Construction Maison

The city of Bellefontaine and a local contractor plan to partner to save a more than 100-year-old building from demolition. The old post office, at the corner of West Chillicothe Avenue and South Detroit Street , was built in 1913 and has been vacant and locked up for decades, Bellefontaine Mayor Ben Stahler said. The post office moved across the street to a different building in the ’60s, he said, and the historic property was last used as a Mexican restaurant during the early ’90s. RELATED: Historic downtown Springfield building could become apartments “Really we couldn’t find anybody in our community that was even willing to have this building for a dollar because of the known expense that they would have to put into the building to bring it up to speed,” he said. It was slated to be demolished, he said, until someone came forward. Local contractor , Ron Coleman, said he was interested in saving the building. “They said it was going to come down,” Coleman said. “I was like, “No...

Lincoln Property Company , a national home and business real estate firm with 500 communities within its network, has seen the  traditional apartment search process go from word-of-mouth to mostly being driven by online reviews and social media. In other words, real estate has a lot in common with restaurants — and pretty much every business — in driving new customers. The real estate service company was struggling to manage all the customer reviews of its multi- family housing . As a result, its search rankings were slipping. Lincoln Property first tapped a reputation management company in 2012. While things improved, its strategy nevertheless suffered from a gap when it came to social media listening/responding and online presence management . Last year, Lincoln Property turned to Chatmeter, an online presence and reviews management platform . In a matter of weeks, Lincoln Property’s total review quantity rose 71 percent with a 277 percent increase in the number of reviews po...

AMLI 900 is 440-unit, 23- story apartment tower in the South Loop. First occupancy at AMLI 900 was in 2009. AMLI Residential was the developer of the property. Solomon Cordwell Buenz was the architecture firm and Walsh Construction was the general contractor. AMLI 900 was the first major Chicago high -rise to announce that it would be completely smoke-free. The apartments AMLI 900 offers 9 different floor plans of studio, 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments. Two- and 3-bedrooms have two baths. Floor plans and a near real- time availability check can be accessed online The apartments have a “soft loft” aesthetic, with 9- foot high concrete ceilings , floor-to-ceiling windows and exposed spiral ductwork . AMLI 900 has higher-level finishes than some of its competitors. All-electric kitchens have 42- inch kitchen cherry or maple cabinets and stainless steel and black appliance packages that include built-in microwaves. The open-plan kitchens have good counter space , islands with pendant...

You know your neighborhood is up for a remake when a developer wants to rename it. One is targeting a Bronx neighborhood for revitalizing, but locals worry it would displace those who live there now. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: When big money arrives in a poor neighborhood, lots of things change. We're exploring that issue in a summer series from the NPR Cities Project . (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: I was a part of the community. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: You need to move out. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Fix up these properties UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Revitalize the neighborhood. UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Support the community. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: I may not afford the rent. SHAPIRO: Today, part of the nation's biggest city has struggled to shake an image for a long time. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) KEITH JACKSON: That is a live picture and obviously a major fire in a large building in the South Bronx region of New York City. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 1977, game 2 of the...