News
TODAY’S DEALS: Connecticut Apartment Portfolio Fetches $75M, and Other Transactions
By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor, MHN and Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor, CPNMiddletown, Conn.–Chestnut Hill and Northwoods Apartments, two multifamily communities accounting for an aggregate 650 residences in Middletown, Conn., have just come under new ownership. Entities operating as Northwoods Apartment Associates L.L.C. and Chestnut Apartment Associates L.L.C. took the two Class A properties, located approximately 15 miles south of Hartford, off the hands of Middletown-Oxford L.P. and Connecticut Colony Associates L.P. in a transaction valued at $75 million. Carrying the address of 4 Town Colony Dr., Chestnut Hill features 314 units encompassed in seven three-story structures. The community was…
Sales Begin for Phase Two of Williamsburg Development
By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNew York–Sales have begun at Two Northside Piers, a new 30-story, 270-unit waterfront condominium community in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. The tower, which is being developed through a joint venture of Toll Brothers City Living, RD Management LLC and L&M Development Partners, and designed by FXFowle Architects, is the second phase of Northside Piers, the first new residential development at Williamsburg’s waterfront.The development of Northside Piers is the result of the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning of 2005. “The city started working with the local development and political communities and looked at rezoning for residential use because the industrial uses…
Multi-Housing Groups Regret House Rejection of $700B Bailout Package; Possibility of ‘Housing Depression’ Cited
By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor and Keat Foong, Executive EditorWashington, D.C.–Multi-housing groups regret the House’s rejection yesterday of the $700 billion package to provide the financial markets with much needed liquidity. While citizens across the nation appear so far to be opposed to what they see as the plan’s bailout of Wall Street, multi-housing observers come down on the side of passing the package in the interest of maintaining liquidity in the market. Jim Arbury, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC), echoed this sentiment. “It is unfortunate that the bailout package did…
Foreign Investment in US M-F Might Slow Down in Short Term Due to Wall St. Crisis
By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Some of the largest financial institutions in the United States have been merged, acquired or have filed for bankruptcy in the last couple of weeks. With yesterday’s rejection of the $700 billion bailout package, concern about availability of credit, which has already been scarce, has deepened further. While multifamily deals in the US continue to take place with the help of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD), how will the credit crisis that has ripple effects across the world impact foreign investment into the multifamily sector in…
Developer Expresses Concern Regarding Less Credit Availability in Industry; Says Apartment Market Already Softening
By Keat Foong, Executive Editor and Anu Kher, Online Editor Reno, Nev.—Like everyone else, multi-housing owners and developers are alarmed by yesterday’s plunge in the stock markets. “I am concerned,” said Bob Nielsen, president of multi-housing developer Shelter Properties Inc., and vice chairman and secretary of the board of the National Association of Home Builders. “The stock market is certainly an emotional gauge. It was Wall Street crying for help.” Nielsen said he is worried about the availability of financing, especially for new construction, for multi-housing. “Looking for credit is more difficult than it has been,” he said. He also…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Storm Surges
By Teresa O’Dea Hein, Managing EditorThe fallout from natural and man-made storms continues to swirl around us. Between the hurricanes and the continuing upheavals in the financial world, these truly are unsettled times. While I’d planned on writing about a different topic, yesterday’s historic plunge on Wall Street compelled me–and perhaps you, too?–to explore safe harbors and lifelines.In the past few weeks, we saw Hurricane Ike tear through Galveston and neighboring coastal communities before paralyzing Houston, the country’s fourth-largest city. The storm’s powerful remnants then swept north through the center of the U.S., causing floods and wind damage. Up to…
Property Management: Retaining Residents by Building a Sense of Community
By Daniel Babka, president, Rental Marketing SuccessThe top amenity desired by residents (according to recent studies by the National Multi-Housing Council and the National Apartment Association) isn’t a granite counter-top, six-panel doors and crown molding. It’s a sense of community: a feeling of belonging that cuts across luxury, A, B and C-grade properties.Yet once they sign that lease and plunk their money on the desk, most of those residents will fade into the woodwork and become background music. The smile they saw when you first greeted them, has been replaced with a blank stare or a glance in their direction…
Albanese’s Visionaire Awarded Grand Prize in N.Y. Green Building Competition
By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNew York–The Visionaire condominium and Battery Park Conservancy’s maintenance facility were selected as the grand prize winners of New York’s 2008 Green Building Competition, co-sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.Developed by Garden City, N.Y.-based The Albanese Organization and designed by Pelli Clark Pelli Architects, the 35-story Visionaire is home to the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that maintains the parks and open spaces of Battery Park City. The Battery Park Conservancy is located on the first floor of the…
TODAY’S DEALS: 15-Unit Rental Property Sells for Over $2M
By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor, MHN and Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor, CPN Los Angeles–Sperry Van Ness has completed the sale of a 15-unit Koreatown apartment community for $2,850,000. The property, located at 868 S. Kingsley Dr., is in the heart of Koreatown near the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue. Built in 1929, the 100 percent occupied property is comprised of six one-bedroom, one-bathroom units; three one-bedroom, one-bathroom units with lofts and six two-bedroom, two-bathroom units. Monthly rents range from $1,197 to $1,550. The seller invested approximately $400,000 on capital improvement including modernized kitchens, new flooring, fixtures, and numerous…
Energy-Efficient Top-Load Washers from Maytag
Maytag’s latest model of high-efficiency top-load washers and steam dryers, Bravos, is CEE Tier III energy qualified, offering the highest efficiency in the industry, delivering 70 percent water and 67 percent energy savings. Bravos offers the largest washer capacity at 4.7 cubic feet (IEC) and has a window in the lid.It includes a commercial-grade stainless steel wash basket that doesn’t chip, rust or stain, smooth balance hung suspension system with superior vibration control, double balancing rings to counter balance offbalance loads even during a 1,000-RPM spin, an impeller wash system with Sensi-Care technology, and the Gentle Breeze drying system with…