The 234 Apartment

WASHINGTON — Homebuilders pulled back sharply on construction of apartment complexes in July, causing housing starts to tumble to a three-month low. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that housing starts fell 4 .8 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million. Groundbreakings for multi- family buildings such as apartments slumped 17.1 percent, while single- family house construction slipped 0 .5 percent. Home construction has increased 2.4 percent year-to-date, but the gains have done little to offset the dwindling number of homes listed for sale. The shortage of properties for sale has pushed prices up at a faster pace than income growth, making home ownership less affordable for many would-be buyers. Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities , said that because of the lack of homes on the market "builders are attempting to meet that need but are hamstrung to a degree by shortages of skilled workers" and land restrictions...

DEVELOPMENT Apartment tower in Bay Village wins approval An apartment tower in Boston’s Bay Village neighborhood cleared a key hurdle this week when it was approved by the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals. Despite concern from some residents that the 199-foot building was out of scale with the low- slung brick neighborhood behind it, ZBA members voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the project. Transom Development wants to put 133 apartments on what’s now a surface parking lot and empty lot alongside the Revere Hotel. They hope to start construction in spring of 2018. — TIM LOGAN TRANSPORTATION Peter Pan reaches settlement in disabilities discrimination case A Massachusetts bus company accused of discriminating against passengers with disabilities has reached a settlement with federal prosecutors that resolves the allegations. The US attorney’s office in Boston said Wednesday that Peter Pan Bus Lines Inc. violated federal law by failing to ensure its motor coaches were access...

Copyright © 2015 Albuquerque Journal Platinum Apartments construction project employs a 60-foot- high building crane to lift prefabricated framing panels into place. Building cranes on an urban skyline are a common sign that a city is experiencing redevelopment. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)" width="265" height="400" /> The Platinum Apartments construction project employs a 60-foot- high building crane to lift prefabricated framing panels into place. Building cranes on an urban skyline are a common sign that a city is experiencing redevelopment. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Optimism was in the air in early 2007 when preliminary plans got underway for a four- story housing project a block south of Central Avenue at the east end of Nob Hill. “Over the next decade, you’re going to see the entire landscape in that area change,” Chicago- based developer Rick Goldman told the Journal in an article from February of that year. Go...