It’s not just foreclosed homes that are looking like a bargain to real estate investors in today’s market, but also distressed commercial assets. Most of these REO commercial properties fall under the multi-family construction sector, but there are also abandoned retail and restaurant spaces, not to mention hotel construction projects that have stalled and are now ripe for the picking.
As 2011 comes to a close, it’s time for us to look back on the commercial construction building trends, news and projects of this past year and share our thoughts on the highs and lows in the industry.
HIGH – Everyone was submitting drawings in 2011. We saw drawings for new Chicago restaurant projects, retail construction work, office renovations, school construction and learning center additions – you name it, we saw it. In fact, our commercial construction budget work was back to 2008 levels. It was optimistic and certainly gave us a lot of commercial construction news to talk about around the water cooler.
It’s that time of year when our team predicts the 2012 commercial construction trends – from what’s on tap for Chicago retail construction to national restaurant construction and hospitality construction. We’ve compiled the list below based on conversations with clients and fellow commercial construction experts, upcoming bid work, economic projections and observations in the field.
Anyone who knows me knows I love to talk about commercial construction trends and share the latest commercial construction news. Still, even I get a little nervous when it comes to networking events – especially if it’s an event I haven’t been to before.
So as I entered the recent Construction Writers Association awards dinner (in San Antonio) to accept Hard Hat Chat’s award for 2011 best blog, I kept the following in mind:
Most of the commercial construction news we discuss in this blog involves new Chicago retail and restaurant construction projects or analyzing commercial construction trends. But every once in a while we have something special to share. I am usually not one to brag, but I am proud to announce The Construction Writers Association (CWA) has awarded Englewood Construction the 2011 Website & Electronic Communications Blog Award for Hard Hat Chat.