New England Region Invests Nearly $1 Billion in 3Q10 Project Starts

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In terms of industrial capital and maintenance (MRO) investment, the New England region is holding its own. The area is anticipating the launch of 48 projects with a cumulative total investment value (TIV) of $963 million during the third quarter (source: Industrial Info's North American Industrial Database), resulting in an average project total of $20 million.

Click on image at right for details of planned 3Q10 project starts in New England.

The Power Industry accounts for the bulk of New England's third-quarter activity, with the largest project start being Nobel Environmental Power LLC's (Essex, Connecticut) plan to construct a $275 million, 99-MW windfarm in Dummer, New Hampshire. The Food and Beverage Industry is expecting to launch construction in September on a $90 million refrigerated distribution center in Lakeville, Massachusetts. If Sysco Boston LLC moves forward with the project, it will add a 600,000-square-foot building on the site of a former hospital.

The Pharmaceutical-Biotech Industry hopes to deliver a $40 million project, with construction planned to begin later this month, on Cubist Pharmaceuticals' (Lexington, Massachusetts) 110,000-square-foot expansion in Lexington, Massachusetts. Olson, Lewis, Dioli & Doktor Architects (Manchester, Massachusetts) designed the two-story expansion, and The Richmond Group (Hopkinton, Massachusetts) is the construction manager.

Billerica, Massachusetts is the chosen site for Pharmalucence's (Bedford, Massachusetts) plan to renovate a 70,000-square-foot building on Dunham Road into a radiopharmaceutical manufacturing plant. IPS (Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania) is the design-build contractor for the $20 million project, which is being built with the help of a Massachusetts Recovery Zone Facility Bond. (data derived from Industrial Info's Pharmaceutical & Biotech Tracker - Online Database).

The region's fortunes for the third quarter of 2010 are almost even from an investment standpoint with this time last year. Analysis reveals that $948 million, divided among 36 projects began during the third quarter of 2009, an increase of less than $20 million in 2010.

The region's states all expect some level of construction activity for the third quarter:

• Connecticut - 16 projects with a TIV of $180 million
• Maine - seven projects with a TIV $139 million
• Massachusetts - 18 projects with a TIV of $262 million
• New Hampshire - three projects with a TIV of $292 million
• Rhode Island - one project with a TIV of $5 million
• Vermont - three projects with a TIV of $86 million

From an industry standpoint, the Power Industry is delivering seven projects with a total value of $617 million. Food & Beverage follows, with 13 projects worth $131 million. The Industrial Manufacturing Industry rounds out the top three with 10 projects representing a total investment of $85 million. The remaining projects were scattered among other industries, including Chemical Processing, Metal & Minerals and Pharmaceutical & Biotech.

The region currently has more than 1,500 operational plants as found in Industrial Info's New England Online Plant Directory. The existing plants provide employment for more than 318,000 people in the region. With all of the major industrial groups represented in the region, the majority of existing operational plants are claimed by the Industrial Manufacturing Industry, which employs more than 175,000 people in 474 plants. A distant second place falls to the Food & Beverage Industry, with roughly 200 facilities employing nearly 32,000 people. The rest of the operational sites are distributed among other groups, including the Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry, with more than 170 sites employing nearly 50,000 people. The Pulp & Paper Industry is on board with more than 170 facilities and 23,000 jobs.

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