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
| Jun 11, 2013
Vertical urban campus fills a tall order [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Roosevelt University builds a 32-story tower to satisfy students’ needs for housing, instruction, and recreation.
| Jun 11, 2013
Building a better box: High-bay lab aims for net-zero [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Building Team cooperation and expertise help Georgia Tech create a LEED Platinum building for energy science.
| Jun 11, 2013
Finnish elevator technology could facilitate supertall building design
KONE Corporation has announced a new elevator technology that could make it possible for supertall buildings to reach new heights by eliminating several problems of existing elevator technology. The firm's new UltraRope hoisting system uses a rope with a carbon-fiber core and high-friction coating, rather than conventional steel rope.
| Jun 10, 2013
Lake Washington STEM school combines modular and site-built construction to meet ambitious schedule
When the Lake Washington School District outside Seattle needed a new high school built on an ambitious permitting and construction schedule of seven months, modular construction proved to be an ideal solution.
| Jun 7, 2013
Must see: Building façade made of massive concrete drain pipes
Looking to create a unique atmosphere using natural materials for the Prahran Hotel pub near Melbourne, local architect Techné Architects cleverly incorporated a series of concrete sewer pipes into the building's main façade.
| Jun 7, 2013
40 Under 40 retrospective: Where are they now?
Every month we’ll be catching up with past 40 Under 40 honorees to see what they’ve been up to since winning the award. This month we focus on a construction manager and a healthcare designer.
| Jun 7, 2013
First look: University of Utah's ‘teaching hospital for law’
The University of Utah broke ground on its cutting-edge College of Law building, which will facilitate new approaches to legal education based on more hands-on learning and skills training.
| Jun 7, 2013
First look: Austin breaks ground on 'light-filled' Central Library
The design scheme by Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch incorporates reading "porches" and a light-filled, six-story atrium.
| Jun 5, 2013
Survey of AE firms shows profits, hiring on the rise
A recent survey of more than 40 Boston-area architecture and engineering companies by consulting firm DiCicco, Gulman & Company confirms continued growth in business volume.
| Jun 5, 2013
USGBC: Free LEED certification for projects in new markets
In an effort to accelerate sustainable development around the world, the U.S. Green Building Council is offering free LEED certification to the first projects to certify in the 112 countries where LEED has yet to take root.