Stories by Ralph Hawkins
Commercial Real Estate
Ralph Hawkins: Relocating HKS’ Office—Lessons Learned
Over the years, our firm has assisted a great number of clients with finding new office locations. This year, I had the unique opportunity to see it from the client side when HKS came to the end of its 15-year lease in Uptown and began seeking relocation opportunities. Here's how we did it—and lessons we learned along the way.
Architecture & Design
H. Ralph Hawkins: The Impact of the Sequester on the Design and Construction Industry
The recent sequester will remove $4 billion from government construction projects. It is time for our industry to quickly shift to the private markets, where work is beginning to grow.
Architecture & Design
Ralph Hawkins: Thinking Big in Dallas
Talented Fellows, chosen by an architectural jury, are coming together for three days to think big about serious Dallas community challenges on Nov. 9-12, via the annual HKS Design Fellowship. This year, the group will take an unbiased, fresh look at downtown Dallas.
Architecture & Design
Ralph Hawkins: Design and Construction Models
As clients look at alternative ways to expand, renovate, and build new facilities to address growth and change over time, there are myriad approaches. The choices may be confusing, but they are easily broken out into simple categories, and can also be a hybrid of several options. Here are some basic approaches that we see.
Architecture & Design
Ralph Hawkins: Urban Adaptive Reuse Opportunities
Owners and lenders are experiencing challenges as the marketplace begins to witness foreclosures of urban buildings across the country. With challenges, though, there are opportunities. As we have evaluated repositioning these foreclosed properties, we have uncovered exciting adaptive reuses that are emerging in residential, office, and retail markets. Architects can bring great ideas to help revitalize these older properties
Stories by Ralph Hawkins
Architecture & Design
Ralph Hawkins: Don’t Be Pulled Left or Right; Keep Moving Forward
There is a lot of talk from both sides of the aisle about how Wall Street greed and corruption has bankrupted America, but little about the laws that our elected government officials put in place to encourage this to happen.
Architecture & Design
Ralph Hawkins: Strategic Planning in Uncertain Times
Personally, I am not a big fan of complicated, laborious plans; I typically like to see short, maybe even one-page plans, as Jack Welch has suggested. But a 2020 strategy HKS principals developed in 2009 has made it easier to make decisions about the course of our firm, allowed us to better serve clients—and is generating significant bottom-line results.
Architecture & Design
Ralph Hawkins: Alternative Funding Sources for New Construction
After the pull-back of commercial lending, and with stimulus funds drying up, dramatic cutbacks are now expected in the federal government sector. This will continue to put a damper on new construction projects. Alternative funding sources exist, but they're the exception. One opportunity is the recently passed Public-Private Partnership Act, where funds traditionally used for infrastructure may now be available for education, aviation, and healthcare projects.