Apartment Look

A new Kroger supermarket on the edge of Dallas' Arts District will offer more than groceries. The supermarket chain plans for its new store to be part of a mixed-use development that includes hundreds of new apartments. Kroger last year purchased a block of land on Hall Street between Ross Avenue and North Central Expressway . It's just across the highway from downtown and in an area that's seeing rapid redevelopment. Early this year Kroger filed plans with the City of Dallas to build just a supermarket and surface parking on the site. But now the grocery giant has teamed up with a local apartment builder and wants to include 375 apartments with the project. The development designed by Dallas architect GFF would have four stories of rental units on top of a 2- level Kroger store , plans for the project show. Dallas- based apartment builder Trinsic Residential Group would build the rental units on top of the grocery store and parking garage at Hall and Flora streets. ...

When it comes to condominium development , Cascadia’s two largest cities couldn ’t be more different. Last year nearly 60 percent of new housing starts in the city of Vancouver, BC , were condominiums; meanwhile, Seattle saw no new condominium buildings open . And that’s not changing anytime soon: less than 10 percent of all building slated for downtown Seattle in the next three years will be condos. What’s the difference—why the blossoming of condominium construction in one city and the almost complete dearth in the other? The short answer is economics. In Vancouver, apartments are saddled with an unfavorable tax code , making condos the more lucrative multi- family housing investment even despite high rental demand . In Seattle’s skyrocketing rental market , one that’s climbed even faster than the condo market in recent years, apartment buildings are much more financially attractive, while condos come with bigger risks and, typically, lower returns. Compounding this profit differe...

A controversial North Baltimore apartment project cleared its final hurdle when Mayor Catherine Pugh ratified its designation as a planned unit development . Developer Blue Ocean can start work on the roughly $40 million Overlook at Roland Park. The Baltimore- based developer plans a six-story, 148- unit luxury apartment building on the wooded 12-acre parcel near the intersection of Falls Road and Northern Parkway in North Roland Park . The project faced significant opposition from some residents in North Roland Park concerned about increased traffic, despite receiving the support of two neighborhood associations. Blue Ocean has agreed to preserve more than half the site for forest conservation or green space. The project includes a parking garage, swimming pool, fitness center, media room and an indoor sports court . Blue Ocean President Jonathan Ehrenfeld said the project will be the area’s first new apartment community in several decades. A timeline for the start of constr...

When Mayor de Blasio held a press conference in May 2014 to debut his new affordable housing plan , his full- color presentation touted a project called Spring Creek in Brooklyn. Spring Creek was flagged as a “case study” partnership between the city and developers to “create a strong, vibrant and self-sustaining neighborhood.” But on Friday, the bulk of that project remained a big, ugly vacant field of weeds and abandoned roadway in East New York. More than 1,500 of 1, 803 planned affordable units are now in a bureaucratic Twilight Zone — and may become less affordable as a result. “There is no progress from the progressive mayor ,” said the Rev. David Brawley, a leader of East Brooklyn Congregations , one of the groups sponsoring Spring Creek . Brawley said the delays to Spring Creek caused by the de Blasio administration are particularly ironic given that the mayor cited the project in his promise to build or preserve 200, 00...

Demolition begins this week on a downtown San Pedro block that will be transformed into a seven- story apartment building that many hope will boost patronage for area shops, restaurants and the waterfront now beginning to take shape. Officials will mark the start of demolition at an informal groundbreaking at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at 550-560 S. Palos Verdes St . A more formal ceremony will be held in the coming weeks, according to the developer. Demolition is expected to take about a month and construction of the new 375-unit building should be complete in about three years, with the opening anticipated for 2020. It’s one of several residential developments planned to be built in and around the downtown San Pedro area over the next few years. Originally under the hands of Omninet Capital, the project was sold to Holland Partner Group in June for $24.5 million. Holland also is in exclusive negotiations to redevelop San Pedro ’s closed county courthouse just blocks away. Fewer, bigger...

Developers this week signaled their formal intent to replace a parking lot next to the Mattapan Square trolley station with a two-building, 144-unit mixed- income development . In a letter to the BPDA, Preservation of Affordable Housing and Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp ., said the bulk of the $57-million project would be in one six- story building housing housing 135 apartments , from studios to three-bedrooms, with a mix of affordable and market-rate units.. A second, four- story building , planned for latter in development, would house nine condos. The two groups won development rights to the 2.6-acre parcel, which runs along River Street near the Mattapan High-Speed Line, from the MBTA. The project includes 50 parking spaces for T riders - and 70 for project residents - in an underground garage. By submitting the letter, they indicated they would file more detailed plans within two months. Letter of intent (973k PDF).

City Council considered on Tuesday is a 200-unit multi- family apartment complex (shown with a green border) near the intersection of Willow Lake Road and Highway 89; it’s currently the Dells View Mobile Home Park ." /> Photo by Tim Wiederaenders. One of the housing projects that the City Council considered on Tuesday is a 200-unit multi- family apartment complex (shown with a green border) near the intersection of Willow Lake Road and Highway 89; it’s currently the Dells View Mobile Home Park . PRESCOTT – Traffic concerns dominated much of the discussion this week on a 200- unit apartment complex planned near the Willow Lake Road / Prescott Lakes Parkway intersection. Several residents voiced worries at the Tuesday, Sept. 13, Prescott City Council meeting that Prescott Lakes Villas , a seven- building apartment complex planned at 2051 Willow Lake Road , would increase traffic congestion on Willow Lake Road – especially at the busy interse...

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...