Huff Construction

By: Fernando Arteaga - Marketing Manager

Huff Construction Company, Inc. is celebrating 50 years of “Building Excellence!” As we celebrate our golden anniversary, we can now do so with a breath of fresh air as lockdowns, masks, and restrictions have subsided across the region. While the pandemic might not be officially over, we are fortunate to be safe and healthy today and to have overcome the giant hurdles that the COVID-19 pandemic threw our way.

Over the last year, Huff Construction has completed several projects in our region such as the Avena Bella Affordable Housing Community II in Turlock, Starbucks in Modesto, Rapid Xpress Carwash in Atwater, St. Mary’s Family Life Center in Oakdale, and more. The Avena Bella II project was built from the ground up in about 13 months during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic. This new community brings 61 units of affordable family housing in two Mediterranean-style buildings. The apartments are a mix of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units clustered around a common recreation area and a playground. Community features include common interior spaces, laundry rooms, enclosed bicycle storage, and a barbecue/picnic area. Solar panels and a solar thermal water heating system were installed to reduce the property’s carbon footprint and to achieve LEED Gold certification.

At Huff Construction, we are fortunate and grateful to have started new and exciting projects that bring value to our community. Huff Construction has two new affordable housing projects in our region which include the Childs Ave. & B St. Affordable Housing Community in Merced and Archway Commons II in Modesto.

We broke ground for Archway Commons II on June 30 alongside the City of Modesto, our client EAH Housing, California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, and our community members. Archways Commons II will consist of two-story gardenstyle apartment buildings that will provide 74 new affordable housing units as 1-, 2-, and 3- bedroom apartments. Huff Construction built the initial phase of Archway Commons back in 2014 and we are excited to complete the final phase of the community here in our hometown of Modesto.

Along with the exciting projects Huff Construction is building in the Central Valley, we have several large projects under construction in the San Francisco Bay Area including a 175-room Element Hotel and we are building beautiful residences and commercial buildings in Truckee, CA.

We are so proud and grateful for everything we have accomplished over the last 50 years. As we look to the future of Huff Construction, we look forward to seeing what the next fifty years have for us in our ongoing pursuit of “Building Excellence.” For more information on Huff Construction, please visit our website at www. huffcon.com and follow us on social media.

The tragedy of the 12 story Champlain Towers Condominium Collapse has been well covered by the media and our hearts go out to the residents who perished as well as their families. This shocking tragedy is a stark reminder of the importance not only of adequate building inspections and repairs but also for the difficult task of funding those repairs. It is time for a discussion on the increasing, inherent challenges that Homeowners Associations and their board of directors’ face in light of this recent tragedy and draws parallels to other tragedies such as the Library Gardens balcony collapse in Berkeley in 2015.

While we have few 12 story buildings in the valley, the condo collapse is relevant to our associations in the central valley. Homeowner Associations boomed in the 70’s and 80’s throughout the valley and California. The Champlain Towers in Florida were built in 1981 during a similar boom. A large number of Association properties in California are now 40-50+ years old and the buildings are aging to the point that they often require substantial repairs and may have safety issues. Being prepared for these substantial repairs requires substantial forethought, careful planning, and financial discipline.

As we sort through the issues that lead up to the collapse of the Champlain Towers, the answers are not clear at this point. It does appear that the association failed to plan for the repairs required for a building of this age as well as the more difficult task of how to fund those repairs. Planning effectively for major repairs/ replacements starts with a reserve study completed when the building or community is new. A reserve study lists the components that are association responsibility and provides a funding model for the components as they come due. At Champlain Towers, a Reserve Study was not ordered until 2020. When completed, it showed the Association was only prepared to fund 6.9% of the needed repairs for the community, including those uncovered in an engineering study completed in 2018. The board was then faced with the difficult task of implementing a special assessment of over $100,000 per condominium homeowner. It appears the assessments had been kept artificially low for decades while the association was scarcely funding reserves, nor completing ongoing repairs.

The volunteer homeowner board members during the last few years were in an untenable position due to the lack of planning by previous boards and reviled for suggesting such a large special assessment. A stalemate ensued after the engineering report came out in 2018. Thus, no repairs were made, with disastrous results. Reserve studies are required to be completed every 3 years in California but are not required in Florida. That should mean that California Associations are ahead of those in Florida, but not so fast. CA law requires that the association complete the study every 3 years but not does not require that they fund their reserves at any particular level. Many suggest associations be funded at 50%-70% but this is not a requirement in California or Florida. Legislation will likely follow in both California and Florida on this issue.

Associations and boards of directors have the responsibility to fund their reserves adequately to meet their obligations for repair and replacement, even if it means the unpopular task of raising assessments. Planning ahead, increasing assessments steadily, making consistent repairs, conducting inspections, and volunteer board member education will help all associations regardless of location provide safety for their members as well as maintain property values.

The Cooper Company, 3425 Coffee Road Suite 1B in Modesto, is a Professional Association Management firm.

Davis-Stirling.com by ADAMS|STIRLING PLC – ADAMS|STIRLING is a Professional Law Corporation dedicated to Residential and Commercial Associations.

By: Amy Collier Carroll / Director of Legislative Affairs & Communications/PIO / Stanislaus County Chief Executive Office

A Leadership Modesto commencement dinner was held at the Martin G. Petersen Event Center in June to celebrate the Leadership Modesto Class of 2021. The “most resilient class ever,” started the program in 2019, and for public health reasons that prevented gatherings, the group wasn’t able to graduate until June of this year. The class raised much needed funding for Without Permission, a Central Valley nonprofit organization that works to end sex trafficking, restore the victimized, educate local youth to prevent exploitation, and combat demand for the business of human trafficking.

The Modesto Chamber of Commerce has begun accepting applications for the Leadership Modesto class of 2022. The program schedule of events and application packet are available at ModChamber.org under programs. Leadership Modesto has over 35 years of inspiring, growing and uniting high-quality leadership in our community through a dynamic, hands on, ten-month intensive program that instills a thorough understanding of community life and leadership in our region. Participants of Leadership Modesto are provided a unique opportunity to meet and exchange ideas, grapple with current local and regional issues, and begin the important self-development of place and purpose required to assume leadership roles. Each class is expected to collaborate on a joint project that benefits the community.

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