CASTLE PINES, Colo. — After a packed public hearing Tuesday night, Castle Pines leaders pushed the annexation process for Crownest forward.
On a first reading, City Council voted and found the annexation petition is in compliance with state law, but it still must undergo a second reading.
Developer VT Crowfoot Valley Landco, LLC, is petitioning Castle Pines to annex the nearly 800-acre property bordering Parker. Plans for the space include nearly 3,000 single-family homes and about 120 acres of retail.
For the annexation to be approved, it must meet 11 criteria under state law. Those criteria include that the area be deemed urban and that at least one-sixth of it borders Castle Pines. Several speakers at the public hearing raised concerns about the land’s distance from Castle Pines.
“It stretches Castle Pines map to include a disconnected island,” said Donna Cook, a Castle Pines resident.
“My request would be when you decide to make your decision, you look at the map,” another resident said. “The map tells you all you need to know about whether Crowsnest is contiguous with Castle Pines.”
City of Castle Pines
In a statement, the developer told Denver7 the project will bring nearly $650 million in revenue to Castle Pines over 40 years. The developer also says every road, water line, signal and park improvement is funded by the development — not by Castle Pines or Parker taxpayers.
But residents want to know who will pay for maintenance costs after the project is complete.
“Well, as a resident, I feel like I’m sure they say that, but once they leave, they’re gone,” said Cook. “But the ongoing maintenance, the ongoing policing, the ongoing fire, I mean, do we need a new fire station?”
Parker residents told Denver7 they are worried about the impact on water and wildlife, while neighbors in Castle Pines aren’t sure the annexation is the best path for their city’s future.
“We’re not trying to say no to growth,” one Castle Pines resident said. “We’re trying to stay, well, smart.”
A zoning hearing is scheduled for March 5.
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SAN JOSE — A fight over sites near a BART station east of downtown San Jose might be headed to a jury trial that would pit small business owners against the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.
The VTA is attempting to seize properties it says are needed to construct the 28th Street/Little Portugal BART Station near the interchange of U.S. Highway 101 and East Santa Clara Street. The site is bounded by North 28th Street, East St. James Street, North 30th Street, and Five Wounds Lane.
Properties bounded by Five Wounds Lane, North 28th Street, East St. James Street, and North 30th Street, that are the site of a future BART station east of downtown San Jose, marked by the lines. Boundaries are approximate. ( Google Maps )
A business already ousted from the BART site, Monarch Truck Center, moved in 2024 to a new location at 1015 Timothy Drive in San Jose because it was forced to swiftly decamp from its longtime spot at 195 North 30th St. at the request of VTA officials, according to Monarch Truck Center Chief Executive Officer Nicole Guetersloh.
“We were told we needed to leave so construction could start, but it has been almost two years, and nothing has happened,” Guetersloh told this news organization. “The building is still standing. They haven’t even taken down our signs. The extra time could have made a huge difference for us in terms of finding a new location.”
Monarch Truck Center headquarters at 1015 Timothy Road in east San Jose, seen in November 2024. (Google Maps)
In 2021, the VTA filed a lawsuit against the owner of the site as well as Monarch and other businesses at the location as part of an eminent domain proceeding to seize control of the property so the BART station could be constructed.
The transit agency at one point even asked a Santa Clara County judge to order the businesses to vacate the site before a judgment was issued authorizing VTA to take ownership of the property.
“To meet the current construction completion schedule and ensure critical path activities are not compromised, the subject property is needed by April 2023,” Gary Griggs, the VTA’s chief program officer for the BART extension in the South Bay, stated in court papers filed in 2022. “Securing possession by this date will allow the contractor(s) to begin building demolition work and site preparation, followed by archaeological testing.”
Following the VTA filing, it has been disclosed that massive funding shortfalls have engulfed BART’s extension to three San Jose train stops and one in Santa Clara.
For Monarch Truck Center, finding a new site and setting up shop wasn’t straightforward.
“Moving a company like Monarch Truck Center isn’t easy,” Guetersloh said. “There were very few available properties that fell within the boundaries we must adhere to. Even fewer were properly zoned and capable of supporting a full-service truck dealership like ours. Every time I drive by our old location, I can’t help but wonder what was the rush.”
The VTA’s lawsuit is now headed for a jury trial within the next few weeks, absent an out-of-court settlement of the case, court papers show.
“After VTA condemned the property, Monarch was forced to relocate to a subpar site with significant limitations,” Monarch Truck stated in a background document regarding the case. “The business has suffered a measurable loss of goodwill and is seeking just compensation. VTA has valued the company’s losses at $0, and the case is headed to trial.”
EXCLUSIVE: Craig Mazin, co-creator of arguably the most acclaimed TV adaptation of a video game to date, HBO‘s The Last Of Us, will be taking on another hugely popular and acclaimed game title next, Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3, which is set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons.
HBO is developing Baldur’s Gate, a drama series based on Hasbro Entertainment’s video game franchise, with Mazin attached to create, write, executive produce and showrun the TV adaptation. Also exec producing are Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor and Hasbro Entertainment’s Gabriel Marano. Chris Perkins, the longtime Head of Story at Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast, which is behind the D&D game franchise, will serve as consultant.
Unlike HBO’s The Last Of Us, which retold the story from the PlayStation games, the Baldur’s Gate TV series will be a continuation to the games, telling a story that takes place immediately after the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, as the characters — old and new — are dealing with the ramifications of the events in the third game.
Like with The Last Of Us, Mazin’s passion for Baldur’s Gate 3 and its characters led to his decision to adapt it as a TV series. He has proudly completed the Swen Vincke-developed game on the challenging honor mode, and he is also a longtime D&D fan, a Dungeon Master who has been playing the game weekly for the past 15 years, including tonight.
“After putting nearly 1000 hours into the incredible world of Baldur’s Gate 3, it is a dream come true to be able to continue the story that Larian and Wizards of The Coast created,” Mazin said. “I am a devoted fan of D&D and the brilliant way that Swen Vincke and his gifted team adapted it. I can’t wait to help bring Baldur’s Gate and all of its incredible characters to life with as much respect and love as we can, and I’m deeply grateful to Gabe Marano and his team at Hasbro for entrusting me with this incredibly important property.”
With no ties to another Baldur’s Gate game in development, Mazin has freedom over the direction of the story, making it more of a traditional show vs. The Last of Us whose plot and lifespan were determined by the existing games. As Deadline has reported, the post-apocalyptic drama is expected to end with its upcoming third season. Baldur’s Gate slated to be Mazin’s followup series for HBO where he also created and executive produced the Emmy-winning Chernobyl.
Baldur’s Gate is designed to be ongoing and continue with different kinds of stories within the sprawling world of the game. The series draws deeply from the source material of Baldur’s Gate 3 — how it begins how the game ends — and not so much from the first two games which are not official source material. Still, there are some commonalities across those games that are connected to Dungeons & Dragons lore, which Mazin plans to draw upon under the agreement with Wizards of the Coast.
The TV series will feature both existing characters from Baldur’s Gate 3 and new ones. It is expected to keep the D&D tradition of taking new characters who are not that powerful and follow their journey through adventures that make them powerful. The new protagonists are bound to run into beloved characters from Baldur’s Gate 3 — some of them heroes, some of them villains, some of them literally devils — who occupy the same world. Now incredibly powerful, they will meddle, helping or hindering the new heroes.
Mazin, who is just now starting his own journey with the material as his deal just closed, plans to reach out to voice cast members of Baldur’s Gate 3 with ideas for them to participate in the TV adaptation, if possible. He and The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann did it on their HBO series with several actors from that game, most notably Merle Dandridge who reprised her role as Marlene. Mazin, who has an overall deal with HBO, is now in final prep on Season 3 of The Last of Us.
“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Craig Mazin on Baldur’s Gate,” Francesca Orsi, EVP, Head of HBO Drama Programming said. “His deep and long-standing passion for the source material paired with his remarkable talent for building immersive worlds filled with rich, compelling characters promises groundbreaking results.”
HBO’s Baldur’s Gate is designed to co-exist alongside The Forgotten Realms live-action Dungeons & Dragons series Hasbro Entertainment has set up at Netflix with Shawn Levy producing. The two share D&D’s The Forgotten Realms campaign setting, which is vast and could accommodate multiple TV series.
“The fans have been eagerly awaiting an adaptation of Baldur’s Gate, and we could not ask for better partners than HBO and the incomparable Craig Mazin to build this world with,” Gabriel Marano, Head of Television, Hasbro Entertainment said.
Hasbro Entertainment also has a Power Rangers live-action series in the works at Disney+ and a couple of other high-profile series in the marketplace.
Part of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, the Baldur’s Gate character-driven role-playing video game series originated in 1998 and became known for its mature setting of crime, political intrigue, and edgy adventure. The most recent game, Baldur’s Gate 3, launched to massive critical and commercial success with over 15 million lifetime players, over 34 industry award wins, and made history as the first game to win all five major Game of The Year awards.
Mazin is repped by CAA; Hasbro Entertainment is repped by WME.
AI stocks have been the hot trade over the past year. Companies like Nvidia have made a mint by developing GPUs and other chips for data centers training AI models. The semiconductor’s data center revenue has exploded 66% over the past year. That has helped drive a nearly 50% surge in Nvidia’s stock price in the last 12 months.
However, the Nvidias of the world aren’t the only ticket to AI profits. AI companies need physical real estate to house all their Nvidia Blackwell GPUs and other tech hardware to support their AI ambitions. That’s opening the doors to a generational value-creation opportunity for Prologis(NYSE: PLD) to leverage its expertise in constructing powered building shells to cash in on the AI megatrend.
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Image source: Getty Images.
Prologis is one of the world’s largest real estate investment trusts (REITs). It has a nearly irreplaceable portfolio of roughly 5,900 buildings totaling 1.3 billion square feet across 20 countries. Prologis has developed many of these buildings from the ground up.
The leading industrial REIT‘s development experience has led it to build a vast land bank to support its future growth. It has enough land to support $42.6 billion in total future investments. Prologis has also become a leader in installing solar and battery storage systems at its sites to provide for its customers’ power needs, installing over 1 gigawatt (GW) across its portfolio.
Prologis’s experience in constructing powered building shells has led it to start investing developing data centers. It’s building these facilities on some of its land bank.
The world needs to invest a staggering $7 trillion in data centers by 2030 to keep pace with the growth in compute power, according to McKinsey Research. Prologis is working to secure a slice of this massive opportunity. It has started developing modern AI-enabled buildings to suit the needs of large-scale data center operators. It will build facilities from the ground up or convert existing warehouses to data centers.
Prologis believes that it can build up to 10 GW of data center capacity over the next decade. That would require an investment of $30 billion to $50 billion. The company estimates that this investment has the potential to create $7.5 billion to $25 billion in value for its shareholders. That’s due to the very lucrative economics of data center development projects. While each project costs $150 million to $500 million (much higher than a warehouse, which costs between $25 million and $75 million), the development yields are also much higher at 7.5% to 10% compared to 6%-7% for a warehouse development.
Companies need physical space in data centers with secure power sources to support their AI operations. That has opened the doors to a very lucrative opportunity for Prologis to leverage its development experience, power expertise, and land bank to build data centers. These investments should be highly profitable for the REIT, making it a great way to grab some AI profits without chasing high-flying AI stocks like Nvidia.
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A project to widen a four-mile stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Chester County began this week. The work is estimated to take around five years and cost approximately $338 million.
An RV park in Sheridan that has accommodated low-cost housing for decades will close to make way for a new apartment complex, leaving dozens of residents looking for new places as Colorado remains short on affordable housing and such alternatives as mobile home communities.
The Sheridan City Council in November approved rezoning the 16-acre Flying Saucer RV Park at the intersection of West Hampden Avenue and South Bryant Street. Indiana-based Garrett Companies will submit plans to the city for a seven-building, 362-unit complex, replacing the 162 spots for recreational vehicles and tiny homes.
Garrett and the family that has owned the property for 75 years are expected to close the deal by the end of June. Residents will have to move out by then.
The developer and the family haven’t disclosed the financial terms.
Anne Whipple, part of the fourth generation of the family to run the business, told Sheridan council members that the decision to sell the property wasn’t made lightly. She read a statement saying the family struggled with ending its legacy of “providing a safe, quiet community for tenants that the City of Sheridan has come to know.”
But Whipple said the time, cost and energy to keep the park going are unsustainable. The park’s owner, 94-year-old Lucille Tourney, wants “to release her family from this burden,” she added.
After learning last summer that the site was for sale and being eyed for new development, Steve Ohlfest started a website to rally support for saving Flying Saucer. Ohlfest, a 21-year park resident, urged people to turn out for public meetings on the project. He even contacted area mobile home park owners to gauge their interest in the property.
Now, Ohlfest and his wife, Tina, aren’t sure where their next home will be. Just a handful of RV parks in metro Denver allow year-round living and their rates are generally higher. The Ohlfests are 16th on a waiting list for a spot in Loveland where they could move their tiny home. A Woodland Park site that caters to tiny homes hasn’t had anyone leave in five years.
A community in Montrose that accepts tiny homes is a possibility for them. They expect to pay thousands of dollars to haul their 26,000-pound home and other belongings to the Western Slope if they move there.
“What are our other options? We can’t afford a house in Denver,” Ohlfest said.
Garrett Companies said it will hire a consultant to work with individual Flying Saucer residents who need help moving their recreational vehicles, finding a place to live or applying for housing and social services. The company said in December that residents should hear from the consultant after the first of the year.
“The intent is to do right by people, particularly people of lesser means and people who are older,” said Cary Brazeman, a spokesman for Garrett.
Meredith Long has rented a spot at Flying Saucer for three years, living in a travel trailer part of the year and moving it to Steamboat Springs where she runs a business during the winter. Long said park residents include people who travel back and forth from other homes, retirees and disabled veterans who’ve lived there for several years.
Several have turned the park that runs along Bear Creek and has tree-lined roads into long-term homes with fenced yards and outdoor decks.
“They kept trying to say it is temporary housing and never meant to be permanent, but that’s not how they operated it,” Long said of the park’s owners.
The room was packed for an October Sheridan planning commission meeting on the project, Long said. After the planning commission recommended that the city council approve the rezoning, she said turnout for the meetings dropped because people felt defeated.
Flying Saucer RV Park in Sheridan, Colorado on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
“For me it’s just been the process that’s been the most frustrating, with the lack of communication and transparency from the city of Sheridan,” Long said.
The park owners haven’t kept residents informed either, she added. People are uneasy after a couple of tenants were served eviction notices in the last few months, Long said.
Whipple, the onsite manager at Flying Saucer, declined to talk to The Denver Post about Long’s concerns. She told the city council in the November meeting that 40 of the park’s spots were vacant.
“There have been several people who have left without paying rent, leaving us with significant expenses,” Whipple said.
City officials said they’ve kept in touch with Flying Saucer residents while considering the development plans. The city held a neighborhood meeting in June on the proposed rezoning. Notices of the planning commission and city council meetings were sent to property owners and residents within 300 feet of the RV park, including the individual RV spots.
Notice was published in the Littleton Independent newspaper and signs in English and Spanish were posted on the property, according to the city.
Home sweet home?
Sheridan Community Development Director Andrew Rogge said the Garrett Companies’ rezoning application met city criteria and was consistent with the goals of the city’s comprehensive plan. He said rezoning the property from business/light industrial to planned unit development will make the site more compatible with surrounding properties, which include the River Point at Sheridan shopping center.
And Rogge noted that a 2025 housing needs assessment showed Sheridan is short of 309 units and will need 409 more units over the next 10 years.
Rents for the apartments that will replace the RV park will be market-rate. Rogge said in an email that Sheridan doesn’t have an ordinance requiring the developer to build a certain number of affordable housing units.
However, city officials said two affordable housing projects were recently approved. One development will add 149 apartment units. A Habitat for Humanity project will add 63 single-family homes.
A Garrett representative said during the June neighborhood meeting that rents for its apartments would likely range from $1,600 to $2,600.
“I couldn’t afford your apartment and I make good money,” Councilman Ernie Camacho.told Garrett representatives during the council meeting.
Camacho, the lone vote against rezoning the RV park, voiced support for more single-family homes rather than apartments.
The council members who favored rezoning said they cared about the fate of the RV park’s residents, but respected the owner’s right to sell the property. They also said the limited terms of the leases underscored that the park wasn’t intended to be a permanent home.
Whipple said when the family decided in 2024 to put the property on the market, they let new tenants know the leases would be capped at six months. Before then, leases were month to month but didn’t have a maximum term.
Dawn Shepherd of Littleton urged the city council to reject the rezoning application. The former director of the Englewood Housing Authority said Sheridan has typically tried to provide housing for lower-income residents.
“I feel like they didn’t have a very good choice in this case,” Shepherd said.
She’s skeptical about how much Garrett’s consultant can do for residents. “It sounds good, that they’re going to get a house specialist to help them.”
But similar options don’t exist, she said.
Shepherd believes Ohlfest, a fellow Englewood Rotary Club member, and his wife will land on their feet. She’s not as optimistic about others at the Flying Saucer park. She worries they’ll have to resort to parking their RVs on city streets or in Walmart parking lots.
“That’s not home,” Shepherd said. “That’s not having a place to go.”
The sign for the Crushtex rock crushing operation on McGuffin Way in east Fort Worth on Jan. 5, 2026. The site is operating without a city permit while an application is pending. Residents in the area want the city to deny that request, and they want the rock crushing to stop.
Matt Adams
Residents of east Fort Worth have mobilized to shut down a rock crushing operation near the West Fork of the Trinity River that is operating without a zoning permit. At the same time, they are asking the city to reject a request to rezone the site and surrounding property for further industrial use.
In July, Crushtex, LLC, received a building permit from the city for a temporary construction trailer at 153 McGuffin Way, a property owned by Wallace Hall Jr. A Facebook page for Crushtex created in October says the company provides commercial flex base, which is used in road construction.
Hall, however, did not receive a conditional use permit for the rock crushing operation, which is required since the property is zoned only for commercial, not industrial, use. Hall did not immediately respond to a phone message and email requesting comment.
On Jan. 5, the operation was running, with at least one front-end loader on site to load crushed rock into trucks. The rock crusher itself appeared to be a mobile unit, not a permanent one. It was situated next to a sizable rock pile.
Linda Fulmer with the Neighborhoods of East Fort Worth Alliance said residents noticed the rock crushing operation on McGuffin Way in early November and alerted the city. According to permit records, the city notified Crushtex on Nov. 17 that rock crushing and concrete batch operations were not allowed, per zoning, and that a conditional use permit was needed.
Fulmer’s residential alliance wants the rock crushing to stop because of concerns about air quality and increased truck traffic.
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On Dec. 8, Hall requested a conditional use permit for the concrete crushing operation, according to Fort Worth permit records. That was part of a larger request to the city to rezone nearly 50 acres between East First Street and Elliott Reeder Road, which includes the McGuffin Way property, for light industrial use. According to a city spokesperson, the rock crushing operations have been allowed to continue on the site while the permit and rezoning requests are pending.
John Grisham, from Athens, is the registered owner of Crushtex. He said the McGuffin Way site has been operating “off and on,” though he said he wasn’t sure of the exact date it went live. When asked about the conditional use permit, Grisham said that was something the property owner, Hall, is handling. Grisham said he had a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permit, and that’s what he abides by.
According to TCEQ records, Crushtex obtained an air quality permit for the concrete crushing operation that has been active since Dec. 5.
Based on the site plan included with the conditional use permit application, the rock crushing operation will move farther east over time. Fulmer said she believes Hall is crushing rock that was brought in years ago to raise the property out of a floodplain.
In addition to opposing the rock crushing operations, Fulmer and her residential alliance don’t want Hall’s land rezoned for increased industrial use, fearing the environmental impact to the nearby Trinity River and Gateway Park. The property under consideration is zoned for multifamily residential and commercial use, but only for things like retail stores, restaurants, hotels, office complexes and gas stations.
Fulmer outlined reasons for opposing Hall’s rezoning request on the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association’s website. The West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association is one of the groups comprising the Neighborhoods of East Fort Worth Alliance.
The zoning commission hearing for Hall’s request is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 11, according to a city spokesperson.
Fulmer hopes Hall’s requests will be denied, but she said she’s not sure residents were given enough notice ahead of the rezoning hearing to sway the city’s decision makers.
Matt Adams is a news reporter covering Fort Worth, Tarrant County and surrounding areas. He previously wrote about aviation and travel and enjoys a good weekend road trip. Matt joined the Star-Telegram in January 2025.
A Texas developer plans a Lake Norman mixed-use community that will include 259 multifamily homes and commercial space, public records show.
High Street District Development Inc., a subsidiary of Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co., has submitted plans for the project to the Huntersville Planning Department.
The 11.87-acre development would be on Old Statesville Road near Mount Holly-Huntersville Road.
The developer’s rezoning request calls for removing a greenhouse and accessory buildings for the development called Old Statesville Road Mixed-Use, town documents show.
This sketch shows the layout of High Street District Development Inc.’s proposed mixed-use community in Huntersville. Seamon Whiteside
Timetable for a decision
On Tuesday, the Huntersville Board of Commissioners will consider scheduling a public hearing on the rezoning request for 6 p.m. Feb. 3 at Town Hall, 101 Huntersville-Concord Road.
The Huntersville Planning Board would then consider making a recommendation on the rezoning at a meeting to be announced. The Planning Board is an advisory panel that makes recommendations to the Town Board, which has final say.
A date for the Town Board vote also is still to be scheduled.
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
The Knox Crossing mixed-use community would include around 330 apartments and 430 townhomes, according to the developer’s site plan.
Cline Design Associates
A South Carolina developer plans a major mixed-use community at a prime Lake Norman intersection that will include hundreds of apartments and townhomes and a grocery store, public records show.
Knox Crossing by Mount Pleasant developer WLA Enterprises Inc. would cover 44 vacant acres on the northeast corner of Sam Furr Road (N.C. 73) and Old Statesville Road (N.C. 115) in Huntersville, according to the developer’s rezoning application.
Plans call for around 330 apartments and 430 townhomes in four- and five-story buildings, according to the developer’s site plan filed at the Huntersville Planning Department.
The development also would include a gas station and retail shops.
The Knox Crossing mixed-use community would include around 330 apartments and 430 townhomes, according to the developer’s site plan. Cline Design Associates
Timetable for a decision
On Tuesday, the Huntersville Board of Commissioners will consider scheduling a public hearing on the rezoning request at 6 p.m. Feb. 3 at Town Hall, 101 Huntersville-Concord Road.
The Huntersville Planning Board would consider making a recommendation on the rezoning at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at Town Hall. The Planning Board is an advisory panel that makes recommendations to the Town Board, which has final say.
At 6 p.m. March 17, the Town Board is scheduled to vote on the request.
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
The owner of the land along the Yadkin River between Salisbury and Albemarle allowed public access to hunters, anglers and others for years before recently deciding to sell the property, officials with Salisbury-based Three Rivers Land Trust told The Charlotte Observer.
The Land Trust needs to raise the money to buy and conserve the land located on the Tuckertown Reservoir in Davidson, Rowan, and Stanly counties, Travis Morehead, Land Trust executive director, told the Observer this week.
Selling to developers risks “long-standing public access, wildlife habitat, water quality, and the area’s rural character,” Land Trust officials said in a news release Thursday announcing the campaign.
The owner isn’t sitting around waiting for the Land Trust to raise the money, Morehead told the Observer. “It’s a competition,” he said. “There’s no guarantee he won’t sell it to someone else.”
Raising the money “will be challenging,” Morehead said in the release. “But if we don’t try, who will? We can’t just sit by and watch these lands be decimated by development.”
If it can buy the property, the Land Trust would transfer the lands to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission “to ensure perpetual public access,” officials said.
Because they’ve hunted and fished on the property for so long, many people think the commission is the land owner, commission wildlife biologist Cody Fulk said.
Cody Fulk Three Rivers Land Trust
“Unfortunately, they are not,” Fulk said in the release. “If these lands are lost to development, public access to all users could be gone forever.”
The dark green areas on this map of Tuckertown are for sale, according to Three Rivers Land Trust. The lime green areas have been permanently conserved, trust officials said. Three Rivers Land Trust
‘’One of the last wild areas available to the public”
In 2019 and 2021, Three Rivers Land Trust and the commission conserved at least 4,700 acres and 76 miles of shoreline on High Rock Lake and the Tuckertown Reservoir, officials said.
The eastern shoreline of Tuckertown Reservoir, totaling 2,420 acres and 31 miles of shoreline, was purchased and conserved in 2021.
“After permanently conserving the eastern shoreline, it’s hard to imagine losing the western shoreline to development,” Morehead said. “We have invested too much and have too much at stake not to act.”
If developers buy the land, people will no longer be able to enjoy “one of the last wild areas still available to the public,” local fishing guide Tony Sharum said in the release.
Tony Sharum Three Rivers Land Trust
“Public access gives everyone the opportunity to recreate, and everyone deserves that opportunity,” Kristin Bundy, an agriculture teacher at North Davidson High and public land hunter said. “When I die, I hope heaven looks like these game lands.”
Kristin Bundy Three Rivers Land Trust
Donate to the Tuckertown Reservoir conservation effort at Save Tuckertown.
Conservationists launched a $40 million campaign on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, to save 4,000 acres of pristine North Carolina game land from development. Three Rivers Land Trust
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
DrinkPAK, which cans White Claw, High Noon and Monster Energy, is investing $195 million in a facility at the Bellwether District. It’s the first tenant at the redeveloped refinery.
DRACUT — The Zoning Board of Appeals has published a draft decision signaling it is ready to approve the contentious Murphy’s Farm Chapter 40B proposal for apartments in East Dracut. Final approval is expected at the board’s Dec. 4 meeting.
As published, the number of apartments has been downsized from 268 units to 200. The original proposal called for 300 units.
One of the goals of the decades-old 40B law is to increase the stock of affordable housing in the state. Murphy’s Farm will have 20 low-income units and 20 moderate-income units.
Chapter 40B gives the ZBA power to issue comprehensive permits that supersede the normal permitting process.
The draft document lists more than 90 conditions the developer, O’Brien Homes of Andover, must comply with to be granted a comprehensive permit.
If approved by the ZBA and accepted by the developer, an agreement would bring to an end almost three years of public hearings, neighborhood meetings and property tours.
But the developer can appeal to the state Housing Appeals Committee — which operates under the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities — if the proposal would make the project economically unviable.
Asked about the prospect of an appeal, developer Kevin O’Brien said, “The town’s got to do what it’s got to do. And we have to do what we have to do.”
Selectman Tony Archinski, who has attended most of the hearings, told The Sun, “I have spoken to the town manager and secured funding for legal issues should the builder appeal the decision.”
Speaking for the Citizens Against Reckless Development in Dracut, Michelle Boermeester stated, “We appreciate that the ZBA recognized the project as far too dense and moved to condition the development at 200 units. This reduction helps alleviate some of the anticipated density and traffic impacts on direct abutters and on the broader Dracut community. While we would have preferred an outright denial of the permit, the Board’s conditions represent meaningful modifications and will leave it to the developer to decide whether to accept the terms or pursue an appeal.”
She added, “Even so, we remain concerned that the project—despite the reduction—still is overly dense for this area. We also believe the ZBA did not fully address public safety considerations. The current layout includes extended roadways without cul-de-sacs, leaving no margin for error for emergency response vehicles to maneuver, compromising public safety.”
Aside from reducing the number of units in the complex, the proposal would make the developer pay $7,500 for sewer connections for each market-rate apartment. Connection fees for affordable units would be waived. The developer would pay a total of $1.125 million for sewer connections.
Connection to the Kenwood Water District will cost $5,500 for the first unit and $4,125 for each additional unit. The estimated total for 200 units is $826,375. The connection fee for each building must be paid in full prior to connection to the town system.
Iredell Avenue Residential Development LLC will seek a rezoning from the Mooresville Board of Commissioners on Monday for a Wendy’s and a 7-Eleven in its Harris Crossing development on Coddle Creek Highway (N.C. 3) at Harris Crossing Boulevard, Mooresville Planning & Community Development documents show.
At a neighborhood meeting held by the developer in May, residents raised concerns about traffic, safety, noise and potential pollution, according to the town documents.
The developer said existing trees, a proposed berm and an eight-foot-tall wall with landscaping on both sides would create sound and visual barriers along the southern end of the nearly five-acre property.
A proposed 50-foot-wide buffer of trees and other vegetation “would deter the possibilities of vagrants trying to walk through and get to the existing backyards of the adjacent homes along the east side of the property,” according to town planning documents.
On May 27, the Mooresville Planning Board sided with residents in recommending the rezoning be denied by the town board.
The Mooresville Board of Commissioners will consider the rezoning at 6 p.m. Monday at Town Hall, 413 N. Main St.
Joe Marusak has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1989 covering the people, municipalities and major news events of the region, and was a news bureau editor for the paper. He currently reports on breaking news. Support my work with a digital subscription
“Basically, everybody goes to bed, they wake up in the morning and there’s a bridge there,” said Michael Altomari, assistant construction engineer at PennDOT
The bridge will not be open to pedestrians and cyclists for about another year after the arch is installed. Additional work will include constructing the approach spans, decking and railings. The bridge cables also will need to be adjusted to their proper tension, and lights and security cameras will be installed for visibility and safety.
Provided Image/PennDOT
A rendering shows plans for the South Street Bridge Extension, a 258-foot span that will carry the city’s existing structure from the east side of Interstate 95 across Christopher Columbus Boulevard to the Delaware River waterfront at Lombard Circle.
StreetView/Google Maps
The existing South Street Pedestrian Bridge was constructed in the mid-1990s, creating a path over Interstate 95 with a staircase leading down to Columbus Boulevard. The extension will take the bridge across Columbus Boulevard.
Planners initially considered building the bridge across Columbus Boulevard using a temporary pier in the middle of the road to support ongoing work. That plan would have required traffic control, disruptions and the use of shielding to protect drivers below. The old train tracks from the defunct Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad, now owned by CSX, also would have posed challenges.
“This is the smart way to do it, I think,” Altomari said of the overnight method.
PennDOT spokesperson Brad Rudolph said the agency has a time-lapse camera pointed at the location around the clock and will be able to show the public how the arch was moved into place.
Drawing more foot traffic to the waterfront
PennDOT believes easy access to the waterfront from South Street will maximize the use of new amenities and limit reliance on cars to get to them. The bridge will be about a 10-minute walk north along Columbus Boulevard to get to the future Park at Penn’s Landing.
On the east side of the bridge, PennDOT plans to build a “corkscrew”-style circle that allows people on bikes and wheelchairs to ease off the span gradually. Trees and bushes will be planted in the area, which sits right up against the river.
Provided Image/PennDOT
The east side of the bridge extension will have a circular ‘corkscrew’ design with landscaping next to the waterfront.
The existing South Street Pedestrian Bridge, owned by the city and accessed via Front Street, also will be rehabilitated as part of the project. It will remain unchanged except for the removal of its aluminum “Stroll” sculptures, which will be displayed at another location to be determined. PennDOT will rebuild the parking lot at the site of the existing bridge and maintain the new section over Columbus Boulevard.
When the Park at Penn’s Landing opens, it will have an ice rink, public gardens, memorials, children’s play area, amphitheater, food trucks, cafe and a mass-timber pavilion. There also will be a number of open spaces for performances, festivals, fairs and other events.
Provided Image/DRWC
A rendering shows an aerial view of the Park at Penn’s Landing that will open in 2030.
Bonito and Altomari are confident the I-95 cap project is on schedule for completion in 2029, followed by about a year to build out the park. PennDOT and its partners – including the Delaware River Waterfront Corp., the William Penn Foundation and the city — anticipate the park will bring new foot traffic to the length of the waterfront for a safer, more welcoming atmosphere.
“The development of that area is going to draw people, which will also draw developers,” Altomari said. “There’s a lot of piers down in that area, places that maybe have been in a little disrepair or not worth the investment to somebody. Now they might be.”
Development of the massive One Beverly Hills residential and hotel complex reached a milestone over the weekend as construction started going vertical.
The work to erect the two tallest towers in Beverly Hills started Friday with an overnight continuous pour of 3,800 cubic yards of concrete, the equivalent of 41,000 wheelbarrows-full. It was the first of multiple foundation pours that will take place over the next 12 months, developer Cain said.
The project near the intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards broke ground early last year and has so far included demolition, drilling geothermal wells, installing utility lines and digging a deep hole to house underground parking.
One Beverly Hills will be anchored by the Aman Beverly Hills, a 78-room, all-suite hotel that will be the brand’s first West Coast property.
One Beverly Hills Gardens
(Foster + Partners)
The tower residences will also be branded and serviced by Aman, a Swiss company owned by Russian-born real estate developer Vlad Doronin, which Forbes describes as “the world’s most preeminent resort brand,” and attracts affluent guests such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and George and Amal Clooney.
The two towers — 28 and 31 stories — will have a total of fewer than 200 condos.
Interspersed among the property will be as many as 45 stores and restaurants, including a Dolce & Gabbana boutique, Los Mochis restaurant and Casa Tua Cucina restaurant and marketplace.
“Over the next few months, you will start to see the buildings emerge from the ground,” said Jonathan Goldstein, chief executive of London-based Cain. “Reaching vertical construction is a powerful moment for everyone involved.”
One Beverly Hills is one of the biggest real estate developments by cost under construction in North America, Goldstein said. He valued it at $10 billion upon completion.
One Beverly Hills aerial rendering.
(Kerry Hill Architects)
It was conceived by London-based architect Foster + Partners. The firm is led by Norman Foster, an English lord perhaps best known for designing a landmark lipstick-like skyscraper in London known as the Gherkin and the hoop-shaped Apple Inc. headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Set for phased completion beginning in 2027, the development connects the Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills hotels in a unified, landscaped compound.
City officials agreed to let Cain build by far the two tallest towers in Beverly Hills with the understanding that stacking the condominiums high would leave open space for 8.5 acres of gardens on the 17.5-acre site.
The most public aspect of One Beverly Hills will be the gardens designed by Los Angeles architecture firm Rios, which also designed the 12-acre Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles and created a new master plan for Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge.
One Beverly Hills will feature botanical gardens that reflect the diverse landscape of Southern California, with drought-resistant native plants fed solely on recycled water, including rainfall and the runoff from residents’ sinks and showers. The gardens are designed to have more than 200 species of plants and trees, including palms, oaks, sycamores, succulents and olives.
Set within the historic grounds of the former Beverly Hills Nurseries, which later became the Robinsons-May department store, the gardens will feature two miles of walkways, trails, sitting areas and water features.
“We’re entering an exciting new chapter with the One Beverly Hills project, and I’m delighted to see it moving closer to becoming a reality,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Sharona Nazarian. “This is an important addition to Beverly Hills, and I’m proud of the progress we’re making.”
Gaithersburg, Maryland’s Lakeforest Mall site will soon be transformed to a development including condos, mixed-use, an expanded transit center and green space.
Montgomery County, Maryland’s Lakeforest Mall site, which was once home to a mall that featured an indoor skating rink and retail outlets Hecht’s and Woodward and Lothrop, will soon be transformed.
About 45 years after it opened, the 100-acre site in Gaithersburg, which was once the largest mall in Montgomery County, is the focus of redevelopment that will include an expansion of the transit center that’s currently there and mixed-use development, including condos, retail outlets and green space.
The redevelopment includes a partnership between the county and WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments, according to a news release from County Executive Marc Elrich.
The new transit center will serve eight Ride On bus routes that use the current Lakeforest Transit Center and will include capacity for the planned MD 355 Flash Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, corridor.
According to county officials, the first phase of the transit center redevelopment is expected to take one year.
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The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the medical society that owns and operates the Mütter Museum, will start construction next year to expand its campus and create new gallery spaces inside a historic former church next door.
The organization said Monday it plans to unite its current home at 19 South 22nd St. — between Market and Chestnut streets — with the adjacent Swedenborgian Church and Parish House at 2129 Chestnut St. The college bought the property for a reported $9.3 million in 2023 with the goal of making the campus more cohesive for its fellows and the public.
“We are not content to rest on our past,” President and CEO Larry Kaiser said in a statement. “We see a need to move forward with plans for innovation, inclusion, and renewed purpose.”
The college, established in 1787, is the nation’s oldest private medical society and houses a vast historical library used by physicians and public health researchers. The Mütter Museum was founded in 1863 to showcase a collection of more than 25,000 medical specimens, giving visitors a glimpse into the study and evolution of treatments for various maladies.
The Mütter Museum’s core gallery will get a “significant expansion” into the church that will allow for the display of thousands of more items held in stored collections, officials said. The vast majority of the college’s medical instruments, biological specimens, teaching models, texts and other archival materials are not publicly displayed.
Adding space will allow for new rotating galleries, a larger museum store and more opportunities for school groups to visit the Mütter.
The Gothic Revival church, built in 1881, was designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It originally served as the Church of the New Jerusalem, an 18th century Christian sect that followed Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg. The church closed in the mid-1980s and the building later underwent a renovation that converted some of its space into medical offices.
Provided Image/Mütter Museum
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia purchased the former Swedenborgian Church and Parish House, shown above, for a reported $9.3 million in 2023.
Construction will be carried out in stages to minimize disruptions to the college, its visitors and the surrounding community, officials said. A fundraising campaign has already collected $27 million for the first phase, which includes creating a glass connector between the two buildings and opening up fully accessible entrances to both.
Other plans call for new classrooms and multi-purpose spaces that will serve college fellows, the public and attendees of future medical conferences in the city. The college did not provide a timeline for the completion of its work.
“We are thrilled about the opportunities the campus expansion provides to the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library,” said a joint statement from Mütter Museum directors Erin McLeary and Sara Ray. “This is a unique place where our visitors get the chance to see objects that spark curiosity, promote creativity, and encourage engagement with medical history.
Mayor Cherelle Parker unveiled her vision to reverse the decadeslong decline of East Market Street on Friday, promising a process that will restore the corridor as Philadelphia’s economic and cultural anchor while accounting for the interests of people who live in the area.
Some residents, who say they still are recovering from the trauma caused by the process of the 76ers’ abandoned plans to build a new arena on East Market, feel this new situation is all too familiar.
After months of lobbying the city to build their $1.3 billion arena at 10th and Market streets, the Sixers abruptly withdrew the plan in favor of partnering with Comcast Spectacor, their current landlord at Xfinity Mobile Arena, to build an arena in South Philly. The joint venture includes commitments to invest in East Market Street.
“After we all got over the shock and awe of what was not going to happen on Market East, I immediately shifted into my eternally optimistic view about how we are going to be able to move things forward,” Parker said during a press conference at Jefferson Health’s Honickman Center.
The Market East Corridor Planning and Advisory Commission, led by Brandywine Realty Trust CEO Jerry Sweeney, will be tasked with creating a redevelopment plan that stretches from City Hall to the Delaware River. The planning process is expected to take about a year.
“All of us have connections to Market East and a significant stake in remaking this corridor into a valuable asset for the city,” Sweeney said.
Leaders from Comcast Spectacor, the 76ers and dozens of other institutions will now be responsible for planning construction, infrastructure upgrades and social services along a street that has had trouble keeping businesses in storefronts and has a large homeless population.
Parker said she learned from how she handled the contentious arena planning process, which drew resistance from communities in Chinatown and Washington Square West. She pledged to take a different approach to city planning that listens to government, businesses and residents.
“I don’t want anyone leaving here today saying that there is a plan that is baked, that is cooked, that is done, and (that) it is a plan that will be shoved down the throats of Philadelphians,” Parker said. “That is not what this is.”
Demolition plans draw rebuke from critics
Neighborhood advocates at Friday’s press conference said they have little faith that the city will follow through with its promises.
“There’s not a clear accountability measure for making sure that the actual citizens of Philadelphia are heard in this process,” said Katie Garth, a member of the Neighborhood Alliance of Washington Square West.
The Sixers and Comcast Spectacor already have plans to demolish several vacant buildings on the south side of Market Street, between Ninth and 10th streets, before the end of the year. The structures, which cover half the block, include the former Robinson department store and a former Reebok store.
Provided Image/Arielle Harris
The Philadelphia Department of Licenses & Inspections has a demolition notice posted for the buildings at 1020-1024 Market St., which Comcast Spectactor and the Philadelphia 76ers plan to knock down in the coming months to make way for a World Cup pop-up next summer. Opponents of the plan taped signs next to the notice on Friday morning.
Comcast’s chief legal officer, Thomas Reid, said the empty space will be used for activities related to the World Cup when the international soccer tournament comes to the city in June. He gave no other details, but said Comcast already has invested $60 million in properties on Market Street and will be a “turbocharged engine” for redevelopment as the city prepares to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year.
Beyond 2026, Comcast and the 76ers have not disclosed plans for the soon-to-be vacant lots.
“We think that that’s going to further blight the neighborhood. It’s going to make the situation worse with no real guarantees that it will get better,” said Laney Myers, with the historic preservation group RePoint Philadelphia.
The Design Advocacy Group, a volunteer organization of development and planning professionals in the city, published a letter last week calling the pending demolitions “impulsive.” They questioned why it took nearly a year for Parker to convene the advisory group and said the city should consider “strategic reuse” of the buildings slated to be torn down.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
Comcast Spectacor and the 76ers plan to soon demolish several buildings along the 1000 block of Market Street as part of a long-term plan to revitalize the corridor.
Neighborhood leaders in attendance Friday said the city’s push for demolition is a bad start that shows little has been learned from the arena planning process, despite Parker’s claim that plans on Market Street have not been finalized.
“We are still suffering from PTSD over the arena debacle, and there’s a lot of deja vu happening right now,” Myers said.
‘All perspectives will have a full seat’
As the Market East commission’s work gets underway, Parker said progress is already taking shape on East Market Street.
She pointed to the ongoing streetscape improvements along Market Street in Old City and the Philadelphia Parking Authority’s plan to invest $13 million to renovate the former Greyhound bus terminal on Filbert Street. She also praised the Convention Center for investing nearly $1 million in new lighting along the corridor.
City Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose 1st District covers East Market Street, said he will create an online portal where residents can share ideas about Market Street’s future.
“That allows us to take input from everybody, especially the adjoining communities that will be impacted the most,” he said.
Sweeney anticipates there will be competing ideas and conflicts in the months to come.
“No doubt, through our public engagement process, many strong opinions will be expressed,” he said. “All perspectives will have a full seat at the table to present ideas, raise concerns, share their hopes and aspirations, and then we will collectively determine our short- and long-term path forward.”
LOS GATOS — A senior living community in Los Gatos that opened its doors earlier this year has been bought for more than $50 million by a big-time real estate investor from Chicago.
Ivy Park at Los Gatos has been bought for $54 million by an affiliate controlled by Harrison Street Real Estate, according to documents filed on Nov. 5 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.
An alliance of two Bay Area real estate firms, Vacaville-based Chronograph Properties and San Jose-based Swenson, developed the senior community and sold it to the Harrison Street affiliate.
The purchase price was well above the January 2025 assessed value of $38.4 million as calculated by the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office. A county assessment is just one metric that can be used to provide a snapshot of a property’s value.
Harrison Street Real Estate, which is owned by Harrison Street Asset Management, was founded in 2005 and has been a frequent investor in senior living centers, according to the company’s website.
Over the 20 years since it was founded in 2005, the firm has invested approximately $14.6 billion in senior housing assets that total a combined 43,000 units, the company stated in August in connection with its purchase of a portfolio of senior living communities in the New York City area.
The Philadelphia Visitor Center on Monday revealed the schedule for the light show and Dickens Village at the former Macy’s space in the Wanamaker Building, while also adding that the annual Christmas festivities will be going on a two-year hiatus after this year as new owner TF Cornerstone turns the building into a mixed-use development.
After the department store closed in March, there were concerns that the decades-old holiday programming would be permanently discontinued.
Organizers said the budget to install and put on the free events is approximately $600,000, which was “much greater than originally anticipated.” But thanks to more than 1,000 people contributing to a fundraising campaign, the attractions were able to return — at least for 2025. As for beyond 2027, efforts to establish long-term sustainability are in the works.
“The Philadelphia Visitor Center remains deeply committed to preserving these iconic attractions and is in conversation with building owner TF Cornerstone to continue these holiday traditions at the Wanamaker Building in future years,” the organization said in a statement Monday.
In 2026 and 2027, the building will be under construction during the holiday season. Philadelphiaapproved zoning permitsfor New York-based TF Cornerstone in July to build around 600 apartments, with retail spaces and rooftop decks.
This year’s festivities will begin Friday, Nov. 28. The 10-minute light show, which was started in 1956, occurs every hour on the half hour. The Dickens Village lets guests wander through a re-creation of Charles Dickens’ classic book, “A Christmas Carol.” While the walkthrough experience is free to attend, time slots must be reserved online and are available five days in advance, with the last entry 30 minutes before closing.
