Clayco CEO sees cautious clients, smarter investments

Considered one of Chicago’s largest development firms stays assured within the information middle and superior manufacturing mission pipeline, based on its CEO.

In Could, Clayco made a slate of key leadership promotions, together with Ryan McGuire as president of development and new nationwide roles for a number of division leaders, based on a launch. The strikes intention to strengthen mission supply throughout key sectors together with life sciences, e-commerce and institutional work, based on the corporate.

In the meantime, Clayco continues to ramp up its information middle development efforts with its new enterprise unit, Clayco Compute, stated CEO Anthony Johnson. The design-build agency generated $3.6 billion in 2024 from data center projects, accounting for half of the corporate’s whole income, based on Clayco.

Right here, Johnson talks with Building Dive about Clayco’s progress outlook for the second half of 2025, price pressures and total uncertainty within the development business.

This interview has been edited for brevity and readability

CONSTRUCTION DIVE: What developments or market shifts are you most carefully watching within the second half of 2025, and the way is Clayco positioning itself to reply?

ANTHONY JOHNSON: Within the second half of 2025, we’re carefully watching persistent price volatility, excessive demand and continued constraints in lending.

These forces are making purchasers extra cautious, and rightfully so. Our focus is on serving to them perceive and handle their threat publicity early to allow them to safe financing and transfer ahead with confidence. We’re doubling down on collaboration through the planning and pricing phases, making certain choices are data-driven, not reactive.

It’s about smarter investments, not simply quicker ones.

Which of Clayco’s sectors do you see driving essentially the most progress?

Clayco continues to see robust exercise in information facilities, synthetic intelligence-driven tasks, superior manufacturing and life sciences.

The fast acceleration of AI applied sciences and the rising demand for information processing have fueled a surge in information middle development, which led to the launch of our latest enterprise unit, Clayco Compute.

One other progress space for our firm presently is privately developed pupil housing at a few of the main college campuses all through the nation.  Our traders proceed to be excited for this asset class in core markets.

We are also starting to see a resurgence of multifamily and mixed-use tasks in choose city markets all through the nation.

Some corporations are pulling again or consolidating as a result of financial uncertainty. What’s permitting Clayco to maintain scaling throughout sectors proper now?

We’re leaning into high-growth sectors with actual endurance, like information facilities and superior tech. Our launch of Clayco Compute wasn’t only a new unit, it was a strategic wager on the way forward for infrastructure, and it’s paying off.

We are also investing closely in increasing our engineering, design, and self-perform mechanical and electrical capabilities, giving us extra management over crucial techniques and execution pace.

How are rising development prices, provide chain points and labor pressures shaping your strategy to development and procurement technique?

We’re experiencing impacts on a pair totally different fronts, which has positioned us to focus closely on provide chain and in addition mission underwriting.

On one hand, we have now firms searching for reshoring alternatives, purchasers seeking to proceed to broaden their information middle companies and home firms seeking to proceed their expansions already underway. However, we even have these similar purchasers seeking to us to assist them navigate the present tariff constraints, potential price uncertainties and a difficult lending atmosphere.

So, in essence, the identical firm could be each optimistic and progress targeted, but in addition cautious and unsure about their funding on the similar time.  We’re working carefully with these purchasers to offer full transparency to our provide chain, assist them perceive alternates and contingency plans and, in doing so, de-risk their tasks.

Are there every other developments you’re holding shut tabs on?

The search for energy is main many customers to increasingly more distant places, which makes discovering expert labor a fair larger problem.

This development, together with the drive for acceleration and pace to market, drives the necessity for additional innovation in mission execution.  Off and onsite modularization and prefabrication are examples of methods Clayco is implementing to handle these challenges.