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Seattle was runner-up to Los Angeles in the latest “Crane Index” report from Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB). The global construction consultants tallied 36 cranes in Seattle, which compares to 47 in L.A. Last year the two cities were tied at the top with 49 cranes each.
Before relinquishing the “crane capital” title to the City of Angels, Seattle held the number one ranking for three and a half years, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. The Emerald City’s count peaked in November 2016 with 62 cranes.
Rounding out the top five list were San Francisco with 33, Chicago with 29, and Portland with 28. Honolulu and Phoenix, with nine each, shared last place among the 13 cities in the biannual survey.
RLB bills its index as a “simplified snapshot of the current state of the construction industry.” It is not a nationwide survey as it tracks only the number of cranes in the North American cities where it operates.
Toronto leads the list for North America with 121 cranes. Calgary has 37.
In a recent report, RLB noted Seattle has several large construction projects in the queue, including the Washington State Convention Center, the new NHL practice facility, and additional Google buildings. Also noteworthy was the uptick in activity in the Bellevue/Redmond corridor, including large projects in Bellevue’s Spring District as well as at the Microsoft and Facebook campuses.
RLB, with offices in 21 cities across North America, provides advisory, project management, and cost management & quantity surveying. It also operates in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania.