Building permit values up in May, up year-to-date

Building permit values in Fort Smith, Greenwood and Van Buren combined to total $12.379 million in May, up 34.77% compared to the $9.184 million in May 2010.

The May gain in area building activity comes primarily courtesy of a $1 million permit for repair work at Kohl’s Department Store in Fort Smith, a $937,000 commercial project under construction near the Wal-Mart Distribution Center on Zero Street in Fort Smith and a $500,000 addition to Gerber’s Fort Smith plant.

Also, the relative lack of permit activity in Greenwood and Van Buren during May 2010 provided an easy comparison boost for May 2011.

For the first five months of 2011, permit values in the three cities total $91.44 million, up 26.2% compared to the $72.409 million during the 2010 period.

The year-to-date increase is courtesy of a $28.5 million permit issued in January by Fort Smith for construction of Mitsubishi’s wind-turbine assembly plant at Chaffee Crossing. Permit values are down 13.13% in the three cities during the first five months when removing the Mitsubishi permit value.

FORT SMITH

The city of Fort Smith issued 213 permits during May with a total value of $9.517 million, up 7.48% compared to the $8.854 million in May 2010. The 15 new residential permits issued by the city totaled $2.532 million, down from the May 2010 value of $4.789 million for 31 new home permits.

GREENWOOD

Permits issued during May in Greenwood posted a total value of $1.19 million, up considerably from the mere $5,000 issued in May 2010. New home construction permits totaled $954,310, compared to no permits issued in May 2010.

VAN BUREN
May permits issued in Van Buren totaled $1.671 million compared to just $325,300 million in May 2010. Residential construction permits issued in May had a value of $902,440, up over the $286,000 in May 2010.

2010 RECAP

Building permit values in the three cities during 2010 totaled $158.358 million, down 5.77% compared to $163.824 million in 2009. In 2010, Fort Smith officials issued permits valued at $114.77 million, compared to $138.946 million in 2009.

For the year, Greenwood officials issued permits valued at $18.258 million, up 21.6% over the $15.008 million in all of 2009. However, the city changed its permit assessment process during 2010 in a way that increased the estimated value of construction.

Van Buren officials issued building permits valued at $21.33 million in 2010, up 116% compared to all of 2009. The bulk of the 2010 permit value came from the $13.587 million permit for construction of the new King Elementary.