Billion-Dollar EV Plants, Airports, Offices & Data Centers Lead Project Activity in 1Q 2023

When Electrical Marketing’s editors updated our database of the largest construction projects of over $100 million in total contract value for this quarter, we found that the sheer size of the many new construction projects obscured the national trend in the overall construction market.

While many construction economists expect the overall market to decline in 2023, it’s not hard to find dozens of large projects that either broke ground or entered the planning stage over the last three months. We found that airports, data centers and, surprisingly, large office projects were among the largest project types. Several semiconductor plants and electric vehicle factories or plants that manufacture EV batteries also topped $1 billion in total contract value.

Tops on our project list is Brightline’s $10 billion high-speed rail link between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles metropolitan area that’s scheduled to start construction later this year. According to a post at www.sfgate.com, the 218-mile long rail link is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs.

AIRPORTS

The $4.2-billion Terminal 6 at New York’s JFK Airport, which broke ground last month, was the second largest project EM’s editors could find. It was the largest of several airport projects now under construction, including the $1.3-billion expansion of Sacramento’s airport; the $322-million expansion of BWI Airport in Baltimore; the $150-million expansion of Spokane International Airport; and the $110-million Gerald R. Ford expansion in Grand Rapids, MI.

EV BATTERY PLANTS AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE  FACTORIES

The billions of dollars expected to be spent on semiconductor or EV plants over the next few years is flat-out amazing. Supported in part from the CHIPS semiconductor bill and federal infrastructure funding are several newly announced projects that broke ground or are in the planning stage, including the Hyundai Motor Group/SK EV factory in Bartow County, GA, with a total contract value of $4 billion to $5 billion; the $3.5-billion Honda/LG Solutions EV plant that broke ground in Jefferson Township, OH, last month; a $1.9-billion EMP Shield semiconductor plant in Burlington, KS; the $810-million Envision/AESC battery plant that will supply a BMW EV factory in Florence, SC; and a $760-million renewables energy battery plant in Weirton, WV.

OFFICE TOWERS

Despite the swing toward remote officing, several companies are moving forward with large office projects, including the $600-million Mutual of Omaha headquarters in Omaha, NE; the $575-million Spark Therapeutics Gene Therapy Innovation Center at Drexel University in Philadelphia; $500-million Northwestern Mutual downtown office tower in Milwaukee; and the $460-million CoStar corporate campus in Richmond, VA.

DATA CENTERS

Billion-dollar data centers in Sandston, VA, and Elk Grove, IL, as well as several smaller facilities made the top project list (see chart below).

Click here to download Electrical Marketing's complete list of projects breaking ground or in the planning stages.