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PHOENIX -- An archeologist who excavated the remains of a prehistoric Hohokam village from a downtown construction site uncovered the earliest known pit houses in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The thousands of artifacts from the dig at the construction site for the new Phoenix Convention Center represent one of the metro area's greatest archaeological finds. Archeologist Mark Hackbarth and his crew discovered nearly 40 Hohokam pit houses by the time their dig finished in early September. They also filled 3,500 sacks with artifacts and dirt to be studied for more clues about the people who first found a way to live in the desert. After each artifact is analyzed, the archaeologists will have an idea of how long people stayed at this location, how many lived here and what kind of crops they grew and traded.
Alabama 4-H will start construction this week on a $7 million Environmental Science Education Center on Lay Lake that takes its mission to heart right down to how the facility is built. The 17,500-square-foot, two-story project is seeking a gold certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the U.S. Green Building Council. The council recognizes projects where the construction methods, materials and design have a minimal impact on the environment and incorporates energy efficiencies and other practices. To get gold certification a design has to earn 39 points based on the council's criteria. The Alabama 4-H Environmental Science Education Center is designed to qualify for 45 points. It's a fitting approach given the building's mission to teach Alabama youth and educators about protecting and enhancing the environment.
Ontario home builders will have to come clean about the tentative nature of closing dates, and will lose a five-day grace period allowed them for unforeseen delays, under new regulations being proposed by the industry's regulating body. "There will be greater transparency about closing dates and the consequences of missing them," former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, who headed a special committee on closing delays for Tarion Warranty Corp., told a media briefing at which recommended rule changes were unveiled this week. "Late closings have become one of the most troubling issues for consumers, and for the industry too," Tarion president Greg Gee told reporters. Surveys of home buyers by J.D. Power and Associates found that home readiness was their number one concern and chief complaint in the past two years.
A line of police cruisers was perched along an Interstate 270 ramp Friday morning with the officers inside stocked up on blank tickets and pens. They waited. And waited. And waited.
"We're fishing in a pond with no fish," said Maryland Heights police Lt. Joe Delia, commander of a special detail targeting construction zone speeders.
Maybe it was the media blitz. Or the well-placed traffic cones. Or fear of stiffer penalties. .
Six home builders that have been active in the Silicon Valley were rated above average in the Bay Area in a customer satisfaction report released on Wednesday. Leading the list was Dallas-based Centex Homes Corp. (NYSE: CTX). Among Centex' local projects is the Plant 51 residential development off The Alameda near HP Pavilion in San Jose. .
DiVosta scored highest in customer satisfaction among home builders in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, according to a J.D. Power and Associates survey. Minto Builders and G.L. Homes ranked second and third. The study, released Wednesday, ranked home builders who sold at least 150 homes last year in 34 of the largest markets in the country. Despite the good scores of some builders, buyers in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast — which made up one market in the survey — experienced an average of 15 problems with their new homes, one more problem than the national average. The most frequent problems faced by local home buyers involved landscaping, the quality of kitchen cabinets, and cracks in sidewalks, driveways and foundations.
More major home builders, including some with significant Central Florida operations, reported weaker preliminary sales Tuesday. But analysts at one Wall Street firm upgraded builder stocks on grounds that the worst of the slump may be over.
D.R. Horton, one of the nation's largest home builders, said orders fell 25 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter. But the company, based in Fort Worth, Texas, was one of several builders on Tuesday that earned a stock upgrade by JP Morgan Securities.
Horton and Standard Pacific Corp., which builds homes in four Western states, had their stock raised to "overweight" from "neutral," and Toll Brothers, the nation's largest luxury builder, had its stock raised to "neutral" from "underweight."
Both D.R. Horton and Toll Brothers build throughout Central Florida.
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