Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

There is increasing concern that electricity generation from fossil fuels contributes to climate change and air pollution. In response to these concerns, governments around the world are encouraging the installation of intermittent electricity generation projects including Industrial Wind Turbines (IWTs).

But Whoa, Nelly! NIMBYs (Not-In-My-Backyard) around the globe from Germany to Australia, California, New York, and Massachusetts are speaking loudly, and acting, to put a halt to the invasion of noisy wind farms in their backyards. Following numerous reports from Maryland toCanadatoFranceon wind turbine noise, the NIMBYs are becoming energized (no pun intended).

Despite the political obsession for intermittent electricity generated from wind turbines, NIMBYs are alive and well! Here is a sampling of NIMBYs around the globe from Germany to Australia, California, New York, and Massachusetts that are stepping up to stop the installation of those monstrosities in their backyards:

The list of the NIMBY resistance goes on and on at locations likeNew York,Wisconsin, andScotland, etc.

In California, the state with the least reliable electrical power system in the nation, between 2008 and 2017,theGolden State experienced far more individual outageswith almost 4,297 individual outages in the ten-year period, more than 2.5 times as many as its closest rival, Texas. The state continues shuttering most of the in-state natural gas and nuclear power plants that have been providing continuous uninterruptible electricity, in favor of intermittent electricity from wind and solar while adding EV charging loads onto the grid. Power outages are now commonplace in California with more to follow for the Golden state.

Before too hastily pursuing those wind turbines for the generation of intermittent electricity, politicians should read the numerous published reports fromMarylandtoCanadatoFranceabout the effects of wind turbine noise, and listen to their NIMBY constituents that are rejecting those monstrosities in their backyards.

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NIMBY's Are Making More Noise Than Wind Turbines - OpEd - Eurasia Review

Construction has wrapped up on one of Amazons new, temporary office buildings in Crystal City.

The renovation project, part of developer JBG Smiths extensive development plan for the area, helped to modernize the office buildings 273,000 square feet of space while giving the exterior a shiny new glass-and-steel look.

Amazon is temporarily leasing the 14-story building while the first phase of its permanent HQ2 is under construction. Amazon currently leases 857,000 square feet of temporary space in five local JBG Smith buildings, the developer says.

The opening of the newly reimagined 1770 Crystal Drive coincides with the two-year anniversary of Amazons selection of National Landing as the location of its second headquarters and JBG SMITH as its partner to house and develop the project, JBG said in a press release. The building was completed two quarters ahead of schedule and under budget.

The construction started shortly after Amazon announced that National Landing the collective term for the Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard neighborhoods was getting the new HQ2.

The return to productive use of 1770 Crystal Drive represents yet another significant milestone in National Landings ongoing transformation into a vibrant 18-hour neighborhood, said Matt Kelly, CEO of JBG Smith, in a statement. We are thrilled to partner with Amazon and accommodate its growing presence in the region as we continue to make progress on its modern new headquarters.

The building is a short walk from the Crystal City Metro station and has expansive views of the D.C. skyline and the Potomac River from the top floors, the press release notes. It will be part of a new retail district that is expected to feature new stores, buzzy restaurants and an Alamo Drafthouse movie theater.

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Construction Wraps Up on Crystal City Building That Will House Amazon Offices - ARLnow

New commercial

OFFICE BUILDING: 2886 NE Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette; Clayton Homes, owner and applicant; description, modular office; self, contractor; $17,000.

OTHER: 705 W. University Ave., Lafayette; Lafayette Consolidated Government, owner; description, City Hall elevator; Trahan Architecture and Planning, applicant; Garden City Construction Co., contractor; $156,800.

STORE: 3822 Ambassador Caffery Parkway, Lafayette; BJT Development, owner; description, interior demolition white box area; Southwest Contractors LLC, applicant and contractor; $5,000.

916 Killdee Lane, Duson; Stellco LLC; $270,000.

217 Gable Crest Drive, Lafayette; Manuel Builders; $225,000.

306 Grassy Meadows Lane, Lafayette; DSLD LLC; $198,000.

508 Greyford Drive, Lafayette Parish; South Louisiana Custom Homes LLC; $477,000.

102 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $211,500.

104 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $180,000.

111 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

313 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

311 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $247,500.

309 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

307 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $243,000.

313 San Marcos Drive, Youngsville; E J Rock Construction; $283,500.

201 Grassy Meadows Lane, Lafayette; DSLD LLC; $270,000.

106 Old Heritage Lane, Carencro; Mitch Higginbotham Construction; $184,500.

148 Gable Crest Drive, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $198,000.

105 Dunmore Court, Lafayette; Baudoin Custom Homes Inc.; $396,000.

103 Rio Ridge Drive, Lafayette; Coast Contemporary Construction LLC; $553,500.

109 Golden Eye Drive, Lafayette; LRZ3 Properties LLC; $513,000.

869 E. Gloria Switch Road, Lafayette; Tim Landry; $75,000.

106 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $198,000.

108 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $243,000.

109 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $247,500.

103 New Trails Lane, Youngsville; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $342,000.

100 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $247,500.

101 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $243,000.

103 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $193,500.

107 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $229,500.

105 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $180,000.

600 N. Montauban Drive, Lafayette; La Consultants LLC; $288,000.

101 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

306 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

312 Acadian Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $225,000.

113 Nova Lake Drive, Duson; D R Horton Inc. Gulf Coast; $216,000.

205 Lukes Hollow Lane, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $184,500.

207 Lukes Hollow Lane, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $166,500.

213 Redfern St., Lafayette; Lancaster Construction LLC; $270,000.

116 Tracewood Bend, Lafayette; Shivers Brothers Construction; $261,000.

127 Gena Lane, Broussard; Hays Homes LLC; 513, 850.

201 Canary Palm Way, Broussard; Triple D's Homes LLC; $301,134.

218 Tennyson Drive, Broussard; Manuel Builders LLC; $193,415.

102 Canary Palm Way, Broussard; Van Alan Homes LLC; $478,773.

303 Canary Palm Way, Broussard; Coastal Custom Builders LLC; $271,771.

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Who's building where in Acadiana? Here are the building permits issued Dec. 7-11 - The Advocate

The 2020 construction season got off to a slow start because of pandemic-induced restrictions. Overall, though, industry observers here say the season finished better than expected, and 2021 is expected to even better.

About $30 million in public work is expected to continue into next year in the city, Marlene Feist, public works director of strategic development for the city of Spokane says. An additional $50 million in new work is also on the slate, including a $10 million investment package in street maintenance that will be delivered through 2021.

Major projects next year include the replacement of the deck on the Hatch Road Bridge, the next stage of rebuilding Sprague Avenue from Division Street to Grant Street, and work on the Cochran Basin, which will include infiltration of the stormwater in the basin. Water from the basin will be used on the Downriver Disc Golf Course for water features, says Feist. Other improvements will be made to T.J. Meenach Drive and the traditional Downriver Golf Course as part of the project.

The largest continuing project is the $18 million rebuild of the Post Street Bridge. An additional $15 million in water tank installations could also occur on the South Hill and near the Spokane International Airport, Feist says, though those projects are dependent on finding a suitable site and finishing additional permitting requirements.

On the residential side, Joel White, executive officer of the Spokane Home Builders Association, says builders are struggling to keep up with the demand.

Labor continues to be a hurdle, he contends. Construction companies saw a brief shutdown in March that saw several layoffs, and many workers declined to return to the workforce once the industry was allowed to restart work a few weeks following the shutdown, White says.

Additionally, supply chain disruptions made building materials, especially lumber, skyrocket in price in June, he says. Those price hikes drove up the cost of new homes, he says.

Through the first 11 months of 2019, 1,446 single family homes were permitted in Spokane County. This year has seen a marked decline, with 1,182 single family homes being permitted. However, White says, more multifamily buildings and duplexes were built this year than last.

In commercial construction, Cheryl Stewart, executive director of the Associated General Contractors Inland Northwest chapter, says she expects to see a decrease in public works projects as local governments grapple with smaller budgets.

She notes there are several big-budget transportation projects slated to begin this year, including large freeway projects and the continuation of the North Spokane Corridor.

Stewart says she expects to see fewer retail structures being built in the near future, while manufacturing and multifamily work will remain steady or grow.

Jim Frank, founder of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Homes, says in-migration will continue to drive up demand for residential construction in Spokane and Kootenai counties. Frank says he expects to see strength in the medical and office space markets; however, he adds, retail is expected to take a major hit as the pandemic accelerates trends toward online buying.

Read more:
Construction activity likely to be strong in 2021 - Spokane Journal of Business

Bisnow/Jon Banister

The Boro, with the residential buildings in the background and Boro Park in the foreground.

This year has been a tough one for commercial real estate developments. From New York toCalifornia, projects have been stalled as developers grapple with everything from worker safety to uncertainty surrounding the future of the market. But in one Virginia community, development continues to soar.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, developers in Tysons, Virginia, have moved forward with their plans for massive mixed-use projects. The Fairfax County government has ambitious goals to transform Tysons into a more walkable, sustainable urban center that will be able to meet the needs of 100,000 residents and 200,000 employees by the year 2050 a major undertaking considering that the current population of Tysons is around 23,700.

Even during the pandemic, Tysons has been dotted with cranes for commercial and residential developments, said Victor Hoskins, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. This is a concrete testament to the value that developers, businesses and people see in locating in a quickly urbanizing center, and it validates the vision of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to transform this collection of suburban office parks and malls into a walkable, transit-oriented 21st-century city.

The Fairfax County government has been working hard to support local businesses during this difficult time and help keep Tysons expanding.

Read on to learn about some of the major development projects that have been under development in Tysons over the last several months and the key initiatives that have kept the local economy humming.

Capital One Center

In 2018, Capital One opened up a new headquarters in Tysons. Since then, several new buildings have been developed along what has been dubbed Capital One Center, and many of these projects were still under construction during the pandemic. As of August,offices, a hotel and retail space were all under construction, and a Wegmans grocery store opened in one of these spaces last month.

The Mile

This past October, real estate development group Kettler announced that it had broken ground on the next phase of its ambitious mixed-use project known as The Mile. Kettler plans to take 45 acres of unused space northwest of Tysons Galleria andturn it into a mix of residential, office, hotel and retail space totaling 2.8M SF.

The Boro

In October 2019, the first phase of The Boro, a mixed-use development that was cited as one of the first projects in the plan to make Tysons more walkable, was delivered. The development, located at the intersection of Westpark Drive and Greensboro Drive, was designed to feature apartment buildings reaching 32 and 13 floors, a 25-story condo building, a 20-story trophy office tower and a five-story boutique office building.

In May of this year, at the height of the pandemic, The Meridian Group, the lead developer behind The Boro, filed plans for a 1M SF expansion of the project to add additional retail and senior housing to the development.

Tysons Central

Tysons Central is a mixed-use office project under development located close to The Boro and Tysons Galleria. Once complete, this388,206 SF space will feature luxury offices and 18,650 SF of retail space. Developer Foulger-Pratt has yet to announce a signed tenant.

Local Businesses Get The Help They Need

For these new developments to thrive, there needs to be a strong local economy in place to help support them. To keep Tysons local businesses afloat during this difficult time, organizations like the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, the Northern Virginia Pro Bono Law Center and Start Small Think Big have teamed up to create the COVID-19 Pro Bono Collaborative, which isoffering free legal assistance to small businesses in Northern Virginia to help them with federal assistance, grant and loan programs, leases and employment issues.

Local businesses have also been encouraged to contact the Community Business Partnership or the George Mason Small Business Development Center for help applying for small-business grants, or for counseling sessions on steps they can take to support their companies.

Planning For The Holiday Season

To help Tysons residents support local businesses this holiday season, malls and outdoor shopping destinationshave made modifications to make the shopping experience safer.

Tysons Corner Centers retailers are offering shopping by appointment, both in-person and virtually, and many are offering curbside pickup, as are some stores at the Tysons Galleria.

Tysons is in the process of transforming itself, and its not letting the pandemic get in the way. From new office and retail developments to new fire stations and transit centers, theres a lot to look forward to in Tysons.

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The Pandemic Hasn't Stopped the Building Boom In Tysons - Bisnow

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JBG SMITH (NYSE: JBGS), a leading owner and developer of high-quality, mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market, has completed construction of 1770 Crystal Drive, an approximately 273,000 square-foot office building in National Landing. The entire 259,000 square-foot office portion of the 14-story building is now leased by Amazon as part of its HQ2 expansion to Northern Virginia.

The opening of the newly reimagined 1770 Crystal Drive coincides with the two-year anniversary of Amazons selection of National Landing as the location of its second headquarters and JBG SMITH as its partner to house and develop the project. The building was completed two quarters ahead of schedule and under budget.

Amazons offices at 1770 Crystal Drive are part of the initial 537,000 square feet of existing National Landing office space the company agreed to lease from JBG SMITH in November 2018. Since then, Amazon has continued to grow its National Landing leased footprint, which now encompasses 857,000 square feet across five JBG SMITH buildings.

In addition, JBG SMITH is managing the construction of 2.1 million square feet of office space in two sustainably designed towers, 50,000 square feet of community-serving retail, and more than an acre of public open space, representing the first phase of Amazons new headquarters in National Landing.

The return to productive use of 1770 Crystal Drive represents yet another significant milestone in National Landings ongoing transformation into a vibrant 18-hour neighborhood, said Matt Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of JBG SMITH. We are thrilled to partner with Amazon and accommodate its growing presence in the region as we continue to make progress on its modern new headquarters.

Working with Gensler, JBG SMITH has reinvented 1770 Crystal Drive with a striking contemporary design. A floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall and metal panels form the buildings sleek new faade, and a redesigned two-story lobby with high-end finishes create an elevated arrival experience. New outdoor terraces constructed on the upper floors offer expansive views of the DC skyline, Potomac River, and Reagan National Airport, and a double height pedestrian colonnade highlights 1770 Crystal Drives transformed retail spaces and storefronts. The buildings mechanical systems have also been upgraded, and the elevators have been modernized with destination dispatch technology.

1770 Crystal Drive is conveniently located just a short walk from the Crystal City Metro and VRE station and sits adjacent to a recently completed street-level retail project along Crystal Drive.

About JBG SMITH

JBG SMITH is an S&P 400 company that owns, operates, invests in and develops a dynamic portfolio of high-growth mixed-use properties in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Capital region, including National Landing where it now serves as the exclusive developer for Amazons new headquarters. JBG SMITHs portfolio currently comprises 20.7 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily and retail assets, 98% at our share of which are Metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 17.1 million square feet of mixed-use development opportunities. For more information on JBG SMITH please visit http://www.jbgsmith.com.

Original post:
JBG SMITH Welcomes Amazon to Newly Renovated 1770 Crystal Drive - Business Wire

(Updated at 2 p.m.) Plans to demolish Alpine Restaurant on Lee Highway have been approved, inching forward the planned construction of The Childrens School daycare facility.

Despite the approval, the permit to demolish the building at 4770 Lee Highway, held by Trinity Group Construction, has yet to be issued.

Once a payment is received, the permit is then issued, said Andrew Pribulka, a spokesperson for the Arlington Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, in an email. Demolition may not begin until permits have been issued and posted.

Trinity has applied for two other permits, one to excavate and anotherto build the facility.

Requests for comment from Trinity and The Childrens School were not returned.

The progress comes two-and-a-half years after theCounty Board unanimously approved a permit to build a three-story daycare facility for children of employees of Arlington Public Schools, to be built where the long-time restaurant has stood vacant for a decade.

The private, nonprofit child care center will oversee no more than 235 children of APS staff between the ages of two months and five years old. This new facility will also be home to Integration Station, a program for kids with developmental or other disabilities.

Both the co-op daycare and Integration Station are temporarily housed in the same Ballston office building at 4420 N. Fairfax Drive. The programs were co-located in the Reed School building in Westover, but were forced out when APS decided to open a new elementary school there.

The Reed School is set to open to students in 2021.

One year after approving the project, the Board approved a request to eliminate off-site parking and modify initial architectural plans.

Most parking is below-ground with some above ground, and the plans now includes a third-story rear play deck and an expanded rear wall to shield neighboring houses from car headlights, a concern from residents.

Alpine Restaurant served Italian cuisine and was in business for 44 years before closing in 2010 upon the owners retirement. It was acquired by the owners of the Liberty Tavern Restaurant Group, which ultimately decided against opening a new restaurant there.

Photo via Google Maps

Read more from the original source:
Demolition of Alpine Restaurant is Approved, Kickstarting Work on The Children's School - ARLnow

Leaders of REBNY, the Building and Construction Trades Council, the Building Trades Employers Association and the New York Building Congress all framed the low number of new project filings as a major threat to the citys economic recovery.

This 10-year low point for new construction activity calls for an all-hands-on-deck response by elected officials and a laser focus on policies that will generate jobs and growth without setting back crucial recovery efforts, REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement.

Brooklyn saw the largest number of project filings during the third quarter at 128, while Queens projects made upthe greatest percentage of total square feet at 38.6%, according to the report.

The largest Queens project was a mixed-use building spanning almost 500,000 square feet at 90-02 168th St. in Jamaica, and the largest Brooklyn project was a mixed-use building spanning about 240,000 square feet at 2700 Atlantic Ave. in Cypress Hills, according to the report.

REBNY's analysisfeaturedmultiple proposals for reinvigorating the city's construction industry. These included prioritizing and expediting major developments already in the pipeline, such as Sunnyside Yards and the remainder of the World Trade Center. The industry group also proposed developing a regionalmaster plan for transportation infrastructure thatwould focus on projectssuch asthe Second Avenue subway extension and the LaGuardia Airport AirTrain connection.

The analysis also recommends doing more to incentivize developmentin life sciences, a sector that has historically been stronger in cities such asSan Francisco and Boston than in New York.It specifically suggests making the Industrial and Commercial Abatement program available for new life science construction projects and creating a new tax abatement program for projects that dedicate at least 40% of their space to life science purposes.

In addition, it suggests allowing for as-of-right conversions of Class Band C office space to residential space as a way of making it easier to create new housing. Ideas around office-to-residential conversionshave become more prominent duringthe pandemicamid lingering skepticism about the resilience of the citys office market in the face of widespread workfrom home.

Investment in construction and large-scale infrastructure projects are what drive a robust economic recovery, BCTC President Gary LaBarbera said in a statement. These projects create thousands of jobs that lead to family-sustaining careers with benefits, and thats exactly whats needed to generate the economic activity and mobility that will help New York City turn the corner on this economic crisis.

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REBNY report finds New York construction hits lowest level of activity since wake of Great Recession - Crain's New York Business

GRAND RAPIDS Perrigo Co. plc is seeking a 12-year incentive agreement estimated at $4.1 million in total property tax savings for its plans to relocate its North American headquarters to downtown.

The Grand Rapids City Commission set a Jan.12 public hearing to consider the agreement. The commission will consider an Industrial Development District for the project, as well as a 12-year Industrial Facilities Exemption Certificate and a 12-year New Personal Property Exemption Certificate. Perrigos new headquarters is planned at 430 Monroe Ave. NW, where it has committed to a 15-year lease.

The proposed Industrial Development District will include the footprint of the new building, which will have frontage on Ottawa Avenue and Michigan Street, as well as a seven-story parking deck.

Of the estimated $4.1 million in property tax savings, the citys share would be approximately $797,000 in property taxes. Under the proposed incentives, the city would receive about $1.1 million in new property taxes.

Factoring in property and income tax revenue from the $39 million investment and 150 new jobs in Grand Rapids, the city stands to receive $2.6 million over the 15-year period, Grand Rapids Economic Development Director Jeremiah Gracia told MiBiz.

The tax incentive hinges on Perrigo having 150 employees in downtown Grand Rapids within two years of the projects completion. About 100 will be existing Perrigo employees that will transfer to Grand Rapids, and about 50 will be newly created positions.

Perrigo announced plans to relocate to Grand Rapids Medical Mile on Oct. 27, the same day the Michigan Strategic Fund board approved a $2 million Michigan Business Development Program grant for the project. The MSF support is predicated on the anticipated creation of 170 jobs in Michigan.

Perrigos offices are planned for the eighth through tenth floors of the building, comprising 63,550 square feet of what will be a 127,460-square-foot building. The development will be located within Michigan State Universitys Grand Rapids Innovation Park.

Rockford Construction Co. is the contractor on the project, which is expected to start in February and be completed in May 2022.

Employees in the new office building will make wages ranging from $25.43-$53.30 per hour for roles including managerial, professional, technical and sales positions.

While Perrigo will keep its operations in Allegan, the company is also in the process of constructing a new $13 million Holland distribution center, which is expected to create 40 new jobs and be completed in March.

The 357,000-square-foot facility at 796 Interchange Drive will be the third time Perrigo has expanded in the Holland area in the last two years. Earlier this year the company invested $13.6 million to expand its facility in Holland Township with a 66,000-square-foot warehouse. In 2019, Perrigo expanded its facility at E. 64th St. in Holland with a $7 million expansion.

Perrigo continues to be an employer of choice, strengthening their North American base of operations along the lakeshore, and we are pleased to once again take part in their continued growth, Lakeshore Advantage President Jennifer Owens said in a statement.

The new facility will add to Perrigos robust distribution and manufacturing presence in the region, said Ron Janish, Perrigos executive vice president of global operations and supply chain.

This distribution center exemplifies our consumer self-care mindset and brings together finished goods from numerous product lines into one point of distribution, which will enable our customers to receive one comprehensive shipment from Perrigo, Janish said.

The city of Holland is supporting the new distribution center development with a 12-year Industrials Facilities Tax Exemption.

We are pleased that Perrigo chose to build its distribution center in Holland, increasing its operational footprint in the region with its manufacturing facilities in Allegan County and a North American corporate headquarters in Grand Rapids, said Holland City Manager Keith Van Beek. Our support for the distribution center helps maintain and expand a robust economy and quality jobs throughout West Michigan.

See the article here:
Perrigo seeks $4.1M in tax incentives for planned GR headquarters; Holland expansion moves forward - MiBiz: West Michigan Business News

On a Sunday evening in late September, with wildfire smoke hanging in the air, a few dozen people gathered in the rooftop kitchen of a Hollywood apartment building called Treehouse for their weekly communal dinner.

The buildings co-founder and chief executive, Prophet Walker, stacked plates and cleaned up cutting boards behind the tiled kitchen island, while the buildings designer, Sean Knibb, manned the pans of turmeric chicken sizzling on the stove.

The rest of the residents drank wine and chatted as they waited to eat. A woman with the vibes of an Instagram astrologer waved hi at a man who seemed to leap from a Vineyard Vines catalog. One wall of the kitchen was open to the deck outside, but people were squeezed together at small tables. Nobody was wearing a mask.

It looked like a scene from the past, or from the future. These people werent friends, at least not before they moved in. They werent family, save a few parents with their children. They were co-livers, a building-sized pod in the time of COVID, in a housing experiment with grand ambitions.

Co-living isnt a new idea, or even a new target for tech money. Start-ups like Common, Bungalow and WeLive, the co-living division of the smoldering office-space Hindenburg WeWork, have been raising venture capital and carving up apartment buildings across the country in recent years. Most sell rooms to renters as a cheaper option, a nouveau-SRO with foosball in the laundry room and catered Taco Tuesdays on the patio.

Treehouse is taking a different tack. Walker and co-founder Joe Green, a tech entrepreneur in the Facebook orbit and big booster of psychedelic research, say they want to create the togetherness of intentional communities like co-ops, communes, or Burning Man without the anticapitalist politics or freegan cuisine. In an era when luxury is synonymous with isolation private jets, private islands, Uber Black versus Uber Pool theyre betting that real community can be packaged as a premium, an amenity that keeps atomization at bay as surely as heated floors banish cold feet.

From the outside, the five-story building on Carlton Way near the open cut of the 101 looks like any other upscale new construction sans serif font, little balconies, black-painted steel. But inside its walls, things look different, starting with a floor plan heavily tilted toward shared spaces.

The laundry/art room in the basement.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Rotating committees of residents determine which rental applicants get approved, and the process involves more checks of vibe than credit. Leases come with signed commitments to community values, and instead of simply showing up for scheduled events, residents are encouraged to create their own classes and shindigs for the rest of the building. Only 10% of the units are set aside as affordable for low-income tenants, but all are currently occupied by poets.

The rooms are pitched at the upper middle of the rental market in central L.A., with rents starting at $1,715 a month, plus a $210 fee to cover utilities, housekeeping, free coffee and Sunday dinners, yoga classes and other events.

Specifically, theyre pitched at people like Kimberlee Archer. When Archer left Facebook for a high-ranking job at Snap in May, the 38-year-old marketing executive could have rented an upscale pad with ocean views or found a spot up in the hills. But she wanted to live with other people, pandemic be damned. Before leaving Oakland, she googled coliving space.

A few weeks later, she moved into one of Treehouses units really just a bedroom and a private bathroom, furnished in the style of a cozy boutique hotel (Knibb also designed the Line Hotel in Koreatown).

Ive lived by myself, Ive lived with family members, Ive lived with roommates, Archer said. But after a career heavy on work travel, she realized she didnt need a lot of space she was used to living in a hotel room. What I enjoy is having really good conversations with people I dont work with.

A bedroom in Treehouse Hollywood.

(Treehouse)

She shares a kitchen with four other suitemates and shares the common spaces of the building with the rest of Treehouses 40-plus residents: Theres the lobby/cafe, laundry room/art studio, screening room/Japanese-themed bar, two-story library curated by the resident librarian, and on the roof, a garden, a deck, the communal kitchen, and yes, a little treehouse, wrapped around a 100-year-old olive tree shipped in from Sacramento.

The company views the Hollywood building as a beta test for its bigger plans: a network of Treehouses across Los Angeles, from Koreatown to Compton. A complex keyed toward families interested in co-life is already in the works in Leimert Park. Residents will be welcome to stop by any other Treehouse in the city for coffee or drinks on the roof when theyre in the neighborhood.

Walker and Green make an odd couple of utopian housing entrepreneurs. What brought them together was loneliness.

Walker grew up in Watts, broke someones jaw in a fight over a DiscMan, and went to Ironwood State Prison on an assault and robbery charge when he was 16. He got out and got into Loyola Marymount University, then worked on some of L.A.s splashiest real estate projects as a developer with Morley Builders, attempting a run for state Assembly in 2014 along the way.

Green grew up in Santa Monica and went to Harvard, where he found himself sharing a dorm with Mark Zuckerberg. He declined a chance to quit school to go work at the social network but managed to start a series of successful tech companies of his own. In 2013, he teamed up with Zuckerberg to start FWD.us, a lobbying shop that used tech money to push for immigration reform, among other issues.

By the time Green and Walker met in 2016, both had reached a similar conclusion: They had found success but felt more alone than ever.

I never experienced lack of community until I made money, Walker said. Growing up in Watts, he said, he felt like the child of everyone on the block. Prison, if anything, was an even more intense experience of closeness with his neighbors. Living in a hundred-person open dorm requires radical transparency literally theres no dividers between 15 toilets, Walker said. We needed each other to not go crazy.

After his run for office, he started thinking about how L.A. bred loneliness the skyrocketing rents, the neighbors who never met, the way that markets and neighborhoods in the city segregate people by race, class, age and interest.

For Green, loneliness struck when he was on a spiritual sabbatical following the self-described failure of his lobbying efforts. Alone with his thoughts, he realized he had been happier as a kid first in his Santa Monica neighborhood, with friends up and down the block, and then at Harvards Kirkland House, where undergrads lived in separate rooms but shared common space.

He began reading about the spread of loneliness in modern society, and was drawn to the work of Johann Hari, who argues in his book Lost Connections that leaving the multigenerational home and familiar neighborhood is a new phenomenon of the last 70 years, and that this isolation is to blame for increasing depression, anxiety, addiction and suicide.

In 2016, mutual friends introduced the pair at the opening of Locol, a burger stand in Watts started by celebrity chefs with the mission of bringing healthier fast food to low-income neighborhoods. Walker had helped build the restaurant with a construction crew drawn from the neighborhood, and he says he was looking for a new project that captured the same feeling of building community and using physical space to actually do so.

They hit it off, but Treehouse wasnt fully born until Green went on a silent meditation retreat a few months later. I spent several days being unable to get my mind off of a vision for this building, Green said. When he got back to San Francisco, he spoke with his friend Michael Birch, the tech millionaire behind the elite S.F. social club the Battery, who reintroduced Green to Walker. Soon, they started scouting out locations.

Unlike most co-living companies, which reconfigure existing apartment buildings, Walker and Green saw that they needed to build from the ground up to get the mix of public versus private space they wanted.

But the decision to start from scratch presented its own challenges. Banks typically finance real estate projects based on dollars per rentable square foot, a model that assumes that shared spaces in the building, such as stairwells and lobbies, are worthless. Green and Walker had trouble finding a lender willing to back their plan. It was, frankly, through some relationships and luck that we finally found a bank that was willing to do a construction loan, Walker said.

A number of prominent tech names have since bought into the vision, though Green is the largest financial backer. Alexis Ohanian, who started the online community Reddit, chipped in, as did L.A. investor Arlan Hamilton and Justin Kan, who co-founded the streaming platform Twitch.

By that Sunday in late September, it seemed like the vision was working, at least to a visitor, even in the face of the pandemic.

After Knibb introduced the meal squash blossoms, jeweled rice, chapulines and a big salad along with the chicken Elizabeth Williams, an Australian screenwriter, saw that a journalist had joined for the evening and immediately introduced herself.

Williams had moved into Treehouse after a few cripplingly lonely months in a Studio City apartment, after moving to the U.S. in 2019. She explained that she grew up in a close-knit neighborhood in Townsville, North Queensland, no locks on doors, the kids would just swarm around like bees, where her fondest memories were of neighborhood game nights and jam sessions. She was happy to pay extra for a built-in community.

Michele Esquivel, Treehouses lone inhabitant older than 50, sat eating squash blossoms and rice at a table with three building mates. Her 14-year-old daughter, Violeta, hung out at the next table over.

For years, Esquivel had wanted to move into the city from Orange County, where she worked as a nurse at Kaiser, mostly to help Violeta pursue her budding career as a slam poet. The closest place they had been able to afford was in Long Beach, until she heard about Treehouse earlier this year.

Now they live in a suite with three other poets, whose rooms make up the 10% of units that are affordable in Treehouse, which the building includes in exchange for denser zoning allowances. Esquivel said that it could feel like a retirement home for millennials from time to time, but she was surprised at how well it was working out.

I felt the vetting process was long and tedious, and they asked really odd questions, but I understand it now, Esquivel said. To maintain the vibe of the building, potential renters have to go through an extensive application process, with other renters serving on the application committee. Everyone has to sign a commitment to the buildings core values being kind, present, curious, candid and responsible as part of their lease.

Prophet Walker, left, and Joe Green in a communal space at Treehouse. Every Sunday, residents gather here for a shared meal.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

One question had been what she would bring to the table as a resident; she had picked her cooking and her massage therapy practice. Now she sets up her table on the roof deck and gives massage sessions to residents. Other Treehousers give fitness classes in the basement gym, or teach lessons on medicinal herbs in the rooftop garden. Every Sunday, a rotating group of residents get a $500 budget to cook or order family dinner for the whole building.

The building shares a Slack for internal announcements, which also plays host to the occasional call-out and heated conversation. To keep conflicts to a minimum, residents have set up a regular series of conversations, called Tree Talks, where the community values are often invoked to keep things kind and candid when residents are being less than responsible. A resident who washed their dogs clothes in one of the shared machines was a source of building-wide tension. Now, after a Tree Talk, a washer and dryer set is earmarked just for items that might have pet hair on them.

Esquivel said there were some initial issues with dish-doing and living room clutter within the poets suite, but the benefits have outweighed the rough patches. We would have never met anybody in these circles, Esquivel said, and especially for her daughter she thinks its been a wonderful experience, shes learning to cohabit with other people, other age groups.

A dissenting voice on the deck came from James Swiderski, who owns a solar energy company. He had always lived alone, and described his decision to move into Treehouse as a personal challenge. He planned to leave soon. Im glad I came, I dont regret it, Swiderski said. But it was an overstep for me, to be honest.

For Green, too, co-life has only been a temporary change of pace. When the pandemic first swept over California, he was staying in the spacious Beverly Hills house that his dad grew up in, which he said was in certain ways the peak of what Americans think they want. But Beverly Hills got lonely.

He moved into a room at Treehouse, where residents had created a building-wide bubble of viral trust after a few nervous weeks that had left the common areas mostly empty. Immediately, Green said he could feel his COVID isolation anxiety melt away. He could post on Slack and ten minutes later have a Settlers of Catan game going on the roof. It felt so much better, because I had people to be around. Still, after several weeks, he returned to his primary home in San Francisco.

Walker has no plans to leave. After the meal wound down and people began to filter back to their rooms, he finished doing the dishes, then plopped down in a booth, proud of the social feat he was in the process of pulling off: filling a building with strangers who were becoming friends, or at least fond acquaintances, against the head wind of a pandemic that has mostly driven Americans further into isolation.

Between its opening in fall 2019 and the beginning of the pandemic, Treehouse had rented only a third of its rooms. In the months since, the building has nearly filled up. The pandemic showed us if nothing else how important community and proximity is, Walker said. We have all these massive online communities, and thats like cool, cute, Walker said, but people in quarantine in New York and Italy still felt compelled to sing out their windows with their neighbors during the first lockdowns.

Walker reached for a painful memory from his teenage years in Watts to underscore the point: I watched my best friend get murdered in front of me, Walker said. That should be like a death knell to anyones psyche, but he credits the neighborhood with saving him.

The entire block came outside, Walker said, and then when they saw what happened, every single person, just about, hugged me, like youre gonna get through this, this sucks, but weve got you, and every day weve got you. His hope for Treehouse is that it can build that kind of neighborhood, one where everyone knows your name and comes together in tough times, but for people like him who left their neighborhoods behind.

And of course, he hopes that it can make a lot of money at the same time. It just so happens that through density arbitrage, through a host of laws, through real estate financials, the Treehouse business model is an incredible investment, Walker said. But truly, were trying to build a community.

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Treehouse is trying to cure L.A. loneliness with co-living - Los Angeles Times