First comes natural gas, then the infrastructure needed to support it. That's a formula that has meant growth for the Texas and Louisiana construction industry over the past few years. The end result is continuing strength for the region's specialty contractors. Related Links: Engineering News Record Architectural Record This year's ENR survey of Texas and Louisiana's Top Specialty Contractors drew 98 responses. Firms reported more than $7.425 billion in regional revenue across both states. That's a gain of nearly $300 million over the top 98 firms in last year's ranking.Bolstered MarketsFive of the top 10 firms in this year's ranking
The Colony, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is the site of a new 1.9-million-sq-ft home-furnishing mecca quickly nearing completion. Nebraska Furniture Mart's latest store, and its first in Texas, is a $156.8-million behemoth that will include 564,000 sq ft of retail space; a 1.3-million-sq-ft warehouse and pickup area; an 800,000-sq-ft, 2,000-space, five-story parking garage; and a data center and central utility plant. Related Links: Nebraska Furniture Mart NFM Blog Turner Construction Co. 2013 Top Starts in Texas & Louisiana Work began on the project in March 2013, and Turner Construction Co., the construction manager, anticipates a Dec. 1 completion, well
Building a collegiate football stadium for 30,000 spectators is no easy task, but doing it in a small footprint in a residential neighborhood and on a short schedule takes skill and experience. After facing hurdles and delays well before groundbreaking, a New Orleans contractor is making a mad dash to finish Tulane University's stadium in time for the football team's season home opener in September. Related Links: Tulane University Yulman Stadium small footprint, tight timelineThe $63-million Yulman Stadium will be the university's first on-campus stadium since historic Tulane Stadium was demolished in 1980. From 1926 to 1975, the old structure
San Antonio is home to a new military medical center, now rising at Lackland Air Force Base. The $457-million, 645,000-sq-ft Lackland Ambulatory Care Center is a state-of-the-art replacement hospital that will become the largest ambulatory care center the Dept. of Defense has built to date. Related Links: Design Firm of the Year: HDR Development of the new facility was driven by the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) of 2005, an initiative that consolidated all military medical training and health care in the San Antonio area."BRAC 2005 directed that Wilford Hall at Lackland was going to become a large outpatient
With a strong economy and the continued strength of the oil-and-gas sector, Texas and Louisiana contractors are seeing strong gains in regional revenues. Related Links: Top Contractors Ranking Top Contractors by Market Sector Ample Bookings Prepare Contractors for a Strong 2014 Combined revenue of the Top 10 firms in the ENR Texas & Louisiana annual Top Contractors survey hit $12.5 billion in 2013, marking a post-recession high. That is up from $9.8 billion in 2012, $8.3 billion in 2011 and $9.4 billion in 2009.All 128 responding firms reported a combined regional revenue of $32 billion in 2013, up from $25.9
Ranked as one of the top zoological parks in the country, New Orleans' Audubon Zoo is home to some critically acclaimed exhibits that have set a standard for other zoos around the world. Audubon's latest project is the construction of a new orangutan exhibit, an elephant exhibit and a river water ride for guests. Spread across three acres, the new attractions have visually appealing designs to immerse visitors in the natural world. Related Links: Audubon Nature Institute Gibbs Construction But project architects and contractors say working in a zoo comes with its own set of issues involving wildlife. Atypical construction
Continued strength in the energy industry propelled design firms in Texas and Louisiana last year, but it wasn't the region's only revenue-growth catalyst. The top 75 design firms on ENR Texas & Louisiana's ranking reported combined regional revenue of $4.1 billion in 2013—up from $2.97 billion in 2012—an increase of roughly 38% and more than double the nearly 16% growth of the year before. Related Links: 2014 Top Design Firms Ranking 2014 Top Design Firms Ranking by Sector 2013 Texas and Louisiana Top Design Firm Ranking Designers Seek Stability During Slow Recovery "Upstream [oil and gas] activities are slightly declining
Not long after its opening in the late 1960s, the Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway corridor (Interstate 635) in Dallas experienced explosive growth and quickly exceeded capacity. As a result, planning for an expanded LBJ began in the late 1980s. More than 200 public meetings and three decades later, the project is under way. Related Links: LBJ Express LBJ Express Work Progresses to Excavation Phase The I-635 Managed Lanes project, also known as the LBJ Express, is a $2.7-billion, 13-mile highway reconstruction that will more than double the capacity of the corridor, which spans two municipalities in Dallas County. All of
Texas has long been a land of drought. Now that more people are relocating to the state, thanks to a strong economy and the promise of jobs, counties must look for new ways to satisfy the water needs of their burgeoning populations. Related Links: San Jacinto River Authority Ground Water Reduction Program McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. HDR Engineering Inc. The San Jacinto River Authority (SJRA) is doing precisely that with its latest project, the $191-million Surface Water Facilities, being built on and adjacent to Lake Conroe in Montgomery County, just north of Houston.This project is part of the county's Ground
Work has been plentiful in Louisiana and Texas over the past year, with a slew of massive projects starting up in each state, ranging from energy, transportation and infrastructure to mixed-use and retail. ENR Texas & Louisiana's Top Starts list shows the cost of the top 25 projects that broke ground in 2013 in the region totaled $12.49 billion, a decline of $710 million compared with last year. But more energy projects are on the way in both states, as work remains strong in the Gulf Coast region. Related Links: 2013 Top Starts In Texas & Louisiana Oil and Gas
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