Apartment City

Bruce Chatterton moved to Meridian from Boise more than four years ago. The “room to grow” that is Meridian’s essence made him want to live and work there. Now the city’s community development director , Chatterton says it’s also been “fun seeing a small, somewhat quiet downtown become a place people want to hang out.” Meridian still has plenty of room to spread out, and that’s good, because its population is booming. It was the 13th-fastest-growing city in the U.S. last year. And it’s not just about Meridian. The growth is changing the whole Treasure Valley , affecting traffic, housing, health care, education and retail. The 2016 U.S. Census estimates put Meridian ’s population at nearly 96,000. The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho (Compass) estimates today ’s population at just more than 98,000. That’s a tenfold jump since 1990.   The growth seems unlikely to look to slow anytime soon, says Compass planner and demographics specialist Carl Miller , who lives in Meri...

See more of the story One of Lucy Elliott’s life mottos is “Make Do,” a phrase her parents often used and one that sums up her years-in-the-making effort to create a children’s activity center in south Minneapolis. The retired educator has collected old materials for crafts and projects, as well as books and toys she’s used in her jobs and raising her own family, and set them up in a renovated auto garage at E. 34th Street and 42nd Avenue S. She’s calling it Belle’s Tool Box, an homage to her mother. Once Belle’s opens in September, Elliott said she hopes parents will bring their kids there and engage with them in different crafts and activities. She’ll encourage a phone-free policy in hopes that parents will follow their kids’ leads and focus on whatever book, toy or project catches their eye. Elliott said her family’s basement, garage and backyard were formative spaces as a child, where she was always working on a project and learning new skills. She said she hopes that Belle’s can ...

DECATUR, GA -- The Decatur Housing Authority (DHA) will hold a Grand Opening Ceremony for Phases I and II of Trinity Walk, the exciting redevelopment of the former Gateway Manor and Oakview apartments in downtown Decatur, near Atlanta.  The new, affordable apartment community at 421 West Trinity Place is fully occupied and now boasts 121 one, two and three- bedroom energy - efficient apartment flats and townhomes in six contemporary, three-story buildings.  Thirty-two of the apartments were created for the elderly and/or disabled, while the remaining 89 units were designed for families.  The Grand Opening will be held at Trinity Walk on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 10 a.m.  Invited guests include Decatur ’s Mayor and City Council, HUD officials, DHA staff project investors and partners and Trinity Walk residents , who worked with DHA, HUD and the City of Decatur to create a unique revitalization strategy for the redevelopment.“The former Gateway Manor development spanned two highly des...

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...

Uptown Newport Village will replace two industrial buildings with a walkable neighborhood of shops, restaurants, parks and upscale housing. Newport Beach, one of Southern California's most affluent cities, is about to transform an industrial area near John Wayne Airport into a distinctly urban community of homes and shops. Uptown Newport Village will replace a pair of aging industrial buildings on 25 acres near the airport with a walkable neighborhood of shops, restaurants, parks and upscale homes and apartments, according to Shopoff Group, an Irvine developer. Mayor Rush N. Hill, who is an architect, said he is excited about the project and pleased that it will be a dense neighborhood by local standards. "It's a relatively new kind of product for us with respect to density and height," he said. "We look at this as a great stride forward in walkable communities. We think it's very appropriate for the area." The first phase of the project will cost ...

RIO DE JANEIRO ― Seven years ago, Vila Autódromo was little more than a tranquil fishing village on the edge of Jacarepagua Lagoon, next to the racetrack for which it was named. Like the hundreds of other favelas that dot Rio de Janeiro ’s landscape, it had long been neglected by the city government , and it lacked many basic public services that are standard in the fast- growing wealthier neighborhoods just across the water. But to the more than 600 families that lived there, it was home. “This was a paradise,” said Luiz Cláudio Silva, who lived in Autódromo for more than 20 years. “I thought that I would live here for the rest of my life.” By the time the Rio Olympics are over, just 20 of the families who lived in Autódromo in 2009, the year the International Olympic Committee chose the city to host the games, will remain. The community, which sits less than a mile away from Rio’s Olympic Park, was crushed so that the city could build new access roads to connect Olympic venues . ...