Top Honors
More than 650 people gathered last fall to honor Tom Bozzuto, CEO of The Bozzuto Group, as winner of ULI Washington’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award. At the event, which celebrated Bozzuto’s creativity, integrity, and leadership, the longtime developer called on the housing community to reinvent itself in order to survive the current economic crisis. “Those who survive and who thrive will reinvent their companies and find new things to do and new ways to do them,” he said. —Shabnam Mogharabi
Ingenious Appliance
An inventive modular refrigerator by Stefan Buchberger from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, beat more than 600 entries to win the Design Lab 2008 competition held by Electrolux Appliances. Designed for roommates, the Flatshare fridge consists of a base station and up to four individual, customizable, stackable modules that allow each user to have private refrigerator space. “In many shared flats, there is a problem with the refrigerator,” says Buchberger, who received a prize of about $7,000 and a six-month internship with Electrolux for his design. —Nigel F. Maynard
Bleak Outlook
The construction industry won’t see relief until late 2010 or early 2011, per a report released last fall by FMI Corp., a Raleigh, N.C.-based consulting firm. For the residential market—including multifamily and single-family—construction put in place (the amount of construction built, not the value of that construction) is estimated to fall 7 percent in 2009. —Rachel Z. Azoff
LEED Revamp
The U.S. Green Building Council has unveiled LEED 2009, an updated rating system for commercial buildings, including multifamily properties four stories and higher. The new system will go into effect in March 2009 and includes major technical advancements that improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and address additional environmental and health concerns. —R.Z.A.
Not So Big Easy
Outgoing federal Gulf Coast Recovery Coordinator Douglas O’Dell says the federal government has failed to rebuild housing in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck the area in 2005. O’Dell’s comments followed the groundbreaking of Columbia Citi Residences, a mixed-use project that includes the first public housing units built in the city since Katrina. “It takes the good work and investment of the private sector, nonprofits, and citizen leaders … to bring about rebuilding progress,” O’Dell said. —Chris Wood
