February building permit values up 90% in Fort Smith metro

Building activity in the Fort Smith region dropped in February after a particularly robust first month of the year. The region issued $20.499 million building permits in February’s 28 days, a 47% decrease from January’s $38.699 million.

Activity for the month was, however, a 90% increase from February 2019, which saw a total of $10.758 million in permitted activity.

Fort Smith issued 166 permits during the month with an $18.6 million valuation. That’s a drop of 42.8% from January’s $32.5 million, but a 109% increase from $8.9 million on 134 permits in February 2019.

Fort Smith posted $6.56 million in new commercial construction in February, down 74.7% from January’s $25.91 million. That number is an increase of 337% from $1.5 million posted in February 2019.

February’s new commercial projects include the $3.4 million for rebuilding the portions of the Port of Fort Smith destroyed in record flooding of the Arkansas River in May 2019, and $3.15 self-storage facility at 8601 Chad Colley Blvd. RazorBox Storage will be a climate controlled self-storage facility with boat and RV storage available.

On the residential side, Fort Smith issued $2.14 million in construction permits, a 33.6% increase from the $1.6 million in new construction permits issued in January and a 55% decrease from February 2019’s $4.74 million.

Van Buren, the region’s second largest city, dropped significantly from January with 54 permits issued valuing $1.87 million. That is a 67.7% decrease from $5.81 million on 40 permits issued in January, but only a 5% decrease from the $1.98 million issued on 67 permits in February 2019. Van Buren’s total includes $948,000 in commercial construction and $814,000 in residential construction, compared to $4.428 million in commercial construction and $1.33 million in residential in January.

Greenwood had a slow month with one permit issued valued at $50,400 in February, down 87% from $391,554 on seven permits in January and down 93.7% from $797,053 on five permits in February 2019.

REGIONAL BUILDING ACTIVITY RECAP
Combined total for the three cities
2019: $238.752 million
2018: $231.780 million
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
2019: $204.008 million
2018: $187.678 million
2017: $169.958 million
2016: $185.783 million
2015: $191.631 million
2014: $174.252 million

Van Buren
2019: $27.731 million
2018: $37.946 million
2017: $19.665 million
2016: $15.327 million
2015: $16.009 million
2014: $7.918 million

Greenwood
2019: $7.013 million
2018: $6.156 million
2017: $15.23 million
2016: $10.235 million
2015: $11.259 million
2014: $16.813 million