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The unending struggle to find affordable housing in the Telluride region will soon get a little brighter for six families. The Habitat for Humanity of Telluride Region has received a land transfer of property in Norwood from San Miguel County on which the organization plans to build six homes. Construction will begin on two of the homes next spring. "We’re in the process now of doing legal work to transfer the land to Habitat, make infrastructure improvements Â- storm sewer, curbs, [and] bring utilities to the site," said Mike Dorsey, president of the local Habitat organization. That work will continue into next spring. "In May we’ll start construction on two houses. We hope to have them done by November 1, 2007." The site is located at Pine and Naturita streets just outside the Norwood city limits, one block west of Grand Ave.
Engineering results this week will likely determine if the city's first residential hospice will proceed with or without a basement. Beth Ellis, executive director of the Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice, said construction crews at the site of Bob's House, a new $4.2 million hospice at Stone Church and Upper Wellington, have come across ground rock about 1.5 metres (five feet) below the surface at some spots on the property. They were hoping to dig down at least 2.7 metres (nine feet) before they begin pouring the foundation. Ms. Ellis said the higher then expected ground rock means the project may proceed without a basement if it's determined there is too much rock in the way. She noted blasting or increasing the height of the hospice is not being considered as that would add another $200,000 to the construction cost, something the non-profit organization can't afford.
Home prices fell 1 percent in the Wichita area in the first quarter of 2006 versus last year, according to a National Association of Realtors study. The study, released this week, said the "weak" Wichita market bucks a national trend during which prices rose more than 10 percent. The median Wichita home price fell about $1,000 in the first quarter of 2006 from a high of $108,000 last year, the NAR reports. However, those average prices are affordable and low mortgage servicing rates make further price growth likely. However, a return of high oil prices could plunge the national economy into a recession, the NAR warns, which could produce "severe" manufacturing job cuts. Also, rising home construction risks oversupplying the market. -- Bill Wilson WSU to honor former ad agency partner Vaughn Sink, former partner in the local agency Sullivan Higdon & Sink, will be honored as the outstanding alumnus by Wichita State's Elliott School of Communication next week during the school's Communication Week activities.
MOUNT PLEASANT - Demand for single-family home construction permits for the first quarter of 2007 is moving at a snail's pace, rekindling debate about the town's managed growth program, the only one of its kind in the area. Last year, the town had 350 applicants for 155 permits for single-family home construction in the first quarter of 2006. With the Dec. 1 application deadline on the horizon, the town has seven requests from builders who want to build single-family homes in the first quarter of next year, said Kelly Cousino, the town's building permit program manager. "We're definitely not going to have the 300 or so that we had last year," Cousino said. "It definitely indicates that things have slowed down a bit." The town allocates 620 single-family home building permits each year, or 155 each quarter.
GASTONIA - Gastonia could take a swing at a "Big League Dream." But first, it would have to find a way to meet the price tag, with estimates starting at $15 million. Big League Dreams is a California-based company that creates replicas of major-league baseball stadiums such as Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium for youth baseball and for softball. The company made a presentation to city and county leaders this month to show what kind of impact a six- to eight-field complex would have on Gastonia. "I think the concept is really good," said Chuck Dellinger, director of the Gastonia Parks and Recreation Department. "It would not take away from the programs we already have." Big League Dreams operates five complexes in California and Texas, and more are in the works, expanding the company into Nevada and Arizona.
OTTAWA (CP) - Heavy spending on office buildings in Alberta and Ontario pushed investment in non-residential building construction to another record high between July and September. Investment hit $8.9 billion, up 1.9 per cent from the second quarter, the 14th straight quarterly increase. Investment reached record highs in two of three components - commercial and institutional, where investors pumped $5.1 billion into commercial projects, up four per cent from the second quarter, and investment edged up 0.7 per cent to $2.4 billion in the institutional component. Spending in the industrial component declined 3.5 per cent to $1.4 billion. Provincially, the biggest third-quarter dollar increase by far occurred Alberta, where investment in non-residential building construction rose seven per cent to $1.7 billion, a ninth straight quarterly gain; British Columbia was a distant second, increasing investment 2.6 per cent to $1.3 billion.
With winter closing in, Thomas Hughes knows that the banging hammers soon will be quieted at Habitat for Humanity construction sites. Volunteers won't be needed. Home building will pause until spring. For Mr. Hughes, 73, of Buffalo, Butler County, the break is not particularly welcome. "It gets boring," he said of the slow season. .
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