Architect needed for multifamily new construction in San Diego

[Nick Castello]

I'm new to BP and this is my first post! I really appreciate all the valuable info I've gotten from this community so far.

My family has several aged single-family properties on adjacent lots in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego. They're in a nice area that's experienced a lot of turnover recently, and my family's properties are pretty much the ugliest on the block. In total, these lots amount to about 15,000 sqft. My understanding is that it's in a mixed-use zoning area. We would like to demolish and redevelop these to create as much value as possible, which would be to combine the lots and build an apartment complex. 

I've never been involved in new construction or anything of this scale so I'm looking for people that can help me develop a plan. In particular, I'm looking for an architect that has experience with multifamily/mixed-use development.

Please reach out if you have anyone you can recommend, or if you have any good ideas for finding referrals. Thanks!

[Barry Ruby]

Quote from @Barry Ruby:

@Morgan Scott Morgan you need development data before you engage an architect. You need to understand generally what is going to be built, it’s value, cost and capital stack.

Let me know if I can help you gain this base knowledge.

 The 1st piece of due diligence that a developer needs to do is to run a preliminary pro forma analysis to see if various project designs look like they perform financially. In order to do that, you must be able to create a pro forma tool or find one that  works for you. 

Once you've run a series of design solutions, pick the one that feels the best for you to serve as the Highest and Best Use of the Property.

Once you've done that, you need to confirm the Cost (On-Site, Off-Site, Hard Cost (slab up), Soft Cost and Financing Cost (Bank Interest, points and fees), Income and Operating Expenses.

The next stop should be a Land Planner that can give you a few design concepts. Land on the one(s) you like best and ask a Civil Engineer to do what is known as a "takeoff", where you get quantities established. The chief figure you want to know is the lineal feet of internal (and if required external) roads.

Knowing the lineal feet, you can determine the COSTS associated with the roads themselves along with the wet and dry utilities that will run and be buried in the road beds.

Take your plan to a SITE CONTRACTOR that can provide cost estimates for the aforementioned work. I say SITE contractor because general contractors may have some intel to share with you, but they rarely do the work with their own crews (even if they've been awarded the construction contract). This is true because site construction involves a whole lot of expensive machinery and skilled labor. Which I why I NEVER award the site contract to a GC that doesn't do the work itself. If the GC can't self perform the site work, it is just going to sub the job out to a site contractor and its (GC's) overhead and profit against the site cost.

Once you have site cost number and you feel that the project works, getting an architect is the next move. Unless the architect does site planning, you should be able to see that building designs come after a number of due diligence tasks to determine basic feasibility.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to talk.