By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPune, INDIA–In a country where green building is still in the early stages of development, Gustad Irani and his partner, Yumi Doi, both senior fellows at the at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Ariz. and owners of the company, Organic Design Workshop, have just finished creating the first eco-friendly luxury condominium and town home project there. Palash 2.0 is located in Pune, a city in the western region of India where many IT companies are headquartered.When complete in 2009, the eight-acre, seven-building project will include a 22-story condo tower, town homes…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorPhiladelphia–The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) recently launched PolicyMap, an online mapping tool that empowers decision makers with access to market and demographic data.PolicyMap offers simple and quick access to a wealth of data for anyone who needs it. “In the Internet age, the data that is available can be overwhelming,” says Jeremy Nowak, president of TRF, a not-for-profit financier of neighborhood revitalization. “It is often dispersed across a multitude of sites and can be difficult and time consuming to decipher. With PolicyMap, we have an interactive mapping tool that brings thousands of indicators to your fingertips….

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–Edward Norton, actor, director, producer and Enterprise Community Partners trustee, recently testified before the United States House of Representatives select committee on energy independence and global warming.Norton, who is an activist for environmental and affordable housing issues, called on Congress to make a national commitment to bring home the benefits of green building practices to low-income families in their homes a part of comprehensive efforts to fight global warming.“Green and affordable must be one and the same and we need a national commitment,” said Norton, whose grandfather, James Rouse is the Co-founder of Enterprise…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Glory Capital recently acquired seven apartment buildings in the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, for $18.3 million.Fort Greene is known for its historic, prewar buildings and the multitude of restaurant options along Fulton Street and DeKalb Avenue. Fort Green stretches from Park to Atlantic avenues, between Flatbush and Franklin avenues. Vanderbilt Avenue divides Fort Greene to the west and Clinton Hill to the east. According to Martin Ben-Dayan, director at Glory Capital, rents in the acquired properties are roughly 60 percent below current market value. “This transaction continues Glory Capital’s transition from…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNewton Square, Penn.–Balfour Beatty, a London-based international engineering, construction, investment and services group, recently acquired GMH Military Housing, the former military housing division of GMH Communities Trust, for $350.5 million.The military housing business of the company will now be managed under Balfour Beatty Communities, and will continue providing military housing. The entire executive management team, as well as existing corporate and project-level military housing employees, will remain part of the new company.Balfour Beatty Communities, based in Newton Square, Penn., maintains interests, primarily through joint ventures with the Department of Defense, in 12 military housing projects…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWilmington, N.C.–New York Hatters, Plantation Building Corp’s eighth and most recent project in Wilmington, N.C. is now complete. The three-story condominium project, located at 105 Grace St. in downtown Wilmington, features nine residential units and 1,600 sq. ft. of commercial space.The property is an infill development that used to be a dry cleaning and hat shop in the 1920s. The founder of that business immigrated to the U.S. and first landed in New York so he named the building New York Dry Cleaners and Hatters, from which the new development gets its name. The old…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAs executive director of Community Housing Innovations (CHI), Alexander Roberts has overseen the acquisition of 500 houses and apartments in Westchester, Ulster, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, with a budget of $15 million a year. Roberts founded CHI in 1991, after spending nearly 20 years as a television news correspondent. After covering the welfare hotel scandals in the late-80s in New York City, Roberts decided to leave broadcasting for affordable housing development and human services.Roberts tells MHN about the challenges of affordable housing and provides tips to those thinking about investing in or developing affordable housing.MHN:…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorLos Angeles–The Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, a partnership of Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and retired basketball player, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, recently closed its $1 billion Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund III.The third fund, which is more than the $900 million combined equity of the two predecessor funds, will facilitate more than $4 billion in new development and urban revitalization in the top 40 U.S. metropolitan markets.The fund’s focus is to identify and capture value through the development, redevelopment, acquisition and repositioning of real estate properties located in densely populated, ethnically diverse neighborhoods.Fund III received commitments from a broad…

By Anuradha Kher, Online EditorColumbia, Md.–Enterprise and its national Green Communities partners were recently honored with the “Bridge Builders” Award, given in recognition of their joint efforts toward creating and preserving environmentally sustainable affordable housing.Partners for Livable Communities, a nonprofit leadership organization working to improve the livability of communities by promoting quality of life, economic development and social equity, presented the award at its 10th Annual Bridge Builders Awards program and dinner in Washington, D.C last week.  The Bridge Builders Award honors individuals and institutions that build bridges of understanding and cooperation across social, economic, regional and racial divides to…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorMissouri City, Texas–In a joint venture with Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Red Group LLC, and Seattle, Wash.-based Leisure Care, Opus West Corp. recently broke ground on a mixed-use project to be built on 24.7 acres in the Houston suburb of Missouri City, Texas.The Colonial Lakes Village project includes a 222-unit independent senior living community on 8.1 acres, called The Reserve at Colonial Lakes, as well as 50,000 square feet of office condo space, 5.2 acres of retail pad sites and 20,000 sq. ft. of retail space. The project is located at the northwest corner of State Highway…