Tough Road Ahead

Last month marked the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic blow. Fortunately, New Orleans’ population has slowly bounced back to 320,000 residents, about 72 percent of the pre-storm total. But more housing is still desperately needed. While residential projects championed by celebrities such as Brad Pitt keep the city in the national spotlight, the rush to rebuild has slowed in the past year. The number of blighted properties continues to grow, the inventory of workforce affordable housing remains low, and infrastructure and city services are stretched to the limit.

Lincoln Oaks: An accessible community in Fremont, Calif., soars past fair housing codes to accommodate the developmentally disabled.

Source: MULTIFAMILY EXECUTIVE MAGAZINE
Publication date: September 1, 2008
By Rachel Z. Azoff

WHEELCHAIR-BOUND architect Erick Mikiten of Berkeley, Calif.-based Mikiten Architecture understands firsthand the importance of designing comfortable living spaces that meet a variety of needs. As a result, no detail was spared in the development of Lincoln Oaks Apartments, an 11-unit affordable rental community in Fremont, [...]

Total Access

THE GRUMBLING CAN BE HEARD behind closed doors. Multifamily firms often say that building accessible housing is a cost-prohibitive, overly complicated process. Sometimes, it is. But with careful planning and a thorough understanding of the law, accessible features can be added to most blueprints without breaking the bank. “If you start with an inclusive concept, then it’s much easier,” says Erick Mikiten, principal architect of Berkeley, Calif.-based Mikiten Architecture. “When you add the accessibility features up front, the development team sees the value and is going to be more proactive in finding a way to finance the features.”

Long Time Coming: A project takes a D.C. developer through two downturns.

After Ron Cohen closed on the first parcels of land he bought in the North of Massachusetts Avenue (NoMa) section of Washington, D.C., he faced a major problem with his lenders. No, Cohen, president of The Cohen Cos. in Rockville, Md., was not snarled in the credit crunch of the past year. The holder of this developer’s debt was the federal government. And the financial crisis Cohen faced in the 1980s was the government’s takeover of private lenders.

Full Steam Ahead - A cutting-edge transit-oriented development transforms a suburban downtown neighborhood in Dallas.

Dallas developer Ken Hughes has always been fascinated by trains. Hughes’ passion, instilled in part from living in Paris, helped spark his interest in a 40-acre site 5 miles north of downtown Dallas. The property, which fronted Mockingbird Lane, was adjacent to a 1997-built station for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), a hybrid system of light rail and underground subway.