Apartment Choice

Travel accommodation is frequently seen as a mixed bag; something to be approached with equal parts wariness and trepidation. It’s a sentiment often reflected in popular culture, from the iconic motel shower murder scene in the film Psycho , to the famous lyrics of the Eagles’ Hotel California describing a hotel where “you can check out any time you like (but you can never leave)”. Nonetheless, most hotels can be relied upon to deliver a basic standard of quality, along with safety, security, and stability – important considerations when HR is sending its employees off to unknown foreign locales . A guest can expect a standard template of amenities when checking into a hotel room: bed, bathroom, desk, mini-bar, breakfast buffet, and daily housekeeping at the very least; room service and laundry if they're willing to shell out a little more. The shared option? Airbnb, in contrast, promises character and homeliness at a fundamental level. No two homes are the same – likewise, n...

LEWISTON — The city is seeking a large federal grant that would address housing and other issues in the poorest areas of downtown Lewiston , and neighborhood advocates say the funds could go a long way toward implementing goals they've had for years.  If successful in its bid, Lewiston could receive $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and what's known as a  Choice Neighborhood Planning and Action Grant. The city council approved the application last week, and will commit $237,500 in local Community Development Block Grant funds during implementation if the grant is successful.  The city hopes the funding can lead to long-term changes in the downtown neighborhood , where nearly half of residents live below the federal poverty level . According to 2015 census figures, the median family incomes in downtown census tracts 201 and 203, are $12,417 and $16,047, respectively.  The main purpose of the funds is to plan and execute major housing...

The long retail spine of Sydney Road, Brunswick, just north of Melbourne's CBD, was once a prosperous trading outpost on the way to the goldfields. These days it's a bohemian mix of variety stores, op shops, halal butchers and Lebanese bakeries. Take a side street to the west, however, and a different picture emerges. Sandwiched between Sydney Road and the Upfield train line is an area undergoing rapid and widespread transformation. Light industry is fast being replaced by mid- rise apartment buildings , their inhabitants attracted by the short commute into town and cheaper prices than in the city's south-east. The quality of these units is, on the whole, depressingly bad; think poor ventilation and bedrooms that "borrow" natural light (a weasel word for being dark and windowless). The occasional jazzy façade tries feebly to make up for otherwise cheap construction amid a chorus of greys. At ground level, carpark roller doors alternate with mean pocket garden...

When it comes to getting new apartments built, San Diego is the 11th worst city in the nation, said a national study released Monday . Fifty cities were ranked on specific factors, including local regulations and land available for development, that were determined to be critical to construction by trade groups such as the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association . Honolulu was ranked the most difficult market for building new apartments, and New Orleans was the easiest. Research gathered by Florida-based think tank Hoyt Advisory Services for the trade groups looked at the Wharton Residential Land Use Regulation Index, a survey of regulatory laws, and a method of mapping developable land created by Sumner La Croix of the University of Hawaii. It also used the U.S. Census and other data and market research. In California, San Francisco was deemed the hardest to get new supply built at No. 8. Los Angeles was No. 12, Riverside No. 13, Sacramento ...

Along the busy Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Dunwoody is a sprawling collection of two- story apartment buildings . The units are worn but relatively kept up. Dozens of children play soccer or run in the parking lots. And numerous vans with ladders atop their roofs indicate a working class clientele . The buildings and their occupants might be largely unremarkable, but the Dunwoody Glen and Lacota apartment complexes and their 2,000-plus mostly Hispanic residents are now the focus of a controversy that has divided this newly incorporated suburban enclave and led to a federal lawsuit . In 2011, Dunwoody officials pushed a bond referendum that would raise money to demolish two aging apartment complexes and build a sprawling — and badly needed — park. Then- Mayor Ken Wright extolled the effort in a press release just before the vote but added that while the city “regrets the need to displace residents (in) 785 apartment units” it would work to relocate those citizens, including...

Buy Photo The Ann Arbor City Apartments in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is seeing a building boom of apartments and condos for the last couple of years that continues to ramp up. (Photo: Romain Blanquart/ Detroit Free Press ) Buy Photo An unprecedented building boom of apartment high -rises and condos has made construction cranes a lingering fixture of the Ann Arbor skyline . No fewer than six cranes hovered over downtown last week as private developers raced to erect more luxury student and post-collegiate housing within walking distance to University of Michigan classrooms. The half- dozen residential projects that are under construction or slated to begin are the latest round in a boom that has been under way for at least three years and is permanently altering the city's housing situation. Many of the current and earlier developments specifically cater to U-M students, offering additional near- campus living options aside from blocks of grubby old houses. Other projects have ta...