Residential and commercial construction activity in Volusia County
picked up slightly in the first quarter, compared with the previous
quarter.
Local building officials said it remains to be seen whether the
modest up tick in building permits issued locally for new homes and
commercial projects in the first three months of 2008 is a sign that
things are on the upswing. However, it is an encouraging way to
start the new year, especially in light of how 2007 ended, with
local construction activity in the residential and commercial
sectors falling sharply in the fourth quarter.
Residential
construction
In the
first three months of 2008, 291 building permits were issued for new
homes in Volusia County, according to figures compiled by the county
Department of Economic Development from the county and city building
permit offices. The combined value of those homes was $69 million –
an average home price of just over $237,000.
That’s an improvement over the fourth quarter of 2007, when 253
residential permits were issued countywide. The combined value of
those homes was $59.7 million —an average of about $236,000.
However, the first quarter numbers are down considerably when
compared to year ago levels. During the first quarter of 2007, 583
residential permits were issued countywide which had a combined
value of $148 million. The average price of a home permitted that
quarter was just over $253,800. The local housing market has been in
a deep slump since early 2006.
“The increase in permit volume for new home construction in the
first quarter is not enough to tell me whether the market is heating
up again,” said Rick Michael, director of the county Department of
Economic Development. “It’s a hopeful sign, but whether it’s an
indicator (of a rebound) we’re not sure. The second quarter will
tell us whether we’re able to hold that level.”
Housing
construction in the first quarter of 2008 was strongest in
unincorporated Volusia, where 75 permits were issued, a majority in
west
Volusia. Among individual cities, Port Orange issued the highest
number of
residential permits (46), followed by Daytona Beach (43), New Smyrna
Beach
(33), Ormond Beach (32), Deltona (30), and DeLand (21).
Of the individual cities in the county that issued more than 20
residential
permits in the first quarter, Ormond Beach had the highest average
value
($368,668), followed by New Smyrna Beach ($291,764), Daytona Beach
($240,667), Deltona ($210,832), Port Orange ($207,903), and DeLand
($202,671).
The average value for homes permitted in unincorporated Volusia was
$204,284.
Some of the communities in Volusia County where homes are being
built
include Venetian Bay in New Smyrna Beach, Deer Park at Hunter’s
Ridge in
Ormond Beach, Victoria Park in DeLand and Bayberry Lakes in Daytona
Beach.
KB Home has 30 homes under construction at Deer Park, which feature
homes designed by domestic diva Martha Stewart. The homebuilder has
applied for permits to begin construction on the nine remaining home
lots in
the initial development phase for that project. Recently a grand
opening was
held for new model homes at an adjacent community that will be
called
Cypress Place. Construction is set to begin on homes in the first
phase of
development for Cypress Place this summer.
“We were just commenting among ourselves in the office that when you
drive through Deer Creek and Cypress Place you ask yourself: ‘What
housing
slowdown?’,” said Cara Kane, a spokeswoman for KB.
Commercial construction
Commercial and industrial permitting activity for new projects in
Volusia
County was stronger than expected in the first quarter, with 85
building permits
issued, up from 25 in the fourth quarter of last year.
The first quarter total was nearly half the number of permits issued
for
commercial construction projects in the county in all of 2007: 184.
“That’s
strong,” said Michael of the number of commercial projects permitted
in the
first quarter of 2008.
The combined value of the permitted commercial projects in the first
quarter was $94.1 million, compared with $24.8 million in the fourth
quarter of
last year. The combined value of the projects permitted in the first
quarter of
2007 was $172.5 million.
The combined value of new commercial construction projects permitted
in the first quarter of 2008 well exceeds the combined value of the
residential
projects permitted in the same quarter. That’s a far cry from a few
years ago,
when the opposite was true. For example, in 2005, the combined value
of
commercial projects receiving building permits that year totaled
$231 million.
The combined value for residential projects permitted that year was
$1.3 billion.
“The more equal the commercial and residential construction, the
more
balanced and diversified your tax base is, which lessens the tax
burden on
homeowners,” said Michael.
John Wickert, a commercial real estate broker with NAI Realvest in
Daytona Beach, said he’s encouraged by the recent up tick in permit
activity for
commercial projects in Volusia County. “What it tells me is that
growth is
coming back,” he said.
Wickert said the biggest challenge these days for commercial
developers
locally is not so much whether there’s sufficient market demand for
their
projects, but whether financing can be secured.
Commercial construction projects under way in Volusia County include
The Pavilion in Port Orange, a 550,000-square-foot open-air shopping
center
that broke ground February 18 along Williamson Boulevard, just north
of
Dunlawton Avenue/Taylor Road. The shopping center, being developed
by
Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties Inc. (which
also owns Volusia Mall), will be anchored by a Belk department store, a
14-screen movie
theater, and a number of “junior anchors”—Barnes & Noble, Circuit
City,
Homegoods/Marshall’s Megastore, and Michaels. The Pavilion is set
