Rocky Mountains Region Expects $3.5 Billion in Fourth-Quarter Industrial Manufacturing Project Starts

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Rocky Mountains market region, which includes Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, is a hub for Industrial Manufacturing project activity in the U.S. In fourth-quarter 2020, Industrial Info is tracking $3.5 billion in planned Industrial Manufacturing project starts. These projects cover a range of sectors, including data centers, vehicle manufacture, light rail and more.

Arizona leads in overall project value, with more than $1.9 billion in planned project starts.

Click here for a breakdown by state of planned fourth-quarter Industrial Manufacturing project starts in the Rocky Mountains region.

A couple of projects demonstrate that Arizona is becoming a strong base for electric vehicle manufacturing. In Coolidge, about 50 miles southeast of Phoenix, Nikola Motor Company LLC (Salt Lake City, Utah) plans to construct an approximately 500,000-square-foot facility to manufacture hydrogen-electric semi-trucks. The project is the first phase of a planned two-phase project, which will eventually bring the total square footage to 1 million square feet and allow Nikola to produce 35,000 vehicles per year on final buildout. Phase I is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Phase II is expected to kick off in late 2021, for completion by the end of 2022. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on grassroot plant and expansion project.

In Casa Grande, Arizona, also on the outskirts of Phoenix, Lucid Motors USA Incorporated (Menlo Park, California) plans to kick off a Phase II expansion of its electric car manufacturing facility. General contractor Walbridge will add approximately 500,000 square feet to the facility to bring total area to 1.5 million square feet in order to increase production capacity. The project is expected to be completed in early 2022. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

While some light rail projects can total billions of dollars, a more modest project is planned by the Denver Regional Transport District (Denver, Colorado) in Colorado. The agency will construct a five-mile extension on the North Metro Rail Line in the Denver metropolitan area. The project is the second phase of the extension of the line, with the first part currently wrapping up. Phase II is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

E-commerce and data centers are becoming increasingly important, and some of the leaders in these fields, including Facebook Incorporated (NASDAQ:FB) (Meno Park), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) (Redmond, Washington) and Amazon.com Incorporated (NASDAQ:AMZN) (Seattle, Washington), have their sights set on projects in the Rockies. Microsoft will begin a Phase II expansion of its data center in El Mirage, Arizona, by constructing a 250,000-square-foot building with a data technology command center to provide hyperscale data services. Facebook will construct a fourth building at its site in Los Lunas, New Mexico, to expand its data services. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Amazon will construct a grassroot 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Goodyear, Arizona, on the western outskirts of Phoenix, to expand its regional distribution operations. The facility is expected to be completed by the end of next year. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on the Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon projects.

The region also is home to quite a few smaller capital and maintenance projects. Industrial Info is tracking approximately $15 million of maintenance projects at Industrial Manufacturing facilities in the region in the upcoming quarter. Among these are the maintenance shutdowns of three wind turbine blade and nacelle plants in Colorado. Vestas American Wind Technology Incorporated (Brighton, Colorado) is planning maintenance shutdowns at its blade manufacturing facilities in Windsor and Pueblo, and its blade and nacelle manufacturing facility in Brighton. The shutdowns are expected to last a week. Click here to view Industrial Info's project reports.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.