Some of the largest construction projects in the country will reach major development milestones in 2023.
Valued in the hundreds of millions to tens of billions, these ongoing developments are remarkable in their scale, impact, and importance to their respective industries. They include an NFL stadium, a major airport expansion, and a massive manufacturing facility.
Below are just a few of the projects Construction Dive intends to keep an eye on in the coming year:
The Buffalo Bills stadium
Orchard Park, New York $1.4 billion
Retrieved from Buffalo Bills January 25, 2023
This spring, a Gilbane-Turner JV will begin construction on the $1.4 billion stadium for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, with plans to finish the project before the 2026 season. Populous, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, he will serve as architect.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul approved the stadium project last March. Several contributors will fund the project, which will be among the most expensive ever. The Bills and the NFL will provide $550 million, Erie County $250 and New York State $600 million. In agreement with the state, the stadium must contain at least 60,000 seats.
Renderings released in October show that the stadium will be open-air and feature a stacked seating design, which the franchise says will make crowd noise more deafening. Plus, the ample radiant heating will keep fans comfortable during the harsh upstate New York winter.
The JV will build the yet-to-be-named stadium on Abbott Road across from Highmark Stadium, which will continue to serve as the Bills’ home field for the time being.
JFK Airport Expansion Projects
CNY$14.2 billion
Courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The John F. Kennedy International Airport terminal designs are part of its transformation to accommodate the dramatic growth expected in the coming years. The $400 million Terminal 8 modernization began in 2019 and was completed in 2022, but other elements are still ongoing. Over the next year, construction is expected to progress in Terminals 1, 4 and 6.
The $9.5 billion Terminal 1 project began in September 2022 and will be completed in three phases. The design and construction team consists of AECOM Tishman and Gensler. The work involves the construction of 23 new gates, shops, restaurants and an indoor green space on the old sites of Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Opening to passengers is planned for 2026 and completion by 2030.
Terminal 4, priced at $1.5 billion, was approved in spring 2022 and is now under construction. Delta Airlines is managing the construction with support from companies including STV, Turner Construction, Group PMX, McKissack and NYCO. The works will include new gate areas, seating and lounging space.
Construction on the $4.2 billion Terminal 6 is expected to begin in early 2023. It will be built through a P3 between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and JFK Millennium Partners, a consortium that includes Vantage Airport Group, American Triple I, real estate management company RXR and JetBlue Airways. The new terminal will have 10 gates, shops and restaurants, according to the New York governor’s office.
Southeast connector
Dallas-Fort Worth area$1.6 billion
Courtesy of TX DOT
The Southeast Connector Project is a 16-mile effort to widen I-20 and I-820 and rebuild interchanges between the two highways and Highway 287. South-Point Constructors, a joint venture with Kiewit Infrastructure South and Austin Bridge & Road, was awarded the design, construction and maintenance contract.
The project’s goal is to alleviate traffic delays and facilitate commerce, increase safety, and improve efficiency around Fort Worth, Texas. It will connect east and southeast Tarrant County, the third most populated county in the state, to Fort Worth.
The Southeast Connector represents the Texas DOT Fort Worth District’s largest transportation infrastructure investment to date, the agency said. It was launched in December 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2027.
BMW supplier EV plant
Florence, SC810 million dollars
Authorization granted by BMW
Announced last month, an $810 million EV battery supply facility in Florence County, South Carolina will scale up production of EV batteries in Palmetto state.
Japanese electric vehicle battery company Envision AESC will supply the battery cells for use in next-generation electric vehicle models manufactured at the BMW Group plant in Spartanburg (shown above).
The investment will create 1,170 new jobs and bolster the company’s multi-year partnership with the BMW Group, according to the release, and is part of a wave of electric vehicle battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
Located on an 870-acre business and technology park in Florence, the facility will encompass approximately 1.5 million square feet and build on AESC’s existing U.S. network that includes a battery manufacturing facility in Tennessee and one under construction in Kentucky.
BMW isn’t the only automaker to ramp up EV production this year. Honda revealed plans for an “electric vehicle hub” in Ohio in December, selecting a battery manufacturing site close to facilities it will redevelop for electric vehicles. Hyundai announced last year that it has pioneered a campus where both batteries and a diverse line of electric vehicles will be manufactured.
Amazon data center campus
Northern Virginia35 billion dollars
David Ryder/Stringer via Getty Images
Amazon plans to invest $35 billion by 2040 in multiple data center campuses across Virginia, according to a statement earlier this month from Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office.
The plan still depends on the approval of Virginia’s new Mega Data Center Incentive Program by the Virginia General Assembly. If greenlit, Youngkin’s office said Amazon would be eligible for the program.
While specific locations have not yet been disclosed, Northern Virginia has long been touted as “Data Center Alley” by industry professionals. The area remains the largest data center market in the country, according to a 2022 CBRE analysis of data center trends.
That’s because the state continues to attract data center projects due to its relatively cheap land and power, along with record tax initiatives, Youngkin said.
Other data center projects currently underway in the area include a 24 megawatt data center campus in Ashburn, Virginia for NTT, a Japanese IT infrastructure and services company. Clark Construction Group, the Bethesda, Maryland-based construction company leading the project, expects the 188,000-square-foot structure to be ready in the first quarter of 2024.
Meanwhile, near Richmond, Va., QTS, an Overland Park, Kansas-based REIT, announced plans last year for a 1.5 million-square-foot expansion on its data center campus in White Oak Technology Park. in Henrico County, Virginia. The expansion brings additional data center space to the existing 1.4 million square foot data center next door.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas
vegas$3.7 billion
Courtesy of Fontainebleau Development
Florida-based Aventura, Fontainebleau Development and Koch Real Estate Investments, the real estate investment arm of Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries, secured a $2.2 billion construction loan to complete the resort and Fontainebleau luxury casino in Las Vegas, according to a press release last month.
The loan keeps construction on track for the 67-story hotel, game, meeting and entertainment project to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the release. The site spans 25 acres and 9 million square feet on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip, directly adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The project will include 3,700 hotel rooms, 550,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, as well as gaming, dining, retail, and health and wellness experiences.
Construction on the site initially began in 2007. Progress was hampered during the Great Recession as the site changed developers several times, with business halting again in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Another highly anticipated Las Vegas entertainment project set to debut in the second half of 2023 includes the $2.18 billion MSG Sphere at The Venetian. The venue will have a seating capacity of approximately 17,500, expandable to 20,000 with standing room, and will include the world’s largest spherical structure.
Related Santa Clara
Santa Clara, California $8 billion
Courtesy of The Related Cos.
After a series of development delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Related Santa Clara, a collaboration between New York City developer The Related Cos. and the city of Santa Clara, California will begin vertical construction this year.
The first phase, known as the “Tasman Block,” will consist of a 430,000-square-foot office complex, 50,000 square feet of retail, a 480-room business hotel, 200 apartments and 1,900-space underground parking, according to a public presentation by the project. Foster+Partners is the lead design architect for the early stages of the project, while Gensler will be the executive architect.
When completed, Related Santa Clara will include 9.2 million square feet of developed space on 240 acres adjacent to Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, and the Santa Clara Convention Center.
The development breakdown includes:
- 1,680 housing units (170 designated as affordable).
- 5.7 million square feet of office space.
- 700 hotel rooms.
- A park of 35 hectares.
- 25 hectares of open space.
- 800,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, including a global food market.
An adjacent development, Tasman East, will add another 4,500 residential units on 40 acres – 1,600 developed by Related and 2,900 by other developers. Related recently announced $690 million in construction funding for Tasman East.
