The local real estate market nearly screeched to a halt in late 2005, said Alvin Arner, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Stuart, Fla., and has since been climbing back toward normal conditions.

There was a temporary standstill in 2004, too, after the double blow of hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in the area. The “snowbirds” — property owners and vacationers who travel to Florida from colder-climate areas — have been slow to return. Speculators have mostly skidded out of the market, new construction projects have slowed down, and prices have retreated about 15-20 percent, said Arner.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $9.68 million in grants to hire service coordinators who will work to connect public housing residents across the country with community resources, according to an announcement this week.

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said in a statement, “These grants … allow local housing agencies help low-income families thrive for a lifetime by leading them to employment that moves them to self-sufficiency, even home ownership.”

The grant money was awarded through HUD’s Public Housing Family Self-Sufficiency program, which aids public housing authorities.

It’s been a busy year in architecture and development. UVA approved the multi-million dollar South Lawn project and opened John Paul Jones arena and Wilsdorf Hall; the city unveiled the Free Speech Wall; work started on Albemarle Place near Hydraulic Road, a development twice the size of the Downtown Mall; the first of several planned nine-story buildings around the real Downtown Mall was approved; a large section of the Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court building collapsed– take a deep breath– the Jefferson Theater was sold and is being renovated by Coran Capshaw, and a developer’s decision to cut down a 148-year-old beech tree tested the system that guides local development.