Construction Maison

Nova Classical Academy )" width="718" />(Courtesy of Nova Classical Academy ) Off West Seventh Street , a charter school and an apartment developer have bumped heads over building heights. By a vote of 6-0, the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday declined to side with Nova Classical Academy in a dispute over the height of a proposed apartment building at 763 Kay Ave. Chase Real Estate , which has opened two apartment buildings in the new Victoria Park neighborhood , has proposed a third building of four floors and 50 units. Nova, a K-12 charter school, recently appealed a decision of the planning commission, which allowed changes to the Victoria Park Master Plan to accommodate the proposed building height of up to 49.5 feet. The master plan had previously envisioned the site to someday host 13 townhomes with a maximum height of 40 feet. The Chase proposal , recently amended, calls for 50 apartments with a maximum building height of 45 feet. The structure heigh...

Roughly 220 children in lower-income families in Bloomington qualify for but do not have access to affordable pre- kindergarten education . In an effort to change this, Alex Crowley, director of the city’s Economic and Sustainable Development Department , said a state-sponsored initiative, On My Way Pre-K pilot program, which provides funding to programs serving 4-year-olds from families with household incomes at or below 127 percent of the federal poverty level , is coming to Monroe County next year, and it is estimated it can help about 50 children. That begs the question: What can the city and others do to make sure no children who are eligible for pre-kindergarten are left out? As part of that answer, the city is proposing investing $100,000 to support quality child care for lower-income families. “Every dollar initially invested in early education programs for children from low-income families is estimated to generate $4 to $11 in economic benefits over a child’s lifetime,” May...

CLOSE A quick history of how Asheville's "RAD" went from post-industrial grittiness to tourist haven. Joel Burgess/Citizen-Times The Stoneyard Apartments are proposed for 175 Lyman St. in the River Arts District . (Photo: Form & Function Architecture)   ASHEVILLE - Approval of a proposed $19 million River Arts District apartment complex has been delayed a second time after City Council concerns about high rent prices . The 133- unit Stoneyard Apartments were slated to be reviewed at Tuesday's council meeting, but Mayor Esther Manheimer asked that the public hearing be delayed to "a date uncertain." The council unanimously approved the change with no discussion. No one from the Saluda- based AltInvest development group spoke at the meeting. On Wednesday morning Sasha Vrtunksi , with the city's planning and urban design department , said the delay happened at the request of AltInvest. Chief developer David LaFave couldn 't be reached by text...

Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN) Aug. 24--A Logansport commission is planning to support a housing project in a downtown building with $160,000 and a five- year tax abatement . Bill Cuppy, executive director of the Cass- Logansport Economic Development Organization and Logansport- Cass County Chamber of Commerce, discussed the project at a Logansport Redevelopment Commission meeting on Wednesday. The project involves the Logan Square Building at Third Street and East Broadway. The vacant five- story building consists of about 45, 000 square feet and has a parking lot with about 75 spaces. Cuppy's presentation indicated Lafayette- based FRG Management is pursuing the project. The company bought the building in June and is willing to invest $3.2 million, Cuppy said. FRG Management wants to make the building's first floor mixed-use commercial, Cuppy continued, adding the firm is in talks to provide office space to a financial adviser and an attorney. Cuppy added the firs...

Kate Bramson Journal Staff Writer journalkate PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Delays by the South Street Landing developers to begin construction early this year on two apartment buildings on a nearby Davol Square parking lot have caused the City Council to consider issuing the project a notice of default. After the developer missed a Jan. 27 deadline to get all city construction permits , the council's Finance Committee voted this month to recommend to the City Council that the city issue a default notice to CV River House LLC , of San Diego, the entity that has planned to build the River House apartments . The default would be for missing a deadline in the project's city tax-stabilization agreement, which limits taxes owed over 15 years to about $3.3 million. The council is expected to consider the issue Thursday night . It could vote to issue the notice or send the matter back to committee. "In order to preserve our rights under the [tax-stabilization agreement], we have to...

LAKE FOREST — Developers interested in converting apartments into condominiums would face new hurdles under a proposal under consideration in Lake Forest. Last month the City Council discussed a new ordinance that would, in effect, preserve the stock of apartments in the city. The council is scheduled to go over it again Wednesday. The city has fewer than 20 major apartment complexes . “Our concern is the conversion of one apartment complex could potentially take out a large number of rental units,” said Gayle Ackerman, city development service director . Two years ago, the City Council placed a moratorium on the conversion of apartments into condos while the city worked toward a new ordinance regulating them. The moratorium expires on Aug. 18. The new proposed ordinance on condo conversions requires a number of standards that must be met, including a 6 percent apartment vacancy rate across the city. The city’s average vacancy rate is 4.3 percent and has not exceeded 5.5 percent i...

By Sydney.Smith@hollandsentinel.com 616-546-4219 A Grand Rapids developer wants the city of Holland to establish an industrial district in order to receive tax abatements on a speculative development. Brian Sikma, owner and developer at East 64th, LLC, a real estate and development company, submitted his application to Holland on Aug. 3. City council during its Wednesday, Aug. 16, meeting will accept the application for study. Sikma explained that the district will allow the company to ask for an abatement for a speculative 300, 000 square foot industrial facility at 374 E. 64th St. A tax abatement reduces the amount of property taxes an owner would pay. In order to get an abatement, the companies that use the facility need to meet state and local guidelines, Sikma said. “We’re asking for a district on this site so that in the future if we have the right company lease this they could get a tax abatement,” he said. In his application, Sikma estimated a $9.1 million cost fo...

RANCHO CUCAMONGA - The residents who had a seemingly endless list of complaints about their forgotten neighborhood might have shifted the City Council's attention to their woes, but they failed to halt a proposed affordable-housing project. After four hours of debate, the council voted unanimously late Wednesday to approve San Sevaine Villas , the 225 units of affordable apartments that Northtown Housing Corp . wants to build on the south side of Foothill Boulevard near East Avenue. Council members said Northtown has had a good reputation of building quality projects in the community and that affordable housing is desperately needed in order to accommodate families of all income levels. …

KNOXVILLE - Nearly two weeks after the death of a counter protester  at a  white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., activists in Tennessee are gearing up to protest and counterprotest the possible removal of a Fort Sanders monument . Rallies that are being billed by some as right wing or white supremacist are being planned for Knoxville, as well as in other locations like San Francisco and Berkeley, California. Confederate Monument Protest The City of Knoxville's communications and government relations director said the event is locally organized and that there are no indications yet that white supremacist groups from outside Knoxville will attend Saturday's rally. However, the Facebook event listing shows members of the newly reformed local white nationalist group Confederate 28 along with other members of local affiliate groups plan to protest Saturday . The majority of protesters unaffiliated with these groups have said they plan on protesting the removal on ...

Information meeting Marion Technical College will hold an information sessions for career certificate programs at 6 p.m. Monday at 1014 SW Seventh Road , Ocala. The sessions will focus on all of MTC’s 22 programs including a new barbering program set to start in October. Potential students will have the opportunity to meet staff and pick up and return applications. Call 671-4134. Book sale The Friends of the Villages Library will hold a book sale from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday at the Belvedere Branch of The Villages Public Library , 325 Belvedere Blvd., The Villages. The sale is “fill your own bag” and cash only. There will be more than 5,000 books to choose from. $2-$5. Email fol.villages@gmail.com or visit friendsvillageslibrary.com. City workshop An Ocala City Council workshop will be held at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in council chambers , second floor of City Hall, 110 SE Watula Ave ., Ocala. The workshop will provide an update on the Tuscawilla Cultural ...

FESTUS • A new senior housing development has been approved for Brandon Wallace Way in Truman Village here. The City Council on Wednesday night approved a request from Jamaican Folly LLC to change the plan for the 4.28-acre property from retail/office/commercial to residential. The development on the southeastern edge of the property would include 36 single-story apartments in six buildings. This development, proposed by Patrick Werner and John Anselmo, would be for senior citizens and similar in style to the Sand Hills Place apartment complex west of the site, said Matt Clemens, public works director . An attempt last year to put a 60- unit apartment complex on the opposite side of Truman Village was thwarted after residents complained it was supposed to be villas. No one spoke against the current plan at the public hearing before the council vote.

Ustler Development   and a joint venture partner will pay the city of Orlando more than $5.475 million for a 1.6-acre parcel in Creative Village  to develop market rate apartments with ground-floor retail, which will be the fourth or fifth building to rise in the downtown college campus after it opens in August 2019.  A Parcel M/ Lot 3 land contract will go before City Council on Monday for master developer  Creative Village Development, LLC , which Ustler is a lead figure in, to exercise its purchase option to acquire and develop parcels . It did this earlier in the summer with a JV partner on Parcel J, planned for a 15- story student housing tower . The 1.6-acre Parcel M lies at the southwest corner of Amelia Street and Terry Avenue, directly north of the student housing tower and west of the planned central park area . Ustler's JV partner on Parcel M is solidified but has not been publicly announced, said Craig Ustler, president of Ustler Development .  student housing tow...

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Latest on the Spain attacks (all times local): 5:15 a.m. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has asked people to pray for a young Australian boy who is missing after a vehicle attack on a popular Barcelona promenade that killed 13 people. Turnbull said Saturday that the boy's mother was badly injured and is in a hospital following Friday's attack at the Las Ramblas promenade . Turnbull says the boy's family is searching for him. He did not release the boy's name. Turnbull says: "All of us as parents know the anguish his father is going through, and his whole family is going through, as they rush to seek to find him in Barcelona." Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says four Australians were injured in the attack. ___ 2:35 a.m. Police in Catalonia say they have searched two buses in their hunt for violent extremists believed responsible for a pair of deadly attacks in the northwestern region of Spain. Police say o...