ATLANTA, GA – Toll Brothers Apartment Living has contracted Balfour Beatty as construction manager for its mixed-use, multifamily Osprey project located in West Midtown Atlanta. Designed to maximize project density and accelerate schedule, Balfour Beatty is leveraging Prescient’s modular construction technology and off-site manufacturing platform to build the project’s entire tower structure. The Osprey will be among the first projects using the Prescient solution to go vertical in the Atlanta market.

The 325,000-square-foot Class A development will feature a 13-tale Prescient tower, two five-tale wood frame buildings and a seven-tale, 540-car parking garage. With a total of 319 residential units, the top two floors will feature luxury penthouse units with private outdoor living areas. The Osprey will include 30,000 square feet of interior service and retail space, in addition to amenities including an exterior pool, fitness-on-demand studio, a sky lounge with a community bar, co-working space and a dog park.

“We’re honored for the opportunity to be Toll Brothers Apartment Livings’ construction partner in delivering this innovative project leveraging Prescient technology and lean construction techniques to meet their project density and scheduling goals,” said Patrick Fleming, senior project manager, Balfour Beatty. “Prefabricating the tower structure off-site for this project optimizes the front-end design and preconstruction phases, which in turn increases the speed of construction. Like Toll Brothers, we’re always seeking more innovative ways to deliver projects, which makes our work together on this project a fantastic fit.”

Balfour Beatty evaluated multiple options to help Toll Brothers Apartment Living meet project pro forma objectives. Ultimately, the team honed in on Prescient as the best structural solution to achieve its goals versus a typical post-tensioned concrete frame or other load-bearing structural frame options. In addition to the project’s wall panels with structural columns, Prescient will also install precast balconies, stairs and infill-framing.

The Osprey project team quickly harnessed the value inherent in incorporating off-site manufacturing into the construction process. Off-site modular construction requires building panels to be designed to precise specifications and manufactured much earlier than with traditional construction, resulting in a far more efficient process in terms of both time and material resources. Leveraging the Prescient off-site solution also requires tight integration with trade partners very early in the design and preconstruction phases, which enables the project team to turn units several months quicker than on typical projects.

With construction underway, the project team will start installing the prefabricated tower structure by the end of the first quarter 2019 with overall project completion scheduled for first quarter 2020. In addition to Prescient, Balfour Beatty’s design partners on the Osprey also include Brock Hudgins Architects, S.A. Miro, M2 Structural, and Proficient Engineering.

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LOS ANGELES, CA – In a statewide first, Loyola Marymount University has sold approximately $90 million worth of “green bonds” via the California Educational Facilities Authority to construct new, sustainable student housing on the university’s Westchester campus.

Green bonds are financing instruments that earn the special green designation because their proceeds will be used for environmentally friendly or sustainable projects. LMU is the first university to sell green bonds through CEFA.

“LMU has always strived to make our campus as environmentally responsible as possible, and by selling green bonds, we’re expanding that undertaking to include our financing as well,” said University Treasurer Caroline Wilhelm. “While it’s exciting to take this step, it’s also a path LMU knows well.”

The new student housing, which will replace several older dormitories at LMU, will include energy-efficient design and construction, and is expected to qualify for LEED Silver certification. The buildings will be constructed in accordance with the university’s Master Plot, a development agreement between LMU and the city of Los Angeles that was approved in 2011.

The project will increase the number of students living on the main LMU campus, thus reducing its carbon footprint by cutting down the number of car trips taken by non-resident students commuting to and from campus.

“Loyola Marymount’s commitment to sustainability is embraced at all levels of the university, including our finance operations,” said Chief Financial Officer Thomas Fleming. “Selling green bonds is a natural fit for the university. This action reaffirms our ethos and helps expand the marketplace for those seeking environmentally responsible investments.”

LMU has long been a leader in campus sustainability efforts, with endeavors ranging from the 90,000 square feet of solar panels on university buildings to its on-site recycling center. The Sierra Club recently included LMU in its list of the 20 greenest colleges and universities in North America. 

Last year, LMU became the first Jesuit Catholic university to sign on to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing, pledging agreement with the global network’s guidelines for incorporating environmental, social and governance factors into investment decisions.

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VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – Besyata Investment Group and The Scharf Group, both NY-based single family offices, have bought Brookfield Apartment Homes in Virginia Beach, VA for a buy price of $37,750,000.

Drucker and Falk MultiFamily Property Management, a leading property manager of 30,000+ apartments across 10 states, will handle the day-to-day property management and leasing.

Brookfield Apartment Homes, located in the quick-growing Virginia Beach Submarket, is a 352-unit apartment community offering one of the most comprehensive amenity packages in its submarket as well as an abundance of nearby recreation, immediate proximity to Level Green Park, which offers green space, Tennis Courts and Baseball fields.

Located near the intersection of the Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake submarkets, the community benefits from convenient immediate access to the I-64.

By capitalizing on the exterior capital improvement program implemented by previous ownership, Besyata and Scharf plot to add value to the property through gradual unit renovations in addition to amenity/common area enhancements to better compete with properties in the area.

Besyata Investment Group is focused on the acquisition and development of multifamily and commercial properties nationwide while pursuing a value-add strategy. Besyata currently owns and operates a multifamily portfolio spanning nine states, consisting of 5,000+ units.

The Scharf Group is a New York based fourth generation family office; owner, developer, and operator of a large portfolio of commercial, multifamily, healthcare & senior housing properties nationwide.

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