Fort Smith metro building activity starts 2018 with over 33% drop

Fort Smith metro region building activity — permits for Fort Smith, Greenwood, and Van Buren — opened 2018 soft with just $11.293 million in combined values, a drop of 35.34% from last January’s $17.464 million tally. The region suffered drops in all three markets with Greenwood tumbling the most percentage-wise (over 65%) and Fort Smith doing just two-thirds of the business it posted last year.

What happens in Fort Smith generally determines the course of the region’s monthly performance, and for the first month of 2018, the city barely broke the $10 million mark with $10.319 million on 151 permits against January 2017’s $15.537 million. Most of the last 31 days’ activities occurred on the commercial side with $5.554 million in values while $3.202 million went to residential. However, performance aside, the biggest news came from a $100 fill permit posted last week and attributed to Silgan Plastic Food Containers.

The permit confirmed months of speculation the manufacturer would be coming to Fort Smith. After the permit posted, Talk Business & Politics discovered Silgan had purchased land in the amount of $712,000 at 7101 Highway 45 near Rheem Manufacturing. On Wednesday (Jan. 31), the company formally announced the deal had closed and it would be bringing a $38 million expansion to the city with plans for 150 jobs.

Other Fort Smith-based action over the last 31 included the opening of Freddy’s Custard & Steakburgers on Rogers Avenue (announced in late 2017) and further construction on several developments along the 4000-5509 block of Phoenix Avenue, including Baskin Robbins, Gusano’s Pizza, Sumo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar, and Tacos 4 Life, which together represent more than $6 million in new commercial investments.

As for major new commercial permits in January, Fort Smith posted two totaling over $2 million, including $885,000 at the Port of Fort Smith (Five Rivers Distribution) for a modern bulk storage facility — the first new construction at the port in 37 years — and $1.2 million for the continued expansion at Mars Petcare.

VAN BUREN, GREENWOOD
Van Buren, the region’s second largest city, posted just $680,000 in values for January, down 36.69% from last year’s $1.074 million. Over $555,000 of the 21 new projects came on the residential side. In January 2017, the residential number was slightly higher at $585,000, and Five Rivers contributed a $330,000 expansion.

As for Greenwood, its values were all on the residential side for the last month, totaling $294,105 on three permits. Compare this to January 2017’s $853,215, and the market experienced a drop of 65.53%, mostly due to a decline in residential activity ($836,250 of the 2017 figure was for new home construction).

REGIONAL BUILDING ACTIVITY RECAP
Combined total for the three cities
2017: $210.844 million
2016: $211.345 million
2015: $218.899 million
2014: $198.983 million
2013: $202.389 million
2012: $154.64 million
2011: $201.079 million
2010: $149 million
2009: $164 million

Fort Smith
2017: $169.958 million
2016: $185.783 million
2015: $191.631 million
2014: $174.252 million
2013: $185.057 million
2012: $136.248 million

Van Buren
2017: $19.665 million
2016: $15.327 million
2015: $16.009 million
2014: $7.918 million
2013: $8.283 million
2012: $8.609 million

Greenwood
2017: $15.23 million
2016: $10.235 million
2015: $11.259 million
2014: $16.813 million
2013: $9.049 million
2012: $9.983 million