Building permit values down 23% in Fort Smith

Comparative declines in building activity during October in Fort Smith and Van Buren pushed regional permit values down almost 3%.

The value of building permits issued during October in Fort Smith, Greenwood and Van Buren totaled $13.519 million, down 2.9% compared to the $13.933 million in the 2009 period.

For the first 10 months of 2010, building permit values in Fort Smith total $97.393 million, down 23.45% from the $127.228 million during the same period of 2009.

Total value of the 202 permits Fort Smith issued during October was $8.186 million, down 29.4% from the September 2009 period.

Commercial permitting was down slightly in October, with the city issuing commercial permits valued at $3.689 million, down 1.09% compared to commercial permit values in October 2009. The top commercial permits issued in October 2010 included a $1.376 million expansion of the Saint Gobain proppant plant in north Fort Smith and $1 million for ongoing renovations by FSM Redevelopment Partners of the former Phoenix Village Mall property.

Permit values for new home construction during October totaled $2.73 million, down 15.7% compared to the $3.239 million value in October 2009.

The new home construction sector in Fort Smith has been hot for most of the year. New home construction values during the third quarter (July-September) totaled $8.237 million, up 8% over the same period in 2009. Following are the comparative new home construction permit values between March and September.
• September 2010: $3.436 million, compared to $3.109 million in September 2009
• August 2010: $2.923 million, compared to $2.092 million in August 2009
• July 2010: $1.878 million, compared to $2.425 million in July 2009
• June 2010: $5.159 million, compared to $2.261 million in June 2009
• May 2010: $4.789 million compared to $1.716 million in May 2009
• April 2010: $4.51 million compared to $4.49 million in April 2009
• March 2010: $5.976 million compared to $2.02 million in March 2009

GREENWOOD, VAN BUREN

October permit values in Greenwood totaled $4.362 million, a big increase from the $590,485 in permit value in October 2009. The October gain came courtesy of 6 new residential permits with a total value of $2.083 million.

Van Buren posted an October permit value total of $969,500, down 44.3% from the $1.741 million in October 2009. In October, the city issued 2 permits valued at $800,000 for multi-family (apartment) construction.

Also, there were no large commercial permits issued in October, compared to commercial permits valued at $560,000 in October 2009.

However, Van Buren is likely to have a respectable 2010 permit total thanks to a $13.587 million permit issued during April for King Elementary School.