The Creative "Viz"

Scott Baumberger
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  • Visual Arts

Welcome to the Creative "Viz" podcast, where each week we explore visual storytelling, design insights, and the latest technologies that are shaping the future of architecture. Stay in the loop to gain a competitive advantage in the rapidly-evolving world of design and visualization.   Connect with Scott Baumberger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbaumberger/ Work with Apex Visualization:  https://www.apex-visualization.com/

  1. 21/11/2024

    Scaling Success in Real Estate Marketing

    How can developers scale their marketing efforts and drive real results, even in a challenging market? In this episode of The Creative Viz, Scott Baumberger talks with Deren Akinci, VP of Marketing and Strategy at ACE Project Marketing Group, about what it takes to succeed in real estate marketing today. Deren dives into his experience growing ACE’s portfolio of multifamily and resort projects across British Columbia, offering insights on how to build scalable systems, adapt to market slowdowns, and craft strategies that deliver measurable outcomes. If you’re looking to elevate your real estate marketing game with smarter, results-driven strategies, this conversation is a must-listen.

    27 min

  2. 04/08/2024

    Revitalizing Retail Spaces: A Winning Approach

    Scott Baumberger: Hello, and welcome to the Creative Viz podcast where we talk about topics in architecture development and visual design today. I'm pleased to have Alicyn Emerick - she is the director of Marketing and Communications with Greenberg Gibbons in Baltimore, Maryland. Welcome Alicyn, it’s great to see you.    I understand Greenberg Gibbons is very focused on retail. I'd love to hear about your role and how retail is doing right now?   Alicyn Emerick: Well, Greenberg Gibbons is a premier real estate developer, owner and manager specializing in retail, mixed use, residential and commercial properties, specifically throughout the East Coast. I've been with the company now just over 12 years which is wild and really exciting to see us in this state of growth that we're in.   And a lot of it does have to do with the fact that retail is doing exceptionally well right now and I think that you're seeing that it's one of the best asset classes in our industry, and we're feeling the same way here at Greenberg Gibbons. Last year in 2023, we had the best leasing momentum that we've had in maybe over 15 years. And I think we're continuing to ride that wave now in 2024.    Scott Baumberger: That's great. What a difference just a few years make because it was hit so hard, in the pandemic. So you're seeing strong growth?   Alicyn Emerick: We are, we are. And I think that, with some of the trends in terms of less new construction taking place in our industry. We're seeing this pinch where businesses need a home and a lot of the existing vacancy that's out there right now is really appealing. So I think we're seeing a lot of success with leasing for that reason alone.    Scott Baumberger: So it sounds like it's a mix of existing properties that you're acquiring and potentially repositioning. Are there new developments as well?   Alicyn Emerick: Yeah. A fun fact is, coming out of the thick of the pandemic, our president actually saw an opportunity to really diversify our portfolio and expand as a company. So we started an investment fund, which allowed us to expand up and down the East Coast and step outside of just the mid Atlantic region, which is really exciting for us as a company and as a business.   But that being said, I think that it gave us the opportunity to really sit back and think about what our strategy is going forward. And so, despite some of the negativity that might be surrounding new development, we're still very bullish on new development, and we actually have about 4.7 million square feet of new development in our pipeline.   Scott Baumberger: That's great. I want to touch on the new markets here in a sec, but I am curious, how has the tenant mix changed over the last few years? I've heard anecdotally that experience retail is, performing especially well and restaurants, Are you seeing that?   Alicyn Emerick: Spot on Scott. The experiential factor, whether it's a tenant itself or within our center, is super important. We're seeing a lot more of that experiential. So whether it be a new restaurant, or a concept that bridges the entertainment with the dining experience. I think you're seeing companies like Dick's Sporting Goods coming out with House of Sport, which is a really cool concept right now. Bridging that gap between soft goods and experience. We're also seeing that convenience and service are huge for us as well. So, convenience, I think, whether you're talking about grocery store or that kind of retail that spills into service with medical, beauty services… pretty much those products that you can't get online.   Scott Baumberger: Exactly. I was gonna say the same thing.   Alicyn Emerick: You can't get it on Amazon. Yeah.   Scott Baumberger: Do tell us about some of the new markets that Greenberg Gibbons is working on.   Alicyn Emerick: So, as I mentioned, we started our first investment fund, back in 2021, which was a lot of fun just being able to access new markets outside of that Mid Atlantic territory. So we ended up in the Carolinas, as far south as Florida, and as far north as Rhode Island. We recently acquired a project just outside of Nashville called Cool Springs Point. So that is probably the furthest west our acquisition has gotten.    Scott Baumberger: interesting. So what does Greenberg Givens look for with site selection, both existing or potential redevelopment?   Alicyn Emerick: So I think for us it really, it does depend. I mean, I think when it comes to our development projects, one of the things that Greenberg Gibbons is known for is this idea of revitalizing a site. So for us, community is huge. It's one of our core pillars. And so anytime that we can go into a market and take a hole in the ground or maybe it's a dilapidated site that no longer services the community. We want to take that and our vision is to turn that into what will become a mixed use gathering place for the community.   As far as acquisitions goes, we still really strongly believe in the grocery-anchored center.    Scott Baumberger: So, I can only imagine there's a deep pool of distressed retail at this moment. So are you finding it not so difficult to find  acquisition opportunities?   Alicyn Emerick: I think there's ebbs and flows. I think that, there was this opportunity coming out of the pandemic to start the fund and really acquire projects that nobody else was going after. And then I think the rest of the world caught on and we saw this influx and a lot more friendly competition is out there buying these assets. I think there's still a little bit of that, but it only pushes us harder to make sure that we're going after the right deal in the right market.    Scott Baumberger: Every site's a little different but, are there criteria,you look for access to transportation, housing, any kind of metrics like that, when you're looking at sites?   Alicyn Emerick: Yeah. For us, all of that's incredibly important. I think that, for us specifically, we do have a focus on retail led mixed use projects. So, our business is about partnerships. We have a robust mixed use development pipeline where we intend to build additional uses that help and compliment that mixed use environment.   So, just kind of going back, thinking about how we're expanding some of our capabilities, any time that there's an opportunity where we can develop mixed-use, whether it's partnering with another organization to do a residential piece at the site, or hotel or commercial, that's really appealing to us. As far as some of the criteria and then there is definitely a grouping of criteria that we use when acquiring a project.    Scott Baumberger: So, I'm thinking of, say an old but well located, having seen a better day, retail center. You might come in, rehab it, reposition it and are you, possibly adding a residential or hotel, other uses?   Alicyn Emerick: Yeah, definitely. I mean, one of the things that I think is super important is that we've constantly got to reevaluate our portfolio and figure out ways that we can evolve. And so whether that's repositioning the center and remerchandising. The businesses that are there, and resetting what that merchandising strategy is, to an overhaul on the common area and even densifying the project.   So we have a project actually out of Baltimore County, Maryland, where we were able to add residential back. I think it was like 2014 and since, in the last couple of years have now added a senior living component and another residential component to that as well. And so those apartments that should be opening soon will really compliment the center.    Scott Baumberger: That's an interesting observation. So the addition of those uses, obviously that's a revenue stream, but it actually makes the retail perform better.   Alicyn Emerick: Correct. From there it really plays into the overall retail strategy as well. It's who we are bringing that compliments those uses. So it comes full circle.   Scott Baumberger: I can imagine. So, tell us a bit about the challenges that you are running into. When we talk about densifying older sites that can be really challenging.   Alicyn Emerick: So when it comes to any kind of new development, I think that you're running up against rising interest rates. And so that's definitely been an issue for the industry as a whole. That being said, you're also seeing less new construction because of the rising construction costs as it relates to goods and labor. And so, we're seeing that just like anybody else. I think you're also seeing that permits and entitlements are sometimes delayed when it comes to that new development. But it definitely doesn't deter our company. As I mentioned before, we still have plenty in the pipeline and feel that there's no reason to slow down.   We do believe that construction costs will come down over the course of the year. Mostly for goods. I wouldn't say labor, that's probably gonna stay high, but, I would say those are probably the biggest challenges that we're facing. And I think all it does is force you to become more creative with your strategy.    Scott Baumberger: Well, that is encouraging. That's great. Do you run into community opposition with some of these projects, issues like increased traffic increase, multifamily residents, and concerns from the existing community.    Alicyn Emerick: Yeah, I think what helps Greenberg Gibbons is just how involved they are with the community, from the very beginning of a project. So if it's a development project, we're meeting with the community as we're going through these hearings with the county or city or municipality. And moving forward, if we're adding to the site , we're attending community meetings, or we're working with our elected officials. And so that's super important to us that we have the feedback from th

    20 min

  3. 04/08/2024

    Innovative Marketing Strategies in Real Estate

    Scott Baumberger: Hello and welcome to the Creative 'Viz' podcast, where we discuss topics in architecture, real estate development, and visual design. Today, I'm thrilled to have Alaina Jackson Jackson with us. She is the Director of Sales and Marketing for PeakMade Real Estate in Fort Worth, Texas. Welcome, Alaina Jackson. Great to see you.   Alaina Jackson: Great to see you. Great to be here. I'm super excited.   Scott Baumberger: Oh, thank you. Well, tell me a little bit about what you're doing these days and how 2024 is going so far.   Alaina Jackson: So, I'm the Director of Sales and Marketing at PeakMade. I oversee all of our strategy for all of our verticals. Right now, that includes multifamily third-party management, student housing third-party management, which is our flagship property management, and then also our development company.    I work hand in hand with development to get the properties launched with leasing. We step through that initial year, and then from there, jump right into renewal fees and things like that. I oversee all of that strategy in conjunction with overseeing the sales arm of our blended sales and marketing team. What that consists of is a group of regional sales managers. They split the portfolio four ways and oversee the execution of that strategy.    So, really cool, very rewarding stuff. This year we are crushing it. Our portfolio is currently pre-leased at 82%, which is a really big deal because we've seen some really big rent increases across the board just across the country. We have also recently taken over some Canadian properties. So that's super exciting to see us evolve and expand into Canada. One of which is a new development and then the other three are stable student deals. So really busy at PeakMade but a really good busy.   Scott Baumberger: That's great. You have your hands full, I can tell. I'm interested to hear, you mentioned that the sales and marketing groups are integrated - everybody does this a little differently. I'd love to hear how that came about and what that looks like for you on a day-to-day basis.   Alaina Jackson: For the last two years, our sales and marketing support departments have been merged into one, but right before that, we were actually two separate teams. One focused on back-of-the-house marketing items and then front-of-the-house sales. So that regional sales manager team that I was talking about that I oversee is very much a front-of-the-house client-facing position. It is the position that I held right before this one, so it's way more hands-on with the execution piece of things.   Two years ago, we decided because we can't have one without the other, we might as well go ahead and blend the team. So with that blend came my promotion into this role and my direct supervisor's promotion into a senior vice president role of sales and marketing, which has been very beneficial because we're able to tap into each individual team member on the marketing arm of the team. They have a very specific area of marketing that they are focused on and are able to partner with the front-of-the-house sales arm of the team.   A good example is our digital marketing manager. It was something that we implemented a couple of years back when digital marketing really started to take over in the student housing and multifamily space. His sole responsibility is to oversee and work with agency partners to come up with a very robust digital marketing strategy for each individual property and each individual market. We have a few properties or a few markets where we have multiple properties or a scattered site where each individual building needs something else or serves a different demographic. Right. So he's able to really get granular and dig in there to find out what we need to be doing to target our renter for those specific sites, even though they may be in the same market just on totally different sides of campus. And so from that, he's able to work hand-in-hand with the regional sales manager that might oversee those properties in that market to execute the plan and get that digital strategy rolled out. So it's been very beneficial for us to just be under one umbrella, one big slide.   Rebrand is another really good example and cool way that it has been beneficial to be one team. The marketing arm of the team is going to come up with what that really cool brand looks like or work with the agency partner to be sure that we have the right branding and messaging and all the really cool things that come with the rebrand. Then the sales arm of the team is going to take that rebrand and roll it out the right way at the property to make sure that it penetrates the market the right way. So it's been a game changer for us to be blended. This makes things a lot more efficient. In 2024, it was one of our very big company goals to focus on efficiency in ways that we can streamline things. That is one of the ways that we came into this year, and it's been leaps and bounds better.   Scott Baumberger: Sounds like it's working. So with such a wide geographic reach that you guys have projects, they're gonna be marketed very differently. Florida versus Canada even, right? So how do you work with the agency to personalize that messaging?   Alaina Jackson: Yep, so we do. We actually have a vendor partner that we split 50-50 every day profit. Just all things are number one go-to and that has also been very beneficial. They're actually based in the great state of Texas. They're our go-to partner for branding, they're our go-to partner for the new developments when we need renderings for plans and things like that, messaging copy for the website. We actually just got a really cool award this year for our website project with them. What we did was because we're a third-party management company, we don't own and operate, we just operate. One of the things we were able to do is streamline the website process, the onboarding of a new deal, and how they're marketing and branding. We go about that through the website by coming up with four standard templates that we used across the portfolio. We were able to easily onboard properties when we get them onto one of those templates that meets their demographic needs and resonates with the renter.   But that project has been successful for us because it makes us be super efficient. Once we onboard a property, we're able to tap into that agency partner and say template A is going to go really well with this specific brand in this specific market for these specific renters. And so we're able to implement that fairly quickly, a lot faster than most companies probably can with those custom websites that they're doing. And it still has a very custom feel to it. So even though it's a template, there's still a lot of different things that you can do to make sure that it is exactly what your property needs.   So that's been really cool to do with an agency partner and it's been great to have them because they know the ins and outs of how we work. They know the lingo. Student housing lingo is very different from multifamily and any other housing sector, so they're familiar with that. They're familiar with what our renters need.   Scott Baumberger: It sounds like you're not having to reinvent the wheel every time. I mean, that's the downside of engaging with lots of different partners, right?   Alaina Jackson: You know what? I always say a lot. No need to reinvent the wheel, but there's nothing wrong with putting some new rims on it! Things change and evolve, especially in marketing, so we're able to do that. They're very tapped into what's trending in the market, so it's been very helpful.   Scott Baumberger: Very cool. So there's the geographic differences. What about differences between urban sites and suburban sites, low-rise and high-rise? How do you approach those differently?   Alaina Jackson: From a strategy standpoint, we saw some really big rent increases across the board at all of our different sites across the country. But I think for the most part, those sites that are in those tier 1 and tier 2 markets where there are big D1 universities or the household income is high, there are a lot of wealthy families in the area, things like that, we're able to go in and customize the strategy to really be able to reach those renters where they are. And so with sites that are in tier 3 markets, where the university or the college is a lot smaller, we might be servicing a trade school, something like that, we're able to go in and then customize the strategy to include maybe some extra ways to just really push the value of the property.   Most of those renters are looking for the best value, so I'd like to start there depending on which tier the market is in or what kind of property it is. For the most part, any of our properties that are in major cities—Chicago, Miami—we have some co-living deals in big major cities, we're able to hit the ground with brand awareness pretty quickly and spread it pretty quickly. Whereas in some of the other markets where we're not seeing those high-rises, they're more garden-style apartments and lots of big competitors in markets like that, we have to go in there and take our time with how we want to approach our renters and targeting. There's a wide variety of who those renters are. So we have to be a little bit more strategic in those markets because the word doesn't spread as quickly as they do in tier 1 and tier 2 high-rise in big city living. So we start with brand awareness at all deals. Doesn't matter what market or what type of property it is, but we really try to go in there and identify who our renter is, who our demographic is going to be that we're going to target, and then build the strategy that way. The marketing cost per lead and lease is obviously going to be more for development for a tie

    23 min

  4. 04/08/2024

    Innovations in Affordable Housing Development

    Scott Baumberger: Hello and welcome to the Creative Viz podcast, where we talk about topics in architecture, development, and visual design. Today, I'm thrilled to have Mike Grill. He is a development manager with the Alliance Residential Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Welcome, Mike.   Mike Grill: Hey, Scott, how are you doing? It's good to be here.   Scott Baumberger: Awesome. Doing great. Thank you so much, Mike. Really appreciate you coming on. So, tell us a little bit about your role right now in development with Alliance.   Mike Grill: Well, my title is development manager, but I was actually brought on board because of my background in architecture. I've been doing this for almost 50 years now, but I flipped over to the dark side about 9 years ago. I have been with Alliance Residential, and I help them on the pre-development side as an in-house architect. Setting up standards and guidelines to make sure that we meet our goals and objectives on our projects.   Scott Baumberger: That's great. Well, your career evolution there, what made you decide to leave architecture for development?   Mike Grill: Well, it wasn't an easy decision. I love architecture. I found out at an early age that I was good at it. I could understand three dimensions. I took a drafting course in high school, and the first year was just mechanical drafting. The second year was architectural drawing, and that's when I fell in love with architecture and knew that that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So, it wasn't an easy decision when I decided to leave architecture. But the longer you're in architecture, the less architecture you actually do. I was managing projects, managing people, but I wasn't getting to do a lot of the fun stuff. As an architect, we did multifamily residential and everybody was pointing me towards development. So, that's the next progression. I decided to give that a try and I've enjoyed it. I'm working with architects a lot more. I'm getting involved in the design a lot more. It's been a good progression for me in my career. I don't know if that's a choice for everybody, but it's worked out well for me.   Scott Baumberger: That's great. Yeah, that's a really interesting observation. The longer you're in it, the less you do?   Mike Grill: Yeah, unfortunately, it's true because your skill set becomes more about managing people, managing projects. So, you don't get to do a lot of the fun stuff or as much as you used to do. It's that the bottom line is really what you're looking at.   Scott Baumberger: I can certainly relate. That's funny. I think a lot of us in the field can. So, tell us, Alliance today is strictly residential, correct? Mike Grill: Well, Alliance as corporately, I mean, we're headquartered out in Scottsdale, Arizona. We have 19 regional offices. In Atlanta, we focus on the multifamily residential aspect of that. We do have an industrial division that's run out of the Atlanta office, but it's completely separate, so to speak. But from a corporate standpoint, we do industrial, as I said, we also do single-family rentals in addition to multifamily residential. We also have senior housing that we do in some of our divisions. We do a little bit of everything as far as rental projects are concerned.   Scott Baumberger: That's really interesting, but all rental, not any for-sale properties, as I understand it.   Mike Grill: That's correct, yes.   Scott Baumberger: Can you walk us through, a lot of diversity in project types. Would that include urban projects versus suburban projects as well?   Mike Grill: Absolutely. In the past, before COVID, we were doing a lot of infill projects and urban environments, Texas donuts, so to speak, 350 units wrapped around a parking deck. But lately, we've been focusing more on essential housing. We call it workforce housing. It's more affordable or attainable for the workforce, being teachers, nurses, fire personnel, police. That's been a focus. And in order to make those projects affordable, we've had to go outside of the city center into the suburbs to find more affordable land. These are surface-parked projects. They are three-story walk-ups, and they're a little bit simpler projects to build. So, we are able to offer those at a lower price point than our infill housing that we did prior to COVID.   Scott Baumberger: Yeah, interesting. So, I imagine speed to market is much faster for these project types as well.   Mike Grill: That's exactly right. We have a prototype. We only have two unit types. We have a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom. And as long as I've been in this business, it surprises me every time. We spend months trying to build or design the perfect unit. And there's only so many different ways you can do it. So, we actually have one typical one-bedroom unit, one typical two-bedroom unit, and that's in every project. We have a 35-unit footprint that we apply to every project. We can get our permit set pulled together in a matter of weeks. Maybe a couple of months, we're in for a permit. The permit process is a lot more streamlined in these jurisdictions that we're going into, and within 12 months is our goal to deliver the first units. I mean, we're using the same products. We don't spend a lot of time changing things up. Just different jurisdictions will require a little different approach. But, for the most part, we're trying to use our prototype and stick to the prototype and use cost-effective materials and things like that. Everything from our construction through design to entitlement, we streamline it as much as we can.   Scott Baumberger: That's great. So, how difficult is it to adapt the prototype to these different markets that you might be in? I know Alliance is active in pretty much the whole country. Mike Grill: Right. It's pretty easy. Every jurisdiction is a little bit different. They've got their zoning requirements. Some want more brick than others. Our prototype is basically, we use a lot of cementitious panels. Hardy panels, for example, are very durable. And with the different patterns and things, you can create some really interesting buildings. But every once in a while, people get caught up on brick. They say it's got to be brick, and we'll adjust accordingly. But we try to do our due diligence upfront and find jurisdictions that are accepting of what we're trying to achieve and that it's more of an affordable or attainable product. Now, when we start adding brick to a project, especially if it's 100 percent brick, the cost goes up. And of course, the rent goes up. It's just the way it is.   Scott Baumberger: Yeah. So, how do you approach site selection then? Do you go in with the mindset of this is going to be a workforce housing project, or this is going to be a market rate project?   Mike Grill: Generally, we do. I mean, we do our homework as much as we can and try to source sites. Obviously, the biggest factor is just land area. I mean, we could do a 350-unit deal in an urban area on one acre, whereas we need 20 to 30 acres somewhere if we're going to do workforce housing. So, the sites are much bigger. And they're vastly different products when you get right down to the core of things. It's not as if we could go in looking at a site and say, this site will work for our Broadstone product, which is our market rate apartments, versus our PROS product, which is our attainable housing product.   Scott Baumberger: Gotcha. Yeah.   Mike Grill: Two separate animals.   Scott Baumberger: It sounds like two separate processes and sites. So, what does the picture look like for the market rate projects right now? Do you see any signs of life?   Mike Grill: There's certainly signs of life. It depends upon the site, but you've got to have a story to tell. That's what we always look for when we're looking to develop a project. Certainly, if it's got a compelling story, it's a lot more desirable to our equity partners and able to get financing for those projects as opposed to just, hey, there's this great site, and we know we can make it work. Come along on the journey.   Scott Baumberger: That's not enough.   Mike Grill: It's not enough. Scott Baumberger: It has gotten much more competitive just within the last couple of years.   Mike Grill: Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, I'm gonna use the dirty word, and that's interest rates. People want to say, oh, interest rates are so high. And it's not really that they're high per se. Traditionally or historically, they're still low. It's just that they're unsettled. So, when they're unsettled like this, you've got capital that's sitting on the sidelines. They're looking for the best deal. They want the best deal, and they can ask for the best deal. They want to put their money to work, but they're able to sit back and pick and choose, essentially. The competition is a lot stiffer right now to find the right location, the right story, the right mix to get these projects across the finish line.   Scott Baumberger: Do you feel like you're competing with these investors? That they might invest in something not real estate at all, and they're trying to decide, should I invest in real estate? Should I invest in something else?   Mike Grill: No, most of these people are real estate investors. That's where they're putting their money. They're not trying to compete with other markets. It's usually people that we work with over and over again. There are proven relationships there. We enjoy working with the same people, and they hire us because they trust us because we can lower the risk for them and make the product as valuable to them and their investors as possible.   Scott Baumberger: So over the last, say, 18 to 24 months, they've been staying on the sidelines?   Mike Grill: For the most part, they're tentative. With the volatility of the market right now, an

    21 min

  5. 04/08/2024

    Integrated Approaches to Multifamily Development

    Scott Baumberger: Hello and welcome to the Creative Viz podcast, where we discuss topics in architecture, development, and urban design. Today I'm really pleased to have Margo Utter with us on the podcast. She is a development manager with Stiles Development in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Welcome, Margo. Really glad to have you on.   Margo Utter: Yes, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and dive deeper.   Scott Baumberger: Tell us how things are going so far in 2024?   Margo Utter: Very heavy focus on multifamily. I'm with the Stiles residential group, but we have several different development divisions here at Stiles. For 2024, it's crazy that we're right about halfway through the year. It always surprises you. It's certainly not been as robust of a market as we were all expecting. We hit some bumpy times in 2023, and everyone was looking for relief in 2024 in the interest rates and for rent growth to stay strong. It certainly hasn't been the fruitful year with light at the end of the tunnel that we were expecting. I think we're still very much in the "survive until 2025" stage. However, there are peaks of light here and there, and we're still very fortunate to be working in some of the strongest multifamily markets in the U.S. So, not the best, but staying hopeful.   Scott Baumberger: You're hanging in there. I've heard that term a lot, "survive till 2025." That's funny, I can certainly relate. But, if you can tell me, what's some of the appeal behind multifamily, and any particulars that you might be able to share with us, not just in South Florida, but I understand Stiles is very active throughout the Southeast.   Margo Utter: Yes, particularly for myself, I always had such a strong interest in multifamily to begin with. When I was first getting exposure to just the development world in general, you're creating a space that there's going to be an end user living in. It's all about lifestyle, constantly thinking, "How is someone going to use this space? How is someone going to live here?" There are so many interesting aspects to that, both physical and psychological, thinking about the different renter profiles. It's very interesting, especially to see how it evolves and to be on the forefront of lifestyle and how people live since we have such a large renter market right now.   Going into why multifamily has been such a strong asset class, people always need a place to live, regardless of the desire to eventually own an asset and build equity. There's always going to be a class of people who are going to be renters, either because they don't have the means to buy a house or they want more flexibility. That's when the multifamily space becomes very desirable. Right now, it's difficult to purchase a home or a townhouse, a condo, whatever it may be. It doesn't matter whether you're a young individual like myself, recently out of school, or even people in their mid to late 30s, it's still very challenging for housing to be attainable. That's where multifamily comes in. You compare the cost of a monthly mortgage payment to rent, and even in a strong urban market where rents are high, it still makes more sense to rent. That's what creates such a strong market for us in multifamily, especially in the Southeast region.   Scott Baumberger: You're primarily developing rental properties as opposed to for sale. Is that correct?   Margo Utter: Correct. We have, in the past, developed condos. I believe that's how our group started over 10 years ago. We were condo developers. We have a few of those in our Rolodex, but recently we've been more known as multifamily developers. The condo market and for-sale property is not out of the picture. It's something we constantly circle around, especially in markets like we're dealing with right now. It's definitely a multifamily rental-focused group, but there's an eye on the potential for condos on the horizon.   Scott Baumberger: I think you touched on the difficulty with affordability. Can you tell us what opportunities there are for affordable housing development, particularly in South Florida? You mentioned the Live Local Act. Can you tell us a little more about that?   Margo Utter: Affordability is not only an issue in Florida, it's worldwide. It's a top conversation in many markets in the U.S., and obviously, we're talking about it in Florida. Counties and cities across Florida are having discussions about it being a priority. Unfortunately, the cost of living, groceries, everyday life, and insurance have all added to the difficulty. Affordable housing comes up during the entitlement process when you're starting new projects. There's an opportunity for local governments to ask developers to include affordable housing. It's a large can of worms to open, and it's important to have these conversations. It's not a straightforward road ahead; there are several factors to consider.   In South Florida, there's such a demand for housing with a large influx of people since COVID. The demand for housing has led to rent rises that supply can't keep up with. In our Fort Lauderdale market, the demand is being fulfilled by the supply, but rents are stabilizing at high levels. It's challenging to achieve affordable housing for certain individuals. Unfortunately, it's very hard for any developer to commit to affordable properties because it impacts the bottom line and makes development more difficult. There has to be collaboration when it comes to expectations of affordable housing. There are developers who specialize in affordable products, building cost-efficient, well-designed properties in less expensive locations. It's challenging to ask a developer to include a significant affordable component in a high-cost urban area.   Scott Baumberger: Interesting. Speed to market can be quicker with affordable projects or components versus pure market rate. Have you seen anything like that in South Florida?   Margo Utter: Yes, I've heard of that concept. It's developing in certain municipalities. Time is money, and expedited permitting and entitlement periods are attractive. We've had discussions about it in certain cities. The hard part is defining what expedited means. It’s valuable if it can cut the time significantly, but a few weeks might not be enough to make a difference. The city needs to be capable of making the process expedited to help developers financially. It's a great concept, but we need to see it in action. We hope to see more work on that soon.   Scott Baumberger: Thank you for sharing that. I wanted to learn more about Stiles as a group. I understand you have unique characteristics in your approach to development, particularly being full-service. Tell us how that works for you and how it affects the development process.   Margo Utter: Stiles is a family company and a full-service real estate company. We work together uniquely, and it's one of the reasons I love working here. We have a development and acquisitions arm, construction, architecture, financial services, tenant improvement project management, property management, and leasing and brokerage. Development touches construction and financial services the most. We outsource multifamily management to companies like Greystar. Our construction team handles most of our projects in South Florida, but we also work with other contractors for projects in other regions. Collaboration is everything, and we work as a family, supporting each other.   Scott Baumberger: Does having an internal development team help with the overall development timeline by eliminating the bidding process?   Margo Utter: Yes, it does. We have set contracts with our construction team, and having expectations outlined in the past cuts off a good chunk of time. There's still a bidding process with subcontractors, but working in each other's best interest is valuable. We may not get the absolute best pricing deal compared to bidding out to multiple contractors, but the benefits outweigh the negatives. It's a fun collaboration.   Scott Baumberger: In a hot market like South Florida, are there bottlenecks, labor supply issues? Does having an internal team help with some of those problems?   Margo Utter: Labor is still quite high, and commodity prices are softening a bit. Labor costs are still a significant chunk of overall costs. It's a challenge for all of us, making projects pencil with rising hard costs. Costs have gone up 50% or more compared to three years ago, while rents haven't increased at the same rate. It's a moving target, and we hope to see some relief in the future.   Scott Baumberger: Do you have a recent project that you classify as a lesson learned or success story?   Margo Utter: We recently brought one of our projects out to market, and it looks like it will transact soon. We locked in our GMP at a decent time, and we'll do well on it. There were lessons learned, such as implementing a radon filtration system that turned out to be necessary. If we hadn't planned for it, it would have cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars to retrofit. We also learned the importance of adding more co-working space to our projects due to the rise of work-from-home trends.   Scott Baumberger: Lastly, tell us about your initiatives in South Florida to increase opportunities for women in the development industry.   Margo Utter: I'm involved with the South Florida CREW chapter and ULI Urban Land Institute's Women's Leadership Initiative. We're working on setting up a mentorship program to get students involved. I have a passion for interacting with students and encouraging females to consider the development industry. It's important to have diversity in the industry, and I hope to continue empowering young women to know there's a space for them at the table.   Scott Baumberger: Thank you, Margo, for joining us today. I really a

    28 min

  6. 19/06/2024

    From Affordable to Attainable: Housing Solutions

    Scott Baumberger: Hello, and welcome to the creative viz podcast where we discuss topics in architecture, development, and visual design. Today I'm speaking with Jason Moshe Zuki. He's with the NRP group in Charlotte, North Carolina. Working as a VP in development. Welcome, Jason great to see you.   Jason Moshizuki: Scott, thank you very much for having me on. It's a pleasure to be here.   Scott Baumberger: Great. Thank you so much. I'd love to hear a little bit more about NRP. I understand you guys are focusing on housing, but love to hear more about what you guys are doing.    Jason Moshizuki: Absolutely. The NRP group, we were founded in the mid nineties at Cleveland, Ohio. We're a national multifamily development firm. Were now currently in 17 different states. We recently expanded to Phoenix and Las Vegas. Out West we're extremely active in the Midwest and the Southeast.   We have a very large regional office in Texas, and we have some offices in the Mid Atlantic and the Northeast as well. NRP Actually started its firm life as an affordable housing developer. NRP stands for Neighborhood Revitalization Partners. Kind of around the mid, early 2000s, we transitioned to market rate housing as well, and we now cover kind of the full spectrum of multifamily. I think to date we've developed over 50, 000 units. We've built, pretty close to 40, 000 or a little bit over that at this point, with a similar number of units kind of currently under management. We've really expanded pretty heavily here in North Carolina over the last couple of years.   I've been our developer basically since 2017. NRP hired me ran out of business school in 2014, been here about 10 years. It's pretty incredible because it doesn't seem like it's been that long. I started out as a development project manager at NRP primarily closing debt and equity, working on low income housing tax credit applications, rezonings, budget management.   It was a really good, solid training program to kind of segue into my role now. Around 2017, as I mentioned my manager now was covering, I think, about four to five different states, and just given the growth of this area and everything that was happening on the economic development front there was a desire at the executive level at NRP to bring someone here, more full time, and I was sort of the beneficiary of that.   What I've really enjoyed so far as VP in my current role now is the NRP has given me the opportunity to develop both market rate and affordable projects under the low income housing tax credit program. I'll abbreviate that as LIHTC, but that at NRP, as in most shops, that's usually kind of two different functions.   Based on my earlier role as a development project manager in my experience with the QAP, I was able to do both. And kind of early in my career, I would say I've definitely spent more of my time on the LIHTC side. Between 2018 and 2022 we developed four projects here in the city of Charlotte, 4 percent bond deals.   As of late, we've definitely transitioned more towards the market rate side of things. We continue to work on both. Now, given some of the challenges that you cover on your podcast and that many of the folks who listen to this are well aware with interest rates and costs and just kind of the prevailing environment.   We've definitely started looking at a third option called attainable housing, which is more of what we would determine as kind of the missing middle workforce housing, moderate income housing. It's a topic that a lot of different shops, competitors, NRP and peers and government folks are talking about just because it's such a need.   We have housing for the very lower end of people that are making low income type wages. Then we have the high end class A infill stuff. We're trying to do a better job, particularly in areas that have massive economic growth, like the triangle of trying to find housing for the workforce.   So the people that serve this area can live in this community. That's been something that we've been spending a lot of time on lately. And that's probably what I'm most excited about going forward here in 24 and 25.   Scott Baumberger: Awesome. That's really great. When I think of the missing middle, I'm thinking of ADUs. I'm thinking of duplexes, triplexes, still fairly small, modest developments. Is that what you're involved with?   Jason Moshizuki: That's a really important distinction because that is something like the city of Charlotte passed a new UDO a couple years ago. The ADU thing has been a big topic of conversation here at the municipal level. It is certainly a great way to expand the number of units that duplexes and triplexes. We originally got rid of single family zoning here in the city. Most properties could be duplexes and triplexes, and I think they're evaluating that going forward as a policy now. When I mentioned attainable housing from kind of the NRP program, essentially, it is a market rate type project, there's no tax credits, there's no public subsidies, so to speak, and these are multifamily buildings, traditionally garden style, 3 story type products, surface parking.   I would say relative to a project in south end Charlotte, for instance, that's a wrap or structured parking with urban infill type deal with really high end class a finishes and amenities. This is probably, I would say an a plus, I would say attainable housing is more kind of like an a minus where we offer very similar amenities, very similar finishes, but it's maybe a little bit stripped down a little bit more modest. The units are a little bit smaller. The amenity spaces are a little bit smaller, but it's still a very high quality product, but due to those cost efficiencies that we're generating from those design efficiencies, we are able to offer rents at a lower level than, kind of a pure class A type deal.   Scott Baumberger: Yeah, interesting. the unit mix then somewhat different as you compare attainable versus market rate?   Jason Moshizuki: It is usually. On most of our market rate deals, for instance, we have a balance of one bedrooms, two bedrooms and three bedrooms. On the base level attainable product. It's typically mostly just ones and twos. We have an attainable plus concept that does incorporate three bedroom units and does have some added, amenity type features unit finish type features to make the product more consistent with what's in that market currently.   I would say the baseline attainable product is roughly 50 50 between one bedrooms and two bedrooms, but there is some, obviously, variation depending on the site context.   Scott Baumberger: Sure and then, as we compare both of these options with quote, unquote, affordable housing, obviously, the financing, the tax incentives, et cetera, those are all very different up front, but at the end of the day, how do they compare, visually and in terms of livability, are they markedly different from the other types of affordable housing?   Jason Moshizuki: Yeah, I would say if you were to come visit city of Charlotte and see our 4 percent light tech projects, I don't think the average person would be able to look at that and say, that's an affordable development, based on the design requirements of the state's qualified allocation plan.   And other requirements that we have through the City of Charlotte that provides municipal gap financing. This is a very high end affordable product. The elevations look very nice. We have granite countertops in our units. We have many of the same overlapping features to market rate.   I guess the difference is there's very specific design requirements that are laid out that we have to do for affordable. So I definitely think those projects are going to look more similar to one another relative an NRP product versus like a cross and southeast product versus a Laurel Street. It's going to be a little bit more similar just because we have to abide by the same design requirements.   Don't think somebody that is not a housing expert would be able to go in notice that.   Scott Baumberger: That's a good thing. I'd be curious about the speed to market. Do you find that the financing, the regulatory aspects of qualifying for affordable housing, does that tend to slow down the development process, or maybe it speeds it up. does that compare with something that you were going to develop on its own market rate?   Jason Moshizuki: That's a really good question. I would say with an affordable development , you operate on a cycle of applications typically. So we have a pretty good idea about how long it's going to take. We know when you have to apply for the tax credits, we know when you have to apply for the gap financing and under the 4 percent program, it's non competitive.   So right now, we don't have a volume cap issue with bonds yet in the state of North Carolina. And so if you apply and you're meeting all your threshold requirements, you're probably going to get those And so typically after we apply, we would start our design process, moving towards full permitting.   So you have a pretty good idea about how long this whole process is going to take typically, and in places like Charlotte and places like Raleigh, I definitely think that Council in their respective cities has made affordable development priority. You have better odds of achieving rezoning approval in those specific markets.   With market rate there's a little bit more variability. Right now, I would say, given what we're seeing in the capital markets, very high interest rates and things like that. It is more challenging to capitalize these projects. For affordable deals, you still have a lot of banks that need CRA credit and things like that.   So, you're not having a bottleneck as far as getting debt, things like that. That's more straightforwar

    21 min

  7. 05/06/2024

    Navigating Affordable Housing Development Challenges

    Scott Baumberger: Hello and welcome to the creative viz podcast, where we discuss topics in architecture, development, and visual design. Today, I'm thrilled to have Landen Burcham. He is a development manager with Denton Floyd real estate group in Louisville. Welcome Landen, it's great to see you.   Landen Burcham: Hey, Scott. Good morning. Thanks for having me.   Scott Baumberger: Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming on.    I understand you do a lot of work in multifamily development. I was intrigued by your background in city planning and how that took you towards the development side of things. Can you walk us through that a little bit?   Landen Burcham: Sure, I have an interest in city planning. I took a course in undergraduate called urban economics. I was studying public policy and economics at the time and started looking into a graduate program and city planning and urban planning. I decided to apply for it, and to do a dual program.   I got a master's in public policy, and a master's in city planning. Learned the ins and outs of land use, the history of housing, housing policy, and some real estate development. I took a few internships and one of those was at a local nonprofit that, was a affordable housing developer.   I started there last year of my planning program, and really enjoyed the process of developing housing. Never really thought that I would be a real estate developer or a practitioner. I always thought that I would go work for a municipality, or HUD more on the policy side of things. But, really fell in love with real estate development. I've been doing that for the past decade.   Scott Baumberger: That's great, thank you. That's super interesting. You mentioned affordable housing, that's such an important topic. Such a dire need for affordable housing throughout the country. Tell us, how's it going? What sort of initiatives do you undertake as you're developing affordable housing? Landen Burcham: In my world, affordable housing is mostly created through the use of state, federal, local, funding sources that lend themselves to a capital stack to develop the actual housing. Then on the back end, the income is restricted. It's restricted to certain area needed income.   It creates a 30 year period in which the project has to be restricted to those income groups post construction and lease up. There's naturally affordable housing as well. Housing in markets where, rents are just kind of naturally affordable. It might be an older product, older building. For the most part, I deal in new construction or adaptive reuse of structures, and we use those resources to put together funding source to get projects done and then they're restricted to an income group.   Most of that is through the federal program that's allocated by state agencies called the, Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. It's a very competitive program. There were 4 percent and 9 percent tax credits that are allocated in Kentucky through the Kentucky Housing Corporation.   Every state has their own agency that allocates these credits. The federal government allocates the credits to the states, based on a per capita calculation. I believe that just increased, which is good news. That means more credits are coming to the states for the development of more projects.   The 9% credit is hyper competitive. There's a competitive application that's usually annual. The 4 percent is starting to be more competitive, especially in coastal markets. These credits are awarded to developer to use for a specific project. partner with somebody who needs those tax credits because they have a tax liability.   It could be a bank, insurance company, private investor, syndicator, they purchase the credits and then they give you equity, which you use to put into the project to build the project. It's a pretty complicated finance source and it's very competitive. For the past, you know, since the late eighties, that's really our most affordable housing in the United States has been built.   Kind of gotten away from the federally funded housing projects through HUD. It's more of a viewable public, private, endeavor now. That's how we build most of our affordable housing. On the local side, a lot of municipalities have been funding and creating local affordable housing trust funds. In Kentucky, I believe there are two largest cities. Those are extremely valuable. Most of the projects that we've been building lately have utilized those funds and they're usually in the form of a grant or a loan, in their low interest or, zero percent interest. Extremely valuable resources to help with tax grant developments or to subsidize just straight affordable housing developments using trust fund monies.   Scott Baumberger: Nice. You have projects in Kentucky and Indiana?   Landen Burcham: That's right.   Scott Baumberger: Do they look very different in terms of different state funding, local and funding trusts.   Landen Burcham: They do. That's one of the challenges of trying to apply a broad approach to affordable housing. Every state has different rules or preferences. Every municipality has different rules and preferences. Kentucky has a very specific type of housing that once built they detail those in their rules called a qualified allocation plan.   That sets kind of the scoring and the rules for year or a two year period. Indiana has their own. Florida has their own. Every state really has their own. We're also looking in Florida, so I'm more familiar with their rules now as well. It's very different from state to state, even from city to city.   Scott Baumberger: Right, then I guess pulling back a little bit as you compare affordable housing development versus your market rate. Do you go in at the outset knowing, okay, this is going to be an affordable project we're pursuing from the get go, or is that something you decide later on?   Landen Burcham: It's usually from the get go. Whenever you're looking for a building or a piece of land or a property it's very intentional and you know that it's going to score a certain way for those resources. So it's usually very intentional when you're looking for a particular affordable, property.   Scott Baumberger: Then as a result do you tend to identify different sites? Okay, these sites lend themselves more to the affordable market even before you move forward, you do it with that in mind? Landen Burcham: That's right, and occasionally we'll find a site and we'll look at it through both lenses, both scenarios. For the most part, when you're looking for an affordable site it's for that particular purpose. Just fits those parameters outlined by the state.   Scott Baumberger: Absolutely, then there are distinctions in how they're financed but not necessarily how they're built. Do the projects themselves turn out different sizes that quote, unquote, kind of a sweet spot for affordable versus market rate within the same community.   Landen Burcham: Yeah, there are. Just given the finite nature of resources, the tax credits, for a 9 percent project, you're kind of capped just based on the available subsidy. In Kentucky, for example, on a nine percent project you're really only getting enough subsidy to do a maximum of like 90 units or so. For Taxes and bond deal it's much greater. I think in kentucky we've probably had upwards of 300 unit new construction projects, financed with the four percent tax credit bond program. It's not as limited, but just given the nature of the availability of the funding they're not as large as market rate projects.   The end product, the housing itself and the buildings are very comparable to market rate, if not better than some market rate in the same market. Just given the requirements of the state housing finance agency, they have pretty strict design requirements.   Scott Baumberger: Absolutely, that's very interesting. It's a changing landscape. Do you feel like the availability of funds for affordable housing is there? Is there still Significant pipeline to encourage that type of development moving forward?   Landen Burcham: Yeah there is, and there's a lot more advocacy for those resources than when I started a decade ago. It seems like more folks are familiar with these resources and the impact they can have in the community. So there's, organizations and individuals lobbying and advocating for these resources.   I think people realize the need. It's just still not enough resources. I can go on to another component of increasing housing supply and more affordability, by speaking to zoning and land use reform, which is another kind of hot topic. It's another area in which people, housing advocates are pushing policy.   Several states and municipalities are looking at their land development code to look at ways in which they can increase density. Jefferson County in Kentucky for example, I think 75, 80 percent of the land in the county is zoned for single family, which explicitly prohibits development of multifamily housing.   So it limits the available land for development. Certain cities have either totally eradicated their single family zoning requirement or they've increased the availability, or made the process to rezone or upzone easier. On the state level in Florida, they recently passed a bill called the Live Local Act, Senate Bill 102, and it's really interesting.   It allows for land that's being developed to seek the highest density of that municipality. So essentially does away with any zoning restrictions. So if you find a piece of land and you're going to build for multifamily, you can work with the local municipality and get it built without going through the zoning process. It just automatically has the highest density of that municipality, which is great.    Scott Baumberger: Affordable isn't neces

    14 min

  8. 31/05/2024

    Insights from a Civil Engineer Turned Developer

    Scott Baumberger: Hello, and welcome to the creative viz podcast. We discuss topics in architecture, development, and visual media. Today, I'm really excited to have Sam Mehra with Boos Development, he is a development project manager there. Welcome, Sam. It's great to see you.   Sam Mehra: Thank you, Scott, for having me. Love to have this platform to discuss things.   Scott Baumberger: That's great. Thank you. We were talking a minute ago. You have a really interesting background.  I understand you studied engineering, then work for a time in construction and are now on the development side. Can you walk us through that and how that happened?   Sam Mehra: I started my bachelor's in civil engineering in India. When you do the bachelor's, you basically get a small amount of knowledge about different fields in civil engineering. So you will get to understand traffic, you get to understand environmental everything so you get a little bit of exposure to everything. The most important thing that I liked from that experience was the construction management That is where I was like, okay. This is my niche. This is what I need to work on. And to work on that I came to the USA to do my master's at UF - University of Florida. That is the path that I took to make sure that I constantly work on something that I love. To me, construction management is something that I love to do.   I'm passionate about, whenever you go into a market, anything that you do, you want to understand the details before you start to work on the big things. That is my approach. You build your foundation strong so that  you can build a tall building on it. My approach was that let's build my foundation strong by making sure that I have exposed myself to subcontractor work. Understand what they work on, how they do work.   What are their emotions, feelings? What do they go through while they are on site? First three years of my career I spent on going through that. Making sure that what is the basic approach of subcontractors when they are approaching a project. Once I understood that, once I understood their process, once I understood how things work over here, I was like, okay, let me go venture in GC world now, because now I understood subcontractor world. I can hire subcontractors properly. Then I started working on the GC side. More general contractor work I did for three, four years. Then I understood, GC work . The processes are in, I understand what to do, how to hire subcontractors, how to make sure that the productivity of the project goes properly.   My approach is always to keep growing, learning, growing, learning and growing. That is proponents of what I go by once I learn and I understand things. I just don't want to stick in a place where I'm like, okay, now I cannot learn anymore. This is it. As soon as I get to that point, I'm like, okay, I need to learn more.   That is how I ventured into real estate development. I knew, let's say 40 percent of what happens in development. I learned 60 percent of what goes on, a lot more on permitting entitlements. How to deal with the county, cities, design work. Part and parcel of things were always involved in my projects before, but taking it hands on and putting effort in it, it is a different story.   That is basically my journey and journey will keep going on. I'll keep trying to venture, keep learning and keep trying to grow as much as I can.    Scott Baumberger: Absolutely, I don't care how old you are, how many years you've been doing it, there's always more to learn. It's such a unique industry we're in. There's always innovation and so much complexity, and every project is different.   There's a discovery with every single one. I'd like to explore, your background, particularly in construction. How does that affect when you approach a development project? How does that background shape your approach to it?   Sam Mehra:  That is a very interesting question, and very good question because see the thing is when you have seen how subcontractors work when you have been in their shoes and then you were in shoes of general contractor, you know exactly how they are thinking.    What is their approach to do the work? How they will get to the end result that is giving you the building? What are the factors that affect the productivity, the quality of work? When you look at entire picture, let's say development of a real estate property is a big picture.    Construction is a 40 percent 50 percent part of it because everything is dependent on construction. You get to understand the costs better. You get to understand the timelines better. Everything that is related to construction eventually affects your project plus the planning. The planning of a project becomes better because now I'm thinking okay I'm gonna put a budget together, but I'm realistically thinking what factors will affect this budget? While we are going through this timeline, then I'm thinking about , Someone would tell me that it would take eight months, but I have built this project myself before I know it takes six months so I understand I can counter check those things and then the price wise. Let's say a site cost comes in and they say that okay, for 2 acre development, it will take 2 million dollars. But being a GC, I know that it doesn't take 2 million dollars. It takes only 1.4 million. All those factors affect the project. And the planning of the project. The more you can affect the planning of the project. rather than Doing the planning while you are doing the project Gives you a better result.   Scott Baumberger:  Absolutely. It's so interesting. Can you point to recent project where that might've come into play?    Sam Mehra: I just did a project in Minnesota. We were building an Auntie Anne’s and a Jamba Juice, it is a two in one store. What helped me go through that project was that I have built a lot of QSRs. So I understood the cost of the project. I understood it only takes us 110 days to build it and timelines were good.   We were able to get through the approval of the project in the REC stage pretty quickly because I was able to put all those factors together. You're always learning this market. What I learned from that project was interesting. weather is such a big factor.   We started building I think in August. Our 110 days was going to expire, but we're going to complete let's say mid November was our target date. Now, obviously we had some issues with the constructability and things like that. But as we go by it, we found out the winter, the fall weather came early.   The snow started early. We were not able to do our asphalt. We were not able to do our landscaping because it was not suitable to do it that climate, although we got the TCO, we were able to open the project, but that is what I learned. Now, when I'm working in that climate. I would know that I cannot do these things and I will put timeline in my project that these 2 things would have to be done later or how to maneuver them. I would say on the budgeting side, we were very good. We were able to keep everything in grabs. The only other issue that I can remember and was a good learning experience was that, it was snowing when we were doing the due diligence so ground was hard. We were not able to do the landscape. This site had a hill on it, so on 1 side of the property, there was a hill that was 20 feet high. We were not able to have a geotech on site. We designed our entire retaining wall on the basis of the geotech that we did on the site, but we were not able to do the geotech on that.   As the entire timeline went by and we were ready to start the construction, we realized, Oh, that thing is not done. We need to go make sure that the geotech matches to what we have already encountered on the site. And interestingly, that didn't match. We had to revise the designs that delayed our process a little bit.   Like I said, I look at everything as a learning experience. Now I learned from it. I would make sure that it never happens   Scott Baumberger: Exactly. I imagine you have a buffers, contingencies for things that come up. And so that's going to be a different thing on every project, right?   Sam Mehra: We definitely try to put as much buffer, like 5 percent contingency to cover these things, but. It is more about the productivity of a project. When something like that happens now, you have to stop. You have things start to stall a little bit or GC is still trying to figure out.   Okay. I have this problem. How am I going to resolve it? Meanwhile, your subcontractors cannot come to site and work on the regular stuff. So I feel like it still affects the productivity of your project. That is why I prefer to do as much planning as you can in the starting and look at all the factors.   There are so many other factors. Yes, we will miss some of them, but if you have gone through these issues before try to look at all the factors possible so that You have a very well planned project when you go on site or when you even start the designing process.   Scott Baumberger: Absolutely. It's so interesting. I understand working on a project in Florida. We're talking about Minnesota. doing projects all over the country. When you are putting those teams together what do you look for when you're assembling teams for new development?   Sam Mehra: I have the approach of accountability - say you are hiring someone to work for you. You're gonna dig deeper to make sure that this is a good fit. They communicate better. They're accountable for the work. They're going to perform and we work as a good productive team I look for it and everything. When I am looking for people who i'm going to work with i'm going to try to look at all these qualities before we do a contract. We are going to do a lot of conversations. We ar

    18 min
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About

Welcome to the Creative "Viz" podcast, where each week we explore visual storytelling, design insights, and the latest technologies that are shaping the future of architecture. Stay in the loop to gain a competitive advantage in the rapidly-evolving world of design and visualization.   Connect with Scott Baumberger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbaumberger/ Work with Apex Visualization:  https://www.apex-visualization.com/

Information

  • Creator
    Scott Baumberger
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    The Creative "Viz"