Construction may exceed '05 numbers

Thursday, June 29, 2006
Dennis Chitester of Slayden Construction Company in East Prairie, works on a new duplex office building.

SIKESTON -- If the first six months are any indication, new construction this year is on pace to exceed that of the last year.

From Jan. 1 to the present date, 110 building permits for commercial and residential construction totaling $13,096,983 were obtained from City Hall , according to Trey Hardy, community redevelopment coordinator.

Commercial and residential construction only totaled $6,968,726 in 2005.

"So we doubled that this year," said Ed Dust, director of the Sikeston Department of Economic Development.

Credit for this increase goes to the rise in commercial construction, according to city officials.

"In April we didn't have any single-family residential (permits)," said Collin Cecil, code enforcement officer for the city.

Single-family residential new construction for the first six months of this year totaled only $2,658,602 while this figure was $4,027,938 for the same time period in 2005.

Cecil said 2004 was actually the boom year for single-family homes with $7,352,331 in new construction during the first six months. During the same time period in 2003, there was $4,327,542 in new single-family residential construction.

On the other hand, new commercial construction in 2006 so far is showing an increase over the previous year's first six months at $8,387,802 as compared with the 2005 total of $3,371,000. "Which is definitely a positive," Hardy said.

Projects which significantly contributed to this year's total so far include a $241,118 building for an Alan Wire expansion in January; the $3,818,800 Sikeston Public Schools Math and Science Center and the $4,045,884 expansion of the north facility of Unilever's Good Humor-Breyers plant at the Sikeston Business, Education and Technology Park in March; and a $110,000 duplex office building and $108,000 climate control storage facility that were started earlier this month.

Major commercial construction projects for the first six months of 2005 were the construction of a $100,000 addition to Mike's Rentals in March 2005; the $1,475,000 Walgreens building, $201,000 Cornerstone Baptist Church and $250,000 Americare Systems office building in April 2005; and the $1.3 million Aldi's building on South Main in May 2005.

The figures for commercial construction in 2006 may continue to exceed those in 2005 as several projects are on the horizon, among them a planned addition to the Sav-A-Lot.

"It's still early in the year," Cecil said.

There are other things happening commercially that will contribute to economic development in Sikeston in addition to the new construction.

Orscheln Farm and Home is slated to reopen here in the fall, for example.

"They're buying the building they were in before," Dust said. "This was one of their better stores."

"Everybody seems excited about them coming back," said Howard Gipson of Gipson Construction, one of the contractors hired to renovate the building for Orscheln's return.

Dust also said Aaron's Sales and Lease Ownership is moving into the old Aldi's building on Malone Avenue.

While only $4,277 in city fees were collected for construction so far, contractors can expect to pay more after July 1. "We've got new fees going into effect," Hardy said.

The fee increase was approved by the City Council at the recommendation of city staff to cover the city's cost of doing business associated with building permit fees.

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