Apartment Choice

A developer has plans to build a new 300-plus unit apartment complex with commercial space on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, according to a marketing brochure by commercial brokerage CBRE Group Inc. The project would involve constructing 312 new apartments at 14801 to 14827 Ventura Blvd. between Kester and Willis avenues in two, five- story buildings that will also feature retail, restaurants and underground parking. CBRE is marketing between 15,000 and 22,000 square feet of retail space for lease out of a total of about 37, 000 square feet planned for retail and restaurant tenants. The ground-floor tenants would be below apartments and above underground parking, according to the firm’s brochure on the project. The site is located at the northwest corner of Ventura Boulevard and Willis Avenue and is about three-quarters of a mile from the Sherman Oaks Galleria . Currently, the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce leases space in the larger of two older office buildings that now...

Leesha Posey remembers cutting across a vacant lot in North Portland on her way to Harriet Tubman Middle School . "It's been empty since I was a little girl," says Posey, 41. That was three decades ago. But the lot still sits empty—a rarity in a city where vacant land is coveted, especially in the red- hot North Williams Avenue corridor . Its emptiness is a reminder of what the city and its urban renewal agency , Prosper Portland , took from the black community . In the 1960s, the city-owned agency, then known as the Portland Development Commission , condemned vast tracts of inner North and Northeast Portland . The takings—including the still-vacant block at the northwest corner of North Williams Avenue and Russell Street—allowed urban renewal, including construction of parts of Interstate 5, the Oregon Convention Center and Legacy Emanuel Hospital . But in the process, the agency gutted neighborhoods and dispersed the black community . In a belated ef...

Thinking of moving to Grand Rapids? Here’s what you need to know. Grand Rapids has hit its stride in the last few years, and the national media has caught on. In 2014 it was named #1 U.S. Travel Destination by Lonely Planet, a Top 14 Destination for Your 2014 Travel Bucket List by Huffington Post, and Best Beer Town by USA Today and 10Best. The low cost of living, good public transportation and community atmosphere round out the lengthy list of attractive qualities for residents.   Who’s There? The more than 1 million inhabitants of the metropolitan area work in a variety of industries, however the area’s heyday in logging and furniture production can still be felt. After WWII, the office furniture sector blossomed and has remained an important part of the economy. The area is also a major producer of automotive parts, industrial machinery, plastics and chemicals. There are two major medical centers in the region. Spectrum Health System has 23,000 employees and 1,300 physicians...

They were the seven days that shook the world, from the death of Princess Diana to her funeral at Westminster Abbey.  In this poignant series to mark the 20th anniversary, Jonathan Mayo reconstructs those momentous events as they happened though the eyes of Royal Family members , politicians, the Princess’s family, and a heartbroken public . . . Monday, September 1, 12.15am Paris time/ 11.15pm UK time  Jill and Ernie Rees-Jones are walking down the Champs-Élysées in Paris to get some air. Their son Trevor, the Princess’s bodyguard and sole survivor of the crash that killed her, is lying unconscious in the nearby Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. There is huge media and public interest in Trevor’s recovery, as his memories may unlock the cause of the crash. Suddenly a car races towards them, and Ernie pushes Jill out of its way just in time. He kicks the car as it passes and yells at the driver. But Jill can see the funny side: if she’d been hit, she could’ve ended up in a bed next to Trev...