Envy Apartment

The city of Tampa is on the cusp of a total makeover. With billions of dollars in investment and dozens of new apartment, condo, office and cultural buildings in the pipeline, the city's skyline and surrounding communities are poised to look a whole lot different than what it does today. But dreaming up the future of Tampa doesn't come without its challenges. For all the promises of a new urban core filled with hotels, parks, food halls and stores, there are also potential pitfalls. The Tampa Bay Times identified the five key obstacles that stand in the way of some of the biggest projects proposed in Hillsborough County . Many of these challenges are ones local politicians and business leaders have been fighting for years to find a solution. Others are fairly new territory, but still pose a real threat to the region's continued growth. [LOREN ELLIOTT | Times] A construction site is seen just north of Amalie Arena in downtown Tampa , Fla., on Monday, May 1, 2017. Curr...

Monica Vendituoli Staff writer @mvendituoli Hay Street may be permanently reduced to two lanes near the new baseball stadium , a city leader said Thursday morning. That revelation, plus the fact the street could be closed for up to 12 weeks during stadium construction and renovation of the Prince Charles Hotel , were part of a baseball update and web portal unveiling at the Greater Fayetteville Chamber . City leaders discussed details on the impact of construction downtown and introduced three committees connected to the stadium project. More than 50 people jammed the chamber’s conference room on Maxwell Street. Over the course of about 60 minutes, officials from the chamber, the city and the Houston Astros shared details on how downtown may be altered during and after construction of the $33 million stadium and surrounding private projects . The stadium is expected to be ready for Opening Day in April 2019; the city and the Astros have a lease for the team to play there...

LAKE Macquarie is being transformed at a rate not seen for generations, with a construction frenzy spilling over from Newcastle and pushing Warners Bay and Charlestown skywards. The Lake Macquarie council area, which includes a swath of greater Newcastle suburbs and townships such as Morisset, Cooranbong and Swansea, had about 2,700 development applications worth $607 million approved in the last financial year . That is 550 more than the previous year, and an increase of 23.5 per cent. About $250 million worth of construction is underway and, while not on the scale of Newcastle’s $900 million transformation, the Lake figure is mainly private investment unswollen by major public works  like the Newcastle light rail . There is also more than $300 million worth of development in the pipeline. Among the projects attracting buyers’ interest are the $80 million Water’s Edge apartments proposed for the Esplanade at Warners Bay. If approved, Water’s Edge will take the site of a former ...

SAN FRANCISCO — More than 60 stories above the ground, construction workers climb makeshift stairs and cross narrow steel planks to put the finishing touches on Salesforce Tower , now San Francisco ’s tallest building. The $1.1 billion skyscraper has already changed the city’s skyline, towering over old favorites like Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid. Unlike in New York and Chicago, the new 1,070-foot high-rise is a gargantuan presence in this liberal West Coast city . Salesforce Tower and a massive adjoining transit center also embody a larger transition in San Francisco — one that pits the technology industry against the city’s charming neighborhoods. Tech giant Salesforce .com, which provides online software for business, bought the naming rights to the 61-story steel and concrete building, adding to concerns that the tech economy is steamrolling through the city. “All the tech and people the industry is bringing in, you can work two jobs and barely make a living for yo...

A skyscraper that would be the tallest residential building in California has been proposed for downtown Los Angeles as the neighborhood’s housing boom rolls on. Crescent Heights , a Miami- based developer , submitted a proposal to the city Planning Department this week to build a 70- story apartment building that would stand out in size and design amid the rapidly growing South Park district east of Staples Center. The 810-foot building with 794 units would be the third-tallest in Los Angeles behind the recently opened Wilshire Grand hotel and office tower and the U.S. Bank Tower office building completed in 1989. Last year, Crescent Heights completed Ten Thousand , a 40- story luxury apartment complex on Santa Monica Boulevard on the edge of Century City. It also plans to build two residential high-rises next to the famed Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard. Its latest high-rise plan, for 1045 S. Olive St., calls for eye-catching cutouts two-thirds of the way up the bu...

Mercantile Building has been seeing various repairs recently including tuck -pointing and other basic improvements. Sterling Today is preparing the building for future development ." class="automarg" src="http://www.saukvalley.com/_internal/cimg!0/mrn1po0shc9d8v5zpx2wf2x8humrbqw" /> Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com Caption The Sterling Mercantile Building has been seeing various repairs recently including tuck -pointing and other basic improvements. Sterling Today is preparing the building for future development . Mercantile Building in downtown Sterling . The building, next to The Emporium Thrift Store and across the street from County Market, is undergoing some general maintenance work , including tuck -pointing and new windows." class="automarg" src="http://www.saukvalley.com/_internal/cimg!0/mqaay45zgdbgp0gubhw9k88fgisph72" /> Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com Caption A worker inspects the...

The long retail spine of Sydney Road, Brunswick, just north of Melbourne's CBD, was once a prosperous trading outpost on the way to the goldfields. These days it's a bohemian mix of variety stores, op shops, halal butchers and Lebanese bakeries. Take a side street to the west, however, and a different picture emerges. Sandwiched between Sydney Road and the Upfield train line is an area undergoing rapid and widespread transformation. Light industry is fast being replaced by mid- rise apartment buildings , their inhabitants attracted by the short commute into town and cheaper prices than in the city's south-east. The quality of these units is, on the whole, depressingly bad; think poor ventilation and bedrooms that "borrow" natural light (a weasel word for being dark and windowless). The occasional jazzy façade tries feebly to make up for otherwise cheap construction amid a chorus of greys. At ground level, carpark roller doors alternate with mean pocket garden...