We have represented clients on residential multi-family and mixed-use projects with hard construction costs approaching $1 billion, encompassing over 4,000 residential units and over 600,000 square feet.
We are proud to count as our clients real estate developers, design-builders, architecture firms, and constructors ranging from general contractors to fabricators of specialty materials.
Tall towers and adaptive reuse, together with transit-adjacent mixed-use, senior and affordable communities, multi-building rental neighborhoods, mid-rise infill, and complex occupied-unit renovations, reflect the range of our work.
Recent Experience
Our recent work includes a $300 million, approximately 675-unit dual-tower mixed-use development; a $160 million, 30-story luxury condominium; and a series of $40–$60 million multi-family projects involving several hundred units apiece. When unavoidable disputes arise, we record multi-million-dollar mechanics liens and, where necessary, litigate to judgment – most recently, a seven-figure judgment to collect unpaid fees that our architect client had earned on an over-60-story mixed-use tower. Our preference, however, is to resolve disputes through creative negotiation and mediation.
In one multi-family redevelopment dispute, we structured a two-tier settlement with escrow-funded immediate payment for most of the amount owed and a secured promissory note on a defined schedule for the balance, yielding about 97 percent recovery while preserving relationships and keeping the project on track.
Contracts, Risk Management, and Delivery Strategies
Our contract work spans the delivery methods most common to this sector. We often draft, negotiate, and align AIA Document A102-2017, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor where the basis of payment is the Cost of the Work Plus a Fee with a Guaranteed Maximum Price, and AIA Document A201-2017, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction.
We also draft and tailor design agreements, including AIA Document B103-2017, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect for a Complex Project, AIA Document B112-2022, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect for Design of a Multi-Family Residential Project, and AIA Document B109-2020, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect for a Multi-Family Residential or Mixed Use Residential Project.
Beyond these, we draft and customize a wide variety of other AIA and non-AIA contracts, and we prepare bespoke riders and coordinated exhibits so the terms reflect each client’s scope, funding, schedule, and risk priorities.
Project scopes range from high-rise development and adaptive reuse to complex, occupied-unit renovations. Highlights include a high-rise adaptive reuse to residential valued at about $57 million; an eight-story multi-family building of about 300 units where our architect client assumed construction administration with protections for pre-existing design conditions; a ten-building rental community of about 340 units at about $45 million; and a downtown mixed-use project of roughly 154,000 square feet and about 200 units at about $41 million. We also negotiate mid-scale conversions, including an approximately 33,000-square-foot residential facility with fully integrated subconsultants and measured protections for fee, schedule, and insurability.
Senior and Affordable Housing
Recent senior and affordable housing matters include a 57-unit senior development under AIA Document B108-2009, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect for a Federally Funded or Federally Insured Project; a transit-adjacent mixed-use project of about $21 million and about 45 units; an approximately $12 million senior apartment building of roughly 45,000 square feet; a publicly funded renovation of about 120 senior units at approximately $10 million; and a federally funded renovation program of approximately $11 million for about 225 units. We also support larger senior living programs in the hundreds of units, coordinating delivery decisions with funding requirements and compliance frameworks.
Lender Coordination and Financial Oversight
With lenders a constant presence on projects at this scale, we help teams satisfy financing conditions without compromising professional obligations. Our work includes negotiating collateral assignments and consents on an approximately $80 million construction loan, and crafting consent, certification, and step-in upon owner default frameworks for a tower project of approximately $300 million, balancing lender protections with the standard of care and change management realities.
Payment Security and Mechanics Liens
Payment security is a key part of our multi-family practice. We use mechanics liens strategically, recording claims in the hundreds of thousands to more than a million dollars to secure payment on multi-family and mixed-use projects, including complex condominium allocations across over 100 units and related commercial components. We have handled high-rise condominium de-conversion work with an approximately $8 million renovation budget, allocating lien rights among units, common elements, and lenders and achieving full payment within months. Throughout, our goal is practical resolution that protects relationships and keeps projects moving.
Comprehensive Sector Experience
Our experience across multi-family and mixed-use reflects the sector’s complexity, including phased scopes, lender oversight, public-funding constraints, occupied buildings, and demanding schedules. We focus on contracts and delivery structures that make decisions predictable, allocate risk sensibly, and align with how projects are actually built, while preserving the ability to resolve issues early and cost-effectively when they arise.
Contact us to discuss how our multi-family and mixed-use experience can help your next project succeed, from contract strategy to dispute resolution.
