In Chula Vista, Calif., a short trip south from downtown San Diego, multifamily housing is being built almost as fast as you can find people to fill them. For instance, the Avalyn — a luxury apartment complex project from contractor Ryan Companies comprised of eight buildings, 480 individual units, 16,000 square feet of commercial space and, in total, a $170 million price tag, according to the San Diego Business Journal — is just one part of the massive 210-acre Millenia master-planned community in the Otay Ranch area of Chula Vista. The entire Millenia development is built to be an “urban village,” where every home is a breezy stroll to plenty of shops, restaurants and fellow residents. In total, it covers 80 city blocks, and is designed to be a more walkable alternative to the typically spread-out geography of Southern California urban life.
For builders, this kind of sky-high demand for luxury living spaces presents a lot of incredibly lucrative opportunities, but also daunting challenges. These apartments need to be constructed at an exceedingly rapid pace and need to be pristine enough to meet the expectations of its high-end clientele. These twin obstacles can be especially difficult to overcome when it comes to code compliance, like dampening the passage of sound between units — a hot-button concern for modern customers. But traditional methods of soundproofing for wall joints (i.e., acoustical caulks) are tricky to install, often requiring multiple trips by the finishing crews to get the job done correctly. That gets real expensive, real fast.
