Construction starts across the U.S. were on the rise in 2024, up 6% over 2023, with the largest increases in residential and non-building sectors, both up 7%, with non-residential starts climbing 4% year-over-year, according to Dodge Construction Network.

West Coast construction starts showed particular strength. Across ENR West’s newly formed region, comprised of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, the top 10 largest projects to begin construction in 2024 represented a combined $23.76 billion in work—that’s compared to about $14 billion for the top 10 largest projects across the same geographic area in 2023. Each of the top 10 projects in 2024 were valued at $1 billion or more, compared with just four in 2023.

Leading the way was One Beverly Hills, an expansive $5-billion mixed-use project on 17.5 acres in the middle of Beverly Hills, with 10 of those acres dedicated to open space and botanical gardens. Turner Construction Co. is leading site management on the effort, which is expected to generate $40 billion in local revenue over 30 years.

On the hospitality side, the Las Vegas Strip landmark The Mirage is being transformed by its new owner, Hard Rock International. Work is underway on a $1.2-billion project to realize a 600-ft-tall guitar-shaped hotel where The Mirage once stood.

The Hard Rock Las Vegas hotel is set to transform the Las Vegas Strip with its guitar-shaped hotel, scheduled to open in 2027.
Rendering courtesy of Hard Rock International

Two major airport projects landed on the 2024 Top Starts list, including San Francisco International Airport’s Terminal 3 West Modernization Project, a $2.6-billion design-build effort that will transform the 650,000-sq-ft western half of Terminal 3. Meanwhile, the Hollywood Burbank Airport is getting a $1.2-billion, 355,000-sq-ft replacement terminal [see p. W30].

Among multiple major health care projects, crews broke ground in April 2024 on UCSF Health’s $4.3-billion, 880,000-sq-ft Helen Diller Hospital, which is part of a 30-year plan to transform the health care system’s Parnassus Heights campus.

In Sacramento, a 14-story hospital tower and five-story pavilion is underway: UC Davis’ $3.75-billion California Tower will add about 1 million sq ft on the eastern side of the existing medical center. Under a progressive design-build contract, the project is set for completion by 2030.

“We are building into this new tower some of the lessons we learned from the recent pandemic,” explained David Lubarsky, CEO of UC Davis Health at the July 2024 groundbreaking. “Three out of four of the rooms in this new tower can be easily converted to fully functional ICUs if needed, tripling our ICU capacity.”

California Tower is also replacing portions of the hospital campus that must close as a result of evolving seismic safety compliance regulations. Hospitals across the state are racing to meet a 2030 deadline by which time all hospital buildings must be able to remain fully operational after a major earthquake. But first, hospitals must be able to withstand all major earthquakes by mid-2026 or they will be forced to close.

Valued at $5 billion, One Beverly Hills features a 10-story hotel, two 28-story residential towers, a conference center and a retail pavilion.
Rendering courtesy of Foster + Partners

Down in San Diego, the $1.3-billion Rady Children’s Hospital Intensive Care Unit/EMS Pavilion will open in 2028. The seven-story, 500,000-sq-ft facility is the largest construction project in its 70-year history.

Rounding out 2024’s top 10 starts are infrastructure and energy projects. In Gresham, Ore., the $2.1-billion, 135-million-gallon-per-day Bull Run Filtration Facility will ensure compliance with federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. Further north, the SR 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project in Seattle will replace the 1960s-era Portage Bay Bridge with a seismically resilient structure. Back in Mojave, Calif., the $1-billion, 384-MW Eland 1 Solar and Battery Storage facility started and completed construction in 2024, and owner Arevon is already working on Eland 2.

Could 2025 continue the momentum set in 2024? Although construction projects are continuing to move forward, market and political instabilities remain.

“We anticipate increased costs to procure raw materials that are imported from Europe, China, Mexico and Canada,” says Damian Buessing, regional vice president at Hensel Phelps. “We also anticipate that there will be opportunistic market adjustments for materials procured domestically as demand along the supply chain shifts to mitigate price increases from tariff-affected sources.”

Office projects were once again absent from the 2024 top starts, consistent since 2021. “We have seen some public owners scale back scope or put projects on hold that were set to receive federal funding—this is the result of cost-cutting policies,” he says. “The outlook for new work remains positive, although there are some cautionary headwinds associated with government policy.”