This region is enjoying a rebirth in a several different
sectors. Building permits in San Diego; Los Angeles;
California’s Riverside County; San Francisco; Portland,
Ore.; and Seattle are all up more than 10%,
and a mix of renewables, airport construction and
data centers is fueling construction
Pacific Regional Forecast
Alaska • California • Hawaii • Oregon • Washington
This region is enjoying a rebirth in a several different sectors. Building permits in San Diego; Los Angeles; California’s Riverside County; San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle are all up more than 10%, and a mix of renewables, airport construction and data centers is fueling construction. McGraw-Hill Construction says the biggest projects include a $1.1 billion expansion of Los Angeles’s LAX airport and a $300 million retrofit of San Diego’s airport; a $730 million wind farm in California; a $180 million data center for Facebook in Prineville, Ore.; a $216 million wind farm in Washington.; two $150 million data centers and a $350 million gas-fired power plant in California. The news isn’t all good — www.realtytrac.com says the 75,204 foreclosures in California lead the nation and several major metros have vacancy rates in their downtown or suburban office markets that top 20%, including San Jose (28.9% downtown); Riverside-San Bernardino (23.7% suburbs); San Francisco (24.9% suburbs); and Orange County, Calif. (21% suburbs).
