C/COBCTC Members Can Expect Busy 2020 Construction Season

In Central Ohio, union construction workers can expect another busy year.

Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Dorsey Hager said 2019 was the busiest year on record for his affiliated union construction workers with roughly 6.75 million manhours logged.

The workload in Central Ohio for the union trades is only expected to increase in 2020, with ongoing major datacenter projects, plus a slew of new projects expected to break ground including Phase II work at the Franklin County Correctional Center and the OSU Wexner Medical Center tower.

During his December appearance on America’s Work Force Radio, Hagers called the region’s building boom the “The Golden Age of Construction” in Central Ohio.

Hager said the boom is expected to last at least another four to six years, and if the region continues to grow, the boom may last even longer.

Among the major projects currently under or just about to begin construction are datacenters from internet giants such as Amazon, Facebook and Google.

Amazon will soon begin construction on a $600 million datacenter in Plain City, while work is underway at the $600 million Google datacenter.

Meanwhile, when work wraps up on social media titan Facebook, the footprint of their datacenter will be larger than downtown Columbus. Hager noted this campus will eventually contain 10 buildings. One is currently finished and another is close to being wrapped up. Work is ongoing on two other structures. Overall, this project will create 1,100 jobs for his members.

The largest project in the region belongs to The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, who is expected to break ground later this year on a $2 billion medical tower.

Lost in the shuffle of these projects is the $325 million Columbus Crew Stadium project and a $2 billion renovation project at John Glenn Columbus International Airport.