This is a great piece. Mirrors what we do as well. We find it's helpful to have a few different architects that you're good with working with as they each may have their own strengths and weaknesses (we do a lot of different types of projects in our market from historic rehab to ground up, residential, commercial, and flex industrial.
I find there's always a bit of tension in the front end around how much do you do before you get approvals. On the one hand you really don't want to pay for design that might get nuked in zoning. On the other hand, you really want to make sure that your design "works" so that you're not coming back for one or many amendments to your zoning approvals. Right now we have a good handle in house on what's going to get approved so we tend to go further at this stage, but if zoning is less certain, go very light. And pretty renderings are always most important for selling the project to the city / boards / etc. We are a little more cautious about CA, if only because it can expand if the project drags (like when your electrical gear is 6-months delayed), so can be an unexpected cost increase.
We recently finished a nice looking project that you'd like Sean, Park View at 31 Parade Street in Providence with Jack Ryan Architects (https://www.jackryanarchitect.com/), a more contemporary style oriented architect, but with experience in construction that makes him very sensitive to constructibility. As we've worked together we've gotten a better sense of each other too (like a relationship) that makes working together easier.
Seth, thanks for the comment! The tension in design pre-approvals is real. It is always a balance. We've pushed forward at times when we felt confident in our approvals; and other times played it safe. Always feels like a roll of the dice. Congrats on the project - I'll check it out.
The old nursing home was originally four town homes, but had been converted to center corridor. We brought it back as 12-larger 2-bed flats, achieved the highest rents on our side of town in... ever. Almost broke $4k. Of course, that gets us dragged by some anti-gentrification folks. Project was about 16% over base budget, but rents are 33% higher than proforma (after the run up of 2021-2023). Historic rehab, federal historic tax credits, local TSA, state historic preservation tax credit.
Are you sure your architect isn’t a clandestine operative and this is his cover?? Sorry haha had to ask
His chestnut street loft work is impressive. I’ve been looking at doing rooms with drywall interior walls with faux beams running exposed through the ceiling.
Jimmy, great question! We typically wait until after project approvals to get MEP involved. There's usually not a reason to work on that specific level of building design until you know you have an approved project.
Jimmy, typically MEP engineers are included as a sub-consultant to the Architect similar to Civil, Structural, and Landscape.
I'm a MEP Engineer based in the SE and the majority of our work is under the Architect. The Architect manages our contract and as well assists with design coordination between the different engineering trades.
This is a great piece. Mirrors what we do as well. We find it's helpful to have a few different architects that you're good with working with as they each may have their own strengths and weaknesses (we do a lot of different types of projects in our market from historic rehab to ground up, residential, commercial, and flex industrial.
I find there's always a bit of tension in the front end around how much do you do before you get approvals. On the one hand you really don't want to pay for design that might get nuked in zoning. On the other hand, you really want to make sure that your design "works" so that you're not coming back for one or many amendments to your zoning approvals. Right now we have a good handle in house on what's going to get approved so we tend to go further at this stage, but if zoning is less certain, go very light. And pretty renderings are always most important for selling the project to the city / boards / etc. We are a little more cautious about CA, if only because it can expand if the project drags (like when your electrical gear is 6-months delayed), so can be an unexpected cost increase.
We recently finished a nice looking project that you'd like Sean, Park View at 31 Parade Street in Providence with Jack Ryan Architects (https://www.jackryanarchitect.com/), a more contemporary style oriented architect, but with experience in construction that makes him very sensitive to constructibility. As we've worked together we've gotten a better sense of each other too (like a relationship) that makes working together easier.
Appreciate your work.
Seth, thanks for the comment! The tension in design pre-approvals is real. It is always a balance. We've pushed forward at times when we felt confident in our approvals; and other times played it safe. Always feels like a roll of the dice. Congrats on the project - I'll check it out.
The old nursing home was originally four town homes, but had been converted to center corridor. We brought it back as 12-larger 2-bed flats, achieved the highest rents on our side of town in... ever. Almost broke $4k. Of course, that gets us dragged by some anti-gentrification folks. Project was about 16% over base budget, but rents are 33% higher than proforma (after the run up of 2021-2023). Historic rehab, federal historic tax credits, local TSA, state historic preservation tax credit.
Are you sure your architect isn’t a clandestine operative and this is his cover?? Sorry haha had to ask
His chestnut street loft work is impressive. I’ve been looking at doing rooms with drywall interior walls with faux beams running exposed through the ceiling.
Sean, I didn't see MEP engineers on your list above. Is it typical in your market to be managed by the architect as well?
I live on the Central Coast of CA (San Luis Obispo), and my favorite recent local developments have been designed by Bracket Architecture (https://www.bracketarchitecture.com/). Cearnal Collective (https://www.cearnal.com/) and Jeff Shelton (https://www.jeffsheltonarchitect.com/) in Santa Barbara are also incredible.
Thanks for the architect heads up! I'll check them out!
Jimmy, great question! We typically wait until after project approvals to get MEP involved. There's usually not a reason to work on that specific level of building design until you know you have an approved project.
Jimmy, typically MEP engineers are included as a sub-consultant to the Architect similar to Civil, Structural, and Landscape.
I'm a MEP Engineer based in the SE and the majority of our work is under the Architect. The Architect manages our contract and as well assists with design coordination between the different engineering trades.