Moncton Building Permit Activity Up $8-Million From Previous Year
MONCTON – Building permit activity in the City of Moncton this quarter is up from last year in the same period, city officials announced Wednesday.
The total value of permits for the first quarter ending March 31 came in at $26.4 million, up from $18.2 million during the same period last year. These values were represented by 130 permits (121 last year).
Commercial activity represented 61 per cent of the quarter’s total, coming in at $16.1 million. This included a $4.7 million expansion at Organigram and a $4.5 million garage to be built on Frenette Dr. for Wabash Canada.
On the residential side, building permits came in with 3-month totals of $8.9 million, driven largely by a new $3.4 million apartment building on Diamond Head Court. Residential development saw a 148 per cent increase over last year – thanks in part to the construction of new duplex units, in at $2.4 million for Q1 (18 units), which the city says was zero at this time last year.
Institutional permits accounted for $1.1 million or 4 per cent of the quarter’s activity, with all of that coming from several renovation projects at schools and hospitals.
Kevin Silliker, director of economic development for the city of Moncton says they are forecasting continued growth for the rest of the year.
“We have a number of larger projects working their way through the planning process that should see continued growth, particularly in our Downtown”, said Silliker, in a release. “Multi-res vacancy rates are much lower than they have been over the last few years, and commercial occupancy is trending upward, which bodes well for increased activity.”