Apartment Choice

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...

Houston- based developer Hines has completed construction of its 352- unit Meriel Marina Bay luxury apartment complex in Quincy and an extension of the waterfront development’s boardwalk. The complex built at the former Ocean Club consists of two 5-story buildings with garage parking and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Callahan Construction Managers is overseeing the project, which is 25 percent leased. The complex provides free resident shuttle service to the MBTA’s North Quincy station . Listed rents start at $2,191 for studio apartments. Managed by Bozzuto, the complex also contains one- through three-bedroom units, with monthly rents starting  at $2,471 for a one-bedroom and three- bedroom units starting at $5,111. Related articles: Tags: Callahan Construction Managers , Hines, Meriel Marina Bay

This article is reprinted by permission from NextAvenue.org. I suspect that when Americans think about retiring abroad, they focus on Latin American countries , due to proximity and because places like Panama, Belize, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic usually show up on Best Places to Retire Abroad lists . Well, you won’t find any of those four countries in the Top 10 of The World’s Best Places to Retire in 2017 from Live and Invest Overseas . What you will find is a preponderance of Europe (six of the Top 10) plus a smattering of Mexico (two places) and Asia (two places, both in Malaysia). Another surprise: eight of those didn’t even make the Top 10 in the 2016 list from Live and Invest Overseas . “That surprised me too,” said Lief Simon, investment editor at Live and Invest Overseas and husband of the group’s founder and publisher, Kathleen Peddicord. In this year’s Top 10, the Algarve region of southern Portugal ranked No. 1 (for the fourth year in a row). Rounding out the...