Dollars on the line: should you fund your own speculative architecture? - practice

Residential Architect, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Cheryl Weber

Getting started is the toughest part. Abbate held on to the lot for 12 years before building the townhouse. He wanted to start sooner but had trouble meeting the zoning requirements and obtaining financing. Abbate says what helped him most was sitting down with his accountant to do a pro forma study of the members and the costs of carrying a loan. And after winning design awards and becoming known locally for his talent, it was easier to find a mortgage broker who believed in the project.

Abbate is partnering with an architect and an engineer on a townhouse project with 12 live/work spaces--the first of its kind in Fort Lauderdale--and hoping to break ground in January. Still, he says designing for clients is his first love: "If people pay me to design, it's better than taking the risk. I like speculative work a litHe, but not enough to do it full-time."

Furman sees it differently. "From a personal perspective, it's the ultimate way to make a living," he says, "generating architecture that is a commodity, that is marketable, and that you can put your personal energy into. Seeing others get excited about it is immensely gratifying."

Cheryl Weber is a contributing writer in Severna Park, Md.