Affirmative Investments, CIM Group, Hollywood Community Housing Corp., and Pearl Properties are among the developers to complete multifamily projects in late 2019. Here are eight noteworthy projects collected by the editors of Multifamily Design+Construction magazine:
1. PREFABRICATION SAVES VALUABLE TIME ON DENVER HIGH-RISE
Using five different prefabrication components, a team led by The Weitz Company (GC) completed SOVA, a 12-story, 211-unit rental high-rise in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood, in less than 24 months. A 3D BIM model guided MDA Construction’s installation of the 10X20-foot metal framing walls and prefab MEP systems from South Valley Prefab and interior metal framing from Infinity. The LEED Silver complex has six EV charging stations, a DIY bike and ski repair shop, storage for 95 bicycles, a paw spa, and a 12th-floor indoor sky lounge and sky deck. Also on the team for developer McWhinney: Craine Architects (designer); KL&A (SE); and ME Group (mechanical engineer). PHOTO: JAMES RAY SPAHN
2. AWARD-WINNING AFFORDABLE RENTALS IN ST. PAUL
An intriguing paint can installation marks the community room at Union Flats, 217 affordable rentals in St. Paul, Minn., designed by BKV Architects. GC Weis Builders had to remediate a contaminated four-acre site to build the U-shaped structure near the Twin Cities’ light-rail line. Owner/manager Dominium won a Vanguard Award from the National Affordable Housing Management Association for the $67 million project. PHOTO: ALEX CARROL
3. LUXURY COMMUNITY OFFERS HARBORSIDE LIVING IN OXNARD
SVA Architects designed The Reserve at Seabridge, 75 live-work units on a 5.6-acre marina-facing site in the Channel Islands Harbor at Oxnard, Calif., 60 miles west of Los Angeles. The luxury apartment complex, part of the master-planned Seabridge community, has a 6,300-sf recreation center and fitness facility, swimming pool, spa, and sundeck. The owner/builder was VK Builders Corp. LJP Construction Services was waterproofing consultant. PHOTO: COURTESY SVA ARCHITECTS
4. PHILADELPHIA DEVELOPER ADDS LARGER APARTMENTS
Developer Pearl Properties reduced the number of units in its luxury high-rise, The Harper, from 200 to 167 to add more 1,600 to 1,800-sf residences for families. The 280,000-sf, 24-story rental community, the work of DAS Architects, Harman Group (SE), and Wellcraft Construction Company (GC), is a block away from Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse Square. Amenities include co-working lounges, an indoor basketball court, a heated soaking pool, a 12,200-sf rooftop park, and a 24th-floor club room and sky deck. PHOTO: BARRY HALKIN
5. PUEBLO HOUSE MOVED TO MAKE WAY FOR FAMILY HOUSING
To make room on a tight three-quarter-acre site in East Hollywood for the Coronel Apartments, KFA Architects and Westport Construction moved a protected 1920s Pueblo house across the street and renovated it into two apartments and a community room. Nonprofit developer Hollywood Community Housing Corp. replaced 22 units of substandard REAP housing with 18 three-bedroom, 24 two-bedroom, and 12 one-bedroom apartments at rents of $488 to $1,354/month. The four-story LEED Platinum–targeted project is on the Metro Red Line and has a walk score of 87. PHOTO: KFA ARCHITECTURE
6. MS PATIENTS GET A NEW HOME IN BOSTON
Adults with advanced multiple sclerosis are the primary occupants of Boston’s Harmon Apartments, designed by local architecture firm DiMella Shaffer. The 26 accessible one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom units were developed by The Boston Home, which has served MS patients since 1881, and Affirmative Investments. Eight units were set aside for those with income levels at or below 30% of AMI; 24 for those at or below 60% of AMI; six are market rate. On-site services include wellness and fitness programs, caregiver training, wheelchair seating and positioning, and outpatient rehabilitation. PHOTO: ROBERT BENSON PHOTOGRAPHY
7. HIGH-RISE TOWER LOOKS OUT ON CHICAGO’S MUSEUM CAMPUS
Walsh Construction completed The Paragon, a 47-story rental tower in Chicago’s South Loop for Murphy Development Group and CIM Group. The 500 units have views of the city’s Museum Campus and Grant Park. SCB was the architect. Mary Cook Associates designed the models for the studio, convertible, and one- and two-bedroom apartments. PHOTO: Mary Cook Associates
8. ADJMI’S DUMBO LUXURY CONDOS COME WITH A PRIVATE PARK
Architect Morris Adjmi’s twin 21-story towers, Front & York, bring “full-service, resort-style” living to Brooklyn’s DUMBO (“down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass”) neighborhood. The one- to four-bedroom condominiums are fitted with Adjmi-styled Italian cabinetry, Caldia stone countertops, Waterworks fittings, and Gaggenau appliances. Private chef’s kitchens, teen lounges, children’s playrooms, and a 77,000-sf Life Time fitness center, plus a private park designed by Michael Van Valkenburg Associates, add to the package. New Line Structures was the CM for co-owner/developers CIM Group and LIVWRK. Prices start at $950,000. RENDERING: WILLIAMS NEW YORK
Related Stories
| May 27, 2014
America's oldest federal public housing development gets a facelift
First opened in 1940, South Boston's Old Colony housing project had become a symbol of poor housing conditions. Now the revamped neighborhood serves as a national model for sustainable, affordable multifamily design.
| May 23, 2014
Big design, small package: AIA Chicago names 2014 Small Project Awards winners
Winning projects include an events center for Mies van der Rohe's landmark Farnsworth House and a new boathouse along the Chicago river.
| May 22, 2014
No time for a trip to Dubai? Team BlackSheep's drone flyover gives a bird's eye view [video]
Team BlackSheep—devotees of filmmaking with drones—has posted a fun video that takes viewers high over the city for spectacular vistas of a modern architectural showcase.
| May 22, 2014
NYC's High Line connects string of high-profile condo projects
The High Line, New York City's elevated park created from a conversion of rail lines, is the organizing principle for a series of luxury condo buildings designed by big names in architecture.
| May 20, 2014
Kinetic Architecture: New book explores innovations in active façades
The book, co-authored by Arup's Russell Fortmeyer, illustrates the various ways architects, consultants, and engineers approach energy and comfort by manipulating air, water, and light through the layers of passive and active building envelope systems.
| May 20, 2014
World's best new skyscrapers: Renzo Piano's The Shard, China's 'doughnut hotel' voted to Emporis list
Eight other high-rise projects were named Emporis Skyscraper Award winners, including DC Tower 1 by Dominique Perrault Architecture and Tour Carpe Diem by Robert A.M. Stern.
| May 16, 2014
BoA, USGBC to offer $25,000 grants for green affordable housing projects
The Affordable Green Neighborhoods Grant Program will offer 14 grants to developers of affordable housing in North America who are committed to building sustainable communities through the LEED for Neighborhood Development program.
| May 13, 2014
19 industry groups team to promote resilient planning and building materials
The industry associations, with more than 700,000 members generating almost $1 trillion in GDP, have issued a joint statement on resilience, pushing design and building solutions for disaster mitigation.
| May 12, 2014
The best of affordable housing: 4 projects honored with 2014 AIA/HUD Secretary Awards [slideshow]
The winners include two dramatic conversions of historic YMCA buildings into modern, affordable multifamily complexes.
| May 11, 2014
Final call for entries: 2014 Giants 300 survey
BD+C's 2014 Giants 300 survey forms are due Wednesday, May 21. Survey results will be published in our July 2014 issue. The annual Giants 300 Report ranks the top AEC firms in commercial construction, by revenue.
