Construction Maison

Spokane Valley - based Central Valley School District has bought for $2.3 million the Broadway Square Apartments complex at 11910 E. Broadway, in Spokane Valley , and plans to demolish it to make room for the envisioned replacement of North Pines Middle School , says Ben Small, district superintendent . North Pines Middle School , which serves about 500 students, is located on 14.5 acres of adjacent land at 607 N. Pines Road. Small says the district bought the 2.4-acre, 50- unit apartment complex with funds from a $ 113 million bond measure , which voters approved in February 2015. The district anticipates including construction funding for the planned middle school relocation project in a future ballot measure that would go before voters in the spring of 2018, he says. Small says a district facilities assessment conducted in 2010 concluded North Pines Middle School should be replaced. “Its systems and structures...

When Amy Franklin, 30, bought her one-bedroom condominium in Arlington County’s Colonial Village seven years ago, she found the neighborhood’s pretty 1930s buildings and graceful expanses of lawn pleasingly familiar . “I was 23, just out of college, and it felt like a college campus,” she says. Other Colonial Village residents say the community, with more than 50 acres of red- brick buildings linked by paths that wind among plentiful trees and landscaped lawns, is “parklike,” “serene” and an “oasis” in Arlington’s busy and increasingly high-rise Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. “The location can’t be beat: It’s closer to downtown than parts of Northwest [Washington], and you can walk to two Metros,” says Bob Somers, 54, a government attorney who has lived there since 1992. “But what makes it so nice is the parklike setting. They would never build like that now.” As it turns out, people have always clamored to live in Colonial Village. The community was built as a rental complex by deve...

The proposed return of a neighborhood grocery in the Lower Garden District got stuck in a zoning quagmire Tuesday (Aug. 22) with nearby residents generally welcoming the idea of a corner store but divided over how much leeway to give developers. Liz and Robby Blum bought the former Zara's grocery at 2042 Prytania St. in 2015 for $614,000 and have been trying to bring it back as an upscale grocery including a total renovation of the building.  Zara's operated as a grocery with alcohol sales, in conflict with the underlying residential zoning of the property. The store stayed open with a legal grandfathered status as a commercial use.  But the new owners lost the so-called "legal non-conforming" status while renovating the store and the property shifted to a residential zoning. The grandfathered status can be lost when a property stays vacant for six months.  Nicole Webre, a consultant for the property owners, told the City Planning Commission on Tuesday that ...

Recent data shows that the average rent-to-salary ratio in Beijing is 58 percent. Some expats say they are not surprised because rent is expensive in Beijing. Photo: IC Helena Javitte, 28, from France has just moved into her new apartment in Xinyuan Xili in Chaoyang district. It is her third apartment in her four years in Beijing. For Javitte, who works at Sanlitun SOHO and commutes via scooter, a convenient location is the top priority, followed by the apartment and its price in that order. Her rent is about 40 percent of her wages, but she thinks it's worth the convenience. "I'm willing to spend more money than average on the apartment," she said. According to a recent report released by Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute, the average rent-to-income ratio in Beijing is as high as 58 percent, followed by Shenzhen, Guangdong Province with 54 percent, Sanya, Hainan Province with 48 percent and Shanghai with 48 percent. The figure has triggered discussions...

There comes a time for most San Diego couples when they get sick of renting and, for the Whites, it came around the 40th birthday mark . Shawna White, 40, spent countless hours researching a place she and her husband Nathan, 39, could afford that wouldn’t break the bank. In addition to getting away from the region’s explosive rent hikes , they saw a home as an investment. Eventually, the Navy couple landed in Otay Ranch on the eastern fringes of the county near the border with Mexico. They bought a new 1,504-square-foot townhouse for $378,000, around $200,000 less than what something similar would have cost them closer to downtown. “We were able to buy something new instead of an older home with issues,” she said. “This was a good buy.” More and more new homeowners are being drawn to Otay Ranch, the largest residential development in San Diego County history at 25,000 acres. After being hit hard in the housing crisis , it has reemerged as a viable option for homeownership in a cou...

How plunging oil prices are reversing fortunes across Texas. Read all the stories in this series. MIDLAND — Thousands have been laid off. Tax collections are plummeting. Many are on the brink of homelessness.   Rows of drilling rigs and white company trucks sit idle — there’s no telling for how long. And, yet, amid the worst oil bust in decades, the energy capital of West Texas hasn ’t slowed down much. Several oil companies have recently built  office complexes in the area, and drilling continues , albeit at a more sluggish pace. The city plans to build a new convention center, and construction of a municipal courthouse is underway. Several more hotels, apartment complexes and eateries are expected to open   this year, and a second H-E-B grocery store just came online . "For hire" signs are ample, road crews prolific . And people still complain about the traffic. “People from the outside come in expecting to see boarded-up windows, 'for sale' signs everywhere,...

Fieldstone residents demand rejection of 208-unit complex in their subdivision POST FALLS — Nearly 50 people attended Tuesday 's city council meeting , many to ask the city to reconsider a 208- unit apartment complex in the Fieldstone subdivision . “I am fairly certain I know why many of you are here tonight,” said Mayor Ron Jacobson at the beginning of the public comment period , adding he welcomed their input. “However, the council cannot act on the issue because it is not on the agenda.” Fieldstone resident Taj Wilkerson , who was elected to speak on behalf of the Save Our Subdivision organization, told the council his neighbors understand that change and growth in Post falls is inevitable, but they felt it is the council’s role to make sure growth is well thought out. “Many of the people who bought houses were led to believe that there would be no apartments,” he said, adding he didn’t believe the public was well notified before the developer was granted city permission to b...

click to enlarge Rob Donnelly Sporting a bandanna over a graying ponytail, Arthur Madeiros sat bare -chested on the northwest corner of Church and Main streets on August 16, holding a cardboard sign that read: "Homeless Anything helps." The 50-year-old Rutland man had arrived in Burlington a week earlier, just hours before a fight among three itinerant men turned violent in City Hall Park . Police said Conner Lucas was intoxicated when he stabbed two fellow homeless men — one in the hand, the other in the neck — on August 9. Within 24 hours, Madeiros had gotten a knife of his own, for protection. He has no plans to use it, he said, but, "Of course, I'm nervous." He's not alone. The stabbing incident was the second in the last five months involving homeless men in downtown Burlington . In March, Louis Fortier allegedly used a knife to kill 43-year-old Richard Medina on the corner of Church and Cherry streets — in broad daylight. In additi...

Cathy Czerniak, community development director for Lake Forest, has proposed calling 2017 "the year of the crane." "One morning when I looked at the skyline, I saw four different cranes piercing the skyline from the central business district ," Czerniak said. The Lake Forester recently spoke with Czerniak about the state of various ongoing construction projects in town. Lake Forest Hospital The hospital is still on target to open its outpatient clinics this fall with the rest of the almost $400 million hospital to open in the first quarter of 2018. Final work on the interior of the buildings is being completed, a temporary parking lot is being removed and the height of a berm on the south side of the property is being increased. Kelmscott Park (formerly Laurel and Western) Three apartment buildings with a total of 111 units are expected to open in January, February and March 2018. Pre-leasing of apartments is scheduled to start this October. One single family ho...