Apartment City

Kansas City Councilman Scott Wagner ’s drive to get a controversial housing measure before voters this year fell short on Thursday. Members of the city council’s Housing Committee put Wagner ’s ordinance seeking an inspection fee for rental units on hold, meaning the city will not meet a deadline to put a question on the November ballot. Wagner and officials from the Health Department had wanted to follow the lead of more than 50 cities around the nation and create a program whereby owners of rental properties would pay an annual fee. The city would use the money to hire inspectors, who would respond to complaints from tenants and neighbors about unsafe or unhealthy conditions. In response to complaints from property owners, Wagner dropped the proposed fee to $25 per building, with a higher re- inspection fee required of landlords who fail to correct problems. “That’s far less stringent than what we see in most areas around the country,” said Ruth Ann Norton , president of Ba...

Government loves to create winners and losers.  The Chad Mayes led Assembly Republicans , the seven of them, voted to force some companies to buy “credits” to stay in business—this is a tax increase.  Then they also said they prefer government transportation by making it more expensive to drive a car—Mayes and friends voted to raise gas taxes by 63 cents a gallon.  In zoning matters, government really likes to create winners and losers. “Facing down a record number of vacancies on State Street and a citywide backlog of building permit applications , the Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously this Tuesday to enact a six- month pilot program to improve and accelerate the review process for prospective commercial tenants along the downtown business corridor. Applicants for properties between Sola and Cabrillo streets, where more than 30 storefronts currently sit empty, will now be bumped to the front of the line at design review board hearings . Two members of the city’s ...

Downtown business owners and residents told the Portland City Council on Wednesday night that problems caused by aggressive panhandlers , mentally ill people and individuals under the influence of drugs or alcohol have reached crisis proportions , and that steps must be taken quickly to preserve the vibrant atmosphere that has made Maine’s largest city a popular destination for tourists and new businesses. Councilors said that although mental illness , substance abuse and homelessness have been problems in Portland since the state began closing mental health institutions in the 1980s – putting people with severe mental health issues on the streets – the city will need help from the community and the state to ensure that members of society’s most vulnerable population get the help and services they need. Many of those people come to Portland, which has developed a reputation for providing shelter and services to those in need. “We’ve heard some very powerful testimony tonight ,” s...

A week after Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the nation’s strictest earthquake laws mandating vulnerable buildings retrofit their facilities, Park La Brea apartments management held a Great ShakeOut event to help prepare residents for the possibility of “the Big One.” The Los Angeles Fire Department demonstrates a high- rise rescue drill of a trapped resident last week at Park La Brea ’s Tower 49. (photo by Gregory Cornfield) Although presenters all but guaranteed a big earthquake to hit the city within the next 30 years, they also helped ease fears . Cameron Barrett of MySafe:LA, displayed a poster for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s movie “San Andreas” that showed downtown Los Angeles splitting in half and falling apart. “That wouldn’t happen,” she said. “ Fault lines won ’t fall apart. [ Park La Brea ’s] Tower 49 won’t fall into a crevice.” My: SafeLA executive officer David Barrett said buildings in Los Angeles are stronger than most other cities in other countries. MySafe:LA held...

Redevelopment efforts to save an ailing Plano mall are underway as part of a planned $1 billion investment to convert the southeast Plano properties into a multi-use development with multifamily residential , retail and entertainment projects. Dreien Opportunity Partners is spearheading the project to revitalize the Collin Creek Mall , led by CEO Sam Ware. The same company purchased J.C. Penney’s campus in the booming Legacy business area earlier this year, where the Plano- based retail giant still leases office space . Ware confirmed he has acquired about half of the 100 acres he is eyeing at Collin Creek Mall , leaving him four more parcels left to purchase. The city is not part of the negotiations between property owners, said Peter Braster, director of special projects for the city. But developers could require the approval of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and Plano City Council to make way for some of the more ambitious plans, including those with multifamily re...

When a house inspection is due, Chris is worried about a lot more than cleaning.  The 25-year-old organises a friend to look after his dog, and hides any trace of his four-legged friend: food, water bowl, leashes and toys.  He is worried if his landlord finds out about the pooch, he could be kicked out of the house he shares with three friends in Melbourne’s inner south. Strict pet bans force renters to surrender their animals, RSPCA says." /> Strict pet bans force renters to surrender their animals, RSPCA says. Photo: Robert Peet Chris, who requested anonymity, said he struggled to find a pet-friendly rental. “The rental market is so tight now that even finding a house was hard enough,” he said.  Data suggests his experience is not uncommon. An analysis of rental listings has found just five per cent of properties are marketed as pet-friendly, despite more than 60 per cent of Australian households owning a pet.  Experts say the rental sector’s hardline stance towards pets...

On any summer weekend, Venice Beach is the ultimate urban beach carnival : exhilarating, loud, funky and diverse. No wonder Ocean Front Walk is one of the state’s premier attractions: It’s amazing entertainment and it’s 100% free. But unlike other tourist spots — say Disneyland or Universal CityWalk — Venice is still primarily a residential neighborhood . Because of that, Venice has become an epicenter of Los Angeles’ struggle over short-term rentals, what you might call the Airbnb Problem. To get a sense of it, I took what some local housing activists have dubbed a “Lost Housing” tour of Venice on Saturday afternoon. Over the course of four hours, I visited half a dozen buildings on or very close to the Boardwalk that have been converted, without permits, from long- term rental apartments to short-term rentals, or — yes — let’s call them what they really are: hotels. If you are wondering why the rental housing market in a place like Venice Beach is so tight, look no further than y...

City Planning Commission that they reject the city's rezoning plan during a public hearing on August 23, 2017. " /> East Harlem Rezoning View Full Caption EAST HARLEM — The mayor is ignoring El Barrio residents ' input on rezoning the neighborhood, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer charged Wednesday afternoon . “Despite our clear recommendations, the administration is not taking the community’s plan seriously,” said Brewer during a public hearing on East Harlem's proposed rezoning . After a two-year process in which residents and local business owners came up with recommendations of what they'd like to see in the rezoning, city officials came up with their own plan that doesn't include those recommendations, Brewer told the City Planning Commission . Nearly 100 speakers signed up to talk during a five-hour meeting at 1 Centre St. Wednesday. To maintain some semblance of balance, commissioners took turns listening to five people in favor of ...

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Walden Woods condominiums could expand by 200 units in the Arcadia neighborhood . In order to complete the project, the city of Kalamazoo will need to rezone 10.1-acres at 565 S. Drake to a residential, single-dwelling district. Thursday, the Planning Commission recommended the City Commission approve rezone the land, which will contain 40-60 owner- occupied units . The wooded and undeveloped property was formerly part of a Drake's Pond Apartments project approved by the City Commission in 1987. A total of 497 units in 35 buildings was constructed on 36 acres of land, but the owners of the apartment complex sold the remaining property to American Village Development II , LLC. American Village Development built the Walden Woods condominium project to the east of the property. An expansion of the condominiums requires the portion of land bought from Drake's Pond Apartments to be rezoned.  In total, AVD plans to build 215-230 units. Jack Gesmundo, an AVD ...

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) - A Channel 4 I- Team investigation found the out-of-state landlord of a Nashville apartment complex earned $1,023,126 despite repeated code violations , including a caved-in ceiling and sewage leaks. Sheree McLaurin showed the Channel 4 I-Team photos of her ceiling caving in and the ripped-up kitchen floor in her apartment at the Riverchase Apartments complex in east Nashville . "It was horrible. It was horrible," McLaurin said. Danielle Nix also showed us photos of her old apartment at Riverchase, including how her ceiling was peeling apart and damage in her bathtub. "It was very deplorable conditions," Nix said. A Channel 4 I- Team investigation found the Riverchase complex received 18 code violations in the last five years. Among the violations city inspectors cited were sewage leaks, holes in the roof and a caved-in ceiling. And a city investigation is still ongoing into a suspected electrical fire in December 2013, which started w...

Buy Photo The new owner of Creekside Apartments , Rector resident Freedom Hobbs was on site Friday, preparing for tearing down the roof next week, he said. Hobbs will face the same deadlines as former owners Princeton Commercial B Holdings, LLC., according to Mountain Home Mayor Joe Dillard . (Photo: Josh Dooley/The Baxter Bulletin ) Buy Photo Once again, Creekside Village, an abandoned apartment complex , has a new owner, according to a warranty deed filed earlier this month in  Baxter County . The property was sold to Freedom Hobbs, of Rector, from its previous owner, Princeton Commercial B Holdings, LLC, based in Newark, Delaware. The deed was signed on Jan. 5 and filed on Monday. The document lists Quintin King, Princeton Commercial B Holdings national counsel , as the representative authorized to execute the sale on the company's behalf. The Creekside property, located at 105 S. Cardinal Drive, was sold to Hobbs for $175,000. Hobbs, the new owner, was at the Mountain Home c...

OMAHA, Neb.--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- Marcus® Hotels & Resorts , a division of The Marcus Corporation (NYSE: MCS), and Marriott Hotels announced today the official opening of the Omaha Marriott Downtown at the Capitol District in Omaha, Neb. The 333-room, 12-story hotel is the first new full- service premium hotel to open in Omaha in more than a decade. It also serves as a major anchor of the Capitol District, an upscale urban destination dining and entertainment district located in the heart of downtown Omaha . Marcus Hotels & Resorts is a minority investor in the property and is managing the new hotel. “We are thrilled to officially welcome guests to the Omaha Marriott Downtown located in the city’s first entertainment district, the Capitol District. Led by General Manager Steve Hilton , the hotel team has spent countless hours over the past year ensuring that the Omaha Marriott Downtown is an exceptional place to stay, meet, relax, dine and celebrate,” said Joseph Khairal...