Apartment Choice

Opponents have organized against an effort to rein in rent increases in Maine’s largest city. A group calling itself Say No To Rent Control announced its formal opposition Tuesday to Fair Rent Portland ‘s initiative to adopt a rent stabilization ordinance by referendum in November. The announcement sets the stage for a vigorous fall campaign , which comes as longtime residents and low- wage renters worry that a steep rise in rents and the influx of luxury housing is leading to gentrification and a growing affordability gap between incomes and housing costs. The new group is casting the referendum effort as a rent control ordinance that would harm the city’s housing market, although the supporters say the plan meets the definition of modern rent stabilization efforts that have been successful in other states. Among other things, Fair Rent Portland ’s initiative would limit rent increases to the rate of inflation for landlords who own five or more apartments and establish a Rent...

UConn’s place in the Hartford skyline . Hartford — For nearly a half-century, the University of Connecticut has had no place to call its own in the state’s capital city. Today that changes as Connecticut’s flagship university opens the doors of its new $140- million downtown branch campus on Prospect Street . The arrival of the campus, which comes after five years of false starts and setbacks, is a milestone for the university and the city of Hartford. Hundreds attended the grand opening ceremony downtown Wednesday morning . For UConn, it marks the institution’s return from the suburbs into the heart of the city – where the school first opened its Greater Hartford branch in 1939. It moved to West Hartford in 1970. The university, in the years since, had been able to continue to claim a “presence” downtown. Some of UConn’s graduate business programs are housed in a space it leases in 100 Constitution Plaza, and the university’s basketball and ice hockey teams play games in the XL ...

There were many aspects of the four- site Capitol Hill transit - oriented development the East Design Review Board liked, but confidence was not high enough to clear it for permitting on Wednesday. Situated above the light rail station , the transit- oriented development will be Capitol Hill’s largest construction project to date, creating more than 400 apartment units in a superblock that borders Broadway , 10th Avenue, East John Street and East Denny Way. Each of the four buildings will be seven stories. Three will provide around 20 percent of their apartment units at affordable levels, while the Capitol Hill Housing B-North site will include 110 units at affordability rates of 30-60 percent of the area median income . The East Design Review Board ’s last assessment of the development, which is being led by Portland- based Gerding Edlen Development (GED), was in December. Board members agreed developers responded to the guidance provided at that time, but didn’t feel every r...