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Higher Costs, Fewer Deals Ahead for Construction

1 week ago

From Construction Dive: Rising costs and slowing deal flow are pressuring contractors’ pipelines, said Anirban Basu, chief economist at Associated Builders and Contractors, during an Oct. 8 webinar on construction’s outlook. Firms active in data center work report about 12 months of backlog, but high input and labor costs are putting a dent in contractors’ […]

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Dede Hance

Officials Say Data Centers Can Be Part of Region’s Growth; But It’s Complicated

1 week ago

From St. Louis Public Radio: Earlier this month, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe spoke in front of a crowd at an annual summit on power held by the state’s Public Service Commission in Jefferson City. Data centers dominated his remarks. “Big talk seems to always come back to data centers, which is a piece of the […]

The post Officials Say Data Centers Can Be Part of Region’s Growth; But It’s Complicated appeared first on Construction Forum.

Tom Finan

Trades Programs Build High Schoolers’ Career Possibilities, Life Skills

1 week 1 day ago

From St. Louis Review: Ava Stillman stretched her measuring tape down the length of a 2Ă—4, using a speed square tool to carefully mark where to make her cut. She needed a solid jack stud to support the header of the window she was framing out. Clad in work boots and safety glasses, this was […]

The post Trades Programs Build High Schoolers’ Career Possibilities, Life Skills appeared first on Construction Forum.

Dede Hance

City of Cottleville to Vote on Moratorium on Some Residential Construction

1 week 1 day ago

From KMOV: The City of Cottleville is weighing whether to put a six-month moratorium on certain residential development proposals, giving the city time to work on its comprehensive plan. The city said the plan hasn’t been updated since 2001 and according to U.S. census data, its population has tripled in the last 20 years and […]

The post City of Cottleville to Vote on Moratorium on Some Residential Construction appeared first on Construction Forum.

Dede Hance

Amazon Web Services Hiring Construction Managers for St. Louis Data Center Project

1 week 1 day ago

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud-computing provider, is hiring construction project managers for a major data center development in the St. Louis region — signaling continued momentum for high-tech infrastructure investment and union construction work in the metro area. The job postings on Amazon’s careers site list openings for Construction Manager and Senior […]

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Tom Finan

City Foundry Developers Question Midtown Data Center Plans

1 week 1 day ago

From St. Louis Magazine: When Steve Smith, CEO of the development firm New + Found, thinks about the data center proposed for Midtown St. Louis, he can’t help but think of a previous plan for a different site that’s directly adjacent, the 15 acres that now hold City Foundry. A development firm wanted to tear […]

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Dede Hance

St. Charles County Subdivision Project Leads to Traffic Concerns

1 week 1 day ago

From KMOV: The St. Charles County Planning and Zoning Commission tied in a vote of an application for a development along Highway N, south of the intersection at Perry Cate Boulevard. The vote Wednesday night means the commission is not recommending that the St. Charles County Council approve the application when it takes it up […]

The post St. Charles County Subdivision Project Leads to Traffic Concerns appeared first on Construction Forum.

Dede Hance

Leaders Celebrate Completion of 7th Street Project

1 week 1 day ago

From DowntownSTL: In cutting the ribbon to celebrate the completion of construction on 7th Street project between Ballpark Village and Washington Avenue, leaders from the City and regional business and civic organizations highlighted the public-private partnerships driving real change and momentum in Downtown St. Louis. “The downtowns that people flood to are not the ones […]

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Dede Hance

Post Building Owner Seeks Interco Plaza For Additional Parking

1 week 1 day ago

From St. Louis Business Journal: The owner of the Post Building in downtown St. Louis wants to buy an adjacent city park, with an eye toward converting it to parking. The StarWood Group, which bought the former St. Louis Post-Dispatch building, 900 N. Tucker Blvd., and converted it into offices for Block and Scale AI, would […]

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Tom Finan

Construction Starts on First Des Peres Apartments; New Developer Lands Funding

1 week 1 day ago

From St. Louis Business Journal: A development group currently building a $145 million apartment skyscraper in St. Louis has joined the development team for Des Peres’ first-ever apartment complex, pushing the project past the finish line for financing. Construction has begun on the $60 million Magnolia Ridge, a five-story, 182-unit apartment complex at 13431 Manchester […]

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Tom Finan

Colliers Reports Mixed Signals in Q3 Industrial Market

1 week 1 day ago

From Colliers: The St. Louis Metro industrial market is experiencing mixed signals as it moves through 2025. Leasing activity slowed in Q3, totaling 1.26 million SF, down nearly 1 million SF YOY, though the Westport submarket remained a bright spot, accounting for nearly 58% of all leasing, driven by major deals including Amazon and Confluence […]

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Tom Finan

AGC’s Ken Simonson Weighs In On Tariffs, Federal Project Cuts, Estimates on Power Requirements

1 week 1 day ago

by Ken Simonson, Chief Economist, AGC of America From AGC Data Digest: Changes in announced tariff rates, dates, and exclusions continued this week. President Trump today (Oct. 10) threatened higher tariffs on China. A 25% tariff on heavy trucks that he had posted would take effect on October 1 was later announced for October 14, […]

The post AGC’s Ken Simonson Weighs In On Tariffs, Federal Project Cuts, Estimates on Power Requirements appeared first on Construction Forum.

Tom Finan

DOE Plug-Pulling Clouds Future of $574M ICL Battery Materials Plant in North St. Louis

1 week 1 day ago

by Tom Finan, Executive Director, Construction Forum The U.S. Department of Energy’s funding rollback on alternative energy has thrown the future of ICL Group’s $574M LFP battery materials plant in St. Louis into doubt — along with work for major contractors and design teams already engaged. The planned ICL battery materials plant is planned for […]

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Tom Finan

Beware of Substandard/Fake PPE Products

1 week 1 day ago

From Midwest Council ASA: Recent reports have highlighted serious concerns about the sale of substandard personal protective equipment (PPE) online, including through platforms such as TikTok Shop. Several products marketed as “safety shoes,” “safety belts,” and even respirators were recalled in the United Kingdom after failing basic safety tests. Although these recalls were outside the […]

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Tom Finan

Page Should Invest Ram’s Cash in Future; Not Use it to Pay Current Bills

1 week 1 day ago

by James Loomis From St. Louis Business Journal: St. Louis County has a choice. We can spend like we always have, or invest like a region that plans to matter 20 years from now. County Executive Sam Page has proposed using $59 million from the Rams settlement, alongside a new online sales tax, to plug a […]

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Tom Finan

Bricklayers Local 1 Apprentice Wins Top Award in International Contest

1 week 1 day ago

From St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune: Trenton Lampkin, a Bricklayers Local 1 apprentice, has received a first-place award in the stone mason competition in the 2025 Bricklayers and Allied Crafts (BAC)/International Masonry Institute (IMI) International Apprentice Contest. Lampkin was one of 80 apprentices from the International BAC who showcased their talents in a bid to […]

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Tom Finan

The Arch Celebrates 60 Years: Fewer Than 100 Workers Built It for $13M; Set Safety Record

1 week 1 day ago

From St. Louis/Southern Illinois Labor Tribune: In two weeks, on Oct. 30, the union-built St. Louis Gateway Arch will celebrate its 60th birthday with four days of activities Oct. 25-28. History will record a special highlight for St. Louis construction unions: not a single union trades person was killed despite the project’s complexity, its height […]

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Tom Finan

David Keeling Confirmed as OSHA Head; Expected to Advance Heat Standard

1 week 2 days ago

From Waste Dive: David Keeling has been confirmed to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as the assistant secretary of labor. The U.S. Senate voted 51-47 to approved his confirmation, along with a block of dozens of other nominees for other federal agencies, on Tuesday. Keeling is Amazon’s former director of road and transportation […]

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Tom Finan

St. Louis Lands $250K Green-Energy Planning Grant

1 week 2 days ago

The City of St. Louis, in partnership with the Missouri Green Banc, has been awarded a $250,000 “market-building” grant through Phase 1 of the Municipal Investment Fund. The funds will support development of public-private partnership plans to lower energy costs and expand access to clean-energy investments for residents and businesses. The award, made possible through […]

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Tom Finan

New SCC Trade School in Wentzville Offers Hands-On Learning

1 week 2 days ago

From Mid Rivers Newsmagazine: In September, St. Charles Community College held a ribbon cutting for its new Regional Innovation Workforce Center, located at 2400 Interstate Drive in Wentzville. The center offers associate of applied science degrees and certificate of achievement programs in industrial trades. The center is designed to give students hands-on experience in 48,000 […]

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Dede Hance