ENR Southeast is taking its annual survey of the largest projects to break ground in the previous calendar year, the top 25 of which will be ranked in the magazine’s March 25 edition.

For the second year in a row, manufacturing facilities are headlining the list of most expensive projects to break ground in 2023, with two projects tied for the tentative top spot. 

At $2.5 billion each, the John Palmour Manufacturing Center for Silicon Carbide in Siler City, N.C. and the Hyundai/SK EV Battery Plant at Bartow Center in Cartersville, Ga., cap the preliminary list. 

The Siler City project is part of semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed’s total $5-billion investment to construct two chip-making plants including the manufacturing center listed at $2.5 billion at the top of this year’s preliminary list, while the Hyundai project comes on the heels of the top project in last year’s ranking, the $5-billion Hyundai US EV Megaplant in Ellabell, Ga.

Those projects, as well as the $2-billion Vinfast Electrical Vehicle Plant in New Hill, N.C, show the high level of electric vehicle manufacturing investment across the Southeast in recent years.  

The final ENR Southeast Top Starts ranking will include all the largest projects from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Puerto Rico, pulling data from multiple sources, including Dodge Data & Analytics, ENR news reports and data submitted directly by project teams.

The preliminary ranking of 20 projects is listed below, still subject to change as more survey responses come in and more information about last year’s project starts is reviewed. Are you part of a project to break ground during 2023 that would be eligible for ranking? If so, please reach out to me, Derek Lacey, at laceyd@enr.com.

• $2.5-billion John Palmour Manufacturing Center for Silicon Carbide, Siler City, N.C. – Whiting-Turner Contracting
• $2.5-billion Hyundai/SK EV Battery Plant at Bartow Center, Cartersville, Ga. – Hyundai Engineering 
• $2-billion VinFast Electric Vehicle Plant, New Hill, N.C. – Clayco 
• $1.15-billion Hanwha Qcells Solar Panel Manufacturing Plant at Highland, White, Ga. – Gray Construction, Inc. 
• $1.08-billion Men's Correctional Facility, Elmore County, Elmore, Ala. – Caddell Construction Company, Inc. 
• $1.04-billion Mobile Launcher 2 MOD Yard, Kennedy Space Center, Fla. – Bechtel Development Co. 
• $892.9-million Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Bed Tower, Charlotte, N.C. - DPR Construction, Inc. 
• $700-million BMW Hi-Voltage Battery Assembly Facility, N/A  – Evans General Contractors
• $642-million Facebook Stanton Springs Data Center Phase 1, Social Circle, Ga. - Holder Construction Co. 
• $606.87-million GA/DOT: I-285/I-20 East Interchange P3, Atlanta, Ga. – N/A
• $600-million DC Blox Data Center, Douglasville, Ga. – Evans General Contractors
• $600-million FL/DOT: First Coast Expressway New St. Johns River Bridge, St. Augustine, Fla. – Johnson Bros. Corp., A Southland Company
• $542-million Liquefied Natural Gas Export Facility (LNG), Jacksonville, Fla. – Matrix Service Co. 
• $500-million 1072 W Peachtree Apartment/Office Tower, Atlanta, Ga. – Turner Construction Co. 
• $485-million Prospect Lake Clean Water Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Kiewit Infrastructure
• $450-million Pendry - One Ashley Condo/Hotel Tower/Parking Garage/Pool, Tampa, Fla. – Moss & Associates (fka Peter Brown)
• $450-million Prosperity Lakes Subdivision, Parrish, Fla. – N/A
• $430-million Auberge South Beach Hotel-Shore Club Condo-Swim Pool, Miami Beach, Fla. – Coastal Construction 
• $405-million AESC BMW Components Manufacturing Facility, Florence, S.C. – Clayco
• $400-million 317 N Federal Mixed-Use Apartments-Retail, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Moss & Associates LLC