Dallas-Fort Worth developers spend $6B on construction in 2015

The Dallas-Fort Worth region saw a spike of construction activity in 2015, with a 35 percent growth in year-over-year spending that brought the investment of constructing new commercial real estate to $6 billion.

That was enough for North Texas to rank as the No. 3 metro area in the United States based on construction investment.

Construction workers on a development site. JOHN WEST

New York City and Miami ranked No. 1 with $34.9 billion and No. 2 with $6.3 billion of construction investment in 2015, respectively, according to New York-based Dodge Data & Analytics research.

"Factors such as generally rising employment and declining vacancy rates should encourage further growth for offices, hotels and warehouses, while store construction remains more problematic given the shifting retail landscape," said Dodge Data Chief Economist Robert Murray in a prepared statement.

"In comparison to commercial building, the upward progression by multifamily housing has been steadier, with 2015 marking the sixth straight year of double-digit growth," he added.

Nationally, the investment in commercial and multifamily construction increased 8 percent year-over-year ending in 2015.

Dallas-Fort Worth's 35 percent rise in spending on commercial real estate stems from gains in the development of commercial and apartment real estate, which were 44 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

Some of the notable projects in North Texas include Toyota's new North American headquarters, Liberty Mutual Insurance's new hub and the Shops at Clearfork in Tarrant County.

Last year, the region saw the biggest round of leasing activity for office space in history, with 4.7 million square feet of office space absorbed in the calendar year. Show Full Article

Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business.