In the Winter of 2017, Design Develop Construct (DDC) Journal spoke to Architect & Developer Alex Barrett of Barrett Design in Brooklyn, NY. They spoke about Alex’s frustrations with the typical architecture role and how he has taken more initiative in developing his own work, as well as the latest projects that Alex is working on. See more information about Barrett Design at barrettdesign.com. See more articles about Alex including my extensive interview with him {here}. See the original article ddcjournal.com.
Alex started Barrett Design in 2005 after speaking with a number of other architects who were exploring the ideas of combining real estate development and architecture. The architect as developer model was still very young compared to the number of architects developing today. “It’s still a relatively rare business model, which kind of surprises us, ” Alex adds.

What was frustrating Alex with the traditional role was the lack of agency that the architect had in the process. “Value really gets added to a property through the design work,” Barrett says. “In the traditional development
structure, where the architect is just a third-party consultant, they are not getting fairly compensated for the value they are creating.” Alex decided to take matters into his own hands and purchased a brownstone in Brooklyn to renovate. It was his first step to becoming a developer, and there was no way he was going back.

By acting as an Architect & Developer, Alex not only has full agency in his designs, he has better control. Instead of being pitted against each other, the developer and architect are working in concert to create a product faster and with less need for communication and presentations. “It makes the process of designing and developing real estate a lot more efficient,” Barrett says. “It forces us to be a lot more rigorous and a lot more disciplined because we know that whenever we draw a line that represents something that is going to get built, we have to pay for it.”

Alex argues that the dual-nature of his company allows him to create a higher caliber product than his developer competitors who hire architects independently. “We really love it and think it produces a great finished product at the end of the day,” he says. “We like that we are developers who are designers first and foremost.” Many projects in real estate seem to be a race to the bottom as developers try to cut costs to maximize profits.
When Alex is competing with these developers, his work really stands out. It allows the products he develops to sell faster and at a higher premium. “When a buyer walks into one of our projects as opposed to a comparable project by another developer that is not architect-led, they will feel something in our project that’s missing in others—a strong focus on quality design,” Alex says.

Alex has been developing an average of one project per year since starting in 2005. Most of these projects are within walking distance to each other near his office in Brooklyn. That will change soon as Alex makes his first foray into Manhattan with a six-story development at 3 East 3rd Street. “It’s in the Bowery, which has a really mixed and rich history,” Barrett says. “It’s very gritty, and has been kind of rough-and-tumble at times.” The firm
drew design inspiration from the area’s compelling past.
Alex has several other projects currently in design or construction. He recently completed 4 and 8 Downing Street in Brooklyn and scaling up to Eight St. Mark’s Place. He is also currently designing his first single-family
townhouses in the Columbia Street Waterfront District. By acting as the developer for his work, Alex is able to decide what he wants to design and how that !ts into the larger picture of his architecture studio. See more information about Barrett Design at barrettdesign.com.

See more articles about Alex including my extensive interview with him {here}.

In the Fall of 2015, the AIA New York magazine Oculus published an article on architect-developers as part of their housing issue written by Lisa Delgado. Download the original article here: {The DIY Approach to Housing}.

Delgado describes the work of three architects who are putting their skin into the game of their own work. Her first example is thread collective and their project, TroutHouse, a three-unit residential building with office space
on Troutman Street in Brooklyn, NY. TroutHouse was the first development for the three principals of thread collective, Elliott Maltby, Mark Mancuso, and Gita Nandan. They developed the project to use as their own office space and to show off their design and sustainable sensibilities.

The principles learned as much as they could from developers they were working with on prior projects and by reading as many books as they could on development. They found that by being an Architect & Developer, they were able to design much more efficiently. “Being both developer and architect makes the project go so much faster,” Mancuso explains. In the standard architect-developer relationship, “we design something and then go to the developer-client, and then the design changes because we have to tailor it to what they want. But since we were our own client, we designed this thing so fast.”

Sam Bargetz of Loadingdock5 got together with a group of friends to develop a four-unit residential building in Brooklyn for them to each live in. “You cut out the middleman,” says Bargetz, referring to the developer involved with most projects. “It makes the project much more affordable.” The savings allowed Bargetz to build its development to Passivhaus standards.

The efficiency of the architect as developer model can allow what would otherwise be a crappy developer building to really sing with design. This is evident in The Stack, a project that was co-developed by Gluck+ in upper Manhattan. At $220 per square foot, the multi-family project “cost less than what a typical developer would’ve spent on a crappy building,” says Gluck+ principal Charlie Kaplan. “And yet architecturally, it is a really interesting building.” Gluck+ was the architect, construction manager, and co-developer of The Stack project, which gave them the advantage of maximum efficiency. They utilized modular pre-fabricated units to speed up the on-site construction time. Founder of Gluck+, Peter Gluck enjoys trying to solve the issues in New York City while limiting the disruption a traditional construction site dictates. The off-site construction meant “much less mess in the city, much less congestion. We’re not waiting for somebody to ask us to solve problems,” says Gluck. “We see the problems, and we try to solve them.” Gluck criticizes architects who “sit in their office waiting for somebody to call them to do a development – and then wait a long time.”

If West Chelsea seems like a canvas for ambitious architects and their indulgent developers, the midrise condominium at 459 West 18th Street makes a disciplined self-portrait.

The 11-story black-and-white building looks restrained on a corner between the irregular-grid tower that Jean Nouvel designed at 100 11th Avenue and the rippling facade that Audrey Matlock concocted for Chelsea Modern.

Designed by Jared Della Valle and Andrew Bernheimer of Della Valle Bernheimer, a small but prestigious architecture !rm in Dumbo, Brooklyn, the inverted peak building is a case study for architects in selling high design in a turbulent market. It is also the first venture in a new business.

Materials, predominantly prefabricated, were chosen to support a construction schedule quick enough to calm a troubled lender and a pricing scheme that would appeal to buyers after the financial markets collapsed.
The building, near the High Line, with loftlike full-floor apartments, is Mr. Della Valle’s first foray as a developer, in partnership with Katherine McConvey.

Mr. Della Valle and Ms. McConvey, a design client, bought the odd-sized parcel from Michael O’Neill for $5 million in 2006 with the intention of developing it together. By 2007, after a now-defunct lender called United
Commercial Bank gave the partners a $19 million mortgage for construction, Mr. Della Valle and Ms. McConvey decided to form Alloy Development (complete with duly bend-resistant business cards). Ms. McConvey is the chief executive, and Mr. Della Valle is the president.

“This site is 100 feet deep on the east side and 50 feet deep on the west,” Mr. Della Valle said of its appeal as a residential lot in the fast-changing neighborhood. “Because we have 50 feet in width, we can get 100 feet of glass in each apartment, where most full-floors in TriBeCa sit on a 25-foot lot with impediments to light and air.”

Mr. Della Valle said that because he was a developer as well as an architect of the project, it was easier to keep construction costs under control. “Our goal was to deliver a true three-bedroom, and we aimed to cost $50 per square foot less than everybody else on the block,” he said.

And because the architect and developer were on the same page, Mr. Della Valle said, they were able to make choices that both saved time and satisfied their aesthetic, like rectangular tubs that have no surrounding skirt. The built-in unity over design decisions helped shave four or five months from the development process.

For all that cohesion, the financial-market collapse in 2008 troubled the project’s path. Two buyers broke their contracts after the financial crisis hit, Mr. Della Valle said, but the deals were resolved in the developer’s favor. Today, M r. Della Valle said , 7 of the building’s 10 apartments have sold. Mr. Della Valle said buyers paid $2.4 8 million to $3.8 million, in line with asking prices.

“We’ve closed enough units that we’re comfortable,” he said. “Our market position was never picky, because we knew Jean Nouvel was going to be here and we wanted to be less expensive than that.”

According to the appraiser Jonathan J. Miller, enterprising sorts like Mr. Della Valle and Ms. McConvey who bought West Chelsea land before the High Line arrived, got it cheaply enough that they should be able to pro!t
from the area’s new luster. Mr. Miller also said that buyers west of Eighth Avenue care more about living in a funky new neighborhood than about opulent amenities.

From the start, Alloy worked lean. For instance, Mr. Nouvel’s outré design required that every window on his tower assume a unique shape. For 459 West 18th Street, a company in China made the windows, which were then fitted into panels by International Exterior Fabricators of Calverton, N.Y., to create the facades. The panels were delivered on a flatbed truck, and the prefabricated exterior went up in less than two weeks.

“It cleared the Manhattan Bridge by an inch and a half,” Mr. Della Valle said, laughing. “They said they would never use panels this big again.”
Alloy hopes to plant other stakes in a nascent far-west neighborhood. The firm controls three parcels from 10th to 11th Avenues and 35th to 36th Street, with an option for 22,500 more square feet fronting a planned park boulevard in the eventual Hudson Yards district.

“We’re actively seeking partners,” Mr. Della Valle said. “It’s out of our bailiwick in terms of scale.”

A version of this article appears in print on December 6, 2009, on Page RE8 of the New York edition with the headline: Architect, Developer, Experimenter.

In December 2004, Metropolis magazine ran a cover story entitled “How to be Your Own Developer” written by Brian Libby. In the article, Libby interviewed five young architects who have dipped their toe development and outlined six lessons on how to skip the middleman and build your own projects. {Download the article here}

Lesson One:

It’s never too early to start, or don’t be afraid to empty your own dumpster.

In Lesson One, Libby talks to Kevin Cavenaugh of Guerrilla Development. Frustrated by the professional practice of architecture, Cavenaugh got the final nudge from his own wife, “She said to me, ‘How much harder is it for you to do what your clients do? You should just hire yourself.’” After taking some of the developers he had worked as an architect for to lunch, he began to figure out development. He took out a construction loan and developed his first project as a mixed-use building with retail below and housing above, The Box + One. The budget was tight and Cavenaugh had to be critical of his contractor’s budget. When he saw an $8,000 line item for removing debris from the construction site, he told the contractor that he would do it himself. “So I had an old beat-up Chevy truck, and every Friday I’d cruise over and fill it up with all the debris.”

Lesson Two:

Modern design sells – Just don’t go crazy

In Lesson Two, Libby talks to Chad Oppenheim about his Ten Museum Park project in Miami, FL. He designed a clean and modern condo tower in what was at the time an undesirable and run-down neighborhood. Oppenheim explains how exploiting a modern design helped his sell what other developers were unable to. “You try to operate on the furthest edge of the spectrum, where design is pushed as far as it can be without jeopardizing profit. And it’s proven true repeatedly that the extra design time and consideration for creating beautiful lifestyles pays off.” Libby warns readers of the difficulties of pushing the boundaries of modern design in a world where realtors have a preconceived notion of what sells and a hesitancy to try something new. Nilus de Matran was developing two live-work units in San Francisco, CA. The realtors were afraid that the crisp white interiors and exteriors were too progressive for buyers and pushed to paint the interiors wild colors and stage the project with gaudy furniture. De Matran fought to preserve the clean and was awarded handsomely when the buyers finally came around. Be cautious of those trying to earn a quick buck compromising your passion.

Lesson Three:

Know Thy Materials

In Lesson Three, Libby talks to Jonathan Segal who designs, develops, and builds projects in San Diego, CA. “I can quote you anything about a building’s cost. And I think most architect wouldn’t know half of that.” Segal is positioned to understand the value of design and how to choose materials based on a cost to value ratio. Segal also talks about the added efficiency of being the designer, developer, and contractor. When talking about a past project before he took over the entire process, “There were three five-inch-thick binders full of requests for information on the drawings. Now, doing my own projects, I’m on the site, and if someone says, ‘What do I do here?’ I say, ‘Do this and this,’ and we move on. It’s not three days of going back and forth.”

Lesson Four:

No hable Archispeak

In Lesson Four, Libby talks to Gregg Pasquarelli of New York-based SHoP Architects. Pasquarelli and his partners were interested in developing a project during the late 1990’s in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. This was before the hipsters when hookers and blow filled the streets. SHoP knew that the only way to capitalize on their design efforts was by risking their own money. They joined forces with a local developer, Jeffrey Brown, who helped SHoP navigate their way into the development game for their first project, the Porter House. Pasquarelli quickly realized the amount of work required in effectively communicating why investors should buy into the Porter House. “Most bankers are not in the business they’re in because of their visionary or creative abilities. It takes extra effort to get people to understand what you’re trying to do when it’s not cookie-cutter.”

Architects have a long history of speaking their own unique language, Archispeak. The buzz words typically used to woo clients or professors in architecture school do little to investors who are interested in returns and mitigating risk. “You have to spend a lot of time explaining what you’re trying to do, especially if it’s unconventional,” adds Pasquarelli. “You have to be able to communicate in ways that are not elitist and explain the complexities of a project and what a difference design can mean in resolving them.”

Lesson Five:

Real estate for dummies

In Lesson Five, Libby talks about the need to understand the real estate environment. The architect-developers that Libby interviewed were not only creating beautiful and inspiring pieces of architecture, they were creating a profit, and a good one at that. They were only able to do that by identifying the community they were building in and what was appropriate. These architect-developers had to understand the macro and microeconomic trends of real estate. They needed to identify what kind of architecture was needed for their city, neighborhood, and block. They also needed to understand risk. Architect-developer Jonathan Segal discussed his own perception of risk with Libby. “People tell me it’s too scary to develop your own projects. And I say, ‘What you’re doing is scarier to me. You’re running a business. You’ve got a bunch of employees to worry about, clients calling you seven days a week. I think it’s easier to do what I do.’”

Lesson six:

You’ll be a better architect

Lesson Six, Libby argues that by having skin in the game, architect-developers are able to create better architecture. They are better at assessing the value of good design and able to experiment in creative ways. It is because they are critical of themselves that they can make the most effective use of their architectural abilities. Pasquarelli learned a lot from developing the Porter House. “We were our toughest clients we’ve ever had. You’re really critical with yourself that everything you’re doing is the best use of limited funds. But that’s really when the value of architecture becomes interesting. You’re able to forecast and model the relationships between zoning, design, and financial return and have that as a kind of fluid dynamic equation that you can be completely conversant with at both ends of the spectrum. You can solve problems with good design.”