The 234 Apartment

When Bill de Blasio became mayor of New York City in 2014, he made no secret of his intent to place affordable housing at the center of his term. Not long after his election, he rolled out his Housing New York plan–a 10-year strategy to build or preserve around 200,000 affordable units across the city’s five boroughs. advertisement Affordable, when it comes to housing in New York, is a slippery term. Critics of de Blasio’s plan have pointed out that the majority of the units built or converted under Housing New York remain out of reach of low-income New Yorkers–those earning less than $43,000 per year. And while the plan has succeeded making a nearly 100,000 unit dent in the city’s 550,000 affordable-unit shortfall, the terms of the new unit’s affordability are ephemeral: The majority of the units created and preserved under the mayor’s plan are only regulated temporarily, often for as little as two decades. There is no guarantee that a unit designated as affordable today will remain...

“It’s kind of in my bloodline,” said Jack Barr. Contests, events & more from Tyee and select partners His great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all Freemasons. Barr followed in their footsteps, and is the president of the Vancouver Masonic Centre Association today . As political scientist Robert Putnam noted in his famous work Bowling Alone , community groups like the Freemasons have been declining for the last few decades. Religious groups like the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus, military groups like Legions, service clubs like Rotary and Kiwanis, even youth scouting groups and bowling leagues have seen participation plummet. Some longtime churches have also seen congregations shrink dramatically . Barr says freemasonry’s most recent heyday was the late-1960s and early-1970s. But the organizations are still around, and many own property. A number of groups are facing the question of what to do with their land and buildings as needs change, along with their abili...

BERKELEY, CA - Archstone, a leader in apartment investment and operations, today announced the start of construction on its first apartment community in Berkeley, Calif. The 94- unit apartment community , Archstone Berkeley on Addison, will be located at the corner of Third and Addison, just blocks from the Berkeley Marina and the San Francisco Bay . The apartment community ’s location offers easy access to a vast array of professional jobs, shopping destinations , dining options and public transportation. “Berkeley is an incredible city and an excellent fit for an Archstone apartment community . It is a highly desirable place to live, has limited land on which to build new housing and has a strong, diversified economy,” said Amir Massih, Archstone’s group vice president of development for the San Francisco Bay Area . “We’re excited about starting this project and look forward to providing an outstanding addition to the neighborhood and for our future residents.” ...

Victoria’s least- dense neighbourhood would become a little more crowded under a draft plan. Townhouses and small apartments along Fairfield Road, row houses throughout the community and secondary suites in duplexes and small-lot houses are all part of the mix in the draft Gonzales neighbourhood plan . Coun. Chris Coleman, council liaison to the neighbourhood, said the plan also includes recommendations regarding alternative transportation, parks, ecological preservation, small commercial centres and heritage areas. Coleman said the proposals for extra density might be contentious for some, and council will undoubtedly hear from those folks when it holds a public meeting on the proposals this fall. “But I think the expectation in the [ Official Community Plan ] is that we would see increased density in all neighbourhoods,” he said. City staff note that with about five per cent of the city’s population — 4,175 resident...

Summit Ridge luxury apartment development on River Road in Allentown" alt="Construction has resumed at the Summit Ridge luxury apartment development on River Road in Allentown" /> Construction has resumed at the Summit Ridge luxury apartment development … (MICHAEL KUBEL, THE MORNING…) April 30, 2013 | By Peter Hall, Of The Morning Call Nearly three years after construction stalled at the Summit Ridge Apartments on Allentown's east side, a New Jersey real estate firm has picked up where the project's bankrupt developer left off. After foreclosing on the property and winning an $8.3 million verdict in Lehigh County Court , Diversified Realty Associates of Summit, N.J., aims to complete the luxury apartment buildings by the end of the year. The project's hiatus, which left some residents living amid an abandoned construction site , was the result of former developer David Connolly 's financial meltdown that led federal prosecutors to charge him l...

In March of 2016, having recently been let go from the Cleveland Browns due in part to truancy and public drug use, Johnny Manziel applied to live in an apartment. The property manager who processed his application was at first delighted that she would have the opportunity to rent to the Heisman Trophy recipient from Texas A&M. But she was quickly disheartened when she realized that, due to a criminal background screening policy that she had helped create which immediately disqualified applicants who had been arrested for or charged with a crime, she could not rent to Johnny Football. His criminal background check revealed that he had been arrested for domestic violence three months prior. But since she was a fan, and because it was her personal opinion that he was innocent, she successfully lobbied her building’s ownership to restructure their screening policy to disregard arrests, and only screen for convictions (using the logic that arrests are not proof of wrongdoing). ...

OAK BROOK, Ill.--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- Inland Real Estate Acquisitions , Inc. announced today that it negotiated and helped close the purchase of Black Feather Apartment Homes , an 83- unit multifamily property located in Castle Rock, Colorado, a southern suburb of Denver. Matthew Tice, senior vice president of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions, Inc., facilitated the transaction, with assistance from David Neboyskey, assistant vice president and associate counsel of The Inland Real Estate Group , LLC, Law Department, on behalf of an Inland affiliate . Located directly off I-25 in a major retail corridor of Castle Rock, the property was recently constructed in 2016 and features a mix of townhome, three-story walk-up apartments and owned condominium units . The transaction consisted of 48 two-bedroom, 32 three-bedroom and three four-bedroom apartments with 49 detached and 28 attached garages and 131 open parking spaces. Each unit at Black Feather Apartment Homes features nine-foot cei...

Ocean Walk Apartments in Key West, Fla., features a clubhouse, swimming pool with a sundeck, tennis courts and a basketball court." /> Ocean Walk Apartments in Key West, Fla., features a clubhouse, swimming pool with a sundeck, tennis courts and a basketball court. KEY WEST, FLA. — Passco Cos., an Irvine, Calif.- based multifamily investment firm , has acquired Ocean Walk Apartments , a 297- unit multifamily community located at 3900 S. Roosevelt Blvd. in Key West, for $101.5 million. Hampton Beebe of ARA Newmark brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller, a partnership between Mast Capital and Rockpoint Group, and the buyer. Chris Black and Caleb Marten of KeyBank Real Estate Capital arranged acquisition financing for Passco through Fannie Mae. The property features a clubhouse, swimming pool with a sundeck, tennis courts and a basketball court. Prior to Passco’s acquisition, the majority of the unit interiors of Ocean Walk Apartments were renovated with granite c...

A wealthy Orange County investor has acquired Brookstone Apartment Homes in Buena Park for $38 million. Patrick Cadigan , the former chief executive of Electronic Engineering Co. of California, bought the 184-unit community at 7400 Artesia Blvd. from L&B Realty Advisors , a Dallas- based investment firm with real estate holdings across the country. Built in 1977, Brookstone consists of 112 one-bedroom and 72 two-bedroom units across 17 two-story buildings. The property features a pool and spa, a fitness center and covered parking. Carl Greenwood , general partner of real estate investment firm Greenwood & McKenzie, said Cadigan liked the quality of the recently renovated complex . “There’s a shortage of supply of good apartment complexes for sale,” he said. Cadigan, who made headlines last year when he pledged to donate $27 million to a pair of schools in Boston, is one of the county’s largest real estate investors . He owns nearly 1, 800 apartment units across 11 comple...

T wo weeks ago, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge handed down a decision designed to strike fear in the hearts of landlords. Justice James d’Auguste ordered that an independent receiver be appointed to manage two Midtown residential buildings where the landlords allegedly allowed illegal Airbnb rentals to occur. The case, which began when the city sued the landlords in February 2015, has become one of the battlegrounds in a larger war between city enforcement agencies and short- term rental sites like Airbnb. Airbnb, which was recently valued at $31 billion, refuses to release the exact addresses of hosts who break the law by renting their entire apartment for less than 30 days without being present. Without the addresses and names of Airbnb violators , the city mostly targets the owners of buildings that rack up the most illegal hotel complaints from 311 calls and the New York City Department of Buildings. “This entire model—and it was intentional [by the city]—is complaint-drive...