Posted 8:25 pm Sunday, February 19, 2012
Tyler Building Permits, Valuations Increase In 2011
By CASEY MURPHY
Business Editor
Business Editor
The city of Tyler saw an increase in building permits and their valuations in 2011.
"Taken as a whole, 2011 was a significant improvement over 2010 for building activity in Tyler and gives us reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the outlook for 2012," said Michael Wilson, development services engineer and floodplain administrator for the city.
There were a total of 5,881 building permits filed for 2011, a 5.13 percent increase from the year before, when 5,594 permits were filed with the city of Tyler, Wilson reported.
Wilson said the valuation of all permits, which include building permits, as well as permits such as demolition, electrical, signs, plumbing and mechanical, also increased from the year before.
Last year saw a total valuation of $267.6 million, an increase of more than $86 million or 47.5 percent, compared to the $181.5 million valuation of all permits filed in 2010.
Wilson said the valuation increase was because of several large building projects, including Trinity Mother Frances' Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital. Construction of the 160,000-square-foot building cost $32 million, according to a building permit.
There were 170 new residences constructed in 2011, compared to 163 new residential permits filed the year before. But valuations for new residential permits were down to $54.2 million in 2011, a 5.37 percent decrease from the $57.3 million the year before.
The city had 71 new commercial buildings constructed in 2011, compared to 99 new construction permits filed in 2010. Last year's new commercial valuation was $78.2 million, a 46.67 percent jump from 2010's new commercial construction valuation of $53.3 million.
"New commercial permits tend to ebb and flow, hovering around 100 per year," Wilson said. "While we saw fewer permits this past year, they were for larger projects on average."
Overall, revenue due to all permit fees was up last year compared to the previous year, Wilson reported.
The city collected $826,385 in permit fees in 2011, an increase of 33.28 percent from the $620,040 in fees collected in 2010.
