The Top Starts list is based on data from Dodge Data & Analytics as well as details from firms and other sources. It compiles the largest 10 projects by value to break ground in 2024 across the region, which includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Puerto Rico.

In the top spot this year is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Central Everglades Reservoir Embankment and Structures project in Palm Beach, Fla., at more than $2.87 billion. The contract was awarded to Thalle Construction in September, marking the largest contract award for the Corps Jacksonville District in its history, and the largest agency civil works stand-alone contract the Corps awarded in 2024.

Thalle is clearing, excavating and processing materials to build a 17.75-mile embankment dam up to 38 ft high as well as four gated outlet structures, an overflow spillway, multibay gated inline spillway, rock foundation and seepage cutoff wall.

Ranked at No. 2 is the $2.1-billion National Football League stadium project for the Tennessee Titans that will be about 1.75 million sq ft in size. In a January update, the team reported work wrapping up to install two 400,000-gallon cisterns, with interior wall construction getting underway.

Novo Nordisk’s $2.05-billion fill and finishing expansion in Canton, N.C., is part of a total $4.1-billion investment in its U.S.-based operations to add 1.4 million sq ft in production space that will double its footprint in the state.

Other projects rounding out the top six are the $1.95-billion Bahia NGL Pipeline in Texas and two projects each valued at $1.8 billion: the Shenandoah offshore oil field development in Houma, La., and manufacturer Linde’s blue hydrogen plant in Beaumont, Texas.

 

The Big Picture

Firms reported a busy 2024, both in starting and completing big projects. The tenth-largest project, under construction by JE Dunn, is a $1.6-billion LG Chem battery plant in Clarksville, Tenn.

“We continue to see significant activity in the battery and energy storage industry sectors,” says Brent Strength, senior vice president and industrial and manufacturing business unit leader. “Heavy industrial—which we define as chemical, pulp and paper, power and agricultural—continues to be a strong market as well.”

The LG Chem project is a chemical plant for the battery market that is set to manufacture cathode material that will be used in the production of electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Ben Burgett, vice president of data centers for contractor Gray Construction, says Amazon Web Services is a foundational customer for the firm. It is working with AWS on a $1.6-billion data center Phase 1 project in Canton, Miss. The project is No. 8 on this year’s Top Starts ranking, part of a total $10-billion investment in the area.

It is the largest private sector investment in Mississippi history, Burgett notes, and it is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs.

Overall, he says 2024 was an active year and that Gray has been seeing growth in several markets.

“The growth of the data center market has been particularly impactful,” he says. “This market is seeing substantial growth and is expected to balloon over the next five years.”

Citing Grand View Research, Burgett says that by 2030, the sector is expected to reach $420 billion in value, more than doubling the $194-billion evaluation in 2022. Other markets seeing expansion are advanced technology and manufacturing spaces, he says, adding that the sector is expected to double in value by 2030 to $10.3 billion.

Gray has several projects that account for part of that growth, including the Hanwha Qcells plant in Georgia, a $1.15-billion effort that ranked in the top five project starts for ENR Southeast in 2023.

 

Confidence Amid Uncertainty

Big projects are on the docket, but that doesn’t mean 2024 was all smooth sailing for firms working in the Texas and Southeast region.

For JE Dunn, one big challenge has been balancing clients’ aggressive speed-to-market goals with equipment procurement, power delivery and permitting timelines, says Strength.

By continuing to evolve services it provides, JE Dunn is able to engage earlier and mitigate more risk for clients, he says. Building trust with clients means it can procure long-lead equipment prior to design completion.

On the LG Chem project, Strength says the design-build approach is allowing for an aggressive timeline, and JE Dunn is prefabricating as many components as it can and working closely with design partners at Gresham Smith to procure long-lead equipment as early as possible.

Labor challenges were not a new problem in 2024, but last year JE Dunn also faced more difficulty in building a more mobile workforce to tackle projects wherever they are located. “Many of our projects are in remote locations where travel is required, so continuing to add people who enjoy the travel component is a focus for us,” Strength says.

Project delays were among the major challenges Gray faced in 2024, says Burgett. “While industrial activity remains strong and above normal levels, prolonged decision timelines are creating uncertainty in project scheduling and resource planning,” he says. This is indicative of a broader industry trend, leaving firms to navigate shifting economic conditions, supply chain volatility and evolving capital expenditure strategies from customers.

Companies also must pursue opportunities more aggressively and prioritize projects with firm commitments and immediate backlog security.

Gray’s project teams track all major inputs on a weekly basis, and while some price fluctuations are anticipated, he says the firm remains confident in market demand for industrial construction.

But uncertainty caused by tariffs only adds to delays in projects and further complicates customers’ decisions about project timelines, says Burgett.

“We’re taking a proactive approach by staying in constant contact with our suppliers and subcontractors,” he says. “On the surface, some [tariffs that pertain] to steel and aluminum appear to be permanent.”

Gray’s role is to stay vigilant and communicative and deal with things it can control, he says, as the firm has invested years into procuring and building relationships and remains confident in the market and optimistic about opportunities in the pipeline.

“Tariffs definitely add a degree of uncertainty, but it seems that foreign direct investment will continue to ramp up,” says Strength, noting the more than $1 trillion in investment in American manufacturing has been announced since the start of the year.

While that’s not all dedicated to construction, he expects to see a steady stream of large projects in the years ahead, especially in automotive, technology and raw materials manufacturing spaces.