So far, so good.
Red Deer’s Inspections and Licensing Department approved $19.1 million worth of construction in January — a 75 per cent improvement over the $11 million in building permits it issued during the same month in 2011.
Residential projects accounted for $9.2 million of last month’s total, up from $5.5 million in the same category in January 2011. Commercial work contributed $5.9 million, up from $5.5 million; industrial permits added $3.8 million, an increase from $176,000; and in the case of public projects the tally was $191,000, as compared with $45,000.
Among the larger permits issued last month was one for $4.2 million in work on a three-storey, 67-unit apartment building being developed by Laebon Developments Ltd. in the Timberlands subdivision. In the industrial category, construction of a $3.2-million shop for Canyon Technical Services Ltd. on the north end of Burnt Lake Industrial Park was the biggest project approved.
The largest commercial job authorized by the city was $3 million in interior improvements to the top five floors of Executive Place, which Stantec Inc. is slated to move into. A permit was also issued for a $1.3-million addition and renovations to the north Red Deer Canadian Tire store, and $660,000 worth of interior work to the new CIBC branch in Clearview Market Square received a green light.
The strong start bodes well for construction in Red Deer this year. In 2011, the city approved $169.7 million worth of projects — which represented a nearly 50 per cent jump from the 2010 figure of $113.7 million.