The number of total construction projects breaking ground increased 3 percent in May to $595.1 billion.
The increase was largely due to several large-scale nonresidential projects starting in May – if the projects were removed from the data, the construction industry would have seen no change in the start of building projects in the last year. From March to April, the industry saw a 25 percent decline in construction starts. The data from Dodge Data & Analytics suggest the industry has yet to see complete recovery.
Last month, construction starts increased 8 percent in nonresidential buildings, increased 4 percent in residential buildings, and declined 4 percent in nonbuildings.
Nonbuilding construction saw a 4 percent decline in May, with a 37 percent drop in utility/gas plants construction, and a 4 percent drop in the highway and bridge construction. However, miscellaneous nonbuilding increased 31 percent in May and environmental public works remained the same. Two large projects that began in May was the $1.3 billion widening of Interstate 635 in Dallas and the $789 million Lynnwood Link Extension in Lynnwood, Washington, and the $705 million widening of Interstate 405 in Seattle.
Nonresidential building had an 8 percent increase in projects breaking ground in May, mostly due to a few large projects in the manufacturing, hotel and education sectors. The $950 million SDI Steel Complex in Sinton, Texas, the $355 million Fig + Pico hotel in Los Angeles, and the $360 million Wolf Point South Tower B building in Chicago affected the numbers positively in nonresidential building. Removing those projects would have led to a decline in nonresidential building starts last month.
Residential building saw an increase of 4 percent last month, with single family residences increasing 2 percent and multifamily residences rising 10 percent. The largest projects in this sector includes the $180 million mixed-use development at 545 Vanderbilt Avenue, the $150 million apartment tower at 354 N. Union in Chicago, and the $150 million Ripley II – Solaire 8200 Dixon Luxury Apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Pearl Wu
Pearl Wu is the editorial Recognition Desk Manager at ALM Media and oversees the administrative aspects of U.S. Legal awards. Please find our upcoming deadlines here.
