UPDATED, May 15, 7:11 p.m.: The top 10 contractors in Chicago from the past year accounted for some $2.5 billion worth of work on some of the biggest projects, many of them still ongoing.
The list, compiled by The Real Deal, uses city building permit data. The top two firms alone — Walsh Construction and James McHugh Construction — handle more than $1 billion of it.
The projects included in that tally continued work on the massive Wolf Point residential construction, a new hotel at Navy Pier, three projects at O’Hare International Airport and a number of big residential towers, including the former One Grant Park project in the South Loop now known as NEMA Chicago.
Here is the list of biggest contractors from May 1, 2017, to April 30, 2018. The dollar figures come from estimates of the value of work in the contractors’ building permits:
1. Walsh Construction | $610 million
The majority of Walsh’s work comes from two of its seven projects: An estimated $401 million in work on the 60-story apartment tower at 313 Wolf Point Plaza being developed by Hines Interests and the Kennedy family, and $119 million in work on a 47-story apartment tower at 1326 South Michigan Avenue for Murphy Development and CIM Group.
2. James McHugh Construction | $459 million
McHugh’s 11 projects include $290 million in work on Crescent Heights’ 76-story, 792-unit tower at 1200 South Indiana Avenue known as NEMA Chicago (formerly One Grant Park); and $103 million for a seven-story hotel on Navy Pier.
3. Lendlease | $354 million
Lendlease has a total of 12 projects, including $143 milion in work on Fifield Companies and F&F Realty’s One South Halsted apartment tower at 727 West Madison Street, and $78 million for S.B. Yen’s Homewood Hilton hotel at 59 East 11th Street.
4. Power Construction | $347 million
Power’s 17 projects were the most of any firm on the list, with a number in the West Loop and Fulton Market, including $64 million in work on Shapack Partners’ 12-story Hoxton Hotel at 200 North Green Street. The firm’s biggest project is $160 million of work on the 56-story Essex on the Park apartments at 808 South Michigan Avenue being developed by Oxford Capital and Quadrum Global.
5. W.E. O’Neil Construction | $307 million
The firm’s nine projects were dominated by $101 million in work for a new hangar and office building at O’Hare International Airport.
6. F.H. Paschen, S.N. Neilsen | $114 million
Of the its two projects, $99 million in work comes from work on a new maintenance facility for American Airlines at O’Hare.
7. Leopardo Companies | $113 million
Leopardo had four projects, including $42 million in work on Sterling Bay’s “vendor village” office building at 210 North Carpenter Street near the new McDonald’s headquarters in Fulton Market.
8. M.A. Mortenson | $107 million
Mortenson’s three projects were dominated by $61 million in work on the United Airlines maintenance facility at O’Hare.
9. Clayco | $76 million
Clayco had two projects, including $42 million in work on a 132-unit apartment building it’s developing at 1980 North Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square.
10. Macon Construction Group | $73 million
The largest of Macon’s eight projects was $41 million in work on the Hayden West Loop condo building at 1109 West Washington Boulevard.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the airline for No. 6.