By IAN ROSS
North Bay’s vibrant home building market may be plateauing, but the overall construction sector remained strong in 2005 with a record setting year in home starts and huge potential ahead for 2006.
Residential housing starts still dominated the local market last year, but retail and commercial development may be on the rise, says Shawn Killins, the City of North Bay’s chief building official.
A great financing environment and an improving local economy has placed North Bay’s construction on an up-cycle for the last two years.
In 2004, North Bay posted an all-time record of $71.3 million worth of building permits, mostly in home construction, with 115 single-family and semi-detached dwellings started.
This past year, the city took in $59,254,000 with 110 single-family detached house starts and 118 new homes overall, “an all-time record,” says Killins.
Residential construction made up $30 million of the $59 million recorded.
“It was a pretty unique year. Developers did their share of construction putting up 20 houses on spec, but most houses were pre-sold,” says Killins. “There were a lot of private individuals putting up their own homes. Some (newcomers), but by and large it was mostly people moving up (in the housing market).”
Most of the activity took place in the Maple Hill and Airport Hill subdivisions where there are upscale homes, a few in the million dollar range, on the ridge overlooking the city and Lake Nipissing and beyond.
Commercially and institutionaly, Killins says, the overall results were “slightly disappointing” considering a large addition onto the Algonquin Secondary School didn’t go off as planned when the proposed $10-million project came in over budget and went back to the architect’s drawing board.
“We fully expect it will happen this year.”
Marina Point, the $20-million Dalron Construction senior’s development on the city’s waterfront has broken ground. Killins says the city was able to issue only a stage permit with $6 million in foundation work and some masonry work done. Another $12 million will be done in 2006 with the complex scheduled to open next year.
For this year, the city has budgeted $65 million in construction aided by the upcoming work on a $45-million water treatment plant and some expansion of local businesses, including a $20-million expansion at Seymour Windows and new retailers such as Boston Pizza. A 124-unit condominium-town house development is being proposed by Toronto’s Taki Investments on Trout Lake Road.
“We don’t expect 2006 to be as high,” says Killins. “There’s going to be a general flattening out of residential starts across the province.
“I’ve talked to the home builders, draftsmen and architects and it’s going to be another healthy year. I doubt it’ll exceed 100 starts but we’re estimating somewhere in the 75 to 80 range.”
North Bay usually averages about 60 home starts a year.
City officials are still awaiting word from the Ontario government on the largest single construction project in North Bay’s history.
Tenders are expected to go out this spring for the North Bay Regional Health Centre, a $200-million to $300-million project expected to be financed through the province’s Alternative Financing Procurement process.
