Projects that would have made the list in the past were too small to make the 2007 list. Based on project cost, No. 25 on the 2007 list was an apartment community at $13.8 million. On the 2006 list, No. 25 was a Target Superstore at $8.4 million and on the 2005 list it was a building at the University of North Florida at $9.9 million.
The U.S. Navy accounted for the largest project in 2007 -- a new hangar and apron for P-3 and C-130 planes at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, with a cost of $126 million. Rick Crews, public affairs officer at NAS, said the 1.37 million-square-foot facility will be the largest hangar in the Navy when it is completed in early 2009. It is being built to house the three P-3 squadrons at NAS and three additional squadrons that will be transferred from Brunswick, Maine, in 2009.
The 2007 list is similar to the 2006 list when it comes to private sector versus government projects. Of the 25 largest projects, 16 on the 2007 list are in the private sector, and 18 on the 2006 list were in the private sector.
Five warehouse/distribution projects made the 2007 list. In comparison, the lists of the previous three years had a total of two of that type of project. Several of the 2007 projects can be attributed to the July 2005 announcement that Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. will make Dames Point its base of East Coast operations. The container terminal under construction for Mitsui ranked No. 9 on the list, with a cost of $31.5 million.
Tom Jones, regional development partner for Jackson-Shaw, said one-third of the 335,000-square-foot Creekside Distribution Center at Jacksonville International Tradeport, which ranked No. 15 on the list at a cost of $25 million, will be used by current tenants who are expanding. The decision to build the facility was based on expansion announcements by the Jacksonville Port Authority and the very real possibility that some tenants would be lost if more space was not available.
Peter Anderson, president of the Pattillo Cos., whose Northpoint 100 distribution center was No. 8 on the list at $38.7 million, said the real impact of the Mitsui deal has not been seen yet. He expects it to drive industrial construction in the future, but attributed the increase of warehouse/distribution projects on this year's list to the continuing growth of Jacksonville and its good location for those interested in distribution to Florida and all of the Southeast.
Steven Halverson, president of Haskell, which was No. 1 on the General Contractors List for 2007 and has several of the largest commercial projects, is "cautiously optimistic" about the commercial construction market in Florida and nationally. For the past two years, Haskell has experienced 41 percent growth, he said, but he expects growth of 5 percent in 2008, a rate he describes as "slow but still quite positive."
Barry Allred, president and CEO of Elkins Constructors Inc., which had a mix of government and private sector projects on the list, said the opportunities for commercial construction projects have been steady for the past 20 to 22 months, and he sees that continuing into 2008. However, he is concerned that if the financial markets don't settle down before the second quarter of 2008, the commercial market may see some of the problems the residential construction market is experiencing.
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source: bizjournals.com
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