Office Construction in Austin Picks Up Steam

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With two major office towers already underway in downtown Austin, two of the area’s biggest developers are planning to build two more. Trammell Crow Company and their partners are heading up the Block 23 Green Water Treatment Plant, and Schlosser Development Corporation is moving forward with its Shoal Creek Walk project.

Although the plans for the commercial portion of Block 23 has been kept under wraps, the multifamily residential portion is nearing completion after having been under construction for several months. The Austin Utility Location & Coordination Committee will consider applications for two tower crane permits to be erected on the office tower site by the project’s general contractors, The Beck Group. Block 23 is projected to have 492,333 square feet of office space and 6,806 square feet for retail.

The area of West Second and Nueces streets, which is bordered by San Antonio and Lamar Streets, is one of the nation’s most intensely developed sites. Numerous projects are under construction at the site, such as the Seaholm Power LLC, Austin Central Library lot, and Green Water Treatment parcel.

A $100 million, 32-story office building development is being marketed to investors by the CBRE Group. Industry insiders report that Google, Inc. is being pursued as an anchor tenant for the project, which news encouraged Trammell Crow to proceed with their office tower portion.

The Schlosser Development Corporation is also moving ahead with Shoal Creek Walk, their proposed office tower,. The site, located at 635 W. Sixth St., is currently a defunct parking lot near the flagship Whole Foods Market downtown. Although construction activity at the site has yet to commence, the lot has been closed to public access for the past several weeks. This 2-building, $52 million development is projected to include 17 floors of office space with ground-level retail. Although investors are increasingly interested in office space located in downtown Austin, Schlosser has yet to begin pre-leasing office space. Shoal Creek Walk will have 430,417 square feet of office space and 44,427 feet of retail.

Alcahua County Makes Room for Out-of-Town Builders

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HBW subscribers seeking residential construction job leads in Alcahua County have been excited about the strong upswing in construction activity in the county. Alcahua County has long been served by the local construction community, but the recession and the housing market’s recent rebound have opened the county up to outside developers. Immediately prior to the crash of 2008, regional builders from Jacksonville or Orlando had begun expanding into the area. The crash put a damper on their expansion plans at the time, but as Anthony Clark reports in the Gainsville Sun, the economic upturn has spurred those developers to renew and expand their old plans for Alcahua County.

Maronda Homes is one of the most ambitious of the bunch. Maronda, which has operations in five states and is headquartered near Pittsburgh, began building in Alcahua and Newberry in 2006. They now plan to build a combined total of 400 homes in both towns. Maronda’s projects, Baywood Hills in Alcahua and Newberry Place, Newberry Oaks, and the soon-to-be-approved Newberry Corners have already begun construction. The project is expected to last three years.

ICI Homes, a Daytona Beach developer, will finally be oving forward on plans it began ten years ago. One of the builders of the Oakmont community near Jonesville, ICI is proceeding with its decades-old plan to build a 999-home master-planned community in Alcahua County. They will share the 233-unti phase 1 of development with five local builders. One of the original builders of Gainseville’s Weschester development, ICI has teamed with New Atlantic Builders to build the next phase of 132 homes for Weschester.

The area’s lack of large national builders like Pulte, KB Homes, Meritage, and D.R. Horton meant that they hadn’t suffered as strongly during the real estate crash. Because there was no spare inventory to be dumped on the market as soon as the economy improved, new construction in Alcahua County doesn’t have to compete with now-salable foreclosures like other markets do.

The slow, steady population growth, coupled with the dearth of immense tracts of buildable land, have also left major developers less interested in Alcahua County. Even so, Bosshardt Realty Services president Arron Bosshardt, thinks that could change. With big developers increasingly taking on smaller developments and urban infill projects, they might yet come calling in Alcahua County. “Who’s going to be the next big developer?” asked Bosshardt. “There may be an opening for a big national.”

Headquartered in southern Florida, HBW also serves builders in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Oklahoma. In addition to our Building Trend Activity for Residential Construction Reports, HBW can create a number of custom reports for any need you might have. We also offer exclusive White Paper Reports to help you market your business. White papers start by giving an overview of the trends in your area and then advice on how to turn your weekly building permit information subscription into successful business leads. To show you how we can help your business succeed, HBW is glad to provide you with complementary building data report or one of our specialized White Paper Reports. Contact us today and start making your business more profitable!

Construction Cools Off in Cobb County

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Comparing this year’s numbers to last year’s, it’s clear that the number of new houses being built in Cobb is trailing by nearly 14%. Unexpectedly, county officials are not terribly concerned about the downturn. Between September and January, 1,065 permits were issued for single-family dwellings in the county, but last year there were 1,233 permits issued during the same time period.

According to community development director Rob Hosack, “the reason we don’t have a lot of concern about it is simply because we have been issuing land disturbance permits for subdivisions and we’ve probably issued more of those this year than we did in 2013,” said Hosack, adding, “We’re issuing permits now for folks to actually knock down trees, grade roads and put more lots on the ground.”

One possible reason that 2013’s numbers were higher is because there were a lot of unfinished properties left over from the recession which were taken over by new developers and quickly completed. Hosack explains that the county, “had a pretty good inventory of vacant lots on the ground already, like the old pipe farms in 2013 and a lot of that inventory was getting ate up. Whereas in 2014 less of those lots were available and I think that’s a reason the data is a little bit … for the reduction.” He adds that “there’s a lot of dirt being moved around right now,” and remains optimistic that the housing starts will pick up by year’s end.

According to building permit activity reports from HBW,129 permits were issued in September in Cobb County, with 66 of them being built in unincorporated areas. Smyrna had 26 permits issued, but Acworth saw no construction activity that month. Acworth Mayor Tommy Allegood reviewed the permits, and noted that they are down by 20%, saying, “I think there has been a general slowing this year in new home sales in general,” he said. “I just think that probably activity is down and new home sales are down somewhat in our community. I think that’s a national trend.” Like Hosack, Allegood is optimistic about his town’s new construction starts. “I don’t think we’ll be down 20 percent by the end of the year,” he says, “I think we’ll be even.”

Construction Education Builds Norman Construction Workforce

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HBW subscribers know there are more jobs for skilled construction workers in Oklahoma than can be found in most other states. The strong local economies of Tulsa and Oklahoma City have led to a steadily increasing construction boom. The only real problem is that the local workforce isn’t big enough to meet the demand. Fortunately, as Anna Trowbridge of the Oklahoman reports, the Moore Norman Technology Center has stepped up to the plate to build the area’s workforce of skilled building professionals.

According to carpentry instructor Mark Estell, their construction technology program receives dozens of calls per month seeking students skilled in the carpentry trades to fill positions on local crews. The enter can’t seem to graduate students fast enough to meet demand. Wages are good for carpentry and construction professionals in Oklahoma, but Estell says, “I can’t put them out fast enough. It’s the same with other construction trades instructors in CareerTech. There are more jobs than we can put out highly trained and qualified graduates.” Center graduates find jobs almost immediately and have strong prospects for advancement and promotion in the industry.

The gap between available construction work and the number of skilled professionals to fill those positions is continually widening. A Forbes reported last year, “53% of skilled-trade workers in the U.S. were 45 years and older…and 18.6 percent were between the ages of 55 and 64.” Much of the current labor pool is nearing retirement, and there aren’t enough people entering the industry to replace them.

The Center’s carpentry students get experience constructing a home from foundation to finishing, while earning both the OSHA 10 card and the General Induction Card (The Blue Card) during their program, all of which makes them very desirable to construction groups. Students learn about reading blueprints, framing and cabinetry, and how to work as a team member., both of which translate to $3-$5 per hour increase in starting pay. Program completion makes students eligible to be considered an apprentice carpenter.

To learn more about the Moore Norman Career Technology Center, go to www.mntc.edu or call 364-5763, ext. 7260.

Porch.com Connects Building Professionals with Contractors and Clients

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Fortune reports that Porch.com, a Seattle-based home improvement networking company that connects homeowners to building professionals, is making waves with its latest partnership. After just barely a year in business, the startup has jumped to 250 employees and 1.5 million professional listings, which was facilitated largely through their partnership with Lowe’s.

When homeowners consult with Lowe’s staff about hiring contractors, they are directed to the Porch.com site. The partnership with Lowe’s is the first thing that Porch.com’s representatives mention in each sales call. Like Yelp—which Porch shamelessly patterns itself after–Porch inquires about the marketing needs of businesses and suggests they subscribe to a “pro” account.

The partnership is a no-brainer for Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichmann, who says that, “Not every professional knows Porch, but everybody knows Lowe’s. We’ve got about 70 people right now that are out there selling to home service professionals. What these folks can do is use the Lowe’s brand to get us in the door.”

Lowe’s CDO Richard Maltsbarger’s enthusiasm about the partnership is clear. The great part about our proposition and partnership with Matt and Porch,” he says, “is that between our knowledge of home improvement, and the Porch team’s knowledge of technology, the Internet, and big data, we have total expertise.”

Another key partnership Porch has made is with Realtor.com. Realtor.com’s data pool forms the basis for the site’s “Porch Home Reports,” which are given to potential homeowners for free. Each report shows the renovation history, improvement projects, and repairs that were done over the years, as well as information about the contractors who did the work. It’s somewhat like a Carfax report for homes.

Tracy Mahnken, the senior vice president of product management for Realtor.com, recognized that there is “a really complimentary relationship” between what each company does. “If we’re focused on the 2.5 million homes that are for sale, Porch is focused on the 95 million that are not. But a homeowner that has taken that kind of time to put in all that detailed information about their home,” she says, “that home will come up for sale. It will come up for sale in a year, maybe two years. So what Porch is doing only helps us build out our database further.”

To further enhance its professional features, Porch.com has recently launched its “Pro Dashbaord,” which is offered free to building professionals. What costs will be the reports, marketing assistance, and “featured pro” status listing. While the site has significant appeal as a business listing site, it is rapidly growing into a viable social networking tool for building professionals.

 

Imperial Sugar Land Welcomes Meritage Homes

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HBW subscribers in the Houston area seeking residential construction job leads have been looking very closely at Sugar Land. Houston-based Johnson Development Corp, developer of record for the Imperial Sugar Land development, has finally decided on a homebuilder for the 127-acre parcel near Texas State Highways 6 and 90A. Arizona-based residential homebuilding giant Meritage Homes has agreed to build 335 single-family homes in a new master-planned community. HBW’s building permit activity report for the Houston market has more detailed information available for builders who want to know about this development.

Originally slated for a business park district, the 127-acre site proved more profitable as a saleable asset. According to Shay Sharfie, the general manager of Imperial Sugar Land, the decision was based on current market demand in the Houston area. According to Shafie, “We try to keep out finger on the market and adapt” to capitalize on a profitable market.

Johnson Development will develop nearly 1/3 of the total acreage for Meritage Homes by year-end 2015. Floor plans and prices will be announced soon thereafter, with construction set to begin in early spring 2016. The Meritage addition will join two other neighborhoods in Imperial Sugar Land. Darling Homes, a Frisco, TX-based builder, along with Houston’s Partners in Building, LP have already begun work on the 30-acre Quiet Cove neighborhood, which features fine patio homes.

Silent Manor, a 15-acre neighborhood across the lake from Quiet Cove, is being developed by Sitterle Homes, a San Antonio-based builder, and Houston-based Trendmaker Homes. Sitterle Homes is building Mediterranean-style homes, and Trendmaker is developing two-story townhomes. To the south of Silent Manor, Houston-based Gracepoint homes is developing three-story brownstone homes. Sueba, USA Corporation, also based in Houston, is developing the 257-unit luxury Ballpark Lofts apartments.

Imperial Sugar Land also plans to incorporate a mixed-use district. Hotels, office space, and retail shops will also feature prominently in the community’s master plan. Constellation Field, a minor-league baseball arena, is part of the current Imperial Sugar Land plan, as is a weekly farmer’s market. The Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center and the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation Museum will also be built in the Imperial Sugar Land community.

USGBC Extends LEED 2009 Through 2016

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LEED v4 wasn’t designed for simplicity, and this has caused some challenges for builders and developers who want to work with LEED certification. To alleviate the difficulties posed in the transition from LEED 2009 to LEED v4, the United States Green Building Council has decided to extend the registration for projects being built under the 2009 regulations. Previously, the deadline was June 15, 2015, but the new deadline is October 31, 2016. It is believed that this will give LEED users and other members of the green building community much-needed additional prep time for adopting the LEED v4 standards.

According to Rick Fedrizzi, the CEO & founding chair of the USGBC, LEED v4 was launched “with one goal in mind–to raise the bar in a way that challenges the building industry to reach higher than ever before. This is our nature and USGBC and its members’ collective mission.” Fedrizzi adds that the extension has been made in response to requests for “additional time to prepare for LEED v4, so we are responding.”

LEED v4 has been on the market for a year, but a survey conducted during the USGBC’s annual Greenbuild conference, showed 61% of respondents indicating a “not ready” or “unsure” status regarding their wherewithal to pursue LEED v4. The stricter code has also met with hesitation among international builders. Fedrizzi explains that “Our international LEED users, which account for some 50 percent of new LEED registrations, have also indicated they would like to have more time to move onto the new rating system,” noting that “This extension will be especially helpful to them.” It is felt that the extension will give the green building industry a longer time frame to pursue meaningful and comprehensive change in green construction practices.

The LEED framework was designed to not only positively impact the environment, but also to give developers dynamic, real-time “building performance data spanning water, energy, occupant satisfaction and more, giving building owners critical insight into how their building is performing,” says Fedrizzi. The LEED framework has driven stunning innovation in building technology and operations practices. It has been credited with facilitating the incredible growth of the green building sector, creating 7.9 million jobs, and contributing $554 billion to the U.S. economy nationally.

 

 

 

2014 To Be Second Best Year Ever For Texas Housing Market

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In a report issued by Texas A&M’s Real Estate Center, economists say they expect 2014 to be a record-setter for the Texas real estate market.

Jim Gaines, an economist with the center, says that “Last year was the second-best year ever in the state of Texas for home sales volume,” adding that, “It was second only to 2006, which was at the height of the housing boom and all the easy financing. And 2013 wasn’t that far off from that. This is going to become the new second-best year ever. We are having a really terrific year.” The report goes on to say that 217,690 homes had been sold in Texas as of the end of September, which is a 1% gain over last year’s booming numbers.

Gaines attributes the record sales to “a slowdown in the rate of increase,” with 2013 sales jumping 16% over 2012, but 2014’s numbers increasing only slightly over the previous year’s. “There’s been a step-up in prices the last five years,” Gaines explains, “and we’re still seeing that step up. But the rise of the step isn’t quite as high.” Home prices conform to the trending rate increases.

Steve Fithian, an agent with Sperry Van Ness/Visions Commercial has brokered quite a few deals in the DFW area during 2014, most notably a long-vacant Blockbuster Video building and a small office complex in central Dallas. According to Fithian, sales like this indicate that “The economic recovery is apparent in DFW, Job opportunities are expanding, industries are growing,” states Fithian, “and the real estate market is heating up. Considering where things were five years ago, it’s exciting to see how healthy the real estate market is becoming.”

Real Estate power site Zillow has predicted that homes in the DFW area will rise 4.4% by the end of 2014. The median home value is up 6.1% over a year ago, with median prices sitting at $148,000. Zillow confirms that these increases have placed the DFW housing market squarely within pre-2007-2010 recession levels.

10% Jump in Construction Starts for September

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According to McGraw Hill Construction, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of $604.1 billion amounts to a 10% increase nationwide in September. This welcome increase follows a the disappointing yo-yo pattern of July and August, and marks the highest level in construction activity so far for 2014.

Commercial, institutional, and other non-residential construction gained sharply during September, with noticeable increases in manufacturing plants and public utility repair and refurbishment construction. Residential building, on the other hand, declined in the month-to-month numbers for the year-to date, although the 9 months of unadjusted construction starts averaged $419.5 billion, marking a 5% increase over the numbers in September 2013.

The Dodge Momentum index rose 12 points from August levels, which places it slightly ahead of July’s rating of 126, according to construction data expert McGraw Hill Construction. McGraw Hill economist Robert A. Murray explains that although construction starts dropped 10% in Q1 and 6% inQ3 for 2014, “A key factor in keeping the construction expansion going in 2014 has been the greater role now being played by non-residential building.  Commercial building has continued to see moderate growth from low levels, and the manufacturing building category is still showing a surge of chemical and energy-related plants reach groundbreaking.”

Institutional categories are up across the board, which translates to the construction of institutional structures being able to contribute to the non-residential building boom.   According to Murray, “residential building is now providing a much smaller lift than in the past two years, as the sluggish performance by single family housing has outweighed further gains by multifamily housing.”

The year-to-date drop in residential amounts to 9%, leveling off at $212.7 billion. The year’s hottest sector, multifamily housing, fell a staggering 23% from the strong August levels. September saw four major multifamily projects valued in excess of %100 million apiece, break ground. A $266 million condominium hotel in Hollywood, a $230 million multifamily project in Washington, D.C., a new condominium complex in Honolulu totaling $215 million, and a $183 million condo tower in Miami, Fl. New York, NY, Washington, D.C., Miami, FL, Los Angeles, CA, and San Francisco, CA were the five largest-spending metropolitan areas in September. 

The 3% dip in single family-housing for September is the third consecutive month of decline after the spike in late spring. The flat residential pattern nationwide for 2014 continues. Single family construction weakened by 6% in the Southeast, 4% in the Gulf Coast, and 3% in the West. However, modest gains of 2% in the Midwest and 4% in the Northeast were made.

According to Murray, “This year’s stall for single family housing means that the lift provided to total construction is much less than what occurred during the prior two years, when single family housing advanced 29% in 2012 and 26% in 2013.  The 20% down payment requirement, generally in effect since the end of the financial crisis, has made it difficult for lower and middle income households to get approved for a mortgage, and more attention is now being directed by federal officials at ways to expand access to home loans.”

Officially Released: the Reorganized ACI 318-14 Concrete Construction Guide

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The American Concrete Institute (ACI), has finally released the updated and reorganized ACI 318-14: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete. The 2015 International Building Code will reference 318-14.

While the American Concrete Institute’s mission has always been to create and distribute industry-gleaned consensus knowledge about the uses and types of structural concrete, 318-14 marks the first time in decades that they leapt forward in realizing those goals. After decades of near-unintelligiblity, the 318 has been revised and reorganized, making it more user-friendly for building code enforcement in the construction industry. Many see the current update as the most dramatic changes since 1971. Whereas the entire industry had previously seen ACI 318 as a ponderous document that was tedious to read and difficult to understand, the current edit, which streamlines several chapters, rearranges key information, and simplifies the language being used, is a welcome change.

The changes to the code have come about in response to the improved knowledge of innovation in concrete materials, of how structural concrete behaves, and of increased sophistication in structural concrete technology. The latest changes, however, give a new, clearer, context for that information. According to award-winning structural engineer Cary Kopczynski, the current revisions “revolve mainly around the organization of the code requirements, shifting the focus from a “force-based” to “element-based” format.” For example, instead of organizing the document according to the different forces that affect concrete such as shear and flexure, the new code addresses how concrete performs when it is used in particular building elements such as slabs, columns, and beams.

In older versions of the code, builders had to flip back and forth madly between chapters, piecing together the code for a given structure. In the newly updated code, the structure being built has everything you need to know about the proper code compiled cleanly together in a single chapter. In cases where a complex design incorporating multiple elements is being built, take rebar bends, for example, the information will be published in a “toolbox chapter” that will avoid needlessly repeating information by referencing the previous chapters.

  • Improved language and style consistency
  • More expansive use of tables and charts
  • Improved logic and flow of information
  • Member-based organization to quickly locate relevant code information
  • Construction requirements centralized in one chapter
  • Significant highlights of the new ACI 318 include:
  • Improved language and style consistency
  • More expansive use of tables and charts
  • Improved logic and flow of information
  • Member-based organization to quickly locate relevant code information
  • Construction requirements centralized in one chapterThe building code committee of the American Concrete Institute updates ACI 318 every three years. The ACI standardization procedure mandates that the draft of these changes be made available for public review for a period for 45 days prior to the update being submitted to the International Code Council. To review the new code, visit the ICC website.
  • It was clear to the committee that further updates are needed as soon as possible, but the need to both update and reorganize the information was a daunting and time-consuming task. Many vital updates have been postponed until the 2017 update. The current edition isn’t a simpler or condensed version of the structural concrete building code, but it is a clearer and more user-friendly one that designers and builders will be very happy to see.