L.A. Green scene
Today, 80 percent of the United States population lives in metropolitan areas. Now, thanks to innovative landscape architects like Encino, Calif.-based TGP, Inc, trading hours on crowded freeways for the convenience and excitement of living...
Virtual development
The downward spiral of the economy and near shutdown of the capital markets may have put the brakes on new bricks-and-mortar development for the near term, but in cyberspace, where real estate is practically...
A walk in the park
The public/private landscaped garden and courtyard occupies a strip of land separating the South Group's 13-story, 176-unit Elleven and the newly completed 23-story, 311-unit Evo, the third and final component in the developer's South...
High fiber
But one amenity everyone covets is technology, according to the Apartment Renter Technology Survey conducted early last year by the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC). Survey results indicate that service penetration rates and rankings...
Against the tide
Streets were lit only by starlight, and that was in short supply through threatening cloud cover. I could not get to the front door of my home without crawling over giant, ice-encrusted sycamore limbs. Scenes...
Obama’s family-friendly agenda will hurt job growth
But these are tough times. The unemployment rate, now 6.5 percent, will likely rise further as plunging retail sales lead to cutbacks in production and more layoffs. The economy is contracting now and is...
The big chill
Multihousing brokers are certainly feeling the pinch. During a panel discussion at the Apartments 2008 conference in Los Angeles, hosted by Real Estate Southern California and GlobeSt.com on October 2, brokers from CB Richard...
That which defines us
I can, in no way, trivialize what's happening in the financial markets or certain segments of our economy, but it is all relative. And while "It's all relative" does not make as good a...
Secrets to building a happy team
Every year multifamily operators spend thousands of dollars hiring and training new staff. According to the 2007 National Apartment Survey of Compensation and Benefits Practices conducted by the National Multi- Housing Council, the typical...
Talking trash
The one-stop waste management and sustainability company that now takes out the trash at more than 200,000 units across the country, was founded in 1995 by CEO Mike Ferris, VP of Sales Dave Magrisso...
Lessons learned
Today's financial crisis is hardly that grim, though it does share some similarities with the economic collapse of the 1930s -- both were preceded by a housing boom, a long period of cheap credit...
Tin can plant gets new life as apartments
But for the past several months, neighbors have watched as workers in hard hats cleared decades worth of trash from the 80,000-square-foot building, which was built in 1874. Workers have installed new plumbing and...
Some REITs like small
Even in the throes of what some are calling the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, some real estate investment trusts -- those owning apartment buildings and self-storage facilities -- have held up...
Holding the line
Expanded to 400 pages from the three-page version that was drafted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and rejected by the House on September 30, the final plan was approved 263 to 171. The legislation gives...
Lemons to lemonade
Such value-added plays spell success for KWMF, even in these turbulent times. A case in point is Summer House, a rental community in Alameda, CA. The following explores the process by which KWMF turned...
