By Kim Slowey | Construction Drive
This article is part of Construction Dive’s 50 States of Construction series, in which we talk with industry leaders about the business conditions in their markets.
The construction industry in Arizona faces a number of challenges. Besides ongoing labor shortages, the state’s political climate is shifting from a right-leaning environment to a more moderate outlook, and it may be moving toward the left. Plus, it faces pushback from residents who moved there for the desert beauty but now have major construction projects in their view.
Still, construction is booming.
While many parts of the state are bustling with heavy civil projects like highway construction, the hot spots of commercial activity, said Tom Dunn, president of the Arizona Builders Alliance, are primarily in and around Phoenix and Tucson. There has been a flurry of data center construction in Phoenix, including the two-phase, $450 million project Iron Mountain. The first phase is expected to be delivered this month.
