7 must reads for the AEC industry today: June 19, 2020

1. Brown University tops off first housing building in three decades (BD+C)
"The facility, scheduled for completion next April, will combine a residence hall with student health services."

2. AIA releases strategies and illustrations for reducing risk of COVID-19 in schools (AIA)
"For the 2020-21 school year, districts are facing the difficult task of determining if K-12 schools will reopen this fall."

3. New data shows construction activity returning to pre-coronavirus levels in many parts of the country (AGC)
"Association survey and data collected by Procore measure impacts of the pandemic, showing signs of a construction recovery, but labor shortages and project cancellations show industry needs federal help."

4. Demand for family rentals expected to jump over next few years (BD+C)
"Developers’ focus on single, urban millennials leaves family market underserved."

5. Rush to disinfect offices has some environmental health experts worried (Bloomberg)
"The EPA list of approved cleaning agents for the coronavirus includes some that haven’t been proven safe for humans."

6. Assisted living looks for an assist (Bloomberg)
"Nursing homes have become the focal point of America’s coronavirus crisis, with more than one-third of the nation’s deaths occurring among residents. The outsized attention has another industry that cares for some of the most vulnerable people feeling left out."

7. COVID Is accelerating Millennials’ move from apartments to single-family rentals (National Real Estate Investor)
"Big SFR operators reported slight growth in leasing rates in the months since the lockdowns started."

One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.