorrect date was listed in a story Monday.

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Winds halt Argyle demolition

HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire -02/27/12)- Wood Partners, L.L.C., the nation's most active multifamily developer, announced today it will begin construction of Alta Woodlake Square, a $32.4 million luxury apartment community in the Westchase District.

The 256-unit development at 2630 Tanglewilde Street will be a three-story building featuring studio, one- and two-bedroom apartment homes.

"We love the location. We're at the southern entrance to one of the nicest neighborhoods in town," said Todd Gaines, Wood Partners development associate. "The site is minutes from major employment centers in the Westchase District, the Galleria and the Energy Corridor, which makes it very attractive for a multifamily project."

The community is adjacent to the revitalized Woodlake Square shopping center, which features a completely renovated Randall's Flagship grocery store, a Walgreen's drug store and a number of other high-quality retail tenants.

"Architecturally, we worked with AmREIT (which owns the shopping center) to complement their design, while still maintaining a residential feel," said Gaines.

Houston continues to experience strong demand for multifamily properties and robust job growth. A report by the Houston Association of REALTORS notes a "surge in consumers relocating to Houston from around the U.S. According to the Texas Workforce Commission's latest report, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area gained 66,300 jobs in the 12 months ending September 2011. That represents an increase of 2.6 percent."

The units at Alta Woodlake Square, which received the National Green Building Standard certification, will feature granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, under-mount sinks, subway tile backsplashes, vinyl plank flooring in kitchen and living areas. A washer and dryer are included in each unit, as well as garden tubs in the bathrooms.

Approximately half the units will be outfitted with a technology package including an in-wall iPod docking station and speakers mounted in living rooms.

The common areas will feature two courtyards with a zero-entry pool, barbecue grills, and outdoor kitchen with TV, water fountain, state-of-the-art fitness center and club room with kitchen and bar area.

Leasing for the project is expected to begin in March 2013, with the first move-ins the following June.

About Wood Partners
Wood Partners is a national real estate company that acquires, develops, constructs and property manages multifamily communities.

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Wood Partners Announces Start of Construction on Alta Woodlake Square Apartment Community in Houston

Developer Holland Residential plans to break ground late this spring on a 40-story apartment tower in downtown Seattle, Vice President Tom Parsons said Monday.

The site, now a parking lot, is at Ninth Avenue and Pine Street, across the street from the Paramount Theater. Holland, one of the region's most active apartment developers, has signed a contract to buy the property from Seattle-based Security Properties, which won city approval for the tower in 2009.

Seattle is seeing an apartment-construction boom, with more units in the pipeline than at any time in the past 20 years.

But the Ninth and Pine tower, at 40 stories, would be by far the tallest.

Security, also a major apartment owner and developer, put the site up for sale last year. John Orehek, Security's president and CEO, said a year ago that despite the boom, rents still hadn't risen enough to cover the construction costs of a high-rise.

But Parsons noted that he and his team in 2008 completed a downtown high-rise condo, Fifteen Twenty-one Second Avenue, for their former employer, Opus Northwest. "We understand the 400-foot tower," he said.

Plus, "there are some sites in Seattle that are long-term great real estate, and that is absolutely the case with Ninth and Pine," he said.

The Washington State Convention Center and the Convention Place transit-tunnel station are steps away, and the site is within walking distance of downtown shops and offices.

Documents filed with city planners indicate Vancouver, Wash.-based Holland wants to modify Security's plans, increasing the number of apartments from 336 to 386. It also has proposed fewer parking spaces, more bicycle parking and less ground-floor retail space to allow for a larger lobby.

Holland already is building three projects with more than 600 apartments in South Lake Union and First Hill that are scheduled for completion within the next 12 months. It has two more South Lake Union complexes with an additional 300 units in the pipeline.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com

See original here:
Work on 40-story downtown apartment tower set for spring

The sounds of cranes and bulldozers can be heard again in San Diego County as builders expect to finish nearly five times as many apartments this year as they did last year, the most since 2004, according to a local real estate analyst.

In the past few months, developers in Riverside County got the bureaucratic wheels turning for an apartment boom of their own to start in 2013, according to permit filings and local observers.

Apartment ownership became attractive in recent years as former homeowners with bad credit and younger people determined to preserve job mobility created enough demand to let landlords raise rents. Those fundamentals plus low interest rates made apartment buildings a prime target for institutional investors looking for safe investments in both counties.

"It's a nice rebound," said Russ Valone, founder of MarketPointe Realty Advisors, a homebuilder consultant.

San Diego County builders will deliver 1,991 apartment units this year, a big jump from the 400 units delivered last year, according to MarketPointe. San Diego County hasn't seen so many apartments completed since 2004, when builders produced 2,273 apartments.

In North County, a 108-unit apartment complex in San Marcos and a 198-unit project in Escondido should be ready for renters before the end of the year.

Apartment construction doesn't have as wide a ripple in the economy as single-family houses ---- more people can be housed at lower cost in an apartment complex ---- but the new buildings offer a beam of hope to long-suffering building-trades workers.

No apartments are under construction in Southwest Riverside County, but builders are scouting locations and securing permits, said Paul Runkle, a senior vice president with CBRE Inc. who is a multifamily specialist with an office in Temecula.

Last year in Riverside County, builders applied to put up 1,061 apartments, double the number of permits in 2010, according to the Construction Industry Research Board, a nonprofit.

"Some developers are now exploring development," Runkle said. "You wouldn't have heard that from me in the third quarter (summer) of 2011."

Few builders constructed rental units in the mid-2000s, as easy loans freed prospective renters to become homebuyers. But as the foreclosure crisis took hold and unemployment rose, former homeowners with ruined credit still needed a place to live, and they turned to apartments or house rentals.

Meanwhile, a younger generation saw friends and family trapped in houses they couldn't sell and chose to rent to preserve their mobility, Valone said.

"They're one of the first generations to see significant drops in real estate values," he said. "They don't have that 'I have to buy because real estate always goes up' attitude."

The twin forces created strong demand for apartments, which pushed down vacancy rates and raised rents.

As of the end of September, the most recent data available, vacancy rates in San Diego County fell 1.10 percentage points to 3.4 percent, and the average effective rent rose 2.2 percent to $1,287, according to Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.

"The apartment fundamentals are at a point now where they're the best they've ever been ---- potentially ever," said Brian Hansen, a director at Wood Partners, the company putting up the complex in San Marcos.

That strong demand means apartment-complex owners can be assured of a steady income, even if the sale value of apartment buildings remains unchanged. Investors, especially institutional investors like pension funds, worried about volatile stock and commodity markets and turned to top-quality apartment buildings as an option, said Darcy Miramontes, an apartment building broker with Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate brokerage.

At the same time, interest rates have been very low, making it easier for developers to attract investor money at low cost so they could start construction, Miramontes said.

"Apartment buildings are the darling of the commercial investment market," Miramontes said.

Southwest County lags San Diego County in the overall economic cycle. High unemployment there forced parents and children to double up on housing, reducing demand. But there's also a shortage of rentals, creating an opportunity for builders, said Bill Blankenship, CEO of the Building Industry Association in Riverside County.

And the worst of the foreclosure crisis may be ending as the economy starts to rebound.

"We're at the bottom of a cycle and coming out of it," Runkle said.

Call staff writer Eric Wolff at 760-303-1927, follow him on Twitter @ericwolff.

See original here:
HOUSING: Apartment construction rebounding

By JOY BROWN

STAFF WRITER

Work to remove the top of the burned Argyle apartment building in downtown Findlay was slowed Sunday by the poor condition of the 122-year-old building.

Service-Safety Director Paul Schmelzer said Alvada Construction Co. workers started shoring up the walls of the four-story building and dismantling the top floor Saturday night, and work continued Sunday.

But the eastern top of the building, which officials are most concerned about because it is bowed out toward South Main Street, is crumbling, Schmelzer said. Its condition is forcing workers to remove small chunks of the building, using cranes.

The building was more damaged by fire, water and the elements than originally thought, he said.

The project's scope hasn't changed, but "it's become a little more difficult," Schmelzer said Sunday.

Schmelzer also said high wind was expected to return Sunday night, which could force crews to halt what they're doing for safety reasons.

Once most of the fourth-floor walls are removed, officials believe the building will be stable enough for investigators to enter and look for the cause of Thursday's fire.

Schmelzer said he then hopes to get Main Street reopened, and allow access to the Argyle building by tenants and insurance adjusters, "sometime Tuesday afternoon."

"This is not all great news, but we're progressing," Schmelzer said.

A structural engineer hired by the city on Friday recommended the fourth-floor demolition. The roof fell in during the fire, and the upper walls are not connected to anything else. Below, "everything is still tied together" and structurally sound, Schmelzer said.

Structural integrity has been compromised not just by the blaze, but by high wind and the large amount of water used to fight Thursday's fire. The water has been expanding and contracting as it freezes and thaws.

"For the businesses under the Argyle (apartments), you can expect the worst" in terms of damage, Fire Chief Tom Lonyo told affected business owners over the weekend. "Over four million gallons of water were poured into that building and it all ran down."

"Every day it (the structure) gets worse. As of (Friday) the building had moved again," Lonyo said.

"This is a moving target," said Findlay Fire Investigator Eric Habegger. "We don't know what types of problems we're going to get into."

Main Street, from Sandusky to Lincoln streets, continues to be closed.

But some businesses on that part of Main Street are open, despite being within a barricaded area.

They include: Bryant Shoes; Glass City Window and Door; the Heck Professional Building, which includes Jerry Payne Agency, Patti Baumgartner-Novak, Damon D. Alt, Bolotin Law, Charles Boyk, and AFLAC; the Arts Partnership; Ambrosia Tanning; Guitar Ranch; Dress for Less; Romans; Core Fitness; Northwestern Mutual; Central Marathon (accessible from East Lincoln Street); RCM Architects and Engineers; Ameriprise Financial; Elks Club; Trends on Main; Property Analysts; Main Street Deli; Massage Professionals of Ohio; the Blackford Building, which includes Moyer Financial Services, Bosse Financial Services, CBC Companies, Noggle Law, TFC Architects, Lisa Miller Law, and Golden Feather Photographic Art; Scrambler Marie's; Hancock County Probation Office; Eastman & Smith Law; and Chase Bank.

Apartments above these stores and offices also remain open, according to the Findlay Fire Department.

Brown: 419-427-8496

Send an e-mail to Joy Brown

Twitter: @CourierJoy

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Building's poor condition slowing demolition work

By JOY BROWN

STAFF WRITER

Crews from Alvada Construction Co. began work Saturday night to demolish most of the fire-damaged fourth floor of the Argyle apartment building in downtown Findlay.

Removing all but four feet of the walls on the fourth floor, where the fire was most heavily concentrated, is expected to make the building more stable. Cranes will be used to do the work, which could be completed by Monday morning if crews work around the clock and encounter no further problems, city officials told affected business owners at a meeting Saturday.

"Like anything else, when you start to tear apart a building, even the best laid plans can hit a snag," said Fire Chief Tom Lonyo.

A structural engineer hired by the city determined Friday that bracing work that had been completed wasn't sufficient to keep walls stable. He recommended fourth floor demolition, where the walls are not connected to anything else. Below, "everything is still tied together" and structurally sound, said Service-Safety Director Paul Schmelzer.

As soon as demolition has made the building safe, fire investigators will enter and try to determine a cause, and perform one more canvass to make sure no one is trapped in the wreckage.

Lonyo said the biggest problem spot is the building's southeast corner, which is bowing inward. The north wall is pushing out, he said.

Structural integrity has been compromised not just by the blaze, which caused the roof to cave in, but by high wind and the large amount of water used to fight Thursday's fire. The water has been expanding and contracting as it freezes and thaws.

"For the businesses under the Argyle (apartments), you can expect the worst" in terms of damage, Lonyo said Saturday. "Over four million gallons of water were poured into that building and it all ran down."

"Every day it (the structure) gets worse. As of (Friday) the building had moved again," Lonyo said.

"This is a moving target," said Findlay Fire Investigator Eric Habegger. "We don't know what types of problems we're going to get into. What you're hearing today may change in three hours."

Main Street, from Sandusky to Lincoln streets, continues to be closed.

But some businesses on that part of Main Street remain open, despite being within a barricaded area.

They include: Bryant Shoes; Glass City Window and Door; the Heck Professional Building, which includes Jerry Payne Agency, Patti Baumgartner-Novak, Damon D. Alt, Bolotin Law, Charles Boyk, and AFLAC; the Arts Partnership; Ambrosia Tanning; Guitar Ranch; Dress for Less; Romans; Core Fitness; Northwestern Mutual; Central Marathon (accessible from East Lincoln Street); RCM Architects and Engineers; Ameriprise Financial; Elks Club; Trends on Main; Property Analysts; Main Street Deli; Massage Professionals of Ohio; the Blackford Building, which includes Moyer Financial Services, Bosse Financial Services, CBC Companies, Noggle Law, TFC Architects, Lisa Miller Law, and Golden Feather Photographic Art; Scrambler Marie's; Hancock County Probation Office; Eastman & Smith Law; and Chase Bank.

Apartments above these stores and offices also remain open, according to the Findlay Fire Department.

The rest is here:
Demolition starts on top of fire-damaged Argyle building

GVMC is ready to act against the construction of an apartment complex at Sector II of MVP Colony if VUDA de-registered the status given as house-site, Municipal Commissioner B. Ramanjaneyulu has said.

The open site has been registered as layout in the revised master plan and registration done. Based on VUDA's registration, the GVMC had given building plan approval.

If the site was converted as an open site and handed over to GVMC it would take further action on the construction now going on, he told reporters who met him on Wednesday.

Following a letter written by the VUDA Vice-Chairman, work on the apartment complex was stopped and water supply cut, he said.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that VUDA Vice-Chairman Kona Sasidhar had left for Hyderabad after a report on the issue was readied for submission to the government.

Union election

Municipal Commissioner B. Ramanjaneyulu has categorically stated that GVMC union election proposed to be held on February 29 should be put off to April. Administrative reasons including the term of the elected body coming to an end are among the factors he cited. He warned against any campaigning on the GVMC premises.

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GVMC ready to act against apartment complex

MULTI-FAMILY PROJECTS
Pending and recently approved multi-family residential projects in Broomfield:

Project -- Location -- # of Units

Alta Harvest Station -- Allison Street/Harvest subdivision -- 297

AMLI (Interlocken) -- 25 International Court -- 343

Arista (Parcel N) -- 11465 Uptown Ave. -- 272

Broomfield Business Center -- 13700 Via Varra -- 374

Camden Flatirons (Interlocken) -- 120 Edgeview Drive -- 424

Wasatch -- 12060 Perry St. -- 302

Northlands -- 423 and 495 Colo. 7 and 17200 N. Huron St.-- 325

Arista (Parcel X) -- 11302 Central Court --166

Source: City and County of Broomfield

Low vacancy rates, access to major transportation corridors and a steady job market are helping make Broomfield a hot spot for new apartment development in the metro area. For evidence of this fact, look no further than the more than 2,500 apartment units developers are seeking to build in the city as of this month.

There are eight multi-unit projects in various stages of planning and development in Broomfield, most centered on the U.S 36 corridor, according to the Community Development Department. All told, those projects -- which vary from being under construction to just entering the city's development review process -- could add 2,503 apartments to Broomfield's rental housing market.

"I would have to say it is the largest amount of multi-family (activity) we have seen in a relatively concentrated period of time," Deputy City and County Manager Kevin Standbridge said this week of all of the commotion surrounding apartments in Broomfield. "You're seeing it predominately in areas that will be served by transit in the future or near major employers, which are both great things in our view."

Of the eight apartment projects proposed for Broomfield, two have received full approval from city officials and are under construction. The first is the Arista Uptown Apartments, a 272-unit project being built by Smith/Jones Partners, LCC near the corner of Arista Place and Uptown Avenue south of U.S. 36 in Arista. The second is the AMLI Interlocken development, which plans to add 343 units developed by AMLI Residential Construction, LLC on 12.2 acres southwest of the intersection of Interlocken and Eldorado boulevards.

AMLI Residential, headquartered in Chicago, specializes in luxury condos and apartments and operates in 121 markets across the United States, said Andy Mutz, the company's vice president of development. Of its six established communities in the Denver area, two are in Broomfield, including the recently acquired Summit at Flatirons apartments, now AMLI at Flatirons, Mutz said. The developer likes the U.S. 36 corridor, and specifically Broomfield, Mutz said, for the steady job market in the area.

"Job growth is kind of lagging in this recovery, so in all of our markets we a trying to target the specific markets with the greatest opportunity for growth," Mutz said. "In Denver we really think it's the U.S. 36 corridor. We really like the industries that are locating there; the clean energy industries."

Over the past decade, Standbridge said he feels the city has done a good job of balancing new residential development between single-family homes and multi-unit development, but city staff and other observers know low vacancy rates are helping fuel the city's multi-unit feeding frenzy.

In the fourth financial quarter of 2011, the metro area's apartment vacancy rate fell to 5.2 percent, the lowest fourth-quarter figure since 2000, according to a report by the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Division of Housing. The same reports list the fourth quarter vacancy rates for the Broomfield/Boulder area at just 4.4 percent.

"It would seem that demand for rentals right now would fit the demand for professionals in that part of the (metro area)," Colorado Division of Housing economist Ryan McMaken said of the tight vacancies in Broomfield and Boulder. "We know there is a lot of job growth in that part of town and a lot of innovation."

While it might not look it from an insider's perspective, McMaken said the U.S. 36 corridor and the Fort Collins area are among the strongest job markets in the United States right now, leading to more migration and higher demand for rental housing. Another factor McMaken said is likely fueling demand is a growing trend of young professionals staying in rental housing longer than the last decade, when they might have bought homes, coupled with little to no growth in area residents' average incomes.

The high demand coupled with the wait as developers eye adding to the rental housing supply has spurred another growing statistic in the Broomfield area, McMaken said -- rental cost growth. Median rent in the Broomfield/Boulder area was $993, according to the rental vacancy report from the fourth quarter of 2011. That's a 3.7 percent increase from the $958 median rent in the fourth quarter of 2010. In the last two quarters of 2011, McMaken said average rents in Broomfield jumped from $946 to $981, a 3.6 percent increase -- outpacing the approximately 3 percent average rent growth being experienced across the western United States. In a report posted to the Colorado Division of Housing Web site on Feb. 14, McMaken highlighted that construction permit requests for multi-family development in Colorado jumped by 89 percent in 2011 vs. 2010, but even increased production might not slow rent growth for some time.

"Demand will continue to outpace supply for some time, and it doesn't look like (contractors) are over-building at this time," McMaken said. "Even with a lot of production over the last couple years, if we see another new wave of new households forming in Colorado, we might see more rent growth."

Affordable hosing has been an ongoing concern for Broomfield City Council, but none of the eight multi-unit developments seeking to build in Broomfield would featured subsidized rents, with rates being set by the housing market, Standbridge said. Both the Arista Uptown and AMLI Interlocken projects are focused on building luxury apartments, with rents likely to range from $800 to $1,250 for a one- or two-bedroom apartment in the Arista development and perhaps even higher in the AMLI project.

"I don't think it's a concern that we're adding market-based units," Standbridge said. "But we would like to see more affordable units, and certainly we'll be working toward those."

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Broomfield seeing apartment boom

MOUNT VERNON — Residents are fighting a proposed 18-unit apartment building they fear will strain sewers, wipe out parking and displace wildlife near their Oakwood Heights homes.

Bayview Real Estate Consultants Inc. has proposed building a four-story residential structure on what is now a 20-foot-deep, densely wooded ravine between Lorraine Avenue and Lorraine Terrace.

The developer seeks eight variances from the city Zoning Board of Appeals for the project, to allow construction of the four-story, multi-family dwelling in a three-story, single-family zone.

If approved, the project would require crews to clear-cut the area?s vegetation and lay tons of fill at the half-acre site to level out the steep topography for construction.

The project would ?obliterate the character of the neighborhood, overload an aged and crumbling sewer system? and ?lay waste to a micro-ecosystem? that is a habitat to woodpeckers, deer and other wildlife, a consortium of neighborhood groups wrote in a news release this week.

Opponents spoke out against the plan at a Tuesday zoning board meeting and are circulating a petition that already has hundreds of signatures.

The previous owner?s 2001 proposal to build a seven-home subdivision at the site never got off the ground.

Bayview acquired the land in 2006 and initially planned to build just three single-family homes at the site, using leftover fill from another construction project. But the developer shelved those plans after learning the fill was contaminated, then put the project on hold longer after the real-estate market tanked. Given the cost of fill, the developer now thinks an 18-unit building is the only development that would ?yield a positive return,? said its lawyer, Hannah Gross.

Link:
Plan to build Mount Vernon apartments fuels fight over 'character of the neighborhood'