Design firms increasingly develop their own projects

 The distinction between architect and developer is starting to look gray now that more design firms are also acting as project developers.

Company’s like Alloy, a firm that designs, develops, constructs and markets its own buildings, are leading the way. The company recently unveiled rows of sleek, 3,000-square-foot Dumbo townhouses that start at $4 million, according to Crain’s.

“As an architect, you sit around and wait for clients, while on the development side, you go ahead and buy property,” Jared Della Valle, Alloy’s founder, told Crain’s. “It’s not easy, but you don’t have to wait for the phone to ring.”

And Alloy is far from the only firm using what is being called design-focused integrated practices. A growing number of New York City firms are keeping projects in house start to finish, in order to better control the destiny of a property. [Crain’s] –Christopher Cameron