Lanier Heights homeowners apply to downzone neighborhood, crush pop-ups

The fight over rowhome pop-ups in one District neighborhood has landed in the lap of the Zoning Commission.

Homeowners in the Lanier Heights community, joined by their advisory neighborhood commission, have filed papers with the zoning panel to formally rezone more than 175 lots in their community, putting a permanent end to pop-ups and large-scale condo conversions.

The application comes two weeks after the Zoning Commission took its first action to downzone only D.C.’s R-4 districts, in response…

New industrial park gearing up in north Houston

The Dallas office of New York-based KTR Capital Partners is gearing up to break ground on the first phase of an industrial development on Interstate 45 and Airtex Boulevard.

The initial building, an 86,608-square-foot rear-load light industrial facility, will front I-45. Houston-based Powers Brown is the architect on the initial phase, and no general contractor has yet been selected. No tenants have yet been signed, according to Mace McClatchy, a vice president at KTR in the Dallas office.

The…

American Girl closing Hawaii test store at Ala Moana Center this month

American Girl, the popular doll retailer that opened its first Hawaii store at Ala Moana Center as a temporary location in October, is closing the Honolulu store this month, a store associated confirmed to PBN.

The 3,000-square-foot boutique was designed to test the waters in the Honolulu market to see if the market could support a permanent American Girl store.

The store, which is located on the second level of the mall’s Ewa Wing between Kate Spade New York and Ben Bridge Timeworks, is scheduled…

Overmyer Hall relocates to Crawford Hoying project on Lane Avenue

Overmyer Hall Associates has moved into a 9,400-square-foot space at the Lane mixed-use project in Upper Arlington as the independent insurance agency gains room for its ongoing expansion.

Overmyer Hall CEO Greg Overmyer told me the second-floor space at 1600 W. Lane Ave. offers its 22 employees nearly twice the space of its former offices at 2000 W. Henderson Road.

“We can get more than 40 people in here,” Overmyer said of the space above Cameron Mitchell Restaurants LLC’s Hudson 29.

He…

Oahu solar PV industry lagging in the first quarter

The number of permits issued for solar photovoltaic systems on Oahu for the first quarter fell by 32 percent compared to the same time period a year ago, according to data collected by Marco Mangelsdorf, president of ProVision Solar.

There were a total of 1,287 solar phototoltaic permits issued in the first quarter of 2015, compared to 1,889 permits issued in the first quarter of 2014, down 602 permits or 32 percent.

The total value of PV projects by permit in the first quarter of this year was…