| |
Home construction in the Greater Toronto Area was down in September, largely because of a lull in the condominium market, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. But the agency hastened to add that the condo market tends to appear volatile when looked at on a month-to-month basis. And those numbers should soon turn around, said Jason Mercer, the CMHC's senior market analyst for the GTA. He said record numbers of pre-construction condos have been sold over the past two years, which "will convert into a greater number of condominium starts," he said. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts was 25,200 in September, down from 32,500 in August. "Multiple family" dwellings (mainly condos) were down 41 per cent, from 18,600 to 11,000.
Butler County commissioners have narrowed to two the options for a secure entrance to the county Government Center once the new jail is finished. Currently, prisoners who are being moved from the adjoining jail to the Government Center's courtrooms go through a secure hallway and elevator, without having to be traverse public corridors. The new jail, however, will be a block from the courthouse. Commissioners met recently with architects from Kimball & Associates, who designed the prison currently under construction, to discuss a sallyport, a secure entrance for a prison vehicle where prisoners transported from the jail would be received at the Government Center. Kimball recommended the board consider three options. One would use the existing garage at the entrance to the existing prison.
At least one analyst expects that the countys hotel sales, which have continued at a rapid clip for the past year and a half, will slow down soon, if for no other reason than there wont be many desirable properties left to sell. But gauging from the number of recent transactions, including the sale of the 192-room Residence Inn San Diego in Mission Valley, announced this month, the hotel bubble, unlike the housing bubble, shows no signs of an imminent burst. The Residence Inn San Diego was part of a four-hotel package acquired by Palm Beach, Fla.-based Innkeepers USA, a hotel real estate investment trust, from Bethesda, Md.-based RLJ Urban Lodging Fund, LP for a total of $215 million, or $231,000 per room. The package also included the 200-room Residence Inn Anaheim, 230-room Hilton Suites Anaheim and 309-room Hilton Ontario, all in Southern California.
|
|
