Texas tops country in commercial building

TEXAS – Texas is leading the country in the rebound of commercial building activity.

But developers have a long way to go to get back to where construction totals were before the recession, according to a new report by the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP).

Texas is the top market for most types of commercial construction, including office, warehouse and retail.

Last year there was almost $5.8 billion in nonresidential building across the state. The largest share was office construction at $2.7 billion, followed by retail at $1.6 billion and warehouse at $1.1 billion.

A study by the NAIOP found that hard costs for construction of projects including office, warehouse and retail buildings totaled $61.6 billion nationwide in 2013. This was a 25.2 percent rise from 2012.