Residences at Rubi

101 units on Frontier Valley Drive in East Austin- fifty at market rate and fifty-one affordable, at 30, 50, 70 and 120% of median family income. Five storeys on a constrained site, with Affordability Unlocked doing the work that made the density possible. I ran it from design through permitting and into construction administration.

The thing worth telling about this building happened after we already had the permit. During bidding the developer decided to change the structure from wood framing to cold-formed steel. That is not a substitution- it changes the wall assemblies, the details, the fire ratings, the connections and the specifications, on a building that had already been reviewed and approved.

I revised the specifications, the details and the drawings in two weeks. Knowing how a wall actually goes together is what makes that a two-week problem instead of a redesign, and seven years in the field is where that comes from.