Dozens of them are being built in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Each of these massive jobs can command up to 100 cranes.
Also popular in the Midwest are distribution centers for e-tailers and production plants for fuel cell batteries.
Southern Ohio and its metro hub Columbus are booming for all these reasons, as well as proximity to higher education.
For example, three luffing tower cranes helped build a recently finished project that adds 800 beds to Ohio State University’ s Wexner Medical Center. A children’ s hospital is also now under construction on the campus.
The normally reliable Chicago area has, in 2024, felt how high interest rates can quiet towering construction projects.
However, the region is poised to come roaring back in the new year with an expansion to O’ Hare International Airport, highway corridors to its west, a new football stadium at Northwestern University and new warehouse and distribution construction downtown.
Indiana has been making infrastructure news for years due to the state’ s heavy investment in reimagining the highway system around its metropolitan hubs.
But the state has been booming in general, with many large projects in the residential, energy and technology markets.
Financier
Harry Fry, president, Harry Fry & Associates
With the 2024 presidential election behind us, we can all focus on the future and 2025. Predicting rates and lending trends is at best a guess by any person.
Even the most dedicated economists and bankers are purely speculating based on historical modeling and consumer confidence, so basically guessing as well.
Besides rates, the United States banks are still dealing with Basel III risk compliance, which tends to cause consumer and commercial lending to be somewhat restrictive.
22 • 800-247-2000 • January 2025