Real Estate Wire/Green Trends News Wire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – LandSouth Construction, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based general contractor specializing in in multifamily, senior housing and mixed use developments has announced the addition of Mark Ondish as project manager. Ondish comes to LandSouth with 14 years of solid construction experience with an emphasis on managing multifamily developments, commercial build outs and hotel renovations. He most recently was an owner representative with LendLease renovating hotels in the southeast.  Ondish has extensive experience managing and completing complex, multi-phased projects through coordinating trades, developing partnerships, and building positive rapport with architects, engineers, local building officials, vendors and owners while maintaining costs and deadlines. He is proficient in document presentation, material purchasing, and critical path project scheduling, project estimating projects, safety and compliance. Ondish will coordinate with clients and th...

(REAL ESTATE WIRE) - - Strong demand for construction projects fueled job growth in November in 38 states compared to October and in all but six states over the past 12 months, according to analysis of Labor Department data released by the Associated General Contractors of America . Association officials said, however, that the shortage of available workers was likely keeping firms from expanding headcounts even more rapidly in many parts of the country. Florida added the most construction jobs between October and November (10,600 jobs, 2.5 percent). Other states adding a high number of construction jobs include New York (9,100 jobs, 2.5 percent), Texas (9,000 jobs, 1.3 percent) and Massachusetts (4,800 jobs, 3.6 percent). South Dakota added the highest percentage of construction jobs during the past month (5.6 percent, 1,300 jobs), followed by Iowa (4.6 percent, 3,700 jobs), Massachusetts and Vermont (3.5 percent, 500 jobs). “In nearly every state, contractors are busier now ...

The North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) has announced the results of a recent survey of its members’ use of pre- and post-consumer recycled materials in insulation and acoustical products in 2014.  The survey includes data from both U.S. and Canadian manufacturing facilities.  According to the survey, U.S. manufacturers used more than 1.7 billion pounds of recycled glass in the production of residential, commercial, and industrial thermal and acoustical insulation – roughly equivalent to the amount of Municipal Solid Waste generated by 1 million people in the U.S. in a year . NAIMA Canada members together used 373 million pounds of recycled glass in the production of residential, commercial, industrial, and air handling thermal and acoustical insulation. U.S. and Canadian facilities used more than 695 million pounds of recycled blast furnace slag in the production of thermal and acoustical insulation.  Since the industry’s recycling program b...

By MIKE BONTS REAL ESTATE WIRE The U.S. Green Building Council North Florida Chapter (USGBC NF) will launch its official opening of the LiveSMART mobile unit this Sunday, Dec. 13 at the Jaguars Colts football game at Everbank Field. The LiveSMART (Sustainable Materials and Resources Trailer) mobile unit placed in the top three for the most votes in the technology category of 2014 One Spark. Since then, the chapter’s volunteers and sponsors have worked to fit out the unit, and recently took it to Washington, DC to Greenbuild, USGBC’s national conference where people from all over the country enjoyed a tour along with hands-on demonstrations. http://www.usgbcnf.org/livesmart   pic.twitter.com/t3r0YvRrq9 On Dec. 8, the chapter held a “green” social/wrap party at Aardwolf Brewing Company to thank everyone involved. Jake Gordon, Downtown Vision’s new CEO was the guest speaker for the event.

Crowdfunding is rapidly changing the real-estate investment market, offering developers new ways to finance projects, small investors a way in, and the socially conscious an avenue to support their local communities—and their local farms. Here is a rundown of the real-estate crowdfunding firms I think will have the biggest impact. (Full disclosure: I have advised Primarq (number 7) on its secondary market strategy, where investors can sell their shares without having to liquidate the actual properties.) 1. Fundrise –The company lets people invest in their local communities, earning profits while becoming socially involved. Since its August launch it has raised $575,000 for two projects in Washington, DC—a food market and the rehabilitation of a closed library into an apartment building with retail space. 2. Realty Mogul– Launched last month, this firm already has funded two deals (worth about $200,000) while raising $500,000 in seed money. Accredited investors pool money to buy...

IRVINE, Calif. – Landsea, an Irvine-based homebuilding company with new home communities across the nation, has announced the acquisition of 550+ lots in Lake Forest, Calif. The entitled lots were purchased from Sun Ranch Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount.  “We’re excited about our ninety-five acre acquisition in Orange County,” said John Ho, Landsea Holdings Corporation, CEO. “This is a truly unique and special opportunity. Strategically, this acquisition provides numerous intangible benefits to our organization – benefits which simply can’t be derived from a more typically sized acquisition.”  Landsea plans to build a new gated, highly amenitized community that will be comprised of five distinct neighborhoods, consisting of 313 single-family detached homes and approximately 240 townhomes.  The gated community will appeal to a broad market, with homes ranging in size from approximately 1,300 square feet to nearly 4,000 square feet, many of which will enjoy v...

NEW YORK – During the prolonged housing downturn, green homes provided support to the ailing residential market and now promise to be an important element of the recovering market as well, according to a new study conducted by Dodge Data & Analytics, in partnership with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and with the support of Ply Gem Industries, (NYSE: PGEM), a leading manufacturer of exterior building products in North America. Despite the headwinds created by growing concerns about the cost of building green, a high percentage of home builders and remodelers are already building green and expect to do so in the future. While home builders and remodelers report that consumers of all ages are interested in green, the study also finds that consumers age 55 and older are the most important group driving the current green market.  The findings also demonstrate that consumers’ association of green with healthier homes leads to even higher potential for growth i...