urbanMSP

Raleigh right now. Stick frame building is a blaze.

Just came here to post that... Sounds like it was under construction. Five alarm fire, completely destroyed in a few short hours.

It seems like there's a lot of stick-build risk when these buildings are under construction or renovation. But are they at risk when they are sprinklered, partitioned into hundreds of smaller spaces with fire-rated drywall, separated by fire-rated doors, etc? Seems like the risk is just during construction.

Apartment Fires Are Tied to Cheaper, Wood-Based Construction
Blazes at construction sites raise questions about use of wooden frames instead of higher-cost metal ones
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/ar ... nt/532437/

Question: what's the average time from groundbreaking to completion & occupancy of a stick project with underground parking? Does 4 stories vs. 6 stories make a major impact on the timeline, or is that just a few extra weeks? How about smaller projects without underground parking, like the 3535 Grand Ave S project?

The reason for my question is related to the 2020 Census. What is the absolute latest that a project with underground parking could begin construction and be occupied on April 1, 2020? For the purposes of this inquiry, I'm not considering large tower projects like 200 Central and The Eleven...we already know those won't be occupied by Census day.

An older article but might still be relevant

http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/08/how-lon ... -building/

Thanks. It looks like 16-18 months is pretty typical for a larger (50+ unit) project, which squares with what I've heard around here.

So for a 4-6 story 50+ unit building to have residents moving in by 4/1/2020 (Census Day), they'd need to be excavating no later than October/November of this year. Good to know.

Also, remember that most buildings aren't going to be fully occupied on opening day -- there's typically a gradual lease-up over six months or so.

Kinda related to the topic, a startup with a model for modular construction of apartments and hotels.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... costs.html

Seems like a necessary but very late thing.

Milwaukee got a 25-story mass timber apartment building, tallest in the world (for now).
Ascent MKE: https://www.fs.usda.gov/inside-fs/deliv ... ding-opens

I can't imagine it will be much longer before Mpls gets another mass timber building that will top the T3 (Amazon office) in North Loop. Heck, just copy-paste the Ascent onto any open lot downtown.