Blueprint for March
Encouraging News in a Discouraging Time
By Marty Bell
3 min read
Hello again. I’ve been invited to drop in for a visit, like the retired old baseball player asked to throw out the first pitch and then turn the mound over to a younger, stronger arm.
The younger, stronger arm in this case is Jessica Hoefer, who, as of this issue, becomes the Editor-in-Chief of this publication. Many of you have had the opportunity to work with Jessica over the past seven years during her rise from editorial assistant to managing editor and now to the editor’s chair where she succeeds Paul Connolly.
As a child growing up in Florence, SC, Jessica’s passions were books and Broadway. She studied dance at the College of Charleston, and both performed and taught it, then pirouetted to Washington, DC for a masters in publishing at the George Washington University and a job with National Geographic. When she joined us at Tax Credit Advisor, she brought along a deep knowledge of the publishing process, a vivacious enthusiasm and sense of humor, a dancer’s determination to inexhaustibly study the affordable housing process and a graciousness toward all those with whom she comes into contact. It is always warming to watch a promising neophyte mature into a leadership role. Congratulations, Jessica. That’s my one pitch.
When I was a neophyte under the guidance of Dick Schaap at Sport Magazine in the 70s, I learned that the best issues of magazines tell a good story from front page to back page. Not every issue ends up that way—but I think this month’s TCA does. And it could not be timelier. The burden of the pandemic, the lingering supply chain delays and the resultant inflation have been keeping desk lamps on late into the night. But, as I have written in these pages before, I have always been impressed by the industry’s creativity and innovativeness in the face of threatening winds. The story told in these pages from the columns of NH&RA President Thom Amdur, Guru David Smith and monthly contributor Scott Beyer through the cover features on Industrialized Construction provide recommendations and solutions for surviving and even thriving amidst this storm.
In New Developments, Thom suggests efforts the industry can make to urge federal, but especially with state and local governments, to help businesses through the current limitations.
In The Guru Is In, David recalls 16 results of inflation on affordable housing construction and management you can anticipate based on previous historical bouts with these obstacles.
And in Material Price Gap Financing, Scott reports on programs some state agencies are implementing to help developers finance the nagging increase in costs.
TCA has been chronicling the evolution of modular housing construction since its infancy and Caleb Roope, of The Pacific Companies, has been a leading player in that story. With the bold creation of Autovol, Caleb moved beyond being a user of such supplies to a manufacturer. And in this month’s Breaking Ground, staff writer Pamela Martineau interviews Caleb on the progress of over 20 years of that approach to construction.
Our cover story this month visits with executives at Tartan Residential, Factory_OS and Prescient, companies focused on developing prefabricated products to help lower construction costs and accelerate development while also helping improve the environment and eliminating the uncertainty attached to nagging change orders.
It’s a good story, well told.
It’s been a pleasure getting to visit with you again. Thank you for the opportunity. Please stay well.
Fond regards,
Marty Bell
Visitor
