How DFW's $23B construction pipeline is geared up for further growth in 2018

The new Global Life Field will have a retractable roof to help with the Texas Rangers a climate-controlled place for games and events. At $1.1 billion, Global Life Field is the single priciest project underway in North Texas. Show Full Story

Facebook's data center campus in Fort Worth is continuing to get bigger. The social media giant recently pulled a building permit in December 2017 totaling $365 million to add two additional data hall buildings to its Fort Worth campus.

The nearly 1.8 million-square-foot, 300-acre headquarters for American Airlines Inc. in Fort Worth is slated for completion by the end of 2019. The project is value at $300 million.

The Union Dallas is a mixed-use development under construction in the city's urban core. The office and apartments in the project are valued at $223.20 million. It's slated for completion this year.

Park District, a mixed-use development adjacent to Klyde Warren Park, includes PWC Tower and luxury apartment tower in Uptown. The office apartment portion of the project is valued $220.5 million. The project is slated to completion this year.

The Drever, which has plans to include a resort-style pool on the 9th floor amenity deck, is still in its construction phase as the developer clears financial hurdles on the city block-sized project. At last tally, the project value of The Drever was at $210 million for the luxury apartments and high-end hotel rooms, according to Dodge Data Analytics. However, the development group led by Maxwell Drever says construction costs had escalated to $380 million.

The new 45-story AMLI residential tower in downtown Dallas will sit next to Fountain Place. It will bring 367 apartments to the CBD. The project value is $150 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics. The project is slated for completion by the end of 2019.

The Three-building Dallas County Record complex is being redeveloped with help of Gensler. The project is valued at $138 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics. The project got underway in March 2017.

Texas Life! will include 200,000 square feet of dining and entertainment options. It will sit adjacent to the new Global Life Park and existing stadium. The project value of the hotel, convention center and retail space totals $134.5 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

The 12-story, 350-room convention center hotel is being built next to the Irving Convention Center. The $115 million project got underway in 2017, with completion slated before the end of 2018. Garfield Public/Private LLC is the developer. BOKA Powell is the architect. Austin Commercial is the general contractor on the project.

Pioneer Natural Resources began construction on its campus in Summer 2017. The 10, story, 1.123 million-square-foot office campus at Hidden Ridge is slated for completion in Winter 2019. KDC is the developer. Corgan is the interior architect. HKS is the architect. Duda Paine Architects is the design firm. The project was last valued at $115 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

The Residences at Legacy, a luxury 25-story apartment towers, will bring 300 apartments to Plano. High Street Residential, an affiliates of Dallas-based Trammel Crow Co., is the developer of the project. GFF is the architect. Construction is slated for completion by the end of the year. The construction on the project was last valued at $111.2 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

The redevelopment of the Pittman Hotel (formerly Knights of Pythias and Union Bankers building) has gotten started at The Epic, a mixed-use development, that will sit in Deep Ellum surrounding the historic building near downtown Dallas. The development is valued at $20 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics. In all, construction on the Epic is valued at $111 million.

The LVL29 tower in Legacy West will bring aspirational living, and 328 luxury, market rate apartment to Plano's Legacy West development. The project was last valued at $100.1 million. NE Development begin on the tower in April 2017. Completed is expected by mid-2019.

The new Charles Schwab regional campus is being built at the corner of State Highway 170 and State Highway 114 in Westlake. The two office buildings are expected to total 500,000 square feet of space on 70 acres of land. Construction on the initial phase of the project is valued at $100 million. DPR Construction is the general contractor. Corgan is the architect. Completion slated for every 2019.

The ground-up development on the city block adjacent to Trammell Crow Center will include a 400-unit residential tower and a 200-room boutique hotel with parking and about 26,000 square feet or retail space. Construction on the hotel portion of the project is valued at $91 million. The project began in Aug. 2017.

Windrose Tower, a 27-story luxury condo tower, is underway in Plano's Legacy West will bring 104 homes to the mixed-use development priced beginning at $1.05 million. Construction is slated for completion by Fall 2019. Manhattan Construction is the general contractor.

The Hall Art Residences totals 44 luxury homes ranging from 1,600 square feet to a full, two-floor penthouse measuring 10,000 square feet. Construction on the residential portion of the $250 million project - which includes a boutique hotel - is valued at $87.8 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics. The 25-story tower in the Dallas Art District got underway in Aug. 2017. Completion is slated for Fall 2019.

The Ventana by Buckner high rise-retirement community is being built along Northwest Highway near North Park Center in Dallas. Construction on the project is valued at $75 million. The community is slated to open in 2019.

AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group's new divisional headquarters campus at The Office of Austin Ranch in Carrollton are underway, with completion slated for this year. Construction on the project was last valued at $75 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics. Dallas-base Billingsley Co. is the developer of the project. Gensler is the project architect.

Construction is slated to finish this year on the 24-story residential tower, hotel and retail space expanding the West Village on a 26-acre side adjacent to the mixed-use development along Blackburn Street in Uptown. WDG is the hotel architect. GFF is the architect for the apartment tower. Construction on the project was valued at $73.5 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

The Gaylord Texan Resort is expanding its hospitality in Grapevine to accommodate a growing business. The 120 million expansion is expected to add 300 rooms and about 86,000 square feet of meeting space to the hotel. Construction is slated for completion in 2019. Construction on the project was last valued at $72.7 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

The Delta by Marriott Hotel and Watters Creek Convention Center - a $91 million development project - will bring much-needed meeting space to Allen. The construction value of the project is $70.2 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics. The hotel and convention center is slated for completion by the end of the year.

The six-story, 165,000-square-foot headquarters building for Independent Bank in McKinney is being built to give the bank room to grow. The $52 million project is underway and is being built by developer KDC. SmithGroupJJR is the project architect. Rogers-O'Brien Construction is the general contractor.

The initial phase of Legacy Central is completed, but California-based Regent Properties plans to continue upgrading the former Texas Instruments campus with plans to add hundreds of apartments, a hotel and retail space to the mixed-use development in Plano.

The nearly 875,000-square-foot e-commerce facility being custom-built for furniture distributor Wayfair is underway in Lancaster. The project's construction value sits at $44.6 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

A new $45 million, 386-unit apartment community at 5700 McKinney Place Drive in McKinney got underway in Oct. 2017. ZOM Living is developing the luxury six, three-story building to being upscale amenities, like a coffee bar, e-lounge and fitness center, to the city beginning in fall 2018. The developer plans to begin pre-leasing the apartment in spring 2018.

Eagle Mountain - Saginaw ISD in Fort Worth has its sixth middle school under construction in the North Texas city. The new middle school's construction value sits at more than $38.5 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

The Taylor Lofts will add additional apartments and retail to the Dallas Farmers Market, with completion slated for the third quarter 2019. In all, the new project will add 27,500 square feet of retail space at Marilla St. and S. Pearl Expressway in downtown Dallas. The construction value of the project is $33.5 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

The three-building office complex, called Energy Square, along Greenville Avenue in the North Central Expressway corridor is undergoing some big changes. Chicago-based GlenStar Properties and USAA Real Estate Co. are in the midst of adding in apartment tower and additional retail space to the complex. The apartment portion of the project is valued at $24.5 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics. Meanwhile, the retail portion of the project is also valued at $24.5 million.

The WaterWalk Hotel Apartments, a hybrid hotel-apartment concept, has gotten underway in Richardson. The project is valued at $16.4 million, according to Dodge Data Analytics.

Even as Dallas-Fort Worth's construction pipeline topped $23.4 billion in 2017, North Texas executives say they expect even more projects to get underway this year.

Last year, North Texas general contractors increased the amount of investment in commercial and residential real estate projects by 6 percent in the region, according to Dodge Data & Analytics.

And, this year, projects throughout the United States are expected to climb 3 percent to $765 billion.

"In 2018, there are several positive factors which suggest that the construction expansion has further room to proceed," said Dodge Data Chief Economist Robert Murray, in a statement.

Real estate executives say they expect to see even more projects get underway this year in North Texas despite labor shortages impacting the construction cycle and cost of development. The region is estimated by the Dallas Builders Association as having a labor shortage of 20,000 workers for commercial and residential projects.

The industry group estimates the labor shortage adds $5,000 to the cost of a new home and homes typically take two months longer to build because there's a lack of qualified workers in the profession.

"The wages are going up in some areas by 35 percent and that still hasn't enticed additional workers to come into the industry," Phil Crone, executive director of the Dallas Builders Association, told the Dallas Business Journal.

"I think we'll have a good year of construction, but it would be better if we were able to the time it took to build the projects," Crone added. "There's plenty of demand, but one of the bottle necks is the labor shortage."

The inability to build affordable homes has been startling, Crone said, who added Metrostudy's latest analysis of the market shows home starts below $199,999 represent only 8 percent of the total home starts in North Texas compared with 62 percent a decade ago.

Crone said he expects to see the same construction pipeline of new homes, if not more investment, in 2018.

Meanwhile, the amount of commercial real estate projects in Dallas-Fort Worth is also expected to grow as the region continues to add new jobs.

Mark Penny, a senior vice president at Manhattan Construction Co., said the construction company has a lot of projects in the works and plans to add several new projects in 2018.

Some of the Manhattan Construction's projects taking shape in North Texas include the National Soccer Hall of Fame Museum at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, the $1.1 billion Globe Life Field ballpark in Arlington, Windrose Tower in Plano's Legacy West and the historic Dallas County Records Building, among many other developments.

"For the markets we are in, we are seeing a lot of mixed-use developments with apartments with first-floor retail and lifestyle centers," Penny told the Dallas Business Journal. "We are also still seeing office projects as we build out capacity for people relocating to Dallas."

Like other general contractors, Penny said Manhattan Construction is being careful not to overbook in the busy market.

"Our number one focus is employee engagement," he said. "It's a busy market and we want to make sure our employees want to stay otherwise there's plenty of opportunities."

Want to take a look at some of the top real estate projects under construction in North Texas? Check out the attached slideshow of big developments.