Danielson concrete operation has assets purchased by MA company: Will employees be retained?
Sterling
Concrete Corp., a ready-mix concrete supplier in Massachusetts, has
purchased most of the assets of the ready-mix concrete operation, formerly
known as Jolley Concrete, from CarbonBuilt, Inc. Brooklyn Sand & Gravel, which
operated by Jolley Concrete was not part of the deal.
The former Jolley Concrete business, located at 42 Junior
Ave. in Danielson, will now operate under the Sterling Concrete brand. In
addition to being a concrete supplier, Sterling Concrete manufactures concrete
blocks from recycled materials.
Discussions regarding the purchase had been ongoing between
Sterling Concrete Corp. and CarbonBuilt, Inc., with the deal effective
Tuesday.
The Danielson plant is Sterling Concrete Corp.’s first in
Connecticut and George DeFalco, Division President of Sterling Concrete Corp.,
is excited to expand the supplier’s footprint.
“This opportunity marks a significant step forward in our
journey of growth and strengthens our regional footprint in the Connecticut
market and surrounding areas,” DeFalco said in a press release. “Not only do we
look forward to integrating their current team members with our team, but we
are thrilled to leverage their expertise and local knowledge to better serve
our clients and communities.”
Madilyn Smith, chief legal and administrative officer for
Rawson Materials, said employees who were working for Jolley Concrete were
terminated by Jolley and given offers by Sterling Concrete. She could not
comment further regarding numbers and who accepted the offer.
Losing construction sectors under Trump
The construction industry faces a shifting landscape as the
Trump administration sets about reshaping some of the country’s most impactful
federal policies.
With changes in infrastructure priorities, regulatory
rollbacks and economic shifts, contractors and developers are bracing for both
new opportunities and potential setbacks. Some sectors, such as data centers
and infrastructure, are set for rapid growth, while clean energy projects and
high-speed rail could see federal support dwindle. Other types of projects have
a mixed or uncertain outlook under the new administration.
Below, Construction Dive looks at the sectors poised to lose
momentum under Trump’s second term. Click
here for the sectors that are poised to gain momentum.
Wind, solar energy
Trump’s Unleashing American Energy order seeks to accelerate
power projects but notably leaves out the burgeoning solar and wind sectors,
which together comprise about 14%
of the country’s power supply, according to the Energy Information
Administration.
Trump’s ire has long been directed at wind power in
particular, even though the biggest producers are red states, per the EIA. To
that end he signed a standalone executive order temporarily suspending new or
renewed leases for offshore
and onshore wind projects, and halted the leasing of wind power projects on
the outer continental shelf, pending a review by federal agencies.
Among the major open questions around the order is
whether projects
that have already received permits are in jeopardy, according to
Grist. For example, it has halted
development of the 100,000-acre Lava Ridge Wind project in Idaho, the
Idaho Capital Sun reported.
The order also directs the administration’s pick for
Secretary of the Interior, former North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, to lead a
comprehensive assessment of federal wind leasing and permitting practices. As
of 2023, wind
generated 36% of North Dakota’s power, according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration. Despite the order, many renewable
energy giants seemed to shrug off Trump’s actions, CNBC reported.
It’s tough to tell what will happen with solar energy. New
solar projects could be hit
hard by tariffs from China, a crucial source of parts, according to
Politico. Still, wind, solar and other clean energy projects could all be sped
along if Trump weakens environmental laws to speed construction permitting.
“In discussions with construction clients and industry
leaders, there is a general consensus that both ‘traditional’ energy sources
and ‘greener’ energy have roles in play in the broader energy landscape,” said
Kassalen.
High-speed rail
Passenger and high-speed rail projects supported through the
Biden administration could get reduced federal support under Trump, according
to Holland and Knight. Additionally, public transit systems, which rely on
federal funding, could struggle to secure the money needed to expand their
systems due to cuts in discretionary transportation funding.
IIJA funding for rail projects could be affected in
particular, Holland and Knight experts wrote.
“The administration and congressional Republicans may
attempt to offset annual passenger rail funding using advanced appropriations
provided by the IIJA, which included $66 billion in advanced appropriations for
rail projects,” according to the brief.
EV and battery factories
Trump’s hostile attitude toward EVs does not appear to have
softened after welcoming Tesla CEO Elon Musk onto his team: His Day 1 energy
order directs agencies to eliminate
the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate.” It specifically targets IIJA funds for
electric vehicle charging stations through the National Electric Vehicle
Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure
Discretionary Grant Program, together worth $7.5 billion.
Although Trump wants to halt the disbursement of unspent
funds from those programs, legal experts say that he probably doesn’t have the
power to. Doing so would likely violate
the Impoundment Act, which prevents presidents from blocking spending that
Congress has appropriated, according to CNN. However, Trump has used his power
to rescind Biden’s executive order that called for half of all new vehicles
sold to be electric by 2030.
However, U.S. automakers are too committed to EVs — and to
building plants that make them and their batteries — to pull back completely,
no matter what changes Trump is able to implement, per CNN. Although IIJA
projects are on hold, EV money is in the pipeline: Biden announced an
additional $635
million for refueling projects on Jan. 10 before leaving office,
following $521
million in grants in August 2024.
Water
Water infrastructure continues to be an area of concern
across the country, as burgeoning cities and megaprojects like data center
campuses seek to slake their thirst. Although the Trump administration has
championed data centers, it has said little about the vast amounts of water
required to run them.
If his past actions are an indication of future plans, Trump
will seek to roll back the Clean Water Act and leave regulation of
smaller waterways to states, according to The New York Times. Previously, the
president also directed federal funding to rural
water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
During his first term, the Trump administration studied the
issue of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in drinking water and
his EPA
was generally in favor of regulation, according to WaterWorld.
Megacontractors like Jacobs and AECOM have claimed more PFAS cleanup work in
recent years. However, Trump’s Jan. 20 order, Regulatory
Freeze Pending Review, halted any proposed rules that have been sent to the
Office of the Federal Register, including a Biden administration proposal to
set limits on PFAS in effluent with discharge limits.
For the moment, water projects funded by the IIJA could have
trouble receiving funds, but because water
infrastructure initiatives do not appear to conflict with Trump’s
policy objectives, “EPA seemingly retains the power to move ahead with
disbursement of the IIJA-appropriated SRF dollars unfettered,” the Association
of Metropolitan Water Agencies said in a Jan. 27 briefing.
Winning construction sectors under Trump
The construction industry faces a shifting landscape as the
Trump administration sets about reshaping some of the country’s most impactful
federal policies.
With changes in infrastructure priorities, regulatory
rollbacks and economic shifts, contractors and developers are bracing for both
new opportunities and potential setbacks. Some sectors, such as data centers
and infrastructure, are set for rapid growth, while clean energy projects and
high-speed rail could see federal support dwindle. Other types of projects have
a mixed or uncertain outlook under the new administration.
Below, Construction Dive looks at the construction sectors
poised to gain momentum under President Donald Trump’s second term. Click
here for the sectors that are poised to lose momentum.
Data centers
Data center construction growth should surge to new heights
this year after a strong pace of activity in 2024, according to the Associated
General Contractors of America’s annual outlook survey.
About 42% of contractors surveyed by AGC, up from 20% last
year, expect the value of projects in the sector to be higher in 2025 than
2024. JP Morgan anticipates spending on data centers to boost
overall U.S. GDP by about 10 to 20 basis points from 2025 to 2026,
according to Reuters.
That push is being fueled by big tech companies. For
example, a new joint venture among tech giants OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle,
dubbed Stargate, plans to invest $100
billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure, with the potential to
scale up to $500 billion by 2028. Trump announced the initiative at the White
House, calling it essential to keeping the U.S. ahead in AI innovation. He
pledged to fast-track permitting and support energy projects to power the data
center builds.
“[Data center construction] has emerged as one of the
fastest-growing construction markets,” said Brian Kassalen, principal and
construction industry leader at Chicago-based Baker Tilly, an advisory, tax and
assurance firm. “Even before the announcement of Project Stargate, data center
construction was a top construction market with significant growth forecasted
in 2025 and beyond.”
Earlier this year, Chicago-based
Clayco unveiled a new business unit to accelerate its data center
construction efforts. CEO Anthony Johnson expects the firm’s revenue from data
center construction alone to reach over $4.6 billion by 2026, up from $3.6
billion in revenue in 2024.
“The hyperscale data center market is projected to grow 10%
to 20% annually in the next five years,” said Johnson. “... There’s still a
tremendous amount of opportunity for us to build both in terms of projects and
as an organization in this sector.”
Energy projects to power AI
That momentum in the data center sector will propel activity
in the power sector as well, said Kassalen.
U.S. data center energy consumption will likely triple
in the next three years and could consume as much as 12% of national
energy usage, according to the Department of Energy. That leaves ample room for
future power projects, said Kassalen.
“This surge in energy demand is fueled by trends such as the
explosive growth of AI, the expansion of cloud computing and ongoing
advancements in digital transformation,” said Kassalen. “These developments are
expected to sustain and accelerate demand for new data centers, creating
opportunities for power construction projects.”
But those forecasts could be overstated. China-based
DeepSeek claims to have developed a more
cost-efficient AI model, which has led some investors to question whether
these massive data centers will remain necessary.
Blackstone COO Jon Gray acknowledged concerns from investors
during a recent
earnings call, but maintained broader AI adoption should still sustain
demand for data center construction.
“We’ve obviously been spending a lot of time the last week
looking at the impact of DeepSeek,” said Gray during the earnings call. “We
still think there’s a vital need for physical infrastructure, data centers and
power.”
About 32% of contractors surveyed by AGC, up from 25% last
year, expect the value of power construction projects to be higher in 2025 than
2024. That’s buoyed by Trump’s plans to support domestic oil and natural gas
production, said Kassalen. Tech giants are also increasingly turning to nuclear
power to meet these growing energy demands, according to CBRE, a
Dallas-based commercial real estate services firm.
Kassalen added Trump’s policy direction suggests there may
be a rollback of many restrictions on drilling, for both onshore and offshore
projects. Trump issued directives to speed up permitting
for energy infrastructure projects, using emergency regulations under laws
like the Clean Water Act to ensure faster approvals for oil, gas, nuclear and
coal developments.
These will lead to a greater demand for contractors that can
perform this type of work, Kassalen said.
“From a construction standpoint, the push for expanding
nuclear and fossil fuel projects could significantly benefit the industry.
Increased energy development would drive demand for related infrastructure,
such as new roads, pipelines, processing facilities and other support systems,”
said Kassalen. “This prioritization of fossil fuels, paired with potential
support for nuclear energy, positions the construction sector to play a key
role in supporting the nation’s energy goals.”
Manufacturing projects
The onshoring of U.S. manufacturing facilities, a key focus
of the Biden administration, appears likely to flourish under the Trump
administration as well, said AGC CEO Jeffrey Shoaf during the trade
association’s construction outlook webinar.
Over the past several years, efforts to revive American
manufacturing spurred over $988
billion in private company investment after decades of offshoring.
These projects, scattered across the country, include multibillion-dollar
biotechnology facilities, chip fabrication plants and electric vehicle battery
factories.
Trump’s America First plan includes enhanced tax
breaks and streamlined permitting processes for manufacturing plants,
according to The Bonadio Group, a Rochester, New York-based accounting and
consulting firm. These measures aim to reduce barriers, boost domestic
production and position the U.S. as a leader in the manufacturing sector.
Contractors remain optimistic momentum in the space will
continue, said Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist, during the AGC webinar. About
25% of contractors surveyed by AGC, up from 15% last year, expect the value of
manufacturing construction projects to be higher in 2025 than 2024.
Roads and bridges
With Trump taking office, expect “a greater focus on more
traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges,” according to Alex Etchen,
vice president of government relations with Associated General Contractors of
America.
With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act expiring in
September 2026, the Trump administration will have the opportunity to craft
its own surface transportation reauthorization bill, shaping
transportation policy for years to come, experts at Miami-based law firm
Holland & Knight wrote in a brief. That likely means more emphasis on
highways.
“Although some GOP lawmakers are supportive of high-speed
rail, interstate highway development, which congressional Republicans view as
more beneficial to rural Americans, will undoubtedly take precedence,”
according to the brief.