Construction spending in July maintained consistent year-over-year growth despite a pullback from the June peak, according to a recent analysis of new federal data recently released by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said they expect the disparity between private and public construction to persist unless Washington acts to fix infrastructure-funding challenges and pass long-delayed measures. “The July spending numbers send a very mixed message,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Construction of new homes, apartments and most private nonresidential structures appears to be driving gains in construction activity even as the public sector continues to drag
The Denver Merchandise Mart, a fixture in the Denver tradeshow, event and wholesale industries for more than 45 years, is now under the ownership and management direction of Woodhaven-Hawthorne. The company has begun a multi-year capital improvement campaign, which will feature renovations and refurbishments to both the interior and exterior of the Denver Mart over the next four years. Photo by Roger Blakey Photography Inside the Terrace Garden area at the Denver Merchandise Mart during the August Gift, Apparel, Resort Show. A privately owned venture capital company, Woodhaven-Hawthorne has committed to spending $4 million for the refurbishment and renovation of
A performance evaluation of Class 8 hybrid electric tractor-trailers compared with similar conventional vehicles by the U.S. Dept. of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows significant improvements in fuel economy. “During our 13-month study, the hybrid tractors demonstrated 13.7% higher fuel economy than the conventional tractors, resulting in a 12% reduction in fuel costs for the hybrids,” said NREL Senior Project Leader Michael Lammert.For the “Coca-Cola Refreshments Class 8 Diesel Electric Hybrid Tractor Evaluation: 13-Month Final Report,” the NREL team collected and analyzed fuel economy, maintenance and other vehicle performance data on five hybrid and five conventional Class 8 tractor
The REI Denver Flagship store, located in the former Denver Tramway Powerhouse building along the South Platte River, has repaid its $6.3-million tax increment financing (TIF) reimbursement nearly three years earlier than expected. The sales tax TIF, which helped reactivate the 90,000-sq-ft building and bring REI to the Central Platte Valley, was set to expire in April 2015, per the urban renewal plan set forth by the City of Denver, the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA) and REI in 1998. “The REI Denver Flagship store has been a major success since it opened in the early 2000s, playing a key role
Colorado is positioned to become a business innovation leader in the center of the country, according to a new study by Colorado State University economics professor Stephan Weiler.Weiler announced his findings in early August at the 2012 Colorado Innovation Summit. The two-day gathering in Denver brought together business, government, education and community leaders for a summit to discuss innovation and the business climate in Colorado. Weiler, a research associate dean in CSU’s College of Liberal Arts, and four CSU student research assistants produced “Reaching Our Innovation Summit: The 2012 Colorado Innovation Index” at the request and with the support of
Southern Nevada's boom-to-bust construction market is slowly reinventing itself with private-public-partnership projects, now set to include a proposed $1.5-billion mixed-use health-care village to be sited on 151 acres outside of Las Vegas near U.S. Highway 95 and Galleria Drive. Image courtesy Union Village Union Village will include four hospitals and 1,000 homes for senior living, plus medical office space, restaurants, shopping, hotels and a movie theater. With Clark County construction employment down from 110,000 in 2006 to just 36,200 jobs generated in July, according to state figures, project backers are leveraging multiple public and private funding resources and tapping into
Mark Henderson had a lot to learn when he took over his father's company in 1990. He already knew a lot about construction, having worked at Jack B. Henderson Construction Co. since 1968 as an estimator, project manager and superintendent. But he knew little about running the business side and issues such as bonding, insurance and banking. Related Links: ENR Southwest's Top Specialty Contractors Ranking Niche Markets Help Top Subcontractors Stay Above Water How times have changed. In the 22 years since he took the reins as CEO, Henderson has led his Albuquerque-based firm from being a small family business
It was another bumpy ride for the region's top specialty contractors in 2011. Respondents to ENR Southwest's annual survey saw the volume of subcontracting work in Arizona rise, but those gains were offset by steep declines in Nevada and New Mexico. Firms that succeeded did so by finding new niches or adding specialties that dovetailed with their existing skills. Related Links: Top Specialty Contractor Rankings Specialty Contractor of the Year: J.B. Henderson Finds Success In High-Stakes Jobs Arizona subcontractors reported $1.4 billion in work during 2011, up 4% over the previous year. But New Mexico subcontracting work fell 27%, and
Hot on the heels of the startup of Nevada's first wind power project on public land, the forecast for the nation's wind industry is beginning to turn, well, not so swell. Sector layoffs and plant shutdowns this year are up and are expected to continue next year, which many industry players largely blame on the scheduled expiration of the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) by year-end. Photo Courtesy of Pattern Energy New Turns: Pattern Energy's new 151.8-MW Spring Valley wind farm is Nevada's first on public lands. Even so, this has been a strong year for U.S. wind-power capacity
here are a few cases winding their way through local courts aimed at testing the merits of mechanic’s liens and bond claims of suppliers who have allegedly continued to sell materials to subcontractors despite the fact that the subcontractors had been delinquent in paying their suppliers’ bills. Those suppliers have filed either mechanic’s liens against the privately owned properties upon which the materials had been used or bond claims against the general contractors’ bonds posted on public projects. In both instances, if the suppliers are successful, the general contractors would be paying double if they had already paid their subcontractors.A
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