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Offering residents a naturefilled
luxury rental retreat
minutes away from the
city's urban activities, The
Preserve on Fredericksburg
includes 376 one- and twobedroom
stacked flats in 34
buildings in a high-profile location in San
Antionio's Medical Center.
With completion estimated for the end
of August, the units are approximately 36.5
percent pre-released and cater to professional
and corporate housing needs. C.F. Jordan
Construction, L.L.C. began building in early
February 2009, in which construction alone
accounted for $29,585,818. The builder
decided on multifamily housing due to market
demand and an owner-driven project, in
which USAA Real Estate has owned the land
for a long period of time.
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With a mission to build a project that is
both environmentally and architecturally
sensitive to its surroundings and with 25 acres
of Texas Hill County land, the Cambridge
Development Group, a developer hired by the
owner, achieved a density of 15 units per acre
with the Big House Design -- a concept by
architect Humphreys & Partners. By designing
these apartment buildings to look like twostory,
single-family homes, the team allowed
for most buildings to feature direct access to
one- and two-car garages.
"We built this project according to the Big
House Design Style," said Jeff Hill, project
manager for CFJ. "The design elements
on the exterior were unique, but it was
challenging to build. The coordination for all
of the different parts and pieces was difficult;
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we had to make sure it worked according to
the architect's design."
The Texas Hill Country style of architecture
is an evolving type of design that incorporates
sandstone, cedar and metal roofs to reflect
heat. Other elements include open cornice
framing at low roof areas, heavy timber
accents, board and batten siding, cattle panel
accented handrails and
natural stone veneers.
To create individual
looks for each building,
the builder used a
three-tone exterior paint
scheme, utilizing barn
colors and indigenous colors from the area.
Residents can enjoy an array of outdoor
amenities, such as a large beach-style walkin
resort-style pool with a spa, a poolside
fireplace, cabana and bar and a hike and
bike trail. The builder believes the project
received a Gold Nugget Merit Award for Best
Multi-Family Housing Project (up to 3 stories)
because of its Texas Hill Country design,
direct access units, spacious square footage
with large living areas, large patios and
balconies and a unique club.
However, dealing with early design
changes and City Public Services (CPS)
provided difficulties for the builder. They
worked with the owner and the design team
to maintain the project schedule while the
site was being re-designed. "CFJ split the
project into three areas: area one was built
per the old design while the entire site plan
was being re-designed," said Mark Lear,
executive vice president for C.F. Jordan
Construction. "When areas two and three
started construction off of the new design,
CFJ had to go back to area one to make
the design changes to building pads and
road grading. During the entire process,
the underground utilities were coordinated
to minimize cost and
schedule impacts."
These changes
delayed the electrical
CPS site plan until
the new civil/
architectural site plan
was completed, which resulted in the CPS
primary underground to start a month
behind schedule and took one month longer
to complete than originally estimated. In
order to mitigate this delay and to bring
the project back on schedule, C.F. Jordan
worked with the San Antonio Fire Marshall
to start the framing process with minimal
concrete paving
installed and
rented eight
generators to make
up for the six- to eight-week delay.
According to Mark Humphreys,
CEO of Humphreys & Partners,
L.P., the firm incorporated BIM,
3d design, AutoCad and Green
Building council review software
for designing the units and
introduced water storage and
indigenous planting. With the
popularity of residents being
more eco-aware, the architect
incorporated charging stations
for electric cars. Up-and-coming
architectural design trends, according to
Humphreys, include Big House Design,
more efficient buildings, smaller clubs and
nicer units, all elements incorporated into
The Preserve on Fredericksburg.
With advice for other builders entering
award competitions, Lear said to develop
a great team of consultants, architects and
general contractors. For the rest of 2010, C.F.
Jordan Construction plans on constructing
more award-winning projects.
Kristen Eichenmuller is the editor at
Builder and Developer magazine and may be
contacted at keichenmuller@penpubinc.com.
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