North Bay sets new building record

Ontario Construction News staff writer

The City of North Bay is experiencing its biggest building year on record with year-to-date construction values exceeding $105 million.

“We have never seen more construction activity in the City of North Bay,” said Mayor Al McDonald. “We are extremely pleased and very appreciative that families, businesses, and developers continue to recognize the potential of our City and are investing in our community.”

With two more months of reporting still pending, the year-to-date total construction value of $105,156,922 has already surpassed the previous record set in 2006 of approximately $101 million. The year-to-date total has also outpaced last year’s total of $57.5 million and is up over the 2019 – pre-Coivd-19 – total of $93.3 million.

Although commercial and industrial building permits, now totalling approximately $8.5 million and $15.8 million respectively, are both up over last year’s year-end figures, the primary driver of this year’s record-setting numbers has been a significant increase in residential construction which has reached $72.6 million, more than double the highest total of the past decade, set in 2011 at $35.7 million.

“Construction values are one of the benchmarks that we can use to help understand and assess economic growth, so we’re certainly encouraged by the level of residential development that we’re seeing,” said Mayor McDonald.

The year-to-date total construction value of $72.6 million represents a total of 236 new dwelling units, including 79 single-family dwellings, 137 multi-residential units, 10 semi-detached units, eight secondary units and two new duplexes.

“With a moratorium on residential development charges and the introduction of new economic development initiatives, the City of North Bay was well positioned to benefit from the housing boom created by the pandemic,” said Mayor McDonald, highlighting the Growth Community Improvement Plan, an intensified Business Retention and Expansion program and strategic investments in infrastructure as examples.

“We’re optimistic that we will continue to see our numbers increase over the next two months and that we will finish the year in an even stronger position.”

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