From Blair Kamin’s Cityscapes:
“There’s a blurring of boundaries between architects, designers, developers and contractor. Just like we see public-private partnerships developing around the world, I think we’re going to see more professionals collaborating to do some important things in the future.”
– James Cramer, former chief executive of the American Institute of Architects, on news that Chicago architects David Brininstool, Thomas Kerwin, and Brad Lynch have started a new firm called (you guessed it) Brininstool, Kerwin and Lynch, and have entered into a “innovative strategic alliance” with Magellan Development involving projects in China, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Brininstool and Lynch designed several recent condo high-rises, including R+D659, 1720 South Michigan, and 550 St Clair. Magellan, of course, is the prime mover behind the Lakeshore East properties on the New East Side.
We’ve seen a lot of brokerages merge in the past two years — is a new wave of architectural and development mergers on the way, too?
I’ve always liked 1720 S Michigan and RD659, even went by their sales center and looked at a unit. I hope the market turns around and we see more of their work here in Chicago soon.
Joe, that’s an interesting question. Perhaps it’s a logical solution in an effort to stay busy, spread risk and share in anticipated profits.
No doubt, this is an interesting and scary time to be in the industry. I too have looked outside of the country for opportunities and Asia seems like a reasonable candidate.
I’ve read conflicting reports about the continent’s economic viability, but judging from a recent visit, I didn’t notice any sense of a recession in the cities I visited.
Hopefully the world economy stabilizes and we’ll see some interesting projects develop.