The summer may be coming to a close but that doesn’t mean that the pressure cooker that is the construction industry in the Southwest is going to be cooling off. The entire region is abuzz with big news, new projects, and industry innovation. Some really exciting things are happening as we release 2014’s best projects.

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Despite a few months of delays, it is expected that construction will soon begin on USA Place, the new $450 million mixed-use project that eventually will be the home of USA Basketball, on an 11-acre site on the east side of Mill Avenue in Tempe, Ariz. When announced in 2013, the project was slated to include a 220-room Omni Hotel, a 4,500-seat event center, a 30,000-sq-ft conference center, 500 luxury apartments, 160,000 sq ft of retail, and up to 200,000 sq ft of office space. Early reports also said USA Place was being designed by Future Cities, Architekton and Miller-Hull Partnership, LLP and would be built by Turner Construction Company.

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Coming out of Las Vegas, Southwest Gas has recently signed agreements to purchase privately owned construction companies through its subsidiaries led by NPL Construction Co. The price tag was reportedly $185 million. The companies acquired included the Link-Line group including Link-Line Contractors Ltd., W.S. Nicholls Construction Inc., and a 50% equity interest in W.S. Nicholls Western Construction Ltd. all of which are Canadian based, as well as other assets. The purchase will make NPL and Link-Line one of the biggest natural gas distributors in North America.

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Researchers at Arizona State University have announced that they have come up with a mathematical formulation for “Project Quarterback Rating,” a comprehensive scoring method to rank construction projects based on key variables that affect the projects performance and outcome. The PQR is designed to streamline the process in which projects are assessed by contractors on any type of construction project.

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Sen. Harry Reid announced that Nevada will receive $29.3 million in funding for transportation projects. $13.3 million will be allotted to The Regional Transportation Commissioner of Southern Nevada, for Flamingo Corridor Upgrades. The Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County will be given $16 million to build fast bus transit between Reno and Sparks.

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Western Lithium USA Corporation has begun calcination of its lithium clays in the first campaign of three they have organized to show off the viability of extracting lithium on a large scale from its lithium-rich clay deposit in Nevada. The site happens to be not very far from the recently announced Tesla battery manufacturing site outside of Reno. The process of calcination is the first thing that needs to be done to turn the lithium bearing clay into water soluble lithium sulphates, so that a brine can be produced through leaching, according to Western Lithium USA. The 12 tons per day calcination plant is now operational, while the downstream leaching, crystallization and precipitation process is still under construction and expected to be operational in November.

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