Greater Houston Area Lines Up $6.2 Billion in Industrial Project Starts for 2011

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The 10-county greater Houston, Texas, area, which includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery and Wharton counties, has 261 major industrial projects scheduled to begin construction this year, representing more than $6.2 billion in total investment value. Industrial project activity is up significantly this year compared to last year, as companies are investing in capital expenditures and acquisitions on strong profits going into the second quarter of 2011. Industrial Info's North American Industrial Project Spending Index shows a 16.8% increase in planned project construction starts this year versus last year.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of 2011 project spending in the Greater Houston area by county.

As can be seen from the chart, Harris County is the leader for industrial project activity this year, with 167 projects totaling $1.6 billion. However, Matagorda County, to the southwest of Houston, has a greater value of projects, with $2.5 billion from only six projects. Almost all of this value in Matagorda is for the White Stallion Energy Center, which is scheduled to begin construction later this year. Selection of an EPC contractor is expected to be announced shortly for construction of the 1,320-megawatt power plant, which will use coal and petroleum coke as fuel. The site of the plant is 10 miles southwest of Bay City, Texas, off of FM 2668. However, execution of this project on the current timeline is questionable, as financing and permit obstacles remain.

In Harris County, where the bulk of the activity is under development, a number of projects have already begun construction this year. This includes a $40 million overhaul and expansion of a glass bottle manufacturing plant owned by Longhorn Glass Corporation, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Bush InBev (NYSE:BUD), in Houston. The Longhorn Glass plant restarted operations last week, after being offline for three months for the overhaul, which will enable the plant to increase production of beer bottles up to 890 million bottles per year, with one of the world's fastest bottle machines.

Also in Harris County, Oak Farms Dairy Incorporated, a division of Dean Foods Company (Dallas, Texas), recently began construction on a new $42 million milk plant expansion at its Houston Dairy.

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