The overall construction market is sluggish, according to the most recent construction data from the U.S. Census Bureau. But some pockets of growth are tracking well above the total construction market, which was flat in March at $1,730.5 billion (up +0.1% month-to-month and up +11.7% year-over-year (YOY).
The warehouse segment is particularly hot, led by the construction of distribution centers by Amazon and other online retailers expanding their e-fulfillment capabilities. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) like Prologis in the commercial warehouse arena and Public Storage and Life Storage in the self-storage market are also busy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, spending on general commercial warehousing facilities was up +18.7% YOY to $49,110 billion and spending on mini-storage construction spending increased +14.7% YOY to $4,070 billion. The chart below highlights close to $3.6 billion in warehouse projects that have either recently broken ground or are being planned. These projects include the $1.5-billion Keystone Trade Center that recently broke ground in Falls Township, PA; the $584-billion e-fulfillment center being built by Macy’s department store in China Grove, NC; and the $466-billion Amazon warehouse underway in North Andover, MA.
Data center construction continues to be one of the hottest segments of the industry. Meta (Facebook) recently announced plans for a billion-dollar expansion of its data center in Dekalb, IL; Atlas Power has plans for a $923-million expansion of its data center in Williston, ND; and Amazon Web Services recently purchased building permits for a data center campus on 46.4 acres in Chantilly, VA, in Washington DC’s western suburbs, the largest concentration of data centers in the United States.
