2026 Spring Preview: Stefano Basso, SV Design Architecture + Interiors

What trends or market activity are you seeing as we move into the spring season? Our commercial team specializes in affordable housing and supportive services like shelters and YMCAs, while our residential team does high end single family homes. That we’re only able to work at the far ends of the spectrum says a lot about the state of our economy right now. On my side, it’s working with mission driven developers at a hyper local level to meet the needs of the community, such as a 52 unit family LIHTC in Ipswich with Harborlight Homes, a 50 unit home ownership in Hyannis with HAC Cape Cod, a new shelter with 53 units of supportive housing in Salem with Lifebridge, and beyond.

What opportunities or challenges do you see shaping the commercial real estate landscape over the next several months? This continues to be a tough environment to develop in. Zoning requirements and more stringent energy codes add cost and complexity while debt remains expensive. The projects that are moving forward can’t afford to leave any density on the table so we’re looking really hard at how to tighten up a footprint and site plan to gain an extra unit or a parking space that might be the difference between a deal penciling out or not. Our team is researching new products every month to gain an edge on budget and compliance. We’re staying hungry.