Regions

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorHouston–Habitat for Humanity Northwest Harris County and Azorim, a Boymelgreen Holdings development company, have partnered to deconstruct the office building and low-rise commercial structures located at San Felipe Street and Woodway Drive, in Houston’s Memorial Villages area. In its place, Azorim will build a 223-unit LEED certified condominium project, which is expected to be ready in spring 2011.The luxury residential development, currently unnamed, is expected to break ground in July 2008, will consist of two 28-story curvilinear towers designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects. Construction cost for project is estimated to be $180 million. Deconstruction is…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWest Orange, N.J.–The township of West Orange, N.J. Mayor John McKeon and redeveloper Prism Capital Partners recently unveiled Phase I of Edison Village, New Jersey’s largest non-waterfront adaptive reuse mixed-use project, at an event attended by more than 250 guests, including former N.J. Governor Richard Codey.Edison Village is situated on 21 acres in West Orange Township’s downtown redevelopment area and will cost approximately $230 million to develop. The project’s master plan, designed by Barton Partners, includes approximately 620 residential housing units, new retail construction and a 630-space parking facility.Phase I of the project includes the…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorPhiladelphia–The Falcone Group, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based company specializing in real estate, telecommunications and financial industries, is making history with the redevelopment of Two Liberty Place. The building–the second-tallest in Philadelphia–will now become the tallest residential building in the city, and will also afford people the opportunity to live above William Penn’s hat, the landmark situated on top of City Hall. “The lowest residential floor is higher than any condominium that exists in Philadelphia today,” says Albo Antenucci, Jr., managing partner and executive vice president of The Falcone Group. Because this was originally an office building,…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorVernon Hills, Ill.–Opus North Corp., a Rosemont, Ill.-based division within The Opus Group, a Minneapolis-based full-service real estate development company, has begun its first move-ins at Port Clinton Place.Located along the Milwaukee Ave. corridor, Port Clinton Place, consists of 66 condominiums and four rowhome buildings with 20 units. It is a residential component of a 20-acre redevelopment plan, which includes Vernon Hills Town Center, a proposed mixed-use development comprising retail and dining space. Additional units will be available at a later date in a second condominium building.”Milwaukee Avenue has always been associated with the area’s well-known…

Washington, D.C.–As the start of the spring sales season kicked off, new home sales hit their lowest level in more than 16 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.The median year-to-year new home price dropped by the biggest amount in nearly four decades, according to the New York Times. In March, sales of new homes fell by 8.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units–the slowest sales pace since 1991.Median home price declined by 13.3 percent from a year ago–the largest annual price drop since July 1970, when prices fell 14.6 percent.

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorWichita, Kan.–Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidy of Uniondale, N.Y.-based Arbor Commercial Mortgage LLC, recently funded two loans to refinance two Wichita, Kan. properties totaling 182 residences, Stratford East and Stratford West.The two 10-year loans, which totaled $4,100,000 under the Fannie Mae DUS 3MaxExpress product lines, are on a 30-year repayment schedule and have a note rate of 5.85 percent. “Arbor provided a loan to refinance the existing debt in conjunction with a restructuring of the ownership entity. We had a very short time frame due to some contractual deadlines related to the restructuring. Arbor…

London–U.K. bank mortgage approvals last month fell to their lowest point in more than a decade, according to the London-based British Bankers’ Association.The figures indicate how stricter lending is reducing housing market action, the Financial Times said. Lenders in the U.K. have become more stringent about issuing loans–and also have increased rates and taken away mortgage offers in the past month.BBA members approved 35,417 home purchase mortgages in March–the lowest amount since 1997. All forms of mortgages declined, including refinancings. Since February, the approval level had fallen 18 percent and was 46 percent lower than a year ago.

Seattle–Starbucks forecast lower fiscal second quarter earnings on Wednesday and said the weak housing market has reduced demand for its product, the Seattle Times said.Seattle-based Starbucks said earnings will probably decline to 15 cents a share, a drop from 19 cents last year.Full-year earnings per share were also forecast to be “somewhat lower” than 2007’s 87 cents a share.The coffee retailer’s revenue is predicted to increase 12 percent for the quarter. Its second quarter ended March 30; actual results are set for an April 30 release.CEO Howard Schultz said that the economy is having “a substantial impact on our performance,”…

Calabasas, Calif.–As the housing market continues to soften, two of the biggest U.S. homebuilders–Calabasas, Calif.-based Ryland Group Inc. and Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte Homes Inc.–announced quarterly losses this week, CNNMoney.com reports. Ryland and Pulte released their first-quarter results after the closing bell on Wednesday. Ryland posted a first quarter loss of $29.3 million, after a loss of $32.2 million last year. Pulte had a net loss of $696.1 million; in the same period last year, the company posted a net loss of $85.7 million. Revenues fell 23 percent to $1.4 billion in the first quarter compared to 2007.Ryland’s revenue for…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorNew York–According to Standard & Poor’s most recent results for the S&P/GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices (SPCREX), the apartment sector has reported an annual price gain of 5.8 percent from last January. However, from December to January, the growth rate was 0.6 percent.”While prices were up slightly for December to January, the momentum has slowed and will continue to do so,” David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, tells MHN. “I can’t tell whether we’re going to see prices flatten out of if there is a real risk of…