Apartment City

With SoCal rents rising , developers are busy building apartment communities , particularly in Los Angeles. L.A. remains among the top 10 least affordable housing markets in the nation. Rents climbed to $2,054 in January, way above the national average . Ballooning home prices have made home-ownership more difficult, and in turn put downward pressure on apartment vacancy rates . Despite the issues with affordability and the growing amount of lifestyle supply, we expect continued strong demand . The pronounced need for housing has resulted in a construction boom, and there are no signs of slowing down. At this point, everyone is trying to get a slice of the action, buying and building along the way. According to Yardi Matrix data , these are the top 10 owners in the Los Angeles market , based on unit counts. 10. Aimco Palazzo East at Park La Brea Aimco, or Apartment Investment Management Co., is among the largest owners and operators of apartment communities in the United States. T...

Alyssa Mulliger Staff Writer @AMulligerSHJ Spartanburg native Tamela Lyles remembers the exact date she moved into unit No. 310 at Oakview Apartments in the city’s Northside neighborhood. It was Jan. 23, 2004, and she was 19 years old. Lyles lived in the 800-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment with her three children. The family experienced good and bad times at Oakview, keeping mostly to themselves except for associating with some residents a few doors down, Lyles said. Oakview's residents are gone now — the city began demolishing the units last week to make way for the new Dr. T.K. Gregg Community Center . While some former residents say the apartments provided a needed home, they also say moving has brought welcome changes and opened up a new life to them. Built in the late 1940s and early 1950s along Howard Street, the federally subsidized, low- income apartments lacked central air conditioning and had tiled floors and cinder block walls . Over the ...

The more than three dozen people who live in tents under the Lake Shore Drive bridges at Wilson and Lawrence avenues know better than anyone that the structures need repair. Concrete from the Depression-era bridges is crumbling onto the sidewalks and streets below, posing a deadly hazard to tent-dwellers, as well as motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. So it may seem strange that a homeless advocacy group might sue the city to stop bridge repairs before they start in mid-September. But attorneys for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless want to stop the city's plans to put bike paths on the wide sidewalks under the bridges, which the coalition said would permanently drive the homeless out. "If they put the bike paths in, we ain't going to have room for our tents," said Thomas Gordon, 58, who lives under the Lawrence bridge. The sidewalks can currently accommodate both tents and pedestrians — bike paths would cut the space. The dilemma highlights two local tren...

Damonte Ranch area is a sign of the city's need for housing in Reno, Nev. The recent influx of new workers combined with near-zero residential development during the recession gave birth to a classic supply-and-demand scenario that saw the cost of housing skyrocket in the Biggest Little City." title="In this March 24, 2017 photo shows a new apartment complex in the Damonte Ranch area is a sign of the city's need for housing in Reno, Nev. The recent influx of new workers combined with near-zero residential development during the recession gave birth to a classic supply-and-demand scenario that saw the cost of housing skyrocket in the Biggest Little City." src="src" /> In this March 24, 2017 photo shows a new apartment complex in the Damonte Ranch area is a sign of the city's need for housing in Reno, Nev. The recent influx of new workers combined with near-zero residential development during the recession gave birth to a classic supply-a...

RENO, Nev. (AP) — It's a journey that most people eventually take. Fifteen years ago , Anne Carte decided to leave the familiar comforts of home and family to move out on her own. For Carte, who was 20 years old at the time, moving to the Biggest Little City from San Jose, California, represented an exciting and crucial juncture in her life. "I moved to Reno to grow up and be an adult," Carte said. The year 2002 had its fair share of memorable moments. That same year, "Star Wars: Episode II" debuted in theaters, Tiger Woods won the 66th Masters Tournament and "American Idol" premiered on television. One thing Carte specifically remembers was the cost of rent. Back then, the monthly rate for Carte's first studio in Sparks was only $495. For a young person who just moved out of home and landed an entry-level job at Target, an affordable place to stay was not a luxury. It was a b...