Apartment Look

By Daniel Barnett OVERLAND PARK, KS — Authorities are searching for what caused a fire at an apartment complex that took the life of two young children early Tuesday morning . Fire crews were called at about 2:30 a.m. to the Colonial Gardens Apartments , located in the 8800 block of Broadmoor Court. While on the way to the scene, units received reports of victims trapped in the complex and immediately called for a second alarm. Firefighters say a family was on the bottom floor of the apartment complex when the fire started. They say an infant and a seven-year-old were able to make it out but a three-year-old and a five-year-old were killed in the flames. The mother of the children was taken to an area hospital with minor burns. The children's father was seen walking around the area, distraught over the loss of his children. Two men were also badly burned and had to jump from a second story unit to escape the flames. They were taken to an area hospital to treat their burns and the...

KANE COUNTY, IL -- The fight continues over whether city officials in Batavia should move forward with the redevelopment of the historic Campana factory building . Those in support of the project contend the area needs housing for low-income workers and the 80- unit apartment complex would fill that need, the Kane County Chronicle reports . “By including affordable rental units in 80 percent of the Campana redevelopment project , approval of this project will help our communities meet the critical housing needs of our low-wage-earning, working citizens,” said Batavia resident Patti Lackman of the League. Those against the plan spoke up against whether apartments were the right fit for the historic building , the Daily Herald reports . "Why was a housing project ever proposed for the Campana building ? It's not suitable for human habitation," said Guy Prisco of Batavia. He cited the glass block windows and supports which would run down the center of the interior hallwa...

Two young children were killed and several others were injured when fire swept through their apartment building early Tuesday in Overland Park. The children’s mother and three men from another apartment were taken to the hospital for treatment of their injuries in the fire at Colonial Gardens Apartments , 8845 Broadmoor Court, according to Jason Rhodes, a spokesman for the Overland Park Fire Department . Two of the injured men reportedly jumped from the second floor to escape the blaze. Fire investigators are looking into whether there were working smoke alarms in the apartments. They have received conflicting reports , Rhodes said. The fire was reported shortly before 2:30 a.m. at the apartment complex. While firefighters were in route, there were reports of victims being trapped inside the burning building so a second alarm was called, Rhodes said. The first firefighters on the scene reported seeing heavy smoke and fire coming from the front and back of the two- story apartment b...

Take a ride on the 8M Metrobus line called Shirley -Duke.But don't expect to find any traces of the old Shirley-Duke -- the notorious, decaying crime- ridden apartment complex that was closed in the late '70s. This is now Foxchase of Alexandria. And, as the trendy Foxchase ads have promised for the past year, it offers "2,113 new leases on living." "That bus is one of the last things left with the Shirley-Duke name," said Leonard Skolnik, property manager of Foxchase, a development that could house 5,000 people, or 5 percent of Alexandria's population. "And I don't think there is anything we can do about that. Though we'd like to . . . ." It has been a year since the first tenants moved into the 87-acre property -- formerly the 200 buildings of the Shirley-Duke and Regina apartments -- between Duke Street and Shirley Highway in the west end of Alexandria. After renovating the interiors of all the buildings, adding balconies to al...

For more than two years, city inspectors have documented unsafe and squalid conditions at a weekly hotel near uptown that houses low-income families with children, the disabled and others with nowhere else to go. Inspectors found rooms with no heat or air conditioning , piles of garbage, bedbugs and broken windows among other problems at the Airport Parkway Inn and Suites. Former tenants and a neighboring business complain the building on Wilkinson Boulevard is a magnet for drugs and crime. Now, Charlotte officials are taking steps that could lead to the demolition of the hotel, a rare move the city has not taken in at least seven years against a lodging establishment. The building is part of a virtually unnoticed housing sector in Charlotte, where hundreds of people suffering from addiction and mental illness or simply with few other options depend on weekly hotel rooms for permanent shelter. While tenants avoid sleeping on the streets, they often stay in decrepit and vermin-in...