Minot Daily News: Building Permit Values Rise
January 26, 2021
Residential construction sees strong activity
Jill Schramm/MDN
Blu on Broadway makes progress with construction Friday on South Broadway. It was one of the major projects receiving building permits in 2020.
Building permits valued at just over $49.3 million in 2020 put construction activity ahead of the previous year.
One of the biggest categories of permitting was new residential buildings, with more new homes being built than has been seen in recent years.
“There was quite a bit of residential development this year because of the nice weather we had all through December. It really didn’t stop. I think that had a big impact on the numbers,” said Luke Tillema, City of Minot building official.
Minot issued 85 permits for single-family homes, 46 permits for townhouses and two for two-family dwellings, amounting to $22.2 million in permit value. Residential remodels and additions added $2.2 million.
The numbers compare with 67 single-family homes and four townhomes in 2019. They had a permit value of $8.1 million, and remodels and additions added $2.76 million. There were 68 permits for single-family homes in 2018 and two for townhomes. In 2017, there were 53 permits for single-family homes, 33 permits for townhomes and five permits for two-family dwellings.
On the commercial side, Minot saw $12.47 million in new nonresidential building permits in 2020 and $9.36 million in remodels and additions. The largest category of commercial construction in 2020 was offices, banks and professional buildings, which accounted for $11.34 million in new construction.
The level of nonresidential construction compares with a similar amount of activity in 2019, which saw $3.4 million in new construction and nearly $18.5 million in remodels and additions. It is down considerably from 2018 due to permit activity with the Trinity medical complex and flood protection project during that year.
Tillema said the COVID-19 pandemic may have had some negative effect on construction toward the end of 2020, largely due to the increased difficulty of obtaining materials.
Although it’s early in the year to make predictions, Tillema sees 2021 looking positive so far. The mild weather in January already has led to a busier construction environment in 2021 than a year ago.
“I am getting a lot of interest in new development, even in remodeling some of the downtown buildings, which is kind of exciting for Minot,” Tillema said. “I think it’s looking like we will do the same or better this year than we did last year.”
Minot Building Permit Activity
2017: $43.85 million
2018: $214.2 million
2019: $35.35 million
2020: $49.35 million
Source: City of Minot