![]() Hailing a late 2022 and early 2023 slowing down of inflation, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has now announced the need for a quarter percentage point rise in interest rates. With the rate set to reach 4.7%, the highest in 5 years, Powell warned that despite recent progress, inflation still has the potential to enfeeble the nation’s economy. “Inflation data received over the past three months show a welcome reduction in the monthly pace of increase,” remarked Powell in a news conference. While such developments are encouraging, he added, “we will need substantially more evidence to be confident that inflation is on a sustained downward path.” “Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy,” remarked Powell. “Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone.” Added Powell: “In particular, without price stability we will not achieve a sustained period of labor market conditions that benefit all.” The FED rate has been on a steady upward climb for the most part of a year now, from 0.5% in March of 2022 to 4.0% in September and 4.5% at the end of last year. The Federal Reserve’s rate hike, notes the Wall Street Journal, comes as the agency “signaled it was on track to do so again at its next meeting next month, while officials consider whether and when to pause increases late this spring.” “The shift to a quarter-point increase marked a return to a slower, more orthodox pace of rate rises after the Fed rapidly ratcheted up borrowing costs last year,” remarked the Financial Times, “and reflected the fact that inflation appears to have peaked while the economy is starting to slow.” In his press conference remarks, Powell also noted that it will “take time for the full effects of monetary restraints to be realized, especially on inflation.” Restoring price stability, Powell added, “is essential to set the stage for achieving maximum employment and stable prices over the longer run. This historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy. We will stay the course, until the job is done.” By Garry Boulard
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![]() Plans are now underway for the construction of a new bat research facility that will go up on the Foothills campus of Colorado State University. The school is internationally known for its Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, which was founded in 1984 and houses a captive breeding colony of bats for research purposes. In the fall of 2021 the National Institutes of Health awarded the school just under $7 million for the further study of bats. At the time of the NIF award, a press release from CSU noted that “sometimes animals carry pathogens that cause diseases that harm humans, also known as zoonotic diseases.” The press release continued: “Bats can harbor corona viruses, so proper care and study of bats and pathogens is critical to protect global public health.” Work on the new 14,000 square foot facility could begin sometime this summer and will go up on the south side of the campus, adjacent to the existing main Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases. A rough completion date is anticipated for the fall of 2024. By Garry Boulard ![]() A Denver neighborhood with a poverty rate substantially higher than the rest of the city may soon see the construction of a new multi-purpose project that will most importantly include a grocery store. Plans have now been submitted to the City of Denver for a complex that will also include up to 200 affordable residential units, as well as a coffee shop and library. The project will go up in the Globeville neighborhood on a 2.7-acre site at 4995 N. Washington Street, around 5 miles to the north of downtown Denver. That site for decades has served as the home to a series of car dealerships. The City purchased the property for around $6 million some four years ago and has since been engaged in efforts to redevelop the site for its affordable housing potential. Late last year, an agreement was reached between Denver’s Department of Housing Stability and Department of Finance with the Globeville Redevelopment Partners, also of Denver, to build three-and four-bedroom units, along with community meeting space. Globeville Redevelopment is a partnership between the affordable housing development company Rocky Mountain Communities of Denver and the Chicago-based Evergreen Real Estate Group. The inclusion of the grocery store in the project is particularly important to area residents. A historic neighborhood dating to the 1880s, Globeville has been defined as a food desert. That designation comes if more than a third of a given area’s population lives more than a mile away from a large grocery store or supermarket. Food deserts impact the health of communities simply because they lack produce and natural food offerings for surrounding residents. By Garry Boulard ![]() Sweeping the nation as the latest in chat conversation via text, a new service called Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, or Chat GPT, is emerging as a vital tool for the nation’s realtors. Launched last November by the company OpenAI, the chatbot can instantaneously provide strikingly detailed information on topics ranging from business to science to sports, and everything else. But unlike Internet search engines it can think in the sense of providing details to architects on how to design a building, or try to reimagine, with the goal of a different outcome, a particular historic event. The artificial intelligence-powered tool signed on 57 million users in just the month of December. Now, according to news sources, the subscriber figures for January are expected to exceed 100 million. Among those users are realtors. According to the site CNN Business, real estate agents are reporting that the service has “changed the way they work, from writing listings and social media posts to drafting legal documents.” Other realtors have gone so far as to say that they cannot imagine life without the chatbot. The quickening realtor and overall business interest in Chat GPT has also spurred a series of books released within the last month, including Realtors Unleashed: Unlocking the Power of Open AI/Chat GPT for Maximum Efficiency and Profit; Chat GPT for Financial Freedom; and How to Use Chat GPT For Your Business. How and in what way Chat GPT will ultimately change the real estate industry remains an unanswered question. According to Yahoo!News, real estate agents should feel that what they do is secure and that the chatbot can only aid in their work. But the service could easily take away “potentially thousands of real estate assistants,” whose jobs have been defined by gathering information. By Garry Boulard ![]() In an effort to identify potential brownfield issues, the San Carlos Apache Tribe is receiving federal funding to undertake an extensive survey of its lands. Located in southeastern Arizona, the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation was established in 1872, encompasses some 1.8 million acres, and is today the home to around 16,200 people. The just over $166,000 in funding is coming out of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and will pay for an inventory of brownfield sites on the Tribe’s land, while also comprising a cleanup plan. In a statement, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly said the funding will both help in the process of cleaning up contaminated lands as well as in creating “development opportunities for economic growth.” The identification and remediation of any brownfield site makes possible the “construction of schools, hospitals, recreation centers, and more,” according to a press release from Kelly’s office. By Garry Boulard ![]() Construction could begin later this year on a long-desired new park in Horizon City, some 20 miles to the southeast of El Paso. The project will go up on a nearly 5-acre site off Linwood Drive near Benfield Court and will see the building of a pavilion, picnic shelters, a biking and hiking trail, and new lighting, among other amenities. Funding to the tune of $1.5 million has just been secured for what is being called the Horizon View Park Project through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. Altogether, the commission awarded nearly $10 million in competitive financing for just under two dozen park projects across the Lone Star state. Additional work at the Horizon City Park is expected to result in soccer fields, multi-sport courts, and accessible outdoor fitness equipment. All of the facilities in the park, according to El Paso County officials, will be built with an eye to Americans with Disabilities Act compliance. A two-foot-tall rock wall will separate the park from a parking area to the north of the site, while a garden space will decorate the east side of the development. By Garry Boulard ![]() President Biden has announced the funding of nearly $1.2 billion in Mega Grant Awards for infrastructure projects across the country. “This is just the beginning,” Biden said during a New York appearance in which he talked about the benefits of the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project, which is intended to improve travel between New York and New Jersey. He added that it the project represented the “beginning of finally constructing a 21st century rail system.” Federal support for the Hudson Tunnel project amounts to a “signature moment for the development,” notes the New York Times, adding that even with the funding out of Washington, “construction is expected to take years.” The Mega Grant program was made reality via passage in late 2021 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and has so far seen funding ranging from $60 million to $292 million for big bridge and highway projects. By design, the Mega Grant initiative is designed to fund projects that are both too large as well as too complex for traditional funding programs. On that list: $250 million for improvements to the Brent Spence Bridge which crosses the Ohio River and connects Cincinnati, Ohio with Covington, Kentucky; and $150 million to replace the Interstate 10 Calcasieu River Bridge in southwestern Louisiana. According to the Transportation Department, a total of around $5 billion in funding is expected to be awarded between now and 2026 through the Mega Grant program. The Department received more than one hundred applications for the first round of funding. Projects eligible for funding include everything from bridge and highway construction and upgrades, to port, freight, passenger rail, and public transportation projects. Those eligible projects must be a part of the National Multimodal Freight Network, the National Highway Freight Network, or the National Highway System. By Garry Boulard ![]() A popular southern New Mexico vacation retreat enjoyed by generations of visitors is on the market for $3.6 million. The Story Book Cabins hotel and larger site is located at 410 Main Road in the Village of Ruidoso and includes 13 hotel rooms. Nestled in a thicket of Ponderosa Pines, the individual cabins on the site include bedrooms, kitchens, and decks. A review of the retreat for the site Livingcooper.com once described the porch of one of the cabins as “overlooking the street with the peaceful sound of the rushing Ruidoso River in the background.” Further porch details described by the reviewer: “Two rocking chairs, a small table for coffee to rest, a hammock, and some hummingbird feeders.” A reporter for the Los Angeles Times, noting that “weekenders from Texas began building clusters of quaint cabins” in Ruidoso in the 1930s, described the Story Book Cabins complex as a “charming, piney alternative to typical ski accommodations.” With the structures on the site designated as Class C, the Story Book Cabins underwent a renovation two years ago. Offered by Pinnacle Real Estate and Development, which is based in Alto, New Mexico, the Story Book Cabins also includes office, laundry, and storage space. By Garry Boulard ![]() New Mexico’s largest public university is hoping to secure nearly $40 million in funding via the state legislature for a variety of campus infrastructure projects. The funding would come in the form of capital outlay spending to be first approved by legislators before being signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Among the larger ticket items requested by the school: $8.9 million for what is described as “essential campus infrastructure,” and exactly $8 million for an environmental water system. Some $5.3 million is sought for critical campus safety and security improvements, with a smaller $5 million to go for the upgrading of the school’s Interprofessional Health Simulation Center. Nearly $3.7 million will target information technology upgrades; while $3 million will go for the renovation planning and design of the College of Pharmacy. One of the smaller amounts, at $2.8 million, will be used for the second floor renovation of the Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center. In an interview with the Daily Lobo newspaper, Michael Puelle, chief government relations officer for UNM, remarked that investments in security infrastructure include cameras and lighting, “actual technology investments that help increase security on campus.” Many of the school’s capital outlay requests reflect the larger UNM 2040 goals, which according to a UNM press release, are designed as part of the university’s “long-term strategic plan to achieve a vibrant and thriving society and to build a healthier, better educated, and more economically vigorous New Mexico.” By Garry Boulard ![]() Construction jobs nationally saw an increase late last year in some 30 states as well as the District of Columbia, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The gains showed up along the East coast, with New York posting a 1.7% jump for 6,400 new jobs; and Florida seeing a 0.5% increase with 3,300 new jobs. Louisiana was up by a hefty 2.6%, representing roughly 3,300 new jobs, with Arkansas up by 1.8% for 1,000 jobs. Parts of the mid-central and plains region of the country, meanwhile, endured a range of construction job losses: Missouri was down by 3.0% for a decline of 4,400 jobs, with North Dakota posting the largest percentage loss for December at 6.4%, representing 1,900 lost jobs. From late 2021 to late 2022, California saw the biggest construction job gains with a 4.6% increase for a significant 41,100 new jobs. In crunching the latest BLS numbers, the Associated General Contractors of America’s chief economist Ken Simonson noted that home building in late 2022 had slowed. But, continued Simonson in a statement, “most nonresidential contractors continue to report strong demand and that they would like to add more workers than are available.” Overall for all industries, according to the BLS, “unemployment rates were higher in December in 7 states, lower in 5 states, and stable in 38 states and the District of Columbia.” By Garry Boulard |
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