5 must reads for the AEC industry today: August 21, 2020

1. Former jail to be reimagined and integrated into Dallas’s Harold Simmons Park (BD+C) 
"The Trinity Park Conservancy has selected Weiss/Manfredi to reimagine the former Jesse R. Dawson State Jail at 106 W Commerce Street. Malone Maxwell Dennehy Architects will serve as the local architect."

2. Student housing in the COVID-19 era (Ghafari) 
"Recent data about the spread of COVID-19 identifies face-to-face interactions (and respiratory droplet transfer) as the primary means of transmission. This same research shows that the virus does not live long on common surfaces. This leaves student housing professionals and designers to focus on reducing face-to-face interactions and droplet transfer while preserving the residence hall’s vital role in recruitment, social engagement, campus community, and ultimately, student success."

3. Wariness of elevators may stymie office reopening (BD+C) 
"That could result in hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of office real estate continuing to go largely unoccupied. Cities and employers have taken steps to reduce risk, but they may not be enough."

4. Pandemic puts developers under the gun to lease new office towers (Bisnow)
"The coronavirus pandemic has complicated leasing efforts for office buildings that are trying to open for tenants this year. Those projects have lenders who expect their borrowers to fill up their towers within a certain amount of time, achieving a value greater than the cost to develop them."

5. Empty apartments in Manhattan reach record high, topping 13,000 (CNBC)
"The number of apartments for rent, or listing inventory, more than doubled over last year and set a record for the 14 years since data started being collected, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel."