Regions

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorSt. Paul, Minn.–CommonBond Communities announces that Kelly Matter, former vice president of mission services for Goodwill/Easter Seals, has been named vice president of advantage services at the organization. CommonBond is a nonprofit affordable housing developer, manager and service provider in the Upper Midwest. “Kelly Matter provides the leadership and vision to sustain and strengthen the CommonBond ‘more-than-housing’ model of community development,” says Paul Fate, president and CEO, CommonBond Communities. “The department she manages serves the varied needs of the resident population, which includes seniors, families and people with special needs.” CommonBond residents, on average, earn less…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorWashington, D.C.–In an effort to accelerate the process of awarding grants to state and local governments, non-profit organizations and other community-based applicants, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently launched a new streamlined funding process.HUD will now announce funding notices on a program-by-program basis, which is expected to speed up the application process for prospective grantees that would otherwise be required to wait for the publication of HUD’s comprehensive funding notice.”This new process is intended to make certain HUD grants are awarded in a much more timely and efficient manner,” says HUD…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNewark, N.J. — Despite a slowing economic cycle and troubles in the current housing market, TreeTop Development is reporting significant sales milestones at its two luxury condominium buildings in the historic Hudson County City of Hoboken, N.J.The developer has recently completed its sales and marketing program at Ariel Square (pictured), a collection of 21 residences in a four-story building at the corner of Jackson and Fifth Streets.  “Economic concerns and a lack in consumer confidence have been the main contributors to the decline in sales for luxury condominiums in housing markets throughout the country,” says…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News Editor MHN and Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor, CPNAtlanta–In its third quarter earnings report issued last month, Post Properties Inc. noted that it would sell six assets with the hope of pocketing approximately $360 million. With the latest disposition of Post Lenox Park (pictured) in Atlanta, the company has one down, five more to go.Post Properties sold the 206-unit apartment community to an entity formed by Greensboro, N.C.-headquartered Steven D. Bell & Co. for $22.7 million. Developed in 1995, Post Lenox Park is a Class A, garden-style multifamily property located at 100 Lenox Park Circle in Atlanta’s…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorChicago–The Regatta, a 44-story, 325-unit condominium project located at 420 E. Waterside Dr. in Chicago, recently won a Design Excellence Award from the Association of Licensed Architects (ALA) and the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) and The Chandler (pictured), a 35-story, 304-unit condo project also located at the same address, received the SARA Award.The two condominium towers are part of Lakeshore East, and were designed by DeStefano Partners along with Loewenberg Architects LLC.In all, DeStefano Partners was the winner of 10 design awards, topped by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Chicago Chapter’s prestigious…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–Sales have started for The Fairchild (pictured), a new project featuring 21 custom built town homes, penthouses and lofts designed by David Howell, and located at Manhattan’s TriBeCa North Historic District at 55 Vestry St.  The nine-story doorman building features two-, three- and four-bedroom residences with 22-ft. high ceilings. Prices for the units range from $1.965 million to $8.995 million, with floor plans including up to three baths and spanning from 1,350 to 2,835 sq. ft. It also includes three oversized triplex town homes with private street-level entrances. Select residences also feature spacious terraces…

New York–Data through October 2008, released this week by Standard & Poor’s, shows continued broad-based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States, with 14 of the 20 metro areas showing record rates of annual decline and 14 now reporting declines in excess of 10 percent versus October 2007.”The bear market continues; home prices are back to their March 2004 levels,” says David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “Both composite indices and 14 of the 20 metro areas are reporting new record rates of decline. As of October 2008,…

By Keat Foong, Executive EditorTucson, Ariz.–The Phoenix, Ariz.-based Hendricks & Partners represented Equity Residential in the sale of Skyline Gateway Apartments for $18.4 million. The property is situated in an A+ location, at 4601 East Skyline Drive here at the top of the Santa Catalina Foothills. It is close to upscale shopping, restaurants, hotels and golf courses. The property features one-bedroom and two-bedroom units in six spacious floor plans. Each unit is equipped with air conditioning, ceiling fans, dishwashers, disposals, frost-free refrigerators and a private balcony or patio. Cable television is available. Some units include fireplaces, stacked or full-sized washers…

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorMinneapolis–The Minneapolis/St. Paul office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker (Colliers) has completed the sale of Uptown City Apartments (pictured) to Invesco Real Estate, for $30,085,000.Uptown City Apartments features two mixed-use buildings located at 714 and 1220 West Lake St. in Minneapolis’ uptown neighborhood. The buildings include 163 apartment units, 4,000-sq. ft. of retail space, and 222 enclosed parking spaces, including a 59-unit public parking garage. Uptown City Apartments was the first true Class A, urban infill, multifamily property to come to market in Minneapolis in 10 years.Hendricks & Partners Arranges Sale of  23-Unit Community for…

By Erika Schnitzer, Associate EditorHaverhill, Mass.–Forest City Enterprises Inc. recently celebrated the opening of the first building at Hamel Mill Lofts, a 305-unit adaptive reuse project in Haverhill, Mass. The community is comprised of three mid-rise buildings, two of which are masonry and the third, brick.Located in an old mill town about 25 miles north of Boston, Hamel Mill Lofts was formerly a leather-tanning factory, says David Levey, executive vice president of East Coast development at Forest City Residential Group and the senior developer on the project. “It keeps with the Forest City philosophy of sustainability and adaptive reuse, when…