Tag: Building (Construction)

Six Men’s Deaths in Baltimore Bridge Collapse Shake City’s Hispanic Community

Jose López was one of the first in his family to leave Guatemala for a new life in the United States. He wanted work that would give him a better life. So in the early 2000s he found his way to Baltimore, a city where strivers have long found a home and where Mr. López […]

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How Long Does New York Take to Fix a Staircase? 10 Years and Counting.

Ten years ago, the agency overseeing the upkeep of the majestic New York State Capitol reported that the granite staircase leading to the main entrance was warped and bulging so badly that part of it might collapse at any moment. Inspectors discovered leaning balustrades, rusted steel supports, cracked and displaced granite, failed drainage systems and […]

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Berkeley Will Repeal Its Landmark Ban on Natural Gas in New Homes

The city of Berkeley, Calif., has agreed to repeal a landmark climate rule that would have banned natural gas hookups in new homes, throwing into question the fate of dozens of similar restrictions on gas in cities across the country. Berkeley’s gas ban, which was the first of its kind when it passed in 2019, […]

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What Comes Next for the Housing Market?

Federal Reserve officials are planning to cut interest rates this year, real estate agents are likely to slash their commissions after a major settlement and President Biden has begun to look for ways his administration can alleviate high housing costs. A lot of change is happening in the housing market, in short. While sales have […]

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A New Building Aims to Be a Good Neighbor in Low-Rise Brooklyn

To fit into Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, known for its brownstones and low-key style, new buildings must follow a pattern: be stately but not flashy, and above all honor the integrity of the neighborhood. Buildings in Boerum Hill are much lower-profile than the skyscrapers in nearby Downtown Brooklyn and parts of Prospect Heights. One of the […]

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These Downtown Los Angeles Towers Became a Graffiti Skyline

It was a billion-dollar aspiration meant to transform a neighborhood. A trio of shimmering skyscrapers would feature luxury condos, a five-star hotel and an open-air galleria with retailers and restaurants. Among the amenities: private screening rooms, a two-acre park, pet grooming services and a rooftop pool. A celebrity fitness trainer would help curate a wellness […]

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A.I. Frenzy Complicates Efforts to Keep Power-Hungry Data Sites Green

West Texas, from the oil rigs of the Permian Basin to the wind turbines twirling above the High Plains, has long been a magnet for companies seeking fortunes in energy. Now, those arid ranch lands are offering a new moneymaking opportunity: data centers. Lancium, an energy and data center management firm setting up shop in […]

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Plans to Expand U.S. Chip Manufacturing Are Running Into Obstacles

In December 2022, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the key maker of the world’s most cutting-edge chips, said it planned to spend $40 billion in Arizona on its first major U.S. hub for semiconductor production. The much ballyhooed project outside Phoenix — with two new factories, including one with more advanced technology — became a symbol […]

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The Great Compression

Robert Lanter lives in a 600-square-foot house that can be traversed in five seconds and vacuumed from a single outlet. He doesn’t have a coffee table in the living room because it would obstruct the front door. When relatives come to visit, Mr. Lanter says jokingly, but only partly, they have to tour one at […]

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Student Housing Has a New Mantra: Bigger Is Better

When the Standard, an off-campus student housing complex, opened in the fall in Bloomington, Ind., welcoming its first batch of residents, it had a decidedly resort vibe. Along with the requisite pool and fitness centers, it enticed students with two pickleball courts, a dog park and a motion sports simulator. The complex even used a […]

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NYC’s Housing Crunch Is the Worst It’s Been in More Than 50 Years

New York City’s housing crunch is the worst it has been in more than 50 years. The portion of rentals that were vacant and available dropped to a startling 1.4 percent in 2023, according to city data released on Thursday. It was the lowest vacancy rate since 1968 and shows just how drastically home construction […]

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Construction Industry Grapples With Its Top Killer: Drug Overdose

At One Madison, a high-rise under construction on 23rd Street in Manhattan, workers face dangers daily: live wires, electrical hazards, heavy machinery. Cold gusts of wind whip around them as they lay concrete and operate forklifts. Access to the upper floors of the 28-story building is a ride on a noisy construction elevator. City and […]

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A Year After a Devastating Quake: Container Cities, Trials and Grief

At 4:17 a.m. on Tuesday, thousands of people in cities across southern Turkey gathered to cry, light candles and chant against the government, marking the moment a year ago that a powerful earthquake devastated the region. The 7.8-magnitude quake, and a second violent tremor hours later, damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings, killing […]

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A Look at the $10 Billion Design for a New Port Authority Bus Terminal

It has taken a full decade to conceive, but a $10 billion transformation of New York City’s dreary main bus terminal may get rolling in the next few months. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the terminal, unveiled an updated design for its replacement on Thursday. Instead of the dismal, […]

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On Nantucket, a Legal Maneuver to Protect Historic Homes From Gutting

On an island where the average home sale topped $4 million last year, Ginger Andrews’s scallop shanty is a golden ticket. If she had any inclination, Ms. Andrews, a fourth-generation resident of Nantucket, could sell the waterfront structure next week for a life-changing amount of money. The prospect is intoxicating — at least to some […]

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Real Estate Giant China Evergrande Will Be Liquidated

Months after China Evergrande ran out of cash and defaulted in 2021, investors around the world scooped up the property developer’s discounted I.O.U.’s, betting that the Chinese government would eventually step in to bail it out. On Monday it became clear just how misguided that bet was. After two years in limbo, Evergrande was ordered […]

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Amid a Housing Crunch, Religious Groups Unlock Land to Build Homes

Emma Budway, a 26-year-old autistic woman who is mostly nonverbal, had been living with her parents in Arlington, Va. She longed for her own place, but because she earned little income, she could not afford to move out. So when the opportunity came to move into a two-bedroom apartment in December 2019, she jumped at […]

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China’s Property Crisis Blew Up Investments That Couldn’t Lose

One of China’s largest investment firms, Citic Trust, had a clear pitch to investors when it was aiming to raise $1.7 billion to fund property development in 2020: There is no safer Chinese investment than real estate. The trust, the investment arm of the state-owned financial conglomerate Citic, called housing “China’s economic ballast” and “an […]

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The Building Spree That Reshaped Manhattan’s Skyline? It’s Over.

The Manhattan office construction boom is over. Just three large office towers — of more than 500,000 square feet — are being built across New York City, with two expected to open in 2024 or 2025 and nothing else projected to go up for years. Normally, a handful of sites that size would be in […]

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In Central London, a Big Bet on a Return to the Office

On a recent Monday afternoon, visitors emerging from the serenity of St. Paul’s Cathedral in the heart of London could walk just a few steps north before being hit by a blast of noise: the near-deafening sounds of a giant hydraulic drill. A few steps farther, sparks flew overhead from another building site. The City […]

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Bronx Collapse Raises Questions About Oversight of Aging Buildings

Around 3 p.m. on Monday, Maria Vargas was in her daughter’s room on the third floor of their Bronx apartment building when cracks shot across the walls. One wall was split down the middle. Ms. Vargas, 55, whose husband is the building’s superintendent, joined a mob racing for the exit. Then the entire corner of […]

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What Ails Offshore Wind: Supply Chains, Ships and Interest Rates

A few years ago, interest in offshore wind energy was so strong that developers proposed spending tens of billions of dollars to plunk hundreds of turbines the size of skyscrapers in the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Virginia. But several of those projects have recently hit the skids after executives miscalculated the impact that the […]

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‘Absolute Chaos’: Residents Evacuated From Public Housing Tower in England

Shaban Ali has lived in a public housing tower in Bristol, in southwest England, for seven years. On Tuesday, the plan was to stay in: dinner, a bath and watching “Paddington” with his two young children. Instead, they and other residents of Barton House were ordered to pack a bag and immediately evacuate the building […]

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Grass and Shrub Fires More Destructive Than Forest Fires in U.S.

Forest fires may get more attention, but a new study reveals that grassland fires are more widespread and destructive across the United States. Almost every year since 1990, the study found, grass and shrub fires burned more land than forest fires did, and they destroyed more homes, too. But many residents are not as aware […]

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Earthquake in Nepal Renews Fears on Preparations for a Bigger One

Officials in Nepal were still assessing the extent of the damage on Sunday from the earthquake that struck the country’s west two nights earlier, leaving at least 150 people dead and thousands either homeless or afraid to sleep indoors. But scientists were already renewing clear warnings that this Himalayan nation, which sits on the fault […]

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French Nuns and Climate Activists Square Off Over Plans for a Megachurch

When climate activists protesting the building of a huge church complex in a natural park in the South of France scaled the construction site, the nuns gave chase. One sister grabbed an environmentalist climbing an excavator, but lost her grip and fell rolling into a pit. Two other nuns tried to hold down a protester, […]

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California Slams San Francisco for ‘Egregious’ Barriers to Housing Construction

A scathing new report has found that it takes longer and costs more to build housing in San Francisco than anywhere else in California, exacerbating the state’s homelessness crisis and preventing many workers from being able to live in the city. Gov. Gavin Newsom has demanded that cities approve far more construction as residents struggle […]

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Jack Fisk: The Genius Behind Hollywood’s Most Indelible Sets

Much of this history Fisk only learned recently, when Scorsese gave him a copy of Menzies’ biography, “The Shape of Films to Come.” Unlike many of his contemporaries, who worked their way up through the art department, Fisk doesn’t describe himself as a film obsessive, and he’s careful not to watch movies while he’s designing. […]

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China Evergrande’s Problems Are Only Getting Worse

For months, the unwinding of China Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, played out like a slow-moving train crash. After filing for bankruptcy protection last month — nearly two years after the company defaulted on payments to some creditors — Evergrande appeared on the path toward a more typical debt restructuring for creditors. But […]

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How Tokyo Achieves Affordable Housing

Yuta Yamasaki and his wife moved from southern Japan to Tokyo a decade ago because job prospects were better in the big city. They now have three sons — ages 10, 8 and 6 — and they are looking for a larger place to live. But Mr. Yamasaki, who runs a gelato shop, and his […]

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