Approvals for a couple of major construction projects in April helped to nearly erase a $24-million gap between the cumulative value of Red Deer’s building permits this year versus 2012.
The city’s Inspections and Licensing Department authorized $33.2 million in construction work last month, up from $10.3 million for the same period in 2012. That boosted Red Deer’s 2013 building permit tally to $71.3 million, just shy of the $72.4 million figure generated from January to April last year.
Among April’s permits was a $10.2 million approval for work on the Red Deer Public School District’s new elementary school at 300 Timothy Dr., and another valued at $7 million for the Marriott hotel project at 6822 66th St.
There was also a spike in the value of permits issued for residential construction in April, with the figure hitting $12.2 million, up from $6.5 million last year.
The total value of permits for public projects in April was $10.8 million, an improvement from $325,000 a year earlier. Commercial work contributed $8.3 million worth of permits, up from $3 million; and in the industrial category, the number swelled to $1.9 million, from $512,000.
So far this year, the value of building permits for residential projects is slightly ahead of the 2012 figure to the same point, at just over $35 million. The four-month total for public work is $13.3 million, up from $4.6 million; commercial approvals are at $13.1 million, down from $26.7 million; and in the industrial category the cumulative number is $9.5 million, as compared with $5.8 million a year ago.