Five Questions with William Davis

SHB: What are you spending most of your time on right now?

William Davis: Like everyone else, a lot of Zoom calls. It makes you wonder where we would be without today’s technology. We have stayed very busy 1) responding to COVID-related situations in collaboration with our financial, university and management partners on existing assets; 2) working hard to maintain momentum on each of our projects under construction; 3) managing projects in pre-development despite turbulence on a number of fronts; and lastly, 4) looking ahead to new projects and opportunities in a post-COVID, or at least post-crisis, environment.

2. SHB: What is the status of new, under-construction projects? Are they still moving forward? If so, how are you making that happen?

William Davis: Fortunately, all of our under-construction projects are still on track. In fact, we have seen a bit of an improvement associated with available labor force on some of our projects. Our partners and teams have been diligent and proactive implementing and following CDC guidelines and safe distancing requirements. We and our partners are trying to go above and beyond to ensure a safe and healthy work environment and to not give anyone a reason to stop or limit construction activity. So far, so good!

3. SHB: Can you forecast what impact this crisis will have on construction costs and labor costs moving forward?

William Davis: In speaking with several trusted contractor relationships across the country, we are bullish about stabilization of construction pricing, if not potentially de-escalation, in the coming months. We are already seeing some subcontractors and contractors who are concerned about their future pipeline and thus are offering more aggressive pricing.

4. SHB: What do you think will be the short- and long-term implications of this crisis on new development in the space?

William Davis: I think the pendulum will swing from the community bathrooms and multiple occupants per bedroom and bathroom back to lower density and reduced student-to-bathroom and student-to-bedroom ratios. I think the single-occupancy bedrooms and apartment product will largely remain unchanged, but there will be greater emphasis on “pandemic-proofing” the more traditional residence hall product or at least providing more flexibility than community bath models offer. The challenge will be successfully balancing the need for reduced density and safe distancing with rental rate affordability.

5. SHB: And on a personal level, what is the one thing you most look forward to doing once we get past this pandemic and life/society get back to "normal?"

William Davis: Hard to boil this down to one thing. While I have really enjoyed being home and having so many meals at the dinner table with my wife and children over the past couple of months, I do look forward to getting back to restaurants and back to being in-person with our all of teammates and partners. I look forward to hopefully being back on campuses this fall – and particularly that campus in Tuscaloosa on Saturdays.