AEC News You Can Use Blog

Jonathon Yu is not a professional developer, but he is interested in building new housing.

In 2023, the 29-year-old product manager submitted plans to Sunnyvale to raze the modest 1,000-square-foot bungalow he bought a year earlier and replace it with a three-story, five-unit multifamily building.

He paid a few thousand dollars for an architect to draw up plans, then a few thousand more to the city for application fees. His parents called him insane for spending so much, but Yu had the money, and he wanted to build housing.

He didn’t have the funds for what Sunnyvale demanded next: To get the permit for the $3 million project, he would need to pay $300,000 in impact fees, one-time charges imposed by local governments to fund improvements to infrastructure like roads, parks and schools.

“What stopped me were the impact fees,” Yu said. “If I would have completed the structure, it would’ve been the most affordable new housing in the area.”

Across the Bay Area, impact fees like those Yu encountered often surpass six figures per unit — and developers have had little leeway to challenge them.

But a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could limit the impact fees that California can levy, which some say could lower the barriers to building new housing.

The case involved California landowner George Sheetz, who challenged the $23,420 fee El Dorado County required to fund road expansions the county said were necessitated by the small home he wanted to build. Sheetz sued, arguing the Constitution’s taking clause limits what the government can take without fair compensation.

Previous cases have required such fees to be “roughly proportional” to a development’s impact. But California courts have held local governments to a lower standard

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court found that was incorrect, and remanded the case to the state court for reconsideration. It’s unclear what new standards the California court will.. Read More

$700 million redevelopment in Milwaukee could be set to result in the tallest mass timber building in the world and the tallest building in Wisconsin.

The project, led by green developers The Neutral Project and designed by Michael Green Architecture (MGA), is set to transform the Marcus Performing Arts Center parking garage into a mixed-use development featuring up to 750 residential units, 190,000 square feet of office space, 40,000 square feet of retail space, 300 hotel rooms, 1,100 structured parking spaces, and public plazas and walkways.

"As mayor, I have not been shy about my goal to grow our city's population to one million Milwaukeeans," said Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

"To do that, we need to be aggressive and reach for new heights. This project will help us do just that, literally aiming to set local and global records, but just as importantly add density and activity to an underutilized City-controlled parcel in downtown Milwaukee. It also represents a forward-thinking Milwaukee, open to outside investment and ideas, and I thank The Neutral Project for their confidence in Milwaukee's future."

The Marcus Center seeks to build on Milwaukee's record – the city is already home to the world's tallest mass timber tower – the 25-story Ascent MKE.

A press release shared with Newsweek suggested that The Marcus Center could be up to 55 stories. The Neutral Project is also developing The Edison, which is set to be 32 stories tall.

A mass timber tower is a type of high-rise building constructed primarily using engineered wood products, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), glulam (glued laminated timber), and laminated veneer lumber (LVL).

These materials are engineered for strength and stability, allowing for the construction of tall structures that were traditionally built using concrete and steel.

Mass timber towers are considered more environmentally friendly compared to traditional construction methods. Wood.. Read More & See Videos

A construction worker died after a portion of a crane fell onto the Southeast 3rd Avenue bridge Thursday in downtown Fort Lauderdale, crushing a car and injuring three more people.

The incident happened at around 4:30 p.m. on the bridge over the New River, near Southeast 4th Street.

Fort Lauderdale fire officials said in a news conference said a construction crew was in the process of "stepping the crane" by adding sections to a crane to make it taller when a platform fell from the building, along with pieces of the crane.

The construction worker fell with the crane section, causing fatal injuries, officials said. The crane itself remained secured to the building.

The crane section landed on the nearby bridge, damaging at least two vehicles. At least two other people who were in vehicles were transported to the hospital, one in stable condition and the other with minor injuries. A third person was also treated for their injuries at the scene.

Footage from Chopper 6 showed the crushed vehicle as well as another damaged car nearby. Several police units and paramedics responded to the scene.

Mark Cerezin's Tesla was damaged by the falling crane piece. He said it bounced off his car and landed on the vehicle next to him.

"I was driving and I felt a compression, and I looked up and I saw the blue structure coming down, and I slammed on my brakes. It sheared off the front of my Tesla and all the airbags went off — and I’m very lucky to be alive," Cerezin said.

One woman who lives in an apartment across from where the collapse happened said she saw the crane falling from the sky and hit the corner of a building. She described the screams she heard from construction workers as "unsettling."

"It was really shocking," said the woman.. Read More & See Videos

When you’re on the job site, safety is everything. In years past, you would start with a hard hat.

But, not these guys.

The Boldt Company did away with hard hats in favor of safety helmets. While unsure at first, workers have adapted to the changes.

“We switched to safety helmets here at the Boldt company," says Safety Operations Manager Kristin Clements.
This is in light of research that shows construction workers receive more traumatic brain injuries than other industries in the United States.

Clements helped lead the change.

“We recognize the advancing technologies and protection out there for the employees,” said Clements.

They are no longer using hard hats. Instead, safety helmets are now the new head protection gear of choice for Boldt.

However, workers like weld shop foreman William F. Cummings had to adapt to the changes at first.

"It was something that for guys that I’ve worked with in construction for 20-25 years that have used the same hardhat," Cummings noted. "Then, the new ones got launched out and right away there was, you know, confusion and a lot didn’t like to switch right away.

Boldt's safety helmet was launched back in 2022. Now, workers like Cummings say they like the helmets better than hardhats.

“Being able to switch out the face shields, welding helmets they’re a lot more breathable," Cummings said, giving credit to the design. "They are a lot more comfortable.”..Read More Here

On 11/25/23 at approximately 6:45pm, officers responded to Forsythe Middle School (1564 Newport Road) for a report of a juvenile attempting to steal a construction vehicle. At 6:48pm officers located the stolen vehicle being driven southbound on Brooks Street near Pearl Street without any lights on. Multiple officers initiated a pursuit of the vehicle at speeds of 15 to 20mph with emergency lights and sirens on. During the pursuit, the driver of the stolen vehicle traveled through the Georgetown Boulevard neighborhood, striking approximately ten parked vehicles. 

At approximately 7:18pm officers terminated the pursuit when the vehicle traveling northbound on Nixon Road went across the M-14 bridge. At that time deputies with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office picked up the pursuit and followed the vehicle until the driver stopped at approximately 7:53pm in the area of M-14 and Gotfredson. The driver was identified as a 12-year-old boy from Ann Arbor and was taken into custody and later lodged at the juvenile detention center. No one was injured in the pursuit.

Preliminary investigation revealed the juvenile gained access to the construction vehicle at Forsyth Middle School. The vehicle was unlocked with the keys hidden inside the cab. The vehicle is a Construction Genie GTH-636 Telehandler, equipped with a forklift. This type of vehicle can weigh up to 35,000 pounds. 

This was a very dangerous situation that could’ve easily ended with serious injuries. The incident remains an active and ongoing criminal investigation.

The 32-story Edison tower on downtown Milwaukee’s riverfront could begin construction next spring, adding yet another peak to the city’s skyline.

Madison-based developer The Neutral Project has filed a proposal for review by the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, city records show. The proposal also will undergo Plan Commission and Common Council review.

The firm is planning to complete its financing package in the first quarter of 2024, and planning to break ground on the project in the second or third quarter, followed by about two and a half years of construction, according to Daniel Glaessl, a partner at the firm.

The 381-unit luxury apartment tower would be built on a vacant lot at 1005 N. Edison St. along the Milwaukee River − where the former Rojahn & Malaney Co. warehouse was demolished this spring. The residential units would range from studios to three-bedroom apartments.

Parking is planned for the second through sixth floors of the building. Plans show a seventh floor dedicated to resident amenities. Floors 28 through 31 will be penthouse levels. The first floor will house a lobby, café, and a yet-to-be-determined tenant in a 7,100-square-foot space along the Milwaukee RiverWalk. A small park next to the building will also be relandscaped for public use.

The Edison would use a construction technique known as mass timber, or cross-laminated timber, which uses layers of wood pressed together to create columns, beams and other building frame components. This approach follows The Neutral Project’s mission to construct carbon neutral buildings.

“At completion the building will be one of the tallest mass timber hybrid structures in the world, utilizing nearly 100,000 cubic feet of lumber,” Glaessl said.

The Edison would add to a flurry of recent apartment tower construction in the downtown area. Both the 44-story Couture apartment tower and 31-story 333 North Water Street apartment tower, currently under construction, are to be completed this spring. Read more here

It’s rare that a building’s design can become so immediately iconic – an attraction unto itself. Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona comes to mind. It is a visual feast – a sculpture that takes the shape of a building. Many architecture critics are already claiming the same for the newly opened Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. Officially named the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, the addition to AMNH is the icing on a very prestigious cake. AMNH boasted five million visitors in 2019 (the most recent year the TEA/AECOM Theme Index ranked museums). It is the ninth most-visited museum in the world, and in North America it is second only to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (also in New York City).

The Gilder Center is a 230,000 sq-ft addition that boasts 33 individual connections across four levels to 10 other buildings on the AMNH campus. In addition to helping unify the museum, Gilder houses impressive exhibits including an insectarium, the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, new collection displays and the immersive Invisible Worlds experience, a projection-mapped environment that takes guests to scientific and natural realms nearly impossible to see under normal circumstances.

Also capturing attention, of course, is the building itself. Designed by Studio Gang, the building is curvaceous and flowing, or in architect-speak, it’s nonrectilinear. The west- facing exterior features glass windows peeking out from undulating smooth pink granite forms. The 80-foot-tall interior atrium lobby, evocative of a canyon, is made from a material that coats nearly every surface, applied in novel ways. Openings into exhibit spaces and bridges spanning the atrium are amorphous – no shape is repeated in the design. The finish is off-white, and although the primary material is concrete, the effect is organic, almost like looking at bone on a microscopic level, with its crevices and tendons stretching across the space. Read more here

A home builder is accused of faking his own disappearance in an elaborate plot to steal money from clients, a Texas lawsuit says.

Lawsuits are piling up against architects as they lock horns with owners over a several-year stretch of project delays, local construction attorneys said.

In the aftermath of the pandemic’s many construction sector interruptions, there’s a battle over who should take the blame for long-delayed projects. Those eager to recoup costs associated with those delays are sometimes pointing the finger at their contractors, as well as design professionals.

That’s being seen increasingly often by Andrew Carlowicz Jr. and Lawrence Powers, co-chairs of the Construction Law Department at New Brunswick-based law firm Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Doukas LLP.

The duo has handled many disputes over the years on behalf of architects and engineers. The civil lawsuits that have emerged from this most recent trend are what they describe as interesting and definitely some of the most complicated.

“Because, when a project finishes late, there are some instances where a delay issue was clearly the responsibility of either the design team on a project or the contractor but, that’s rare,” Carlowicz said. “Usually, it’s many different issues caused by different parties concurrently that lead to delays.” Read more here

Milwaukee's new sales tax takes effect in about six months, but one real estate developer said it's already pausing construction on a new apartment building.

Under the development plan, the Goll Mansion on Prospect Avenue would stay on its current property but move a little. Then, a 25-story building would go up. Construction crews were supposed to get started next month, but it's now all on hold.