Courtyards project moves forward, despite down economy

This is clearly not the best of times for residential builders.

But some mixed-use projects are still moving forward, despite the financial meltdown. One such project is The Courtyards at Old Town in Monrovia. Urban Housing Group, a subsidiary of Marcus & Millichap Co., held a groundbreaking on Tuesday for Courtyards, a residential community that will include 163 luxury apartments and 6,000 square feet of commercial retail space.

"There haven't been any luxury apartments built east of Pasadena along the 210 corridor in quite some time and we believe there is a pent-up demand," said Dan Deibel, Urban Housing's vice president of development.

John Frith, a spokesman for the California Building Industry Association, said apartment construction is on the rise.

"A lot of projects that had been earmarked for condos several years ago when they were first going through the permit process have been switched over because the for-sale market has gotten weaker," he said.

Well, it's good to know that there's still some level of vitality in the construction industry. But non-residential construction may also be in for a tough time. 

"Nonresidential construction is on the verge of a potentially long slide," Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), warns. Simonson's comments followed reports from the Census Bureau on construction spending in September and the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) on third-quarter and expected activity.

"The census figures show nonresidential spending eked out a gain in September of 0.1 percent," Simonson notes. "But private nonresidential spending was down nearly 1 percent from its high-water mark in June, while public spending tumbled 1.3 percent in September alone.