Rendering Courtesy Future Cities The 11-acre site on Arizona State University's Tempe, Ariz., campus was planned to be the new home of USA Basketball. After several months of delays, Arizona State University on Jan. 8 declared it would no longer work with the development team attempting to build an approximately $400-million, mixed-use campus at the school's Tempe campus. Slated to be the new home for USA Basketball,the governing body for the sport in the U.S.The project, dubbed USA Place, also was intended to provide space for retail, residential and a 220-room hotel. The development team was a combined effort of
Construction input prices dipped 1.4% during the final month of 2014 and are down nearly 1% on a year-over-year basis, according to the Jan. 15 producer price index release from the U.S. Dept. of Labor. Inputs to nonresidential construction fell even farther, down 1.7% for the month and 1.9% year over year. December’s report marks the sharpest decline in input prices since late 2008 during the global financial crisis and the fifth consecutive month construction materials prices have failed to rise.“Without question, financial markets have been unnerved by the recent declines in oil, copper and other commodity prices, although that
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in December, rose sharply in January. The index now stands at 102.9 (1985=100), up from 93.1 in December. The Present Situation Index rose to 112.6 from 99.9, while the Expectations Index increased to 96.4 from 88.5 in December. Consumers’ assessment of present-day conditions was considerably more favorable in January than in December. Those saying business conditions are “good” increased from 24.7% to 28.1% while those claiming business conditions are “bad” decreased from 18.9% to 16.8%.Consumers were also much more positive in their assessment of the job market. Those stating jobs are
The U.S. construction industry added 48,000 jobs in December, including 22,800 jobs in nonresidential construction, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) preliminary estimate released on Jan. 9. November’s estimate was unchanged in the release, remaining at 20,000 net new construction jobs, but nonresidential construction’s November jobs figure was upwardly revised to 7,100 jobs. “The U.S. economy added an average of 289,000 jobs per month during the final three months of 2014, indicating that momentum is surging as we transition into 2015,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu.“This represents good news for the construction industry in
Lakewood-based Red Rocks Community College has landed a $1-million grant to expand its Arvada campus. The grant was made by Community First Foundation, a 40-year-old foundation that aims to improve the quality of life and create positive change. Renderings courtesy of RRCC The new Arvada Health Professions and Science Building will cluster all of the college's health-professionals programs into one place. The money will go toward building the Arvada Health Professions and Science Building. It is the largest private gift in the college’s $22.5-million campaign to triple the size of the Arvada campus. It is also one of the largest
In 2015 the construction industry faces the aftermath of the recent recession, during which many experienced construction professionals moved to other industries. As construction demand bounces back and increases its need for competent, long-term employees, both general contractors and subcontractors must find ways to attract and retain people to fill key executive-level positions. One method for doing so is to introduce an incentive compensation plan, which can motivate employees to adopt ownership thinking, resulting in strategic actions and decision-making that lead to business growth. This is especially true for companies experiencing or preparing for a transition, which might include a
New construction starts in December retreated 16% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $568.2 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The decline follows the 13% increase reported for total construction starts in November, when activity reached its highest level in 2014, with the lift coming from several exceptionally large projects. Those included a massive lithium ion battery manufacturing plant, an airport terminal redevelopment program and a liquefied natural gas terminal.Both nonresidential building and nonbuilding construction in December witnessed substantial percentage declines relative to their robust November amounts. At the same time, residential building managed a modest gain in
A $2.5-million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy to a coalition of organizations, including the University of Colorado Boulder, will be used to help improve wind-energy forecasting in mountain and valley regions. The grant is led by Vaisala, an international company based in Finland with offices in Louisville, Colo., which specializes in environmental and industrial measurements. The research will target ways to improve the wind energy industry’s weather models for short-term forecasts.According to CU-Boulder project leader Julie Lundquist, an assistant professor in the Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, better forecasting will help integrate renewably generated electricity into the
Rich Gohl was promoted to preconstruction manager at the Southwest district of Sundt Construction in Tempe, Ariz. Gohl will be responsible for all preconstruction activity in the district, including estimating and procurement as well as contractor and subcontractor selection.
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