We’re thrilled that construction is about to begin on this exciting project in the heart of Nexton, a fast-growing mixed-use community just outside Charleston, SC. Designed in collaboration with Feinberg & Associates, the development includes two buildings—each with four stories of wood-framed residential space over a steel-framed mixed-use podium. From a structural standpoint, this project brought some unique challenges and opportunities to flex our design expertise.

Notable complexities included:

• Extensive brick veneer: Over 60 feet of brick cladding on most elevations required careful detailing and coordination.
• High wind and seismic demands: Charleston’s unique seismic zone and coastal exposure meant incorporating advanced design considerations to meet stringent code requirements.

This project reflects our ability to tackle complex structural systems while supporting our clients’ vision in dynamic, high-growth regions. “While challenging in many aspects, this project was rewarding to design,” said M+K’s Project Engineer II, Jared S. Hudson. “The design was the product of efficient and creative design within our team as well as frequent collaboration with Feinberg & Associates to ensure the utmost accuracy and detail. I am very much looking forward to the project’s continued progress on site.”

Image render by Feinberg & Associates.

Exciting changes are underway in a former industrial city in North Jersey, and The Apartments at Linden Station are another step forward in this revitalization. Designed in partnership with VLBJR Architects, this project will include a mix of features: 13,000 square feet of retail space, 334 upscale apartments, and a convenient two-level podium garage. 

While the building is rectangular, its large scale presented unique challenges. Large footings required increased coordination among the project teams, utilities, and other groups to ensure that subgrade elements, such as a water retention tank, would not interfere with each other.   

Architecturally, the project includes a central outdoor courtyard that demands careful loading considerations, along with a recessed pool integrated into an elevated slab, adding complexity to the concrete design. The third-floor amenity space also needed thoughtful planning to create open areas to accommodate offset framing. The building has a reinforced concrete parking slab with a transfer slab above it that supports five stories of light gauge steel framing. 

The project is a transit-oriented development and will provide easy access for commuters, with a quick train ride to Newark in just 20 minutes and a 40-minute journey to Penn Station.  

The anticipated completion date for The Apartments at Linden Station is February 2026, and we cannot wait to see the transformation unfold! 

As far as long-standing client relationships go, our 20 years working with CPL Partnership puts them near the very top of the list. The consistency of our work together and the variety of projects has allowed a large number of our engineering staff to get involved in these jobs and establish personal relationships with their team over the years. The opportunity to foster such connections, and the personal and professional development that comes with them, is one that we value greatly.

The Beacon on Main is a prime example of the low to mid-rise multifamily/mixed-use projects that have become a staple of our work together in recent years. As you cross over the Delaware & Raritan Canal into South Bound Brook in northern New Jersey, the clocktower feature on its main elevation offers a fresh focal point for the borough as it marks the beginning of their Main Street. Detailed façade elements, two-story spaces, and the support of the iconic clock itself posed the usual interesting design challenges which are part and parcel of their intentional architectural designs.

The city of Long Beach is part of the NYC metro area and home to a $369M oceanfront luxury residential development right on the iconic boardwalk. Aptly named “The Boardwalk”, the project takes the place of a long-abandoned stretch of land known to locals as the “Superblock”. With over 400 condominium and rental units served by 40,000 SF of amenities and 6,500 SF of retail options, it’s clear to see their mission is to create a new coastal living experience.

A single 10-story building constructed of COMSLAB floors and light gage stud walls alongside a pair of 9-story reinforced concrete buildings are all supported off a 2-story reinforced concrete podium and parking structure. This base structure and its foundations were designed to support the heavy loads standard for this type of high-rise construction (the buildings above, pools and heavy vehicle traffic, and high coastal wind loads to name a few) in addition to the breaking wave and debris impact loads required in VE flood zones, all while ensuring the structure could access (but not disturb) the boardwalk structure after which it was named.

While always proud to work alongside Minno & Wasko Architects and B2K Development, we were particularly enthused to be a part of a project that would have such a transformative impact on the city of Long Beach and the greater NYC region.

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Studio Architects provides thoughtful designs over a large swath of the construction industry with projects in education, hospitality, sporting venues, and, where our paths intersect, residential. Our collaborations on multi-family residential buildings include several in New York’s Hudson River Valley and in various locations across the southeast. The latter of these regions is home to our largest project together to date, along with builder/developer Southeastern.

Soundwater Apartments offers luxury rental units with all manner of modern amenities in the Metro Center district of Nashville, TN, right on the Cumberland River. In addition to eight independent apartment buildings ranging from two to five stories, the complex also includes a dog park, two pools, and a three-story clubhouse with a fully stocked community room, fitness center, and rooftop lounge. Reaching the five-story limit of wood-framed construction with three of these buildings balances grandeur and material cost, but requires intimate knowledge of the additional structural requirements to keep the construction safe and buildable at these heights, particularly in a region with high seismic loads. These high lateral loads also provided design challenges at the steel-framed clubhouse, which ultimately required the hefty connections and careful detailing that come with Intermediate Moment Frames.

As one of our oldest collaborators (20+ years), we’ve had no shortage of successful projects alongside Minno & Wasko Architects and Planners. Though we have designed many multifamily and mixed-use buildings together in northern New Jersey and the surrounding region, the series of expansive urban redevelopment projects in Harrison, New Jersey with Ironstate Properties stands out as one of our first and longest running multifamily partnerships. Since 2006, we’ve designed a total of 12 mid-rise buildings and various auxiliary structures – most of which occupy a full city block.

Section 4 of Harrison Urby, the latest and largest of these projects, is no exception. With five mid-rise residential buildings (ranging from five to seven stories) and a single-story café, there was a wide variety of structural systems required to ensure an efficient use of materials. While the taller buildings are exclusively light gage metal stud bearing wall systems, the five story structures are predominantly wood framed with a single story of light gage at the first floor. The two-story basketball court built inside one of the residential buildings created an interesting challenge, requiring a steel frame to support the three levels of units above and fit between the units on either side. The café structure rounds out another varied project with its glued laminated timber framing supporting a cross-laminated timber roof deck.

The neighborhood of The Nations on Nashville’s west side is home to the newly constructed The Union Apartments. As a self-proclaimed home for modern innovators, The Union embraces its place in the revitalized industrial region of the city, offering a variety of living space options over its 250+ apartment units to those new to the neighborhood. Working for the first time with Brock Hudgins Architects and multi-family developer Wood Partners, both based in Atlanta, we’ve since been proud to watch our partnership grow over three multi-family projects across Nashville in recent years.

The Union has a total of four wood-framed four-story apartment buildings settled around common outdoor spaces and a community pool. The front entrance serves as the main focal point of the project, where an unclad two-story steel frame skeleton protrudes out of the residential building to form a drive-under with an industrial feel. Not simply for show, the steel also extends over the full width of the front portion of the residential building, providing support for the upper levels of wood-framed units over the two-story clubhouse space below. The end result is a structure whose aesthetic reflects the nature of its setting, with its polished contemporary façade anchored by its industrial past.

Working on projects in all parts of the country brings the exciting opportunity to tackle the regional design challenges that come with them. Delivering on our commitment to “big-firm capacity with small-firm service” requires the experience and state licensure coverage to get the job done wherever the site may be. Since as early as 2013, working with The Architecture Studio has provided us the opportunity to design structures in multiple regions of the country, including: Ohio, Nebraska, Texas, and Colorado.

One of our more recent design collaborations, the AlfaCharlie Modern Apartments in Denver’s northeast sector, offers luxury apartment living across 5 independent four-story wood framed structures. Our designs provide tenants with a 2-story steel framed community space, private drive-under garages, and a variety of site structures for the outdoor amenity spaces. The regional twist for this project was accommodating the post-tensioned slab on grade supporting the wood framed superstructure, due to the expansive soils native to the Denver area.

Just a short walk from the Brooklyn Museum and Prospect Park, Bedford Arms is a 9-story apartment building completed a few years ago in Brooklyn, NY. Unlike most new multi-family projects which may provide a small percentage of affordable units to meet minimum municipal requirements, Bedford Arms was designed to offer 100% of its units as affordable housing for the surrounding community. Alongside architect John Schimenti, our multi-family team provided designs for mid-rise residential developer Engel Group as both the Engineer of Record and Designated Engineer for the light-gauge metal bearing wall system.

To help keep costs down, hollowcore concrete plank floors supported on light-gauge metal bearing walls were selected for the 8 residential levels as a less expensive alternative to a flat plate cast-in-place concrete system and helped streamline construction for the cramped urban site. While accounting for a partial basement with all the challenges of tight property line margins common to city projects, the foundation design required an intricate combination of eccentric footings, grade beams, and mat foundation slabs.

Luxor at Bala Cynwyd offers luxury apartments and first-class amenities in the Philadelphia region. True to their namesake, they aim to create a living experience typically found only at luxury resorts. Working with Westrum Development and the architects at Meyer Design, the building consists of a large 4-story wood framed structure on two levels of composite steel framing, which create space for over 160 units over full levels of amenity area and covered parking, not to mention courtyards, a pool deck, and front entrance balcony. With quick access to shopping and dining experiences the Philly Main Line is known for, it makes full use of its location, complete with sweeping views of the city skyline.

Finding naturally competent soil on site is not always a given, particularly in regions which have seen industrial activity and urban development for centuries. Our team recommended installing a network of rigid inclusions to stiffen the existing soil and allow for the use of shallow foundations in lieu of deep foundations. Knowing what to expect when working with these systems has become an essential part of our expertise in multi-family design projects.

It was a pleasure working with Meyer Design and Westrum Development on Luxor Bala Cynwyd, the first of 6 planned Luxor apartment projects across our region.