Austin Real Estate Blog

While I’ve never sold a McCrary home, I’m sure several of the agents in my office who have been around for 20+ years have. I’ll check with them and post some update material, but for now, check out the news release and the McCrary website. They seem to build some pretty impressive homes.

Luxury Home Builders McCrary Homes Announce Return to Austin, Texas Area Building After a twenty year absence, McCrary Homes announces a return to Austin, Texas area home building. These new high-end homes feature the latest designs and innovative technology, classic luxury homes for the future.

(PRWEB) January 30, 2008 — McCrary Homes, a family-owned company specializing in the building of luxury new homes, announces a return to construction in the Austin, Texas area after a twenty year absence. The luxury new homes are being built in Georgetown, Texas, minutes from Austin, in the much-desired Williamson County North West Corridor, cited as one of the fastest growing counties in the United States.

Business owners Jerry and Linda McCrary spent their twenty year absence from Austin area home building watching trends and publishing home-related magazines. When they decided to return to their home, and with the help of their son Jeff recapture where they left off in the eighties, the time away spent trend-watching was able to give the company an edge in the highly competitive Georgetown market, selling their first spec in the framing stage. The spec was a combination of the top features of various award-winning luxury new homes featured in their magazines.

“Our homes are built as if we were going to live in them ourselves,” said company co-owner Linda McCrary. Linda’s specific role within the company is to design and select the interior colors, flooring, cabinets, and other features which turn the inside of each home into a true work of art. Her husband Jerry and son Jeff take care of the construction, with years of expertise in the field.

As luxury home builders moving deeper into the twenty-first century, the principals of McCrary Homes have used the time off also to research other innovations besides those of aesthetic design.

Linda McCrary added, “We are on the cutting edge of new technology to make life easier and more energy efficient.” The new homes from the luxury home builders company feature items that include tankless water heaters, high efficiency appliances and plumbing fixtures. McCrary Homes works with landscapes that are drought tolerant and deer resistant.

For more information about these Georgetown, Texas luxury home plans, visit the company online at McCraryHomes.com (http://www.mccraryhomes.com/).

About McCrary Homes:

With a motto of “Only the best will do,” McCrary Homes is a company offering new homes in the Austin, Texas area, in the $600,000 price range and above. A family-owned business with great attention to detail, McCrary Homes was started by husband and wife team Jerry and Linda McCrary, along with their son Jeff, after a twenty year absence from the home-building business, spent doing research and publishing magazines for the industry. Now, each house they create is a work of art and personal passion, designed for the most discriminating home buyer.

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I just got the below letter on the fax and all I can say is wow! I hadn’t heard anything about this since last year before the holidays.

You can read about it in the Austin Business Journal. Here is the TOUSA website where you’ll hear the Newmark Homes President talk about the reorganization and see a link for the reorganization press release in the lower left side of the screen.

I have one client under contract with Frederick Harris Estate Homes. I need to investigate any possible implications to this. If you have any info on this please shoot me an email.

January 29, 2008

Dear Realtor:

We are writing to bring you up to date on recent actions that Newmark Homes’ corporate parent, TOUSA, Inc,, has taken to ensure the Company has a long and prosperous future.

Today, TOUSA, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. TOUSA Homes’ brands - Engle Homes, Newmark Homes, Trophy Homes and Fredrick, Harris Estate Homes are included in this filing. The filing will allow us to restructure our balance sheet, preserve the Company’s value, and position it to navigate the challenging homebuilding market successfully.

Unlike other homebuilders that have recently landed in unplanned Chapter 11 cases as a result of industry conditions, we have taken steps to minimize the impact of the filing on our operations and to expedite our stay in bankruptcy. In connection with the filing, TOUSA also announced that we have reached a pre-negotiated deal with our senior noteholders to implement a restructuring plan.

As one of our active Realtors, you are a valuable part of our company and critical to our success. We want to assure you that TOUSA is not going out of business and that you can continue marketing and selling new homes from Newmark Homes with confidence because its corporate parent has taken the steps necessary to assure its long-term financial strength and stability.

Chapter 11 is a tool that allows companies to fix their financial problems so that they can stay in business and build upon their core strengths to serve the needs of their customers, It is important that you understand that this is a financial issue and not a reflection of our operations, We have been building high-quality homes at outstanding values from many years and will continue to do so.

All closings are expected to remain on schedule and our community building projects should continue uninterrupted. We’ve ensured that all Realtor commission(s) will be paid from escrow as per our normal course of business.

In short, the actions TOUSA has taken today will result in a stronger Newmark Homes that will be better able to cope with today’s challenging housing market and prosper once conditions return to normal.

It is also important to note that TOUSA’s affiliates that provide financial services are not included in the filing and will not be affected by it. This includes Universal Land Title, Inc., Preferred Home Mortgage Company and Alliance Insurance and Information Services. This means that customers who have obtained mortgages, title insurance and other financial services products from these businesses will not be impacted by the filing.

If you have any questions or concerns about recent developments, please do not hesitate to call your local contact or our toll-free information hotline at (8E36) 588-9290. Also please feel free to visit www.tousa.com for updates on our restructuring.

We appreciate your support and look forward to continuing our relationship with you.

Sincerely,
Brian Shields

Here’s another possible case of someone with money and power (and in this case a whole lotta time) filing a lawsuit against someone because they don’t like what that person thinks. Yep, the excerpt below from the Miami Herald, summarizes the lawsuit that a developer filed against a real estate agent who blogged about his opinion of a development. The broker, in typical broker fashion, immediately dumped the agent and said they only want to show the positive news. If I were a client at that broker, I’d be out the door faster than (something really fast).

I for one hope the EFF or some other similar entity helps this poor agent out. He doesn’t deserve a guy using the American legal system as a weapon. See how others have abused our legal system for their own twisted often narcissistic purposes at www.iamlawsuitabuse.org. Suppor the Electronic Frontier Foundation and bloggers’ rights.

Realtor fired over Hollo blog post
BY PATRICK DANNER

Developer Tibor Hollo has filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit against a Miami real estate agent who blogged that the octogenarian went bankrupt in the 1980s and is headed for a fall with the upheaval in the condo market.

Hollo last week sued agent Lucas Lechuga and the Coral Gables brokerage Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell alleging they have engaged in a smear campaign against him and his Opera Tower condo development on Lechuga’s Miami Condo Investments blog.

On Monday, the postings cost Lechuga his job.

”We just don’t condone making statements, especially negative statements, about anyone, so we have terminated our relationship with our associate,” said EWM President Ron Shuffield. Its agents are independent contractors, not employees.

Lechuga, 29, predicted on the blog that at least half of the buyers in the 635-unit Opera Tower at 1750 Bayshore Drive would default and the units would be taken over the project’s lender.

”My opinion is that this development is doomed,” he wrote on Jan. 10.

That followed this Nov. 25 post: “This developer went bankrupt in the 1980’s and I think we’ll see a repeat performance within the next 6 months. What do I know, though? I’m no real estate oracle.”

An angry Hollo said neither he nor any of his companies ever filed for bankruptcy.

”I guess when you’re running a blog [you] think [you] can say anything about anybody, and that’s just not true,” Hollo said. He called the postings “plain, unadulterated lies.”

The suit was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Hollo declined to say how he arrived at the $25 million damage claim.

Lechuga said he was exercising his constitutional rights in musing about Opera Tower.

”Like any other blog out there, it’s a collection of my unbiased opinions and thoughts,” he said. “I have buyers all over the world who go to my blog. They know I’m not going to sugarcoat the market.”

Lechuga removed the Nov. 25 post after learning of the lawsuit, but later reposted it without the reference to Hollo going ”bankrupt.” He said he would have removed it sooner had he known it was wrong. He said a few people who told him about it may not have meant Hollo literally filed for bankruptcy, rather that Hollo had financial troubles of some kind.

…
”Courts understand [blogs] are written in unedited, unvetted fashion,” Jarvis said. “There’s a lot of hyperbole. That’s why it’s so difficult to win defamation lawsuits.”

Plus, Jarvis said Lechuga could argue Hollo is a ”limited public figure” — making it harder for Hollo to claim he was defamed.

…

This is a little late in coming, but this week has been crazy.  What I take away from these two statistics is that while there are more properties on the market only the good ones are selling.  The homes that do sell are taking a little longer to sell than in the previous year, but since the best homes are selling and likely there is still competition from buyers for the best homes, we see increasing prices.

Sellers in this market need to price their homes aggressively or be the best house out there and capitalize on the demand for best in class homes.

The below release comes from the Austin Board of Realtors.

January 23, 2008 - According to the latest Multiple Listing Service (MLS) report, single-family home sales in December were lower than during the same period in 2006. The median sales price for homes in Central Texas grew 8 percent.

“Austin area home sales and prices experienced steady and stable growth over the past few years, contributing to the overall economic health in Central Texas,” said ABoR Chairman Socar Chatmon-Thomas. “All indicators show that making a long-term investment in Central Texas property continues to be a solid financial strategy.”

December 2007 single-family home sales were down 16 percent from last year, totaling 1,655. These sales brought the year-end total of homes sold to 25,151, an 8 percent decrease from 2006. The median price of single-family properties in December rose 8 percent to $191,250, while the 2007 year-end median price rose 6 percent to $185,000.

Altogether, single-family property sales contributed $6,301,644,094 to the local economy in 2007, down only 2 percent from the previous year. These properties sat on the market for an average of 62 days, the lowest time span in five years. Active listings increased by 10 percent to 8,628.

December 2007 - Single Family Homes
• 1,655 was the number of single-family homes sold, a 16 percent decrease from one year ago
• $191,250 was the median price for single-family homes, an 8 percent increase from one year ago
• $416,465,855 was the total dollar volume of properties sold, an 11 percent decrease from one year ago

2007 (Year-End Totals) - Single-Family Homes
• 25,151 homes sold, an 8 percent decrease from 2006
• $185,000 was the median price, a 6 percent increase from 2006
• $6,301,644,094 was the total dollar volume of properties sold, a 2 percent decrease from 2006

The Austin Board of REALTORS® is a non-profit, voluntary organization representing more than 8,000 licensed REALTORS® in Central Texas. For further information, please contact Angela Brutsché at 512/454-7636 ext. 1300.

Contact:
Angela Brutsché
Austin Board of REALTORS®
512/454-7636
abrutsche@abor.com

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The Federal Reserve cut two key short-term rates earlier today - both by 0.75%.  But, is this good for mortgage rates?  The short-term and immediate response is ‘yes,’ and we saw that today as mortgage rates took a slight dip as a result of this surprising move.  However, the longer-term impact (and longer-term can often mean just a few days later) is that mortgage rates typically go up after a Fed rate cut.

Why?  For one, short-term rates and long-term rates move in opposite directions.  This means that, when one goes down, the other one goes up.  Additionally, a cut in short-term rates typically brings with it the risk of higher inflation, and that’s a major no-no for mortgage rates.  Inflation - or even the fear of it - will cause long-term rates (mortgage rates) to go up.

So … The time is now!!!  Mortgage rates are the lowest we’ve seen in years, and who knows how long we’ll be able to sustain these 5.5%-type 30-yr fixed rates!  The cost of waiting can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars of higher payments per year.  Ready to buy but just quite haven’t found that perfect home?  Think about Pre-Purchase Rate Protection!  This will allow you to cap your interest rate - based on today’s super low rates - for 90 days while you focus on working with you on the home search.  And, if it so happens that mortgage rates do fall again during this period, they can “float down” to the lower rate.  What a win-win situation!!!

Well sometimes everyone makes a mistake… But to misrepresent the school district that your new home is being built in is either evidence of a very slimy representative or an extremely incompetent one. Either way it’s not something that you’ll want to add to your resume.

Kathryn points out some great tips at the end of the snippet below. Mainly, make sure that you have an agent working in your best interest. In Austin and the surrounding areas, buyer agents are typically paid for by the seller, but represent YOU. It’s also hugely important that if a salesman looks like the guy in the photo above that you seriously reconsider signing at that time!!!

One item that’s not in the list below that is always a good idea is including the builder’s representations in the contract. If they won’t allow that, then it would be best to have the builder’s representative sign the documents so that you have a copy of the papers that confirm the representations. In Texas we have a very strong (well it seems strong to me, but I’m no lawyer) Deceptive Trade Practices law. Think treble damages and lots of other scary things that could happen to people who are found guilty of deception.

Excerpt from Charlotte Observer.

Homebuyers say builder misstated school district

2 Pecan Hills buyers released from contract

KATHRYN THIER

kthier@charlotteobserver.com

Alisa Frady put down $20,000 in earnest money for a new home in Mooresville in the Iredell-Statesville Schools, the same district her children now attend.

But it turns out that the Pecan Hills subdivision is in the Mooresville Graded School District.

Frady and others say Ryan Homes, builder of Pecan Hills, gave them wrong information.

…

Tips for homebuyers

• Call the school district to confirm which district serves the home you intend to buy. You must provide an accurate address.

• Remember that individual school attendance zones may change. But district boundaries rarely change.

• Engage a real estate agent to represent you. Don’t rely on the seller’s agent to represent you.

I’ve got to say the whole time the boom was going on in the last 18 months and our developments were selling out as fast as we could build them, I still felt that the downtwon market was being overbuilt. As Neal mentions in the excerpt below, the jobs in dowtown Austin are just not numerous enough or well paying enough (given all the state and local government jobs) to support the amount of $300+/sq ft condos going up. Some of these condos have MONTHLY HOA fees in excess of $600. That’s the cost of a $100k mortgage on a home.

Needless to say, there is bound to be some number of folks who get burned by the glut. If you’re in the market for a downtown condo, make sure you strike a good deal. You might be facing a lot of competition from the new builders if you decide to sell in the next 3 years.

Excerpt from the Neal Spelce Austin Letter.

Despite the mantra being heard of “live and work downtown,” Austin traffic patterns could change dramatically once the surge in downtown high-rise condo construction nears completion and occupancies reach saturation.

The problem is simple. Currently there are not enough jobs in the downtown area to support full occupancy of the new high-rise condos and apartment buildings that are nearing completion. And the pace of job creation in the downtown area is not yet vigorous enough to meet that demand, should the demand materialize. So, living downtown and walking to work may not be possible for hundreds of residents in the Central Business District.

What does this mean? Well, it means that many of those who rush to live downtown will find themselves part of a new traffic pattern during rush hour. You might call it a reverse commute. Cars will start streaming out of the downtown area to places of employment at the same time cars are converging on the downtown area from the suburbs and other neighborhoods.

This potential alteration is based on the assumption that downtown living units will be occupied at a reasonably fast clip (as owners, developers and lenders are hoping!!!). With that assumption, the only thing that could stem this traffic pattern change would be for more major employers to move into the downtown area. These major employers would need to pay a higher-than-average wage so their employees could afford these new units. So far, not many major employers have rushed to acquire pricey downtown space for their companies.

Remember, the majority of the employees in the downtown area right now draw government paychecks; they don’t fit the target profile for the new condo and apartment marketers. When the day is done, they head to their living units in the less expensive parts of town. It will be interesting to watch this develop as our downtown undergoes dramatic changes.

Here’s a truly laudable decision from the Home Builders Association if Northern California. I’ve seen those commercials recently showing fictional natural disasters like a giant sandstorm in Dallas and the submersion of New York City due to rising temperatures and changing global climates. Granted the changes might not really hit our generation or even our children’s generation, but even the hard core religious have at least stopped (for the most part) trying to deny that we have an impact on our environment. I wish our local home builders association would do something similar. Maybe someday!

Excerpt from bizjournals.com

East Bay Business Times - by Jessica Saunders

The Home Builders Association of Northern California has set a goal of reducing overall energy consumption in new homes 50 percent by 2020.

Member builders will be required to achieve the reduction compared with 1990 energy consumption levels within 14 years, the association’s president, Joseph Perkins, said. They will also be asked to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent from 1990 levels in the same time frame.

Perkins announced the energy goals and the support for mandatory green building standards during a conference hosted by the California Public Utilities Commission Monday on growing the state’s green energy economy. More details were to be announced within the next 60 days.

It amazes me that no matter how many people get caught doing these mortgage fraud schemes, people still do them. Why would you think that you could run 30 scams over a 9 year period and that no one would eventually catch up to you? I guess if you scammed for 5 years and then went to some place in Bosnia you could “get away” with it, but short of that you’re going to get caught. Anyway, take a look at some of the folks involved. The vast majority are from Austin and several are licensed agents or lenders. What a shame on the industry they are. I’m glad their gone. Know of any other good stories? Send them my way and I’m happy to post them.

This article is an excerpt from The Mortgage Fraud Blog about the case.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging sixteen individuals with conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering for their roles in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme. Those charged include:
Cornelius Robinson, 47, Austin, Texas, leader and organizer of the conspiracy;
Silvia Seelig, 45, Austin, during the conspiracy was a licensed real estate agent and an alleged straw buyer;
George H. Watson, 55, Austin, a licensed attorney specializing in real estate transactions. Watson served as the closing attorney on numerous real estate transactions associated described in the Indictment;
James Douglas Atwood, 51, Austin, Cornelius Robinson‘s uncle and an alleged straw buyer;
Michael Breon, 39, Austin, an associate of Cornelius Robinson and an alleged straw buyer. Breon, a licensed loan officer and mortgage broker, was employed by several different loan origination and mortgage companies during the conspiracy;
Sindu Sukumaran, 36, wife of Michael Breon and an alleged straw buyer;
Doris Ann Hill, 40, Austin, a personal banker employed at Wells Fargo Bank. For a fee, Hill allegedly agreed to provide a false verification of deposit to loan underwriters in relation to real estate transactions.
Julius Meyers Lofton, 45, Austin, licensed real estate agent and an alleged straw buyer;
Roy Rivers, age 52 of Austin, friend of Cornelius Robinson and James Atwood and an alleged straw buyer;
Danielle Guice Rosas, 40, Austin, an alleged straw buyer;
Stanley Ma, 27, Honolulu, Hawaii area and an alleged straw buyer;
Leonard Brown, 38, Houston, Texas, and an alleged straw buyer who also allegedly provided a false verification of employment in association with Onyx Consulting and defendant Ma;
Russell Snead, 43, Seattle, Washington area, an associate of Cornelius Robinson and an alleged straw buyer;
Marlon Nathan Torres, 45, Hutto, Texas, an associate of Cornelius Robinson;
Jeffrey Andre Wilkins, 46, Austin, a friend of Cornelius Robinson and an alleged straw buyer; and,
Leroy Williams, 46, Austin, an alleged straw buyer.

The austin mortgage fraud indictment alleges that from September 1999 to present, the defendants participated in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders, including federally insured financial institutions, with regard to loans acquired to purchase 25 properties in the Austin and San Antonio, Texas area. The scheme centered upon the use of real estate flips. That is, the defendants purchased property at one price and would immediately sell, or flip, the property to a straw buyer at a higher price. In doing so, the mortgage lenders were deceived as to the true nature of the transaction and the financial status of the straw buyer. The straw buyers did not make the subsequent monthly mortgage payments and all of the loans have gone into default. All of loans have been either foreclosed upon or are the subject of current foreclosure proceedings.

Each defendant faces up to 30 years in federal prison upon conviction of the fraud conspiracy charge; up to 20 years in federal prison upon conviction of the money laundering conspiracy charge. In addition to the conspiracy charges, the indictment contains several substantive charges including wife fraud, false statements and receipt of commission or gift for procuring loans.
It is important to note that an indictment is merely a charge and should not be considered as evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The properties involved include:

10920 Preston Trails, Austin;
3306 Pennsylvania, Austin;
4708 Heflin Lane, Austin;
5403 Pendleton, Austin;
3109 Val Drive, Austin;
1174 Graham, Austin;
5200 Meadow Field; San Antonio;
5205 Meadow Field; San Antonio;
5216 Meadow Field; San Antonio;
5221 Meadow Field; San Antonio;
5228 Meadow Field; San Antonio;
301 Lightsey, Austin;
5100 Woodmoor, Austin;
1207 Harvey, Austin;
3700 Govalle, Austin;
5011 Nixon, Austin;
3303 Hickory Creek Cove, Austin;
7412 Albert Lane, Austin;
3900 Pawnee Pass, Austin;
2507 Givens Avenue, Austin;
2904 Cherrywood, Austin;
10415 James Ryan Way, Austin;
3513 Josh Lane, Austin;
1709 Enfield, Austin;
601 Explorer, Lakeway;
12605 Lyndon, Austin;
27013 Masters Parkway, Spicewood;
4412 City Park Road, Austin;
1345 Upper ELgin River Road, Elgin;

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted for the government by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Lane.

As a real estate professional, I do a lot to stay on top of the ever changing trends in housing, finance, legislation, and especially green living. One of the magazines that I subscribe to is Natural Home. It’s a pretty cool magazine with quality writing and good coverage. If you are interested in natrual living, green building, eco-friendly lifestyles, I highly recommend that you check the magazine out.

The latest issue named Austin’s Mueller (pronounced Miller) redevelopment project one of the magazine’s top 10 eco-friendly communities. It’s good to see that Austin is taking the lead in the green revolution. If you have any green stories, please share them and I’ll post them here. Below is an excerpt from the article. You can read the full article at Natural Home.

Natural Home Top 10: Eco-friendly Neighborhoods

By Laurel Kalenbach

Our picks for the nation’s best green housing developments emphasize communities working toward sustainability by incorporating green building, energy efficiency and reuse of previously developed land. Several are enrolled in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) programs such as LEED for Neighborhoods (LEED-ND) or LEED for Homes. (For more on LEED-ND, see page 23). Our 10 favorites are listed alphabetically by city.

Austin, Texas
Mueller

The old municipal airport—just minutes from the University of Texas and downtown—is a 711-acre redevelopment with homes, shops, businesses, restaurants, an elementary school and parks. Austin Energy is certifying all buildings to high efficiency.
www.MuellerAustin.com

• Green options for homes, including tankless water heaters, programmable thermostats, solar panels
• Graywater reused for low-water, native landscaping
• 25 percent of housing for lower-income owners or renters Hangars reused as info centers and possible entertainment venue
• Anticipated LEED Platinum status for Dell Children’s Medical Center and Ronald McDonald House

Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Greenbridge

With 98 residential condominiums, street-level retail, renewable building materials, planted roofs, and solar hot water and electricity, Greenbridge is a downtown revitalization project promoting human and ecological health.
www.GreenbridgeDevelopments.com

Denver, Colorado
Stapleton

A former airport site, Stapleton is the largest urban-infill redevelopment project in the United States, with 4,700 acres of reclaimed land just 10 minutes from downtown. Six million tons of runway concrete were reused to make bike paths and bridges. The development is in the LEED-ND pilot program.
www.StapletonDenver.com

Grayslake, Illinois
Prairie Crossing

Committed to minimizing its impact on the environment, this suburban community preserves 60 percent of its 677 acres as prairie, wetlands and organic farmland. It also has 359 single-family houses, 36 condos, many shops, a café and commuter trains to Chicago. Prairie Crossing’s Station Village is in the LEED-ND pilot program.
www.PrairieCrossing.com

Issaquah, Washington
Issaquah Highlands

This 2,240-acre urban village east of Seattle in the Cascade Mountain foothills balances green space and trails with homes, townhouses, multifamily buildings and an elementary school. The community is building 3.9 million square feet of LEED-certified commercial and retail space.
www.IssaquahHighlands.com

North Charleston, South Carolina
Navy Yard at Noisette

Located on the former Charleston Naval Base, this 340-acre brownfield redevelopment will house 7,000 families and become part of the city’s sustainable urban revitalization. All structures are built to a minimum LEED Silver standard.
www.NavyYardSC.com

Portland, Oregon
Helensview

This high-density, low- to moderate-incoming housing neighbor- hood in northeast Portland is being developed by a nonprofit that helps renters become homeowners. It will have 53 single-family houses and condos that qualify for LEED for Homes and LEED-ND programs.
www.HostDevelopment.com

Salem, Oregon
Pringle Creek Community

Located on 32 acres of redeveloped land, this community integrates 130 carbon-neutral/net-zero-energy residences—including single- and multi-family houses, cottages, row houses and apartments—with LEED-certified retail, work spaces, parks and community buildings.
www.PringleCreek.com

Seattle, Washington
High Point

This neighborhood replaces a rundown public-housing project. The new High Point mixes subsidized and market-rate homes and includes a health clinic, library, grocery store and parks. Its natural drainage system has native plants and swales that filter and divert stormwater to protect a salmon stream.
www.TheHighPoint.com

Staten Island, New York
Markham Gardens

This 13-acre, 290-unit revitalization of World War II public-housing includes 240 apartments and duplexes for low-income renters and 50 affordable housing units. It’s on track for LEED Silver certification.
www.PrattCenter.net/arch-markhamgardens.php