The Paradigm Companies

Building on experienceDecades of experience in building multi-family projects have given the Paradigm Companies extensive insight into how to get them done with the highest quality and lowest costs. The firmÔÇÖs principals tell Keith Regan how it is able to embrace projects that others look past. The Paradigm Companies got their official start in 1991, when former principals with the local office of National Development acquired that companyÔÇÖs Washington DC portfolio of projects.   Since then, ParadigmÔÇöwhich now operates a development company, a construction company and a management companyÔÇöhas kept its focus squarely on developing and constructing multi-family housing. Seventeen years later, Paradigm has continued to grow and has put in place over $1 billion of multifamily housing projects totaling over 10,000 apartment units in the greater Washington DC area (which includes Virginia and Maryland). This growth has provided Paradigm with a proven track record that enables it to develop and construct not only apartment and condominium projects for its own account but for third-party owners as well, says Mike Foster, president of Paradigm Construction. ÔÇ£We focus on multi-family,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£We develop it, we build it and own it for ourselves, and we build it for other owners and developers. WeÔÇÖve become experts in this field in this market.ÔÇØParadigm leverages that experience into cost-effective high-quality projects, he adds. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs all about systems. WeÔÇÖve worked for years with architects, designers and engineers on buildings, so we know what structural systems will work, what exterior wall systems work, which heating and air conditioning systems will be the ones that will provide the quality required at the right price.ÔÇØW. Clarke Ewart, a principal of Paradigm Development along with Foster and also a principal in the Paradigm Companies, says having built over 50 large-scale apartment complexes in the past 17 years has given the company unique insights that other builders with less experience donÔÇÖt have. Equally important is the fact that Paradigm has retained and continues to manage many of its buildings. ÔÇ£That gives you a chance to see how those systems perform in a building day in and day out,ÔÇØ Ewart says. ÔÇ£You get a good understanding of how certain windows systems, for example, have held up in a building that you put in place 15 years ago. That gives you the knowledge that you can factor back into the design process that keeps circling back into the experience of the firm. Many other developers tend to sell their buildings, so they donÔÇÖt benefit from that same feedback process.ÔÇØOver the years, ParadigmÔÇöwhich ranked 383rd on the Engineering News-Record list of the countryÔÇÖs top 400 contractors this yearÔÇöhas also gained extensive expertise in building affordable housing, having constructed more than 1,500 affordable multi-family units. Two of its current projects have 40 percent of their housing units set aside as affordable. Affordable housing ÔÇ£can be a mechanism to get projects financed and approved,ÔÇØ Foster notes. They are also increasingly becoming a requirement in many communities, Ewart adds. ÔÇ£More and more communities want to see affordable rental housing built for local employees such as firefighters and teachers, and itÔÇÖs something we feel good about being able to do for the communities in which we work.ÔÇØParadigm has also embraced green building techniques. Its Park Rosslyn project in Arlington, Virginia, will be certified as LEED Silver, making it one of the first multi-family buildings in the DC area to win that level of certification from the US Green Building Council. The same project has 40 percent affordable units. A second green building is under construction, and three more projects on which ground will be broken in early 2009 all have green elements to them. ÔÇ£The young crowd that is the target market for a lot of rental projects is concerned about conserving energy, so you can market the green aspects of a building and it will play into some of their decision making on where they want to live,ÔÇØ says Ewart. Paradigm is also not afraid to take on projects that other developers have looked at but decided not to pursue. That was the case on a pair of projects in Alexandria, Virginia. The Meridian at Eisenhower is a 25-story tower with 369 apartment and five parking garage levels, including two below grade. The project, which opened in the fall of 2007, is already 80 percent leased and has been nominated for several awards. Nearby is Carlyle Place, a pair of towers containing 326 rental units that also came on line in 2007. What the sites share in common is that during a span of some 10 years, a number of developers had kicked the tires on them. Some had even purchased the land, only to decide the projects were too complicated. Complications included the massive utility infrastructure, including some 1,200 feet of 72-inch sewer main line and a 12-foot-wide box culvert storm drainage system, poor soil conditions and the fact that the city had used part of the site as a flue dust dump for many years. ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs right up our alley,ÔÇØ says Foster. ÔÇ£We brought our experience to bear and brought them to completion.ÔÇØWhile the Washington DC economy is not immune to economic slowdowns, the market typically weathers recessions better than other areas because of the large presence of the US government. Paradigm has positioned itself to be able to weather ups and downs in the market. Its construction division is down some employees from its previous peaks but is gearing up to grow again in 2009 as more projects get under way. ÔÇ£We focused hard on keeping the best employees through the slow times,ÔÇØ says Foster.Foster and Ewart are also optimistic that a rebound is in the near future, noting that the Washington DC area typically avoids the boom-and-bust cycles that have hit other cities around the country. Projects that as recently as six months ago were struggling to get financing are now moving into active pre-construction, with the goal of putting shovels into the ground in 2009. ÔÇ£This market is probably better off than a lot of others because of the vibrancy of the government and the fact that job growth is still occurring here,ÔÇØ Ewart says. ÔÇ£The next two years will be challenging, but we believe Paradigm is well positioned to take advantage of changes in the real estate markets.ÔÇØ┬á