Construction

The value of residential construction in metropolitan Philadelphia in the first seven months of year was 34 percent higher than in the same period in 2011, McGraw Hill reported Tuesday. Residential building from January to July totaled $781.4 million, compared with $583.1 million in the first seven months of 2011. Nonresidential construction was 4 percent lower, while total of the two combined was 6 percent above last year.    - Alan J. Heavens

New-home construction starts declined 1.1 percent in July from June's levels, but they were 21.5 percent higher than in the same month in 2011, the Census Bureau reported Thursday. The July numbers put the industry on pace to start 746,000 one- to four-unit residences in a 12-month period - still about half what economists consider a normal market. "The pre-bubble annual average level of new homes was 1.5 million," said Jed Kolko, chief economist at the real estate search engine Trulia.

The planned reconstruction of a politically wired watering hole in Northern Liberties has reached a stalemate, with the bar owners still at odds with neighbors who fear a spike in noise and who blame City Hall ties for the special legislation needed to get the project off the ground. "We've just never seen people in this community so unanimously opposed to something," said Matt Ruben, president of the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association since 2002. "They're very, very unhappy about this.

It was a bit quieter this week at the Goldtex Building construction site after two men were charged with simple assault and other charges related to a beating of a subcontractor on July 12. "Ever since your story came out [this] week, since the arrests, it's been a lot calmer," Michael Pestronk, one of the two brothers developing the Goldtex, told the Daily News Friday. Last Saturday, union protester Ryan Stewart, of Philadelphia, was arrested at his home, and another protester, Philip Garraty, of West Grove, Pa., turned himself in Monday on an arrest warrant.

In Northampton Township, Toll Bros. is seeking final approval for Leehurst Farm, a 40-home development. In Middletown Township, the Durham Ridge and Whispering Woods developments have lots for 10 to 12 new houses. But those houses and all new construction projects in most of lower Bucks County are blocked by a ban on new sewer hookups issued last month by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The ban "will have a negative impact on growth and the revenue generated from growth," Northampton Township Manager Robert Pellegrino said Monday.

JERUSALEM - The Israeli government has quietly agreed to grant subsidies to build more than 500 new homes in the West Bank, backtracking from a promise earlier this year to deny these incentives to the settlements, the Associated Press has learned. The planned construction, at a time when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to shore up support among settlers, has enraged the Palestinians and could cloud a visit starting Sunday by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as she tries to reenergize Mideast peace efforts.

JERUSALEM - Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was elected more than three years ago, the Jewish population in the West Bank has ballooned 18 percent, drawing tens of thousands of Israelis to the territory the Palestinians claim as the heartland of a future state, according to figures obtained by the Associated Press. The rate of growth - nearly twice that of Israel proper - has deep implications for an already moribund peace process. The issue is at the heart of a three-year-old impasse in Middle East peace efforts, and critics say each new settlement home makes it ever tougher for the Israelis and the Palestinians to reach the territorial compromise that would be needed for any agreement.

A STATE BILL requiring construction employers on public-works projects to verify the Social Security numbers of their workers unanimously passed a House committee Wednesday, on a day when immigrant-rights activists rallied in Harrisburg to protest the passage of any anti-illegal-immigrant bills.   House Bill 380, sponsored by Rep. John Galloway, D-Bucks, is among various immigration bills being considered this week. "For me, this issue has always been about jobs," Galloway said of the vote by the House Labor and Industry Committee.

The segment of the U.S. population age 85 and above is expected to grow nearly five times faster than the overall population over the next 30 years. The surge could create huge demand for senior-living residences that occupy the middle ground between independent living, in which seniors largely care for themselves, and the more intensive care of nursing homes. Three Radnor businessmen are banking on that with Shelbourne Healthcare Development Group L.L.C., which with a Georgia partner has six assisted-living facilities under construction, including one in North Wales.