Baltimore architectural firm Cochran, Stephenson & Donkervoet will close Oct. 2 after 62 years, a victim of a recession that has hit hard in the housing and health care sectors.
The firm, which at its peak employed more than 100 people in Baltimore and three other cities, has been reducing staff and office space for several months and now employs 35 to 40 people in Baltimore and Dallas, with about two dozen in Baltimore.
"This was not an easy decision for the stockholders," said Chairman Tom Spies. The company "did succumb to the country's current economic crisis, the disappearance of funding options for senior living developers and extreme caution in the health care sector," areas in which the firm specializes.
An undetermined number of CSD employees will be hired by Baltimore architecture firm Hord Coplan Macht, where they will continue projects that had been in progress at CSD, Spies said. Others have found work with other firms around the state, he said.
He said CSD, which designs senior-living projects, has been hurt by the slowdown in the housing market as developers have lost financing and seniors have been unable to sell their homes and are staying put rather than moving to retirement communities.
In the health care sector, "there are clearly hot spots around, but in general there is uncertainty about the president's health care plan," which combined with a lack of credit, has forced many hospitals to put projects on hold.
Local architecture firms have struggled as developers have been faced with the unavailability of financing and scaled back or halted work. Spies said the slowdown is the most difficult period he has seen for architecture firms in his 30 years in the business.
CSD is believed to be the first architecture firm in the city to shut its doors because of the slowdown, industry experts said.
"This is a shocker," said Ed Hord, a senior principal with Hord Coplan Macht. "It is such a wonderful, strong firm that is well-respected."
