Every week, WW examines a mysteriously vacant property in the city of Portland, explains why it’s empty, and considers what might happen next. Except this week. We’re taking a Thanksgiving break. We’ll catch up with you with this update on a previously reviewed property.

When we last checked the fate of the St. Johns storefront that once housed Pattie’s Home Plate Cafe, developer Kevin Cavenaugh was trying to make up his mind.

Cavenaugh, who specializes in idiosyncratically named buildings with hidden alcoves, had similar plans for 8501 N Lombard St., which long housed a restaurant that hosted monthly Western Bigfoot Society gatherings. But he was joking. He wondered if a full rehab might mean he had to charge a tenant too much per square foot: $2 instead of $1.

“The architect in me loves the new design,” he said. WW in August. “The neighbor in me thinks it’s inappropriate right now. But nothing is worse than a vacant building, so I better make up my mind pretty quickly.

He did. One day after WWAs the story ran, moped and scooter shop Sabatino Moto approached Cavenaugh’s company, Guerrilla Development, about leasing the 7,478 square foot space.

Sabatino opened its new store last week. “There’s nothing cooler than a store full of new, used, and vintage motorcycles and mopeds,” Cavenaugh now says. WW. “It’s an iconic image in an iconic corner space.”

Cavenaugh also owns the storefront to the west on Lombard, which once housed the draper The Man’s Shop. He also talks about a new tenant for this space.

He credits WW‘s reporting to put it in touch with tenants.

“Essentially your article was a nice boost,” Cavenaugh writes. “And the neighborhood deeply appreciates keeping commercial rent low during these frothy financial times.”

Do you have questions about a vacancy? Send addresses to newstips@wweek.com.

Cohen Asset Management has just added another industrial asset to its Texas portfolio.

The Los Angeles-based investor has more than 7 million square feet currently under management in Texas, according to the Dallas Morning News. His latest purchase is Sunridge II, a new distribution center in Wilmer. The nearly 700,000 square foot industrial building located at 1700 North Goode Road in Sunridge Business Park is close to Interstate 45 and the Union Pacific Intermodal Freight Terminal. Business park tenants include Unilever, Osborn-Hessey, Sprouts, Ace Hardware and Medline, occupying over 2.6 million square feet of space.

The property was sold by its developer, Scannell Properties, which completed construction earlier this year. The building is so new that the Google StreetView of 1700 North Goode Road still shows an open field.

CBRE Group handled the sale. CBRE director Jonathan Bryan boasted that the building was “100% leased to a single tenant with over 10 years of lease term remaining.” This tenant has not been named by CBRE and no business is registered at 1700 North Goode Road. The industrial building’s listing on PropertyShark – which has been updated to show the property as sold – has Sunridge II marked as vacant.

Sunridge II is Cohen’s second warehouse purchase in Texas since October, when it purchased the new HWY 114 distribution center, a 568,600 square foot facility in Roanoke.

— Maddy Sperling

FLINT, Mich. (WJRT) — After countless complaints from citizens, a red light at a neighborhood house is about to go out.

Neighbors in the Mott Park community say a house in the 2400 block of Norbert Street is a nuisance and when the red porch light is on, trouble begins.

“Lots of traffic, different people inside and outside, fights, shootings and deaths,” said a neighbor who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals.

Those living in the usually quiet community have raised their concerns with Flint police and Flint City Councilwoman Tonya Burns.

“I believe in keeping my promises, one of the promises I made was that house on Norbert Street,” Burns told ABC 12. “We call it the neighborhood red light. The neighbors told me they would vote for me if I could get rid of the problematic property.

The house is a rental. Robert Nelson is the legal tenant but he is not staying in the house due to unrelated legal issues that got him locked up, but his girlfriend/wife Jessica was there. Later, she called Robert so they could explain their side of the story.

He says he feels they are being unfairly targeted because he refused to sell drugs. “I’m on probation, I don’t need trouble anymore,” Nelson said.

Complaints of illegal activity prompted landlord Michelle Finney to file eviction papers. It took more than a month, but a bailiff is to come to the house on Saturday. “It’s very difficult to get someone off the property and I’m worried about what it’s going to look like now that they’re being evicted tomorrow,” Finney said.

“This is a family oriented community and we want to make sure it continues that way,” Councilor Burns said. “People shouldn’t have to live as hostages.”

Jessica and Robert maintain that they did nothing illegal. As for the red porch light, Robert said it was a Christmas decoration he never took down.

Yesterday, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and US Bailout Coordinator Gene Sperling convened a meeting with officials from across the Biden-Harris administration and more than 70 leaders and advocates tenants, housing providers, lawyers and housing policy experts to discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to strengthen tenant protections and improve rent affordability.

Participants discussed several key topics related to tenant protection and affordability of rent, including the right of tenants to safe, decent and affordable housing. Participants also discussed the need for clear and fair leases, the importance of tenants being able to live free from retaliation or landlord interference, and the right of tenants to organize without fear. Administration officials stressed their commitment to enforcing the Fair Housing Act, preventing unlawful discrimination, and advancing fair tenant screening practices and safety. Building on lessons learned during the pandemic, participants also discussed ways to institutionalize best practices such as deportation diversion and ways to ensure due process rights and fair procedures.

Administration officials stressed the importance of this work in the context of the President’s broader housing agenda, which includes actions to increase the supply of homes for purchase and rent and expand availability. housing assistance.

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Although Lafayette’s rental housing market has traditionally been less robust than cities of similar size, it has been strong in 2022. Under the right circumstances, making residential property available for rent can be an ideal solution for landlords. and tenants. However, this can present challenges and there are steps both parties should take beforehand to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Lori McCarthy, Managing Broker of Latter & Blum Acadiana, talked to us about the benefits of renting a residential property as well as how to overcome any obstacles that may arise.

Let’s say someone owns a residence that they plan to make available to tenants. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?

With rising interest rates, some people have decided they’d rather rent their home than sell it. The temptation of a new source of income attracts many people. However, if there is a mortgage on the property, they will need to consider the total expenses of the property to confirm that they can charge a rental rate that will at least allow them to break even and hopefully the, to make a profit. For some people, it may even be an opportunity to pay off their mortgage.

On the other hand, owners will need to think about how they will handle the challenges that arise, especially if they live in a different city than where the property is located. Tenants will have certain expectations that must be met. In addition, it is increasingly difficult to find good tenants who maintain the property and pay on time.

What makes a rental property attractive to tenants?

Generally people choose to rent either because they don’t have the credit or the funds for a down payment or because they don’t want to be tied down by a house note if they are unsure of their future. in the community. Either way, tenants are looking for a safe, well-maintained place with a landlord or property manager who addresses issues as they arise and is available for emergencies.

Tenants also consider location. Often they want to live in a particular neighborhood close to where they work or in certain school zones.

What are the benefits of listing a rental property with an agency like Latter & Blum?

Latter & Blum offers landlords the opportunity to pitch their rental listing to more than 1,600 real estate agents across Acadiana and submit it to multiple national websites for maximum exposure. Our Latter & Blum agents can also help landlords with staging and pricing, as well as background checks to help landlords make informed tenant decisions. As real estate agents, our agents are trained to comply with fair housing rules and regulations to best assist the landlord.

How does a landlord determine how much rent to charge?

The cost of rent is determined by several factors, but location and amenities are the main ones. Often, real estate agents use the 1% rule: once the market value of a property is determined, the typical rental cost is 1% of that value. For example, if a house is valued at $250,000, it would require rent of $2,500 per month. This theory works in most cases, but can vary depending on the condition of the home as well as its location and amenities.

How do landlords and tenants divide costs such as utilities, insurance, maintenance and others?

The owner is responsible for maintaining insurance on the property because if anything happens, it will ultimately be theirs. Most renters are responsible for an additional renter’s policy to cover personal effects, since the landlord’s policy pertains to the structure.

Landlords are generally responsible for all maintenance expenses, including HVAC systems, appliances, electrical, and plumbing. Tenants cover utility costs.

It’s not uncommon for a landlord to have their own lease, often drawn up by their attorney, that details all the expenses and potential issues, then states who is responsible for each.

What are some common myths or misconceptions about rental properties and landlords?

When it comes to the tenant/landlord relationship, real estate agents often hear discussions about a landlord’s ability to evict a tenant for no reason or that landlords have the right to enter the property whenever they want. . Although a landlord has the right to evict for nonpayment of rent or because a tenant has broken a lease, they must follow state eviction laws.

As for free entry, leases specify the conditions under which a landlord can enter a property. Regardless of whether they own it, they must notify the tenant. Tenants have what is called a right to quiet enjoyment and calm. The only exception to this law is an emergency such as a burst pipe or fire.

Latter & Blum has local offices at 2000 Kaliste Saloom Road in Lafayette, 209 West Main Street in New Iberia and 220 Prescott Boulevard in Youngsville. For more information or to speak to an agent, visit www.latter-blum.com.

Some people have successfully fought an eviction notice issued at the Causeway Bay Hotel in Summerside, PEI.

The notice was issued in October after building owners claimed that tenants or their visitors had damaged some units.

But tenant Robert Wall said that after filing an appeal with the island’s Regulatory and Appeals Commission, he received a phone call from the commission saying he was allowed to stay.

“For now we are safe, but it still makes me sad because some of my friends here have been deported again,” he said. “It is not fair.”

Wall has been pleading for about three months for himself and the other tenants of the building,

He said he was not told why he won his eviction hearing and others lost.

Cheryl MacLean is one of five remaining people still fighting evictions.

“I could be homeless,” she said.

She and others in the building received a phone call from the IRAC last week telling them their eviction would be upheld. She has been told she will have to leave by November 13.

“I’m going to try to fight for it, to try to stay here,” she said.

MacLean doesn’t understand why his expulsion was upheld when others like Wall had theirs overturned.

“There are holes and stuff in my room and bubbles that I didn’t even make. It was like that when I moved in,” she said.

MacLean has another call with the IRAC to appeal the decision next week, she said.

Even Wall, whose eviction was overturned, isn’t convinced he’ll be allowed to live there long term.

“I guess we’ll get an eviction notice again in the middle of the month and we’ll keep fighting,” Wall said.

Wall and MacLean said they would do whatever they could to stay in the apartments they called home. However, MacLean considered other housing options in the Summerside area as a backup plan in case she lost her appeal.

The owners of the building did not speak to Wall during the eviction process.

He said the tenants would be in a better position if the hotel was purchased by the province.

At the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly earlier this week, Social Development and Housing Minister Matthew MacKay said the government had entered into negotiations to purchase the hotel.

However, in a phone call with CBC News, Vishal Patel, president of the Causeway Bay Hotel, said no official offer was ever received.

“The only thing we got from their office was some sort of intent to buy, intent meaning there were no numbers,” he said.

The owners responded with a dollar amount, Patel said. He did not reveal the amount. Patel waited three weeks to hear from the province, he said.

“Nobody returned the call,” Patel said.

Hotel maps

Patel and a group of investors bought the hotel Aug. 15 with a plan to renovate the hotel and move away from long-term housing, he said.

For this reason, he said he would continue to fight to have long-time tenants evicted.

“Certainly we will go there because again we want to create a hotel here and it will not be an apartment building,” he said, adding that he had not had the opportunity to speak with his lawyer about issuing another round of evictions. Remarks.

The IRAC does not comment on the initial hearings, which are private, but if an appeal is filed on either side, it will appear on the public hearings schedule. However, if a new eviction notice is issued, the whole process will restart, the commission confirmed in an email.

The Times will leave its downtown Los Angeles printing plant in 2024, ending an era of newspaper production at a sprawling factory that was sold by the newspaper’s former owner.

Printing operations will continue at the Olympic Boulevard plant for a year and a half, said Chris Argentieri, president and chief operating officer of The Times, before The Times begins working with the Southern California News Group to print his newspapers.

“Despite the difficult news, we are providing this notice to help make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone involved,” Argentieri said. “We hope manufacturing employees will continue with us for as long as they can and work closely with them on the transition process.”

About 170 employees work at the Olympic factory, said Times spokeswoman Hillary Manning.

“I have huge respect for the manufacturing team,” Argentieri said. “Their dedication to the print products we produce and to our readers is humbling.”

Times management did not provide additional information on the future status of print production employees.

The Times’ lease at the Olympic factory expires at the end of 2023, according to property data provider CoStar.

“We have a long-term lease in place, but several factors prevent us from continuing to print at [Olympic], including a drastically changed real estate market, a decline in print volume and the owner’s intention to redevelop the property,” Argentieri said. “The pandemic has accelerated these trends.”

The factory, built by the Times in the late 1980s to replace outdated printing operations at its old downtown headquarters, was retained by the former owner of the Times Tribune Co. after the release of the company from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012.

The newspaper became a tenant of the mill in 2014 after The Times spun off as part of Tribune Publishing.

The sprawling 26-acre Olympic print shop has been sold twice in the past decade.

Los Angeles owner and builder Harridge Development Group bought the factory in 2016 for $120 million and was to redevelop the property. In 2019, New York real estate developer Atlas Capital Group paid around $240 million for the site.

Last year, Atlas announced plans to redevelop the site into a Hollywood-style lot with 17 sound stages to meet strong regional demand for film and television production facilities.

The project was approved in May, said Paul Audley, president of FilmLA, the nonprofit organization that administers filming permits in the area. Construction of the land is expected to begin in 2023 and be completed in 2026.

When The Times leaves the Olympic factory in 2024, it will begin working with the Southern California News Group to produce its print editions with the San Diego Union-Tribune, which is part of the Times corporation, Argentieri said.

The company is committed to giving print newspapers “the longest possible life and continuing that tradition for our customers and our communities,” he said.

Matt Pearce – Times reporter and president of Media Guild of the West, which represents newsroom staff at the Times and the Southern California News Group – said management told him the Times had no plans to cut the printing schedule or laying off newsroom employees. represented by the union.

Former Times business owners dismantled the paper’s assets “as they plundered journalism for profit, which led to the formation of our guild in 2018,” Pearce said.

“Their schemes have turned our journalists and press workers into tenants of our own homes – paying rent to disinterested property developers who could have made down payments on our digital future,” he said. “Somewhere the culprits are resting comfortably tonight.”

The print shop’s transformation comes amid a surge in demand for production space and a wave of upgrades to old studios.

The owner of the Television Center, which once housed Technicolor and Metro Pictures Corp.’s film lab, announced a $600 million project to modernize the historic Art Deco studio site in Hollywood earlier this year.

Developers are also upgrading old studios such as Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank and Universal Studios and invent brand new ones, including one on the property of the former Sears store in Hollywood.

According to FilmLA, existing sound stages in Los Angeles County have been almost fully leased for years, which can make it difficult for new productions to find work locations.

Although the Los Angeles area has the most sound stages of any city in the world, studios are operating at nearly 100% capacity with waiting lists as long as five film productions for these spaces, a said financial adviser Deloitte in a report last year.

After missing a vote to override a governor’s veto to enact a “just cause” eviction standard in Burlington, advocates are stepping up their efforts to win such protections for tenants across the state.

In Vermont, a landlord can refuse to renew a tenant‘s lease without giving a reason. Vermont Legal Aid, which provides legal services to low-income people, says such “without cause” evictions are increasing amid the state’s white-hot housing market and, in 2021, accounted for more than the half of all evictions that have made their way through the courts.

Efforts are currently underway in Winooski, Montpelier, Essex, Hartford and Brattleboro to secure charter amendments banning ‘without cause’ evictions on the ballot on this town meeting day in March, according to Tom Proctor, a housing organizer with Rights and Democracy. The advocacy organization is also working with lawmakers to sponsor complementary legislation to ban the practice statewide.

Eviction for cause standards generally require landlords to plead for the non-renewal of a tenant’s lease – such as non-payment of rent or breach of the terms of a lease – and provisions that prohibit de facto evictions via excessive rent increases.

Landlords and real estate groups have lobbied aggressively against pressure for a just cause in Burlington, where local voters backed such protections by a 2-to-1 margin in 2021, arguing it would deter landlords from taking a risk on more vulnerable tenants.

Governor Phil Scott later vetoed the city’s charter change, saying it would make the state’s housing crisis worse, not better. In his campaign for re-election, Scott has remained steadfast in his belief that permits and zoning reform to facilitate construction are what is needed to ease Vermont’s housing crisis, not protection for new tenants.

Proctor said he agrees with the Republican governor that the state needs to build more housing, especially in town centers and village centers, and that reform of the permitting process should be part of the solution. But he argued that these measures would do nothing for short-term tenants, who are in immediate danger of moving.

“It’s something we have to do,” he said. “And we need to put those protections in place now to protect people who are already living in rental housing and are being evicted at an unprecedented rate.”

Scott is the frontrunner for re-election, and any new tenancy protection — whether it’s a local charter change or a statewide bill — will likely need to garner enough votes. to overcome another veto. (In Vermont, charter changes must be approved by the state legislature.)

Proctor acknowledged that was a tall order. But about a third of all lawmakers change this year, and Rights & Democracy is optimistic that the November election will send more tenant-friendly lawmakers to Montpellier for the next biennium.

He also said that even those who might be ambivalent about such measures are feeling the pressure from their constituents.

“Vermont is becoming incredibly hostile to the vast majority of citizens who live here, and I think the Statehouse and the politicians within it see that,” he said. “I think there is going to be a sea change in terms of how we deal with housing over the next two years.”

In Montpelier, city council member Conor Casey said he decided to put the standard of justification before the city’s housing committee after knocking on thousands of doors over the past few months while campaigning for a sits in the Vermont House of Representatives.

Casey said several of his own friends were either put on a bounty or asked to leave by their landlords, but his campaign introduced him to countless other people facing the same situation – including an elderly, disabled woman who just suffered a 33% rent increase after residing in the same apartment for about 20 years.

“We’re in danger of becoming a city where people come to work — lots of service sector jobs — but they can’t afford to live here. And I hate that notion,” he said.

Lawyers, including Legal Aid, argue that “without cause” evictions provide cover for landlords who act in a discriminatory or retaliatory manner. Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, who is helping lead the effort in Onion City — and will sponsor complementary legislation for a statewide show cause standard if re-elected in November — said that is exactly what happened to him.

After reporting black mold and rats to local code enforcement officers in the first apartment she rented in Winooski, Small said she was forced to look for new housing.

“My landlord hit back saying, ‘OK, I’m not going to rent to you next year. And that was it. There was nothing I could do about it,” she said. Most evictions never go through the courts, and Small said she didn’t fight her landlord for the same reason so many other tenants don’t dispute a vacancy notice: she didn’t want to leave. eviction in his file.

Small said her story was not unique. And she said attempts by prominent landlords to mass evict two dozen low-income families and refugees – after their housing complex was featured in a joint investigation by Seven Days and the Vermont Public into poor conditions housing – had become a local rallying cry.

The Bove family changed course after weeks of public outcry, but Small said these tenants should never have gone through the trauma of being evicted and scrambling to find new housing in the first place.

Local resident Andy Blanchet got involved in the Just Cause campaign in Winooski, where more than 60% of households rent their homes. Blanchet said they were kicked out of an apartment when the landlord announced he wanted to rent the unit to their friends – then listed it on Airbnb instead. But what happened at the Boves housing complex at 300 Main Street was also its own “wake up call,” Blanchet said.

“When 300 Main happened at Winooski, it felt like a lot of people immediately understood, ‘Oh, you know, that’s not okay to do to people. And technically it’s not illegal – and it’s not great,” they said.

Finding affordable housing to rent in South Florida hasn’t been easy for some people, and dealing with large rent increases without notice can also be difficult.

“When your lease comes up, when your landlord comes in and says, ‘I’m just going to raise it by four to five hundred dollars,’ that’s huge,” said John Waroe, who rents a home in the city.

At next week’s city commission meeting, commissioners plan to approve an order that requires landlords to provide a tenants’ bill of rights when they enter into a tenancy agreement.

Tenants will need to sign it and ensure there is a record that they have received the notice.

Rent hike: Boynton Beach resort rallies against rent hikes after some set to rise by as much as 50%

“#1, this puts in place a notice that landlords must let tenants know for at least 90 days if they’re going to raise rent by 5% or more,” Mayor Ty Penserga said.

It will also provide a list of resources for tenants who may be having issues with their landlords. The tenants’ bill of rights will tell them who to contact if they need help.

“Because people are reporting some of the unsafe living conditions where they live, or maybe there’s a fire violation where they live,” Penserga said. “That some of these landlords, not all but some, are threatening retaliation and raising their rent in some way, quickly.”

In West Palm Beach: People who are homeless because of rent go to the local clinic

The mayor said the tenants’ bill of rights would be helpful in protecting residents across the city.

“People can’t find money right away,” Penserga said. “They can’t come up with thousands of dollars to find a new place.”

The ordinance is expected to be approved, but the mayor said there will be a training period to inform homeowners of the new policy.

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