Apartment Look

Developer National Resources has for several years been studying different office, retail and residential schemes for an underused corporate campus designed in the 1960s for International Business Machines Corp. in East Fishkill, N.Y. But now, as National Resources moves to close on a deal to buy a 300-acre site, the Greenwich, Conn.- based developer is recognizing that housing has got to be a central component of the plan. Firm principals Lynne Ward and Joseph Cotter recognize low rents are the best way to lure millennials and others away from New York City, about a 90-minute drive away. National Resources is paying an undisclosed price for the land from California- based semiconductor company Globalfoundries , which purchased IBM’s semiconductor business in 2015 and still runs a slimmed down operation at the East Fishkill site that employs around 1,700 workers. Related Articles Over the next five years National Resources plans to introduce efficiently sized apartments cu...

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...

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...