Technology

Rents are rising, occupancy rates are high, and the apartment business is about to explode -- all of which spells good news for the multi-family construction business, according to an analyst for John Burns Real Estate Consulting. In her Housing Dimensions blog, VP Lesley Deutch cited pent-up demand from young adults, modest job recovery and government policy as the three top factors pushing this trend.

A proposal to build Home Depot store in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., has hit a setback after protracted negotiations over the price of the city-owned land, according to an article in Orange County Register. 

According to an article in the Shelby (N.C.) Star, G.T. McSwain Hardware is going out of business.

After 65 years in Boiling Springs, the hardware, furniture and appliances retailer is expected to close by the end of August. The newspaper cited poor sales as a major contributor to the closing.

The True Value dealer is owned by Neal McSwain and Betty McSwain, representing the third generation of McSwains in the family business.

 

Kitchen and bath supplier Moen has announced the promotion of Mark Knurek to the position of director of marketing and product development for its commercial business unit.

It’s been more than two weeks since Al Stewart, an ABC Supply employee in Doraville, Ga., saw a puppy tossed out of a moving car in front of his workplace. The Daschund-Chihuahua mix was approximately nine weeks old, and before Stewart could get to it, the puppy was hit by a car.

“It happened right as Al was pulling into the parking lot,” reassistant store manager Trey Couch told Home Channel News. “The dog just went flying out of the [vehicle’s] door.”

Lowe’s has added a Yolo Colorhouse, a regional line of eco-friendly paints, to its West Coast stores, according to an article in the Portland Business Journal.

A coalition of city, state and federal agencies are forming a partnership with private developers in Northern California to develop three former flower nurseries into a new housing development and open-space area. The project will create about 300 “green jobs” in construction and remediation in the San Francisco Bay area, according to the announcement.  

Internet retailers don’t have to collect taxes in states where they don’t have a physical presence. The NRF says that’s not fair. Here’s what some of our readers said: