More Than $18 Billion of Project Starts Scheduled for Southeastern U.S. in 2009

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Planned project construction starts across all industries in the Southeast region of the United States have jumped by almost $4 billion from 2008. Industrial Info's North American Industrial Database lists $14.57 billion of projects labeled as "complete" or "active" that kicked off in 2008 in the region, which includes the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. For 2009, Industrial Info currently lists $18.52 billion of projects that are marked as "complete" or "active," an increase of nearly $4 billion from 2008.

Click on image at right for a breakdown by industry of planned 2009 project starts in the Southeast region of the U.S.

While the region's largest industrial sector, the Power Industry has seen year-over-year growth of less than 4.5%, two industries have absolutely skyrocketed from 2008 to 2009 in terms of total investment value. The Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry has jumped from $845 million of projects in 2008 to $2.01 billion projects planned to kick off in 2009, an increase of 138%. Even more spectacularly, the Southeast region's Metals & Minerals Industry has jumped from $984 million of projects in 2008 to $3.13 billion of projects planned for 2009, an increase of 215%.

This huge increase in the Metals & Minerals Industry is primarily due to the kickoff of one project in particular, an estimated $2 billion grassroot polysilicon manufacturing plant in Clarksville, Tennessee. The project is a joint venture between Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation (Hemlock, Michigan) and Dow Corning Corporation, an equally owned joint venture company of Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) and Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) (Corning, New York). A groundbreaking ceremony was held March 19, and site preparation is currently under way, with infrastructure and structural erection scheduled to begin in late summer of this year.

The Dow Corning project has pushed Tennessee into the top position of all states and territories in the Southeast region in terms of the value of project starts. Approximately $5.45 billion of projects are scheduled to kick off in the state this year. Florida, with $4.86 billion of projects follows, while third place goes to Georgia with $3.19 billion. Last year, Georgia led the Southeast region, with $3.68 billion of project starts.

The largest Pharma and Biotech Industry Project in the region is scheduled to kick off in September in Juncos, Puerto Rico. Amgen Manufacturing Limited, the Puerto Rican subsidiary of Amgen Incorporated (NASDAQ:AMGN), is planning a 500,000-square-foot addition to its biopharmaceutical formulation, fill and finish plant, requiring an estimated total investment of $500 million. The project is currently in the planning stages, with construction scheduled to begin in the fall of this year.

Within the continental U.S., the largest pharma and biotech project scheduled to kick off in the Southeast region is the addition of a clinic and research center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Construction of the estimated $365 million facility is scheduled to begin this fall. HKS Incorporated (Dallas, Texas) is acting as the architecture/engineering firm, while the McCarthy Building Company (Atlanta) has taken on construction management duties.

Information on these and more than $15 billion of other projects scheduled to kick off this year in the Southeast Region of the U.S. can be found at Industrial Info's North American Industrial Database.

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Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy related markets. For more than 26 years, Industrial Info has provided plant and project opportunity databases, market forecasts, high resolution maps, and daily industry news.