Area building permits down 17% in March

The value of building permits in Fort Smith, Greenwood and Van Buren were a combined $8.196 million in March, down 17.08% compared to $9.885 million in March 2012.

For the first three months of 2013, permits for the three cities totaled $27.691 million, down 7.59% compared to the $29.956 million in the same period of 2012.

FORT SMITH
The city of Fort Smith issued 193 permits during the month of March, with a total value of $6.856 million, down 21.14% compared to $8.694 million in March 2012. One of those was a $300,000 permit for construction at Mercy hospital in Fort Smith.

The 125 residential permits issued by the city totaled $2.525 million, down from the March 2012 total of $3.712 million with 136 permits.

GREENWOOD
A total of four permits issued during March in the city of Greenwood amounted to $663,300, a 5.58% increase from March 2012. At that time, the city had issued nine permits, but the total was only $628,240.

VAN BUREN
The city of Van Buren was the shining star of the three cities with regards to building permits during the month of March. The city issued 35 permits worth $676,600. That amounts to an increase of 20.1% from March 2012 when the city issued 34 permits, totaling only $563,350.

PARADE OF HOMES
Sure to spur future building permits, both for remodels and new home construction, is the upcoming Spring Parade of Homes presented by the Greater Fort Smith Association of Home Builders.

The event will take place Saturday, April 6, until Sunday, April 14, according to a press release from the association.

The release said 20 different entries will be featured, ranging in price from $126,000 to $379,000. The homes are located in Fort Smith, Van Buren, Alma and Lavaca.

"Many of these brand new homes feature the latest in green building technology along with the newest fashion in home design," the release said. "Most homes will have the builder or a Realtor on hand during showing hours (noon to 6 p.m. each day of the show)."

2012 RECAP
Combined values in the three cities during 2012 were $157.32 million, compared to $201.079 million during 2011. The 2012 value is above the $149 million in 2010, but below the $164 million during 2009.

Fort Smith closed 2012 with the largest share of valuations, logging $136.428 million (a one-year decline from $179.288 million of about 23.9%), while Van Buren was the next largest with $12.282 million (a one-year decrease from $12.39 million of approximately 0.87%). Greenwood posted an additional $8.609 million, which was down slightly from last year’s $9.461 million (down about 9%).

The 2012 figures were compared against a $28.5 million permit for the construction of a Mitsubishi wind-turbine assembly plant at Chaffee Crossing. The plant has been mothballed by the company. Even without that permit, the Fort Smith metro area lagged when compared to 2011 showing a decrease of around 8.8%.