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Strong building activity in Brantford and Brant

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April was another strong month of building activity in both Brantford and Brant County with a combined $19.4 million in construction projects granted permits by the two municipalities.

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In Brantford, 99 permits with a construction value of $8.8 million were issued. Brant County issued 68 permits with a value of $10.6 million.

In Brantford, the biggest permit for the month was issued to the NAGD Group, for work at the Lynden Park Mall estimated at almost $1 million.

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“This will create an extension of the mall corridor and prepare the area for five retail units,” said the city’s chief building inspector Russ Thomson.

“It’s to get ready for what will later be tenant improvements,” added Thomson, noting that four of the large units will be accessible from the inside of the mall and one from the outside.

Another big project is valued at $727,000 at the Brantford General Hospital for the installation of mechanical equipment that’s part of the hospital’s energy infrastructure renewal project.

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But residential construction continues to represent a big part of permits issued.

While April saw permits issued for two single-detached homes, on Munro Crescent and Balfour Street, three big permits for multi-residential townhouses also were issued.

Empire Communities got permits for two more six-unit complexes on Munro, each valued at $1.3 million, and Brant Common Elements got a permit for a $1-million four-unit project on Heath Street.

Other residential improvements, such as additions, alterations and accessory buildings, came to another $1.6 million.

Together, the residential work in April came to $5.2 million.

Other major commercial projects include $731,000 in work to be done at the Market Square building as Laurier creates new office space on the third floor; $462,000 for a new sales trailer to be installed on Anderson Road by Empire Communities and  $209,000 for office alterations at Laurier’s 97 Dalhousie St. building.

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Sleep N’ Comfort at Grey and Clarence Streets was issued a permit for a new $150,000 facade and a Popeye’s Louisiana Chicken restaurant will go into 213 King George Rd.

“This is a solid report, in the sense that the number of permits is high and the value of the permits is encouraging,” said Thomson.

For the first four months of this year, Brantford issued 362 permits with a value of $52.4 million.

“So far, it’s one of our higher years and I’m confident we’ll have another strong year.”

In the county, permits were issued for three new fire halls in Cainsville, Scotland and Onondaga.

The halls will be almost identical but the Onondaga building will include a customer service office.

The Cainsville hall will be at Ewart Avenue and Prince Charles Road, the Scotland hall will be at 83 Simcoe St., and the Onondaga hall will be at 734 Highway 54.

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Together, the three permits came to a value of $3.6 million.

Andre Gravelle, Brant’s chief building official, said nine residential permits were also issued in April, tallying $4.7 million.

“It’s not like we see 100 permits at once but residential is always slow and steady,” he said.

The county also issued a $300,000 permit for a warehouse renovation on Airport Road.

At the end of April in 2018, the county had issued 138 permits with a value of $36 million but Gravelle noted that 2018 was a “blimp” of a year, with construction work in the county more than double the value of previous average years.

“I think we’ll have a good year this year,” he said.

“We’re going to get a lot of permits late in the year because of the way the economy is going.”

SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble

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