Luxury housing, even in New York CIty, can be designed and completed within a realistic construction budget, says architect Marvin Meltzer By Keat Foong, Executive Editor”More expensive” does not equal “better design,” says Marvin Meltzer, principal of Meltzer/Mandl Architects, P.C. (M2).  “You do not need expensive materials to make the project look great. It doesn’t [...]

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPlainview, N.Y.–Coinmach/ASI recently signed an exclusive distribution agreement with LG Electronics to provide LG laundry machines to its multi-housing customers across the United States.Coinmach/ASI laundry rooms, operating with LG’s new card and coin laundry systems, are expected to deliver greater efficiency and consume less water and energy than conventional washers.Coinmach/ASI [...]

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorSeattle–The first building in Seattle developed under the city’s new zoning code has topped out. Developed by Minneapolis-based Opus Northwest LLC, the 440-ft., 38-story Fifteen Twenty-One Second Avenue is comprised of 143 condos.The city’s new zoning code, adopted by the city council in April 2006, allows for residential buildings over 400 [...]

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAtlanta–After five months of actively pursuing a formal process to sell Post Properties Inc., the company has announced that it received no definitive acquisition proposals. All potential bidders have withdrawn from the sale process and, as a result, the Board of Directors has brought the process to an end. The [...]

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHouston–Gables Residential Trust has recently topped out Memorial Hills, a 286-unit rental project located at the intersection of Scott and Jackson Hill Streets in Houston.The eight-story infill project is spread across 2.2 acres of land and is surrounded by hills and several parks. It is expected to be complete in [...]

The Extreme Series from Applied Coatings Group’s Modono Collection of glass tiles features intense color combinations in a range of textures designed to bring a new option for architects, specifiers and designers. Extreme utilizes bright colors for an active installation where the colors move and change, based on the lighting.The series is available in eight [...]

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorSparks, Nev.–The Orange County office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) recently arranged a $29.5 million construction loan and $9.5 million joint venture equity for the development of Pioneer Meadows, a 300-unit Class A multifamily development to be built in Sparks, Nev. HFF Director Mark Erland worked on behalf of [...]

San Francisco–Tens of thousands of San Francisco homes and businesses could fall in the next large earthquake–a problem that building and city officials haven’t dealt with for decades, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A large number of the buildings in question are classic San Francisco apartment buildings, which contain a business on the first floor [...]

London–As borrowers face tighter lending restrictions, fewer homes will change hands in Britain this year, the Guardian reports.An overall lack of mortgage availability could keep potential buyers out of the market, driving prices down further.In fact, the mortgage decline could drag the number of transactions down to 750,000 for all of 2008–which would be almost [...]

Washington, D.C.–Recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation information is causing regulators to become concerned that, as home values plummet, small U.S. banks may have too high a concentration of real estate development loans, the Financial Times reports.Banks’ real estate development loan losses in the first quarter were more than 15 times the amount of losses in [...]