Efficient and cost-effective projects through collaborative design
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 5, 2023

The Tampa Bay Business Journal recently hosted a Table of Experts discussion sponsored by KD Keller Development about the collaborative design build process and how it can lead to streamlined, efficient and cost-effective projects.

Ian Anderson, publisher and market president, Tampa Bay Business Journal: Ken, can you talk about the Inscription site (formerly known as the Parc Madison site), which was previously a petroleum storage facility, that’s slated to become a $100 million upscale apartment community? Talk about how the original owners worked with your team to develop that property and about the plans to navigate this project efficiently without having a lot of development expertise.

Ken Stoltenberg, principal owner, KD Keller Development: The family has owned the property since 1979 and knew it was time to do something with it. Most people would tell them they would develop it for them, hire an architect, try to get a construction loan and the family would be put at a lot of risk.

I took the opposite approach and said we'd find someone who would put in the money, hire the design professionals and give the family the choice on investing in the project. They could maximize the value of their property and either participate in the upside or not. We brought on a development team, which I was part of, and hired an architect, materials testing and plans review company and contractor. We involved all three of those disciplines from day one. We drilled down, starting with the folks that were going to construct the project, and got their input, from the general contractor to the subcontractors who work directly with me and the architect. We involved people that are going to be reviewing the plans and providing the inspections.

They proof everything as things develop so we don't run into a situation where we've spent a lot of money and need to take five steps backwards, not because of a design error, but because of something that could have been done more efficiently. It could be a situation where we've specced a material that's hard to get or have a design method that’s difficult to execute in this market given the labor pool. We eliminate those types of issues by having everyone have input all the way through.

Anderson: What opportunity exists in Tampa? How many of these lots or types of projects exist?

Stoltenberg: There's a lot of opportunity and I'm hopeful the local government will seize upon that and be pro-growth, pro-development to continue to have the city evolve into a first-rate, top 10 market. That's the path we're on and, for the most part, the city's done a good job, but there’s more to do. For example, looking at growth corridors, there’s the land north of Hillsborough Avenue and south of Sligh Avenue, between Nebraska and 275, that is vastly underutilized. That needs to be the next channel district.

Anderson: Matt, what does this process look like from a practical standpoint in terms of program development with all the parties?

Matthew Cormia, CEO/owner, Scott + Cormia Architecture + Interiors: We don't do the typical design bid build process. It's very linear. When you do that, if something comes out of sequence, you have to go back and do the line again. It’s important to understand the project, its scope and size and start thinking about how to implement it early on. We bring on the general contractor and an estimator and get early input on expensive or hard-to-find systems, such as deep foundations, superstructure or the method in which the superstructures are put together, mechanical systems, windows systems, cladding, infrastructure, the big parts and pieces many people don't think about. It's not just the fancy lobby; it's the foundations. You're burying millions of dollars, so you want to make sure it's well spent.

Anderson: Can you share a real-world example of a problematic situation that can be avoided using a collaborative process?

Cormia: Think about having a client with high-end technology needs, some kind of TV studio or heavy computer use, doing a new satellite building because they're headquartered in Denver and coming to Tampa. They need to be opened by a certain time because there have projected sales. When the parties are working together concurrently, you can do many things at the same time. It’s your designing and engineering, getting early input from the tenant and landlord, and permitting and testing. The builder can pre-order long lead time items, such as windows systems and mechanical systems. The tenant can start ordering equipment, furniture and AV systems. Doing the things that overlap, but don’t run into each other, gives the tenant the building on time. The landlord is getting the revenue stream and rental income as projected, and you try to avoid delays. The biggest issue is team communication and collaboration.

Anderson: Kristine, subcontractors and early general contractor involvement are critical to the success of any project. What does that process look like? How do you select the subs? What design input do they have and how do you work with subs to resolve challenges, so the bottom line and timeline aren’t impacted?

Kristine Retetagos, senior vice president and division manager — KAST Construction: Before we kick off a project, we need to understand the client’s expectations and identify what a successful project looks like to them. Then, we put that plan in place as a team to make it happen. It's working as a unified team to align on important building components, budgets and construction dates.

The process typically starts with high-level design concepts, the owner’s input and producing a design KAST would analyze. We'll use our local experience and cost knowledge and provide a baseline for the construction costs of this initial design concept. It's only a couple sketches. At that point, you look at if the cost works for the team and what the design looks like. We'll talk about if it works and the cost assumptions that were made at this step.

It's a critical step because we're collaborating early with a couple sketches that will align the budget and design and we need to maintain this throughout the project. You continue these discussions on building efficiencies, square feet, number of stories, whether it's a high rise or not. And that affects cost. We start to vet out window percentages. The windows might not all be designed, but what do we want this to feel like? The costs are associated with this type of window or less windows or more windows and balcony sizes.

This early step is impactful with the trade and team partners and keeps the budget and project on time and on budget. As the design continues, the details get further refined, building systems are further developed. We continue to collaborate. We want to keep the constructability of the project feasible. We want to make sure the cost is maintaining the alignment and the design is meeting everybody's expectation. This is where our trade partners get integrated. They provide valuable insight to equipment sizes, materials, long lead items, cost-effective design solutions. It’s important you start having these discussions up front. We want to make sure it's maintained to be a constructible and schedule-friendly design. We do that together as a team and this is where you flush out potential early issues, during this preconstruction process, rather than waiting until you're in the midst of construction where the schedule and cost can be affected.

Anderson: David, can explain the private provider statute, how ECS fits into this and how to work with developers to ensure projects are successful with less headaches, red tape and change orders, with a more efficient experience to get the project across the finish line?

David C. Bearce, regional vice president, ECS Southwest Florida: The Florida Statute is 553.791. It spells out the terms by which the collaboration process can take place from a code compliance perspective. You have the traditional permitting process by which you go to the building department, schedule appointments and try to get collaboration from the building department. The developer, contractor and design team are looking for as much certainty as they can going into a project, but that’s not always achievable with traditional building departments that are overtaxed and dealing with the same labor issues we have.

This Florida statute has its roots from Hurricane Andrew when it devastated Homestead, Florida, in the early 1990’s. The statute was designed to incorporate the design professional community to assist with providing supplementary support to the municipality. This Florida statute has gone through a myriad of stages, but the largest change took place in July 2019. Prior to that moment, the implementation of the statute was optional for a given jurisdiction. In July 2019, it became mandatory that, provided an engineering company like ECS is qualified in that jurisdiction, a building owner or contractor can utilize a third-party code compliance service.

ECS has traditionally been a geotechnical, environmental, material testing and threshold inspection firm. We decided about eight years ago to jump into third-party code compliance consulting. Working with someone like the team we have suits the collaborative process well. For example, Scott + Cormia doesn’t need a code professional. However, a code interpretation, something they can rely on, is now just a phone call away. Now, you're not calling somebody at the building department. You're getting code advice at a grassroots level, a consulting level, and this could apply to anything up to and including a permitting strategy utilizing the mechanisms a building department has that perhaps the design team didn't previously know about, that could increase the efficiency by which you can get people in the building. The timeline reduction is where the real money is made from a development perspective. Ken and Kristina are looking for the certainty associated with concierge code compliance and that's what the provisions of the Florida statute allow and give to a project team so you’re not beholden to the delays associated with an overtaxed municipality.

Anderson: Ken, you mentioned some areas of town with underutilized pieces of property or real estate. For those property owners, what's the best step to take if they're considering developing the project?

Stoltenberg: To be current, the legislature just passed what may be a transformational statute in the Live Local Act. It allows folks that have warehouse and industrial properties to have the development potential of the highest density and zoning in a municipality.

For Tampa, it would be the central business district. It basically exempts those properties, if you meet certain criteria for workforce housing, to walk into the municipality and say I want to turn this 20-acre or 10-acre warehouse, underutilized or not being utilized, into a mixed-use property that’s going to have an element of workforce housing. It allows you to bypass local zoning restrictions that have perhaps been in place for half a century and have curtailed or eliminated the opportunity for that type of development.

It allows people to look at their assets in an entirely different light. It's a tremendous opportunity to allow cities to say yes, in my backyard, instead of NIMBY — not in my backyard.

Returning to the example of the properties north of Hillsborough and south of Sligh between Nebraska and 275, that clearly fits in. It's a fastball in the strike zone for people who own those properties to say let's work with somebody like me to think outside the box, not what we can do with the property with the current zoning, but to throw out the current zoning and look at this statute to transform what they have.

Cormia: Because we're on the front end of the Live Local Act. We've probably had half a dozen clients ask us to explore those things. It's formidable, where it allows developers to maximize density and provide the community the cities want. They want to provide an affordable housing aspect that also invigorates neighborhoods of plight. We’re getting inundated with those types of requests, so it's here.