Apartment Look

Six years ago, Mike Brown and Casey Lynch stood on Downtown Boise ’s 8th Street and wondered: Why don’t more people live here? Downtown seemed to have everything that a growing percentage of Americans wanted in a place to live. “I mean, there’s all kinds of jobs. There’s a million coffee shops and hair salons and restaurants, and there’s an active street life ,” says Brown, who founded the Los Angeles- based development company LocalConstruct with Lynch in 2008. Casey Lynch, left, and Mike Brown have made their mark in Boise. Provided by LocalConstruct But in 2011, fewer than 4,000 people lived in Downtown’s scattered apartment and condominium buildings and houses. On a typical weekday afternoon , most Downtown workers got in their cars and put the city in the rearview mirror. Brown and Lynch saw an opportunity. They thought Boiseans would trade ample floor space and vaulted ceilings in the suburbs for smaller, high- end Downtown apartments that offered amenities like gyms, a do...

In densely populated urban hubs , apartment buildings are a necessary fixture. But all too often, rental or condo complexes are built simply to fill a need—to increase apartment supply —and developers overlook the opportunity to provide something different and distinct in bustling downtown areas . However, in recent years, some developers and architects are moving away from the traditional apartment model and embracing a more unique approach: building high- end apartments inside of shipping containers . As far as ingenious adaptive reuse goes, the shipping container complex is cutting-edge. “In Phoenix, we don’t have buildings that were once warehouses or manufacturing facilities that everyone’s now turning into lofts. So the shipping containers allow us to bring a little bit of that richness that’s really missing here,” says architect Brian Stark in a video explaining how the container complex was built. “[The containers] have been all over the world traveling, and now they’r...

To Alice Fonseca, getting an apartment at The Beverly building downtown would be like winning the lottery. The 14-story project, set to open near North Station early next year, isn’t quite like all the other luxury housing that has sprouted up in downtown Boston recently . Every one of its 249 units will rent at below-market rates, with a one-bedroom starting at $900 a month for tenants of modest incomes. That’s about a third to half the cost of a similar unit just across the street. Advertisement “It’s a beautiful area , a dream area,” said Fonseca, who currently lives near Franklin Park, and will enter a lottery later this year that will choose The Beverly’s tenants. Instead of the usual mix of a few low- income units amid high -priced apartments, The Beverly is the first new complex in Boston composed entirely of “workforce housing,” an emerging category of midpriced housing with more affordable rents and wider income restrictions . The Beverly is setting aside 20 percent of its...

Marquette Mayor Dave Campana introduces Snyder at a press meet after his tour of the apartments, and explains the importance of providing affordable housing in close proximity to the downtown area. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley) Marquette Mayor Dave Campana introduces Snyder at a press meet after his tour of the apartments, and explains the importance of providing affordable housing in close proximity to the downtown area. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley) Snyder speaks with Roger Curtis, Director of Talent and Economic Development for the State of Michigan outside of the Grandview Marquette , which is still undergoing construction. The apartments are intended to give low-income individuals in Marquette easier access to opportunities in the downtown area. The project is expected to be completed this fall. (Journal photo by Rachel Oakley) MARQUETTE — Gov. Rick Snyder and other state officials Wednesday morning toured the affordable housing development Grandview Marquette , whi...

A developer proposing an apartment building with a mix of market-rate and affordable units just east of Redwood City’s downtown is hoping to increase the city’s housing stock by 125 units. Though a public hearing date has not yet been confirmed for the six- and seven- story apartment building containing 15 studios and 57 one-bedroom and 53 two-bedroom apartments at 353 Main St., Alex Sanchez, executive vice president at ROEM Corporation, the developer, said plans for the building are ready for public comment after a year of preliminary work with city staff. “I think we’re ready to take this to public for a hearing,” he said. “Our initial submittal is basically a starting point.” Expected to occupy a lot where one- story office buildings currently stand next to a four- story luxury apartment complex , the building would border Redwood Creek on its southern end. Sanchez said 19 units would be affordable at very low, low and moderate incomes in compliance with the city’s policy that...

You know where you are with a beauty hall. It’s a large room – a hall, you might say – and it sells beauty products . Same goes for the men’s department, or the lingerie section. But department stores also have secret spaces, with names that give no clue to their purposes. They all sound the same, and they’re all a bit different, so we found out the lowdown, and now, we’re sharing it with you. Holt Renfrew’s The Apartment has a living room space , kitchen and wraparound patio . - Contributed photo Holt Renfrew The Apartment This is Vancouver’s newest personal shopping suite , and its swankiest. At 1,200 sq ft it’s bigger than most downtown apartments and has its own kitchen, washroom, living and dining areas and a private wraparound patio . Reserved for top clients and visiting celebs, it will also be used for private events and trunk shows. The store also has seven smaller personal shopping suites , and another two in the men’s section. These are open to all customers, free, by appoin...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - There's still a lot of concrete to be poured and drywall to be painted, but progress is being made on two of the city's largest apartment construction projects . Rockford Construction Co. and Wolverine Building Group handed out hardhats and safety vests to reporters on Wednesday, Aug. 23, so they could show off the progress they are making on projects along Market Avenue SW and in the Midtown Neighborhood along the Medical Mile.. At 234 Market Avenue SW , Rockford Construction is past the halfway point in building an apartment complex that will include 235 rental units , a 300- car parking ramp and ground floor retail space The property sits just west of a $60 million expansion of Founders Brewing Co. and across Market Avenue from 19 acres of riverfront property used by city public works departments . The city-owned land is on the market as a prime site for future development. Project manager Dan Korcek said they are on schedule to complete the $44 mil...

Thousands of travelers are staying in rentals this summer booked on the popular site Airbnb , but the NBC4 I- Team found evidence of problems that some say spoiled their vacations. "We don't have a family vacation this summer because of Airbnb," Lisa Rozas told the I-Team. Last February, Rozas and her wife Sue Davis booked a beach house in Rhode Island for a July vacation with their 8-year-old twins, and received a message saying their "reservation is confirmed." But four months later, in June, the couple heard from the host of the house, who called himself Alan, that the rental was no longer available the week they booked it. They found he had rented it to another family for twice the price, a violation of Airbnb policy. "It was clear from the start that this guy wanted more money and that Airbnb was going to support him," Lisa Rozas told the I-Team. Airbnb says the vast majority of users of its site are satisfied with their bookings. But the I-Te...

Section of rendering by architect Stephen Jacobs . A proposed five-story mixed use building with 116 apartments and ground-floor restaurant and retail uses on East Main Street and McDermott Avenue won approval of the Riverhead Town Board Tuesday night . In a split 3-1 vote, the board approved a pair of resolutions that simultaneously dispensed with extended environmental review and approved a site plan and special permit for the “ Riverview Lofts ” project proposed by Georgica Green Ventures LLC of Jericho. The actions green-light the construction of the five-story building with 12,623 square feet of first- floor commercial space , 55 on- site parking spaces and four-stories consisting of 116 workforce rental apartments : 31 studio, 37 one-bedroom and 28 two-bedroom units. Councilman Tim Hubbard , without comment, cast the lone vote against both measures. Councilwoman Jodi Giglio , an owner of Summerwind Square — the first mixed-use apartment building built in the downtown dis...