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Multifamily Trends
January_February 2008

Feature Article

by



In This Issue
  • A Haven in Fiji
    Studio Pali Fekete Architects (SPF:a) of Culver City, California, has won a two-stage competition to design two apartment towers, an office tower, and a medical complex for Haven, a 29-acre (12-ha) tourism development in Nausori, Fiji Islands. The project will also include a two-tower hotel/retail complex designed by Australian firm Lab Architecture Studio.
  • Banking on the Fundamentals
    Apartment investing today is a pro’s game: success is predicated upon good strategy, in-depth knowledge of local conditions, and the know-how to execute a sound business plan.
  • Bread and Roses
    The rallying cry of workers participating in the historic textile strike of 1912 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, “bread and roses” was a poetic way of saying that all human beings not only need the basic necessities of life but also deserve some of its beauty. Although social conditions have certainly changed since that time, the truth underlying the political slogan has not. Multifamily housing providers must always grapple with what constitutes the essentials versus the more enchanting extras for current consumers, and consider how best to achieve the right balance between the two.
  • Breaking the Mold: Creative New Approaches to Housing in San Francisco
    While innovative multifamily projects fold assertive modern design into older neighborhoods, new forms and policies are still needed to make dwellings available to a broader demographic.
  • Capital Markets Go Back to Basics
    Today’s lenders are looking for solid, convincing business plans before financing new projects.
  • Communities of Intention
    Although its ethos of communal living and mutual responsibility may not suit everyone, the cohousing movement has grown rapidly in this country since the early 1990s.
  • Design Directions
    Architects are working on innovative ways to maximize usable space because, as density increases and unit sizes decrease, every square inch counts.
  • Flexible Networks
    While a building can never truly be “future proofed,” developers and designers can ensure that its network infrastructure will remain viable even as new technologies and services are introduced.
  • Jump-Starting Detroit
    Cadillac Centre, a $150 million living, dining, shopping, and entertainment complex, is being planned on a block bordering Campus Martius Park, a 1.2-acre (0.5-ha) revitalized public space in downtown Detroit that has become the city’s new town square. The mixed-use project will feature two 24-story curvilinear towers of sculpted steel and glass separated by a 12-story steel-and-concrete structure. The complex will connect to the Cadillac Tower, a 1927 Beaux-Arts office building.
  • Legislative Update
    On December 26, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law an omnibus spending bill, H.R. 2764, which was introduced June 18, 2007, by Representative Nita Lowey, (D–New York), for nonemergency appropriations for FY 2008 for all programs not yet funded under regular appropriations acts. Under Division K of the bill, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) multifamily loan limits, which are determined by the size of the unit, the type of structure, and the project location, will increase in high-cost areas across the country.
  • MFT Cover January/February 2008
  • MFT TOC January/February 2008
  • Perception versus Reality in Middle Markets
    These multifamily rental properties strive to create the look of luxury while catering to the medium-priced segments of the market.
  • Quality Condos at Affordable Prices
    The transformation of Section 42 rental units into affordable for-sale condominiums in Missouri offers a landmark prototype for similar conversions across the United States.
  • Small-Balance Lending
    As the industry adjusts, multifamily small-balance participants are becoming more creative, more competitive, and more focused.
  • St. Louis Fills Rental Void
    The St. Louis–based Roberts Companies is transforming one of the oldest buildings in the city’s Washington Avenue Historic District into the mixed-use Roberts Galerie & Lofts in an $8.5 million renovation project that began in November.
  • The Age of Turbulence: Playing Out Housing’s Wild Cards
    The impact of local land planning on carbon emissions is likely to become a new area of regulation—if, that is, the United States acts decisively to reduce carbon emissions.
  • The Next Hot Markets
    A panel of experts shares the data—from demographic patterns to constraints in a region’s housing supply—that help them divine the U.S. regions that will attract the highest rates of apartment investment and development in the near future.
  • The REIT Evolution
    REITs have built significant flexibility into their balance sheets over the last several years, which will help drive activity in 2008 and beyond.
  • Think Zinc
    Though relatively small, Plaza Lofts Twenty-Two has no trouble asserting itself. With an unusual, eye-catching design, the five-story condominium stands out among its eight- to 16-story neighbors in the primary retail corridor of University Town Center, a transit-oriented, mixed-use development now taking shape in Hyattsville, Maryland.
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