Betting on the City of Angels
Developers are seeing a diverse group of residents and buyers who want to occupy amenity-rich complexes of varying types—lofts, mid-rises and high-rises—and have worry-free, beautiful urban living in environmentally-conscious, yet luxurious settings. Although price escalation...
West coast story
“It’s a great time to own apartments on the West Coast,” said Essex President and CEO Michael Schall during his company’s presentation at the Citiglobal Property CEO conference held this March in Hollywood, Fla.,...
California offers energy efficiency financing for multifamily
In January, the state of California and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced an initiative that would allow PACE financing to fit in with the existing financing for properties that had...
Prometheus exits fee business
San Mateo-based Prometheus is exiting the sector to focus its energy more on its growing development pipeline, said Darren Carrington, senior vice president of portfolio management for Prometheus. Prometheus will continue to manage its...
Sares Regis expands portfolio
The new acquisitions total 300 apartments in Portland and North County San Diego, and for a portfolio of eight properties totaling 1,220 apartments out of the fund formed last year. The fund was initially...
I can’t get no
One person, Arie Shashou, 77, thought just that. That was before Shashou received an eviction notice in March. Shashou’s $825-a-month rent-controlled apartment, and 17 other units, will be demolished to make way for a...
Building lures
The changes are backed by the building industry but have drawn protests from advocates for low-income tenants. “It’s a race to the bottom,” said Darryl Rutherford, executive director of the Sacramento Housing Alliance. Mixed-income, or inclusionary...
Golden bucks
Customers of California’s big utility companies will receive “climate credits,” small payments of money raised from the state’s cap-and-trade system for controlling greenhouse gas emissions. “What we’re hoping for is to engage ratepayers in the...
Lessons on value-add
According to a December article in the Wall Street Journal, a flood of new student housing development from large REITs and private equity firms is squeezing out smaller owners. More supply than demand is driving...
Zero net energy living
The $300 million West Village campus project opened to much fanfare two years ago, riding on the hope that it would serve as a model for future construction. Touted as the largest planned "zero net...
The golden state and distributed power
One of the state's highest-profile leadership roles has been on the issue of the environment. For example, California legislators passed and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the most restrictive greenhouse gas emissions law in the...
Apartment play house
Now it's back and steaming ahead. Demolition and of two vacant warehouses on the 2.9-acre site is underway and construction has begun on 320-units. The project comes as a JV between toy manufacturer and wholesaler MegaToys,...
A bright idea
Ashoff manufactures fluorescent lamps with motion sensors. He designed it to replace bulbs in building stairwells which burn around the clock, and found that they slash energy costs for stairwell lighting by 97 percent....
How green is that building?
Ecologically-sustainable building practices -"green labels"-will now be included on official land records maintained by the city, according to Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting and Department of Environment Director Melanie Nutter. That means that along with information...
Celebrity magnet El Royale tower sells for record price
The 12-story building at 450 N. Rossmore Ave. was built in 1929 for the Hollywood crowd and early residents included Clark Gable, William Faulkner and Loretta Young. It was designed in a mix of...