Why Panoramic's Skin Is Missing

The developer behind the micro-housing project revealed why its clothes aren't on yet during Bisnow's Construction & Development Summit at Hotel Nikko this week.

We found out the outer walls of the fully leased 9th and Mission Panoramic project are stuck near Mexico. Panoramic Interests' Patrick Kennedy says they're sitting in containers in a boat off the shore of Ensenada, waiting to be unloaded, but delayed by the Longshoreman's strike at the Ports. He calls the project's missing dress fiasco "a big mess, but we are dealing with it." It's like going to prom in your overalls, he says.

Here's what the 120 microstudios and 40 microsuites project will look like when the materials finally arrive. It can technically still open on time in June without the skin, notes Patrick. Panoramic includes studios, two- and three-bedroom units. The tiny units cost $200/SF more than anything his company has done, he revealed on the construction panel. From a price perspective, the most efficient apartment is not the tiniest but the second or third smallest.

The night before the event, Bisnow and Kastle Systems threw a cocktail mixer for panelists at Hotel Nikko's bar. We caught up with Rossi Builders president Craig Rossi, who says TIs are getting done quicker these days thanks to fast-acting tenants and early decisions. Traditionally, no one commits costs until a lease is signed. But one tenant recently stepped up and paid for all the design-build and engineering drawings before signing on the dotted line. By the time the deal got done, the permit was ready to pick up the next day. That got the landlord rent a month early and the tenant what they wanted, he says.

Clark Pacific prez Don Clark also has the "early bird gets the worm" mentality. Getting subcontractors on board early is key, he says. Here's Don at the plant hanging out with a precast concrete mock-up for Stanford--which just happens to be his Alma Mater. (Clark Pacific recently helped complete the Hoover Campus Parking Structure for the Stanford University Medical Center.) He calls collaboration with BIM amazing when all teams are working off the same model. Design iterations can go faster and you can prefabricate more items.

Colton Commercial & Partners director of project management Adam Felson, also spotted at our pre-event party, says landlords aren't giving as much of TI allowances as they normally would because the market is great and there's demand for spaces. But employees also have the bar raised in terms of what's expected for their build-outs. Good design is not just about throwing pretty colors on the wall or importing wood from another country; it's more about how functional the space is, he says. Instead of installing fancy doors along private offices at a recent project he worked on, the money was dumped into a common area bar as a place for staff to sit and hang out.