A pair of multimillion-dollar renovation projects approved by the City of Red Deer last month helped push its 2010 building permit tally ahead of 2009’s pace for the first time since March.
One permit was issued for a $6.9-million addition to the former Leader Energy Services building at 4080 77th St., which Quinn’s Oilfield Supply is altering and expanding for use as the new headquarters for Quinn Pumps. The other was for Wal-Mart Canada’s planned conversion its Southpointe Common store into a supercentre — a transformation that will include the addition of 30,000 square feet and is valued at $5 million.
The two permits accounted for more than 60 per cent of the $19.3 million worth of work approved by Red Deer’s Inspections and Licensing Department last month, and helped boost the year-to-date total to $59.8 million.
During the first half of 2009, permits for $58.9 million worth of work were issued.
The cumulative permit values were higher this year than in 2009 in the residential, commercial and industrial categories, but lower when it came to public projects.
Residential work approved from January to June this year was valued at $37.6 million, up from $32.9 million; commercial projects combined for $11.4 million, as compared with $9.1 million last year; and industrial jobs accounted for $8.9 million, sharply higher than the $780,000 recorded to the same point last year. Public projects produced $2 million worth of permits this year, a drop-off from the $16.2 million in work approved in this category during the first half of 2009.
Despite the improvements in building permit stats this year, the 2010 figures are well below those recorded in 2008, when combined permit values midway through the year reached $116.9 million; and in 2007, when the city had issued $174.6 million worth of permits six months into the year en route to a record $421.1 million in building approvals.
For June 2010, residential projects generated $4.8 million worth of permits, less than half of the $10.2 million recorded in 2009. Commercial work produced permits valued at $5.5 million, up from $446,000; industrial projects added $7.3 million, up from $33,000; and construction in the public category accounted for $1.7 million, down from $2.8 million.