Commercial
The Washington Commanders have selected a joint venture comprising Clark Construction, Mortenson, and Smoot Construction of Washington, D.C., to build a new NFL stadium in the capital. The venue will have a building area of 1.8 million square feet and accommodate approximately 65,000 people, with construction expected to begin in spring 2027 and be completed by spring 2030. The total project cost is reported at $3.8 billion, and the contract amount for the joint venture has not been disclosed.
Bally's Chicago is slowing parts of its $1.7 billion development, involving a hotel, event center, and restaurants, after the city expanded gambling rules, affecting 1,500 workers, but the casino's opening timeline remains unchanged.
In its Q2 earnings call on August 7, Fluor reported solid core business performance with new orders of $6.1 billion, up $1.8 billion year-over-year. CEO Jim Breuer stated that the power business is the company's best entry point into the data center construction boom, while data center construction itself is listed as a lower priority.
Caterpillar reported second-quarter earnings with record sales and revenue of $20.5 billion, up 24% year-over-year, driven by demand for data center generators and construction equipment. The company raised its full-year growth outlook to mid-to-high double digits and resumed production of 10-megawatt gas engines.
Construction Dive's Friday Punch List series summarizes major construction news contractors may have missed this week. Highlights include: Gilbane, as construction manager, begins a $322 million expansion of Cleveland Clinic's Avon Hospital; McCarthy promotes Dhruv Patel, president of its renewable energy business, to President and COO; Tutor Perini's Perini Management Services wins a $69.5 million contract to restore the water treatment system at Death Valley National Park; ASHRAE awards 47 scholarships totaling $225,200 for the 2026-2027 academic year.
BloombergNEF (BNEF) released an analysis on Wednesday stating that Texas's suspension of data center grid connection reviews could affect approximately 20% of U.S. data center projects, involving nearly 49.8 gigawatts of capacity. If 60% of these are AI-related projects, revenue losses could reach $8 billion by the first quarter of 2027.
Jacobs disclosed on its fiscal 2026 third-quarter earnings call that the data center backlog roughly doubled, the opportunity pipeline tripled, and market visibility extends two to three years. The company's overall backlog reached a record $28.9 billion, but net income fell 24% year over year.
25 U.S. states jointly sued the Trump administration, alleging that the forced labor tariffs imposed on 60 trading partners under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 are 'arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful,' and requesting the court to invalidate the tariffs and refund collected duties.
The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) announced that the first round of safety inspections at sites linked to the partial collapse at 235 East 42nd Street in July has concluded, with a total of 180 sites inspected and no urgent structural hazards posing a threat to public safety found.
Based on data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in August, total construction spending in June decreased by 3.2% year-over-year, and private nonresidential spending fell by 4.7% year-over-year, but data center construction continued to support the industry. The chief economist at ABC noted that private nonresidential spending has declined by more than 7% since its peak in April 2025, while AGC urged the federal government to renew infrastructure funding to avoid a significant downturn in highway construction.