TORONTO, Dec. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --BTY is pleased to release its 16th annual Market Intelligence Report (MIR)for the construction industry across Canada, including major trends impacting the industry's future and overall activity in select international markets. Despite an expected global economic slowdown, the MIR identifies opportunities for growth in the industry.

For 2020, we are forecastingcontinued higher escalation in Ontario (6-7%), British Columbia (5-6%), and Quebec (4-5%), with low to moderate escalation in Alberta (1-2%), Saskatchewan (1-2%), Manitoba (1-2%), and the Atlantic Provinces (0-1%).

The overall outlook for construction activity across Canada is varied.

The largest private sector investment ever in Canada's history, the $40 billion LNG Canada development, is anchoring BC's sustained building boom, while strong ICI activity, a resilient housing sector and major infrastructure projects are fueling Ontario's robust industry.

Alberta and Saskatchewan will continue to see challenges related to oil production, transportation and trade. However, additions to pipeline capacity and improved efficiencies signal improving conditions through and beyond 2020.

Manitoba and the Atlantic provinces will hold steady for the most part, while Quebec maintains a brisk pace with a growing pipeline of planned projects forecast post 2020.

Growth is limited nationwide for residential building comparing forecast starts year over year. Affordability remains a critical issue in major urban centres.

"What stands out to us is the industry's consistent ability to adapt to change and challenge," says Managing Director Toby Mallinder. "With a record increase in foreign direct investment, sustained high immigration, a surging tech sector, expanding investment in renewable energy and a strong infrastructure pipeline, we see reason to be optimistic for construction in Canada even as trade uncertainty shadows the global economy."

With Canada's economy forecast to grow at 1.6 per cent in 2019 and increase to 1.8 per cent in 2020, the overall outlook for construction remains positive. Here is a province-by-province summary:

ONTARIOwill see a very tight labour market, especially in major urban centres, thanks to Toronto's office building boom, major transportation infrastructure projects and a resilient residential sector.

BRITISH COLUMBIA is at full steam with multiple mega-projects in energy and transportation and booming office building driven by an expanding tech sector, all of which will strain an already tight labour supply.

ALBERTAwill continue to see lower construction levels given oil patch challenges. However, strong population growth will sustain residential building, and investment in renewables will create new opportunities.

SASKATCHEWANis also facing a year of low growth due to soft commodity prices and export roadblocks. One bright spot is steady population growth, expected to sustain demand in the residential sector.

MANITOBAwill have major energy projects wrapping up and slower growth in residential and commercial construction. However, new projects in the energy sector and food processing will help keep activity levels stable.

QUEBECis projected to have a slight moderation in its robust activity levels. Strength in office and condos, industrial and warehousing, and infrastructure will remain mainstays.

ATLANTIC PROVINCES. Prince Edward Island will repeat as a growth leader, with Nova Scotia right behind. New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador will see low growth; all four provinces will have declines in the residential sectors.

BTY has been publishing its annual industry review of construction cost forecasts across Canada since 2003. Over the years, the Market Intelligence Report has earned a reputation in the development, property and finance communities for crucial insights on factors behind the changing marketplace and reliable unit rate cost projections for the coming year.

A full copy of the report can be accessed on our website at mir.bty.com

Contact:

Saira Muzaffar, Director, Marketing & Communications

E: sairamuzaffar@bty.com

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Preparing for Growth in the Construction Industry Through a Global Economic Slowdown - PRNewswire

RXR CEO Scott Rechler and an aerial view of the site (Credit: Getty Images, Google Maps)

RXR Realty is bringing a new mixed-use office tower to Long Island City, which is set to be the first project outside of North Brooklyn to make use of Industrial Business Incentive Area (IBIA) special permits.

Plans filed with the Department of Buildings last Friday call for a 21-story mixed-use building at 42-11 9th Street, just south of the Queensboro Bridge and with frontage on both 9th and 10th streets. The 396,365-square-foot building will feature an 18-story tower on top of a three-story podium with ground-floor retail and 64,180 square feet of manufacturing space.

Representatives for RXR did not respond to a request for comment.

The project site is now home to a one-story machine shop occupied by Titan Machine Corporation, and has experienced contamination from, among other things, an oil spill and prior use by a plastic hanger manufacturer. RXR applied to include the project in the citys Brownfield Cleanup Program in April.

Pending zoning approval, Scott Rechlers firm expects to begin construction in July 2020 and complete the project in 2022, application documents show. The developer is under contract to acquire the property from the current owner, Carlos Escobar, for an undisclosed price.

To facilitate the project, RXR filed another application last month to designate the area as an IBIA, which would increase the floor area allowed on the site and modify parking and loading requirements.

If successful, this would be just the fourth development in New York City to make use of the IBIA designation, which requires that a certain amount of floor area be set aside for industrial uses. All three existing IBIAs are located within a two-block radius in northern Williamsburg.

The first project to receive an IBIA rezoning was Toby Moskovits 25 Kent, the first ground-up commercial building developed in Williamsburg in more than 40 years. After completing construction in July, the nearly 500,000-square-foot building secured its first office tenant, fashion brand Kith, just two weeks ago.

The second IBIA rezoning was for Simon Baron Developments 12 Franklin Street three blocks north, a seven-story boutique office building with 23,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The third went to nearby 103 North 13th Street, where Simon Dushinskys Rabksy Group is developing a seven-story, roughly 60,000-square-foot mixed-use office building.

RXR has been an active player in Queens industrial real estate scene of late. Earlier this month, the firm was reported to be in talks with Amazon to lease a 770,000-square-foot, four-story logistics center in Maspeth to the e-commerce giant.

More here:
RXR plans 21-story LIC office building with manufacturing incentives - The Real Deal

Eagle View Landing

Description: Multi-use developmentDeveloper: Ball Ventures AhlquistStatus: Permitting

Will we see a move toward more taller structures in Downtown Boise? In 2019, the skyline saw no material changes. Nada. Two projects in progress the 11th & Idaho office building and Home2 Suites by Hilton started construction this year, and during 2020 will start to move toward the sky. Several other projects including an eight-story apartment building at 6th St. and Front St. could start material construction soon. But what other projects will hit the permitting stage as Boise continues its hot growth spurt.

Speaking of going up, one prime lot is on many peoples minds. Owned by the Yanke family, it sits at a key crossroads near Simplot, One Capitol Center and very near the Boise Centre. The lot bounded by Front, Grove, 12th and 13th used to house the Boise Farmers Market, and largely serves as overflow parking for JR Simplot Co. employees. Several developers took runs at developing the property over the years, but it remains underutilized in the core of the city. The Capital City Development Corporation will spend millions of dollars to upgrade infrastructure along Grove St. in both directions radiating from the Grove Plaza. The investment could help spur development along the corridor.

Residents in Meridian continue to watch and wait for progress on separate projects along Chinden Blvd. Each would carry a large big-box retailer, Winco at Chinden and Linder, and Costco at Chinden and Ten Mile. While dirt started moving on the Winco project, the land remains bare at the Costco site and developers of the projects have not yet announced when the stores could open.

In 2020, for the first time in sixteen years, Dave Bieter will not be mayor. What will that mean for his hoped-for downtown circulator project? The Boise City Council approved engineering on the project, and both the City of Boise and Capitol City Development Corp. spent money toward the idea. But Bieters will for a rail-driven streetcar could come into question, with new mayor Lauren McLean and a pair of new city council members changing the political mix. Bieter looked toward the streetcar or circulator project for more than a decade, but like two priorities listed below he never got the large-scale project off the ground before voters decided to make a change.

Another project in limbo is a new Downtown Boise main library. Despite a packaged attempt to make the project come to life, public questions, the proposed relocation of the historic Cabin, a citizen initiative and finally overwhelming public vote put the project on ice. Longtime library director Kevin Booe stepped down this fall, and on the way out the door suggested forming a library district for the project. For now, city officials stopped working on the project. McLean said she supports a new library, but how and when the project could move forward remains a mystery.

Will the Boise Hawks ever play anywhere other than Memorial Stadium? Reporting from the Idaho Press, confirmed by BoiseDev, indicates a plan for a stadium on land currently owned by Roundhouse is off the table. In October, Minor League Baseball said some teams in the Northwest League are vulnerable to losing their affiliations. It also said some NWL teams could move to full-season ball. MiLB also told teams not to make big changes including financial commitments or lease arrangements. Bieter championed the Boise Sports Park project, and he and other city staffers worked on the project. But McLean repeatedly said during the campaign that she would not put a priority on a stadium project.

In October, we broke the news of an idea to transform the current site of the Boise tank farm on the Boise Bench. A complicated idea would move the large petroleum tanks to land near the Boise Airport, clean up the ground and create a new close-to-downtown neighborhood. Prolific developer Tommy Ahlquist put together a vision for the area his firm called Curtis Junction. The project, like many of those above, involved Bieter and his team. This is another project where McLeans role remains unclear.

BoiseDev also first told you about the plan to build a golf entertainment venue in Meridian at Eagle Rd. and I-84. We called it a Topgolf style venue, because Ahlquist and his Ball Ventures Ahlquist firm remained mum on the vendor name. Topgolf competes against a smattering of much smaller players like Drive Shack. Topgolf runs the majority of that style of centers, and this spring said it would focus on medium-sized markets. Construction on the Eagle View Landing site started in 2019, and a place for the golf entertainment venue remains on the map.

Another area in the heart of Downtown Boise that isnt pumping blood like you might expect is the block of Idaho St. between Capitol Blvd. and 6th St. On one side, Boise City Hall sits with minimal street activation. On the other, the corners are anchored by Press & Pony on one end and Java on the other but in between sits a parking lot, the empty former Louies building and the empty former Old Spaghetti Factory site. Both of those Italian-themed restaurants closed years ago, and a combination of the recession and OSFs quick exit from Boise left the area lacking vibrancy. But new owners Barclay Group acquired both buildings last year and worked behind the scenes on a new plan for the site. Could we see movement soon?

We constantly get asked when the Albertsons in Barber Valley/Albertsons in S. Meridian/Albertson in Star will open. The Boise-based retail giant announced or obtained permits for all three of these projects, but to date, no sign of when they will pop up. It also remains unclear which project might go first. The last firm update company officials provided was that the projects would start once the Broadway and Market Street stores wrapped up. Now, more than six months later, will we see some construction on activity on one or more of these stores in 2020?

The Boise area saw four large stores close in the winter and spring of 2019, leaving more than 400,000 square feet of retail space empty. Sears and three Shopko stores all held liquidation sales and locked the doors. While a small portion of the Nampa Shopko saw a new lease, the rest await redevelopment. What will come to the empty buildings in 2020?

The Village at Meridian long-ago said it would expand toward Eagle Rd. But for now, those plans remain on hold. Dirt lots extend from the current Village center toward the street, and a site plan shows ideas for hotels, shopping, residential and more. Could the popular shopping gateway get even bigger in 2020?

Downtown Nampa started to see signs of new life in the last few years. Restaurants, bars and even a bit of retail started to bring new vibrancy to an area that lost much of its vibrancy over the last 30 years. Leaders in Nampa like the trajectory of another downtown Boises, and are looking at how the citys Restaurant Row grew in recent decades. Will we see more new projects in this growing downtown?

In a 13-month span from January 2019 to January 2020, the leadership makeup of the Ada Co. Commission, City of Meridian, City of Eagle, City of Boise, and the governors office all saw a material change. How this new crop of leaders approach growth will be a key factor in how the area evolves and changes in the next decade. Transportation, affordable housing, gridlock and sprawl are all big topics of conversation along with climate change, wage growth, and business development. Past patterns of silos and other issues caused more than 70% of residents to say their local government wasnt handling growth well. With new leaders in place, can they change public sentiment? That might be the biggest question for 2020 of all.

More here:
Boise area growth in 2020: What to watch for in your neighborhood - boisedev.com

The outlook for the North Bay construction industry in 2020 is bright, but experts expect the surge in projects to shift from disaster recovery to economic rebuild.

I think were going to see parallel tracks of housing activity in 2020, said Keith Woods, CEO of North Coast Builders Exchange, a trade group for over 1,200 construction companies and related professionals in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties.

One of those tracks of homebuilding work will be continued rebuilding of homes that were destroyed in the 2017 wildfires, and the other track is for building housing that was needed before the fires, he said.

Of the 3,043 housing units destroyed in Santa Rosa, mostly by the Tubbs Fire, 2,266 units are in the rebuild process (seeking or received permits), with 892 completed so far, according to the citys online progress tracker as of Dec. 23. Under construction are 1,132 units, and another 242 have permits or have applications pending.

Of 1,949 parcels in unincorporated Sonoma County with fire-damaged structures, nearly a quarter have rebuilding construction complete, 61% are in construction, and permits for another nearly 15% are in review or issued.

In Napa County, permits have been issued on 129 units and are pending for 55, according to that tally.

Some of the continued rebuilding is for fire survivors, but more will be speculative homes built on lots the original owners sold in the months after the fire after deciding not to rebuild, Woods said.

While some speculative projects have started, builders have been giving priority to fire survivors.

Were getting lot of people who originally didnt want to rebuild, said Keith Christopherson, who has built over 6,500 Northern California homes and now is working with more than 100 clients on burned lots, mostly in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa. Some moved away and wanted to sell their lots and now are having second thoughts and want to rebuild. Some bought other homes, and now they see neighborhoods are coming around, so now theyre thinking about selling their current house and rebuild the house that burned.

As the rebuilds wind down with the release of more construction money from insurance policy and other settlements, the attention of homebuilding is expected to shift outside the fire areas.

In the main (Highway) 101 corridor cities, the housing pace is picking up dramatically, Woods said.

More single- and multifamily projects are lining up for Petaluma, Rohnert Park and Windsor, with communities further out on the horizon for Sebastopol and Healdsburg, he said. And recent action by the Santa Rosa City Council to give an initial go-ahead on a downtown master plan that calls for up to 7,000 housing units is attracting developers to start making that a reality in 2020, he said.

There are plans for and actual permits being pulled for a lot of new housing in the North Bay, but if were only at 3,000-4,000 homes after the rebuild, that leaves us 2,000-3,000 homes short of what we had three years ago, Woods said. That only exacerbated an existing problem with the shortage of housing.

Another existing problem for the construction industry has been labor, as thousands left the industry during the sectors several-year recession starting in 2006. The massive rebuild effort put a strain on specialty contractors and labor for commercial projects this year, according to Robert Cantu, president of Western Builders.

There has been some uptick (in demand) for warehouse projects for the cannabis effort, but weve never seen a rebound for everyday office space, he said. Because of the recession years back, companies got leaner and devices improved for work at home or from afar. Square feet per worker has gone way down.

Demand for retail projects also is down, because of the internet effect, according to Roger Nelson, president of Midstate Construction. The challenging environment for brick-and-mortar retailers competing with e-commerce has put pressure on owners of retail centers nationwide to keep spaces full.

We used to be predominantly retail, and now were predominantly housing, and affordable housing, he said. The company completed its 27th project for Santa Rosa-based nonprofit developer Burbank Housing. Thats something the Bay Area needs.

Excerpt from:
It's all about the homes - North Bay Business Journal

In 2020, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness foresees complete of several projects that are already under way.

I think next year will be a year for building on ideas already out there in the public, and there will be a lot of that going on, he said. Youll see a lot of construction in the downtown area on private developments like the First Internet Bank, the hotel, two multi-family developments being built. Theres a lot of construction going to happen in the downtown area.

In December 2018, Browning Investments announced a $157 million development for downtown Fishers on both sides of 116th Street. The north side of the project will be built by Browning and CRG Residential and will feature a five-story apartment building with retail units, a public parking garage, a plaza gathering space and renovated downtown buildings. The south side will feature the 168,000-square-foot, six-story office building to be First Internet Banks new headquarters, along with a 110-room boutique hotel, the Hotel Nickel Plate, and a parking garage. The project is anticipated to be complete by fall 2021.

At the same time, construction on a tunnel for the Nickel Plate Trail under 116th Street will begin, as will construction on the first leg of the trail from 106th Street to 116th Street. The trail is expected to open in 2021. The first portions of Ind. 37 construction also will begin, starting on the 126th and 146th street interchanges in the spring.

Fadness said residents also can expect to see roadwork on 96th Street.

We are excited about the ability to build it to four lanes from Lantern to Cumberland (roads) and do lane reconfiguration and beautification, Fadness said. Itll be a significant year of construction for the city.

More of The Yard at Fishers District will open in the first quarter of 2020. The new features include a hotel and more than a dozen businesses and restaurants and apartments The Fishers Test Kitchen, featuring three new restaurants, will open in February. The second phase of the project, which sits to the east of Phase 1, will begin in 2020 and will include another hotel, an office building and townhomes.

I think itll be a very active place, Fadness said.

Other projects opening in the new year include Hub and Spoke, a $14 million, 85,000-square-foot design center that includes a showroom, event space, warehouse and makerspace at 106th Street and the Nickel Plate Trail. Fadness said he expects them to open up in the spring, with other portions of the development opening in the summer.

An autonomous vehicle program will begin in the spring or summer. The vehicles, created by the California-based company PerceptIn, will transport eight passengers at a time from Launch Fishers, 12175 Visionary Way, and the Internet of Things Lab, 9059 Technology Lane, to downtown Fishers. The vehicles travel at 20 mph. PerceptIn plans to establish its headquarters at the Internet of Things Lab in early 2020.

We hope to (expand transportation to) other places within the community. That would be ideal to shrink the universe, so to speak, and allow people the opportunity to get to restaurants and enjoy the community in ways they otherwise wouldnt be able to do unless they got in their car, Fadness said.

Two new members will join the Fishers City Council in 2020. They are Democrats Jocelyn Vare and Samantha DeLong.

We look forward to getting all nine council members together to find out commonalities and find common ground and hit the ground running for another four years in the City of Fishers, Mayor Scott Fadness said.

Fadness expects more focus on the cultural aspects of the city in the new year. The Arts and Culture Commission is working on a master plan for 2020 and beyond.

I think youll see a lot more focus on 2020 to the cultural and community aspects of our city, Fadness said. Theres going to be a lot of building, a lot of development, but we are really laser-focused in on the next couple years of garnering a strong sense of pride and community engagement. Youll see a lot of focus and emphasis on those things moving forward.

See the rest here:
Looking ahead: Next year will bring more construction, arts and culture development to Fishers - Current in Carmel

TORONTO Market consultant BTY is forecasting that Ontario will lead the national construction industry in growth in 2020 followed by British Columbia and Quebec.

BTYs Market Intelligence Report said that despite an expected global economic slowdown, the firm identifies opportunities for growth in the industry, stated a Dec. 30 release.

For 2020, BTY is forecasting escalation in Ontario (6-7 per cent), B.C. (5-6 per cent) and Quebec (4-5 per cent), with low to moderate escalation in Alberta (1-2 per cent), Saskatchewan (1-2 per cent), Manitoba (1-2 per cent) and the Atlantic provinces (0-1 per cent).

The largest private sector investment ever in Canadas history, the $40-billion LNG Canada development, is anchoring BCs sustained building boom, while strong ICI activity, a resilient housing sector and major infrastructure projects are fuelling Ontarios robust industry, said the release.

Alberta and Saskatchewan will continue to see challenges related to oil production, transportation and trade, BTY predicts. However, additions to pipeline capacity and improved efficiencies signal improving conditions through and beyond 2020.

Manitoba and the Atlantic provinces will hold steady for the most part, while Quebec will maintain a brisk pace with a growing pipeline of planned projects forecast post 2020, said BTY.

Growth will be limited nationwide for residential building comparing forecast starts year over year. Affordability remains a critical issue in major urban centres, the report said.

What stands out to us is the industrys consistent ability to adapt to change and challenge, said BTY managing director Toby Mallinder in the release. With a record increase in foreign direct investment, sustained high immigration, a surging tech sector, expanding investment in renewable energy and a strong infrastructure pipeline, we see reason to be optimistic for construction in Canada even as trade uncertainty shadows the global economy.

Ontariowill see a very tight labour market, especially in major urban centres, thanks to Torontos office building boom, major transportation infrastructure projects and a resilient residential sector, said BTY.

B.C., meanwhileis at full steam with multiple mega-projects in energy and transportation and booming office building driven by an expanding tech sector, all of which will strain an already tight labour supply.

Read more here:
Ontario, BC to lead the way in 2020 construction growth: report - Daily Commercial News

You dont need a crystal ball to see whats in store for Charleston in 2020 just look at all the cranes around you.

2020 will be a big deal for Charleston: This year, the city will celebrate its 350th birthday. But for all of the history weve amassed over the last three-and-a-half centuries, we have plenty more in the making. This year, were expecting to see the completion of several major developments just in time for even more new projects to break ground.

We checked up on some of the biggest in-progress developments that are expected to open in the tri-county in 2020.

Construction of the Charleston Tech Center at 997 Morrison Dr., as of Nov. 2019 | Photo by @charlestondigitalcorridor

The Charleston Tech Center is expected to open this year on Morrison Drive, by Romney Street. In addition to a six-floor office building, plans for this development include a retail tenant on its ground floor, a courtyard + outdoor park, and a parking deck. The building will serve in part as the home of Flagship3 a business incubator launched by Charleston Digital Corridor, which signed on as a permanent tenant of the space.

After some construction delays, the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Childrens Hospital & Pearl Tourville Womens Pavilion is now on track to open sometime in 2020. The 11-story, 624,000 sqft facility will be home to the only pediatric burn unit, level I trauma center for children, + solid-organ and bone marrow transplant programs in the state. It will have ~250 beds, and will feature some couplet rooms where new mothers + babies will be able to recover together. See a behind-the-scenes look at the hospital here.

Plans for the future Harbour Club at 22 WestEdge | Photo by @westedgechs

Beginning in May 2020, the Harbour Club will take over the entire 7th floor of the newly completed 22 WestEdge building. The club, which will be available to rent for events, will boast panoramic views of the Peninsula, and it will have an outdoor terrace that overlooks the Ashley River.

This is all part of the ongoing WestEdge development. To see more on whats coming to that part of town over the next several years, click here.

Working on the 10 row bleachers at the new aquatic center.

Posted by North Charleston Aquatics onTuesday, November 26, 2019

Progress on the new Aquatics Center in North Charleston, as of Nov. 2019 | Photos by North Charleston Aquatics

Set to open this spring right by Fort Dorchester High School, the aquatics center will include a 50 meter, ten-lane pool; a 25-yard, therapeutic pool; a warm-up pool; locker rooms; a pro shop; and a concessions stand.

A new roadway connecting Fort Dorchester (which currently only has one entrance/exit from the road) to Patriot Blvd. will also be constructed to improve the nearby school traffic.

Construction of the new parking deck at Charleston International Airport, as of Dec. 2019 | Photo by @iflychs

Construction of a 5-level parking deck (right behind the existing garage) at the Charleston International Airport appears to be nearing completion. When it opens to travelers, the airport will be able to accommodate more than 3,000 additional cars.

In the meantime, if you plan to leave your car at the airport, make sure to check their website for the latest information, and give yourself an extra 30 minutes when heading out the door.

A rendering of The Refinery, coming to 1640 Meeting St. in 2020 | Image by @themiddletongroup

A multi-use development called The Refinery is coming to the Upper Peninsula in fall 2020. The development includes a three-story, mixed-use building with room for a restaurant on its ground floor, and office space on its second + third floors. Outside, there will be a balcony on the second floor, and an onsite amphitheater surrounded by green space.

Garco Mill | Photo by the CHStoday team

The historic old factory building + surrounding 40 acres of land at Garco Mill is being redeveloped into office and retail space, alongside a 20,000 sqft food hall. So far, the coworking space Serendipity Labs has announced it will open at Garco Mill in March 2020 but were still waiting for an opening date to be set on the food hall.

Alorica Call Center in North Charleston | Photo via Google MapsAn estimated 300 jobs will be created with the expansion of Aloricascall center in North Charleston. The $1.2 million project is expected to be complete by the end of 2020.

Foundry Point | Image via @foundryapts

Construction of each of these two neighboring apartment complexes in NoMo is expected to be complete in 2020. Together, the two will add more than 300 apartment units to the neck area.

Construction of the Jasper Charleston as of Dec. 2019 | Photo via @jaspercharleston

The 12-story, luxury apartment complex is being constructed on the site of the former Sergeant Jasper apartment building (hence its name). In addition to apartment units, the plans for the building include 25,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail space, + 75,000 sq. ft. of office space.

Firefly Distillerys new location in Park Circle | Video via @fireflydistillery

What was formerly a landfill at 1135 Rome Ln. (near Park Circle) will soon be the home of the brands beloved sweet tea vodka.

Set to open in January 2020, the owners plan to avoid paving and instead incorporate green space + more than 300 trees. Features at the new location will include a tasting room, gift shop, and distillery.

While we included onlydevelopments set to open in 2020on this list, here are a few projects weve got our eyes on a little further down the road: The completion of the Charleston Harbor deepening project + the opening of the new Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. Terminal in North Charleston is on track for 2021.Construction of theInternational African American Museumis set to finish in 2021, with hopes to open it by the end of the year.The expansion of Joe Riley Waterfront Park + the construction of a new, waterfront hotel right by it is on track for a 2022 opening.

Continued here:
The 11 most anticipated developments of 2020 - CHStoday

The developer behind Grumman Studios is seeking to build a similar facility in the Village of Port Washington North and has received a grant from the state for its construction.

The 13-acre 101 Channel Drive property houses a one-floor, 160,000-square-foot structure originally built in 1958. It was used as office space by Publishers Clearing House and was bought by Setauket-based Little Rock Construction Inc. in 2014.

Developer Parviz Farahzad, who spearheaded the Grumman Studios project in Bethpage, said at a Port North Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 18 that he wants to build out the studio from the current structure to a height of 65 feet, and divide it into six production stages for filming movies, TV series and commercials.

Alex Badalamenti, representing Patchogue-based BLD Architecture, which is designing the proposed building, said that landscaping would be used to obscure the structure from a condo community bordering the site, though a full design has not yet been completed.

In the states Regional Economic Development Councils grants for 2019, an applicant called 101 Channel Dr LLC, whose proposed project is labeled as Port Washington Film and TV Production Studios, has been awarded $1.25 million for construction on [converting] a vacant building in Port Washington into a six-stage television and movie production studio.

Calls for comment to Little Rock Construction and the Village of Port Washington North were not returned. The village will continue public comment sessions on the proposal at its Jan. 22 Board of Trustees meeting.

More here:
Proposed Port North production studio receives $1.25M state grant - Port Washington Times - The Island Now

DuPont is the next Interstate 5 exit south of Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It may look like a peaceful suburb, but it just went through a bitter mayors race with lots of mudslinging.

One of the big reasons: Warehouses.

On the outskirts of Amazon's economic impact zone, many smaller communities sometimes struggle to find their place in the tech economy. Failing to land tech jobs, they have to settle for warehouses instead.

DuPont is rich in warehouses. Maybe its the towns proximity to I-5, or its position midway between Seattle and Portland and between Tacoma and Olympia, but warehouse developers really like this town.

Amazon, Ikea, Pier 1, FedEx they all have major warehouses here.

DuPonts outgoing Mayor Mike Courts showed me yet another one under construction. Theyre pouring the foundation in there right now, he said, pointing to the construction site.

Mayor Courts liked the income warehouses brought the city. He said that earned him the nickname Concrete Courts. People call his planning director Warehouse Wilson.

But Courts support for warehouses cost him his job.

My residents are not excited about distribution centers," he said. "I dont blame them. I understand that. But it is part of the world we live in now.

But this was not the world DuPont planned for itself.

Built next to the base, DuPont was a popular place for military families. In the 1990s, leaders wanted to expand its economy to include well-paying, high-tech jobs.

They built new neighborhoods with a gleaming new state-of-the-art campus for Intel, the chip manufacturer, at the center. Mayor Courts said Intel had planned to locate 5,000 employees there. They'd do research and development in these offices and test and manufacture chips in a third building onsite.

But gambling on tech jobs can be dicey because technology changes faster than developers.

The iPhone took off and laptops with their Intel chips declined in popularity. Intel pulled out of its DuPont campus, and the landlord couldnt find another permanent tenant.

Courts said the reason is obvious: Young workers want to work in cities.

Everyone wants to be where the cool kids are," he said. "Nobody wants to come down here to the 'burbs.

You can see why planners in the 1990s would have thought otherwise. After all, despite the town's reputation as a home for military families, a large number of residents commute to jobs in Tacoma and Seattle. If people could find a tech job in DuPont instead of making that killer commute to these cities, why wouldn't they?

But it didn't work out that way. Despite insurance company State Farm's choice of DuPont for a regional office, the high-tech Intel office buildings in DuPont sat mostly vacant for 20 years.

Finally, the developer gave up and tore the Intel offices down in 2018. Theyre building another warehouse in its place.

For DuPont resident Jennifer McDonald, the demolition of the Intel buildings was a turning point.

It felt a little bit like the point of no return, she said. "After that it felt like damage control. What can we salvage from this?"

She said it seemed that the city was green-lighting every warehouse development that came before the city.

Under Courts, the city grew enough warehouses to cover 35 football fields, over 2 million square feet.

A few of them were fine," said McDonald. "A couple maybe, but the most recent one that popped in, all of a sudden the trees disappeared. And all of a sudden it felt like youre not living in a neighborhood anymore youre living next to a parking lot.

This disagreement about how many warehouses are too many was at the center of the recent mayors race in DuPont.

Ron Frederick decided to run against Courts. He was one of many citizens who pooled money to hire a lawyer to fight off several warehouses.

He showed me the spot where one of them would have gone.

The entire area here is infused with historical and ecological and archaeological artifacts," he said as we hiked down a wooded path towards Puget Sound. Now right in this area that were walking through as we go down the trail there was a developer who wanted to build a warehouse here.

Frederick led me to a monument in a younger section of forest. The monument marked what many believe to be the site of the first Fourth of July celebration West of the Mississippi. The spot is near Fort Steilacoom, a replica of which you may have seen in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park.

The archaeological marker would have been in the center of a warehouse, he said.

At campaign events, Frederick said DuPont needed to stop with the warehouses. He warned of 18-wheel trucks barreling past schools and truckers throwing bottles of pee out their windows, "trucker bombs" he called them.

His campaign ads focused on protecting DuPonts quality of life. Dont bury everything I cherish about it under warehouses, a young man said in one video posted on Facebook.

Mayor Courts said he cares about DuPont, too. But it wasnt enough to sway voters to his side. He only received 35 percent of the vote.

I got smoked," he said. "I got beat up.

Courts leaves office on December 31, feeling scapegoated for changes to the economy outside his control, like the rise of e-commerce, which requires warehouses.

When we live in this society where you can have three Amazon trucks come to your house every single day, they all come from somewhere," he said. "They come from places like this.

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'Living next to a parking lot' in a Washington town taken over by giant warehouses - KUOW News and Information

The Vancouver Clinic is set to construct a new, two-story, 26,400-square-foot medical office building in the Columbia Palisades development, on the border of Camas and East Vancouver, with the help of its construction partners, McKinstry and Anderson Construction.

The Camas medical building, which will include a phlebotomy lab and imaging as well as primary and urgent care, is slated to open to patients in late November 2020. Construction is expected to wrap up in September 2020.

The facility is the eighth Vancouver Clinic facility and will be constructed to accommodate future growth through a potential 30,000-square-foot, phase-two expansion.

McKinstry and Andersen Construction will complete a patient-oriented concept for Vancouver Clinic that includes the installation of full-height walls to increase privacy. This concept, along with new technology for one-touch vitals and patient check-in was also implemented at the Vancouver Clinic in Ridgefield, a 15,400-square-foot clinic that opened one month ahead of schedule in August 2019.

McKinstry will streamline project delivery for the Camas facility by applying the lessons learned from the Ridgefield clinic, said Cameron Hankins, project manager for McKinstry. This includes advancements in offsite fabrication and kitting as well as ordering materials early to maintain project pace if construction goes faster than expected.

McKinstrys regional fabrication shop network, including a large facility located in Portland, allows the company to manufacture and assemble mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in a controlled, purpose-built environment to increase quality, safety and cost-savings. These systems can then be kitted to streamline the overall flow of materials, tools and information to tradespeople on jobsites, maximizing efficiency and further reducing costs.

McKinstry has served Vancouver Clinic since 2005, when the firm helped construct a 92,000-square-foot clinic in Salmon Creek.

Project partners for the Camas, Ridgefield and Salmon Creek facilities include ZGF Architects, KPFF Consulting Engineers, PAE Engineers, MacKay Sposito, Mitchell Planning Associates and Mill Plain Electric Inc.

Originally posted here:
Construction set to begin on Camas-area Vancouver Clinic - Camas Washougal Post Record