Developers see opportunities everywhere. But which opportunities make good real estate investments? And once a potential investment has been identified, how can a developer make the best possible first impression on an owner or on the local government and community activists that may oppose a project before it gains a foothold? Even more important, how can a developer find and persuade investors to join the project?

The answer is a versatile, extremely fast design tool called Building Information Modeling (BIM) placed in the hands of an architect who knows how to get the most out of it.

Suppose a developer paid $3,000 to make a 60-day evaluation of a $30 million piece of land. What is it worth to learn definitively whether or not a development concept will work on the site?

Despite the short, 60-day window, an architect with highly specialized BIM expertise can work up a reliable answer.

Expected to replace Computer Aided Design (CAD) in the future, BIM draws on libraries of existing three-dimensional components. An architect can find the steel beams, wooden trusses, HVAC equipment, and other components necessary to design and assemble a building, modifying the modular library elements when necessary or dropping them into place when they fit the concept. If the library doesn’t have a component, the architect can create one.

BIM produces an interactive file with all of the components linked together in a dynamic fashion, so that when the architect refines his or her design by changing the size of the windows on the west side, all of the other components and elevations in the model adjust to fit. Areas of the design that cannot adjust automatically flag the designer, who makes necessary changes manually.

Moreover, a BIM model automatically produces the different architectural drawings that might be required for a project, and it will provide estimators with accurate material quantities.

BIM is a comprehensive architectural tool and it is fast. The developer taking a 60-day look can ask for a three-dimensional sketch that can capture the concept — and the quantities and the costs — closely enough to make key decisions.

Suppose the developer wants to project returns on an office park in light of the ten-story height restrictions at a $30 million site. A quick sketch and quantity take-off will yield a reasonably close, construction-cost estimate that can be plugged into the pro forma. The numbers will either work or not, and the developer can make a more informed decision.

Make no mistake: BIM can produce all of these benefits, but it requires an experienced operator.

Winning Funds & Support
BIM can produce presentations that win public buy-in and facilitate fundraising efforts. Recently, the Brownsville Society of the Performing Arts asked Oculus to create presentation materials that reflected the Master Plan they had commissioned to renovate an old movie theater and the downtown district of Brownsville, Texas.

At Oculus, we have used a BIM product called Revit since 2000.

We presented a three-dimensional digital model of the six block area surrounding the theater in full color. The concept illustrated how the existing theater exterior and interior could be renovated to make a performing arts center with a stage, a movie screen, reception rooms, and offices.  The model also showed how the facades of the adjacent buildings, including the El Jardin Hotel might look after they were also renovated.

Visuals included photo-realistic images and animated clips that enabled viewers to take a tour of the three-dimensional concept, from the inside of the renovated building to the proposed streetscape outside.

It cost a few thousand dollars and took only a couple of weeks to produce.

Further, it took less than a week to produce a three-dimensional model and renderings for a lease-information sheet for American Realty & Development. The company needed the sheet to distribute at the International Council for Shopping Centers (ICSC) National Convention in Las Vegas, to secure tenants and make the project more viable.

BIM creates presentations for projects of virtually any size. DeSoto, Texas, city officials recently invited several developers to participate in a competition to present ideas on renovating a prime intersection that had deteriorated over the years. At the time, an empty K-Mart store occupied the site.

Dallas-based HSM Development, Inc. won the job by commissioning a conceptual BIM marketing model from our firm. The goal was to show DeSoto officials how the existing, big-box store could be dressed up and divided to accommodate several retailers. HSM gave the architectural firm three days. The result was a three-dimensional color model of a possible renovation, including stunning three-dimensional visuals.

Vetting Options
Prior to merging with CB Richard Ellis, Trammel Crow Company (TCC) handled facility management for a large technology driven corporation.

Not long ago, this client asked TCC to determine whether it would be better to renovate the existing structures on a 200-acre campus or to demolish the buildings and replace them with new construction.

TCC hired Oculus to carry out a BIM analysis.

Within 72 hours, the architects developed programmatic models of two replacement buildings: a 450,000 square foot office building and a 400,000 square foot laboratory. Both were modeled to house multiple tenants while providing options for future restructuring.

Both detailed models addressed characteristics such as scale, height, volume, footprint, and floor plan configurations.

Based on the models, the architects prepared accurate preliminary cost estimates for macro-level planning and future capital budgeting.

Mixed-Use and BIM
The technology can also handle larger, more complicated jobs. Take a mixed-use project currently being considered by a mid-sized city. It would include a super-luxury, high-rise hotel with condominiums, luxury retail on the ground level plus a health spa and a pool. Plans also called for an underground parking garage.

City officials had not worked on a project like this before. They believed — rightly — that there are a number or risks involved and they wanted to see fairly detailed drawings and cost estimates before moving forward.

Using traditional methods, such a request would prove prohibitively expensive — perhaps in the neighborhood of $50,000. Just developing renderings, not to mention the detailed drawings necessary for estimates, the costs would be more than the city would be willing to pay. With BIM, however, it was possible to sketch out a basic, three-dimensional model and generate a ballpark estimate for between $10,000 and $15,000.

Attracting Investors
Once a developer has identified and vetted a concept, BIM can help identify and persuade investors to come on board. Working with an architect using the technology, a developer can calculate a project’s cost within 20 percent to 25 percent of the total.  

In other words, the developer will be able to make a judgment that this project will cost from $80 million to $100 million instead of from $60 million to $120 million. Such a capability is even more important on very large projects. How valuable would it be to figure out that a project would cost between $600 million and $700 million —  instead of $400 million or $800 million?

Cost estimates within 20 percent to 25 percent enables developers to talk authoritatively to financial sources. He or she can discuss the project in detail with a banker and determine whether to approach individual high net worth investors or institutions as joint venture partners.

Once potential investors have been identified, BIM can activate the system’s virtual camera and produce a dramatic fly-through of the three-dimensional models of the project. Then it can roll out quantity take-offs for a cost analysis, proving that the project has been as ­thoroughly planned and penciled out as possible.

For developers, the technology can evaluate opportunities presented by raw land, renovation projects, retail rollouts, mixed-use concepts, and much more. The technology can help developers identify good real estate investments. It can help developers make more persuasive competitive presentations to owners. And, perhaps most important, BIM can provide the visual and quantitative details that bankers, potential joint venture partners, and silent investors need to make their decisions.

To be sure, it takes an experienced hand to get the most out of the software to produce just what the developer ­ordered. SLDT