Manhattan-based architect Drew Lang has alternated between design and small development projects, such as renovating and flipping single-family houses, since founding his studio in 2003. Besides stabilizing his company’s overall revenue, the diversified-business model turns up new opportunities.
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Interacting with design clients, Lang sensed both a hunger for custom weekend homes and a worry that commissioning one would take too much time. In 2011, when the architect discovered 131 forested acres for sale about two hours north of New York by car, he realized he could unlock that latent demand with an alternative to the traditional subdivision.
For his firm’s first multi-residence venture—dubbed Hudson Woods and launched without brokers, via social media, local partnerships, and word-of-mouth in 2014—Lang and his team devised a modern vernacular, designing and building a 2,300-square-foot model house, from which prospective homeowners could choose between two- or three-bedroom versions to be constructed on one of 26 lots. The architect/developer offered 30 possible upgrades for each house, and sited purchased units sensitively, in order to meet market desire for a unique property.
Hudson Woods’s scale allowed Lang to realize each residence at about half the expense of a one-off. Hudson Woods’s base pricing increased five times over the course of 26 sales and three years. The most expensive house—a three-bedroom model with multiple upgrades that included outbuildings—sold for $2.5 million toward the end of this period. Lang and his partners’ initial $1.8 million investment covered the land purchase, construction of the model house, Phase 1 infrastructure improvements, and early marketing. Each house thereafter cost an average of $885,000 to build; the completed development returned the partners’ equity more than twice over. Lang also draws a line from Hudson Woods to 12 new projects totaling $350 million in construction-cost value, and—discovering yet another business to run alongside his studio—he has fielded 200 inquiries to license the project’s design.
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