Last year, construction teams broke ground on 30 large-scale projects across the Northwest totalling $4.5 billion of work. Some projects beginning in 2008 were also included if they weren’t included in last year’s Top Project Starts. One project, the $240-million Sea-Tac Airport Rental Car Facility, is actually the largest ‘re-start’, having shut down in 2008 and then restarted in summer 2009.
Rankings from the past five years, as well as an electronic version of this year’s, are available on our web site at www.northwest.construction.com
The projects are ranked by construction costs, in some cases estimated.
At $462.7 million, the Sound Transit University Link Tunnels project is the largest Washington start, just one facet of the $1.9-billion project to link the University of Washington with downtown Seattle. Amazon.com’s headquarters appeared on last year’s ranking. Phase IV started last year, and is profiled in the Seattle Activity Report on page 27.
The $280-million Oregon State Hospital in Salem, replacing parts of the historic building made famous by the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is Oregon’s largest project start. Work actually began in July 2008, but the largest new structure began this spring.
Alaska’s largest project is the 450,000-sq-ft Goose Creek Correctional Center at $216 million.
Some project information was supplied by the building teams via a survey. If you would like to participate in future surveys, please check our web site for announcements. Supplemental data was provided by the McGraw-Hill Construction Network, public records and press releases. All information is presented as up-to-date as possible at press time.