McCarthy broke ground on a $400 million battery material manufacturing plant in St. Louis, its hometown, the contractor announced in a release shared with Construction Dive.
In addition to creating 800 to 900 union construction jobs, McCarthy says, the new facility is estimated to create 150 high-paying union and professional jobs for ICL, a Tel Aviv-based materials manufacturing firm. The manufacturer expects the facility to be operational by 2025, according to ICL’s press release.
McCarthy expects the 140,000-square-foot plant to produce 30,000 metric tons of lithium iron phosphate materials, according to the contractor’s press release, which can be used to store energy for electric vehicles, charging stations or on the electric grid. McCarthy claims the new facility is the first commercial-scale, lithium iron phosphate battery materials manufacturing plant in the United States.
“Partnering with ICL to build this facility in our hometown is especially significant as part of our longstanding commitment to our community, as well as a testament to our strength in building advanced technology and manufacturing facilities,” said Kristyn Newbern, director of project development at McCarthy, in the release.
The groundbreaking is another milestone in a busy summer for McCarthy. On June 1, the contractor completed a $1 billion biosafety lab in Manhattan, Kansas, as part of a JV with Minneapolis-based builder Mortenson.
In addition, the two contractors were tapped by the Oakland Athletics to lead construction of its proposed $1.5 billion stadium in Las Vegas, where the franchise plans to move, as part of another JV.
A Mortenson/McCarthy team also delivered a separate Las Vegas sports complex in 2020, the $1.97 billion Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium following that team’s move from Oakland.
