Fort Smith metro building permit values up almost 45% through May

May building permit values in the Fort Smith metro were down from April but are well above where they were last year. Fort Smith, Greenwood and Van Buren combined for $44.057 million in May building permit values, up 150% from the $17.609 million in May 2022.

The May numbers were down 3.8% from the $45.79 million reported in April. Year-to-date the region has issued building permits valued at $255.034 million, up 44.5% compared with the $176.521 million in the first five months of 2022.

Fort Smith issued 703 permits in May with a combined value of $41.522 million, down 5.7% from the $44.041 million value of 286 permits issued in April, but up 166% from the $15.591 million value of 568 permits issued in May 2022. Year-to-date Fort Smith has reported $237.8 million in building projects, up 97.2% from the $120.59 million reported through May 2022.

There were 29 permits issued for new residential construction in the month with a value of $6.711 million, up 77.7% from the $3.776 million value of 17 permits issued in April and 156% from the $2.62 million value of 18 permits issued in May 2022.

There were three permits issued for new commercial construction with a combined value of $13.259 million, up 563% from the $2 million value of one new commercial construction project issued last month and 617% from the $1.85 million value of four permits issued in May 2022. Included in the new construction permits issued in May, was $240,000 addition to Plunkett Distribution at 622 S. R St., a $4.519 million storage facility for Ben Geren Park at 6801 Zero St., and an $8.5 million new hotel project at 7200 Phoenix Ave. by Jaimin Patel.

In February 2022, the Fort Smith Regional Airport Commission approved a commercial development lease with Patel for a ground lease to construct a hotel on airport property next to the Homewood Suites on Phoenix Avenue. The hotel will be of similar quality as the other hotels on airport property, the airport commission was told at the time. The 50-year ground lease is “virtually identical to the existing hotel property leases” and has options for extension. At the time the commission approved the lease, Patel, who has two hotels in Van Buren, and several in other states, said the development on Phoenix Avenue will be a Marriott franchise. It is expected to have about 100 rooms and open in late 2024.

VAN BUREN AND GREENWOOD
Van Buren, the region’s second largest city, had 118 projects permitted in May with a value of $1.274 million, down 11.1% from the $1.433 million value of 92 projects permitted in April and 31.3% from the $1.854 million value of 81 projects permitted in May 2022. On the residential side, the city had $1.223 in permitted building activity, two times the $577,200 value of residential building last month, and 19.1% more than the $1.027 million value of residential construction in May 2022.

There was only $11,000 in permitted commercial construction projects in May, a 98.6% decrease from the $810,000 value of commercial projects in April and a 98% decrease from the %575,800 value of commercial projects in May 2022. In the first five months of the year, Van Buren has recorded $12.693 million in permitted activity, down 75% from the $50.872 million reported through May 2022, a year in which Van Buren experienced significant building growth.

Greenwood issued 14 permits in May with a combined value of $1.261 million, almost four times more than the $317,660 combined value of 13 permits issued in April and almost eight times more than the $162,765 combined value of 16 permits issued in May 2022. January through May, Greenwood has had $4.541 million in building projects permitted, down 10% from the $5.051 million through May 2022.

The region ended 2022 with $480.376 million in permitted building activity, a 39.9% increase over the $343.289 million in 2021. The Fort Smith metro has seen continuous growth over the  past several years, but no recent year has performed as well in building activity as 2022 with all three of the larger cities in the region seeing an increase in building numbers from 2021.

REGIONAL BUILDING ACTIVITY RECAP
Combined total for the three cities
2022: $480.376 million
2021: $343.289 million
2020: $265.975 million
2019: $241.741 million
2018: $231.78 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