Beyond Bricks & Sticks

A weekly digest of current trends in housing and community development. The discussion examines topics from infrastructure to community fabric.


NMHC/NAA Report Shows Apartments Contributed $1 Trillion to the National Economy
One of America's Oldest Shopping Malls Converts to Micro-Apartments
The IRS’s Little-Known Green Tax Break for Building Owners
Revitalization Project Moves Forward with $300K in Grant Money
In Silver Spring, "mixed-use" Means Housing, Shops & Church
Will Retirement Homes Become Obsolete as More Seniors Stay Home?

 

General Housing

NMHC/NAA Report Shows Apartments Contributed $1 Trillion to the National Economy

(RECAP: According to the report, The Trillion Dollar Apartment Industry, featuring data and research by George Mason University Professor Stephen S. Fuller, Ph.D., the combined spending by the apartment industry and its 35 million residents generated an economic contribution of $1.1 trillion to the national economy and supported 25.4 million jobs in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available.)
http://www.nmhc.org/Content.cfm?ItemNumber=61083

Neighborhood Transformation

One of America's Oldest Shopping Malls Converts to Micro-Apartments

(RECAP: Existing mall mashups pretty much stick to the public realm—like Cleveland’s indoor gardens and Vanderbilt’s health clinics—but this spring a shuttered shopping center in downtown Providence will be reborn in micro form, with two stories of micro-apartments above ground-floor micro-retail.)
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/02/one-americas-oldest-shopping-malls-converts-micro-apartments/4755/

The IRS’s Little-Known Green Tax Break for Building Owners

(RECAP: Recent IRS guidance enables building owners and tenants to take the deductions this year for projects as far back as 2006—without amending tax returns. Section 179D deductions now allow owners and tenants who have made energy-efficient improvements to claim valuable deductions by making an accounting method change.)
http://www.globest.com/blogs/buildingopportunity/accounting/green-building-irs-tax-break-330164.html

Community Investment

Revitalization Project Moves Forward with $300K in Grant Money

(RECAP: The city of Waynesboro received $300,000 as part of a grant to restore the ice plant building. Greg Winkler, an architectural partner on the project, hopes for a ground floor of office or retail space, five floors of residential space and a restaurant on the 7th floor.)
http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/Revitalization-Project-Moves-Forward-with-300K-in-Grant-Money-190919031.html?ref=031

 

Capacity Building

In Silver Spring, "mixed-use" Means Housing, Shops & Church

(RECAP: Across the region, cash-strapped churches are taking advantage of their property's development potential.)
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/17825/in-silver-spring-mixed-use-means-housing-shops-churc

Housing with Services

Will Retirement Homes Become Obsolete as More Seniors Stay Home?

(RECAP: It is usually surmised that seniors will have to transition to a retirement residence. No longer is this the trend due to the marketplace of home care providers in the nation.)http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/343870#ixzz2LRRx9jwA