Colorado construction gearing up faster than other states

RTD Train Hall is one of several construction projects around Union Station. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Construction gains outside of housing remain tepid nationally, but Colorado is bucking that trend.

"Part of this is a story of emerging economic momentum," said Anirban Basu, chief economist with Associated Builders and Contractors, who gave a forecast Thursday morning in Denver.

Robust oil and gas production, combined with metro Denver's attractiveness to young professionals, have provided the state a jump on other areas.

"This helps explain to a large extent why the state's economy has become turbocharged lately," Basu said of the ongoing energy boom.

Construction hiring in Colorado through February is up 6 percent, compared with a 2.5 percent annual pace nationally, noted Ken Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America, during an economic webcast sponsored by Reed Construction Data.

Some of the most robust construction activity is taking place in Denver's core, which the Downtown Denver Partnership touted Thursday morning at a separate event on its "development map."

The downtown area has seen 5,688 residences, 2,297 hotel rooms and 2.7 million square feet of office space either added or under construction since 2008. Two dozen projects worth $1.8 billion are expected to be completed this year alone, a third of them located in the Central Platte Valley.

Multi-family and even single-family construction have shown strength the past year, but nonresidential is an entirely different story.

"We have had a hard time building momentum in nonresidential," said Kermit Baker, chief economist with the American Institute of Architects.

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Colorado construction gearing up faster than other states