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A North London supermarket is growing organic fruits and vegetables in a rooftop garden tended by 20 volunteers aged from three to their 60s.  Thornton’s Budgens calls its project Food from the Sky. The nonprofit venture is a collaboration between Thornton’s Budgens, The Positive Earth Project (a local social enterprise) and the Crouch End community.  […]

A historic partnership between the states of Illinois and Indiana gave the green light to constructing the Illiana Expressway, a 56-mile superhighway whose goal is to ease traffic congestion, create jobs and promote economic growth.  Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels recently signed an agreement to construct a roadway that connects Interstate […]

A once-abandoned 40-acre industrial site in Chicago’s West Pullman neighborhood has become home to 32,000 solar panels since December, part of the nation’s largest solar plant capable of generating 10 megawatts of clean power. That’s enough to power 1,500 homes.  According to Kevin Lynch, who trains electricians to install solar panels for the International Brotherhood […]

Debt-laden European governments seeking ways to raise money are considering the possibility of selling public properties such as office buildings.  Countries considering selling assets include Germany, the U.K., France and Greece, all of which were hit hard by the global banking crisis. “It is clear that several European governments are looking to secure disposals on […]

Banks are starting to hire again as they return to structuring CMBS, a sign that the financial markets are gradually returning to normal.  “I see lots of friends who used to be employed, and weren’t for a while, and are now being rehired by institutions,” said Jonathan Strain, debt capital markets director at JPMorgan Chase’s […]

By 2050 – just 40 years from now — nearly 16 million Americans will be afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease.  Surprisingly, there is not yet a national plan to deal with this looming crisis, although one has been proposed on Capitol Hill.  The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) would establish an inter-agency advisory council to address […]

Three years after an EF5 tornado tore apart tiny Greensburg, KS, the town of approximately 900 is making a conscious effort to rebuild itself as a green community. City officials, residents and business owners are leading by example, making Greensburg a national model for environmentally conscious living. For example, a wind farm five miles south […]

A new accounting standard could alter the way tenants lease space, a move that carries serious implications for commercial real estate.  The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has been cooperating with the International Accounting Standards Board to combine its generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) with international standards. According to Russell G. Golden, the FASB’s technical […]

Bank repossessions of homes rose 44 percent in May over the same month last year, reaching an all-time high and with increases occurring in every state as lenders stepped up the rate of seizures. Realty Trac, Inc., an Irvine, CA-based data company that tracks foreclosures, reports that bank repossessions totaled 93,777 in May, with filings […]

After nearly two years of waiting, watching and hoping, American commercial real estate is finally regaining strength. This is one conclusion of the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit held recently in New York City.  Starting in the fall of 2008, real estate investors feared there would be a wide-ranging sell-off of debt-laden commercial […]