TheJobWalk E.94

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The FAA handed out $1.1 billion in airport improvement grants, Eli Lilly broke ground on a $6.5 billion plant in Houston, and Hanwha Defense USA unveiled a $2.2 billion munitions campus in Arkansas. Sioux Honey started work on what it calls the world's largest honey bottling plant, Walton and Mercy launched a health campus in Bentonville, and U.S. Steel began a $475 million upgrade in Alabama. Plus, TAR raised $120 million to power AI data centers off the grid. Let's dive in!

The FAA is awarding $1.1 billion through 280 Airport Improvement Program grants to airports in 46 states and three territories, Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced Sept. 14.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport gets $30.7 million for runway reconstruction, and Mankato Regional Airport in Minnesota receives $11.5 million for a new contract tower. Ten airports will share $42.8 million for noise mitigation.

Shreveport Regional Airport in Louisiana will get $18.9 million to expand its terminal. McAllen International Airport in Texas receives $2 million for a similar project that includes baggage claim, restrooms, nursing stations and ticketing counters.

For safety, $10.9 million will fit 3,000 vehicles at 61 airports with vehicle movement area transmitters, or VMATs, which help controllers keep tabs on them across runways and taxiways.

Separately, the FAA received $16.5 million under the Working Families Tax Cut Act to outfit every FAA airport vehicle with VMATs. AIP funds can also cover runways, taxiways, lighting and other safety infrastructure.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts opened another all-new construction ECHO Suites® Extended Stay, highlighting rapid nationwide growth since the brand's 2024 launch. This key milestone builds on a wave of recent debuts in Springfield, Missouri; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Round Rock, Texas.

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📰 Total Construction Starts Fall by 24.8% in August(DODGE)

📰 Walbridge Launches L5 Mission Critical(GlobeNewswire)

📰 Watsco Acquires The Granite Group in $500 Million Northeast Deal(Watsco)

📰 New Era Locks Up 20-Year, 207 MW Power Deal With Vistra(GlobeNewswire)

📰 MIT and Suffolk Publish Joint Research on AI's Impact on Construction(businesswire)

Eli Lilly and Company broke ground Sept. 21 on a $6.5 billion manufacturing site in Houston. It is one of ten U.S. plants announced since 2020 and the fifth set to make active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The site will produce Foundayo, Lilly's first synthetic oral GLP-1 for weight management, plus other small-molecule drugs and advanced therapies. Texas Governor Greg Abbott called it the largest API project in state history.

The plant will rely on machine learning, AI, advanced data analytics and digitally integrated systems, with automation used across the site to keep production efficient and supply dependable.

Lilly expects the project to create 4,000 construction jobs through buildout and startup. Once operating, the plant should employ more than 600 people, including engineers, scientists, lab technicians and operations staff.

Lilly is also committing $12.5 million to a San Jacinto College partnership that will train Houston residents without prior experience for chemical manufacturing careers. A separate $2.5 million gift will fund scholarships.

OWNER/DEVELOPER: Eli Lilly & Company

AWARD: Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

INVESTMENT: $6.5 Billion

LOCATION: Houston, Texas

🔓 EFC Digs In on 195 Acres of Texas Semiconductor Turf
(Read more here)

🔓 Ernest Health Goes All In on North Carolina With Six New Hospitals
(Read more here)

🔓 ARCO/Design Build Breaks Ground on Three More Buildings at Imeson Landing
(Read more here)

🔓 Black Bayou Energy Hub Announces $1.6 Billion Louisiana Gas Storage and HQ Expansion
(Read more here)

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💥 Hanwha Locks and Loads $2.2 Billion in Arkansas

Hanwha Defense USA plans to invest $2.2 billion in a munitions manufacturing campus at the U.S. Army's Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas, a project expected to add nearly 400 jobs over seven years. The plant will focus on 155mm propellant charges and base bleed units. The company, which won a lease solicitation for the site in January, marked its first step on Sept. 21 by opening an administrative headquarters at the arsenal.

KEY DETAILS
Developer/Operator: Hanwha Defense USA
Award: Munitions Manufacturing
Total Investment: $2.2 Billion
Location: U.S. Army Pine Bluff Arsenal, Pine Bluff, Arkansas

🐝 Sioux Honey's New Plant is the Bee's Knees

Sioux Honey Association Co-op broke ground on a $130 million plant near Sioux City's Sioux Gateway Airport, which CEO Kevin Hueser says will be the world's largest honey bottling facility. The 440,000 square foot building will hold a raw material warehouse, processing equipment and five bottling lines. The co-op expects to enclose the structure by spring 2027 and hopes to start production in spring 2028. It will also absorb the co-op's Anaheim, California, plant.

KEY DETAILS
Owner: Sioux Honey Association Co-op
Award: Food Manufacturing
Value: $130 Million
Location: Near Sioux Gateway Airport, Sioux City area

❤️‍🩹 The Doctor Will See You in 2029

The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Mercy have broken ground on the AWSOM Whole Health Campus, a 120-plus-acre development in Bentonville, Arkansas. First up is the 709,000 square foot Center for Advanced Specialty Care, slated to open in 2029. Nabholz is construction manager for that first phase. CannonDesign is lead architect, and EDSA is handling landscape architecture and planning. The campus is planned to include nearly 3 million square feet of specialty care space.

KEY DETAILS
Developer: Alice L. Walton Foundation
Construction Manager: Nabholz
Award: Healthcare
Value: TBD
Location: Bentonville, Arkansas (two miles east of downtown)

🔥 Things Are Heating Up in Alabama

U. S. Steel held a ceremonial groundbreaking Sept. 21 for a $475 million quench and tempering line at its Fairfield Tubular Operations in Fairfield, Alabama. The two-stage heat-treatment process toughens pipe for demanding energy work. Construction is underway, with completion expected in 2029, and the project should support about 600 construction jobs at peak. It is projected to add roughly 250 permanent positions, most of them union-represented.

KEY DETAILS
Owner/Operator: U.S. Steel
Award: Steel Manufacturing
Value: $475 Million
Location: Fairfield Tubular Operations, Fairfield, Alabama

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On Sept. 10, Austin-based TAR announced a $120 million Series A round led by Spark Capital at a $1 billion post-money valuation. The startup builds off-grid power systems for AI data centers.

Rather than wait in years-long interconnection queues, TAR builds stand-alone modular systems pairing renewable generation with batteries in West Texas. The company says none of that capacity competes with local communities for power.

TAR keeps every phase in-house, from site selection and engineering through procurement, civil works, construction, commissioning and operation. It says its deployment automation adds capacity faster, and with much less field labor, than conventional construction.

Current efforts include a utility-scale deployment with one of the largest neoclouds, along with finishing TAR Terminal One, its manufacturing and logistics center in West Texas.

The funding will expand its Austin headquarters, San Francisco engineering office and West Texas operations, and TAR is hiring in engineering, robotics, power systems, operations, supply chain and project management.

Tour F, a €450 million office tower in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, is set to become Africa's tallest building at 421 meters. Architect Pierre Fakhoury designed the 75-floor project for developer PFO Africa.

Planned since 1970 as the sixth tower of the city's Administrative District, the project was held up by political delays until work began in July 2021. Completion is targeted for 2026.

Belgian firm Besix manages the site, foundations and superstructure. The tower sits on a 3.5-meter-thick raft supported by 70 barrette piles, and engineers used BIM to model soil interaction and wind loads.

A central concrete core carries the structure, with inclined columns tracing the tower's angled profile. Outside, 16,000 panels serve as sun screens in front of double-glazed units fitted with shading.

When finished, the tower will add about 140,000 square meters and nearly double the district's office and parking capacity. It is also meant to consolidate Abidjan's government offices.