Essentials Magazine Essentials Summer 2014 | Page 13

COLLEGE CONSTRUCTION College Annual Construction Report By Paul Abramson | Intelligence for Education, Inc. C ollege construction completed in 2013 totaled $10.93 billion, more than $1 billion more than was spent in 2012. Of that amount, $7.5 billion (68.8%) was spent on entirely new buildings. The balance went largely toward providing added space in existing buildings (almost $2 billion) and to renovating existing space ($1.4 billion). To better understand and estimate how and where construction is taking place the nation was divided into 12 regions (see list) and construction plans and programs of each region’s colleges were examined. College and universities in five of those regions put more than $1 billion worth of construction in place in 2013. Colleges and universities in Region 9 (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas) spent the most, putting $1.76 billion in place. Region 9 was responsible for better than 16 percent of all college construction completed in 2013. Region 11 (including California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii) was the second highest spending region at $1.4 billion. Region 11 accounted for 12.8 percent of all college construction spending nationally. Colleges in Region 2 (New Jersey, New York and Pennsylv