Dive Brief:
- Japanese heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment giant Daikin has completed its 500-acre, $417 million Houston-area campus according to Commercial Property Executive.
- The focal point of the Daikin Texas Technology Park, located about 40 miles outside of Houston in Waller County, TX, is a 4.2-million-square-foot plant, which is the largest tilt-wall building in the world and the second-largest manufacturing facility in North America.
- The direct and indirect economic impact of the Daikin operation is expected to be around $4 billion. The plant, which will eventually employ up to 4,000 people, is expected to draw additional industrial investment to the area.
Dive Insight:
The anticipated increase in industrial projects around the Daikin campus has already been realized as one of the company's suppliers, China-based Broad-Ocean Motor Co., is currently building a 480,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution plant nearby.
In its first-quarter 2017 report, Colliers International said Houston had approximately 4.9 million square feet of industrial space under construction, more than 60% of which was preleased.
According to the latest report from ConstructConnect, the industrial sector took a month-to-month hit in April, with starts for the segment falling 72%. Nevertheless, the U.S. has seen some significant manufacturing/industrial projects get underway recently.
Last month, Dow Chemicals announced that it would add to its U.S. manufacturing operations, bringing its total investment in U.S. growth initiatives to $12 billion over a 10-year period. Specific investments include more manufacturing capacity in the Houston area, a 600,000-metric-ton plastics plant in either Texas or Louisiana and $500 million toward Dow Corning manufacturing operations in Michigan.
Aluminum company Braidy Industries also announced that it plans to build a $1.3 billion, 2.5-million-square-foot aluminum plant in eastern Kentucky. Also in April, German candy manufacturer Haribo revealed plans to build a $242 million factory, its first in North America, in southeast Wisconsin, creating 400 permanent jobs.
