MULTIFAMILY AEC GIANTS: Slowdown prompts developers to ask: Will the luxury rentals boom hold?
ZINC Apartments, in West Cambridge, Mass., which opens in September, could be the poster child for the latest trends in multifamily, notably:
Smaller living spaces: Its 392 residential units average 793 sf.
Transit-friendliness: The 15-story, 531,900-sf building borders the future elevated Green Line and is across from a planned train station.
TOP MULTIFAMILY ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
2014 Multifamily Revenue ($)
1. Solomon Cordwell Buenz $31,096,704
2. Callison RTKL $29,778,051
3. Niles Bolton Associates $26,150,000
4. NORR $22,285,475
5. Perkins Eastman $20,119,000
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TOP MULTIFAMILY ENGINEERING FIRMS
2014 Multifamily Revenue ($)
1. AECOM $533,433,000
2. WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff $37,363,109
3. DeSimone Consulting Engineers $23,981,385
4. STV $21,465,000
5. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates $19,110,000
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TOP MULTIFAMILY CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
2014 Multifamily Revenue ($)
1. Lend Lease $1,715,790,000
2. Balfour Beatty US $936,680,339
3. Suffolk Construction $889,079,228
4. Clark Group $877,396,257
5. Turner Construction $593,146,836
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Rich amenities: Rental units will have full-size washers and dryers and condominium-quality finishes. The common area will have an upscale fitness center, cyber café, pet spa, and 15,000-sf landscaped outdoor living room with a fireplace, water feature, and grilling stations. A hiking/biking trail runs adjacent to the property. ZINC will offer a bike workshop and 206 covered bike racks.
Smart technology: DAS (distributed antenna systems), key fob security, Nest thermostats, destination dispatch elevators, and electric car hookups are part of the package, says Jeff Arfsten, Managing Director/COO of Project Management and Construction for Lend Lease, the project’s GC.
For the last three years, rental apartments have occupied the hot corner in residential construction, as younger people gravitated toward renting to be closer to urban centers and jobs. Market watchers believe young renters will take longer than previous generations to transition to homeownership.
Multifamily construction starts jumped by 38.3% in 2012, 25.1% in 2013, and 14.9% in 2014, according to National Association of Home Builder estimates. Market researcher CMD Group estimates spending on multifamily construction will jump another 13.6% (to $45.1 billion) this year and by 13% (to $50.9 billion) in 2016.
But at around 360,000 annual starts, multifamily might be peaking. NAHB expects multifamily starts to increase by less than 2% in 2015, due partly to rising land and labor costs. Developers are trying to determine just how large the customer niche is for luxury apartments and condos.
SMALLER UNITS, but with many MORE FEATURES and amenities
The shift toward smaller units stems, in part, from the growing number of one-person households, says Devon Patterson, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Design Principal at Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz. At the same time, communal amenity spaces in high-rises are getting more robust, says Patterson, by offering socialization and nightlife opportunities that “elevate the living experience.”
Terry McKellips, Vice President/Division Manager for Swinerton Builders, says another key element in multifamily design has to do with “incorporating a contemporary feel to complement the vibrant growth of the city.” He singles out NEMA, a 754-unit luxury apartment complex near San Francisco’s City Hall that he claims helped transform this area into a cool place to be for tech companies and workers.
The complex consists of four residential towers unified at the base with a podium that houses two residential lobbies, common areas, and retail spaces. Amenities include an energy solarium, a 7,000-sf Wright Fit fitness center, club solarium, a spa, a business center, three outdoor terraces, a 60-foot heated saline pool, and 24/7 spa treatments and concierge and porter services.
But luxury living doesn’t come cheap. A 463-sf studio in NEMA rents for $3,130 per month; one- and two-bedroom apartments ranging from 1,376 sf to 1,442 sf are renting for as much as $6,685 per month, according to NEMA’s website.
developers ACCOMMODATING changes in TENANTS’ LIFESTYLES
The amenities “arms race” being fought in the rental sector is likely to continue, as resort-grade packages become standard, says Cannon Reynolds, AIA, Managing Director of Architecture at Niles Bolton Associates, Atlanta. Even smaller apartments are coming with designer kitchens, higher ceilings, and larger windows.
Reynolds believes apartment projects will continue to lean toward complicated urban sites, walkable streetscapes, structured parking, and street-level retail. He says busy tenants are demanding timesaving conveniences like dry-cleaning services and trash valets. Apartment buildings are quadrupling the space devoted to receiving and storing packages due to the proliferation of online shopping.
The question remains: How much gas is left in the luxury rental tank?
Trammell Crow Residential and Thompson Dorfman Partners are sanguine about the market niche, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. The developers formed a joint venture in May with an initial capitalization of $500 million to search out multifamily development and acquisition opportunities with a luxury sheen.
On the opposite coast, Boston has been dubbed the “Luxury Glutpocalypse” by Curbed, the real estate website, because so many luxury apartments are under construction. NAHB also points out that the tide may be turning back toward single-family home ownership: 40% of U.S. states are expected to be back to pre-recession housing production levels by 2016.
TOP MULTIFAMILY ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
| Company | 2014 Multifamily Revenue ($) | |
| 1 | Solomon Cordwell Buenz | $31,096,704 |
| 2 | Callison RTKL | $29,778,051 |
| 3 | Niles Bolton Associates | $26,150,000 |
| 4 | NORR | $22,285,475 |
| 5 | Perkins Eastman | $20,119,000 |
| 6 | HOK | $17,104,000 |
| 7 | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | $15,255,131 |
| 8 | Goodwyn Mills and Cawood | $14,580,422 |
| 9 | Cambridge Seven Associates | $14,119,000 |
| 10 | WDG Architecture | $13,322,000 |
| 11 | Hord Coplan Macht | $12,789,500 |
| 12 | Harley Ellis Devereaux | $11,943,000 |
| 13 | Architects Hawaii Ltd. | $11,720,000 |
| 14 | Stantec | $10,773,546 |
| 15 | Perkins+Will | $10,750,000 |
| 16 | FXFOWLE Architects | $10,464,325 |
| 17 | Mithun | $9,803,000 |
| 18 | Good Fulton & Farrell | $9,600,640 |
| 19 | Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc. | $9,118,233 |
| 20 | Gensler | $8,970,000 |
| 21 | Dattner Architects | $8,919,373 |
| 22 | Ziegler Cooper | $8,815,451 |
| 23 | Beyer Blinder Belle | $7,326,002 |
| 24 | Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio | $7,000,000 |
| 25 | ZGF Architects | $6,400,862 |
| 26 | EDI International | $6,290,000 |
| 27 | Cooper Carry | $6,208,410 |
| 28 | Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates | $5,292,000 |
| 29 | HKS | $4,956,571 |
| 30 | Lord Aeck Sargent | $4,921,340 |
| 31 | FitzGerald Associates Architects | $4,888,000 |
| 32 | OZ Architecture | $4,496,350 |
| 33 | GBBN Architects | $4,275,000 |
| 34 | Page | $3,930,000 |
| 35 | WATG | Wimberly Interiors | $3,873,000 |
| 36 | STG Design | $3,770,000 |
| 37 | Nadel | $3,660,000 |
| 38 | Glumac | $3,518,182 |
| 39 | Moseley Architects | $3,439,488 |
| 40 | Carrier Johnson + Culture | $3,400,000 |
| 41 | Eppstein Uhen Architects | $3,240,191 |
| 42 | VOA Associates | $3,192,141 |
| 43 | Cuningham Group Architecture | $3,123,991 |
| 44 | Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture | $2,980,442 |
| 45 | Shepley Bulfinch | $2,976,023 |
| 46 | Clark Nexsen | $2,900,000 |
| 47 | Morris Architects | $2,625,000 |
| 48 | Vocon | $2,586,615 |
| 49 | Montroy Andersen DeMarco | $2,535,000 |
| 50 | Jerde Partnership, The | $2,447,580 |
| 51 | MBH Architects | $2,214,000 |
| 52 | Large Architecture | $2,001,210 |
| 53 | SB Architects | $1,940,494 |
| 54 | Symmes Maini & McKee Associates | $1,919,343 |
| 55 | MG2 | $1,904,753 |
| 56 | FreemanWhite | $1,823,590 |
| 57 | Corgan | $1,800,000 |
| 58 | Luckett & Farley | $1,750,000 |
| 59 | Moody Nolan | $1,721,434 |
| 60 | Leo A Daly | $1,670,418 |
| 61 | NAC|Architecture | $1,654,028 |
| 62 | PBDW Architects | $1,641,193 |
| 63 | Rottet Studio | $1,608,484 |
| 64 | GreenbergFarrow | $1,560,000 |
| 65 | Goettsch Partners | $1,415,500 |
| 66 | LS3P | $1,412,040 |
| 67 | Hnedak Bobo Group | $1,367,253 |
| 68 | Heery International | $1,296,185 |
| 69 | CTA Architects Engineers | $1,294,330 |
| 70 | Kirksey Architecture | $1,253,285 |
| 71 | P+R Architects | $1,159,649 |
| 72 | Environetics | $1,074,602 |
| 73 | CO Architects | $983,600 |
| 74 | Zyscovich Architects | $902,197 |
| 75 | Cooper Robertson | $852,000 |
| 76 | RNL Design | $735,230 |
| 77 | Sherlock, Smith & Adams | $603,000 |
| 78 | BDG Architects | $600,000 |
| 79 | Gresham, Smith and Partners | $588,000 |
| 80 | Westlake Reed Leskosky | $550,000 |
| 81 | JLG Architects | $500,395 |
| 82 | Albert Kahn Associates | $500,000 |
| 83 | Davis Brody Bond | $464,326 |
| 84 | HMFH Architects | $427,787 |
| 85 | Emersion Design | $426,487 |
| 86 | TEG Architects | $412,813 |
| 87 | Baskervill | $392,609 |
| 88 | ATA Beilharz Architects | $361,829 |
| 89 | KSQ Architects | $281,921 |
| 90 | LK Architecture | $250,000 |
| 91 | Nelson | $185,240 |
| 92 | Wight & Company | $182,600 |
| 93 | GSB | $144,325 |
| 94 | Bergmann Associates | $131,811 |
| 95 | Becker Morgan Group | $99,814 |
TOP MULTIFAMILY ENGINEERING FIRMS
| Company | 2014 Multifamily Revenue ($) | |
| 1 | AECOM | $533,433,000 |
| 2 | WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff | $37,363,109 |
| 3 | DeSimone Consulting Engineers | $23,981,385 |
| 4 | STV | $21,465,000 |
| 5 | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates | $19,110,000 |
| 6 | Thornton Tomasetti | $18,228,765 |
| 7 | Jacobs | $16,170,000 |
| 8 | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger | $11,305,000 |
| 9 | Magnusson Klemencic Associates | $10,140,568 |
| 10 | KPFF Consulting Engineers | $9,524,000 |
| 11 | Arup | $9,507,340 |
| 12 | Dewberry | $6,048,997 |
| 13 | Jensen Hughes | $3,395,066 |
| 14 | ME Engineers | $2,580,000 |
| 15 | Davis, Bowen & Friedel | $2,310,499 |
| 16 | Aon Fire Protection Engineering | $2,000,000 |
| 17 | Martin/Martin | $1,952,909 |
| 18 | CTLGroup | $1,600,000 |
| 19 | Coffman Engineers | $1,577,000 |
| 20 | Cardno Haynes Whaley | $1,342,033 |
| 21 | TLC Engineering for Architecture | $1,325,706 |
| 22 | KCI Technologies | $1,300,000 |
| 23 | Bala Consulting Engineers | $1,239,000 |
| 24 | M/E Engineering | $1,082,121 |
| 25 | Walter P Moore | $1,059,391 |
| 26 | Vanderweil Engineers | $917,700 |
| 27 | CJL Engineering | $726,128 |
| 28 | GHT Ltd. | $700,000 |
| 29 | Newcomb & Boyd | $593,409 |
| 30 | Henderson Engineers | $583,073 |
| 31 | KJWW Engineering Consultants | $570,568 |
| 32 | RDK Engineers | $468,000 |
| 33 | Smith Seckman Reid | $462,383 |
| 34 | I. C. Thomasson Associates | $450,000 |
| 35 | Spectrum Engineers | $431,960 |
| 36 | GRAEF | $420,000 |
| 37 | OLA Consulting Engineers | $416,000 |
| 38 | SSOE Group | $340,696 |
| 39 | Guernsey | $326,248 |
| 40 | RMF Engineering | $300,000 |
| 41 | Karpinski Engineering | $275,000 |
| 42 | Epstein | $242,100 |
| 43 | TTG | $164,220 |
| 44 | Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon | $150,000 |
| 45 | Wallace Engineering | $125,000 |
| 46 | Peter Basso Associates | $117,000 |
| 47 | P2S Engineering | $113,473 |
| 48 | Dunham Associates | $100,000 |
| 49 | Highland Associates | $100,000 |
| 50 | Zak Companies | $94,874 |
| 51 | G&W Engineering | $91,300 |
| 52 | Stanley Consultants | $86,649 |
| 53 | Mazzetti | $35,931 |
| 54 | Environmental Systems Design | $27,432 |
| 55 | William Tao & Associates | $22,140 |
TOP MULTIFAMILY CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
| Company | 2014 Multifamily Revenue ($) | |
| 1 | Lend Lease | $1,715,790,000 |
| 2 | Balfour Beatty US | $936,680,339 |
| 3 | Suffolk Construction | $889,079,228 |
| 4 | Clark Group | $877,396,257 |
| 5 | Turner Construction | $593,146,836 |
| 6 | PCL Construction | $414,562,954 |
| 7 | Whiting-Turner Contracting, The | $364,031,287 |
| 8 | Batson-Cook | $329,151,093 |
| 9 | Adolfson & Peterson Construction | $314,207,145 |
| 10 | Power Construction | $303,000,000 |
| 11 | Walsh Group, The | $300,576,205 |
| 12 | JE Dunn Construction | $298,862,364 |
| 13 | Swinerton Builders | $297,178,000 |
| 14 | Weis Builders | $243,739,297 |
| 15 | Harkins Builders | $239,000,000 |
| 16 | McShane Companies, The | $223,911,076 |
| 17 | Andersen Construction | $221,000,000 |
| 18 | James McHugh Construction | $192,428,739 |
| 19 | Donohoe Construction | $188,255,031 |
| 20 | Brasfield & Gorrie | $181,927,554 |
| 21 | C.W. Driver | $181,610,000 |
| 22 | James G Davis Construction | $180,196,119 |
| 23 | Bernards | $179,600,000 |
| 24 | Structure Tone | $171,616,000 |
| 25 | Skanska USA | $164,573,972 |
| 26 | Summit Contracting Group | $123,291,282 |
| 27 | DPR Construction | $120,064,000 |
| 28 | Bette Companies, The | $112,545,650 |
| 29 | Hoar Construction | $102,991,000 |
| 30 | W. M. Jordan | $97,637,459 |
| 31 | Kitchell Corporation | $91,123,879 |
| 32 | Austin Industries | $86,894,237 |
| 33 | Choate Construction | $81,147,393 |
| 34 | Doster Construction | $78,781,958 |
| 35 | O'Neil Industries | $75,854,488 |
| 36 | Flintco | $73,000,000 |
| 37 | Haselden Construction | $61,917,773 |
| 38 | Weitz Company, The | $59,794,000 |
| 39 | Juneau Construction | $59,736,090 |
| 40 | Kraus-Anderson Construction | $59,000,000 |
| 41 | Hensel Phelps | $57,280,000 |
| 42 | CORE Construction | $56,582,657 |
| 43 | Ryan Companies | $54,505,343 |
| 44 | Gilbane Building Co. | $53,162,833 |
| 45 | Walbridge | $50,720,000 |
| 46 | IMC Construction | $49,000,000 |
| 47 | HITT Contracting | $48,900,000 |
| 48 | LeChase Construction Services | $45,000,000 |
| 49 | KBE Building Corp. | $44,046,132 |
| 50 | Messer Construction | $39,526,784 |
| 51 | Hill & Wilkinson | $34,650,884 |
| 52 | S. M. Wilson & Co. | $31,548,956 |
| 53 | Paric | $30,000,000 |
| 54 | Consigli Building Group | $29,909,389 |
| 55 | Hill International | $29,000,000 |
| 56 | Layton Construction | $25,000,000 |
| 57 | Manhattan Construction | $14,249,000 |
| 58 | Yates Companies, The | $11,600,000 |
| 59 | Robins & Morton | $10,800,000 |
| 60 | Beck Group, The | $9,384,248 |
| 61 | Pepper Construction Group | $8,705,000 |
| 62 | Level 10 Construction | $8,452,831 |
| 63 | Hoffman Construction | $6,362,878 |
| 64 | Fortis Construction | $1,500,000 |
| 65 | Leopardo Companies | $915,135 |