Residential construction buoys 2019 building figures

Dec. 5--Joplin building permit values were the lowest in fiscal 2019 since rebuilding started after the 2011 tornado.

The total construction value, based on the building costs listed in permits, reached slightly more than $91.2 million, down nearly $25 million from last year when permits were valued at more than $116.1 million for the city's fiscal year that ended Oct. 31, 2018.

"The combined numbers for 2019 (are) the lowest it's been in several years," said Bryan Wicklund, the city's chief building official. "The value of residential permits was higher, but overall, the total is the lowest since before the tornado."

Residential permits amounted to $10 million more than last year in terms of the estimated value placed on the permit applications.

"Overall it was a really good year on the residential side," Wicklund said. "On the commercial side, we lacked very many big projects. We just don't have the dollars. It seems to go in cycles. One year, the residential numbers are high and the commercial are not, and the next, the commercial is high and residential is not."

There were 1,278 residential permits issued compared with 1,268 last year. But the total estimated value of those properties was higher at slightly more than $45 million compared with $35.3 million last year.

Asked whether the permits were issued for specific development areas in the city, Wicklund said, "I would not say those are in a particular area; however, they are overwhelmingly split between two contractors, Schuber Mitchell Homes and Ledford Construction."

Those two housing contractors were issued 150 of this year's residential permits.

"If you average that out, it's $165,000 per house, and that's about the amount I'm seeing for new homes," Wicklund said.

James Ledford, of Ledford Construction, said his company has been building about 40 houses a year on vacant lots that have been available as the result of tornado. Two of the company's larger projects have been on sites where the former South Middle School and Emerson Elementary were located before the storm.

He said that investors are buying up housing stock.

"About 75 percent of our sales over the last three years have been to investors," he said. "What is driving that up is the (KCU) medical school and the (coming) dental school."

Ledford's goal is to build 40 to 50 houses a year. While sales some years slow down this time of year, Ledford said the Joplin market is still going strong and that he expects to see sales even busier when spring hits.

Valerie Searcy, executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Southwest Missouri, said, "Our HBA member builders have been -- and stayed -- busy this year. Some have seen an increase in renovation projects and others have had new builds. It's great to see the growth in Joplin, but our members are busy in the whole Four-State Area. A lot of them will remain busy through the spring of 2020, and we hope that momentum continues throughout the entire year."

Commercial

Commercial permits plunged to the lowest level since 2010, down about 40% from last year. Records show 344 permits were issued for $46.2 million. Last year, 430 commercial permits valued at $80.8 million were issued.

The largest single commercial permit for 2019 amounted to $7.4 million for construction at Owens Corning, 1983 State Line Road.

Katie Merx, spokesperson for Owens Corning, previously told the Globe the permit was for upgrading plant infrastructure, including its air pollution control system, to allow the plant to operate at capacity and still comply with plant and environmental emission limits.

A mineral wool insulation most often used in commercial building for fire protection and to reduce noise and energy use is made at the plant. The material resists fire and temperatures of more than 2,000 degrees.

The company made a $90 million investment in the Joplin site that opened in 2017.

The work was to be completed over the 2019 summer.

Wicklund said this year's total also was bolstered by a $5 million issued for work to renovate the former Holiday Inn to a DoubleTree by Hilton brand, but work has not started on that renovation under the permit. The building chief said he did not know why work at the location is stalled.

Other large commercial permits included:

--A $3 million permit for the James River Church at 1832 S. Maiden Lane. James River had previously set up in Joplin at Victory Ministry and Sports Complex, opening a remote campus there in 2018, but moved to Maiden Lane when Price Cutter closed its grocery store operation.

--A $2.4 million permit for Freeman Health System's Learning Center, 3606 Indiana Ave. The Learning Center is a day care center for Freeman employees, and when finished, it will be available to children between 6 weeks and 6 years old. Freeman officials held the groundbreaking in May for the nearly 10,000-square-foot building. The center will have space for 90 children at opening; the property offers space for future growth. The building is about 75% complete, with construction scheduled to be finished in March.

Last year's permit amounts were led by one for $7.5 million permit for a 97-room Home2 Suites by Hilton at 3000 S. Range Line, northwest of 32nd Street and Range Line Road. Wicklund said final city inspections are now being done on that property, but a spokesman for the hotel did not return a message seeking information about the hotel's possible opening date.

That list of 2018 permits included eight commercial permits for more than $3 million, while only three such permits were issued in 2019.

Last year's permits also included two senior living projects in Wildwood Ranch, each for more than $6 million, and a $5 million project at Mercy Hospital Joplin to finish a floor in the hospital that was not completed before it opened.

In the past decade, the lowest annual amount recorded for commercial permits was about $46.8 million in 2010, and the largest was nearly $482.5 million in 2012, the year after the tornado.

The least amount recorded for residential permits was $10.2 million in 2009, after the 2008 recession, compared with the high of $115 million in 2011, when 4,100 permits were issued in the months after the tornado.

Permit values

Total value of Joplin building permits over the past decade.

--2010: $60.4 million.

--2011: $206.2 million.

--2012: $557 million.

--2013: $251 million.

--2014: $95.4 million.

--2015: $92.8 million.

--2016: $115 million.

--2017: $177 million.

--2018: $116 million.

--2019: $91.2 million.

Source: City of Joplin

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