HBA Newswatch
February 15, 2008
PAINTING THE NEW AMERICAN HOUSE GREEN
This year’s New American Home at Orlando’s builders show wears a bright shade of eco-friendliness.
By Alan J. Heavens, Inquirer Real Estate Writer
ORLANDO - If any one word applies to the 2008 New American Home, it's green.
So green "St. Patrick himself should be cutting the ribbon," says Philadelphia-born Bill Nolan, vice chair of the committee that conceived the show house for this year's International Builders Show, which ends tomorrow.
A bit of the blarney? Perhaps. Though houses built over the last 24 years for this event were designed to showcase products and construction innovations, the "greenness" of this year's 6,725-square-foot entry was designed to coincide with yesterday's launch of the National Green Building program, aimed at bringing environmentally conscious practices into the industry's mainstream, and the Certified Green professional designation.
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DEP: FLATS SOIL NOT CONTAMINATED
AGENCY SAYS ONLY GROUNDWATER ISSUES ON SITE WOULD HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED IF HOUSES ARE PLANNED
By R. JONATHAN TULEYA, Staff Writer
COATESVILLE — The city’s former industrial property known as the Flats is not the environmental mess it has been speculated to be during recent redevelopment talks, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s records.
An August 2006 letter to former Coatesville Redevelopment Authority Chairman Paul Givler from the DEP listed no problems with soil contamination, states a copy obtained by the Daily Local News on Thursday.
There is contaminated groundwater below the Flats, wrote Stephan Sinding, the DEP’s Southeast Regional Manager of Environmental Cleanup.
But that problem should not be too large a hurdle for any company interested in building on the land, even those interested in constructing homes on the Flats.
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FED CHIEF: 'THE OUTLOOK FOR THE ECONOMY HAS WORSENED'
Fed chairman tells Congress business prospects are deteriorating
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON --- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday that the country's economic outlook has deteriorated and signaled that the central bank is ready to keep on lowering a key interest rate — as needed — to shore things up.
In remarks to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke said the one-two punch of the housing and credit crises has greatly strained the economy. Hiring has slowed and people are likely to tighten their belts further, as they are pinched by high energy prices and watch the value of their single biggest asset — their homes — weaken, he warned.
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5-STORY HOTEL ON HORIZON IN U. PROVIDENCE
WOULD INCLUDE 50-SEAT CONFERENCE CENTER, RESTAURANT
By Laurie Perini, lperini@phoenixvillenews.com
UPPER PROVIDENCE — A new hotel may be coming to Upper Providence on Cresson Boulevard.
The planning commission recommended approval for a land development plan and a conditional use application for a Hilton hotel on 500 Cresson Boulevard.
The hotel would have 135 units and a restaurant that would be available for guests only.
“This will not be an advertised restaurant. It’s merely for the convenience of the guests,” said Bernadette Kearney of Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell and Lupin, solicitor for the applicant.
The hotel would also have a conference room for 50 seats. It will be five stories tall.
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30-DAY MORTGAGE PAUSE COULD HELP SOME
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON -- Homeowners threatened with foreclosure would in some instances get a 30-day reprieve under an initiative the Bush administration announced Tuesday.
Critics attacked the proposal as far short of what is needed to resolve a serious financial crisis that is threatening millions of families with the loss of their homes.
Under the new program, six of the nation's largest financial institutions said they will begin contacting homeowners who are 90 or more days overdue on their monthly mortgage payments. The homeowners will be given the opportunity to put the foreclosure process on pause for 30 days while the lenders look for a way to make the mortgage more affordable. The new program will be available to the holders of all types of mortgages, from prime to subprime, and represents a widening of an initiative announced by President Bush in December that offers a freeze on subprime mortgage rates that are scheduled to reset to sharply higher rates for borrowers who qualify for the assistance.
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Did you see something we missed? Please forward any news stories we may have missed to kirab@builderpa.com and it will be added to the next issue of Newswatch.
