2012 East North Central Regional Forecast

Illinois • Indiana • Michigan • Ohio • Wisconsin

Ohio has more construction projects underway in the $100 million-plus category than any other state in the region, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. Breaking ground in 2011 were the Cleveland Medical Mart & Convention Center; corporate headquarters buildings for Eaton Corp. in Beachwood, Ohio,

and Goodyear Rubber & Tire in Akron, Ohio; and casinos in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Chicago usually leads this region in construction, but this year only the $114.4 million Coast at Lakeshore East apartment/retail building project started up. Vacant office space is a challenge in this market, as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and South Bend all have downtown office vacancy rates topping 20 percent. Chicago enjoys a comparatively mild vacancy rate of 16.6 percent and Indianapolis leads the pack at 11.2 percent. This region is an electrical hotspot, with 80,790 electricians employed. Run that number through EW'sNational Multipliers and you have more than $4.6 billion in market potential.