Not so sustainable housing in Shanghai

The city of Shanghai is booming, but one bad building can spoil the whole party. This week it was learned by the world that a cost cutting action may have been the reason for the collapse of this nearly finished 13 story apartment complex, which left one construction worker dead.

Ironically, city construction authorities had praised the developer’s work in this area of Shanghai back in 2007, but clearly they're not living up to that acclaim now.

The purported reason for this collapse? Workers dug an underground garage on one side of the building while a heap of soil grew up to 10 meters high on the other, according to an investigation team.

--Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator at Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com

Urban Marketplace Philadelphia: Back to the City

If we could be in two places at once, we surely would have attended the Urban Land Institute’s Urban Marketplace in Philadelphia last week. Christopher Leinberger of the Brookings Institution and a co-founder of Arcadia Land Co. said that after years of sprawl and ‘exurbs,’ transit-oriented development is the next new/old thing. “The pendulum has swung,” he said. “You better adjust.”

The Philadelphia Business Journal’s Natalie Kostelni reported off of the event that “development going forward will focus more on walkable, urban cities and communities that are linked to mass transit, preferably trains as opposed to buses…[while] land development prior to the industrial economy, which peaked in 1970, focused on linking communities with transit since most people couldn’t afford a vehicle and most lived near where they worked.

--- Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator at Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com

Are You Part of the CSR Movement? Check This Out...

Listen to the audio from our 11th SM& Presents Panel
Corporate Social Responsibility: Creating and Communicating a High Impact Strategy In Challenging Times
June 22, 2009
Click here

Whitepaper will be available shortly!

Corporate Social Responsibility: Creating and Communicating a High Impact Strategy in Challenging Times

It was standing room only at SM&’s 11th Presents Panel on Corporate Social Responsibility. During the panel, The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) released findings from an ongoing CEO survey exploring the evolution of corporate philanthropy toward a “new normal.”

Panelists included Ann Fudge, Former Chairman & CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands; Robert Glassman, Co-Chairman, Wainwright Bank and Trust Company; Ellen Remmer, President & CEO, The Philanthropic Initiative; and Helene Solomon, CEO, Solomon McCown & Company.

Moderating the panel was Renée Loth, Editorial Page Editor, The Boston Globe

The follow up report will be available shortly, but in the mean time you can read and see more at http://www.solomonmccown.com/presents.html.

Panelists left to right: Ellen Remmer, President & CEO of The Philanthropic Initiative, Ann Fudge, Former Chairman & CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands, Robert Glassman, Co-Chairman of Wainwright Bank & Trust Company, Helene Solomon, CEO of Solomon McCown & Company, and Renee Loth, Editorial Editor, The Boston Globe

Congress for a New Urbanism

Over the weekend in Denver, the Congress for a New Urbanism, which promotes walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl, held their 17th annual conference.
One panel that caught our attention was titled “The Retail Development Crisis: What Now?” It was moderated by Robert Gibbs (no not the White House Press Secretary) of Gibbs Planning, an urban and economic planning firm based in Michigan.

The news: Almost all new shopping centers have been canceled or placed on hold for one to three years. Lifestyle and town center retailers and department stores are not meeting sales expectations, especially when they lack department store anchors. On average, enclosed malls are out-performing open air or main street town centers, largely because of “tweens,” who prefer enclosed malls over town centers. However, retailers are now seeking urban and inner ring suburban infill locations rather than greenfield edge sites because they want to see existing populations before they deploy new units and are not willing to wait for planned residential growth.

---Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator for Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com.

Cutbacks at The Boston Globe

Imagine getting a 23% pay cut in two weeks? No? Well, neither can I. But that’s just what will happen to the staff at The Boston Globe on June 25th after the largest union rejected the wage and benefit cuts The New York Times Co. was trying to impose. I know some will say that it’s better than having no job at all, but 23% is more than a belt tightening exercise for these employees. Read more here from the Globe, Herald, Times and Boston Phoenix on the contract negotiations and what will happen next at the paper.

-Alison Thompson is an account supervisor at Solomon McCown & Company. She can be reached by email at athompson@solomonmccown.com.

An upside to the downturn

Rising vacancy rates and low morale has been the recurring theme of this ongoing real estate slump, but one developer in New York City is refusing to leave some of his luxury condo units empty and collecting dust. In conjunction with the Bushwick Economic Development Group, Avi Shriki is giving temporary housing to the homeless in Brooklyn. The property has 67 units in Crown Heights initially priced between $250,000 and $350,000. Now, they are going for $90 a night, with the city chipping in to house the temporary tenants. The agreement doesn’t enforce a time frame when families must leave, but city officials are of course encouraging them to seek more permanent, long-term housing.

The innovative idea helps out all parties involved: instead of a park bench or church steps, the underprivileged are given a bed and clean shower every morning, while Shriki gets to hold ownership of the property and keep paying his mortgage.

--Nick Fasulo is an account coordinator at Solomon McCown & Company. He can be reached by email at nfasulo@solomonmccown.com.