January/February 2007

DCD Insights
Saving Time and Money with Adaptive Re-Use Projects
By Pam Hunter
As the big discount stores like Walmart and Kmart have come to dominate a sizable portion of the retail market over the past few decades, their simple, box-like design has become a part of the American landscape. But what happens when a store "outgrows" its existing space and moves to larger, more spacious digs? While in some cases, the buildings simply sit vacant, becoming an eyesore until they can be torn down, more stores now are seeking buyers to adapt the buildings for other uses.
As the amount of land available for new development in the United States continues to shrink, communities are being forced to become more creative about how they build. Adaptive-reuse and historic restoration projects allow owners to work with an existing building and rework the interior to suit their specific needs. Builders and architects say that adaptive re-use and historical restoration projects are the wave of the future, as land available for new development becomes more and more scarce.
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Construction Cost Trends for 2007
Construction prices seem to be leveling off with the housing boom behind us. Housing starts have declined significantly since last year and we will not see the same robust growth in the housing market as in the last few years. There continues to be moderate growth in non-residential sectors. New government bonds assure infrastructure rebuilding, state and federal construction spending and could compensate for the drop in housing.
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The DCD Sq. Ft. Construction Guide For Educational Buildings
The January/February issue of Design Cost Data marks our 50th year providing the construction industry with real projects and their actual cost to build. DCD was founded on the philosophy that actual buildings, when coupled with cost indices, are the most reliable bases for future building costs. This philosophy is now an industry standard. 

To celebrate our 50th anniversary of serving the industry, each issue of DCD will now include a Square Foot Construction Cost Guide beginning with this guide for Educational Buildings. Each building presented in this guide has been published in DCD and is included in the NHBCdb™ (National Historical Building Cost Database) on DCD.COM. All buildings have been escalated to February 2007 and targeted to a historical location factor of 1 (see DCD Regional Modifiers and Cost Escalators on page 34 of this issue).
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