flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Report finds credit crunch accounts for 20% of nation’s stalled projects

Report finds credit crunch accounts for 20% of nation’s stalled projects

Persistent financing crunch continues to plague design and construction sector.


By By BD+C Staff | November 29, 2011
AIA finance design construction
The lack of financing especially to the design and construction sector, which accounts for $1 in $9 of U.S. Gross Domestic Produ

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) released a comprehensive report, which concludes that the major obstacle holding back job creation in the U.S. is the persistent lack of construction financing, despite record low interest rates.

“This report should lay to rest any doubt about what is a key source for holding back job creation in the United States,’ said Kermit Baker, chief economist of the AIA. “It is the lack of financing especially to the design and construction sector, which accounts for $1 in $9 of U.S. Gross Domestic Product.”

The report found:

  • The share of projects stalled due to financing problems through August 2011 has almost doubled since 2008
  • One-in-five stalled projects are directly resulting from financing problems
  • Financing problems account for a higher share of stalled projects in the education and multi-family sector
  • More than 25% of projects reported as stalled due to the credit crunch could qualify for LEED, Green Globes, or other green certification status
  • Financing issues are less of a factor holding back projects in the manufacturing, private healthcare, and retail environments

“Whatever, the reason – be it over-regulation, the threat of a double-dip recession or the reluctance to have too many loans on the books, lenders are just not lending to a major job-producing sector of the American economy,” Baker noted. “Until more credit is extended, the potential of non-residential construction to promote greater levels of economic growth will not be realized.” BD+C

Related Stories

| Oct 13, 2010

County building aims for the sun, shade

The 187,032-sf East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Calif., will be oriented to take advantage of daylighting, with exterior sunshades preventing unwanted heat gain and glare. The building is targeting LEED Silver. Strong horizontal massing helps both buildings better match their low-rise and residential neighbors.

| Oct 12, 2010

Holton Career and Resource Center, Durham, N.C.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. Early in the current decade, violence within the community of Northeast Central Durham, N.C., escalated to the point where school safety officers at Holton Junior High School feared for their own safety. The school eventually closed and the property sat vacant for five years.

| Oct 12, 2010

Guardian Building, Detroit, Mich.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. The relocation and consolidation of hundreds of employees from seven departments of Wayne County, Mich., into the historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit is a refreshing tale of smart government planning and clever financial management that will benefit taxpayers in the economically distressed region for years to come.

| Oct 12, 2010

Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, Va.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Bronze Award. The Richmond CenterStage opened in 1928 in the Virginia capital as a grand movie palace named Loew’s Theatre. It was reinvented in 1983 as a performing arts center known as Carpenter Theatre and hobbled along until 2004, when the crumbling venue was mercifully shuttered.

| Oct 12, 2010

University of Toledo, Memorial Field House

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.

| Oct 12, 2010

Owen Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Officials at Michigan State University’s East Lansing Campus were concerned that Owen Hall, a mid-20th-century residence facility, was no longer attracting much interest from its target audience, graduate and international students.

| Oct 12, 2010

Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.

| Oct 12, 2010

Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.

| Oct 12, 2010

The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.

| Oct 12, 2010

Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Cleveland, Ohio

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. The Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated on the Fourth of July, 1894, to honor the memory of the more than 9,000 Cuyahoga County veterans of the Civil War.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021