Multifamily housing construction is expected to remain relatively strong throughout 2014, according to Freddie Mac (http://bit.ly/TJvZ8R). Starts picked up in 2013, with completions due to catch up this year, finally approaching pre-recession levels.
AEC firms are delivering projects that cater to consumers seeking reasonably priced rentals in hot urban markets. Gen Y consumers are more likely than their Boomer antecedents to embrace the notion of renting as a lifelong strategy.
Noting these trends, a Building Team in the Southeast has developed SkyHouse: a branded program that provides high-rise apartments for Gen Y professionals near urban centers, public transportation, and nightlife. Since 2011, eleven SkyHouses have been developed, including finished properties in Orlando, Fla., Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas, and buildings under way in Raleigh, N.C., Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., Houston, and Charlotte, N.C.
Novare Group, which is developing the projects with Batson-Cook Development Company, previously specialized in high-rise condos, and wanted to bring a different approach to apartment towers that would cost only marginally more than low to mid-rise multifamily housing.
The SkyHouses consist of vertically stacked units with minimal variation; interiors are tweaked to reflect local market preferences. Separating parking facilities from the towers has reduced construction time and costs.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s U.S. Multifamily Outlook Year-End 2013 (http://bit.ly/1ifRCC4) notes the growing (and “thriving”) activity in this region: “While the housing recovery is causing expansion nationwide, the mending of the hardest hit housing markets in the Sunbelt is driving significant gains in those metros.”
Top Multifamily Architecture Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 Multifamily Revenue |
1 | RTKL Associates | $29,674,000 |
2 | Niles Bolton Associates | 26,257,959 |
3 | Solomon Cordwell Buenz | 26,000,000 |
4 | Architects Orange | 18,989,853 |
5 | WDG Architecture | 18,737,000 |
6 | Stantec | 17,622,016 |
7 | Perkins Eastman | 16,000,000 |
8 | NORR | 11,572,227 |
9 | Ziegler Cooper | 8,815,451 |
10 | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | 8,702,356 |
11 | FXFOWLE Architects | 8,100,000 |
12 | Good Fulton & Farrell | 7,931,000 |
13 | Hord Coplan Macht | 7,794,838 |
14 | HOK | 7,404,036 |
15 | Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates | 7,338,774 |
16 | Gensler | 7,139,176 |
17 | Perkins+will | 7,100,000 |
18 | Mithun | 5,966,000 |
19 | Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio | 5,787,000 |
20 | FitzGerald Associates Architects | 5,464,276 |
21 | VOA Associates | 5,266,818 |
22 | Cooper Carry | 5,055,632 |
23 | OZ Architecture | 4,879,000 |
24 | Beyer Blinder Belle | 4,780,731 |
25 | ZGF Architects | 4,770,730 |
26 | Harley Ellis Devereaux | 4,670,000 |
27 | HKS | 4,641,794 |
28 | Lord Aeck Sargent | 4,585,731 |
29 | EDI International | 4,538,210 |
30 | GBBN Architects | 4,120,000 |
31 | Eppstein Uhen Architects | 3,912,939 |
32 | Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates | 3,795,000 |
33 | Hensley Lamkin Rachel | 3,120,000 |
34 | BLTa | 3,100,000 |
35 | IBI Group ? Gruzen Samton | 3,000,000 |
36 | Nadel | 3,000,000 |
37 | Shepley Bulfinch | 2,803,000 |
38 | Moseley Architects | 2,774,269 |
39 | Callison | 2,697,208 |
40 | Carrier Johnson + Culture | 2,638,036 |
41 | Morris Architects | 2,240,000 |
42 | Cuningham Group Architecture | 2,149,438 |
43 | Montroy Andersen DeMarco | 2,130,000 |
44 | MBH Architects | 1,940,000 |
45 | NAC|Architecture | 1,871,525 |
46 | Commonwealth Architects | 1,627,175 |
47 | Corgan | 1,596,285 |
48 | Symmes Maini & McKee Associates | 1,560,000 |
49 | Clark Nexsen | 1,400,000 |
50 | Page | 1,400,000 |
51 | Goettsch Partners | 1,400,000 |
52 | WATG | Wimberly Interiors | 1,388,000 |
53 | Goodwyn Mills & Cawood | 1,328,694 |
54 | Cambridge Seven Associates | 1,277,000 |
55 | Nelson | 1,254,686 |
56 | Hnedak Bobo Group | 1,205,000 |
57 | Swanke Hayden Connell Architects | 1,200,000 |
58 | Ratio Architects | 1,127,764 |
59 | LS3P | 1,052,598 |
60 | Kirksey | 967,711 |
61 | Sherlock, Smith & Adams | 934,000 |
62 | CTA Architects Engineers | 831,135 |
63 | Leo A Daly | 824,915 |
64 | Hoffmann Architects | 747,000 |
65 | Epstein | 740,000 |
66 | PGAL | 736,900 |
67 | Environetics | 655,268 |
68 | NBBJ | 544,000 |
69 | Davis Brody Bond | 522,616 |
70 | ATA Beilharz Architects | 495,285 |
71 | Hoefer Wysocki Architecture | 410,000 |
72 | Adache Group Architects | 400,000 |
73 | BLDD Architects | 390,000 |
74 | P+R Architects | 381,150 |
75 | Moody Nolan | 361,308 |
76 | Poskanzer Skott | 350,000 |
77 | RNL | 310,000 |
78 | RSP Architects | 264,000 |
79 | Vocon | 262,947 |
80 | CASCO Diversified Corp. | 225,000 |
81 | Baskervill | 218,225 |
82 | Heery International | 196,283 |
83 | Becker Morgan Group | 192,043 |
84 | JRS Architect | 185,000 |
85 | H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture | 183,452 |
86 | Ennead Architects | 168,902 |
87 | Wight & Company | 161,000 |
88 | Colkitt & Company | 100,000 |
89 | Ashley McGraw Architects | 83,478 |
90 | Integrus Architecture | 59,840 |
91 | Margulies Perruzzi Architects | 48,409 |
92 | KZF Design | 26,017 |
93 | TEG Architects | 20,879 |
94 | Harvard Jolly Architecture | 17,585 |
Top Multifamily Engineering Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 Multifamily Revenue |
1 | AECOM Technology Corp. | $121,890,000 |
2 | URS Corp. | 56,953,263 |
3 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 36,412,208 |
4 | WSP Group | 24,860,000 |
5 | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates | 21,180,000 |
6 | DeSimone Consulting Engineers | 20,620,346 |
7 | Jacobs | 15,370,000 |
8 | Thornton Tomasetti | 14,452,161 |
9 | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger | 11,690,000 |
10 | Magnusson Klemencic Associates | 10,137,916 |
11 | STV | 8,519,000 |
12 | Arup | 6,211,364 |
13 | KPFF Consulting Engineers | 6,000,000 |
14 | Bala Consulting Engineers | 5,083,000 |
15 | Dewberry | 4,849,178 |
16 | Interface Engineering | 3,522,946 |
17 | M-E Engineers | 3,429,000 |
18 | Martin/Martin | 2,558,401 |
19 | CTLGroup | 2,330,000 |
20 | Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor | 2,100,000 |
21 | Glumac | 1,779,976 |
22 | Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corp. | 1,700,000 |
23 | AKF Group | 1,642,000 |
24 | Allen & Shariff | 1,500,000 |
25 | Vanderweil Engineers | 1,494,000 |
26 | KCI Technologies | 1,300,000 |
27 | RDK Engineers | 1,240,000 |
28 | Davis, Bowen & Friedel | 1,176,676 |
29 | Coffman Engineers | 1,161,281 |
30 | M/E Engineering | 1,034,842 |
31 | French & Parrello Associates | 972,500 |
32 | Graef | 821,802 |
33 | I. C. Thomasson Associates | 810,000 |
34 | SSOE Group | 793,545 |
35 | Smith Seckman Reid | 784,137 |
36 | TLC Engineering for Architecture | 780,974 |
37 | OLA Consulting Engineers | 695,000 |
38 | CJL Engineering | 662,940 |
39 | Spectrum Engineers | 557,881 |
40 | GHT Limited | 510,000 |
41 | Guernsey | 417,874 |
42 | RMF Engineering | 400,000 |
43 | H&A Architects & Engineers | 400,000 |
44 | Sparling | 393,807 |
45 | Karpinski Engineering | 370,666 |
46 | Walter P Moore and Associates | 364,810 |
47 | Joseph R. Loring & Associates | 320,000 |
48 | Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon | 320,000 |
49 | Stanley Consultants | 301,510 |
50 | Environmental Systems Design | 290,666 |
51 | Highland Associates | 250,000 |
52 | Wallace Engineering | 233,000 |
53 | Henderson Engineers | 231,482 |
54 | TTG | 216,150 |
55 | Zak Companies | 188,814 |
56 | G&W Engineering Corp. | 178,400 |
57 | Wick Fisher White | 156,293 |
58 | Newcomb & Boyd | 133,995 |
59 | Leidos | 120,000 |
60 | Apogee Consulting Group | 96,875 |
61 | Dunham Associates | 50,000 |
62 | P2S Engineering | 31,535 |
63 | Heapy Engineering | 19,441 |
64 | Total Building Commissioning | 18,405 |
65 | Brinjac Engineering | 12,960 |
Top Multifamily Construction Firms
Rank | Company | 2013 Multifamily Revenue |
1 | Lend Lease | $1,680,438,000 |
2 | Clark Group | 832,640,000 |
3 | Balfour Beatty US | 686,819,862 |
4 | Plaza Construction | 670,000,000 |
5 | Swinerton Builders | 503,250,000 |
6 | Suffolk Construction | 452,592,931 |
7 | Adolfson & Peterson Construction | 325,225,509 |
8 | PCL Construction | 287,254,951 |
9 | Weis Builders | 270,383,000 |
10 | James McHugh Construction | 264,613,678 |
11 | Walsh Group, The | 254,726,672 |
12 | Turner Construction | 244,990,000 |
13 | Summit Contracting Group | 240,984,366 |
14 | Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The | 238,617,178 |
15 | Batson-Cook | 225,076,882 |
16 | Tutor Perini Corp. | 216,439,042 |
17 | JE Dunn Construction | 204,409,132 |
18 | Harkins Builders | 168,000,000 |
19 | McShane Companies, The | 164,546,476 |
20 | Brasfield & Gorrie | 163,127,667 |
21 | Hunt Companies | 148,155,000 |
22 | Bernards | 144,000,000 |
23 | James G. Davis Construction | 123,693,698 |
24 | Kitchell Corp. | 123,591,618 |
25 | Skanska USA | 118,105,783 |
26 | Weitz Company, The | 104,812,724 |
27 | Gilbane | 104,239,380 |
28 | DPR Construction | 102,599,861 |
29 | Hensel Phelps | 99,310,000 |
30 | C.W. Driver | 91,430,000 |
31 | LeChase Construction Services | 78,720,000 |
32 | Power Construction | 74,000,000 |
33 | W. M. Jordan Company | 72,475,701 |
34 | Bette Companies, The | 72,287,000 |
35 | Ryan Companies US | 57,491,712 |
36 | URS Corp. | 56,953,263 |
37 | Structure Tone | 50,290,000 |
38 | Flintco | 46,600,000 |
39 | Douglas Company, The | 45,166,765 |
40 | Hoar Construction | 44,342,000 |
41 | Layton Construction | 43,600,000 |
42 | CORE Construction Group | 42,926,217 |
43 | Absher Construction | 41,419,197 |
44 | Hill International | 40,000,000 |
45 | HITT Contracting | 36,700,000 |
46 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 36,412,208 |
47 | Walbridge | 34,000,000 |
48 | Paric Corp. | 34,000,000 |
49 | Robins & Morton | 33,809,050 |
50 | Hunt Construction Group | 32,000,000 |
51 | O'Neil Industries/W.E. O'Neil | 31,098,921 |
52 | Kraus-Anderson Construction | 31,000,000 |
53 | Yates Companies, The | 29,600,000 |
54 | Choate Construction | 29,008,583 |
55 | Manhattan Construction | 25,932,000 |
56 | Austin Commercial | 25,565,808 |
57 | Linbeck Group | 21,000,000 |
58 | Haselden Construction | 19,911,322 |
59 | Juneau Construction | 19,007,317 |
60 | Beck Group, The | 18,964,678 |
61 | Messer Construction | 18,394,464 |
62 | KBE Building Corp. | 13,628,837 |
63 | STV | 8,519,000 |
64 | Bomel Construction | 7,894,058 |
65 | LPCiminelli | 7,437,315 |
66 | Consigli Construction | 5,542,121 |
67 | IMC Construction | 4,556,000 |
68 | Pepper Construction | 2,870,000 |
69 | Coakley & Williams Construction | 1,994,991 |
70 | Allen & Shariff | 1,500,000 |
71 | Stalco Construction | 1,010,000 |
72 | EBCO General Contractor | 895,700 |
73 | JLL | 840,400 |
74 | S. M. Wilson & Co. | 722,352 |
75 | New South Construction | 205,000 |
76 | Heery International | 196,283 |
77 | Hill & Wilkinson | 191,000 |
Read BD+C's full 2014 Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
Architects | Mar 26, 2018
Designing for homeless facilities: Critical spaces to consider
The City of San Diego is home to the fourth largest homeless population in the U.S.
Education Facilities | Mar 23, 2018
An introvert's oasis: How to create learning environments for all student types
In order to understand why a school day can be so grueling for an introverted student, it’s important to know what it means to be introverted, writes NAC Architecture’s Emily Spiller.
Architects | Mar 22, 2018
The benefits and nuances of integrated design
Achieving integrated design usually means operating under a strong relationship.
Architects | Mar 14, 2018
Becoming nature: The building design evolution meets the living building revolution
With the environmental movement, sustainability became a marker of innovation in design for the built environment.
Office Buildings | Mar 12, 2018
Sound advice on workplace design
Thoughtful design, paired with a change management program to educate staff, can both enhance connectivity and minimize distractions.
Architects | Mar 9, 2018
Designing healthier buildings: Fitwel certification system
The Fitwel certification system is relatively simple and involves registering a building on a custom scorecard.
Architects | Mar 7, 2018
Balkrishna Doshi named 2018 Pritzker Laureate
Over the course of 70 years, Doshi was instrumental in shaping the discourse of architecture throughout India, from low-cost housing for thousands to landmark projects like the Indian Institute of Management.
Architects | Mar 7, 2018
New National Building Museum exhibit explores the architecture of the Manhattan Project
The exhibit will run through March 3, 2019.
Architects | Feb 27, 2018
But first, let me take a selfie: Designing sharable moments
The concept of “selfie walls” has been around for years, but with their growing popularity they have begun to evolve and take on a life of their own.
Market Data | Feb 27, 2018
AIA small firm report: Half of employees have ownership stake in their firm
The American Institute of Architects has released its first-ever Small Firm Compensation Report.