Record year for building permits in city

The city is touting its private sector construction in 2016, which was a record-setting year in terms of building permit values.

In a press release issued yesterday, the city announced that the value of building permits issued last year was $127.8 million, most . Records indicate that private sector building permit values in Prince George have never exceeded $120 million, council was informed in a presentation from the city’s economic development division before last night’s meeting.

“According to our digital records at city hall, which go back to 1990, 2016 was a record year in a very positive way for Prince George’s economy,” said Melissa Barcellos, the city’s Manager of Economic Development. “The fact that private sector dollars are driving the development of Prince George reflects the confidence that business owners and investors have in the current economy and their expectations for the future.”

In 2016, the City of Prince George issued 455 building permits worth $127,850,777, 96 per cent of which was investment from the private sector.

The building permit numbers for 2016 break down as follows:

• Residential $72,553,262
• Commercial $46,353,836
• Industrial $3,617,866
• Institutional $5,225,813
• 143 new single family residences
• 15 new commercial developments
• 173 new multi-family units
• 14 new duplexes
• 39 new single family secondary suites

In addition, the city saw five new industrial developments, 446 new businesses, over $100,000 of grantsawarded for projects totaling $750,000, and façade improvements on 17 downtown businesses, she said.

“At each meeting over the past year, council has looked at the building permit numbers and remarked at how well the city has been performing,” said Mayor Lyn Hall. “We are pleased to share these numbers with the public and the business community. As many developers have stated recently, ‘Prince George is open for business.’”

In 2016, the Conference Board of Canada released a report stating that Prince George’s economy has the strongest economic outlook among seven other mid-sized Canadian cities studied and that GDP was growing at a faster rate than the national average.